India Inc is not hiring just yet! We CAN Not Live without NILEKANI UNIQUE ID as Mamata gets MATUA ID Afresh!
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NEW DELHI: When Bangalore-based Prateek Apparels, a leading supplier of ready-made garments to fashion brands such as Levi's, Wrangler and Van
An economy growing at 9% levels had ensured that most of the top-drawer talent in the sunrise retail sector was snapped up by the big retail chains or upcoming ventures. Mr Dalmia was not sure about hiring a retail consulting firm either. That's when he heard about Collabrant and its unique model of CXO service outsourcing. Mr Dalmia was directed to the company through trusted sources, so things hit the ground running. Collabrant co-founder AP Srivatsan came on board as CEO for Coupon, Prateek's new chain of large format discount stores.
A former marketing head at Nestlé India, Srivatsan, 46, had also worked with companies such as Gillette, Pepsi and Zip Phone. His mandate at Coupon was to prepare a business plan and rollout strategy, including hiring, and implement it. Srivatsan operated almost on a full-time basis from Prateek Apparels' offices for over a year before handing over charge to the promoters.
Coupon now has six stores in locations such as Hyderabad, Raipur and Kozhikode, and Dalmia is hopeful that 12 stores will be up by January 2010, taking its revenues from the current Rs 80 crore to Rs 175 crore.
Call it a CXO service on tap if you will. For startup entrepreneurs and small business owners, hiring and retaining senior executives can be a costly affair. When it's time to scale up, the choice is between attracting seasoned professionals at very high salaries and staying small.
"In India, unfortunately, the supply of startup CEOs is limited," says Alok Mittal, managing director at Canaan Advisors, a venture capital firm.
Into this gap comes companies such as Collabrant, which offer CFO, CMO and even CEO services for a fee.
The company, with its three founding partners and 15 associate partners, focuses on the outsourced CEO practice with 60% of revenues coming from this offering along with corporate finance services. They sign up for a tenure of 3-5 years with a client during which time they spend 7-10 days on average at the client offices every month.
"In small businesses, a large chunk of capital goes into salaries of the senior management. We get paid a fraction of the salary bill of a senior resource and we take equity of 5-26% in the business," says Srivatsan.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Cant-afford-a-top-of-the-line-CEO-Rent-one/articleshow/5137796.cms
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Rajib Chakraborty
KOLKATA, March. 23: Political rivals are going all-out to impress the Matua community in Bongaon, in an effort to secure this new Lok sabha seat, formed following the delimitation exercise. The Matua voters, however, are wary of the political posturing. There is a feeling in the community that no political party has properly represented their needs since the death of their former leader PR Thakur.
Mr Rabi Haldar, vice-president of the Advisory Committee of Sara Bharat Matua Mahasangha (SBMMS), said: "Political leaders should study the 'activities and sacrifice' of former Matua community leaders. Then they should come to Thakurbari to gain the sympathy of the Matua community voters." On the whole, the Matua community doesn't believe that any of the political leaders coming to Thakurbari at Gaighata in North 24-parganas have the time or the intention to develop the prospects of the poor people in their community. Lakhs of Matua people living under the Bongaon constituency have expressed their belief that not a single political leader in the recent past has taken any initiative that could compare to the development work conducted by their former leaders, PR Thakur, Guruchand Thakur and Harichand Thakur.
Among the former leaders, PR Thakur was an MP and a minister of state for Schedule Caste and Tribe Welfare. He resigned from the ministry, following the government's failure to resist attacks on the Matua community by police in the Bongaon, Gaighata and Bagda areas.
Harichand Thakur, meanwhile, is said to have constructed 5,000 schools in the year 1881 alone and also formed a court for women, seeing that many were reluctant to explain their problems to a male judge.
Mr Pashupati Biswas, an influential man in the Matua community, said: "We haven't found a political leader with real intentions to do good work since the death of PR Thakur many years ago."
Meanwhile, party leaders, in the run-up to the general elections, are now promising to address their issues. Trinamul leader Mr Jyotipriya Mallick said his party had donated money for the developmental work of devotees in the Matua community. Mr Asim Bala, CPI-M candidate, not wanting to be left behind, said his party has always tried to solve the problems of the Matua community.
Clearly, both are looking to capture the Matua vote, aware that support from the community could well lead to victory over the Bongaon seat.
Tug Of War Over Matua Millions
Sombre news for job hoppers: India Inc is not hiring just yet!
New Delhi: The economic recovery may not create too many opportunities for job-hoppers and students graduating next year. For, Indian companies did not lay off many people in the downturn; they are unlikely to hire in large numbers now for middle-management or entry-level positions.
Strategic hiring
Companies may do strategic hiring for specific skill sets, or there may be some activity in sectors like infrastructure or power. "Barring a few sectors like these, it is likely to be jobless recovery,'' says K Sudarshan, managing partner, EMA Partners International, an executive search firm. Unlike in the West, there were no large-scale layoffs in India. Most companies bore the brunt of the downturn. ''There's slack in the system and companies have no intention of hiring in big numbers,'' says Bharat Grover, partner, Vernalis India, a management consultancy that helps companies with shopfloor, marketing and HR processes. Besides, there are no triggers for adding people, say experts.
Telecom, BPO, Retail drove jobs in 2001
After earlier downturns in 2001 or 2003-04, key sectors like telecom, BPO, telecom and retail banking drove jobs and absorbed loads of jobs. Shiv Agarwal, CEO for recruitment firm ABC Consultants, says there's no next big wave like BPO, retail or telecom, as no new industry is coming up. ''The existing talent pool is fairly larg, as the base has expanded. There will be churn. The usual factors like no increments will come into play,'' Agarwal says. HR experts point out that the recovery is yet to trickle down across sectors. While the stock market is at a 17-month high, the real economy is still trailing. ''There's no significant improvement in corporate performance. Sales volumes are up only 10 per cent,'' says Grover. Milind Sarwate, HR head of Marico, feels the same, too. The recovery is not creating as many jobs as people would expect it to. Recruiters are still circumspect, Sarwate says.
Start-up type jobs on the upswing
But not all is lost. As multinationals hunt for growth in India and China, they will make investments but these will be more of the start-up type of jobs. The second wave in telecom could create 10,000-15,000 jobs in the next 12-24 months, says Agarwal. Insurance has a long way to go, banking will see some growth and brokerages are picking up.
Retail in correction mode
But, retail continues to be in correction mode, and won't hire in large numbers unless there's a change in regulations. Real estate is still not adding people, despite a pick up in sales. The information technology sector is adding fewer jobs than it did last year or the year before last. Infosys, for instance, plans to add 18,000 people this year, against 25,000 in 2008 and 33,000 in 2007. BPOs are also reasonably staffed and may not add larger numbers. Sanjeev Bhikchandani, CEO, Naukri.com, says hiring will pick up in a quarter or two. He thinks IT hiring would pick up by the end of the financial year. Hiring in export-driven sectors will pick up once demand perks overseas. ''I see hiring picking up over the next six months. Wherever there's a slack, it will take a quarter or two to recover. Large-scale hiring happens when GDP is grows at 8-9 per cent,'' he said.
But things could pick up sooner for some infrastructure sectors like roads and power that may add a significant number of jobs. Take roads, for instance. Every 100 km of road-construction would require developers and contractors to add 1,000 people across levels (junior engineer, material manager, quality supervisor, structural engineer and project engineer), estimates Virendra Mhaiskar, CEO, IRB Developers.
Busihness Standard
The proposed 16 digit UID number could soon become a requisite for getting driving license, making a passport or even opening a bank account. The project is set to release the first number in a year and a half and the project chief Nandan Nilekani told a national daily that UIDs will also help in checking the menace of black money.
In the coming years, all these documents will display the UID number, intended to dispose of duplicate identities in the system. Consequently, it will help scrutinizing black money and yield higher tax collections.
Users will have to pay a one-time registration fee of Rs 30-40. The UID database will have basic demographic and biometric (face or fingerprint) information about an individual, aimed at helping security agencies in accessing information under rightful laws.
The UID would particularly help the underprivileged class who are dependant on public distribution system, by giving them easy access to various benefits without much hassle.
The scheme will also benefit banks and mobile companies as customer verification process would become incredibly easier and cost-effective.
UID chief Nandan Nilekani has said the UID will not confer citizen rights; it can be used to identify Indian citizens though. Under normal circumstances, personal data would not be put in public domain and nobody would have access to the UID database. The numbers would only be used to confirm authenticity of one's identity.
The project is intended to cover 600 million people in the next four years.
On the other hand, the USA has welcomed India's decision to allocate sites for its two nuclear plants, saying the key step is a recognition of trust and brings the two nations closer to full cooperation on safe and clean energy sources.
On behalf of the people of the USA, I am very pleased with this key step that brings our two great nations closer to full cooperation on safe and clean energy sources, US Ambassador to India, Mr Timothy J Roemer said in a statement here today after India made the announcement on Friday.
The government also announced that it has allocated sites in Chhayamithi Virdi in Gujarat, and Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh for the USA for the construction of civil nuclear power plants in pursuance of the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement for expanded cooperation on peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
CPI-M flays UPA, Banerjee for divesting stake in Phoenix Yule
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Saturday accused Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee of taking 'dual stand' on privatisation, saying she remained silent when the central government decided to divest stake in the city-based industrial equipment maker Phoenix Yule.
The CPI-M's Bengali mouthpiece Gaanshakti said in an editorial that Banerjee was absent from a cabinet meeting of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government Thursday that decided to offload 26 percent equity in Phoenix Yule.
'Since then, the (Trinamool Congress) leader has not opened her mouth on the issue,' it said.
The government has decided to sell 26 percent equity held by state-run Andrew Yule in Phoenix Yule to Germany's Continental Conti Tech for Rs.62.82 crore, including an additional compensation of Rs.3.69 crore.
Phoenix Yule is a joint venture between Phoenix Aktiengesellschaft of Germany and the Kolkata-based Andrew Yule.
Taking a dig at Banerjee's opposition to the state's industrialisation drive, the editorial said: 'The section of the media, which is busy building her image, will have us believe that the central dispensation has not been able to go ahead with its plans for divesting shares in the public sector units mainly due to her opposition.'
'She has joined the cabinet knowing fully well that the present central government is a great advocate of economic liberalisation. .. Her stand only reveals her fraudulence.'
Flaying the UPA decision, the editorial said Phoenix Yule would now come under the complete ownership of foreign companies.
The 16-digit Unique Identification number that the government proposes to give you could become mandatory for opening a bank account, getting your passport or even your driving licence, among others.
The Unique Identification Number (UID) scheme, which is expected to roll out the first number in 12-18 months, however, will not confer on anyone any rights, including citizenship, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chairman Mr Nandan Nilekani said.
Stressing that the UID at present is completely voluntary, Mr Nilekani, the Infosys co-founder who quit the IT firm to head the ambitious government project, said the number will become "pervasive and ubiquitous" in future.
"When you to get a passport, they will say where is your UID number, when you go to get a driving licence, they will say where is your UID number, when you go to tax, they will say where is your UID number, you go to open a bank account, they will say where is your UID number. Sooner or later you will have to get your UID number," Mr Nilekani told PTI in an interview.
He said that in the coming years, all the above mentioned documents will start displaying the UID number, which proposes to weed out duplicate identities in the system, and hence the "number will become pervasive and ubiquitous. It will become embedded in all these documents."
He said, "It is not mandatory but more applications will make it a prerequisite. So sooner or later your life becomes simpler if you have the number." Mr Nilekani said talks are already on with various agencies and ministries and that "everybody is ready to partner with us on this and use our UID number in their database."
He said that UID will also help to check black money and result in higher tax collections as it will become difficult to have duplicate accounts.
"Once the bank accounts start having the UID, then you can't keep unaccounted money in the banking system. UID will sort of act as a check on keeping black money and all that. It will also strengthen security," he said. Mr Nilekani said it will take "years and not one day" for the entire process to change. He said about 600 million of the about 1.2 billion population will be covered under the project in the next five years.
Asked by when could banks start having UID as a necessary feature to open accounts, he said, "that will be the choice of the individual agencies. We are providing a infrastructure. It is up to the ministry or the relevant departments to decide those things." Explaining further, he said, "For example, RBI is the authority to decide when UID will be used for bank accounts. We are just giving this facility. So they will decide saying from this date onwards, new bank accounts must have UID. From this date, people having old bank accounts must come and upgrade with UID. These are decisions taken by them. We can't dictate those things."
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Calcutta, Oct. 18: Sonia Gandhi called Mamata Banerjee yesterday to convey Diwali greetings, but Trinamul Congress sources said their leader "took the opportunity" to highlight the "prevailing lawlessness" in Left-ruled Bengal. Trinamul sources said Mamata had tried to explain to the Congress president what "forced" some of its leaders to lay siege to the chief minister's office on the eve of Diwali. After the four were arrested on Friday afternoon to end the three-hour protest, Trinamul supporters paralysed Calcutta in the evening. "Mamata briefed Soniaji on how our MLAs, including leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee, were manhandled before being arrested from Writers'," said a key Trinamul functionary. "She also requested Soniaji to be present in Jammu and Kashmir on October 28 for the flagging-off of a new train." Congress leaders said it was a courtesy call Sonia made to all allies and Opposition leaders. She even called the BJP's L.K. Advani, who had launched a personal attack on Congress prime ministerial candidate Manmohan Singh before the Lok Sabha polls. While talking to reporters this evening, Mamata refused to divulge what she discussed with Sonia but revealed that the Congress leader and the Prime Minister had agreed to be present with her on October 28 to flag off the train between Anantnag and Qazigund. However, for once tomorrow, Mamata will have a more pressing engagement than highlighting "Bengal's misery". She will be cooking for her brothers on the occasion of Bhaiphonta. "All my six brothers and other relatives will be at my home. I will have to prepare some good dishes for them. I am skipping tomorrow's cabinet meeting (in Delhi)," the Trinamul Congress leader whom supporters call Didi (elder sister) said while distributing prasad of the Kali idol she had worshiped at home last night. On Wednesday, Mamata will be back doing the usual — staging a sit-in to protest the "the state government's terror". "Tuesday's Esplanade rally will be the launch pad for a sustained movement that we have planned till next year's elections to 82 municipalities." The Congress today distanced itself from Trinamul's Writers' siege. Asked about it, the party general secretary in charge of Bengal, K. Keshava Rao, said: "Trinamul may be our ally but the party carries out political programmes independently. The Congress has no comments on the agitation by Trinamul legislators inside Writers' Buildings."
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Sonia and Mamata
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091019/jsp/bengal/story_11631105.jsp
New Delhi, Oct. 18: Armed Naxalites could resort to an absence offensive in response to the first security thrust into their strongholds. Intelligence inputs reaching here from parts of Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand suggest that large numbers of cadres may leave their jungle bases and "melt away into urban anonymity" over the next few weeks as part of a thought-out tactic. "It makes good sense for them," said a senior intelligence official based here. "They don't have the firepower the government is in the process of employing. By vanishing initially, they will not only escape a full-blown assault, they will also be able to draw security forces deeper into their habitat and trap them in a long-drawn guerrilla conflict." Freed of election vigil, more than a dozen paramilitary battalions comprising the BSF, the CRPF and the ITBP are moving into Naxalite-dominated areas in preparation for an integrated offensive christened Operation Green Hunt. But reports that the Naxalites will dissolve their jungle concentrations and slip away are worrying security strategists. "We may actually face little or no opposition in the first flush," said one. "But that also means we will get no catch. Rather, they will retain the advantage of when and where to confront us." Most Naxalite units have pack-and-carry mobility and possess rat-like familiarity with the forests they hold. Other than the Abujmadh jungles along the junction of Bastar in southern Chhattisgarh and Orissa's Malkangiri district, Naxalites are not known to have "permanent" bases anywhere; most officers familiar with their ways are convinced of their ability to "vaporise at short notice". The Abujmadh base, said to be located in near-impenetrable wooded hills, will be tougher to put a lid on or dismantle, but then security forces have never been able to so much as approach Abujmadh. Not that Naxalites in other parts have been easy to net. As one Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer put it: "They will probably leave behind trails of where they cooked or camped, but beyond the few known faces, they are tough to trace because they are like everybody else, they just mingle, very tough to separate from locals who, for various reasons, usually offer very little help." The officer went on to articulate fears of "substantive collateral damage" if the Naxalites are able to "frustrate" security operations with their disappearing act. "Very often, because of poor on-ground intelligence, the forces conduct harsh search operations," he said, "innocents get trampled upon and disaffection spreads, things turn counter-productive. Some of that has happened in Lalgarh where the security forces met with little armed resistance because the cadres slipped out. But in the process, locals got hurt and they remain almost violently opposed to the security forces and the state itself." It is with an eye on restricting the movement of Naxalites in the run-up to the security build-up that special emphasis is being given to border regions between affected states. The idea, officials say, is to allow security forces to operate "free of and above jurisdictional constraints" and allow real-time cross-border monitoring along a single chain of command. "That is the main reason why we are concentrating the paramilitary forces, rather than the state police, along the borders so that there is no confusion of jurisdiction and command. Also paramilitary forces have the freedom to conduct search and pursuit operations across state borders," a senior officer said. He conceded, though, that paramilitary forces have another set of handicaps flowing from their lack of familiarity with local people, language, customs and terrain. A CRPF officer The Telegraph spoke to last week had said of his Chhattisgarh experience: "It is one thing to be better armed and supplied, but that can add up to little if your jawans do not know left from right. Many of my chaps are just too lost in the Chhattisgarh jungles because they know next to nothing about the place." Despite the rockjawed determination of Union home minister P. Chidambaram to forge ahead with the anti-Naxalite offensive, a fair section of officials and experts remains sceptical about its success for a variety of reasons. The manner in which the offensive has been propagandised by North Block is becoming a serious concern. "You do not launch such operations with public declarations that almost sound like war cries," said a Chhattisgarh police officer. "They are calling it a psychological offensive, but what this daily bugling from Delhi has done is to put the pressure on us. A huge sense of public expectation has built up and if we don't achieve tangible results quickly, we will be the losers of that so-called psychological offensive." Top cop K.P.S. Gill, who was adviser to the Chhattisgarh government on anti-Naxalite operations for a while, has also criticised the manner in which Chidambaram is marshalling the offensive. "Such operations have to be conducted on the ground, with local police and local people, you cannot win such battles by making plans in Delhi boardrooms because reality is ever-changing and strategy needs to be tailored accordingly," Gill has said. Other security experts have questioned the very preparedness of the security forces — men, machines and intelligence — to take the Naxalites head on at this juncture. Most of them have been counselling a more gradualist approach, beginning with a quantum increase in the number of boots on the ground. At the moment, even in the government's reckoning, the jawan-to-population ratio is far below the recommended minimum. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091019/jsp/frontpage/story_11630372.jsp
SANKARSHAN THAKUR
Women victim of political vendetta
;Rajib Chatterjee
nForty two-year-old Raima Begam (name changed) was gangraped by cadres of a political party at her residence in Pursurah, Hooghly, on
27 September. Her offence: husband belonged to the rival camp. The
political activists also broke both
legs of her 72-year-old mother-in-law Sarfunnesa when she tried to rescue her. One of the legs needs to be amputated.
nAnother woman, Lutfarnessa Bibi, completely apolitical, was stripped by political workers who had attacked her house in Arambag a few days ago looking for her husband belonging to their opponent party.
KOLKATA, 18 OCT: Raima, her mother or Lutfarnessa are just three among the long list of women who have become the victim of violent political activism in Bengal, despite they having nothing to do with politics.
Worried over such reports, the West Bengal Commission for Women has urged all political parties to stop targeting women. The Commission is likely to submit its report regarding torture on Sarfunnesa to the state government this week.
"We are concerned over increasing incidents of political attacks on innocent women in the state. We have prepared a report on what happened with Sarfunnesa and it would be submitted to the state government. We urge all political parties not to target women," Ms Bhatari Mutsuddi, a member of the Commission, told The Statesman.
The Commission has also found that even minor daughters of political leaders are not being spared of the intense violence that has gripped the state of late.
"Before elections, activists of a political party had hurled bombs on the house of a leader of their rival party killing his wife and daughter, a minor in Dhaniakhali," she said.
| Look who have been 'grounded' | ||
| OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT | ||
Mumbai, Oct. 18: The Marines have landed — er, been made to land — on the shores of Mumbai. A Boeing carrying the world's most storied fighting force was asked to land at Mumbai airport by the Indian Air Force (IAF) today after it emerged that the plane did not have permission to ferry troops over the country. The plane, belonging to North American Airlines, had been chartered by the US Navy to carry 205 passengers, including some Marines, from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Utapao in Bangkok. The plane, sources in Mumbai air traffic control said, had a civilian call sign from the directorate-general of civil aviation but did not have the mandatory air operation routing clearance from the IAF. The routing clearance — AOR in aviation parlance — has to be procured by every foreign plane flying through Indian airspace with military equipment or personnel. "To top that, some Marines on board were also carrying submachine guns and Glock pistols," said a CISF officer who had inspected the plane. A source in the US consulate in Mumbai said: "The necessary clearance may have been overlooked inadvertently by the plane as the Marines were going on a holiday to Bangkok." The US military central command has a programme called R&R (rest and recuperation) meant for both civilians and combat personnel attached to the defence department. The consulate source added that there was nothing unusual about the presence of weapons as the Marines usually carry light arms even on R&R trips. Soon after the plane was made to land at 7.52am, diplomatic levers started moving. The plane was eventually cleared for take-off around 2.30pm by the IAF and the civil aviation authority. "We are pleased that we were able to resolve this procedural matter in an expeditious fashion and appreciate the assistance and co-operation of the Indian authorities," the US consulate said. However, the flight could not leave today because of the pilots' flight duty time limitations. Sources said the plane was expected to leave tomorrow. Till then, the Marines will stay in a five-star hotel, for which necessary papers have been cleared. "The boys will be put up at the hotel and will do a bit of sightseeing before leaving Mumbai tomorrow," the consulate source said. However, an IAF source said the departure had also been delayed because Myanmar — the plane will enter that country's flight information range while flying to Bangkok — has sought clarifications related to clearances. It is not every day that the IAF gets a chance to "ground" a force whose arrival has launched countless stories of heroism — some blown out of proportion — and the phrase "the Marines have landed and have the situation well in hand". "The exchange between the IAF and the foreign pilot was polite," said a source, joking that the air force by now must have honed its skills on the subject, considering the frequency with which it has been intercepting such flights. This is the third foreign plane to be made to land by the IAF in India since June for want of mandatory clearance for carrying arms or soldiers. Calcutta, too, had to play host to an arms plane bound for China after it was found that the aircraft did not have the requisite papers. |
| Unborn rival threatens to blank out Haldia - Upcoming Dhamra port in Orissa could steal Bengal's locational advantage | |
| SAMBIT SAHA | |
Calcutta, Oct. 18: Delay in executing a scheme to regulate the Hooghly, said to be a difficult river for ships to navigate, and a budding rival in Orissa are threatening to rob Haldia port of its locational edge and a large share of cargo. Dhamra port, being built by Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro, will be operational by April and target the two lifelines of Haldia port — cargos of coal and iron ore. Shipping circles said Dhamra would give users an at least $5-a-tonne advantage over Haldia in terms of ocean freight because it would be able to handle ships that are thrice as big as those sailing to Haldia. That will blunt the Bengal port's locational advantage, built over years through the creation of a vast hinterland well connected by the railways. Dhamra will begin with a 25 million-tonne capacity but the port will reach full potential only in October, when a rail link to the Howrah-Chennai line is ready. Rapid siltation in the Hooghly riverbed has compromised ships' ability to carry heavy loads to Haldia. If the Bengal port can receive ships with barely 22,000 tonnes now, its Orissa rival will be able to handle 165,000-tonne ships. Even now Haldia is the last-discharge port for shipping lines which unload the bulk of their cargo at Orissa's Paradip, the closest major port to Haldia. But an all-time-low draft — allowable depth of a vessel's keel under water — is increasingly making the port unviable. Ships could soon be unloading everything at Paradip. "The steel industry still uses the Haldia port to bring coal as there is a $4-a-tonne advantage over Paradip because of its proximity to the plants. But unless something is done immediately, the great advantage of Haldia may not remain," said Dibyendu Bose, the managing director of TMIL, a Tata Steel subsidiary. The threat to Haldia's coal and iron ore cargos comes at a time the port is set to lose about 10 million tonnes of liquid cargo, mostly crude oil, to Paradip because the Indian Oil Corporation's Haldia-Paradip pipeline is almost ready. Haldia had handled about 41 million tonnes of cargo last year. After the first six months of this fiscal, it is down 22 per cent from the corresponding figure for last year. But what has led to such rapid reduction in river draft (by 0.7 metres since end-August)? Observers said years of neglect, especially during the tenure of former shipping minister T.R. Baalu. The port's proposal to carry out capital dredging — the removal of soil from beneath water to increase depth — and build dykes to regulate the flow of the river gathered dust at the Union shipping ministry for three years (2004-2007) until it lapsed. The port has had to commission a fresh study on the pro-ject. "We expect the final report by the end of this year," said Anindya Mazumdar, the acting chairman of Calcutta Port Trust. Haldia port spends around Rs 300 crore a year on dred- ging aimed at maintaining the existing draft. The aim of capital dredging is to increase it. The 2004 proposal was also late by several years. The pro-ject was conceived in 1998, re-validated in end-2001 and put to bidding in 2002. However, the dredging cartel of Belgian and Dutch companies did not participate and the bid had to be scrapped. A fresh study was then commissioned and its report became ready in 2004. But Baalu's ministry did not push it forward. What was conceived as a Rs 350-crore scheme will now cost over Rs 1,000 crore. The old dredgers of the Centre did not help matters. Their efficacy was reduced further as they spent more time travelling to dump mud in the sea than in scooping up silt, in the absence of land to dispose it. But experts said there was hope for Haldia still as a new shipping channel could provide greater depth. Sources said the new Eden channel, which might provide over an eight-metre draft, could be opened sooner than expected. The difficulty of the job at hand can be made out from the dredgers' struggle to maintain a 500-metre-wide channel for shipping on the Hooghly, which is several kilometres wide at Haldia. |
Naroda Patiya riot killing unparalleled: Gujarat HC
Ahmedabad, 18 Oct: The killing of 95 people in Naroda Patiya here during the post-Godhra riots in 2002 was described by the Gujarat High Court as a case of "wanton, mass carnage", almost "unparalleled in modern society".
The court also said such incidents undermined the "foundation of law." The hard-hitting observations were made recently by Justice Abhilasha Kumari, while rejecting the bail application of Subhashchandra Darji, an accused in the Naroda Patiya riot case. He was arrested by the Supreme Court appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in November last year. "The present case is not comparable with any ordinary case. The background of the case and its effect on the public cannot be overlooked," the court said.
"In fact, it is a case of wanton mass carnage, almost unparalleled in modern society. Such offences invariably have a negative impact upon the larger interest of the public and state and undermine the very foundation upon which the edifice of the rule of law is built," it observed.
Darji was employed with the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) in 2002 and was working in the workshop, at Naroda Patiya.
He is accused of throwing burning rags on Hussain Nagar chawl. Out of the 95 killed in the Naroda Patiya area, 58 were from the chawl alone.
Darji was not named in the FIR filed in the case in 2002, but was arrested following investigation by the SIT. ;PTI
More vigilance for Arambag
;Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, 18 OCT: The CPI-M has requested the top police officers of Hooghly district to intensify vigilance in the entire Arambag sub-division region to thwart that them claim "infiltration of Maoist cadres to make another Lalgarh in Arambag."
The request comes a day after the arrest of a suspected Maoist cadre ~ Shibu Murmu ~ in Arambag where he had taken shelter two months ago to evade police arrest. A resident of Sarenga in Bankura, Murmu was wanted in a series of criminal cases and waging a war against the state. Police said Murmu is the Sarenga block secretary of Chhatradhar Mahato led People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA).
A CPI-M Hooghly district committee member Mr Mozammel Hossain said they suspect that Maoists have already entered Arambag to unleash Lalgarh-like terror in Arambag, which is known to be a red citadel for decades.
"The arrest of a Maoist cadre comes within a few days after the top leader of the CPI (Maoist) Kishenji had declared that they are making inroads into Arambag," Mr Hossain said.
We have also informed police about some places where tight surveillance is required. "One such place is Arambag bus stand where several boarding houses and hotels are situated. The boarding charges are too low and identity of boarders are not always verified. These boarding houses can shelter Maoists. Surveillance in boarding houses and hotels in Arambag bus stand needs to be intensified," the CPI-M leader said.
According to the CPI-M leader, Gourhati more in the heart of Arambag city and other places including Kajipara, Bandhghara are some other areas where Maoists can take shelters easily.
Another CPI-M leader said that Maoists have prepared a plan to murder some of their colleagues in Arambag sub-division since it is the strongest base of the state's ruling party. "We suspect that some squad members of Maoists have already entered Arambag and adjoining blocks like Khanakul and Goghat which share border with Maoist infested Midnapore West district," the leader said.
Senior district police officers however said they have no reports of Maoist activities being carried out in Arambag. "Since some parts of Arambag sub-division share border with Midnapore West, we have heightened security and surveillance.
As of now, there is no report of Maoist infiltration in Arambag," a senior police officer of Arambag sub-division said requesting anonymity.
On the other hand, Mr Sailen Sinha, a senior district Trinamul Congress leader said: "In the wake of an erosion in Arambag, the CPI-M is trying to influence police to arrest our cadres on false charges of being involved with the Maoists. Apprehending a heavy turnout at Miss Mamata Bannerjee's rally in Arambag which is scheduled to be held in Arambag on 25 October, the CPI-M is using all unfair means to prevent locals from attending the rally. The CPI-M is desperately trying to create a fear psychosis among local people by offering cooked-up story about Maoists."
Mahato remanded to four more days in police custody
;Statesman News Service
MIDNAPORE, 18 OCT: The convener of People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) Chhatradhar Mahato was remanded in police custody for four days today by the additional chief judicial magistrate Jhargram MD Rezza today.
He was produced before the court in connection with a murder case lodged against him at Lalgarh police station (case number 111/09) on 14 August this year.
The assistant public prosecutor Mr Maloy Bhadra, in his petition submitted in the court, sought Mahato's police remand for two weeks to recover arms from 31 others accused in the same case.
Opposing the petition, the defence counsel, Mr Koushik Sinha, submitted that the complaint was lodged two months after the day of murder. He stated that Probir Mahato ~ a resident of Dharampur ~ was murdered on 14 June, but a complaint in this regard was sent to Midnapore West superintendent of police on 24 June by the victim's brother Mr Amio Mahato. Interestingly the case was filed on 14 August, 2009 on the basis of a photocopy of the complaint that was earlier sent to the SP, without explaining any reason for the delay in submitting the copy.
Mr Sinha argued that no case can be started on the basis of the xerox copy of the complaint according to the provision of the law.
After considering the submissions of both sides the ACJM allowed four days police remand to the accused. The magistrate took serious note and expressed dissatisfaction for starting the case on the basis of a xerox copy of the complaint. He said: "Police administration is supposed to be more serious and cautious while delaying such type of sessions trial cases in future".
Arrest cadres brandishing arms'
DURGAPUR, 18 OCT: The Trinamul Congress today demanded immediate arrest of the CPI-M cadres who displayed firearms and swords while taking part in a peace rally Siduli in Andal PS on Friday night.
The Opposition demanded immediate steps to stop recurrence of such incident.
The CPI-M brought out the procession last Friday evening in which cadres took part and waved guns, swords and lathis to intimidate local people. Mr Probhat Chatterjee, president, Trinamul Congress, Burdwan (Industrial), today lodged a complaint with the ASP, Durgapur demanding stern action against the cadres. He said: "Open display of firearms is an offence under the provisions of Section 25 of the Arms Act of the IPC. It is surprising that the police has looked the other way". The CPI-M, however, has stated that carrying arms in a rally was a part of conventional culture in coalfield areas.
Mr Gouranga Chatterjee, secretary, Ajoy-Damodar Zonal Committee said: "It has become a custom in these areas that the party supporters carry arms in rallies." Asked whether his party would ask the cadres to restrain from repeating such act, he added: "I have already told you that this is a tradition of these areas." ;SNS
Membership cards & fee for Matuas, CPM style
China-bound UAE air force plane, laden with arms, detained
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The UAE air force plane (C130J) was flying from Abu Dhabi to Hanyang in China and had landed at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport here to refuel.
"It was a routine transit. They had applied for permission through the embassy and subsequently followed the necessary procedure by filling up an official form," a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said.
"But in the official form they didn't mention whether the aircraft was carrying any arms or explosives on board. They just left that particular column blank," MoD spokesperson (Eastern Command) wing commander Mahesh Upasani said.
He said, "When the customs officials from the airport boarded the aircraft to carry out a customary check they found a large cache of arms, ammunition and explosives inside, which was not mentioned in the form. They immediately informed the Airports Authority of India (AAI), police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
"Later all nine crew members, including the captain, were detained and the aircraft was parked at one of the airport bays," he said, adding that the customs officials did a "wonderful job" by detecting the arms and ammunition in the plane.
"The UAE air force personnel are being interrogated. The matter will sorted out through both the embassies mutually," the spokesperson said.
Asked whether anyone can leave a particular column blank in the transit permission form, the spokesperson said: "No, they have to mention something. No one can leave a column just nil when applying for a routine transit."
Writers' showdown blocks roads, Kolkata suffers on Diwali-eve
Statesman News Service
BONGAON, April 7: Matua Mahasangha organises the Matua Fair every year at Thakur Nagar near Ghaighata in North 24-Parganas where thousands of devotees gather to take holy dips in a pond called "Kamana Sagar". The fair is organised as part of the birth anniversary celebrations of Harichand Thakur, the Matua God.
The Matua Mahasangha has this time come up with the demand that the fair be recognised nationally.
It is believed that a dip in this particular pond can cleanse of sins and cure one of diseases. People from all over the country as well as those of the neighbouring lands like Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka flock to this fair for a holy dip.
Mr Ganapati Biswas, the all India general secretary of Matua Mahasangha said that they have been trying hard to acquire national recognition as the fair draws lakh of people from various states and countries. "The fair was started by Pramatha Nath Thakur who organised the festival for the first time in 1897 at Thakur Nagar. Since then this festival has been celebrated every year and over the years it earned huge popularity. But the fair is not recognised widely as of yet," said Mr Biswas.
Mr Biswas alleged that the state government did not provide them necessary help to organise this fair. "Government provides all facilities for Ganga Sagar Fair every year. There were huge arrangement of cars and other vehicles for the devotees. The safety of the devotees was also ensured. But the Matuas, since they belong to a lower strata of the society, the government chooses not to provide any facilities to them," Mr Biswas said.
Mr Rabindranath Halder, a social worker who puts up a stall at the fair every year to help out the devotees alleged that Matuas often complain of having been robbed on the buses and trains.
"They are often pushed off the buses and trains by the conductors and ticket-checkers respectively. As most of the Matuas are very poor, they are treated with no respect" said Mr Haldar. The fair starts on 3 April every year and continues up to 10 April every year.
A senior police officer said that this year adequate arrangements were made for the devotees.
http://thestatesman.in/page.arcview.php?date=2009-04-10&usrsess=1&clid=2&id=225419
| CPM holds court over last rites |
| OUR CORRESPONDENT |
| Orgram (Burdwan), Sept. 30: Two brothers here were thrashed by villagers, allegedly instigated by CPM leaders, for not cremating their father the Hindu way and not shaving their heads. Nihar and Sudhir Haldar, followers of Matua Mahasangha — a cult that does not abide by many Hindu rituals — lost their father during a trip to Nabadwip, Nadia, and completed his last rites there itself. When they returned to their village, Orgram, about 240 km from Calcutta, residents raised questions. A village body headed by CPM leaders asked the brothers to make an effigy, cremate it and shave their heads . When they refused to follow the directive, they were beaten up. The villagers boycotted them. Even those who sided with the brothers were boycotted by the rest of the village — they were prevented from using roads and drinking water facilities and their children were barred from school. The brothers went to police on August 24. Five persons were arrested for the torture but they obtained bail and returned to the village to torment the duo. Ashgar Ali Khan, CPM's Bhatar zonal committee member, confirmed that the brothers were beaten up and ostracised. "Why can't they get their heads tonsured if everyone else in the village does that? However, I apologise on behalf of those who beat them up. It was not the right thing to do," he said. |
Mamata alleges her phones being tapped by WB govt
Kolkata, Oct 16 (PTI) Railway Minister and TC Chief Mamata Banerjee today alleged that her phone as well as those of her personal staff were being tapped at the behest of West Bengal government.
"My phone is being tapped. Phones of my personal staff are also being tapped. I am sure the central government has definitely not given sanction for it. It is being done by the state government," the minister told reporters here.
Claiming that her phone was being tapped for the last two to three years, she said "even my e-mails and SMS are being tapped."
Seeking justice from the Prime Minister, Banerjee alleged that her Railway phones were also being tapped. "If I can't give instruction to my staff, how can I work? As a cabinet minister how can I talk to my cabinet colleagues confidentially?" she asked.
No rule of law in Bengal: Mamata
| Hint to Delhi in Buddha siege | |
| BARUN GHOSH | |
Calcutta, Oct. 17: Ostensibly, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was the target, but Mamata Banerjee's decision to send Partha Chatterjee to Writers' Buildings to protest outside the chief minister's chamber and then stop Calcutta in its tracks over his arrest may have been a signal to the UPA government, sources said today. Apparently, the Writers' sit-in was part of Mamata's "non-cooperation" movement against the Bengal government that she wants to paralyse. But Trinamul sources said the party chief was unhappy about the way Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P. Chidambaram concurred with chief minister Bhattacharjee on continuing the operation against Maoists in Bengal. By pushing Bhattacharjee, she thought, she would pile pressure on the UPA government at the Centre. Although she supported the Centre's proposed offensive against the Maoists elsewhere in the country, Mamata wanted the operation in Bengal to be stopped and the central forces withdrawn from Lalgarh. "Mamata is not opposed to the Centre's planned offensive against the Maoists after Diwali but she wants the central forces to be withdrawn from Lalgarh as they are being used by the CPM to recover lost ground in the tribal belt," said Trinamul state president Subrata Bakshi. A Trinamul junior minister at the Centre said Mamata was also upset over Bhattacharjee's bid to "prove" she had links with the Maoists. Chhatradhar Mahato, the leader of the Maoist-backed People's Committee Against Police Atrocities who has been arrested, had earlier said he had been a Trinamul member — a statement that may have embarrassed Mamata. The central minister said the siege may have been planned as a move to deflect public attention from this matter. Many Trinamul members also questioned the sudden siege. They said Mamata had engineered it in consultation with Chatterjee, whom she called the shadow chief minister yesterday. "We were not aware of any such thing on the eve of Diwali. The strategy was entirely worked out by didi in consultation with Parthada. Didi, convinced that the Centre will not give in to her demand of imposing President's rule in the state, is desperate to paralyse the state government. Hence this wildcat protest in the state secretariat," a Trinamul vice-president said. He said such protests are on the party's agenda for the next two years before the 2011 Assembly polls. "Our one-point mission is to show this government in poor light by highlighting its lawlessness. We want the police to harass us so that it draws attention to the government's high-handedness," the leader said. The Congress refrained from commenting on its ally's "political programme", but state Congress working president Subrata Mukherjee said he did not approve of yesterday's Writers' siege. "Partha should have chosen the Assembly to lodge his protest instead of Writers'," he said. Chatterjee, however, got sympathy from Siddhartha Shankar Ray. The former chief minister today visited Chatterjee's Naktala home to share his concern over the "state of lawlessness" in Bengal. "I was twice leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. A leader of the Opposition should not have been manhandled in this manner," Ray said. |
chief minister Buddhadeb The chief minister had made the recommendation in his meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday as well as home minister P Chidambaram and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday. "I have told the Centre that at least the existing forces should not be withdrawn," Mr Bhattacharjee said at a press conference here.
He also sought simultaneous action in Jharkhand to help in operations against Maoists in areas like West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura. "Without simultaneous operations in Jharkhand, it will be difficult for the police to hold on to the gains," he said. Security forces are beginning operations in parts bordering Jharkhand, where Maoist infrastructure, training camps and strongholds are located.
The state government is in sync with the Centre's stand that talks can be held with Maoists only if they lay down arms. Maoists in the state have said they are prepared for talks but have laid down conditions. Senior Maoist leader Chhatradhar Mahato was arrested last month from Pirka region near Lalgarh village in West Bengal.
The chief minister said 12 police stations in West Bengal were affected by Maoist violence. "We have achieved some gains in the last few months... We are now dominating areas of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura. By dominating, we mean that the police is functioning normally, the administration is functioning almost as usual. But there are sporadic incidents," Mr Bhattacharjee said.
He said earlier the Left Front had fought the Maoists politically and ideologically, but it was different now. "Now it is a new phenomenon. We can't be blamed for the havoc created by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh," he said. He described them as a group of "misguided people trying to use poverty. There is no ideology and practically no programme".
The Cabinet Committee on Security last week endorsed a new plan for coordinated action to fight Maoist violence in affected areas along with development activities.
"I think its important that everyone scale down a little bit the temperature. It's not as if there is any substantive reason for hostilities between our countries," Tharoor told journalists in New York.
India and China exchanged verbal volleys earlier this month over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing considers a disputed region.
However Tharoor played down the controversy, saying the fresh border skirmishes were "irritants" and relations between the Asian neighbours should be viewed in a broader context.
"It is a relationship which has featured so much development and trade that China is now our number one trading partner in manufactured goods," Tharoor said.
He pointed out that as many as 7000 Indians were studying in China and Indian companies like Infosys were hiring Chinese workers to work for them in India.
"The world is large enough for both India and China to fulfil the needs of their people and to be of service to humanity," he said.
"If you look at the nuts and bolts of our daily interaction on economics we have Indian companies that have opened branches in Shanghai," he said.
Earlier this month, China protested to Singh's Arunachal visit and also expressed displeasure at Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai lama's scheduled visit to the state next month.
China's leading state-run newspapers, including People's Daily, have published editorials slamming the Indian media for the recent rise in tensions and for hyping border disputes.
Tharoor said he had a cordial exchange with the Deputy Permanent Representative of China in the UN, Liu Zhenmin, on the day such an editorial was published.
"I said this sort of thing should not be happening between our countries," Tharoor noted, indicating that the higher echelons of power on both sides did not want to see the situation worsening.
"He (Zhenmin) went out of his way to be warm and friendly and to say how much he appreciated my presence and the relations with India and I made it a point to say that we should put certain things behind us," the minister added.
Commenting on the Chinese objections to the PM's visit to Arunachal, Tharoor said: "Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of the territory of India and any Indian citizen going to Arunachal Pradesh is not the business of any third country".
To this end, the government is reorienting its flagship rural employment scheme — National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) — to focus on asset creation. With corruption issues impacting the benefits of the programme, the government believes a reorientation from an "employment guarantee" scheme to an "asset creation" effort would help limit instances of leakages.
Experts suggested that if NREGA is linked to visible outcomes, which are relevant to the local economy, then the involvement of local community would be much greater. "This would limit the corruption and leakages in the system, as beneficiaries of the works undertaken as part of NREGA would extend to persons beyond those drawing a wage from the scheme," an analyst said.
This effort to ensure a productivity interlock for NREGA has been on for the last one year. The focus has been to ensure a convergence of inter-sectoral programmes with NREGA. For the moment, the focus is on forests, water and agriculture.
Experts explain that focusing on locally relevant assets, like water in an area like Bundelkhand, allows for the creation of a network of economic relations based on mutual benefits and settlements. Experts point out that it also allows for a social and economic mobility which should be the main aim of NREGA.
According to the national bulletin of NREGA, 3.34 crore households have been provided with employment throughout the country. This also states that around 133.32 crore person days are created and 7.08 lakh assets are built, out of 25.98 lakh taken up under the programme. Of the total person days created, 51.02% are the person days by the women labourers. Similarly, 40.19% are created by SC members and 21.83% by persons from the ST community.
"This is one more indication of how the Recovery Act is helping soften the blow of tough times, by keep educators on the job and teachers in the classroom," commented Vice President Joe Biden.
A report released Monday by the Domestic Policy Council contains preliminary data showing that the stimulus package has enabled states to restore nearly all of their projected education budget shortfalls for fiscal 2009 and 2010.
Filling these budget gaps has allowed the Recovery Act to avert layoffs of educators in school districts and universities across the nation, saving and creating at least a quarter of a million education jobs, the White House said.
"Initial reporting from states shows that education stimulus dollars have created or saved over 250,000 education jobs across the nation and have been invested in the kinds of reforms that will help today's students compete in a global economy," said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
He added that many school districts were also using stimulus dollars to improve the education process.
President Barack Obama signed the stimulus package into law on February 17. The measure was designed to create jobs and spur economic growth through a combination of tax relief, aid to hard-hit families and state and local governments, and funding for science, technology and infrastructure projects.
The White House release came after the US government announced Friday that it had closed its 2009 fiscal year with a record 1.4 trillion dollar budget deficit.
Critics blame much of the deficit on anti-crisis measures, including the stimulus package.
Corporate America worried about sinking dollar
The dollar has fallen to a 14-month low; and while a weaker dollar makes U.S. products cheaper overseas, chief executives gathered for the Business Council meeting in Cary, North Carolina, expressed deep concern that the anemic dollar signals serious jitters.
"The issue is currency devaluation, and the worry is that it essentially lowers our credibility in the world," said Office Depot Inc (ODP.N) CEO Steve Odland in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the conference.
CEOs say that a slew of government spending programs on health care and other priorities could undercut economic recovery.
As the Federal Reserve works is effectively "printing money" through various programs to restart stalled financial markets, inflation is a risk.
"I have very significant concerns that unless we modify the current (spending) strategy, we will see inflation and a further reduction of the dollar," said PG&E Corp (PCG.N) CEO Peter Darbee.
"The current move in the dollar is an early indication that others in the world expect the same thing. That's why there's a beginning of the movement away from the dollar as a store of value."
"We need to return to fiscal responsibility," added Office Depot's Odland.
The greenback has been under broad selling pressure on expectations that U.S. interest rates will stay at very low levels for some time. Low rates reduce the attractiveness of U.S. investments and ease demand for the dollars to buy them.
Still, some corporate chieftains don't deny that a weaker dollar can be quite beneficial.
"The biggest benefit to our business is the weaker dollar," said James Goodnight, chief executive officer of the business analytics software maker SAS.
Because SAS reaps about 65 percent of its revenue outside the United States, the dollar's drop against the euro has helped boost profit, he said.
"For every 100 euros (of product) we sell in Europe, we get back $150," said Goodnight."
But overall, many CEOs said they were worried about the long-term impact of a weak dollar.
"Long term, the economic welfare of the country relies a stronger dollar," said Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC.N) CEO Wick Moorman. "While shorter-term weakness may accomplish certain things, it's not a good long term monetary policy."
Pala Empire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| [hide]History of South Asia | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stone Age | before 3300 BCE | ||||
| Mature Harappan | 2600–1700 BCE | ||||
| Late Harappan | 1700–1300 BCE | ||||
| Iron Age | 1200–300 BCE | ||||
| Maurya Empire | • 321–184 BCE | ||||
| Middle Kingdoms | 230 BCE–1279 CE | ||||
| Satavahana | • 230 BCE–220 CE | ||||
| Gupta Empire | • 280–550 CE | ||||
| Islamic Sultanates | 1206–1596 | ||||
| Mughal Empire | 1526–1707 | ||||
| Maratha Empire | 1674-1818 | ||||
| Sikh Confederacy | 1716-1849 | ||||
| British India | 1858–1947 | ||||
| Modern States | since 1947 | ||||
| Timeline | |||||
The Pāla Empire was a Buddhist dynasty as well as one of the major middle kingdoms of India that ruled from the north-eastern region of the Indian subcontinent. The Palas were often described by opponents as the Lords of Gauda. The name Pala (Modern Bengali: পাল pal) means protector and was used as an ending to the names of all Pala monarchs. The Palas were followers of the Mahayana and Tantric schools of Buddhism. Gopala was the first ruler from the dynasty. He came to power in 750 in Gaur by a democratic election. This event is recognized as one of the first democratic elections in South Asia since the time of the Mahā Janapadas. He reigned from 750-770 and consolidated his position by extending his control over all of Bengal. The Buddhist dynasty lasted for four centuries (750-1120 AD) and ushered in a period of stability and prosperity in Bengal. They created many temples and works of art as well as supported the Universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila. Somapura Mahavihara built by Dharmapala is the greatest Buddhist Vihara in the Indian Subcontinent.
The empire reached its peak under Dharmapala and Devapala. Dharmapala extended the empire into the northern parts of the Indian Subcontinent. This triggered once again the power struggle for the control of the subcontinent. Devapala, successor of Dharmapala, expanded the empire to cover much of South Asia and beyond. His empire stretched from Assam and Utkala in the east, Kamboja (modern day Afghanistan) in the north-west and Deccan in the south. According to Pala copperplate inscription Devapala exterminated the Utkalas, conquered the Pragjyotisha (Assam), shattered the pride of the Huna, and humbled the lords of Pratiharas, Gurjara and the Dravidas.
The death of Devapala ended the period of ascendancy of the Pala Empire and several independent dynasties and kingdoms emerged during this time. However, Mahipala I rejuvenated the reign of the Palas. He recovered control over all of Bengal and expanded the empire. He survived the invasions of Rajendra Chola and the Chalukyas. After Mahipala I the Pala dynasty again saw its decline until Ramapala, the last great ruler of the dynasty, managed to retrieve the position of the dynasty to some extent. He crushed the Varendra rebellion and extended his empire farther to Kamarupa, Orissa and Northern India.
The Pala Empire can be considered as the golden era of Bengal. Never had the Bengali people reached such height of power and glory to that extent. Palas were responsible for the introduction of Mahayana Buddhism in Tibet, Bhutan and Myanmar. The Palas had extensive trade as well as influence in south-east Asia. This can be seen in the sculptures and architectural style of the Sailendra Empire (present-day Malaya, Java, Sumatra). The Pala Empire eventually disintegrated in the 12th century under the attack of the Sena dynasty.
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[edit] Origin of the Palas
The origin of the Palas is not clearly stated in any of the numerous Pala records. According to Manjuśree Mūlakalpa, Gopala I was a Śudra. Balla-Carita says that the "The Palas were low-born Kshatriya". Tibetan Historian Taranatha Lama, in his "History of Buddhism in India" and Ghanarama, in his "Dharma Mangala", (both of 16th century CE), also give the same story. Arabic accounts tell us that Palas were not kings of noble origin. According to Abu Fazal (Ain-i-Akbari), Palas were Kayastha. Khalimpur Plate of Dharmapala of Bengal, son of Gopala I (the founder of the dynasty), states that Gopala was a son of a warrior (Khanditarat) Vapyata and grandson of a highly educated (Saryavidyavadat) Dayitavishnu. Ramachrita of Sandhyakaranandi attests Pala king Ramapala as a Kshatriya. In the Udaya-sundari-katha, a Champu-Kavya, written by Soddhala in the eleventh century, Pala king Dharmapala is said to have belonged to the family of Mandhata of the Ikshvaku line which is known to belong to solar race. In a commentary of Astasāhasrika-Prajňāpāramitā of Haribhadra, Pala king Dharmapala is described as Rajabhatādibamspatita, which some writers have tried to interpret as Rajvatt-Vamsa-Patit, and therefore, try to relate Dharamapala to Rajvatt, the son of Devakhadga of the Khadga dynasty of Bengal. But there is sharp difference of opinion about the real meaning of the expression and it has not been met with approval among the scholar community. It has also been proposed that the ancestor of the Palas were born of a Kshatriya mother.[2]
The Kamauli Copper Plate inscription of king Vaidyadeva of Kamarupa (Assam)[3] indisputably connects the Palas to the Kshatriyas of "Mihirasya vamsa" (Surya lineage).[4]
Since Mihira means Sun or Sun worshipper, the expression Mihirasya implies connected with or relating to the Sun or Sun Worship (Sanskrit Mitra, Persian Mithira == > Mihira = Sun). According to Bhavishya Purana, the Mihira lineage originated from the union of Nishkubha, daughter of Rsi Rijihva and the Sun (Mihira).[5] From this wedlock was born a sage called Zarashata, who apparently is Zoroaster of the Iranian traditions. Mihirasya Vamsa means Mihira Vamsa which is also found written as Mihirkula i.e. lineage of the Sun-worshippers. The reference to Mihirasya vamsa as being the lineage of the Palas of Bengal as attested independently by the Kamauli Grant of king Vaidyadeva of Assam holds a probable clue that the Palas may have come from the Sun-Worshipping lineage i.e. Iranian or Zoroastrian line of the Kambojas.[6][7]
The fact that Gopala I, the founder of the so-called Pala dynasty was a Buddhist and that he has also been branded as a Śudra king [8] may also carry a clue to his connections to the Kamboja lineage since the Kambojas were also predominantly Buddhists in post-Christian times and have also been branded as Vrishalas (degraded Kshatriyas or Śudras) in several Hindu texts like Manu Smriti, Mahabharata, Harivamsha and numerous Puranas [9]. Also the fact that Gopala I's grandfather was a learned man, his father a warrior, and king Gopala himself was elected to the throne of Bengal, he therefore, was definitely not initially of a distinguished royal blood from the Hindu point of view. Some surmise that he may have been from a Brahmin lineage[10] but since the Palas are called Śudras as well as Ksatriyas, these references qualify them more as the Indo-Iranian Kambojas than of any other lineage. The ancient Indian traditions also incidentally attest the scholarship and learning of the Kambojas who excelled in education and produced many outstanding teachers and sages in ancient and medieval times. Scholars further note that Vapyata, the grand father of Gopala I, had come into east from the north-west Punjab [11], which if true, definitely means Gandhara/Kamboja region.
Ramachrita of Sandhyakaranandi also attests that Varendri or North Bengal was the fatherland (Janakabhu) of the Palas. In the Bangarh copper plate inscription of Mahipala, it has been stated that Mahipala recovered his Fatherland (Rajyam Pitram) from his enemies which apparently was North Bengal that was occupied by the Kambojas.[12] But if the Palas and Kamboja-Palas were same family, then this may have totally different interpretation and meaning.[13][14]
It is notable that one section of scholars like Dr N. G. Majumdar [15] , Chandra Chakrabarty [16], E. Vasey Westmacott [17] etc consider that the so-called Pala Rulers of Bengal (authors of Pala Empire) actually belonged to Kamboja race. Dr N. G. Majumdar was the original editor of Irda Copper plate, and had initially thought that the Pala Dynasty and the Kambboja Pala dynasty were two separate dynasties, but later on, had modified his views in light of new discovery which demonstrated that king Rajyapala-II of the so-called Pala dynasty, just like king Rajyapala of the Irda Copper plate, was found as adorned with religious epithet of Parama-saugata (devoted Buddhist) as well as the imperial title of the Maharajadhiraja.[18] Based on this new evidence and earlier similarities, Dr N. G. Majumdar, had accordingly changed his views and got inclined to identify the Pala Dynasty of Bengal with the Kambojas, and thereby, also dispelling the earlier views on the origin of the Pala kings of Bengal [19].
Dr H. C. Ray however, has advised a policy of 'wait' till the discovery of more powerful evidence before we can say that the Pala dynasty and the Kamboja Pala Dynasty belonged to the Kamboja race. He oberserved: "I can only suggest that we must wait for more definite proof before we can say that the Palas were Kambojas".[20] Dr Ramananda Chatterjee writes that "as regards the Kamboja origin of the Pala, one cannot be definite in the present state of our knowledge".[21] Dr J. L. Kamboj cautions that if we identify Rajyapala of the Pala Dynasty with the Rajyapala of the 'Irda Copper Plate', then we will have no option other than to accept that the Pala Dynasty of Bengal had sprang from the Kamboja race.[22] Dr R. C. Majumdar advises that if we identify the Kamboja-vamsa-tilaka Rajyapala of the Irda Copper plate with the Rajyapala of the Pala dynasty, then we must also accept that after Rajyapla, the Pala empire had split up into two.[23] Dr R. C. Majumdar further advises that "although the presumption about the identity (of the Palas with the Kambojas) is certainly a reasonable one, the evidence in favor of it can not be regarded as conclusive..".[24]
It is plausible that the ancestors of the Palas may have settled in Vanga and later moved to Varendra (North Bengal) or Varendra which became the capital of the newly born empire during the reign of Gopala.
[edit] Matsyanyaya and the ascendancy of the Palas
After Shashanka Bengal was shrouded in obscurity and was shattered by repeated invasions. Jayavardhana of the Shaila Dynasty from Central India invaded Bengal and killed the king of Pundra Kingdom (730 CE). Yasovarman (725-752) of Kannauj killed the king of Magadha and Gauda. Later Lalitaditya Muktapida (724-760) of Kashmir who defeated Yasovarmana invaded Bengal. Sri Harsha of Kamarupa conquered Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Odra. The social and political structure of Bengal was devastated. According to Lama Taranath: Every single Brahman, every Kshatriya, every Elite became all powerful in their areas and surrounding regions. This condition has been described by Taranath as Matsyanyam (Eating of small fish by the big fish) or the Dark Age of Bengal. Disgusted at the situation the desperate people of Bengal made a bold move which marked a glorious period in the history of the sub-continent. They elected Gopala, a popular military leader, as their king by a democratic election which was probably the only democratic election in medieval India.
[edit] Buddhism
After the Buddhist king Harsha Vardhana, Buddhism faced the possibility of extinction. The Palas emerged as the champion of Buddhism, and they patronized Mahayana Buddhism. The Palas supported the Universities of Vikramashila and Nalanda which became the seats of learning for Asia. The Nalanda University is considered one of the first great universities in recorded history reached its height under the Palas.[25].
The Palas were responsible for the spread of Mahayana Buddhism in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and the Malay archipelago. Bengal became famous in the Buddhist world for the cultivation of Buddhist religion, culture and other knowledge in the various centres that grew under the patronage of the Pala rulers[26]. Buddhist scholars from the Pala empire travelled from Bengal to the Far-East and propagated Buddhism. A few outstanding ones among them are Shantarakshit, Padmanava, Dansree, Bimalamitra, Jinamitra, Muktimitra, Sugatasree, Dansheel, Sambhogabajra, Virachan, Manjughosh and many others. But the most prominent was Atish Dipankar Srigyan who reformed Buddhism in Tibet after it had been destroyed by king Langdharma. Although the Palas were Vaishnavas, they had also given support to Saiva ascetics, typically the ones associated with the Golagi-Math.[27] Many of the Pala Dynasty's coins also bear the image of Shiva and his bull.[28] Besides sculptures of Vaishnava deities, they had also constructed statues of Siva and Saraswati.[29]
[edit] Main Pala rulers
 |  | |
| Pala Empire under Dharmapala | Pala Empire under Devapala |
- Gopala I (756 - 781)
- Dharmapala (781 - 821)
- Devapala (821 - 861)
- Mahendrapala, Shurapala I, Vigrahapala I (861 - 866)
- Narayanapala (866 - 920)
- Rajyapala (920 - 952)
- Gopala II (952 - 969)
- Vigrahapala II (969 - 995)
- Mahipala I (995 - 1043)
- Nayapala (1043 - 1058)
- Vigrahapala III (1058 - 1075)
- Mahipala II (1075 - 1080)
- Shurapala II (1080-1082)
- Ramapala (1082 - 1124)
- Kumarapala (1124 - 1129)
- Gopala III (1129 - 1143)
- Madanapala (1143 - 1162)
- Govindapala (1162 - 1174)
[edit] Peace and Expansion
Gopala united all of Bengal and brought peace and prosperity in the region. The period of anarchy ended with his election. The Pala kings devoted themselves in public welfare and social reform. The Palas adopted the policy of religious toleration and co-existence of the Buddhists and the Hindus. Pala kings won the heart of the people by welfare activities like digging tanks establishing towns and took place in many folklores in the rural areas of Bengal. The Mahipala Geet (Songs of Mahipala) is still popular in the rural areas.
Palas adopted aggressive policy and began the period of expansion under Dharmapala and Devapala. At its height Dharmapala's empire covered most of northern and central region of the Indian Subcontinent. His successor Devapala extended the boundaries of the empire further to Assam in the east, Kamboja in the north-wast and the Deccan in the south. Devapala united much of South Asia under his rule, a feat only achieved before by Ashoka the Great. The successors of Devapala had to contend with the Gurjara-Pratihara and the Rashtrakutas for the supremacy of the Kannauj Triangle. After Narayanpala the Pala empire declined but was revived once more under the vigorous reigns of Mahipala and Ramapala.
[edit] Pala administration
Pala rule was Monarchial. King or Monarch was the centre of all power. Pala kings would adopt titles like Parameshwar, Paramvattaraka, Maharajadhiraja. Pala kings appointed Prime Ministers. The Line of Garga served as the Prime Ministers of the Palas for 100 years. Garga | Darvapani | Someshwar | Kedarmisra| Vatt Guravmisra Pala Empire was divided into separate Vuktis (Provinces), Vuktis into Vishaya (Divisions) and Mandala Districts. Smaller units were Khandala, Bhaga, Avritti, Chaturaka, and Pattaka. Administration covered widespread area from the grass root level to the imperial court. The Pala copperplates mention following administrative Posts:Raja, Rajanyaka, Rajanaka, Ranaka, Samanta and Mahasamanta (Vassal kings), Mahasandhi-vigrahika (Foreign minister), Duta (Head Ambassador), Rajasthaniya (Deputy), Aggaraksa (Chief guard), Sasthadhikrta (Tax collector), Chauroddharanika (Police tax), Shaulkaka (Trade tax), Dashaparadhika (Collector of penalties), and Tarika (Toll collector for river crossings), Mahaksapatalika (Accountant), Jyesthakayastha (Dealing documents), the Ksetrapa (Head of land use division) and Pramatr (Head of land measurements), the Mahadandanayaka or Dharmadhikara (Chief justice), the Mahapratihara, Dandika, Dandapashika, and Dandashakti (Police forces), Khola (Secret service). Agricultural posts like Gavadhakshya (Head of dairy farms), Chhagadhyakshya (Head of goat farms), Meshadyakshya (Head of sheep farms), Mahishadyakshya (Head of Buffalo farms) and many other like Vogpati, Vishayapati, Shashtadhikruta, Dauhshashadhanika, Nakadhyakshya.
[edit] Pala Literature
The proto-Bangla language was born during the reign of the Palas. The Buddhist texts of the Charyapada were the earliest form of Bangla language. This Proto-Bangla language was used as the official language in Tibet, Myanmar, Java and Sumatra. Books on every aspect of knowledge were compiled during the Pala Rule. On philosophy: Agaman Shastra by Gaudapada, Nyay Kundali by Sridhar Bhatta, Karmanushthan Paddhati by Bhatta Bhavadeva; On Medicine: Chikitsa Sangraha, Ayurvedidwipika, Bhanumati, Shabdachandrika, Dravya Gunasangraha by Chakrapani Dutt; Shabda-Pradip, Vrikkhayurveda, Lohpaddhati by Sureshwar; Chikitsa Sarsangraha by Vangasena; Sushrata by Gadadha Vaidya; Daybhaga, Byabohar-Matrika, Kalvivek by Jimutvahan etc. Atisha compiled more than 200 books. The great epic Ramacharitam written by Sandhyakar Nandi the court poet of Madanpala was another masterpiece of the Pala literature. The Pala copperplate inscriptions were of excellent literary value. This distinctive inscriptions were called Gaudiya Style.
[edit] Pala art and architecture
The most brilliant side of the Pala Empire was the excellence of its art and sculptures. Palas created a distinctive form of Buddhist art known as the "Pala School of Sculptural Art." The gigantic structures of Vikramshila Vihar, Odantpuri Vihar, and Jagaddal Vihar were masterpieces of the Palas. These mammoth structures were mistaken by the forces of Bakhtiar Khilji as fortified castles and were demolished. The Somapura Mahaviharaa, a creation of Dharmapala, at Paharpur, Bangladesh, is the largest Buddhist Vihara in the Indian subcontinent, and has been described as a "pleasure to the eyes of the world." UNESCO made it World Heritage Site in 1985. Sompur Bihara, also built by Dharmapala, is a monastery with 21 acre (85,000 m²) complex has 177 cells, numerous stupas, temples and a number of other ancillary buildings. In 1985, the UN included the Sompur Bihara site in the world Cultural Heritage list. The Pala architectural style was followed throughout south-eastern Asia, China, Japan and Tibet. Bengal rightfully earned the name "Mistress of the East". Dr. Stella Kramrisch says: "The art of Bihar and Bengal exercised a lasting influence on that of Nepal, Burma, Ceylon and Java". Dhiman and Vittpala were two celebrated Pala sculptors. About Sompura Mahavihara, Mr. J.C. French says with grief: "For the research of the Pyramids of Egypt we spend millions of dollars every year. But had we spent only one percent of that money for the excavation of Sompura Mahavihara, who knows what extraordinary discoveries could have been made."---"The Art of the Pala Empire of Bengal," p. 4.
[edit] Pala foreign relations
Palas came in contact with distant lands through their conquests and trades. The Sailendra Empire of Java, Sumatra and Malaya was a colony of the Palas[30]. Devapala granted five villages at the request of the Sailendra king Balputradeva of Java for the upkeeping of the matha established at Nalanda for the scholars of that country. The Prime minister of the Balputradeva Kumar Ghosha was from Gauda. Dharmapala who extended his empire to the boundary of the Abbasid Empire had diplomatic relations with the caliph Harun Al-Rashid[30]. Coins of Harun-al-Rashid have been found in Mahasthangarh. Palas maintained diplomatic and religious relation with Tibet. During the military expeditions of the Pala kings the Pala generals would establish kingdoms of their own in Punjab and Afghanistan. Recent discoveries in the Punjab hills showed the influence of the Pala Dynasty. There is a strong and continuous tradition that the ruling families in certain states are descended from the "Rajas of Gaur in Bengal". These states are Suket, Keonthal, Kashtwar and Mandi. In the ancient Rajput states tradition has immense force and accuracy. Of Kashtwar it is related that Kahan Pal — the founder of the state — with a small band of followers arrived in the hills in order to conquer a kingdom for himself. He is said to have come from Gaur, the ancient capital of Bengal and to have been a cadet of the ruling family of the place. The demise of the Turkshahi rule in Gandhar and the rise of the Hindushahi dynasty in that region might have connection to the invasion of the Palas in that region.
[edit] Pala armed forces
Palas had fourfold army consisting of: infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots. In the copperplates of Vatsaraja Dharmapala had been mentioned as the owner of unlimited number of horses, elephants and chariots. It is amazing that when the use of chariots had been backdated in India and other parts of the world the kings of Bengal still depended on four-horsed heavy chariots. Being a riverine land and swarthy climate Bengal was not good enough for breeding quality war-horses. So the Palas had to depend upon their vassal kings for war horses. Pala copperplate inscriptions reveal that mercenary forces were recruited from the Kamboja, Khasa, Huna, Malwa, Gujarat, and Karnata.[30] The Kamboja cavalry were the cream of the Pala army who would later become as powerful as the Janissary army of the Ottoman Empire. The Kamboja forces maintained smaller confederates (Sanghas) among themselves and were staunch follower of their commander. Palas had the army divided into following posts: Senapati or Mahasenapati (General) controlling foot soldiers, cavalry, soldiers riding elephants and camels, and the navy, and the various army posts like Kottapala (Fort guards) and Prantapala (Border guards). Palas had a huge army and the legend of "Nava Lakkha Shainya" (Nine lac soldiers) were popular during the reigns of Dharmapala and Devapala. According to Hudud al-Alam a Persian text written in 982-983 Dharmapala possessed an army of 300,000 soldiers. According to Sulaiman the Arab traveller Devapala set out for his every military expedition with an army of 50,000 elephants and his army had 10,000-15,000 slaves for the maintenance and caretaking of his armies.
[edit] Legacy
Palas legacy gets remembered not much in Bengal but elsewhere in Asia. Tibet's modern culture and religion is heavily influenced by Palas.[31] Palas are credited with spreading Buddhism to Tibet and around the world through missionaries. Atisa, a Palan, is a celebrated figure in the Tibetan Buddhism in tradition and in establishment. Atisa also invented bodhichitta or known as "mind training" that is practiced around the world today. Another important Palan figure in Tibetan Buddhism is Tilopa who founded the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and developed the Mahamudra method, a set of spiritual practices that greatly accelerated the process of attaining bodhi (enlightenment). Palas literature is widely studied by Buddhist around the world.[32] Pala architectural style was copied throughout south-eastern Asia, China, Japan, and Tibet. Nalanda University and Vikramshila University are two of the greatest Buddhist universities ever recorded in history.
| Preceded by Gupta dynasty | Bengal dynasty | Succeeded by Sena dynasty |
[edit] See also
| Middle kingdoms of India | ||||||||||||
| Timeline: | Northern Empires | Southern Dynasties | Northwestern Kingdoms | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6th century BCE |
| | (Persian rule) | |||||||||
- History of India
- Nalanda
- Vikramashila
- Gopala
- Dharmapala
- Devapala
- Mahipala
- Ramapala
- Atisa
- Sompur Bihara
- Kambojas
- Kamboja Dynasty of Bengal
- Brahmanism of the ancient Kambojas
[edit] References
- Mahajan, V.D. (1960, Reprint 2007), Ancient India, S. Chand & Company, New Delhi, ISBN 81-219-0887-6.
- ^ "The Pala Dynasty". lotuss culpture. http://www.lotussculpture.com/pala.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Pala_Empire
- ^ See: Gaudalekhamala, pp 127-146, A. K. Maitreya.
- ^ See some refs: Epigraphia Indica, XXIV, p 43, Dr N. G. Majumdar; The History and Culture of the Pālas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D.-cir ..., 1003, p 37, Jhunu Bagchi - History; The Dacca University Studies, 1935, p 131, University of Dacca; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 316, Dr J. L. Kamboj; Late Classical India, 1988, p 25, Mainak Kumar Bose - India; History of Ancient Bengal, 1971, p 427, Ramesh Chandra Majumdar - Bengal (India).
- ^ Dr D. R. Bhandarkar, Dr Buddha Parkash.
- ^ Bryant cites Hesychius (6th century CE): "MiqraV o hlioV para PersaiV" ("Mithras, the sun of Persia") and "MiqrhV o protoV en PersaiV QeoV" ("Mithres, the first god in Persia."). Hesychius thus confirms not only the solar nature but also the /Persian/ origin of Mithra, still known in his day.
- ^ The priests of Mithra, and of Iranian Sun and Fire worship in general, were the Magi or Magas. The Magas entered India on a number of occasions over a period of centuries, prior to and during the common era. At this point, Indian Sun worship became increasingly formalized, with elaborate rituals, temples and images sprouting up and from the 6th century CE onward, royal names began to have "Mihira" (Mithra) in them after a millennium of integration (or reintegration) into Indian culture.
- ^ Op cit., p 37, Jhunu Bagchi; Indian Antiquary, Vol IV, 1875, pp 365-66; Corpus of Bengal Inscriptions, Mukerjee and Maity, p 11; Caste and Chronology of the Pala kings of Bengal, J. C. Ghosh, The IHQ, IX, 1983, pp 487-90; The Caste of the Palas, The Indian Culture, Vol IV, 1939, pp 113-14, B Chatterji; Social Change in Modern India, 1995, p 9, M N Srinivas; Modern India: An Interpretive Antholog, 1971, p 115, Thomas R. Metcalf - History.
- ^ Manusmriti X.43-44; Mahabharata 13.33.20-21, Harivamsa 14.1-19 etc etc.
- ^ Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World, 1990, p 265, André Wink; History of Medieval India, 1940, p 20, fn, Ishwari Prasad - India.
- ^ Ref: The Place of Assam in the History and Civilization of India, 1970, p 20, Dr S. K. Chatterjee, Published by Dept. of Publication, University of Gauhati.
- ^ This is usual interpretation.
- ^ According to second interpretation, the Palas have also been conjectured to be from the Kamboja lineage and the Rajyapala II of the so-called Pala dynasty of Bengal and the Kamboja-vamsa-tilaka Rajayapla of the Irda Copper Plate may have been one and the same historical per4sonage as Dr N. G. Majumdar, Dr Chandra Chakraberty and some other scholars have surmised. This assumption may lead to different interpretation of the Dinajpore Inscription and hence to a new Pala and Kamboja identity.
- ^ See: The Early History of Bengal: From the Earliest Times to the Muslim Conquest, 1939, p 82, Pramode Lal Paul - Bengal (India).
- ^ See: The Modern Review, 1937, pp 323-24, N. G. Majumdar; See also: Quotation Dr H. C. Ray, Indian Historical Quarterly, XV-4, December 1939, p 110, fn 11; Also quoted by Dr J. L. Kamboja in his Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 323; Quoted in: 'The Modern Review, 1907, p 440, by Ramananda Chatterjee - India; See also: Indian Historical Quarterly, 1963, p 509.
- ^ See: The Racial History of India, 1944, p 834, Chandra Chakraberty - Ethnology.
- ^ The Calcutta Review, The Dinagepoor Raj, 1872, 206, E. Vasey Westmacott; See also: The Calcutta Review, Pal Kings of Bengal, 1874, pp 74, 91-99, E. Vasey Westmacott.
- ^ Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 316-17; Dr J. L. Kamboj; See also the Quotation of Dr H. C. Ray, Indian Historical Quarterly, XV-4, December 1939, p 110, fn 11, quoted by Dr J. L. Kamboja in his Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 323.
- ^ Quoted in: 'The Modern Review, 1907, p 440, by Ramananda Chatterjee - India.
- ^ See: The Indian Historical Quarterly, 1963, p 511; Indian Historical Quarterly, XV-4, December 1939, p 110, fn 11, Dr H. C. Ray
- ^ The Modern Review, 1907, p 324, Ramananda Chatterjee - India.
- ^ Prācīna Kamboja, jana aura janapada =: Ancient Kamboja, people and country, 1981, p 356, Dr Jiyālāla Kāmboja, Dr Satyavarti Sastri - Kamboja (Pakistan); See also: The Modern Review, 1907, p 324, Dr Ramananda Chatterjee.
- ^ The History of Bengal, Vol I, p 127 Dr R. C. Majumdar
- ^ History of Ancient Bengal, 1971, p 172, Dr R. C. Majumdar - Bengal (India); cf: Dacca University Studies, Vol I, No 2, p 131; ff.
- ^ http://www.discussanything.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-62248.html
- ^ http://www.lotussculpture.com/pala.htm
- ^ P. 19 The history and culture of the Pālas of Bengal and Bihar, cir. 750 A.D.-cir. 1200 A.D. by Jhunu Bagchi
- ^ Bīrūni & Sachau, P. xlvii Alberuni's India.
- ^ P. 38 Arts of India By Krishna Chaitanya
- ^ a b c http://www.experiencefestival.com/pala_empire_-_external_references
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=H8Ssa5r7MZkC&pg=PA120&lpg=PA120&dq=pala+empire+tibet&source=bl&ots=co_irqhydZ&sig=WLRMEmKXQwaIxVAWmmrJwG5ZlGw&hl=en&ei=s0lnSq-NM9POlAeXsLzdDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2
- ^ http://www.experiencefestival.com/pala_empire
[edit] External links
Dalit Buddhist movement
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Dalit Buddhist movement (Pāli नवयान navayāna as dubbed by certain Ambedkerites)[1] in India began with support of Sri Lankan Buddhist monks. It received an impetus with B. R. Ambedkar's call for conversion of Dalits to Buddhism in the context of a caste based society that considered them to be at the lower end of the hierarchy.[2]
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Origins
Buddhism was once dominant through much of India, it had however begun to decline by the 12th century (see Decline of Buddhism in India). The Buddhist revival began in India in 1891, when the Sri Lankan Buddhist leader Anagarika Dharmapala founded the Maha Bodhi Society.[3] The Maha Bodhi Society mainly attracted upper-caste people.[4]
[edit] South India
In 1890 Pandit C. Ayodhya Dasa (1845-1914), better known as Iyothee Thass, founded the Sakya Buddhist Society (also known as the Indian Buddhist Association). The first president of the Indian Buddhist Association was the German born American Paul Carus, the author of The Gospel of Buddha (1894).
Thass, a Tamil Siddha physician, was the pioneer of the Tamil Dalit movement. He argued that Tamil Dalits were originally Buddhists. He led a delegation of prominent Dalits to Henry Steel Olcott and asked for his help in the reestablishment of "Tamil Buddhism." Olcott helped Thass to visit Sri Lanka, where he received diksha from Bhikkhu Sumangala Nayake. After returning to India, Thass established the Sakya Buddhist Society in Madras with branches in many places including Karnataka.[5] Thass established a weekly magazine called Oru Paisa Tamizhan ("One Paisa Tamilian") in Chennai in 1907, which served as a newsletter linking all the new branches of the Sakya Buddhist Society. The magazine discussed traditions and practices of Tamil Buddhism, new developments in the Buddhist world, and the Indian subcontinent's history from the Buddhist point of view.
Brahmananda Reddy, a Dalit leader of Andhra Pradesh, was also fascinated by Buddhism.
[edit] Uttar Pradesh
In the early 20th century, the Barua Buddhists of Bengal under the leadership of Kripasaran Mahasthavir (1865-1926), founder of the Bengal Buddhist Association, Calcutta (1892) established viharas in cities such as Lucknow, Hyderabad, Shillong and Jamshedpur.[4]
In Lucknow, Bodhanand Mahastavir (1874-1952) advocated Buddhism for Dalits. Born Mukund Prakash in a Bengali Brahmin family, he was orphaned at a young age, and was then raised in Benaras by an aunt. He was initially attracted to Christianity, but became a Buddhist after a meeting with Buddhists monks from Ceylon at a Theosophical Conference in Benares. He later lived in Lucknow where he came in contact with Barua Buddhists, many of whom were employed as cooks by the British. In 1914, Prakash was ordained Bodhanand Mahastavir in Calcutta in the presence of Kripasaran Mahasthvir. He began preaching Buddhism in Lucknow. He founded the Bharatiye Buddh Samiti in 1916, and set up a vihara in 1928. In his book Mula Bharatavasi Aur Arya ("Original Inhabitants and Aryans"), Mahastavir stated that the shudras were the original inhabitants of India, who were enslaved by the Aryans.[6]
Bodhanand Mahastavir wrote another book on Buddhist rituals called Baudha Dvicharya. His associate, Chandrika Prasad Jigyasu, founded the Bahujan Kalyan Prakashan. The two co-authored a book on the life and teaching of the Buddha.
Acharya Ishvardatt Medharthi (1900-1971) of Kanpur also supported the cause of the Dalits. He had studied Pali at Gurukul Kangri and Buddhist scripture was well known to him. He was initiated into Buddhism by Gyan Keto and the Lokanatha in 1937. Gyan Keto (1906-1984), born Peter Schoenfeldt was a German who arrived to Ceylon in 1936 and became a Buddhist. Although Medharthi heavily criticized the Indian caste system, he didn't criticize Hinduism. He claimed that the Dalits ("Adi Hindus") were the ancient rulers of India and had been trapped into slavery by the Aryan invaders. He also claimed that the sanatana dharma was the religion of "Adi Hindus", and tried to reconcile Buddhism with the Sant Mat.[6]
Another Bhikkhu of Kanpur, Bhikshu Uttam, was a strong supporter of the Arya Samaj and the Jat Pat Todak Mandal, the anti-caste wing of the Arya Samaj.[6]
[edit] B. R. Ambedkar
At the Yeola conference in 1935, prominent Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar declared that he would not die a Hindu, saying that it perpetuates caste injustices. Ambedkar was approached by various leaders of different denominations and faiths. Meetings were held to discuss the question of Dalit religion and the pros and cons of conversion[6]. On May 22, 1936, an "All Religious Conference" was held at Lucknow. It was attended by prominent Dalit leaders including Jagjivan Ram, though Ambedkar could not attend it. At the conference, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and Buddhist representatives presented the tenets of their respective religions in an effort to win over Dalits[6].
Buddhist monk Lokanatha visited Ambedkar's residence at Dadar on June 10, 1936 and tried to persuade him to embrace Buddhism. Later in an interview to the Press, Lokanatha said that Ambedkar was impressed with Buddhism and that his own ambition was to convert all Dalits to Buddhism[7]. In 1937, Lokanatha published a pamphlet Buddhism Will Make You Free, dedicated to the Depressed Classes of India from his press in Ceylon.
In early 1940s, Ambedkar visited Acharya Ishvardatt Medharthi's Buddhpuri school in Kanpur. Medharthi had earlier been initiated into Buddhism by Lokanatha, and by the mid-1940s, he had close contacts with Ambedkar. For a short while, Ambedkar also took Pali classes from Medharthi in Delhi[6].
Bodhananda Mahastvir and B. R. Ambedkar first met in 1926, at the "Indian Non-Brahmin Conference" convened by Shahu IV of Kolhapur. They met on two more occasions and for a short while in the 1940s, where they discussed dhamma. Mahastavir was objected to Dr Ambedkar's second marriage because his wife was a Brahmin.[6] Later, his followers actively participated in Ambedkar's Republican Party of India.
[edit] Ambedkar's conversion
After publishing a series of books and articles arguing that Buddhism was the only way for the Untouchables to gain equality, Ambedkar publicly converted on October 14, 1956 at Deekshabhoomi, Nagpur. He took the three refuges and the Five Precepts from a Buddhist monk, Bhadant U Chandramani, in the traditional manner and then in his turn administered them to the 380,000 of his followers that were present. The conversion ceremony was attended by Medharthi, his main disciple Bhoj Dev Mudit, and Mahastvir Bodhanand's Sri Lankan successor, Bhante Pragyanand[6]. Ambedkar would die less than two months later, just after finishing his definitive work on Buddhism.
Many Dalits employ the term "Ambedkar(ite) Buddhism" to designate the Buddhist movement, which started with Ambedkar's conversion[6] and many converted people called themselves as "Nava-Bauddha" i.e. New Buddhists.
[edit] 22 Vows of Ambedkar
After receiving ordination, Ambedkar gave dhamma diksha to his followers. The ceremony included 22 vows given to all new converts after Three Jewels and Five Precepts. On 16 October 1956, Ambedkar performed another mass religious conversion ceremony at Chanda. He prescribed 22 vows to his followers:
- I shall have no faith in Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara nor shall I worship them.
- I shall have no faith in Rama and Krishna who are believed to be incarnation of God nor shall I worship them.
- I shall have no faith in Gauri, Ganapati and other gods and goddesses of Hindus nor shall I worship them.
- I do not believe in the incarnation of God.
- I do not and shall not believe that Lord Buddha was the incarnation of Vishnu. I believe this to be sheer madness and false propaganda.
- I shall not perform Shraddha nor shall I give pind-dan.
- I shall not act in a manner violating the principles and teachings of the Buddha.
- I shall not allow any ceremonies to be performed by Brahmins.
- I shall believe in the equality of man.
- I shall endeavor to establish equality.
- I shall follow the noble eightfold path of the Buddha.
- I shall follow the ten paramitas prescribed by the Buddha.
- I shall have compassion and loving kindness for all living beings and protect them.
- I shall not steal.
- I shall not tell lies.
- I shall not commit carnal sins.
- I shall not take intoxicants like liquor, drugs etc.
- I shall endeavor to follow the noble eightfold path and practice compassion and loving kindness in every day life.
- I renounce Hinduism, which is harmful for humanity and impedes the advancement and development of humanity because it is based on inequality, and adopt Buddhism as my religion.
- I firmly believe the Dhamma of the Buddha is the only true religion.
- I believe that I am having a re-birth.
- I solemnly declare and affirm that I shall hereafter lead my life according to the principles and teachings of the Buddha and his Dhamma.
Nowadays many Ambedkarite Organisations are working for these 22 vows (i.e. 22 Pratigya). They believe that these vows only are responsible for the existence & rapid growth of present Buddhism in India. The umbrella organization known as the 22 Pledges Practice & Propagation Movement (i.e. in Hindi- 22 Pratigya Aacharan aur Prachaar Abhiyan) is fully devoted for this purpose. This totally non-political movement is the brain-child of Arvind Sontakke, and comprises around 5,000,000 volunteers (Pracharaks) including many regional and local groups throughout India.
[edit] Dalit Buddhism movement after Ambedkar's death
The Buddhist movement was somewhat hindered by Dr. Ambedkar's death so shortly after his conversion. It did not receive the immediate mass support from the Untouchable population that Ambedkar had hoped for. Division and lack of direction among the leaders of the Ambedkarite movement have been an additional impediment. According to the 2001 census, there are currently 7.95 million Buddhists in India, at least 5.83 million of whom are Buddhists in Maharashtra[8]. This makes Buddhism the fifth-largest religion in India and 6% of the population of Maharashtra, but less than 1% of the overall population of India.
The Buddhist revival remains concentrated in two states: Ambedkar's native Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh — the land of Bodhanand Mahastavir, Acharya Medharthi and their associates.
[edit] Developments in Uttar Pradesh
Acharya Medharthi retired from his Buddhapuri school in 1960, and shifted to an ashram in Haridwar. He turned to the Arya Samaj and conducted vedic yajnas all over India. After his death, he was cremated according to Arya Samaj rites[6]. His Buddhpuri school became embroiled in property disputes. His follower, Bhoj Dev Mudit, converted to Buddhism in 1968 and set up a school of his own.
Rajendranath Aherwar appeared as an important Dalit leader in Kanpur. He joined the Republican Party of India and converted to Buddhism along with his whole family in 1961. In 1967, he founded the Kanpur branch of "Bharatiya Buddh Mahasabha". He held regular meetings where he preached Buddhism, officiated at Buddhist weddings and life cycle ceremonies, and organized festivals on Dr. Ambedkar's Jayanti (birth day), Buddha Jayanti, Diksha Divas (the day Ambedkar converted), and Dr Ambedkar Paranirvan Divas (the day Ambedkar died)[6].
The Dalit Buddhist movement in Kanpur gained impetus with the arrival of Dipankar, a Chamar bhikkhu, in 1980. Dipankar had come to Kanpur on a Buddhist mission and his first public appearance was scheduled at a mass conversion drive in 1981. The event was organized by Rahulan Ambawadekar, an RPI Dalit leader. In April 1981, Ambawadekar founded the Dalit Panthers (U.P. Branch) inspired by the Maharashtrian Dalit Panthers. The event met with severe criticism and opposition from Vishwa Hindu Parishad and was banned[6].
In 2002, Kanshi Ram, a popular out-caste political leader from a Sikh religious background, announced his intention to convert to Buddhism on October 14, 2006, the fiftieth anniversary of Ambedkar's conversion. He intended for 20,000,000 of his supporters to convert at the same time. Part of the significance of this plan was that Ram's followers include not only Untouchables, but persons from a variety of castes, who could significantly broaden Buddhism's support. However, he died October 9, 2006[9] after a lengthy illness; he was cremated as per Buddhist rituals[10].
Another popular Dalit leader, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, has said that she and her followers will embrace Buddhism after the BSP gains control of the government.[11]
[edit] Maharashtra
Japanese-born Bhadant Nagarjun Surai Sasai is an important Buddhist leader in India. Sasai came to India in 1966 and met Nichidatsu Fuji, whom he helped with the Peace Pagoda at Rajgir. He fell out with Fuji, however, and started home, but, by his own account, was stopped by a dream in which a figure resembling Nagarjuna appeared and said, "Go to Nagpur". In Nagpur, he met Wamanrao Godbole, the person who had organized the conversion ceremony for Dr. Ambedkar in 1956. Sasai claims that when he saw a photograph of Dr. Ambedkar at Godbole's home, he realized that it was Ambedkar who had appeared in his dream. At first, Nagpur folk considered Surai Sasai very strange. Then he began to greet them with "Jai Bhim" (victory to Ambedkar) and to build viharas. In 1987 a court case to deport him on the grounds that he had overstayed his visa was dismissed, and he was granted Indian citizenship. Sasai is one of the main leaders of the campaign to free the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya from Hindu control.
[edit] Organized mass conversions
Since Ambedkar's conversion, several thousand people from different castes have converted to Buddhism in ceremonies including the twenty-two vows. The Tamil Nadu and Gujarat governments passed new laws in 2003 to ban "forced" religious conversions. These laws were later withdrawn due to heavy opposition[citation needed].
1957 In 1957, Mahastvir Bodhanand's Sri Lankan successor, Bhante Pragyanand, held a mass conversion drive for 15,000 people in Lucknow[6]. 2001 A prominent Indian Dalit Buddhist leader and political activist, Udit Raj, organized a large mass conversion on November 4, 2001 where he gave the 22 vows, but the event met with active opposition from the government.[12] 2006, Hyderabad A report from the UK daily The Guardian said that some Hindus have converted to Buddhism. Buddhist monks from the UK and the U.S. attended the conversion ceremonies in India. In response, Hindu nationalists asserted that Dalits should concentrate on illiteracy and poverty rather than looking for new religions[13]. 2006, Gulbarga On October 14, 2006 hundreds of people converted from Hinduism to Buddhism in Gulburga (Karnataka)[14]. 2006 A Buddhist source claimed that "300,000 Dalits are estimated" to have converted to Buddhism as part of 50th year celebrations of Ambedkar's deeksha in 2006.[15] Non-Partisan sources put the number of attendees (not converts) at 30,000[16].The move was criticized by Hindu groups as "unhelpful" and has been criticized as a "political stunt."[16] 2007, Mumbai On May 27, 2007 tens of thousands of Dalits from Maharashtra gathered at the Mahalakshmi racecourse in Mumbai to mark the 50th anniversary of the conversion of Ambedkar. The number of people who actually converted, however, versus the number of people in attendance was not clear [17]. The event was organized by the Republican Party of India leader Ramdas Athvale[18].[edit] Criticism of conversions
Hindu critics have argued that efforts to convert Hindus to Ambedkarite Buddhism are political stunts rather than sincere commitments to social reform[19]. In addition, several Dalit leaders have stated that they are not against the upper castes per se. Leaders of the Dalit Bahujan Samaj Party have said that their being branded as "anti-Hindu" because of the publicity associated with the conversions is largely the work of partisan and politically motivated groups within the Dalit movement and that they are only interested in peaceful dialogue with the Brahmins[20].
The critics also note that Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, himself was a Kshatriya of the Śākya clan. Buddha is also said to be a descendant of Sage Angirasa in many Buddhist texts.[21] Scholars like Dr. Eitel connects it to the Rishi Gautama.[22] Buddha declares in the Vasalsutta, "Whosoever by falsehood deceives either a Brahman or a Sraman or any other mendicant, let him be an outcast."[23] He again declares in the text, "Whosoever annoys either a Brahman or a Sraman when meal-time has come and does not give him anything, let one know him as an outcast."[24]
[edit] Distinctive interpretation
According to controversial academic Gail Omvedt:
| " | Ambedkar's Buddhism seemingly differs from that of those who accepted by faith, who 'go for refuge' and accept the canon. This much is clear from its basis: it does not accept in totality the scriptures of the Theravada, the Mahayana, or the Vajrayana. The question that is then clearly put forth: is a fourth yana, a Navayana, a kind of modernistic Enlightenment version of the Dhamma really possible within the framework of Buddhism?[1] | " |
Most Dalit Indian Buddhists espouse an eclectic version of Buddhism, primarily based on Theravada, but with additional influences from Mahayana and Vajrayana. On many subjects, they give Buddhism a distinctive interpretation. Of particular note is their emphasis on Shakyamuni Buddha as a political and social reformer, rather than merely as a spiritual leader. They point out that the Buddha required his monastic followers to ignore caste distinctions, and that he was critical of the social inequality that existed in his own time. Ambedkar's followers do not believe that a person's unfortunate conditions at birth are the result of previous karma[citation needed].
They also point out that Ormvedt's idea of an 'Enlightenment version of the dharma' opposed to a traditional 'acceptance by faith' is a misapplication of Western categories, since the Buddha encouraged people to put all teachings - including his own - to critical test and not to accept anything on the basis of tradition.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Omvedt, Gail. Buddhism in India : Challenging Brahmanism and Caste. 3rd ed. London/New Delhi/Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2003. pages: 2, 3-7, 8, 14-15, 19, 240, 266, 271
- ^ Thomas Pantham, Vrajendra Raj Mehta, Vrajendra Raj Mehta, (2006). Political Ideas in Modern India: thematic explorations. Sage Publications. ISBN 0761934200. http://books.google.com/books?visbn=0761934200&id=KJejtAaonsEC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22Self-respect+movement%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&sig=2MFf1OTrHpydPFBq6ZS4SdlaHjs.
- ^ Ahir, D.C. (1991). Buddhism in Modern India. Satguru. ISBN 81-7030-254-4.
- ^ a b Das, Bhagwan (1998), Revival of Buddhism in India. Role of Dr Baba Sahib B.R.Ambedkar, Lucknow: Dalit Today Prakashan, ISBN 81-7030-254-4
- ^ Geetha, V. (2001). Towards a Non Brahmin Millennium - From Iyothee Thass to Periyar. Bhatkal & Sen,India. ISBN 81-8560-437-1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Bellwinkel-Schempp, Maren (2004), "Roots of Ambedkar Buddhism in Kanpur", in Jondhale, Surendra; Beltz, Johannes, Reconstructing the World: B.R. Ambedkar and Buddhism in India, New Delhi: OUP, pp. 221–244
- ^ Keer, Dhananjay (1990). Dr Ambedkar Life and Mission. Popular Prakashan, Bombay. ISBN 81-8560-437-1.
- ^ Census GIS HouseHold
- ^ Indian Dalit leader passes away
- ^ Kanshi Ram cremated as per Buddhist rituals
- ^ "Kanshi Ram cremated as per Buddhist rituals". The Hindu. 2006-10-10. http://www.hindu.com/2006/10/10/stories/2006101003771200.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
- ^ "50,000 Dalits embrace Buddhism". Buddhism Today. http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/world/facts/conversion-manpreet.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
- ^ Untouchables embrace Buddha to escape oppression
- ^ Hundreds embrace Buddhism in Gulbarga-Bangalore
- ^ "Prominent Indian female politician to embrace Buddhism". The Buddhist Channel. 2006-10-17. http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=42,3309,0,0,1,0. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
- ^ a b Prerna Singh Bindra .Heads, I win.... The Week Magazine. November 18, 2001.
- ^ Mass Dalit conversions in Mumbai
- ^ Nithin Belle. Thousands of Dalits in 'mass conversion'. Khaleej Times. May 28 2007
- ^ Conversion: Ram Raj's rally was probably just an exercise in self-promotion
- ^ BSP showcases its `Brahmin might',The Hindu
- ^ Thomas, The Life of Buddha as Legend and History
- ^ Legge, P. 95 A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms
- ^ P. 262 Origin and Growth of Caste in India (C. B.c. 2000-300) By Nripendra Kumar Dutt
- ^ P. 262 Origin and Growth of Caste in India (C. B.c. 2000-300) By Nripendra Kumar Dutt
[edit] External links
- The Buddha and His Dhamma, text of the book by B. R. Ambedkar
- Are neo-Buddhists- Hindus? Article on India's Buddhism by Koenraad Elst.
- 2590 Years Of Buddhism
- Omvedt, Gail. Buddhism in India : Challenging Brahmanism and Caste. 3rd ed. London/New Delhi/Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2003.
- Buddhism Navayana: Buddhist links and Navayana Buddhism
Global organizations
- BAMCEF
- Ambedkar Center for Justice and Peace
- Dr. Ambedkar International Mission
- Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha Sahayaka Gana
- Karuna Trust
- The Jambudvipa Trust
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Palash Biswas
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