Portuguese march against austerity, want government out

உலக மறுபங்கீடே,  சமகால  சர்வதேச அரசியலை  இயக்கும் விதி. ENB

Portuguese march against austerity, want government out

By Andrei Khalip
LISBON | Sat Mar 2, 2013 2:37pm EST

LISBON (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Portuguese poured into the streets of Lisbon and other cities on Saturday to demand an end to austerity dictated by an international bailout and the resignation of the center-right government.

The rallies, which follow the introduction of the biggest tax hikes in living memory, mark the greatest public show of discontent since demonstrations last September forced the government to adjust some of its austerity measures.

More than 200,000 protesters in Lisbon packed the vast imperial Praca do Comercio square, home to the Finance Ministry, and surrounding streets, chanting: "It's time for the government to go".
Organizers said as many as 500,000 people took part in the rallies around Lisbon, which would make the protest bigger than in September, but the numbers could not be independently confirmed. Police, as is customary, would not provide estimates.

Many carried banners with slogans such as "Austerity kills" and "Screw the troika, power to the people!", aimed at the so-called troika of lenders from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.

"Grandola", the signature tune of the 1974 "Carnation revolution" that overthrew the fascist dictatorship of Antonio Salazar after the army rebelled, reverberated through the crowds in Lisbon, which has a population of about 3 million, and elsewhere where protesters gathered. Many cried as they sang.

Protesters have used the song increasingly in the past month to interrupt government ministers speaking at public events.

"We are in a new dictatorship. Everything that the revolution achieved is being destroyed," said one elderly protester in Lisbon who did not give his name.

The rallies, which coincide with a quarterly review by the EU/IMF bailout inspectors, are the first large protests since the government acknowledged last month the economic downturn this year will be nearly double its earlier predictions.

The forecast 1.9 percent decline will further deepen the worst recession since the 1970s, already in its third year.

Tax hikes and spending cuts ordered by the terms of the 78 billion euro ($101.3 billion) bailout agreed in mid-2011 have slashed consumer demand and pushed unemployment to record levels of 17 percent, causing thousands of small businesses to go bust.

"This government has left the people on bread and water, selling off state assets for peanuts to pay back debts that were contracted by corrupt politicians to benefit bankers," said Fabio Carvalho, a movie-maker, protesting on Lisbon's main Liberdade thoroughfare.

"If not today, things have to change tomorrow and we need to remain in the streets for the government to fall."

The rallies were organized in Lisbon, Porto and several dozen other cities via the Internet by a group of activists known as Que Se Lixe a Troika, or Screw the Troika.

Veronica Pereira, an unemployed mother who says she has no means to send her daughter to college said: "Our people have the habit of letting things happen, but I think this is changing radically now. We need to protest to change things," she said.

Echoing her words, Bob Dylan's 1964 anthem "The Times They are a-Changin'" blared from a car with loudspeakers.

A woman gestures during a march against government austerity policies in Lisbon March 2, 2013.
Credit: REUTERS/Jose Manuel Ribeiro

PATIENCE RUNNING OUT

Portugal had shown a tolerance for austerity compared with countries like Greece with its frequent protests and strikes, but opposition has begun to rise in recent weeks as the economic outlook has worsened. Protests have largely been peaceful, but one Lisbon rally in November ended in clashes with police.

On Friday, the main opposition Socialists hardened their stance on the bailout, demanding an end to the austerity which they said pushed the country into a recessive spiral - the position they outlined to visiting EU/IMF bailout inspectors.

Socialist leader Antonio Jose Seguro said he felt the lenders were more open to his proposals of a growth-oriented strategy but doubted they would act soon enough.

The government's strategy, that has been praised by Brussels, is to cut the budget deficit as quickly as possible in order to exit the bailout as scheduled in the middle of 2014 after regaining full access to debt markets.

The government says it is likely to request an extra year to meet budget goals under the bailout, but political opponents and some business leaders say much more time is needed.

(Additional reporting by Miguel Pereira; Editing by Stephen Powell)
குறிப்பு : செய்தி மூலம் REUTERS விபரண இணைப்பு ENB
Contact: eelamnewsbulletin@googlemail.com

Obama formally orders "deeply destructive" cuts

A poster replicating a notice of job termination for 750,000 Americans due to the impending
sequestration, is pictured during a news conference by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (not
pictured) Credit: REUTERS/Jason Reed

*U.S Government agencies will now begin to hack a total of $85 billion from their budgets between Saturday and

October 1.

 

*At the heart of Washington's persistent fiscal crises is disagreement over how to slash the budget deficit and the $16 trillion national debt, bloated over the years by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and government stimulus for the ailing economy.



* The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office predicts 750,000 jobs could be lost in 2013, and federal employees throughout the country are looking to trim their own costs.

Obama formally orders "deeply destructive" cuts, blames Congress

By Richard Cowan and Alistair Bell
WASHINGTON | Sat Mar 2, 2013 1:04am EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama formally ordered broad cuts in government spending on Friday night after he and congressional Republicans failed to reach a deal to avert automatic reductions that could dampen economic growth and curb military readiness.

As the United States staggered into another fiscal crisis, the White House predicted that the spending cuts triggered by the inability of Obama and lawmakers to forge a broader deficit-reduction agreement would be "deeply destructive" to the nation's economic and national security.

"Not everyone will feel the pain of these cuts right away. The pain though will be real. Beginning this week, many middle-class families will have their lives disrupted in significant ways," Obama told journalists after his meeting with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders.

Late on Friday, Obama signed an order that put in effect the across-the-board government spending cuts known as "sequestration." Government agencies will now begin to hack a total of $85 billion from their budgets between Saturday and October 1.

Half of the cuts will fall on the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the reductions put at risk "all of our missions.

Congress and Obama could still halt the cuts in the weeks to come, but neither side has expressed any confidence they will do so. Both Democrats and Republicans set the automatic cuts in motion during feverish deficit-reduction efforts in August 2011.

MARKETS SHRUG OFF CRISIS

Friday's events marked the first budget showdown in Washington of many in the past decade that was not somehow resolved at the last minute - often under pressure from rattled financial markets. Markets in New York shrugged off the stalemate in Washington on Friday as they have for months.
Democrats predicted the cuts could soon cause air-traffic delays, meat shortages as food safety inspections slow down, losses to thousands of federal contractors and damage to local economies across the country, particularly in the hardest-hit regions around military installations.

At the heart of Washington's persistent fiscal crises is disagreement over how to slash the budget deficit and the $16 trillion national debt, bloated over the years by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and government stimulus for the ailing economy.

Obama wants to close the fiscal gap with spending cuts and tax hikes. Republicans do not want to concede again on taxes after doing so in negotiations over the "fiscal cliff" at the New Year.
Public outrage, if it materializes, would be the most likely prod for a resolution as the impact of the spending cuts starts to be felt in the coming weeks and months.

As a percentage of total government spending every year, $3.7 trillion, the actual spending reductions are small. But because safety-net programs such as Social Security and Medicare will be untouched, the brunt falls mostly on federal government employees rather than direct recipients of aid.

The U.S. government is the nation's largest employer, with a workforce of roughly 2.7 million civilians spread across the country. If the cuts stay in place, more than 800,000 of those workers could see reduced work days and smaller paychecks between now and September.

Furlough notices warning employees and their unions started to go out earlier this week and the pace picked up on Friday after it became clear that talks at the White House between Obama and congressional leaders would be fruitless.

While the International Monetary Fund warned that the belt-tightening could slow U.S. economic growth by at least 0.5 of a percentage point this year, that is not a huge drag on an economy that is picking up steam.

'THE SPENDING PROBLEM'

Many Republicans accuse the Obama administration of overstating the effects of the cuts in order to pressure them into agreeing to a solution to the White House's liking.

A deal proved elusive as Obama met at the White House with House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, as well as the top two Democrats in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

"The discussion about revenue, in my view, is over. It's about taking on the spending problem," Boehner said after the meeting.

Asked why he did not just refuse to let congressional leaders leave the room until they had a deal, Obama told reporters: "I am not a dictator. I'm the president. So, ultimately, if Mitch McConnell or John Boehner say, 'We need to go to catch a plane,' I can't have Secret Service block the doorway, right?"

The across-the-board cutbacks were mandated by a deficit reduction law, structured to be so disruptive that Congress would ultimately replace them with more targeted savings. But partisan gridlock has prevented agreement on where to save.

The White House budget office sent a report to Congress detailing the spending cuts. Some 115,000 employees of the Department of Justice - including prosecutors and the FBI - were among the first to get the official word of furloughs.

The government also sent letters to several state governors advising them of cuts to services like the Head Start education program in California and military facilities in Virginia.

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty expressed rare public frustration with the United States for lurching from crisis to crisis.

One reason for the inaction in Washington is that both parties still hope the other will either be blamed by voters for the cuts or cave in before the worst effects predicted by Democrats come into effect.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday showed 28 percent of Americans blamed congressional Republicans for the sequestration mess, 18 percent thought Obama was responsible and 4 percent blamed congressional Democrats. Thirty-seven percent blamed them all, according the online poll.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office predicts 750,000 jobs could be lost in 2013, and federal employees throughout the country are looking to trim their own costs.

"The kids won't go to the dentist, the kids might not go to the doctor, we won't be spending money in local restaurants, local movie theaters," said Paul O'Connor, president of the Metal Trades Council, which represents 2,500 workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

After weeks of White House warnings about the cuts causing disruption, Obama acknowledged it might be a while before effects fully kicked in. "We will get through this. This is not going to be an apocalypse," Obama said.

In the absence of any deal at all, the Pentagon will be forced to slice 13 percent of its budget between now and September 30.

In his first Pentagon news conference since he was sworn in on Wednesday, Hagel struck a more moderate tone than many other defense officials who have said the spending reductions would be devastating or could turn the U.S. military into a second-rate power.

"America ... has the best fighting force, the most capable fighting force, the most powerful fighting force in the world," he said. "The management of this institution, starting with the Joint Chiefs, are not going to allow this capacity to erode."

Most non-defense programs, from NASA space exploration to federally backed education and law enforcement, face a 9 percent reduction.

Moving to head off a new budget crisis later this month, Boehner said the Republican-led House would move a "continuing resolution" to fund government through the rest of the fiscal year, thus hopefully averting a government shutdown.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton, Deborah Zabarenko and Jeff Mason in Washington and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Peter Cooney and Will Dunham) 

Balachandren Portrait: பாலச்சந்திரனின் பிரதிவிம்ப ஓவியம்

மதிவதனி பிரபாகரன் பாலச்சந்திரன் - அகவை 12 -  ஓவியம்:பாரதிராஜா

GEELANI RELEASED

GEELANI RELEASED

To Announce Future Strategy Soon
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, Feb 27: After being put under house arrest here for nearly three weeks, Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani was released as Delhi Police withdrew its personnel from his South Delhi home this evening.

Describing his detention as “illegal” and an act of “high-handedness” on the part of the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government, 83-year-old Geelani said he will be chalking his future strategy in a couple of days including a decision on his return to Kashmir Valley.

Geelani, who has a two-room flat near Malviya Nagar, was placed under house arrest on the morning of February nine, the day when Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was hanged in Tihar jail.

“The police withdrew at 7 PM this evening,” Geelani said. Along with Geelani, another separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was also kept under house arrest in Delhi but he was released last week.
Geelani claimed that police personnel, both men and women, had at one stage camped inside his flat for nearly two days.

Both the Hurriyat factions led by Geelani and Farooq had given a strike call in protest against the execution of Afzal.

Geelani had termed the execution of Afzal as "unfortunate" and claimed that Afzal was not involved in the 2001 Parliament attack.

Kuddish leader 'outlines' Turkey peace plan

Kurdish leader 'outlines' Turkey peace plan

Turkish official says Abdullah Ocalan set to ask PKK fighters to declare truce by March 21 and lay down arms by August.

Last Modified: 27 Feb 2013 19:28
The leader of a Kurdish armed group imprisoned by Turkey is set to call for a long-sought ceasefire next month as part of a renewed push for peace with the Turkish government, according to officials.

Abdullah Ocalan, head of the PKK, is currently serving a life sentence on an island prison off Istanbul where visitors are seldom allowed and only under the surveillance of Turkish agents.

"[The PKK] will declare at the very least a ceasefire by Newroz [March 21, the Kurdish New Year] and lay down arms by July-August, after which departure from the country will be discussed," Bulent Arinc, Turkey's deputy prime minister, said in an interview on Turkish TV on Monday.

Arinc was quoting a 20-page letter written by Ocalan, which outlined his views on a possible solution for the nearly three-decade-long conflict between the PKK and Turkish security forces that has cost 45,000 lives, mostly Kurdish.

Turkey's secret services resumed negotiations with Ocalan in December with the ultimate aim of ending the PKK's fight for autonomy.

Ocalan's letter was addressed to PKK members and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), according to Nazmi Gur, a BDP legislator.

'Draft solution'

Gur told AFP news agency that Ocalan was proposing a "draft solution" in the letter and there would be more discussion and feedback before reaching a final decision.

"We, all components of the Kurdish movement, will be standing behind that final decision Ocalan will give on that day," Gur said referring to March 21.

Both sides in the conflict have set out conditions they say would signal good faith and commitment to long-lasting peace.

PKK is asking for the release of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Kurdish activists and politicians kept in detention on charges of links to the group.

Turkey in return insists "terrorists" need to withdraw from Turkish territory before the peace process can effectively begin, and has promised not to attack rebels wishing to leave the country.
Source: Al Jazeera And Agencies

The Turkish government and jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan have agreed on a roadmap

January 9, 2013
ANKARA,— The Turkish government and jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan have agreed on a roadmap to end a three-decade-old insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, Turkish media reported Wednesday.

The deal was reached during a new round of talks between Ankara and Ocalan and aims to have the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) lay down arms in March, private news network NTV and Radikal newspaper reported.

An initial cessation of hostilities was to evolve into a fully-fledged ceasefire agreement over the following months, they said, without revealing their sources for the reported breakthrough.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government recently revealed that the intelligence services had for weeks been talking to Ocalan, who has been held on the island prison of Imrali south of Istanbul since his capture in 1999.

The government is expected to reciprocate the ceasefire by granting wider rights to Turkey's Kurdish minority, whose population is estimated at up to 15 million in the 75-million nation, according to unofficial figures.
 
  The rebels also want the release of hundreds of Kurdish activists held in prisons over links to the PKK as well as the recognition of Kurdish identity in Turkey's new constitution, according to media sources.

But Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) warned the talks were not at the stage of fully-fledged ceasefire negotiations,www.ekurd.net arguing Ocalan would have to be freed first and given a chance to consult the grassroots.

"The conditions between the parties are just not equal," BDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtas told fellow lawmakers on Tuesday. "And by that, no, I do not mean Erdogan going into Imrali," he said.
Officials have not confirmed the details of the roadmap published in the media.

Hopes of a breakthrough on the Kurdish issue were heightened when two Kurdish lawmakers were allowed to visit Ocalan last week for the first time.

Previous talks floundered after the PKK leadership demanded the release of Ocalan.

Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a Kurdish state in the south east of the country. By 2012, more than 45,000 people have since been killed.

But now its aim is the creation an autonomous region and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds who constitute the greatest minority in Turkey.  A large Turkey's Kurdish community, numbering to 25 million, openly sympathise with PKK rebels.

Abdullah Öcalan, who founded the PKK in 1974, has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey and worldwide.

The PKK wants constitutional recognition for the Kurds, regional self-governance and Kurdish-language education in schools.

The PKK has nearly 50 thousand trained fighters on fronts and streets war, as they are deployed within the Kurdish areas near the common border of Turkey with both Iraq and Syria.

PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees, lifting the ban on education in Kurdish, paving the way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within Turkey, reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action against the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish constitution.

The rebels have scaled back their demands for more political autonomy for Turkey's ethnic Kurds.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish language and private Kurdish language courses with the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish politicians say the measures fall short of their expectations.

The PKK is considered as 'terrorist' organization by Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which overturned a decision to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its political wing on the European Union's terror list.
Source: Ekurd.net

Exxon, Total Study SL Oil Reserves

Exxon, Total Study Sri Lanka Oil Reserves Ahead of Biggest Sale

 By Rakteem Katakey & Anusha Ondaatjie - Feb 26, 2013 6:00 AM GMT.

The nation has identified 13 blocks off the northern and western coasts of Sri Lanka for the auction, including five in the Cauvery basin and eight in the Mannar.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Total SA (FP) are among explorers reviewing Sri Lanka’s oil and natural gas reserves ahead of the biggest auction of blocks planned by a nation that imports all its crude.

Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest oil company by value, and Total, Europe’s third-largest, bought data related to the sale of 13 offshore fields, Saliya Wickramasuriya, director general at the Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat, said in an interview. Eni SpA (ENI), BP Plc (BP/) and India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) have enquired about the bids, which are scheduled to open at a meeting with potential investors in Houston on March 7 and end about five months later, he said.
“We’ve had quite a few people from Big Oil come by,” Colombo-based Wickramasuriya said in a Feb. 25 telephone interview. “We’ve had 20 companies that took our data, made repeat visits, or expressed interest in taking discussions further in the framework of the bid round.”
Global oil majors are being lured by prospects beyond the island’s famed white-sand beaches as the nation seeks to rebuild an economy ravaged by three decades of civil war. Sri Lanka, where conflict ended in 2009, is looking for technology to unlock the potential of the area neighboring India, where companies including Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) and BP are present.

“It’d be good for Sri Lanka to get the big conglomerates in the energy sector interested at the onset,” said Dushni Weerakoon, director at the Institute of Policy Studies in Colombo. “It’ll be a signal of confidence and an enormous economic relief as we are a heavy energy importer.”
Crude Importer Sri Lanka, which doesn’t produce any oil or gas, imports all its crude oil requirements from nations including Saudi Arabia and Iran. The nation has identified 13 blocks off the northern and western coasts of Sri Lanka for the auction, including five in the Cauvery basin and eight in the Mannar. Two of the 13 may be withdrawn because of a lack of data, Wickramasuriya said.

Alan Jeffers, a spokesman for Irving, Texas-based Exxon didn’t reply to an e-mail seeking comment on the bidding. Total spokeswoman Anastasia Zhivulina and ONGC Chairman Sudhir Vasudeva declined to comment, as did an Eni spokesman, who couldn’t be named because of company policy.
“BP continuously evaluates and ranks new exploration access opportunities around the world,” spokesman Mark Salt said in an e-mail on Feb. 25.

Cairn India Ltd. (CAIR), which is producing oil at India’s largest onshore block, discovered gas in an offshore area in Sri Lanka’s Mannar basin last year, estimated by the government to hold 1 billion barrels of oil. That’s equal to about 18 percent of India’s proved oil reserves, according to BP data.
Gauge Potential Cairn India started drilling a new well in the area this month, Chief Executive Office P. Elango said in a Feb. 20 interview. It needs to drill two or three more wells before it can gauge the potential of the reserves, Wickramasuriya said.

The Sri Lankan Cauvery basin is a geological extension of an area in India off the coast of Tamil Nadu state, Wickramasuriya said. Reliance announced a gas discovery in a deepwater well in the Indian waters of the basin in July 2007. Four years later, it announced another discovery in the area.
Loans from China’s Export-Import Bank and companies including China Merchants Holding International and China Machinery Engineering Corp. are helping Sri Lanka expand its ports, power generation, and transportation networks. Chinese oil explorers have yet to contact Wickramasuriya or his office for the latest auction, he said.

“Now that we’re launching the bid, some companies that have been interested internally may now start contacting us,” he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Rakteem Katakey in New Delhi at rkatakey@bloomberg.net; Anusha Ondaatjie in Colombo at anushao@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jason Rogers at jrogers73@bloomberg.net http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-26/exxon-total-study-sri-lanka-oil-reserves-ahead-of-biggest-sale.htmlBiggest Sale

 

மகிந்த அரசே மன்னார் விவசாயிகளின் கோரிக்கைகளை உடனே நிறைவேற்று!

மண்ணின் மைந்தன் வேடந்தாங்கும் மகிந்தவே, மன்னார் விவசாயிகளின் குறைந்த பட்ச வாழ்வாதாரக் கோரிக்கைகளை உடனே நிறைவேற்று!

 

புதிய ஈழப்புரட்சியாளர்கள் ENB

 

முருங்கன் செம்மண் தீவில் மன்னார் விவசாயிகள் போராட்டம்

* நிர்ணயிக்கப்பட்ட விலையில் நெல் கொள்வனவு செய்!

* சந்தை வாய்ப்பை அதிகரி!

* விவசாயிகளுக்கு எரிபொருள் மானியம் வழங்கு!

* விவசாயிகளுக்கு வரட்சி மற்றும்

 வெள்ள நிவாரணங்களை உடன் வழங்கு!

*வங்கிக் கடனை உடன் இரத்துச்செய்!

*மீள்குடியமர்வையும் வாழ்வாதார வசதிகளையும் உறுதி செய்!

 

மன்னார் மாவட்ட விவசாய சம்மேளனம்

 

மன்னார் மாவட்ட விவசாய சம்மேளனத்தின் ஏற்பாட்டில் மன்னார் மாவட்ட விவசாயிகள்,  மூன்று பிரதான கோரிக்கைகளை முன் வைத்து இன்று உண்ணாவிரதப் போராட்டத்தை முன்னெடுத்தனர்.

இன்று காலை 9 மணியளவில் மன்னார், முருங்கன், செம்மண் தீவு விளையாட்டு மைதானத்தில் இவ் உண்ணாவிரதப் போராட்டம்

முன்னெடுக்கப்பட்டது.

இந்த உண்ணாவிரதப் போராட்டத்தில் தமிழ் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பின் வன்னி மாவட்ட பாராளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர்களான செல்வம் அடைக்கலநாதன்,

சிவசக்தி ஆனந்தன், எஸ்.வினோ நோகராதலிங்கம், மக்கள் விடுதலை முன்னனியின் உறுப்பினர் சாமிவேல் செல்வக்குமார், மன்னார் நகர சபை,

மன்னார், நானாட்டான், மாந்தை மேற்கு ஆகிய பிரதேச சபைகளின் தலைவர்கள், உப தலைவர்கள், உறுப்பினர்கள், விவசாய அமைப்புக்களின் பிரதி நிதிகள் மற்றும் பொதுமக்கள் என பலர் கலந்து கொண்டிருந்தனர்.

 

 

நிர்ணயிக்கப்பட்ட விலையில் நெல் கொள்வனவு செய்ய வேண்டும், விவசாயிகளுக்கு எரிபொருள் மாணியம் வழங்கப்பட வேண்டும், விவசாயிகளுக்கு வரட்சி மற்றும் வெள்ள நிவாரணங்கள் உடன் வழங்குவதோடு வங்கிக் கடனை உடன் இரத்துச்செய்ய வேண்டும்

 

என்ற மூன்று அம்சக்கோரிக்கைகளை முன் வைத்து உண்ணாவிரதப் போராட்டம் இடம் பெற்றது. இதன்போது ஜனாதிபதியிடம் ஒப்படைக்குமாறு மகஜர் ஒன்றும் மன்னார் மாவட்ட அரசாங்க அதிபர் சரத் ரவீந்திரவிடம் .
கையளிக்கப்பட்டதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகிறது.

குறித்த மகஜரில் குறிப்பிடப்பட்டுள்ளதாவது,

கடந்த யுத்த பேரழிவின் போது மோசமான இழப்புக்களுக்கும், பின்னடைவுகளுக்கும், முகம் கொடுத்த வன்னி பெருநிலப்பரப்பின் ஒருபகுதியினர், மன்னார் மாவட்ட விவசாயிகளாவர்.

 

 

2006ஆம் ஆண்டு மகா காலப்போக அறுவடை நெருங்கிய காலப்பகுதியில் யுத்தம் தீவிரப்படுத்தப்பட்டதால் விவசாயத்தில் பெருமளவு முதலீட்டைச்

செலவிட்ட நாம்  அதனைப்பெற அறுவடை செய்ய முடியாது அவற்றை முழுமையாக கைவிட்டு இடம்பெயர வேண்டிய அவலத்திற்குள்ளானோம்.

வங்கிகளிடமும், தனியாரிடமும், விவசாயத்திற்காக பெறப்பட்ட கடன்கள் மீளச்செலுத்த முடியாமலும், விவசாய செலவுக்காக அடைவு வைத்த

நகைகள் மீட்க முடியாமலும், உள்ளன.

 

2010 மீள்குடியமர்த்தப்பட்ட நாம் முதலீடு எதுவும் இல்லாமையால் அவ்வாண்டு காலபோகச் செய்கையில் ஈடுபடமுடியாத அவலத்திற்கு உள்ளானோம்.

 

எனினும் 2011ஆம் ஆண்டில் ஓரளவு விவசாயத்தில் ஈடுபட்டோமாயினும் அறுவடை செய்த நெல்லும் சந்தைப்படுத்த வாய்ப்பு இல்லாமையால்

தனியாருக்கு குறைந்த  விலைக்கு விற்க வேண்டிய நிர்ப்பந்தம் ஏற்பட்டதால், முதலீட்டை மீட்க முடியாது கடனில் தத்தளித்தோம்.

 

2012இல் செய்த வேளாண்மை ஒருபுறம் நீர்ப் பற்றாக்குறையாலும், வெள்ளப் பெருக்கினாலும், அழிவுக்குட்பட்டதால் இவ்வாண்டிலும் பாரிய

நட்டத்தையே சந்தித்தோம்.

 

இக்காலத்தில் எரிபொருள் விலை உயர்வு, விதை நெல் தட்டுப்பாடு, பசளை வகைக்கான மானியங்கள், வழங்கப்படாமை போன்ற காரணங்களால்

உற்பத்திச் செலவைக் கூட மீட்டெடுக்க முடியாத நிலைக்குள்ளானோம்.

இக்காரணங்களாலும் சந்தைபடுத்தும் வாய்ப்பு எம்மாவட்டத்தில் இல்லாமையாலும், உள்ளீடுகளுக்கான மானியங்கள் இல்லாமையாலும், எரிபொருள் விலை அதிகரிப்பாலும், உற்பத்திச் செலவை மீட்டெடுக்க முடியாத நிலையில் தனியார் சுரண்டல் காரணமாக 66 கிலோ மூடைக்கு பதிலாக 75 கிலோ மூடைக்கு வழங்கப்பட்டதோடு, நிர்ணயிக்கப்பட்ட விலைக்கு குறைவாகவே விற்கவேண்டிய  அவலம் எமக்கு ஏற்பட்டது.

மீள்குடியமர்வின் பின் எமக்கு வழங்கப்பட வேண்டிய வீட்டுவசதி, வாழ்வாதார வசதி, போன்ற நிவாரண வசதிகள் எவையும், எமக்கு வழங்கப்படாத நிலையில் எமது முயற்சிகளுக்கு எதுவித பலனும் பெற முடியாத அவலத்திற்கும் உள்ளாகியுள்ளோம்.

 

எனவே இவற்றை கருத்தில் கொண்டு கீழ்வரும் குறைந்த பட்ச நிவாரணங்களையாவது, உடனடியாக வழங்கி உதவுமாறு பணிவுடன் வேண்டி ஒர் அடையாள உண்ணாவிரதத்தை மேற்கொண்டு இக்கோரிக்கைகளை முன்வைக்கின்றோம்.

 

 

வங்கி கடன்கள் அனைத்தையும் ரத்து செய்ய வேண்டும்.

அடைவு வைக்கப்பட்ட நகைகளுக்கான வட்டிகளை ரத்து செய்வதோடு மீட்புக்காலத்தை நீடிக்க நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க வேண்டும். எரிபொருள் விலை

உயர்வுக்கெதிராகவும், விவசாய உள்ளீடுக்காகவும், உரிய மானியம் வழங்க வேண்டும். நெல்லுக்குரிய தரமான விலை நிர்ணயம் செய்து உறுதிப்படுத்தப்பட வேண்டும். சந்தை வாய்ப்பை அதிகரிக்க வேண்டும்.

விதைநெல் உற்பத்திக்கு ஊக்கமளிப்பதுடன் உற்பத்தி செய்யப்பட்ட விதை நெல்களை அத்தாட்சிபடுத்தும், உத்தியோகஸ்தர்களின் சேவையை அதிகரிக்க வேண்டும்.
 

வறட்சி, வெள்ளப்பெருக்கு போன்ற இயற்கை அனர்த்தங்களால் பயிர் பாதிப்புக்குள்ளாகும் போது, காப்புறுதி செய்தவர்களுக்கு காப்புறுதி தொகைகளை தாமதமின்றி வழங்க வேண்டும்.

மேற்படி கோரிக்கைகளின் மீது விரைவான நடவடிக்கையெடுக்குமாறு மன்னார் மாவட்ட விவசாயிகளான நாம் பணிவுடன் வேண்டுகின்றோம்' என

குறித்த மகஜரில் குறிப்பிடப்பட்டுள்ளது.

 

`எங்கள் அப்பா` பாலச்சந்திரன் நினைவு உருவகக் காணொளி

 

Syria says ready to talk with armed opposition

Syria says ready to talk with armed opposition

முன்னமொரு காலத்தில
File Photo: First lady asma al assad & queen elizabith 2

Syria says ready to talk with armed opposition
 9:26pm EST
By Thomas Grove and Steve Gutterman

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Syria is ready for talks with its armed opponents, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Monday, in the clearest offer yet to negotiate with rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad.

But Moualem said at the same time Syria would pursue its fight "against terrorism," alluding to the conflict in which the United Nations says 70,000 people have been killed.

His offer of talks drew a dismissive response from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who was starting a nine-nation tour of European and Arab capitals in London.

"It seems to me that it's pretty hard to understand how, when you see the Scuds falling on the innocent people of Aleppo, it is possible to take their notion that they are ready to have a dialogue very seriously," Kerry said.

He said U.S. President Barack Obama was evaluating more steps to "fulfill our obligation to innocent people," without giving details or saying whether Washington was reconsidering whether to arm the rebels, an option it has previously rejected.

"We are determined that the Syrian opposition is not going to be dangling in the wind," Kerry said.
Obama has carefully avoided deeper U.S. involvement in Syria, at the heart of a volatile Middle East, as he has withdrawn troops from Iraq and extracts them from Afghanistan.

Assad and his foes are locked in a bloody stalemate after nearly two years of combat, destruction and civilian suffering that threatens to destabilize neighboring countries.

Syria's Moualem said in Moscow that Damascus was ready for dialogue with everyone who wants it, even with those who have weapons in their hands "because we believe that reforms will not come through bloodshed but only through dialogue."

"WAR AGAINST TERRORISM"

Russia's Itar-Tass, which reported his remarks, did not say if Moualem had attached any conditions for the dialogue.

"What's happening in Syria is a war against terrorism," the agency quoted him as saying. "We will strongly adhere to a peaceful course and continue to fight against terrorism."

Moaz Alkhatib, head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, told reporters in Cairo he had not been in touch with Damascus following Moualem's offer. "We have not been in contact yet, and we are waiting for communication with them," he said.

Syria's government and the political opposition have both suggested in recent weeks they are prepared for some contacts - softening their previous outright rejection of talks to resolve a conflict which has driven nearly a million Syrians out of the country and left millions more homeless and hungry.

The opposition says any solution must involve the removal of Assad, whose family has ruled Syria since 1970. Disparate rebel fighters, who do not answer to Alkhatib or other politicians in exile, insist Assad must go before any talks start.

Brigadier Selim Idris, a rebel military commander, told Al Arabiya television that a ceasefire, Assad's exit, and the trial of his security and military chiefs must precede any talks.

Damascus has rejected any preconditions and the two sides also differ on the location for any talks, with the opposition saying they should be abroad or in rebel-held parts of Syria, while the government says they must be in territory it controls.

"STATE COLLAPSE"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed alarm about events in Syria, which he said was at a crossroads.

"There are those who have set a course for further bloodshed and an escalation of conflict. This is fraught with the risk of the collapse of the Syrian state and society," he said.

"But there are also reasonable forces that increasingly acutely understand the need for the swiftest possible start of talks ... In these conditions the need for the Syrian leadership to continue to consistently advocate the start of dialogue, and not allow provocations to prevail, is strongly increasing."

Lavrov's warning that the Syrian state could founder appeared aimed to show that Russia is pressing Assad's government to seek a negotiated solution while continuing to lay much of the blame for the persistent violence on his opponents.

Russia has distanced itself from Assad and has stepped up its calls for dialogue as his prospects of retaining power have decreased, but insists that his exit must not be a precondition.

A deputy to Lavrov said the West had not matched Moscow's peace efforts. "Our Western partners ... have to some degree encouraged (the opposition) to continue the armed fight," Itar-Tass quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying.

The Syrian National Coalition said on Friday it was willing to negotiate a peace deal, but insisted Assad could not be party to it - a demand that the president looks sure to reject.

U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has said Assad had told him he would complete his term in 2014 and then run for re-election.

International deadlock over how to bridge the political chasm between Assad and his opponents has allowed an increasingly sectarian conflict to rage on for 23 months.

Assad, announcing plans last month for a national dialogue, said it would exclude "traitors" and "puppets made by the West."

Kerry is to meet Lavrov in Berlin on Tuesday, but a senior U.S. official said he expected no breakthrough on Syria there.

The new secretary of state is also to meet Syrian opposition leaders at a "Friends of Syria" conference in Rome on Thursday.

The Syrian National Coalition said on Monday it would attend the Rome meeting, reversing a decision it made last week to stay away in protest at Syrian government missile strikes on Aleppo.
The change of mind came after Kerry called Alkhatib to urge him to attend.

"I want our friends in the Syrian opposition council to know we are not coming to Rome simply to talk. We're coming to Rome to make the decision about next steps," Kerry said earlier.

Following up on Kerry's call, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden phoned Alkhatib to welcome his decision to travel to Rome, stressing that the talks there would be an opportunity to consult on "ways to speed assistance to the opposition and support to the Syrian people," the White House said.

(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh and Ayman Samir in Cairo, Arshad Mohammed and Mohammed Abbas in London and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Alistair Lyon, Michael Roddy and Lisa Shumaker)