Police Killing Sparks Strike in Indian State of West Bengal

The Indian state of West Bengal has been hit by an opposition-backed general strike to protest police shooting in which 14 villagers were killed. As Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi, the communist-ruled state has witnessed violent protests in recent months by farmers opposing government plans to acquire land to create industrial hubs.

Schools, colleges and offices shut across West Bengal state, and transport stayed off the roads as an opposition alliance enforced a daylong shutdown on Friday.

Indian Congress party workers burn an effigy of the Chief Minister of the Indian state of West Bengal to protest the police firing and the death of farmers in Nandigram, Siliguri, India, 15 Mar 2007

Sporadic clashes erupted between police and opposition activists as protesters staged street marches in Kolkata and elsewhere, shouting slogans against the state's communist government. Police say several state-run buses were stoned.

The strike was called two days after 14 villagers were killed and scores injured when police fired on farmers in Nandigram district. Police were trying to break up angry mobs that were pelting them with stones and homemade bombs.

Villagers and political activists there have been leading violent protests against plans to acquire farmland to establish a chemical hub and industrial park. They have set up roadblocks and destroyed bridges to prevent officials and policemen from entering the area.

The protests have continued since January despite a state government pledge to shift the proposed special economic zone if villagers do not want it.

Junior federal Home Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal says that the state government is taking steps to tackle the unrest. He said the West Bengal government is hopeful that peace will be restored to the region soon.

The issue of land acquisition became controversial after the West Bengal government decided to turn over thousands of acres of farmland to private industries. The communist government wants to woo private investment to improve the economy of the state, which businesses have shunned for decades due to militant trade unions.

But farmers say they will be displaced and left without a livelihood if their land is taken away.

The violent protests by farmers in West Bengal have turned the spotlight on the federal government's plans to establish hundreds of special economic zones throughout the country. Critics are questioning the merits of handing over agricultural land to businesses in a country where agriculture sustains two thirds of the one billion people.

A worried federal government has put the policy on hold for the time being.

Meanwhile, angry opposition lawmakers disrupted Parliament for a second straight day on Friday demanding that the federal government send an all-party delegation to West Bengal to investigate the recent killings of villagers.

Michael Douglas dreams of killing Zeta-Jones in a movie!

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones

London, Mar 13: Michael Douglas wants to kill wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, but only on-screen.

The veteran actor revealed that he would love to play the villain in a movie which saw Zeta-Jones playing the heroine, and get the chance to kill either her, or the actor who plays the hero.

As for why he wants to play the villain and not the hero, well that’s because he feels that audiences don’t want to see a young actress paired with an older actor.

"I'd be the villain, because nobody likes older guys with younger women. So we'll get her a young leading man and I'll be the bad guy. And I'll 'off' one of them," the Mirror quoted him, as saying.

The 62-year old star also insisted that he and Zeta-Jones would never have an on-screen love scene, because it was not audiences wanted to see.

"As far as doing a romance in a film for a married couple, audiences seem to lack the excitement, knowing in the back of their mind these people are together all the time," he said.

Douglas and Zeta-Jones married on November 18, 2000, shortly after he and his first wife Diandra Luker were divorced.