The News Caravan

Tag: Bengal

  • Bengal MP complains of getting threats for protesting against coal smuggling

    Bengal MP complains of getting threats for protesting against coal smuggling

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    Kolkata: Dibyendu Adhikari, two-time Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP and younger brother of leader of opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, alleged on Saturday that he is receiving life threats over phone for raising his voice against coal smuggling in the Haldia Dock Complex which comes under his constituency in East Midnapore district.

    Adhikari levelled the allegations on the the same day his father and three-time Lok Sabha MP, Sisir Kumar Adhikari, wrote to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman about a fictitious bank account opened in his name without his knowledge at a public sector bank in the district.

    Although both Sisir Adhikari and Dibyendu Adhikari continue to be Trinamool Congress MPs as per Lok Sabha records, their connection with the party snapped since Suvendu Adhikari joined the BJP from the Trinamool before the 2021 Assembly polls.

    On Saturday, Dibyendu Adhikari told mediapersons that late on January 24 night, a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) assistant commandant was injured in clashes with coal smugglers operating in the dock area in Haldia.

    “As the local Lok Sabha member, I informed the matter to Home Minister Amit Shah. I also raised my voice demanding greater coordination between the CISF and the local police to check the menace of coal smuggling in the dock area. Since then, I have been receiving regular threat calls on my mobile,” he said.

    However, Adhikari added that he is not scared by the threat calls.

    “I will continue doing my duty as Tamluk MP as long as I continue in that chair,” he said.

    However, Adhikari said that he has not filoed an official complaint with the local police on this count.

    “I had approached the local police on many issues before, but the problems were not solved. So what is the point in informing the police on this matter,” he asked.

    Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Santanu Sen said that levelling such ‘wild’ allegations without informing the police is meaningless.

    “He should come clean first on his current political stand. He has maintained liaison with the BJP while continuing as a Trinamool member officially. Why didn’t he resign first as an MP,” Sen asked.

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    #Bengal #complains #threats #protesting #coal #smuggling

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Calcutta HC questions irrational posting, distribution of Bengal teachers

    Calcutta HC questions irrational posting, distribution of Bengal teachers

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    Kolkata: A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Friday questioned the “irrational” distribution of postings of teachers in different state-run schools in West Bengal where schools with adequate number of students have an inadequate number of teachers while those with fewer students have too many teachers.

    During the course of hearing on a matter relating to teachers’ transfers, it came to the notice of Justice Biswajit Basu of Calcutta High court that a school in Kolkata- adjacent Howrah district having a total student strength of 13 has five teachers.

    This is in sharp contrast to another school in the same district, where only eight teachers are catering to a total student strength of 550. This school is running without any proper teacher for crucial subjects like mathematics and geography.

    Expressing regret over this irrational teacher to student ratio in schools, Justice Basu also questioned the requirement of running schools with such few numbers of students. He also questioned whether it is not better to withdraw the recognition of such schools and transfer the teachers posted there to schools without adequate teaching staff.

    The counsel for the state education department said that there can be problems if such a step is taken since there can be political pressures in the matter.

    “Forget about the political pressures. There is an urgent requirement of improving the academic grades of the schools. Why can’t we think of model schools? There are girls’ schools in the state which neither have adequate teachers nor security staff and not even proper toilets. How can one remain silent in such a situation?” Justice Basu questioned them.

    Advising the state education system to introduce a proper and transparent transfer policy, Justice Basu said that teachers who refuse to abide by the transfer policy should be denied their salary from the next month.

    “We will have to first think of the interest of the students. I know that changing the process is time consuming. But we will have to achieve it,” Justice Basu observed.

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    #Calcutta #questions #irrational #posting #distribution #Bengal #teachers

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Political slugfest erupts in Bengal over Budget proposals

    Political slugfest erupts in Bengal over Budget proposals

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    Kolkata: After Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya presented the West Bengal Budget proposals for the financial year 2023-24 on Wednesday, a political slugfest has erupted in the state over them.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the Budget as a growth-oriented one maintaining a balance in social development with focus on employment generation and economic growth.

    “Despite the adverse attitude of the Union government towards West Bengal, especially with regard to payment of central dues to the state, we have tried with our limited means to provide as much relief as possible to the people. This is truly a humanitarian Budget,” the Chief Minister said.

    According to BJP legislator and former chief economic advisor to the Union government, Ashok Kumar Lahiri, there is no direction in the Budget to control the rising accumulated debt of the state.

    “What is even alarming is that the burden of interest payment of previous debts will skyrocket by the end of the current financial year. So, after paying this huge interest as well as meeting the committed expenditures like salaries, wages and retirement benefits to state government employees, the state government will hardly have any reserve for meeting capital expenditure.

    “That is why the projected capital expenditure every year in the Budget estimate gets reduced in the revised estimates. The same thing has happened this year as well,” Lahiri said.

    CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that the Budget has been presented keeping the forthcoming panchayat elections in mind, especially the proposal related to the old-age monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 to women above 60 years of age.

    “What will they do with just Rs 1,000? There is no scope for employment generation. There is no focus on education. The government has not done anything to improve the alarming situation that the state is in because of huge accumulated debt,” he said.

    Trinamool Congress MLA Tapas Roy welcomed the Budget proposal to increase the local area development fund for MLAs to Rs 70 lakh for each legislator from the current figure of Rs 60 lakh.

    However, senior BJP legislator Mihir Goswami said that such an announcement is meaningless considering that the state government has not paid the past dues to the MLAs on this count.

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    #Political #slugfest #erupts #Bengal #Budget #proposals

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Darjeeling politics: Bengal govt to grant land deeds to tea garden workers

    Darjeeling politics: Bengal govt to grant land deeds to tea garden workers

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    Kolkata: As the fresh political equation in the hills of Darjeeling involving the trio of Bimal Gurung, Ajay Edwards and Binoy Tamang is becoming a major threat to the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM)-Trinamool Congress alliance, quick granting of land deeds to the people of the hills is going to be the tool for the later to combat the trio.

    After returning to the hills on Friday from Kolkata after a series of meetings with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other ministers of the state cabinet, the BGPM chief and Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA)’s chief executive Anit Thapa told the media persons that the state government has assured him of quick beginning and completion of the process of granting of prajapattas (land deeds) to the tea garden workers residing on the land leased by the garden owners from the state government.

    “The process of the review on this count will be completed in the next 10 days, following which the distribution of the prajapattas will start. The chief minister has personally assured me on this count. This is great news for the tea garden workers, whose demand for prajapattas was long standing,” Thapa told mediapersons.

    It was learnt that since the majority of the tea gardens are located on land leased by the state government, there were some technical problems in granting land deeds to the workers residing there.

    Before every election, there had been promises of granting land deeds in the hills, which were hardly fulfilled.

    However, estranged Trinamool Congress leader, Binay Tamang claimed that this promise of granting of land deeds was yet another gimmick by the state government and BGPM before the panchayat polls this year.

    Hamro Party founder Ajay Edwards too said that since GTA has failed in fulfilling each and every promise it made before, the people of the hills have no trust in the fresh promise, on granting of land deeds.

    “What GTA and the state government has done is sheer politics and playing with the sentiments of the tea garden workers,” he said.

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    #Darjeeling #politics #Bengal #govt #grant #land #deeds #tea #garden #workers

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Central dues to Bengal under MGNREGA still at Rs 7,000 crore: Mamata

    Central dues to Bengal under MGNREGA still at Rs 7,000 crore: Mamata

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    Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that the total central dues to the state government under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) currently stands at Rs 7,000 crore.

    “I feel sad that the Union government is depriving us on this count. Had they given at least something, I would have admitted that. I will once again appeal to the Union government to release the funds for payment under the 100-day job scheme. Kindly do not deprive the poor people of their legitimate dues,” she said while addressing an administrative review meeting at Panchla in Howrah district.

    The Chief Minister also claimed that despite being deprived of the central funds under the MGNREGA scheme, the state government had been able to create 10 lakh man-days, under which jobs have been provided to 10 lakh of job-card holders.

    As regards to the housing scheme, she said that the Union government wants to take the sole credit of the scheme. “But the reality is that both the Union and the state governments have their shares of contribution under this scheme,” she said.

    Banerjee also said that despite the Union government’s reluctance to release central funds, the state government is determined to go ahead with its project for developing the rural road network in the state. “We have chalked out a plan with a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore on this count. Many of you have deposits in banks. There is no guarantee of security of these deposits as well,” she said.

    Without naming industrialist Gautam Adani, she attacked the Union government as she said that it is uncertain the hard-earned money of the people in Life Insurance Corporation of India is facing a major loss threat. “People are worried about whether they would get back the money invested in LIC, since that money is going to the kitty of a section of the industrialists.”

    She also alleged that since BJP is unable to combat Trinamool Congress politically they are using central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

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    #Central #dues #Bengal #MGNREGA #crore #Mamata

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • West Bengal NEET aspirant dies after falling from 6th floor of hostel building in Kota

    West Bengal NEET aspirant dies after falling from 6th floor of hostel building in Kota

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    Kota: A 20-year-old NEET aspirant from West Bengal died after falling from the sixth floor of his hostel building in the Jawahar Nagar area here, police said on Friday.

    It is suspected that Ishanshu Bhattacharya lost his balance and fell on the aluminium railing of a balcony which couldn’t take his weight and broke, Circle Officer Amar Singh said.

    He fell from the sixth floor of the building and died on the spot, the officer said, adding that he was declared brought dead by a hospital.

    Bhattacharya, a resident of Dhupguri in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district came to Kota in August last year and was preparing for medical entrance exam NEET.

    The circle officer said, Bhattacharya along with three of his hostel mates was talking in the balcony on the building’s sixth floor.

    Around midnight, when they were going back to their rooms, it is suspected that Bhattacharya lost his balance and fell.

    The victim’s body has been sent to the mortuary of MBS hospital for postmortem, which will be conducted after his family members arrive, he said.

    In a similar incident on January 29, a 17-year-old JEE Mains aspirant from Maharashtra who was preparing for the entrance test in Kota sustained critical injuries after he allegedly fell from the balcony on first floor of his hostel building.

    The injured student is still in critical condition and undergoing treatment in a city’s private hospital.

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    #West #Bengal #NEET #aspirant #dies #falling #6th #floor #hostel #building #Kota

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • CPI-M’s youth wing witnessing increased inflow of new members in Bengal

    CPI-M’s youth wing witnessing increased inflow of new members in Bengal

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    Kolkata: Despite the CPI-M being reduced to zero in terms of presence in the West Bengal Assembly, its youth wing Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) has witnessed an increased inflow of new members in the state in the recent past, its state chief said on Tuesday.

    “Between 2019 and 2022, the number of active members of DYFI in West Bengal has increased by over three lakh. As of December 31, 2022, the total number of members of the youth wing stands at 30,03,720. During the last one year only, the number increased by 1.17 lakh,” DYFI state President Minakshi Mukherjee told media persons.

    She also said that the maximum increase in membership has been witnessed in Kolkata and Malda district. According to her, the number of subscribers of the DYFI’s organ in Bengali, ‘Yuvashakti’ has more than doubled from 7,000 to 18,000 during the last one year.

    According to her, the youths are spontaneously approaching the youth wing these days expressing eagerness to its members. “This is because the DYFI is leading the movement against corruption on the streets. We are increasingly winning the confidence of the youths,” she said.

    Mukherjee also said that the members of the DYFI will be within and outside the polling booths during the forthcoming elections for the three-tier panchayat system in the state to resist attempts to unleash violence.

    “We will try our best that the people are able to cast their votes without fear and intimidation,” she said.

    She also said that before the rural civic body polls, the DYFI will set up panchayat-wise committees.

    “I am confident that the contest in the forthcoming rural civic body polls will not be a bipolar one between Trinamool Congress and BJP as it happened in the last few elections. Our party will be a strong contender this time,” she added.

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    #CPIMs #youth #wing #witnessing #increased #inflow #members #Bengal

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )