TRINAMULIS KILL CPI (M) WORKERS AT HARIPAL, HOOGHLY

HARIPAL(HOOGHLY): Bharati Mukherjee, CPI (M) MLA from Haripal cannot yet get over the horror of the event, the beating up, and the final, agonising death – of a CPI (M) worker, comrade Bhaben Deeg, a member of the Haripal-II local committee. The rally that Bharati addressed at Haripur at Haripal in Hooghly district was large and as usual, a big part of the assemblage was women. The success of any CPI (M) rally makes a burn-out case of Trinamulis, always. The Haripal rally was no exception.

Bharati was later to tell us that from the beginning one Labanya Deeg, a staunch Trinamuli, started to blare out piercing music from powerful speakers during the rally from his shop nearby. This irritated the people no end, and a few CPI (M) workers approached Labanya’s shop and asked him at least to tone down the volume.

They were met with choicest of expletives. Seeing that the mass of the people were becoming angry, Bhaben, a comrade of calm disposition and great experience, went to the shop-owner and tried to reason it out with him.

A clutch of Trinamuli workers who were inside the shop suddenly came out and started to beat up comrade Bhaben till he was a bloody pulp, and very dead. The Party leadership brought the situation under control as the villagers by then had surrounded the Trinamulis and the latter, cowering, feared the worst. Zonal secretary of the CPI (M) Dulal Bhowmick called upon the CPI (M) workers not to loose control, even as they tearfully bade farewell to comrade Bhaben Deeg later.

Industry well on track: CM

KOLKATA, 29 Apr. 2009: Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday fell back on his biggest USP the promise of fast-tracking industrialization to drum up support for the Left ahead of elections to 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bengal which would be held on Thursday. Addressing a meeting of the Calcutta Citizens' Initiative an association of eminent individuals from different streams, including a few mid-rung industrialists just 48 hours before the poll bugle is sounded in the state, the CM held out hope that mega projects announced earlier such as the numerous steel plants and petrochem hub were bound to come up, despite pressures induced by the global economic meltdown.

"I just can't accept the Opposition position. They are opposing everything, even the extension of national highways and acquisition of land for a thermal power plant at Katwa. But, I accept the challenge since I believe in people power and not muscle power," Bhattacharjee told a gathering at the G D Birla Sabhagar, which also included Nicco's Rajive Kaul and Titagarh Wagon's J P Chowdhary from the industrialist fraternity. "I have spoken to Sajjan Jindal and he has assured me that the JSW plant would definitely come up despite the problems in raising funds from banks at the moment," the CM added.

Incidentally, Jindal has already gone on record that the proposed 10-million tonne plant at Salboni, which was originally supposed to entail an investment of Rs 35,000 crore, could be delayed because of the current tough economic climate. Bhattacharjee whose industrialization policies had helped disparate Opposition parties to join hands said his government had taken lessons from the mistakes committed earlier in acquiring land. "Our intention was not bad. I have no personal preference for cars. All I wanted to see was the smiling faces of thousands of workers at Singur. We wanted to make Nandigram another Haldia. But the Opposition played a destructive role," he asserted.

However, the state was in the process of setting up a land bank largely comprising fallow land at a cost of Rs 500 crore to ensure that plots could be handed over to companies quicker. A rehabilitation package was also being drawn up for affected landlosers. "We are negotiating with a Czech company for a mass rapid transit system," he added.

Earlier, other speakers invited at the programme said the electorate should teach the Opposition a lesson for its negative brand of politics. "We have to ensure that agitational politics is washed away from the shores of West Bengal," town planner R M Kapoor said. "The intellectuals who are seeking change through hoardings should have the courage to specify what change they want," painter Sunil Das said.

Brinda Karat returns Sonia barb

MALDA,29 Apr 2009: Reacting to Sonia Gandhi's comments against the Left Front government in Bengal the day before, Brinda Karat tore into the Congress at rallies in Malda and Gajole on Tuesday. "Before criticizing the Bengal government, Sonia Gandhi must answer why a farmer commits suicide every 30 minutes in Maharashtra after so many years of Congress rule there," she thundered.

Karat was referring to Sonia's remark that "the Bengal government would have to answer why it has not done anything for the poor in so many years". Karat said Congress was "shedding tears" for minorities, farmers and tribals before the election. "But what have they done all these years? If they did anything at all, it was due to the Left Front's pressure," she said. "Sensing their inevitable defeat in North Malda, Congress is now playing the communal card. But people of the state are conscious enough to refuse them,"

she said. "Sonia said a lot regarding the Prime Minister fashion' in our Third Front. All we want to say is that the people of India have decided not to accept the Congress fashion in Delhi," she said. Regarding Sonia's comment on the "Bengal government's autocratic attitude", Karat said: "Sonia's comment on West Bengal was tantamount to insulting the people. In Bengal, the voting percentage is 70% to 80%. But in Amethi, from where Rahul Gandhi is contesting, the poll percentage is 40 to 45%. Is it not tanashahi' (autocracy)," she wondered.

CPI(M) will make Third Front workable: Biman Basu

Kolkata (IANS): The Communist Party of India(Marxist) (CPI(M)) will use its rich experience of running a Left Front government in West Bengal to make the Third Front a success if it wins the Lok Sabha elections, says the party's politburo member Biman Basu.He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of encouraging "divisive and fissiparous" forces by aligning with the pro-Gorkhaland Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) in the Darjeeling constituency in the northern part of the state.

Secretary of the CPI-M's powerful West Bengal unit, Bose told IANS in an interview: "The Third Front, the way the Left parties have initiated it, is not just a conglomeration of different parties."
He said to make a Third Front government workable, "there will be a Common Minimum Programme which will be accepted by all the constituents.

"I am hopeful this is possible. We have the experience in West Bengal where nine parties have been running the state government for more than 30 years. We consider the Left Front as less than a party and more than a front. "If we can apply this practice in forming the Third Front and can move accordingly, we can set up a sustainable government at the centre."

Mr. Bose underlined that the Left started coalition politics long before other political parties in India. The Left Front government led by the CPI-M came to power in West Bengal in 1977 and has won successive elections. He dismissed as "meaningless" Congress president Sonia Gandhi's comment that the Third Front was born out of some of its leaders' ambition to become prime minister. "She should remember that in any case the prime minister has to be elected."

Asked if West Bengal Chief Minister Buddahdeb Bhattacharjee could be one of the candidates for prime ministership, he called the question hypothetical. Mr. Basu came down heavily on the BJP decision to field heavyweight Jaswant Singh from Darjeeling with the support of the GJM. "The way the BJP has shown sympathy for the GJM and its Gorkhaland demand in its election manifesto, that will help the divisive and fissiparous forces to divide West Bengal.

"The BJP is playing a dangerous game with the GJM. This will definitely break the unity and amity of the people in the hills and plains of Darjeeling," Basu contended. Mr. Basu discounted speculation that the Congress-Trinamool combine could end up with a much greater share of seats than in the previous elections five years ago. In 2004, the Left Front bagged 35 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, while the Congress and the Trinamool got six and one respectively.

"This combination cannot gain more seats since electoral results do not depend on arithmetic calculation," he said. He also disagreed with the view that the Congress-Trinamool combine was severely denting the Left Front's traditional rural base. "It's a fact that in last year's panchayat (rural bodies) polls, the Left lost seats. But still we got more than 52 percent of the votes."

He contended that the Left Front suffered reverses in the panchayat elections because of disunity in its ranks, leading to the partners fighting each other in more than 10,000 seats. He claimed that the differences had been ironed out this time. Criticising the Congress, the fulcrum of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), Basu said: "It is now becoming a victim of rightist forces. Their policies are not meant for the common people. Rather, they are aimed to benefit the wealthy sections."

He said it was a pity the 123-year-old Congress was fighting the elections in West Bengal as the junior partner of Trinamool, its breakaway group. On Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee's call that it was battle for "mother, land and people", Basu said: "Their so-called 'mother, land and people' battle is not covering 543 constituencies across India. It is concentrated only in the 42 seats from the State."

Election in 14 of 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal tomorrow

Kolkata April 29, 2009: West Bengal goes to the first of the three phase election in 14 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state tomorrow amid unprecedented security to ward off threat from Maoists or extremists. Prominent among those whose fate would be decided on the morrow include BJP heavyweight Jaswant Singh from Darjeeling, CPI(M) leader in Lok Sabha Basudeb Acharya from Bankura, CPI parliamentarian Gurudas Dasgupta from Ghatal and the wife of ailing Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, Deepa Dasmunshi. Jaswant Singh is fighting the election with the support of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha which is spearheading a stir in the Darjeeling hills for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

A total of 1.69 crore electorate will be eligible to vote for 134 candidates, including nine women. West Bengal will have the highest deployment of 220 companies of central forces in each of the three-phases -- tomorrow, May 7 and May 13. Three helicopters will also be deployed during the election.The central forces would be deployed in static, critical mobile and mobile positions.

The constituencies going to polls are Coochbehar (SC), Alipurduar (ST), Jalpaiguri (SC), Darjeeling, Raiganj, Balurghat, Malda (North) Malda (South), Ghatala, Jhargram (ST), Midnapur, Purulia, Bankura and Bishnupur (SC).

Star campaigners for the Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance were AICC President Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi. Besides them, Congress stalwart Pranab Mukherjee also campaigned for the alliance. For the ruling Left Front, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee, CPI(M) Politburo members Sitram Yechuri, Brinda Karat and Left Front chairman Biman Basu had hit the campaign trail. CPI(M) veteran leader Jyoti Basu was unable to campaign due to ill health.

The Election Commission faces a crucial test in holding a peaceful poll in the Jhargram seat in West Midnapore district, which includes Lalgarh where a tribal agitation against 'police atrocities' is on since early November last year.

Polling booths in four villages in Lalgarh, whose residents opposed the entry of the police, have been moved five kilometers away with the Election officials arranging for buses to ferry voters. In some North Bengal constituencies there is presence of extremist outfits like the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), allegedly having links with the ULFA, and parties like the Greater Coochbehar Democratic Party (GCDP), agitating for a separate state.

Apart from three regular central election observers for each constituency, the EC has appointed four special observers - two in Ghatal, one in Darjeeling and one in Bishnupur following complaints from those areas, while there would also be micro-observers. Keshpur, Sabang, Pingla, Chandrakona, Malda, Darjeeling and Bishnupur seats have been declared as sensitive, while some others were identified as 'critical'.

Rahul remarks an insult to West Bengal’

People continue to repose faith in the Left: Yechury

NEW DELHI: Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury on Saturday said Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the Left Front government in West Bengal amounted to “insulting the people of Bengal.”

“Rajiv Gandhi had once said Kolkata was a dying city. And you remember what happened after that. Now, his son is echoing similar things about Bengal,” Mr. Yechury told journalists when asked to respond to Mr. Gandhi’s charge that the situation in West Bengal was worse than what was in Uttar Pradesh. “Why are the people continuing to repose faith in the Left? If you say they are doing so for the wrong reasons, then it is tantamount to insulting the people of Bengal,” he added.

The CPI(M) leader drew attention to a study, commissioned under Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, which ranked West Bengal among the top three States. The World Bank too had reported a decline in the below-the-poverty line-level population in the State.

“You too won’t agree that Ahluwalia is a Left spokesman or the World Bank a Left body,” he observed while warning that the Left parties too could reveal worse social indicators in Congress-ruled states.

Conceding that anyone could voice his opinion and Mr. Gandhi was no exception, Mr. Yechury pointed out that the fact that the people of West Bengal had elected the Left Front seven times in a row “merits a re-thinking” among those criticising the government.

The Election Commission had in the past conceded the demand of the Opposition parties by inducting security forces in large numbers from outside the State and staggering the elections in five phases but the result was the same.

“I had then told the Election Commission jokingly that so long as you don’t bring in voters from outside, you can’t fight the Left in Bengal,” he said while pointing out that the Left Front had then won two-thirds of the seats.

On Mr. Gandhi’s remark that West Bengal had failed to properly implement the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in some districts, Mr. Yechury blamed the Centre for not responding to the Left Front government’s plea to effect some changes in the utilisation of funds due to the State’s unique climatic conditions. The senior CPI(M) leader said the Bharatiya Janata Party leader L. K. Advani’s political standing would be at stake if he accepted the clean chit given by the former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief, K. S. Sudarshan, regarding his role in Babri Masjid demolition. Mr. Yechury felt it was inconceivable that people would believe in the clean chit given by Mr. Sudarshan or accepted by Mr. Advani.

NREGA performance - West Bengal fares better irrespective of hitches from the Central government

KOLKATA: West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala’s Left Front government had led the fight for proper implementation of NREGA. This infact took another proportion when West Bengal said that proper resource sharing mechanism on the issues of NREGA will be absolutely needed. The fight that the Left Front particularly the CPI(M) fought against the bureaucratic decisions of the UPA led government infact made the UPA bow down.

Mentionable that the 100days work itself under the NREGA scheme was forced upon the UPA government by the Left parties as right to work was an essential demand primarily of the Left parties. Although now the Congress is trying to take credit of this but the bitter fact remains that probably the Congress if returned to power is planning to weaken the national rural employment generation programme. An indication of this wily design has already been manifested by the current budget where for 2009-2010 Rs 55,170 crore has been allocated for the ministry, a decrease of 14.93 per cent from 2008-09. Quite understandably, the World Bank in its 2009 World Human Development report has slammed the NREGA as a policy barrier to the internal mobility. Therefore it is not surprising that a concerted attempt is being made by the UPA to carry on a vicious campaign against the propagator of NREGA i.e. the LEFT parties due to whose emphasis the UPA government had been forced to adopt this landmark scheme.

Infact in the first phase of the implementation of NREGA about 2 out of the 4 districts in west Bengal where NREGA had been carried out has received awards from the Central Government. The rest two missed the prize by whiskers. Out of the 18 districts of the West Bengal where NREGA is being carried out in 2008-2009 financial year a total of 11 lakh 68 thousand 428 families or 15 lakh 37229 people has got work under this scheme according to Central government report only. On the other hand the number of districts covered under the NREGA in Rajasthan, Orrissa, Madhyapradesh Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra has been more. Currently in West Bengal work is going on under NREGAin 59thousand 868projects. This is also because of the extra emphasis of the NREGA on earthwork which perhaps is not entire suitable for a state like West Bengal which itself is agriculturally advanced. Also West Bengal government has many times urged the centre and the bureaucrats in including rural community resource creation within the scope of work of NREGA. However with West Bengal’s elected Panchayets and the mechanism of participation of the village governments within the scope of 100 days work has also given an entirely new dimension to the NREGA work in west Bengal. The minimum wage under the NREGA has also been increased by the West Bengal government. Recently West Bengal has been awarded one of the four first prizes of Rs 1.50 crores for good performance of PRIs , its Panchayet system once again has been regarded as one of the best mechanisms of the country.

According to sources in Panchayet and Rural Development department, Government of West Bengal, more than 41lakh bank or post office accounts have been opened so far. Out of which, 13 lakh 18 thousand 174 has been joint accounts. The minister in charge of Rural development and Panchayets Bankim Ghosh has said that emphasis has been given to open joint accounts under NREGA. Extra emphasis had been given on rain water harvesting horticulture and allied activities. Emphasis has also been given to do work under the NREGA in the 4612 backward villages of the state. Mentionable that West Bengal has also been the first state in the entire country when it comes to identify its backward villages and to plan accordingly.

According to Central Government statistics till the month of February this year ,a total of 9175528 household has been issued job cards till the latest reporting month out of which 3258257 are from schedule caste background, 962560 from ST background, and 4954711 coming from others background. Here it can be mentioned that the work under the NREGA in the state had been started in phases and the latest addition being the Howrah district. In the month of February 2009 itself a total of 934237 people were working under the NREGA in different districts of West Bengal. The Total number of cumulative person days generated under NREGA in West Bengal has been 576.46846 (lakh days) out of which 220.74443(lakh days) has been for schedule castes 90.041599(lakh days) for ST, 142.32229(lakh days) are for women and the rest 265.68244(lakh days) for people belonging to other castes. Out of this a total of 235385 families working in NREGA have also been benefitted due to land reforms in the state and 24970 have been disabled persons who have got work under NREGA in the different districts of west Bengal. Mentionable that due to Panchayet elections in West Bengal work suffered to some extent in NREGA due to the NREGA guidelines and the election regulation. In the Trinamool controlled Zilla Parishads also work has suffered to a greater extent due to non cooperation by those Zilla Parishad. Also due to the agitation in the Darjeeling district. By the GJM and the subsequent ban on NREGA work by the GJM has also hampered the work in that district. In portions of West Medinipore i.e. in Lalgarh and the Maoist insurgency prone areas work on NREGA has suffered due to demand of money by the Maoists. In the September –October month also work suffered due to the opposition fuelled unrest in parts of West Medinipore and Bankura and Purulia.

However after the common people resisted to these evil designs, now work again is on full swing in these areas. West Bengal is also faring well in number of Gramsabha held in each villages and the State government recently has also announced a policy decision in this regard and has declared that the state government will not release own funds of the gram Panchayets until and unless the gram sabha’s are held regularly in the village Panchayets of the state. In the year 2008 -2009 a total of 1337 complaints were lodged and more than 77 percent of the complaints have been disposed of already in other cases investigations has been taken up by proper authorities.

LALGARH WITNESSES A FEARLESS PADAYATRA

LALGARH: There was no ocean of clouds in the sky. The heat was broiling. The ambience was waiting anxiously for another of the secretive assaults by the ‘Maoists.’ Then the tide changed. A padayatra of several thousands CPI (M) workers and local villagers emerged from the forests into Lalgarh, plenty of Red Flags fluttering and afloat in the hot khamsin-like wind swirls, slogans reverberating across the Sal, Mahua, Arjun, and Simul trees in full, multi-hued bloom – summer has been here. Leading the marchers was Dr Pulin Baskey, CPI (M) candidate from the Jhargram parliamentary seat. The march winded its way through villages like Belatikari, Nepura, Dharampur, Chemtiara, Bamal, Jirapara, and Gohmi.

Dr Pulin went from house-to-house on his campaign trail. He moved freely around Lalgarh east and west, the ‘Maoist’-affected stretches, upto Saradamani. Everywhere he was welcomed with fresh flowers and garlands. The people were eager to talk to him and tell him about the ‘Maoist’ atrocities that had also stultified development work in the Kantageria-Lalgarh-Ramgarh area. Each of the stopovers that Dr Pulin made was within a maximum of one kilometre of known ‘Maoist’ shelters that the loyal Trinamuli toughs provide – out of political compulsion or fear is still a point of debate.

The CPI (M) candidate addressed an impromptu rally at the ST Chowk that was attended by several thousands of the local populace. For the first time, we could see that the wall of fear was crumbling down and the people were no longer cowering when coming out into the open. The padayatra was at least three km long and had other, smaller meetings that the CPI (M) leadership of the area addressed, among them Anuj Pandey and Joydeb Giri.

Dr Pulin then proceeded to the place in Belatikari where CPI (M) leader Chandi Karan had been assaulted by the ‘Maoist-Trinamuli’ combination a few weeks back. We were quite astonished as we witnessed people pour out of the hutments and mill around the CPI (M) leadership – the enthusiasm was quite infectious and certainly affected us as well as the few known Trinamulis of the locale who had ventured out to see what the hurrahs were all about.

Then the padayatra entered the deepest of the dense stretches of the jangal mahal, slogans ringing out all the while, where the pitched-and-tarred metalled road was a strip of winding steel glistening harsh amidst the soft lush of greens, browns, and the bright Red of the march.

The people at a final rally held at Gohmi by the side of the deep aquamarine stream where quiet flows the Kangsabati river, told the CPI (M) leaders how the ‘Maoists’ had visited the area deep into the night, last night, asking the villagers not to join the padayatra or else. They defied the death threat -- and the cracks have started to appear in the façade of fear that these left sectarians and their Trinamuli cronies seek to drape over the Lalgarh area. The election is but a couple of days away.

Puruliya is far ahead of Prince's own Amethi-Raebareli

KOLKATA(INN): Congress leader Mr. Rahul Gandhi has criticised the Left Front government for lack of development in West Bengal during his election campaign in the State. He has said that the situation in Puruliya is even worse than Kalahandi. The prince of Congress himself is an M.P. from Amethi in Sultanpur district in Uttar Pradesh. The Amethi and the Raebareli constituencies by virtue of traditionally being the constituencies of Gandhi family have got an undue favour from the central Government. Yet, the data says that these constituencies are closer to Kalahandi vis-a-vis underdevelopment instead of Puruliya, as Rahul Gandhi would have us believe. In certain aspects, they are even worse than Kalahandi.

If we look at the index of economic and social development, Puruliya is way ahead of Raebareli and Amethi. These indices are constructed by national sample survey, ‘Bharat Nirman’ project, department of rural development etc. Indices regarding health, education, infrastructure are taken from household and facility survey-3 of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Even from the constituency level data given in the website of Indicus Analytics, it is clear that Mr. Rahul Gandhi, or his team of political advisors, has not done minimum ‘homework’ before speaking in public.

If we consider the proportion of population below poverty line, during 2008 in Puruliya constituency it was 20% population whereas that was 44% in Amethi,58% in Raebareli and 59% in Kalahandi. In puruliya, the proportion of the BPL population is reduced by 4% during last 4 years, whereas it has gone up in Kalahandi and Raebareli. The annual average household income has been Rs. 83 thousand in Puruliya as compared to Rs.51 thousand in Amethi, 47 thousand in Raebareli and 49 thousand in Kalahandi. Average annual Per capita consumption expenditure has been Rs. 13 thousand in Puruliya as compared to Rs. 6.2 thousand and Rs. 7.8 thousand in Amethi and Raebareli respectively which are lower than even Kalahandi (Rs. 10.7 thousand).

A district-wise study by Choudhary and Gupta (EPW, 2009) which is based on NSSO consumption survey of 2004-5 tells us that average per month per capita consumption expenditure in rural areas has been Rs. 304 in Kalahandi and Rs. 461 in Puruliya district, but for Raebareli district this was only Rs. 385. In urban areas per month per head expenditures have been Rs. 846, Rs.741 and Rs. 699 in Puruliya, Kalahandi and Raebareli respectively. According to this study the percentage of poor population in rural areas has been 70.5% in Kalahandi, 54.4% in Raebareli and 31.2% in Puruliya. The percentage of poor population in urban areas has been 60.3% in Kalahandi, 40.5% in Raebareli and 36.9% in Puruliya district. Therefore, it is clear that the poverty situation is much worse in Raebareli district than Puruliya and the former is comperatively closer to Kalahandi and not the later. However, indicators in Sultanpur district are much better, where part of the Amethi constituency is located.

According to the constituency-wise indicus data, the proportion of urban population is highest in Puruliya among Kalahandi, Amethi, Raebareli and Puruliya. The proportion of households having electricity is also heighest in Puruliya among these four constituencies during 2008. In Amethi, the work participation rate is only 34% and that in Raebareli only 36% as compared to 47% in Kalahandi and 45% in Puruliya. Work participation rate among women in Amethi is only 24% and that in Raebareli is only 26% as compared to 40% and 37% in Kalahandi and Puruliya respectively. Primary sector employment (i.e. agriculture and allied) is lowest in Puruliya during 2008 among these four constituencies. The infant mortality rate is 46 per thousand live births in Puruliya, whereas that is 83 in Amethi, 79 in Raebareli and 94 in Kalahandi. Under 5 years mortality rate is 89 per thousand in Puruliya as compared to 160 in Amethi, 156 in Raebareli and 178 in Kalahandi. Vis-a-vis immunization, Raebareli-Amethi are in medieval age - 84% children in Puruliya are fully immunized whereas only 16% children in Amethi and Raebareli are fully immunized. This percentage have come down during 2008 than 2004 for Amethi and Raebareli and it is even much lower than the Kalahandi (41%) constituency.

The district-wise DLHS-3 data for 2007-08 shows that 27.5% households have electricity connection in Puruliya as compared to 18.3% in Kalahandi and 23.1% in Raebareli. 17.1% people live in pucca hoses in Puruliya as compared to only 1.9% in Kalahandi and 16.7% in Raebareli district. 11.3% people have access to safe piped drinking water in Puruliya district as compared to only 3% people in Kalahandi, 2.7% in Sultanpur and 9.1% in Raebareli district. 40% of total deliveries takes place as institutional delivery in Puruliya district, whereas only 27.3% in Kalahandi, only 24.3% in Raebareli and 36.6% are institutional deliveries in Kalahandi, Raebareli and Sultanpur districts respectively. In Puruliya district 84.3% children are fully immunized, whereas only 43.2% in Kalahandi, 33.1% in Raebareli and 45% children in Sultanpur district are fully immunized. Despite the presence of many remote places and substantial proportion of tribal population in Puruliya, Puruliya is far ahead of Amethi-Raebareli in respect of health service delivery.