PM sanctions Rs.950 million for Visva Bharati

Kolkata, Dec 6: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday announced a grant of Rs.950 million for the Visva Bharati University at Santiniketan in West Bengal.Manmohan Singh said a high-level committee, under the chairmanship of state Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, had also been appointed to promote the university as an international centre of academic excellence.

'I am happy to announce today (Saturday) that an amount of Rs.95 crore (Rs.950 million) has been sanctioned for implementing the initial plan prepared by Visva Bharati in pursuance of the recommendations of the committee,' Manmohan Singh said during the convocation held for the 2005 and 2006 batches of the university, of which he is the chancellor.

The prime minister said the University Grants Commission (UGC) had earlier sanctioned generous grants for the development of Visva Bharati and for expanding the facilities in its Santiniketan campus, about 220 km far from Kolkata. 'There is, therefore, no dearth of resources available now to the university and I would urge all of you to take full advantage of this,' Singh said in his address.

'Also, as a follow-up of the recommendations of the committee, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has completed the conservation work in the heritage buildings in the Ashram and will now restore the four buildings in the Uttarayana complex within the current financial year.
'A committee has been set up in August 2008 to advise on restoration of art works and other building related issues in Visva Bharati. All these initiatives will help the university to excel further,' he a said, adding that 'to come to Santiniketan is to come on a pilgrimage'.

Manmohan Singh, who came to West Bengal on a two-day trip, arrived at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport here Saturday morning and then headed off for Santiniketan. Manmohan Singh will fly back to Kolkata in the evening and spend the night at Raj Bhavan.

On Sunday morning, the prime minister will again fly off in a helicopter to Malda district. He is slated to visit late Congress leader A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhury's residence at Kotwali in Malda. After this, the prime minister will go to Purnea, from where he will leave for New Delhi.

West Bengal gets its first trauma care unit

Kolkata, 7 December: A private hospital has started West Bengal's first Trauma Care Unit (TCU) to deal with the rapidly increasing road traffic accidents here particularly in the EM Bypass area, the eastern part of the city, authorities said. Ruby General Hospital, located in north-eastern Kolkata, inaugurated the TCU Thursday evening.

"This TCU is one of its kind in West Bengal. We decided to start this unit after getting about 126 accident cases a month in the area since the beginning of 2008," Chairman and Managing Director of the hospital Kamal K. Dutta told newspersons Friday. He said most of the deaths from road accidents can be prevented if the victims are attended to in time.

"We have seen that a majority of the road accident victims die during the 'Golden Hour' (the time period of one hour in which the lives of a majority of critically injured trauma patients can be saved if definite surgical intervention is provided) as it takes a considerable time for them to reach hospitals."

"Hence we have strategically located the TCU at the accident-prone zone near EM Bypass," Dutta said. The TCU is equipped with 15 trauma surgeons. There are provisions for all major surgeries including general, neuro and plastic surgeries.

According to WHO predictions, if a concerted effort is not made to improve the services by 2020, there will be 147 percent increase in road traffic accident (RTA) deaths in India. India has one percent of the world's vehicles, but six percent of the total global RTA deaths.

PM arrives at WB

Kolkata, 6 December, PTI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday arrived at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport on a two-day visit to West Bengal.

He was received by Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Singh left soon by helicopter for Santiniketan to attend the convocation at Viswabharati, of which he is the Acharya (chancellor).He will return to the city tonight and will visit Malda on Sunday before returning to Delhi.

Bush an 'assassin', Castro has been a great influence on me: Maradona

KOLKATA, 6 December: US President George W Bush is a "bit of an assassin" but his successor Barack Obama will, hopefully, do a good job, football legend Diego Maradona said on Saturday.

"I would like to think of George Bush as a bit of an assassin. I like this change. I welcome this change," Maradona said at his first media conference in India when asked to comment on US president-elect Obama.

Maradona, who is on a short visit to Kolkata, "I like Obama a lot. I think he will do a good job," Maradona said. Known for his strong anti-US views, the legend has in the past opposed US military operations and spoken out against its policy towards Communist Cuba.

Speaking about his friendship with Fidel Castro, Cuba's ruler till recently whom he idolises, Maradona said: "I have shared a lot of cigars with him. We have talked about politics and football. He has been a great influence on me."

Diego Maradona arrives to a rousing welcome in Kolkata

KOLKATA, 6 December: "God of football" Diego Armando Maradona arrived on a two-day visit to Kolkata early Saturday and was welcomed by thousands of Kolkatans who gave sleep a miss and lined the roads for a glimpse of the Argentinian.

People waved flags of India and Argentina, danced to the tune of foot-tapping Latin American music and raised slogans eulogising the football legend who touched down at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International airport at 1.25 am. Kolkata, cricket crazy India's soccer crazy hub, saw passions run high as more than 50 thousand sports buffs assembled at the airport, and various street junctions leading to the hotel on the Eastern Metropolitan bypass where Maradona would put up. It was a carnival atmosphere as the milling crowd held aloft cut-outs of the footballer, and carried posters welcoming him in multiple languages - English, Hindi, Bengali and even Spanish. From old infirm men to children not yet in their teens, from able-bodied youth to bashful housewives - everyone seemed to have hit the streets. "I have been waiting for more than an hour. I am a great fan of Maradona," said housewife Ratna Sen, who had travelled 25 km to be a part of the occasion. The diminutive 1.65m hero of Argentina's 1986 World Cup triumph was welcomed at the tarmac of the airport by West Bengal sports minister Subhas Chakraborty and the organisers with flowers. "Maradona is a phenomenon. This is a momentous occasion. It's the raw passion for soccer which has brought so many people on the roads," said former India international footballer and Arjuna awardee Prasun Banerjee, waiting on a city street.

More than 5000 policemen, including the Rapid Action Force and crack commandos were deployed on the entire route of Maradona's convoy to prevent any breach of peace. A couple of over-enthusiastic teenagers were seen climbing lamp posts near the airports to hoist Argentine flags, forcing the security personnel to step in and bring them down. On Saturday morning, Maradona would begin his schedule by flying out in a helicopter to the facility of one of the sponsors before laying the foundation stone of the Maradona Indian Football School at Mahestala, 13 km south of the city.

Maradona, accompanied by his girlfriend Veronica, would also be felicitated at Maheshtala before returning to his hotel for a media meet that would be followed by the felicitation at the giant Salt Lake Stadium in the afternoon. "It will be a programme worth remembering for years. Don't miss the start and the end," said Chakraborty.

Maradona would kick-start a match between Foreign Minister's XI and Chief Minister's XI, where players turning out for various teams would take part. Among those seen in action would Bhaichung Bhutia and Jose Barreto. Later, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee would inaugurate the felicitation proper. Maradona would be showered with gifts, among which are golden replica of the stadium, and a left foot with a football. He would also go around the stadium in the bus, before the function concludes with a pyrotechnic display.

On Sunday, Maradona would visit Mother House, the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa. He would also call on former state chief minister and communist patriarch Jyoti Basu at his Salt Lake residence. Maradona would conduct a soccer clinic at the Mohun Bagan ground later in the day, before wrapping up his visit with a charity dinner at the hotel. Five jerseys and footballs autographed by the soccer star would come under the hammer at the dinner, the proceeds of which would go to the IFS.

10 West Bengal jute mills resume work in despite strike

Kolkata, Dec 5 :Ten jute mills in West Bengal have resumed work despite an ongoing indefinite strike called by 18 trade unions in the state, a mill owners' organisation said Thursday.
'Ten jute mills in the suburbs of Kolkata have started working. Some other jute mills also want to start working but militant trade unionism is stopping them,' Sanjay Kajaria, chairman of the Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA), told newspersons.

The indefinite strike in 59 jute mills in the state started Dec 1 due to non-payment of dearness allowance (DA) to the workers by the mill owners since April 2007.

Gobinda Guha, general secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)-affiliated Bengal Chatkal Majdoor Union, confirmed that 10 jute mills have started operations.

'Around six mills in Howrah, two in South 24-Parganas and a few others have reopened,' Guha said.

'Since the time is good for the mills owners as they are getting record orders from the government, they should settle the striking workers' demand,' he said.

The jute industry witnessed a 63-day strike from Jan 5 to March 8 in 2007, which crippled production during that period.

The IJMA claimed the central government had decided to allow use of plastic bags to pack food grain by amending present norms requiring mandatory use of jute bags as the workers in most of the mills had gone on strike. This would dampen demand, Kajaria said.

'The textile ministry has communicated to us that it will dilute the Jute Packaging Materials Act to allow plastic bags as work at most mills have come to a halt following the strike. Our worst fear has come true,' he added.

Packed programme awaits Maradona

KOLKATA, 5th December, 2008: The most famous yet controversial football player ever to visit Kolkata — Diego Maradona — will have to be contending with two days of programme that will take him crisscrossing the City and its neighbourhood.

The Argentine National coach will be arriving in the wee hours of Saturday. He will spend almost 48 hours in the City and attend a number of programmes including a visit to the Mother Teresa House on the second day.

The legendry footballer will open the tour with a visit to the south-western part of the City to lay the foundation stone of the Indian Football School. He will follow it up with a media conference at his hotel and later will go to the Salt Lake Stadium to witness a match and to accept a felicitation.
The second day’s programme will begin with a visit to Mother House and from there he will visit the former Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu, at the latter’s Salt Lake residence and wind up his outdoor activity by visiting the century-old National Club of India, Mohun Bagan.

His final function in the city will be to attend a charity dinner where a number of his memorabilia will be auctioned and the proceeds donated to the needy football players.

Despite Slowdown, IT Sector in Kolkata continues to grow

KOLKATA, 5th December,2008: In the wake of the withdrawal of Tatas from Singur and the global financial crisis, the mood in Kolkata was indeed somber, but the investments in the IT sector continued to flow in. On 10th September, 2008, DQ Entertainment, the biggest animation company in the country, opened its Kolkata Production Centre which was inaugurated by the Chief Minister.

Soon thereafter, the foundation stone of the tallest (41-storeyed) IT Park was laid by the Hon’ble Minister for IT Department in Haldia which is part of the State Government policy to take IT industry to other towns in the State for a more inclusive growth. On 5th October, 2008, the Hon'ble Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of Orion IT Park and SEZ at Rajarhat. The presence of the Hon'ble External Affairs Minister, Government of India, on this occasion along with His Excellency the Japanese Ambassador to India, underlines the focus on Japan in this Park which will also have a Japan Village to facilitate Indo-Japanese collaborations in the IT sector.

Thus, the growth in the IT sector in West Bengal continues unabated even in these uncertain times. With a view to further fuel the industrial growth in the State, a 500-acre SEZ near Siliguri has been announced by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. (WBIDC), which will have an exclusive IT Park. The ASSOCHAM survey has also focussed on Bengal as a hotspot for investments.

The other developments during this period highlight the direction IT industry is taking in the field of research and development, human resource development, cyber security, testing and benchmarking and enhancing efficiency. Thus, the industry is using this slowdown as an opportunity to innovate, improve quality and increase productivity. The increased number of mobile telephone connections in the City and the State, however, defy any hints of a slowdown.

Maoists fuelling tribal agitation in West Midnapore: Buddhadeb

Kolkata, Dec 4 (PTI): Maoists were behind the tribal agitation at Lalgarh which has remained blockaded and cutoff from the rest of West Bengal since last month, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said today.Buddhadeb said the November two landmine blast, which he and union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitindra Prasada escaped narrowly, was triggered by maoists. Those behind the blast was Lalgarh squad of Maoists led by Sasadhar Mahato, allegedly brother of a Trinamool Congress leader, the Chief Minister told the state Assembly.

He said one maoist squad was at Lalgarh which was joined by two to three others from Jharkhand. Maoist leaders were also camping at Dalilpur in West Midnapore.Stating that maoists were behind the ongoing agitation and blockade at Lalgarh block, he said that it had resulted into price rise, shortage of kerosene oil and suffering of the students.

The administration wanted talks and was being patient, Buddhadeb said, but the venue could not be decided by the agitators as demanded by them.The chief minister, however, said police action was not the only way to counter maoists, who had to be isolated from the tribal population.The state government, he said, would also not ban maoists as demanded by the Trinamool Congress. PTI

Chandraketugarh unfold Bengal’s rich heritage

THE STATE of West Bengal is renowned for its historical heritage, some dating to the era before the British colonial regime. History unfolds many mysteries and myths of the past. One such place of historical importance is Chandraketugarh, about 50 km from Kolkata, via Barasat, in the North 24 Parganas.

A civilization that flourished between 4th century BC and the 12th century AD, Chandraketugarh, comprises of the remains of a temple and a palace, which has been excavated from a mound. According to the Archaeological Survey of India, which carried out the excavation, the era was a prosperous one under the mythical emperor Chandraketu, spanning at least six eras, beginning from the pre-Mauryas and ending with the Palas.

The site of the remains of the palace, and the temple in Beramchapa, is named Khanamihirer Dhipi. Nothing much is left of the structure except for the thick walls and several flights of stairs but that has not taken away the grandeur of the palace or the temple. A sharp contrast of the old and the new has, however, set upon the place with modern day apartments around the site and cars speeding down the road beside the static remains of the age old civilization. Children of the vicinity jump up and down the walls and play amongst the ruins; few adults gather there to gamble over the game of cards and tourists walk about with a feeling of awe witnessing archaeological skills of the ancient primitive era.

The remains of the once palatial structure have been declared a national property under the ’Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958’. Further 300 metres from the site have been declared prohibited for the purpose of both mining operation and construction. The discovery of kingdom of the bygone era was made following the excavation carried out by the Ashutosh Museum of the Calcutta University in 1956-1957 which revealed the cultural remains.

The most extraordinary unearthing has been the brick temple, endowed with architectural and decorative designs belonging to the Pala period. Buddha images and stupas, terracotta plaques and sealing, Jataka stories coins, different types of beads, were among the several other findings from the quarry. A dusty road from Baramchapa, which after some distance turns into a path flanked by green fields on either side, leads the way to Chandraketugarh.

by Samrat Roy

Constitution Bench takes up validity of ordering CBI probes

New Delhi, December 4, 2008: A five-member Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court commenced hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the validity of courts ordering CBI probes into various incidents occurring in different states of the country.

Opening the arguments for West Bengal Government senior counsel K K Venugopal told the Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justices R V Raveendran, D K Jain, P Sathasivam and J M Panchal, that neither the High Court, nor the apex court, has the power to order a CBI probe into alleged scandals or on any other issue.

He claimed that the power to order a CBI probe is solely vested with the respective state governments and even the Central Government had no power to order a probe by the Central agency unless the state concerned gave its consent. As per Section 5 & 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, under which the CBI has been constituted, the agency can conduct a probe in any state only with prior consent of the said government.

However, in recent years, the Supreme Court and also various High Courts had been ordering probes by the CBI into high-profile cases.West Bengal is the main petitioner in this case as it had taken exception to the Calcutta High Court order for a CBI probe into the Midnapore firing incidents in which several persons were killed.

FROM THE HINDU,

5TH DECEMBER EDITION:

The Supreme Court and the High Courts have no power to order a CBI probe, contrary to the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (DSPE) that contemplates prior consent of the State concerned.

Senior counsel K.K. Venugopal made this submission before a five-judge Constitution Bench, hearing the question raised by the West Bengal government on the courts’ powers to order a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The State challenged the powers of the Calcutta High Court to order a CBI inquiry into the death of 11 Trinamool Congress workers in an incident at Gabreta in Midnapore district, which allegedly involved ruling party workers.

During the pendency of this special leave petition, several other State governments also questioned the powers of the High Courts to order a CBI enquiry and hence the matter was referred to the Constitution Bench.

Statutory limitations

Mr. Venugopal said though the High Courts had on several occasions held that they had the inherent powers to refer a matter for CBI probe even without the State government’s consent, they could not do so in the face of statutory limitations.

Under Section 6 of the DSPE Act, prior consent of the State government was a necessity for ordering a CBI probe.

On many occasions, the State governments had themselves, on political or other considerations, given leave for CBI probe but even as the enquiry was on, in the face of unpleasant investigation, the consent was withdrawn, he pointed out.

When Justice R.V. Raveendran told counsel that Section 6 would bind only the Centre and not the courts, Mr. Venugopal said even in the case of inter-State crimes, they could not order a CBI probe without State government’s consent as the matter had wide ramifications.

Checks and balances

He said the function of the apex court or the High Court in a federal/quasi-federal structure was to maintain the ‘checks and balances’ between the Centre and the States.

“This is a crucial role and the apex court would not so interpret the Constitution as to defeat or affect the federal balance maintained by it.

“No provision of the Constitution authorises the court to exercise judicial power contrary to the express provisions of the Constitution itself, or of an Act of Parliament.”

Only curative powers

On the powers of the Supreme Court exercising powers under Article 142 to do substantive justice, Mr. Venugopal, quoting an earlier judgment, said “Powers under Article 142 being curative in nature cannot be construed as powers which authorise the court to ignore the substantive rights of a litigant while dealing with a cause pending before it.”

“The argument that the enquiry is against a Chief Minister or against the interests of the party in power and hence the court has the jurisdiction and duty to direct an investigation and prosecution by the CBI is to ignore a few fundamentals”, he said.

Arguments will continue on December 10 before the Bench, which includes Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices D.K. Jain, P. Sathasivam and J.M. Panchal.

West Bengal to extend reach of schools for child labourers

Kolkata, December 4, 2008: The West Bengal government will extend the reach of more than 850 special schools meant for child labourers to help them enter the mainstream education, an official here said.”We are trying to ensure that children who stop working after certain interventions should be admitted to these special schools run under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP). So far, at least 44,000 child labourers have benefited from these schools,”

Trilochan Singh, principal secretary of the department of labour in the state government, told mediapersons on the sidelines of a regional consultation here recently. “These schools run bridge courses. Those child labourers, who stop working, study here and then they are admitted to the mainstream schools where the can continue their education,” Singh said.

The regional consultation was organised by the state’s labour department, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and UNICEF on the ‘abolition of child labour and attainment of Children’s Right to Education’.

The meet focused on bringing together different stakeholders to work out some possible solutions towards achieving these aims. The 2001 census report estimates that nearly 857,086 children are working in the state, which violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to which India acceded in 1992.

SINGUR RALLY OF THIRTY THOUSAND CALL FOR INDUSTRIALISATION

TURN AROUND OF MIND-SET NOTICEABLE AMONGST VILLAGERS

SINGUR, 3rd December,2008: The morning haze still hangs in shreds – the fertile rural earth is just being warmed up by the somewhat weak and yellow sunlight, and it is 3 December. We move around the villages in and out of the vicinity of Singur, and beyond, in the Anandanagar Gram Panchayat, and speak to the rural folk.

The CPI (M) activists and mass frontal workers-- plus their family members – even the kids had joined in, a typical Hooghly tradition – were in the midst of preparing to be in their best turn outs for the early afternoon pro-industrialisation rally of the Left mass organisations opposite the motor car factory, now dusted over, and with a somewhat forlorn look.

Red Flags and banners are being pressed carefully with hot iron with great care and then neatly folded. The flag poles and the thinner flag staffs are oiled and then wiped clean. Fresh coats of cheap paint are brushed on the letterings that the buntings, the flags, and the banners carry, words that have the equally cheap whitish-coloured ‘undercoat’ the last evening.

The banners simply call for industrialisation, and for a stronger unity of the kisans with all other sections of the working masses. Men, women, children—all are hard at work and perhaps all of them found my urbane, inquisitive-to the-point-of-being-dilettante approach somewhat irksome.

Nonetheless, they do bother to respond to my prying queries. After all, this is a known old face they see. ‘What is the rally for, comrades and brothers? Is it a paalta (reaction and response) to the rally of the Trinamulis the day earlier?’ The response border on anger – indeed, I find anger to be the sentiment of the hour in the villages I walk around – ‘no. it is not.’

‘We have not done right’, they say, in unison in most instances, ‘by voting in the Trinamulis, at the last Panchayat polls a few months back. They do not want us to have a life that is better. We shall call for development – both in our green fields and in the yards of the large factory grounds that resembled a kabristan. We shall make it come alive, we shall ask the Left Front government and the Party to start industrial ventures there and beyond, and we shall not rest till we have these done -- and now please go, and leave us be.’ We leave and the ageing heart is now pleasantly warm.

No wonder the rally called under the aegis of the CITU, the AIKS, the AIDWA, the DYFI, and the SFI on a large stretch of cropped land opposite the small motor car factory yard, draw more than thirty thousand people who lustily roar out when the speakers talk boldly about re-starting, if necessary from scratch, and making the Singur factory yards hum again with the whirr of the machines-- and the people do derisively hoot when the leaders recall the Trinamuli chief’s ‘homely tale’ about ‘uprooting the factory premises’ and ‘making it a cabbage-and-potato patch.’ The mood has turned.

The speakers included central committee members of the CPI (M) Benoy Konar (who presided) and Shyamali Gupta, and state secretariat member Subhas Chakraborty along with Kali Ghosh (CITU), Samar Baora (AIKS), Minati Ghosh (AIDWA), Avas Roychaudhury (DYFI), and Dhruvajyoti Chakraborty (SFI).

By B. PRASANT

BENGAL LEFTFRONT SWEEPS HOWRAH, JHARGRAM ELECTION

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS 2008

KOLKATA, 3rd December, 2008(INN): Bengal Left Front candidates won overwhelming electoral triumphs, in the most difficult of circumstances, at the emanate township of tribal Jhargram in adivasi-dominated Midnapore west. The Left Front also won three of the five civic by-polls that were held on the same day 30 November 2008.

They also registered a thumping victory at the industrial township of Howrah called Kolkata’s twin city. Like in the earlier years, the Left Front lost out in Berhampore where Adhir Chaudhuri again put his muscle power in, and in ample measure, to bolster and supplement his money influence. Krishnagar’s civic board again slipped out of the political grip of the Left Front although margins of losses were smaller that the margins of seats won by the all-in alliance of the Bengal opposition, more of which later.

Much had been made in the corporate media about Jhargram. They said that the adivasis were no longer with the CPI (M). Some like the Ananda Bazar Patrika group of publications and the TV channels it owns, went a step farther to say, again and again, with a dry humour, that the adivasis were always against the ‘CPM control’ over them, and that this time around, the blockades and the dug out made of a few roads were clung to by the worthies of the media to outline a whole structure of danger signals for the Communist Party – whose candidates, they predicted with a fine, laid-back casual air, were going to lose in huge humiliation in the Jhargram municipal elections.

They were proved wrong and left, perhaps not possibly literally, quite red in the face. The LF supported CPI (M) candidates won 13 of the 17 seats that were contested. We had won 11 seats the last time around five years back.

Before reeling off the figures of the sorry losers, let us say that this time, in every municipal ward, and in all four civic bodies and in the by-polls, a mahajot, stretching from the separatist Jharkhandis to the reactionary Congress and the Trinamul to the left sectarian ‘Maoists,’ was active in a full-fledged manner with one-to-one contests being the order of the day. We still recall posters of BJP and Pradesh Congress during our recent visit to the laterite zone of Bengal that said ‘vote for the Jharkhandis or the Trinamulis as per strength and prospect of the candidate.’

Congratulating the adivasi brothers and sisters for the courage of political conviction, they had shown, when the time came to cast their votes, LF chairman Biman Basu said that the Communists had remained with the adivasis right from the 1950s through many struggles and movements in their interest and for their uplift.

From the Lodha struggle, to the rôle played by central committee member of the CPI (M) Kumar Siralkar (who is fluent in five adivasi dialects) in helping Santhali make it to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, to the hard struggle for the barrage on the roaring Kangsabati river, to struggling against the Jharkhandi and Maoist intruders and their killers’ ways, the Communist Party had always been in the van taking along the people of the vananchal till the very recent movement for the recognition of the right of the tribal to the forest resources.

Bimanda also made a very valid point when he said that the corporate media, print or otherwise would always call those engaged in digging up roads of felling precious trees, adivasis, and those going against these barbaric acts of commission men and women of the ‘CPM’ Bimanda asked the members of the fourth estate to be a little less biased when they regurgitate their anti-Communist ire. Midnapore west CPI (M) secretary Professor Dipak Sarkar has quietly pointed out to us, as the results were coming in, the crucially important fact that this year, the mahajot notwithstanding, the two reserved seats for adivasis at Jhargram went to the CPI (M) by a much larger margin than the last time around.

At Jhargram, in fact, the seats of the Pradesh Congress came down from two to a tragic one, that of the separatist Jharkhandis by the same statistical step down, while the Trinamulis just managed to hang on to two seats as they had done during the last elections although going by the diminishing return of popularity measured in terms of the votes won, one feels rather good when one looks to the next elections.

The question that the Telegraph correspondent, who has this bubbly outlook on whatever the issue is at stake, be it elections or accidents, in the instant case, both, chose to ask of Biman Basu was to probe and find the reason why, ‘despite the motor factory at Singur not coming to fruition, and what with Howrah abutting Kolkata’ (did he mean that the metro had ‘protested too much’ on the motor car factory issue?!), how could the CPI (M) make out so well, come the civic polls? Biman Basu as is his wont would not deign to reply to conjectures without analysis, and he told this straight to the reporter’s face.

But what struck us as fair bemuse was that the big money media owners have by now been able to make ‘corporate brains’ of young men and women sufficiently, hatefully corpulent enough about and against the Communists, for them to reveal their hatred openly, in public, in media conferences, and not bothering to wait to go back to sit at the spanking new state-of-the-art PCs back in the office to boot and the work sheet to open.

Elsewhere, in Krishnagar, 24 seats saw a split like this: Left Front 2 (4 seats won during the previous poll), Trinamul Congress 8 (from nought earlier), and Pradesh Congress 14 (down from 18 the last time around). Berhampore saw Pradesh Congress of the Adhir fraction sweep all 25 seats although margins were lesser.

In Howrah, the picture is like this (with seats won earlier in brackets): LF 33 (37), Pradesh Congress 9 (8), Trinamul 7 (4), and finally BJP 1 (1). The LF and the CPI (M) would go in for a detailed analysis of the poll results, ward by ward, before coming up with a review, the senior CPI (M) leader Biman Basu informed the media.

B.PRASANT

Tata Motors moves HC on Singur land allotment

Kolkata, 3rd December, 2008: Tata Motors has approached the Calcutta High Court against an RTI application seeking details of its agreement with the West Bengal government on the land allotment at Singur, from where the company has since moved out.

The company on Tuesday challenged before the High court the RTI Commissioner's competence to deal with the matter, with its counsel submitting before Justice Dipankar Dutta that the Right to Information Act was not applicable in case of an agreement involving industrial secrets.

Justice Dutta has scheduled the matter for hearing on Friday. The company said in its petition that as the Nano project has been shifted to Gujarat from West Bengal, there was no logic in seeking to know a deal which has fallen through.

Justice Dutta had on September 26 set aside an earlier order of the information commissioner here on Tata Motors' plea that it had not been given a chance to be heard by the commissioner before ordering revelation of the agreement. The court had then directed the commissioner to hear the matter afresh giving all parties fair chance to be heard.

However, after one hearing, Tata Motors moved the High Court again with the fresh plea and Justice Dutta took it up yesterday. The prestigious Nano car project was shifted to Gujarat following prolonged agitation by unwilling farmers demanding return of land.

Metro Cash & Carry opens first store in Kolkata

Kolkata, Dec 3, 2008 : Metro Cash & Carry, the Indian arm of German wholesaler Metro AG, Wednesday opened its first outlet here, nearly two months after the company was granted licence to sell farm commodities and other food items in West Bengal. “We have invested Rs.140 crore (Rs.1.4 billion) in the region and also created 350 new jobs for local citizens,” Metro Cash & Carry India managing director Martin Dlouhy told reporters here.

The company faced tough times earlier as Forward Bloc, a partner in the state’s Left Front government, which controls agriculture and agricultural marketing departments, opposed the renewal of the licence. None of the Forward Bloc members turned up for the inaugural ceremony though the company said it had invited them.

Asked abouit this, Forward Bloc leader and Agriculture Marketing Board chairman Naren Chatterjee told mediapersons: “We usually don’t go for any private company’s ceremony. There is no other reason apart from this for not attending the inauguration.”

Including the 100,000-square-feet Kolkata store, the German wholesale major has five stores in India - two in Bangalore, one each in Hyderabad and Mumbai. Cricket star Sourav Ganguly and state Sundarbans Affairs Minister Kanti Ganguly inaugurated the outlet.

“I am confident that our unique model will catalyse the entrepreneurial attitude of Bengalis by providing a one-stop solution for purchase, improvements in assortments and high quality products to our professional customers,” Dlouhy said. The minimum level of purchase from this store should be Rs.1,000, a company source confirmed.

Hindustan Motors launches mini-truck

The vehicle is developed jointly with Shandong Shifeng of China.
To produce 1,000 vehicles a month.Plans national roll-out in nine months.

KOLKATA, 2nd December, 2008: C. K. Birla-controlled Hindustan Motors on Tuesday launched a mini-truck, which, it hoped, would utilise the substantial excess capacity that the country’s oldest automobile unit had in the face of plunging sales of its flagship vehicle, Ambassador.

Talking to the media after the national launch by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of the first new vehicle in 28 years, company Managing Director R. Santhanam said that with retail finance becoming a serious problem in the last three months, Ambassador sales had nearly halved between July and October as compared to the same quarter in 2007. The mother unit at Uttarpara has an annual capacity of 24,000 units.

“With the new car ‘HM-Shifeng-Winner’ we hope to utilise some of the excess capacity,” he said.
Production capacity for the new vehicle, developed jointly with Shandong Shifeng, a China-based automotive and agri-equipment company, is 1,000 vehicles monthly and newer variants of the mini-truck, including a CNG model for the National Capital Region (NCR), will be ready in about two months.

A national roll-out was planned in nine months, Mr. Santhanam said. Moloy Chowdhury, Vice-President, said that while the chassis and the cabin assembly were developed by the Chinese company, the power unit, driving component and gear box were by Hindustan Motors.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said that this was a cheerful development after the very grim happenings in Mumbai. “We condemn the happenings and pay homage to those who sacrificed their lives while performing their duty,” he said.

He said that the State had suffered a serious setback after the pullout by the Tatas. “We tried to persuade them but they left under certain circumstances. We have to try again afresh since the State needs automobile and ancillary units”. He said that he had readily agreed to C. K. Birla’s proposal to set up IT units and housing to utilise the excess land at Uttarpara. “He says he has just started developing the projects”.

Company Chairman C. K. Birla said that this was an important day for the company. The three external divisions for forging and castings were progressing well, Mr. Birla said.

Jharkhand Party-Maoist miscreants set CPI(M) office ablaze in West Bengal

Kolkata, Dec 2, 2008: Hundreds of Jharkhand Party-Maoist miscreants Monday set ablaze a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) office in West Bengal’s Maoist-hit Lalgarh region to protest alleged police excesses after the Nov 2 landmine blast in Salboni targetted at Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s convoy.

A large number of people, mostly supporters of Jharkhand Party(Aditya Kisku) group, ransacked the CPI(M) party office at Belatikri at Lalgarh and then set it on fire, West Midnapore police superintendent R.K. Singh told mediapersons. He said: “We’ve already sent our police force to verify the information. But there are no reports of any injury.”

Trouble erupted at Lalgarh after the district police arrested some school students and allegedly heckled tribal women following the landmine blast that ambushed the convoy of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and central ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitin Prasad near Bhadutala Nov 2.

Jharkhand Party-Maoist miscreants dug up metalled roads and placed big tree trunks across them, virtually cutting off the trouble-prone zone from the rest of the district.In a separate incident, hundreds of Congress supporters also staged a blockade on National Highway-6, causing a major traffic bottleneck. They demanded immediate administrative action into the ongoing unrest at Lalgarh.

Meanwhile in Bankura district, CPI(M) activists, fought a battle with Jharkhand Disham Party (JDP) supporters over the alleged police action on tribal communities at Lalgarh.

According to media reports, two supporters of JDP were injured in the skirmish at Taldangra area of Bankura.However, West Bengal Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia did not confirm any incident of fresh violence in the region.

Closure of Dunlop unit is unfortunate, says Mrinal

KOLKATA: Dec 02, 2008- The closure of Dunlop India Ltd's Sahaganj unit has come as a surpirse to the West Bengal government as it did not get any prior indication that the company was moving towards that direction.

State labour minister Mrinal Banerjee after a meeting with government officials on the Dunlop issue told reporters that the declaration of suspension of work by the Dunlop management was sudden and "the state is taken aback by the unfortunate decision."Dunlop India declared suspension of work on November 30 following its declaration of suspension of production just 13 days before.

According to company spokesman Dhrubajyoti Nandy, although Dunlop intended to only suspend production "for the time being" remitting Rs 2000 per month to each of its 1200 workers as aid substituting remuneration, both the CITU and INTUC-led labour unions did not sign an agreement agreeing to the company's terms. The unions were supposed to sign the agreement on November 24. "Hence we have decided to go for a suspension of work for an indefinite period and workers will be deprived of the supporting aid that we were willing to give," Nandy said.

Dipankar Roy and Bijon Kanti Sarkar, CITU and INTUC leaders, respectively, in Sahaganj said they were willing to sign the agreement to protect the interest of workers but a section of them had not allowed the unions to do that.

"By signing the agreement we could have prevented the immediate suspension of work and got time to negotiate with the management. But for a section of workers that could not happen," Roy said.Banerjee, who had a meeting with the minister of state for labour, Anadi Sahu, and chief minister's principal secretary Subesh Das, said: "We will soon talk to Dunlop officials and union leaders and try to find a solution.

"We will also try to implement the recently ammended industrial dispute Act to solve the Dunlop clousre issue," Banerjee said. Pawan Ruia controlled Ruia group took over Dunlop India from the Chhabarias in 2005 with a promise to revamp the closed units in Sahaganj and Ambattur.

Although Ruia had said the Sahaganj unit would run at 130 tonne capacity per day within one-one and a half years from the commencement of production, the unit never produced beyond a capacity of 40 tonne a day. Production at Sahaganj was actually halted since September, and Ruia waited for an opportunity to declare closure.

However, the financial downturn came as an opportunity for Ruia to declare suspension of production and thereafter suspension of work. The financial downturn, however, did not affect the Indian mining sector, to which the major chunk of Sahaganj's production, off the road tyres (OTRs), are meant.

According to Dunlop officials, owing to lack of market for Dunlop-brand OTRs, production was curtailed. Overhead costs (salaries not exceeding Rs 6 crore per month) too had mounted pressure on the working capital.

Dunlop chairman Pawan Ruia has put March 31 as the deadline to commence production at Sahaganj once again. Officials, however, said that the management was eager to re-start production in January itself, if it could arrange for a working capital of Rs 100 crore. Ruia, while announcing the suspension of work, had said that Rs 300 crore working capital would be needed to resume production.

Commandos for West Bengal stations

KOLKATA, 2nd December,2008: Commandos of the West Bengal police will be deployed in four major railway stations in the State in a move to tighten security in the wake of the recent terrorist strike in Mumbai. Vigil has also been intensified across the State and along its border with Bangladesh.

The decision to deploy the commandos in Sealdah and Howrah stations as well as in Kharagpur station and in New Jalpaiguri in north Bengal was taken at a review meeting of senior State and police officials here on Monday.

Intelligence inputs of various agencies were discussed at the meeting. The government railway police admitted that given its present strength it would be difficult to tackle any eventuality and there is a requirement for additional security forces in the major railway hubs, sources in the Eastern Railway said.

Elaborate security measures were being taken in the city though there was no specific threat, the city’s Commissioner of Police, Gautam Mohan Chakravarty, said.