Former CPI(M) MLA shot dead in West Bengal

KOLKATA, June 9, 2013

Dilip Sarkar, a former MLA of the CPI(M), who was overseeing the campaign for the rural polls in West Bengal, was shot dead at Kulpi in the Asansol subdivision of Bardhaman district on Sunday.

Mr. Sarkar was gunned down by persons riding a motorcycle at 6.45 a.m. while out on his morning walk. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead, a senior official of the Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate said.

“The politics of murder” was being perpetrated by the Trinamool Congress, State Secretary of the CPI(M) Biman Bose alleged, strongly condemning the killing.

“So far 95 activists of the CPI(M) have been killed since the Trinamool Congress government came to power in the State,” he said.

Accusing the Trinamool Congress of indulging in the “politics of vengeance,” he said the murder of Mr. Sarkar, a secretariat member of the Bardhaman district committee and the district secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions — the labour arm of the party — has made clear the intentions of the ruling party.

“The CPI(M) will organise rallies across the State to protest against the murder and has also called a 12-hour bandh in the Asansol subdivision on Monday,” he said, adding that so far 13 CPI(M) workers have been killed in Bardhaman district alone, since the Trinamool Congress government came to power.

Drought-affected West Bengal hit by lack of farm investment

By Romita Datta

LIVE MINT Posted: Tue, Aug 31 2010. 9:26 PM IST

The drought, caused by a 32% shortfall in rain, has affected at least one-fifth of the state’s cultivable land

Burdwan, West Bengal: There’s suddenly a flurry of activity in Karotia, a nondescript village in West Bengal’s Burdwan district. Lately, a lot of politicians and state government officials have been visiting the village, and they say work on a nearly forgotten 14km irrigation canal is going to start soon.

It’s been nearly 36 years since the state government first proposed to dig the canal, recalls Azizur Haque, the local panchayat chief. It was to have brought enough water to irrigate some 5,000 acres of land, benefiting at least 30,000 farmers, he says. Yet, the canal didn’t materialize because the state’s environment department didn’t clear the proposal.

Click here To view a slideshow on problems faced by West Bengal farmers due to decreasing rainfall and government apathy

But thanks to one of their brethren, Karotia’s farmers might not have to wait much longer.

Jitu Bagdi, a farmer from this village, killed himself on 23 August. Hounded by moneylenders, he drank poison after his crop failed because of the drought, says his widow, Rupa Bagdi.

Since then, leaders from across political parties and state government officials are bending over backward to “do meaningful things” for Karotia’s farmers. Besides offering financial support to Rupa Bagdi to launch her own business, the state government has revived the abandoned irrigation canal project.

West Bengal is facing the worst rain shortage in many decades, and the state government has declared a drought in 11 out of 19 districts, including the highly productive ones in the southern part of the state such as Burdwan and Hooghly.

The crop loss has been estimated at Rs 6,250 crore, according to West Bengal’s finance minister Asim Dasgupta, and the people of the state have already begun feeling it—in Kolkata, the price of rice, the most widely consumed foodgrain, has already started rising as the state braces for a foodgrain deficit of 2.7 million tonnes (mt).

The drought, caused by a 32% shortfall in rain, has affected at least one-fifth of the state’s 5.2 million ha of cultivable land, and it shows that West Bengal’s Left Front government led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, that has ruled the state for 33 years, has done little to create irrigation facilities, say economists.

Even last year, there was some rain shortage, but it affected only around 200,000 ha.

“It is sad that for a state like West Bengal, where at least 60% of the population is dependent on agriculture, irrigation is not (the) top priority,” says Mihir Rakshit, a former professor of economics at the University of Calcutta. “It’s the same across the country despite so many droughts and crop failures—it’s really unfortunate.”

The state has allocated as little as Rs459 crore for its irrigation department in the current year. What makes matters worse is the fact that the state government doesn’t charge farmers for irrigation facilities such as pump sets and tubewells, which means the department on its own does not generate any revenue, according to a state government official, who did not want to be named.

“It’s not surprising therefore that even in this situation, only 5,938 state government-run minor irrigation facilities (pump sets and tubewells) are currently available,” he said. “We used to have around 6,000 such facilities in 1990. Now it’s fewer because at least 543 are out of commission for want of repair.”

The state government provides irrigation facilities to only around 339,000 ha of land, whereas private facilities serve another 1.3 million ha. The target was to bring at least 3.2 million ha of land in the state under irrigation, he added. “It would take years to get close to that target.”

Besides spending more on irrigation facilities, state governments should encourage research on dry farming and water management, says Rakshit.

West Bengal is now drawing up plans to support “alternative farming”, or cultivation of crops that require less water than paddy, according to Dasgupta. The state government promises to distribute seeds and train farmers, but “alternative farming” can only happen, if at all, next year.

Meanwhile, the state has sanctioned Rs354 crore for immediate relief measures, and has requested Rs600 crore more from the Centre.

The drought couldn’t have come at worse time for the CPM: it is facing an anti-incumbency wave, and assembly polls in the state are due next year.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre isn’t supportive “for obvious reasons”, says CPM state secretariat member Robin Deb. The Trinamool Congress, the state’s main opposition party, which is a part of the UPA, isn’t pressuring the Centre either, according to Deb.

Subsidies are not long-term solutions, according to Abhirup Sarkar, a professor of economics at Kolkata’s Indian Statistical Institute. “Public investment is the need of the hour,” he said. “Agriculture has been neglected by the West Bengal government for at least 20 years, and that has led to a decline in agricultural productivity.”

The per capita production of foodgrains in West Bengal is 525gm, against the national average of 413gm, but because per capita purchasing power is very low in West Bengal, cases of starvation and poverty are widespread in the state, according to Sarkar.

At least two farmer suicides till now have been blamed on the drought, and both farmers were indebted to money lenders. People are forced to borrow at exorbitant rates because state cooperatives lend only around Rs7,400 per acre, whereas farmers say they need at least Rs45,000.

Banks are doing their bit by rescheduling loans for farmers affected. The country’s biggest lender, State Bank of India, is to defer by a year the repayment of at least Rs500 crore for the drought-hit farmers of West Bengal, according to Suriender Kumar, chief general manager of the bank for its West Bengal circle.

Agriculture Insurance Co. of India Ltd, which provides risk cover to farmers, expects claims from West Bengal this year to be at an all-time high, topping the Rs40 crore paid by it three years ago following floods. Delayed monsoons triggered claims of Rs18 crore last year, according to Dasarathi Singh, the regional general manager of the insurer.

This year, the situation is much worse. But will West Bengal face a famine? That’s the state administration’s biggest fear. It may be considering the fact that last year, when the rain shortfall affected only around 200,000 ha of cultivable land, the state could produce just 13.8 mt of foodgrains, and had nearly no surplus.

Manish Basu contributed to this story.

romita.d@livemint.com

COMRADE RAM NARAYAN GOSWAMI (1934-2010) PASSES AWAY

BURDWAN,10th February,2010: Comrade Ram Narayan Goswami, former member of the central committee of the CPI (M) and a veteran of the all-India kisan movement passed away 9th February night at Burdwan. He has been ill for a long time with geriatric-related problems. Biman Basu, secretary of the Bengal CPI (M) and Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee have expressed their deep condolences at the passing away of the Communist veteran.

Born at a village near Naihati in what was then undivided 24 Parganas, comrade Goswami became associated with the Communist movement when a student at the Burdwan Raj college. He became a party member as far back as 1957. The same year saw him incarcerated by the then Congress government for his taking part in the historic food movement that swept Bengal.

As a CPI (M) leader from 1964, comrade Goswami acted as the confidential assistant to the late comrade Harekrishna Konar in the first UF government. By then, comrade Goswami had become a Party wholetimer. He was elected as the all-India general secretary of the AIKS back in 1975 at Khammam.

Comrade Goswami was elected to the CPI (M) state committee in 1977, and until he passed away, he remained a member of the state committee although later on as an invitee member. He was elected to the CPI (M) CC in 1990 and was the chairman of the state CPI (M) control commission in 2003. In between, he was briefly the state health minister in 1983, and was a three-time member of the Rajya Sabha from Bengal(INN).

CONGRESS LEADERS FACE THE REALITY OF POPULAR WRATH

BURDWAN: Comrade Falguni Mukhopadhyay, the popular CPI (M) leader of the Burdwan district was brutally murdered a few weeks back at a village near Mangolkote in the district. His murderers, ill-famed anti-socials in the pay and protection of the two Congresses, Pradesh and Trinamul, roam free, incognito, and have been correctly declared as absconding which indeed these criminals are.

It has become a fashion with the Bengal opposition to have accused criminals accompany them as sidekicks in a show of bravado whenever they pay raucous visits to places where CPI (M) workers have been butchered. We recall that this particular affliction, we could indeed call it a disease, had overwhelmed the present generation of the reactionary leadership of the aforementioned outfits when they had ruled the land of Bengal with a law of their own in the decades of the 1960s and 1970s.

WHAT TOOK PLACE AT MANGOLKOTE?
First, a week or so ago, a newly-elected and gloatingly happy for it, Trinamuli MP visited the village. The entourage of the usual suspects were prevented from entering the hamlet for any length of time by the police. The people remained a sullen witness to the show put on by the opposition worthies.

Next, another leader of the opposition, arm-in-friendly-arm with the accused in the comrade Falguni murder case, chose to follow suit – and were similarly, politely asked by the police to kindly make themselves scarce, as the people’s rage had started to fulminate.

The mass of people indeed continued to fret as no arrests could be made thanks to the ill-gotten protection the killers received with a disgusting show of ‘loyalty’ from the opposition leaders some of whom have even chosen irresponsibly to go on record to say that the police could make arrests, if ‘they dared to do so.’ Could we ever conclude from these developments that all this pacified the people, fuming as the masses have been with a raging sea of pent up emotions, about the vicious murder of their beloved leader?

FRESH VISITORS
In line of the visitors now came eight Pradesh Congress MLAs on 15 July. They were in the not-too-august company of two of the accused in the murder case. At least one of the criminals in the team even brandished a revolver or two and waved it around, challenging anyone to harm him.

That broke the dam of passive response. We are told that more than a couple of thousands of villagers came out, rallied round, and sternly told the MLAs and their henchmen to ‘just go away and leave us be.’ That the Congress worthies, never known for their interaction with the masses, chose to panic, stumble on to water-filled rice paddies, fall down, get to wallow in the mud, pick themselves up, and finally have themselves admitted to posh nursing homes back in Kolkata, cannot really be packaged as an ‘organised attack by the CPI (M)’ now, could it?

BIMAN BASU’S STATEMENT
Biman Basu, Bengal CPI (M) secretary went ahead to issue a statement immediately after he was apprised of what had taken place at Mangolkote, and where he said that he ‘sternly condemned’ any attack on the Congress MLAs and said also that whatever ‘has happened ought not to have taken place.’

Biman was clear in pointing out that the CPI (M) ‘has always been in favour of unimpeded movement of the leaders and workers of any political party,’ and that if anyone from the CPI (M) could be found to have been involved in the Mangolkote incident, the district unit of the CPI (M) would initiate appropriate punitive action. Had the police been present, they should have intervened, was how the CPI (M) leader would put it.

Nevertheless, would the evil the two Congresses represent disappear? Buses and trucks have continued to burn, roads are being blocked, railway tracks are sat upon, sporadic bandhs have been called, and a Trinamuli minister up in Delhi has even had the temerity to call for a Constitutional step to be initiated against the elected and popular Left Front government of Bengal. The people remain as yet silent witnesses to these perilous dans macabre being played out with fanfare, the obedient corporate media, obliging as ever.

Rs 1000 cr Health city in Bardhaman, will require 8000

New Delhi, May 21st, 2009: FAITH Healthcare Private Limited, one of India’s first private Human Development consulting companies has announced the launch of an Rs.1000 crore Health City Project at Bardhaman, West Bengal.

FAITH Healthcare, which has been actively involved in delivering human development projects working in partnership many global developmental organizations, has entered into a Public Private Partnership with the Bardhaman Development Authority in association with Bengal CES Infratech Pvt. Ltd. to develop the world class Health City at Bardhaman.

The project once completed is expected to generate approximately 8 million man-days of work during the execution phase over the next 5 years and provide direct employment to around 1400 people for operation and maintenance of the Health City. Once completed the Health City would require around 8000 professionals including doctors, health specialists, nurses paramedics and other support staff.

The Health City will comprise a state-of-the-art 500 bed specialty hospital, Center of Excellence for various Super Specialties, , Pharmacy, Telehealth Institute, Rehabilitation center, Medical college, Mother and Child health center hostels for staff & students, convenience stores, recreational facilities and other civic amenities.

Prof. S. S. Chakraborty, Chairman, FAITH Healthcare Private Limited said “We will march ahead with faith and commitment to Human Development through our initiatives…”.

Left’s dominance continues in Bardhaman

Raktima Bose,
The Hindu

People say CPI(M) has brought prosperity and jobs to the district

KOLKATA:Bardhaman has been a Left citadel since the early 1970s when West Bengal voted the Left Front to power. The district, with its three Lok Sabha constituencies (after delimitation) — Asansol, Bardhaman Purba (SC) and Bardhaman-Durgapur — goes to the polls on May 7, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leadership is confident about contin uing its dominance.

“The people in the district have full faith in our party and its functioning. This is our greatest achievement so far,” says Amol Haldar, secretary of the CPI(M)’s district committee. The party won all the four seats in the district (before delimitation) in the last Lok Sabha elections in 2004, each commanding more than 50 per cent of the total votes.

Each constituency here has its own distinctive feature: Asansol constituency falls in the coal-belt, the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency is an industrial area (especially steel) and the Bardhaman Purba (SC) constituency is largely agricultural.

“Living conditions have improved manifold following the CPI (M)’s coming to power. Previously the Congress-backed local landlords tormented us no end. We owe our prosperity today to the party,” says 83-year-old farmer Sheikh Ilahi Baksh from Shaktigarh village.

Mr. Baksh’s view has wide backing. People here say that the CPI(M)’s land reforms and efforts to modernise agricultural methods, allow most fields grow crops thrice a year, against the earlier single crop.

There is, however, a feeling among grassroots level CPI(M) supporters that there might be some erosion in the party’s vote-share among the minority population due to the Opposition’s negative campaign about the findings of the Sachar Committee Report.

No alternative

“We cannot stop that from happening. Still, we believe there is no alternative to the CPI(M) in this region,” says Ghulam Hossein of Shaktigarh village. The opinion is not very different in the other two constituencies. Anath Saran Raj of Anandapur village under the Asansol constituency, says: “The CPI(M) has given us an identity, carried out numerous development projects and has brought new industries and generated jobs for our youths. What else can we expect?”

The opposition Congress and Trinamool Congress, however, are unwilling to concede that development is the reason for the CPI(M)’s dominance. “The CPI(M) has unleashed a reign of terror in the district. People cannot come out and vote independently as they are threatened if they vote against them. Had there been a free and fair election here, the CPI(M) would have lost its grip long back,” alleges Moloy Ghatak, Trinamool Congress candidate from the Asansol constituency.

“They have no principle, all they can do is shout and blame. We will win and there is no doubt in it,” says Mr. Haldar.