Dial 'M' for Murder

Sat, 2010-12-18 11:55 — subhanil

Swapan Koley used to get up at 4am in the morning to collect his share of newspapers which he distributed to various households. This was his source of earning to continue his studies in the college. He also had a dream. A dream of changing the world where all students like him will be guaranteed the benefit of education, where man will not oppress man for higher and higher profits. It is this dream that the murderers of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) wanted to destroy when they brutally killed Swapan Koley on 16th December.

He was beaten with rods and swords in his college. When he took shelter on the roof of a house near his college, he was thrown down from this roof. When he was trying to reach hospital on a rickshaw with the help of his friends, he was attacked again by the TMCP goons. Swapan Koley could not take it any more and died. His only crime was that he was an activist of SFI.

Shouvik Hazra is a bright student of English Honours at Asutosh College, Kolkata. Like any other day he went to college on 16th December. On that day, the SFI along with the non-teaching and teaching staff of the college were participating in a procession protesting against the violence unleashed by TMCP. The procession was attacked by the TMCP goons and Shouvik Hazra lost his left eye when a stone hit his eye.

This scale of violence unleashed in educational institutions is being orchestrated by the TMCP under the direct instigation of Ms. Mamata Banerjee and her cohorts to terrorize the youth and students who fight for a left cause and dream about making a better society. This is however not something very surprising. Ultimately the modus operandi of the Trinamool since its inception has been a politics of provocation and violence with which they have mobilized a large section of the anti-socials under their banner. It is this politics that has killed Swapan Koley and has blinded Shouvik Hazra.

Skirmishes and stray incidents of violence has been a part of student politics all over India. It is also a common sight that the students who were fighting yesterday joke about the incident the next day over a cup of tea or coffee. What Mamata Banerjee has done through her brand of politics is to shred away the romanticism of student politics, the passionate appeal for one's ideology and politics, the liberal space of debates and discussions in college campuses. Instead with her brand of politics student politics has been hijacked by local goons and thugs, campuses are being turned into graveyards of students, politics is being turned into an arena where students will not dare to tread. In other words, Ms. Banerjee and her goons want to destroy the culture of politics within students. This is not mere speculation. The President of TMCP said that they believe that there should be no politics in campuses, in a program in the Bengali News Channel Star Ananda. This is the real agenda of the violent attacks on the student community in West Bengal. It is the compulsion of Ms Banerjee to pursue this agenda since devoid of any constructive politics she is the first person to know that thinking students can never be part of the TMCP. This agenda is being driven with full speed keeping in mind the forthcoming Assembly Elections in West Bengal.

The criminal activities of the TMCP in the college campuses is nothing but an echo of the larger murderous game plan of the Trinamool. Their leaders openly proclaim that if they win the Assembly Elections in West Bengal, they will drive out all the left supporters and will uproot the children of Lenin! It is their vision that in West Bengal they will not allow the red flag to fly with brute force. In their pronouncements we are clearly hearing the footsteps of fascistic politics.

What she and her followers have forgotten is a simple truth that dreams cannot be murdered, ideas cannot be suppressed and the left ideology cannot be physically exterminated. Swapan Koley's cold blooded murder is an assault on the idea of free speech, of the right to dream and think differently. With his murder however many more Swapan Koley will be born ready to carry forward the red flag and the ideology of Independence, Democracy and Socialism.

While the people of West Bengal were trying to grapple with the death of a student, news came from Purulia that 7 Forward Bloc workers have been brutally murdered by the Maoists. This is the first time that such a big number of killings of political activists has taken place in West Bengal. Moreover, most of the activists were tribals, whom the Maoists claim to fight for. Gopeshwar Mahato, aged 70 was not spared by the Maoists. The Maoists also did not spare Ms. Chopola Gorait, a wife of a rickshaw puller and head of a panchayat. All these people were poor and supported the Left Front in West Bengal because of which they were brutally killed by the Maoists. The so-called revolution that the Maoists want to bring in India is basically a charade. What they are doing in West Bengal today is acting as mercenaries of the Trinamool. That is why Ms. Banerjee till date has not condemned any murder that the Maoists have committed in West Bengal.

The current situation prevalent in West Bengal is one of intense attack against the CPI(M) and the Left Front, which is reminiscent of the semi-fascist terror of the 1970s. In this situation the party must ensure that all sections of the population are mobilized against the fascistic tactics of the Trinamool-Maoist combine. Already in the jungle-mahal area we have witnessed how thousands of people mobilized themselves and ensured that Maoists are sent on the back-foot. The heroic struggle of the people of jungle-mahal should inspire people across West Bengal to rise up in unison against the violence unleashed by the goons of Ms. Banerjee.

www.pragoti.org

Bengal madrasah with more Hindu students draws eyes, President’s award for teacher

By Shiv Sahay Singh

Indian Express, Posted online: Thu Aug 26 2010, 01:56 hrs

Kolkata:  A teacher in West Bengal who has enrolled more Hindu students than Muslims in his madrasa is to receive the national award from President Pratibha Patil this Teachers’ Day.

Anwar Hossain, the headmaster of Orgram Chatuspalli High Madrasah in Burdwan district, will be among the 12 teachers from the state who will receive the award at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

Back in 1977, when Hossain joined the madrasa, it had just 34 students. Slowly the number increased and the institute drew more Hindu students. Today, it has about 64 per cent Hindu students.

 

“The award, I hope, will do away with the false notion about madrasas in our country,” Hossain told The Indian Express. “Madrasas are centres of learning where all sorts of education — computer education and English education  is being provided along with religious education.”

Hossain (56), says the madrasa drew more students from other communities because the institution provided help to students who had no access to education and did not have any means to support their education.

“We went from village to village and spoke to parents who could not afford a single rupee to educate their children. We did not charge any fees and started giving free books.”

Even today, all books till class X are given free of cost. And the teachers of this madrasa move across villages to identify the children who are out of school or who have dropped out due to financial constraints, said Hossain, who plans to donate his prize money to the madrasa.

“When students get support for their education, they don’t mind studying two extra subjects Arabic and Islam Parichay along with other regular subjects,” he added.

When The Indian Express first reported about the madrasa on January 19, 2009, it had 883 students of whom 555 were Hindus. Now the madrasa has been upgraded to higher secondary level and has 1,078 students studying in science and humanities streams. Even now, the number of non-Muslim students has remained 64 per cent.

“The headmaster (of the madrasa) has a big role in the making of the institution,” said Dibyen Mukherjee, the Director of School Education, West Bengal.

 

Abdus Sattar, Minister for Minority Development and Welfare and Madrasah Education, said the selection of Hossain for the President’s award points to the efforts made by the state government to modernise madrasas. “We have been able to provide a system where all communities can get education together,” he said.

IIT Kharagpur plays leadership role in advancing renewable energy in rural India

IIT KGP has been working on Bioenergy research for several decades now and with the recent launch of the PK Sinha Center for BioEnergy (PKSCB), the institute today conducted a symposium on Energy for the powerless: Entrepreneurship and Innovation, on the occasion of the fifth year celebration of the Entrepreneurship Cell at IIT KGP.

Mumbai, Maharashtra, March 12, 2010 /India PRwire/ -- IIT Kharagpur (KGP) the premier institute of technology and the country's think-tank take the initiative to advance the use of renewable energy in rural India. IIT KGP has been working on Bioenergy research for several decades now and with the recent launch of the PK Sinha Center for BioEnergy (PKSCB), the institute today conducted a symposium on Energy for the powerless: Entrepreneurship and Innovation, on the occasion of the fifth year celebration of the Entrepreneurship Cell at IIT KGP.
With the growing changes in technology revolutionizing the lifestyle of the rural masses in India, the PKSCB in its endeavor to promote bioenergy is harnessing the potential of young minds and encouraging entrepreneurship in this direction. While the urban success story of India is still being penned down, the young IITians are working toward the development and betterment of the rural masses. Known for their technological prowess, IIT KGP has the unique advantage of deploying this skill to enhance the life of these rural masses along with promoting entrepreneurship. PKSCB is currently exploring ways to adopt a few villages around the campus in order to help make them self-sufficient and sustainable, energywise.

The center brought together an eminent panel of distinguished members, who encouraged students to emulate their success stories through a knowledge-sharing session that was filled with enthusiasm and excitement from both students and panelists. The panel consisted of Dr. SP Gon Chowdhury, MD, West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation Limited, Gyanesh Pandey, CEO, Husk Power Systems - the company that has recently created waves for their innovative technology of producing electricity from rice husk, Anish Thakkar, Co-Founder and Director, Greenlight Planet Inc. - who has successfully combined cutting-edge technology with innovative distribution networks to commercialize low-power LED solar lanterns for rural India and Dr. Prabha Kant Sinha, Founder & Co-Chairman, ZS Associates.

According to Dr. SP Gon Chowdhury, MD, West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation Limited, "Energy is the key input for socio-economic development of a nation. The fast industrialization and rapid urbanization besides mechanized farming have generated a high demand for energy in all forms, be it thermal, mechanized or electrical. With fossil fuels having been exploited in an unsustainable manner the need of the hour is to develop alternate sources of energy that are not only sustainable but also eco-friendly". He also welcomed the initiative IIT KGP is taking to develop alternate energy sources and sensitize young minds to the need of the hour.

With both Gynesh Pandey and Anish Thakkar sharing their experiences and answering questions for an invigorated student body, the session was exciting and educating for students opting for entrepreneurship. Said Gyanesh Pandey, CEO, Husk Power Systems, "The power to empower lies in the simplicity of the solution to complex problems while creating socio-economic value for the rural masses and at the same time creating entrepreneurship with focus on sustainable solutions."

Dr. Prabhakant Sinha, Founder & Co-Chairman, ZS Associates, who joined the seminar through a video conferencing from Chicago, added, "While the center is focused on creating India specific bioenergy solutions it is also keen on using its knowledge base and putting it into action through products, services and business solutions. With the aim of becoming a hub for researchers and industry to gather and share knowledge and information, the PKSCB is excited to facilitate the symposium and looks forward to other initiative of the kind in the future". Dr. Sinha encouraged youngsters towards entrepreneurship while pointing out the need for inclusive growth and creating value for the bottom of the pyramid.

The symposium ended with young IITians like Sourav Das (winner of Eureka - Business Plan competition of Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Bombay) and Manoj Mandelia (honoured at MIT's EmTech 2010 where he was the youngest innovator on the list) sharing their plans for entrepreneurship and their dreams to make rural India self-sufficient and sustainable.

About Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kharagpur:

started in 2005, is a student body which promotes entrepreneurship and innovation among students of IIT and other engineering college, nourishing student ideas to profitable business ventures. It facilitates enterprise formation through various bplan competition, VC and Angel investors forum and strategy consulting. With wide array of industry stalwarts E-Cell provides round the year inspiration through guest lectures, summit and workshops. In short our motto is THINK BIG START SMALL. The cell has helped setup about 20 successful startup companies in the last five years.

About PK Sinha Center for BioEnergy, IIT KGP:

'PK Sinha Center for BioEnergy' at IIT KGP, India's first integrated bioenergy center, is envisioned to accelerate research, education and innovation in the important field of bioenergy. It brings interdisciplinary expertise of IIT Kharagpur faculty to bear, and establish collaborations in India and around the world. This center provides a unique opportunity to apply an integrated and collaborative approach to solve energy, climate change and economic challenges.

SFI Sweeps Students’ Union Elections in Bengal

KOLKATA: OVER 2009 and 2010, the Bengal unit of the SFI has been eminently successful in leading the election results in more than 65 per cent of the undergraduate colleges and universities, including technical institutions, wherever elections have been held for the formation of the student’s unions (SU).

From Siliguri in the north to the Sunderbans-bordering urban conurbations and rural stretches, the insidious slogan raised by the ruling classes and the media they patronised about Paribartan (change) has failed to click with the majority of the students.

The latest examples of the SFI sweep across the state are the Presidency College and the Scottish Church College. Both have been won over the SFI, in the former college for the second time running, in the latter for some time now. News reaches us that the large number of colleges that went in for SU polls on February 19 in Nadia have been won by the SFI.

We single out Presidency College for our take on the nature of the SFI success in the wake of the results of the Lok Sabha elections where, too, the young people had voted, albeit perhaps in a different way. What has brought about the Paribartan since then?

The Presidency College once had the awkward reputation that the students there lately voted for either the rightists or the left sectarians. The past two years have proved shining exceptions and the margin of both votes polled by SFI candidates and the seats that the SFI have won, have gone considerably up.

The present elections at the Presidency College saw the SFI romp home with 39 seats with the combined opposition of the ‘Maoist-BJP-dominated independent consolidation relegated to the second spot with 30 seats. One seat was a tie.

The student movement in Bengal has always been a Left one. We recall how back when we were students of this august institution, the BPSF had had a running battle with the rightist and the opportunist outfits of various kinds. Much later, when the Naxalite movement arose out of a bloodbath on the college street area, the BPSF had not given an inch away politically and organisationally.

The 1950s and the 1960s were witness to the Communist movement, specially the struggle led from the vanguard post by the CPI(M), being equipped with cadres who had come up through the student movement. Biman Basu, Shyamal Chakraborty, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Shyamali Gupta are names known principally for the leadership they provided to the BPSF and then the SFI.

The turn-around following the Lok Sabha polls started indeed with the rejection by the Bengal student community of the politics of violence, anarchy, and mayhem indulged in by the right reactionaries and their left sectarian lackeys at the Panihati College in north 24 Parganas followed by the bloodshed of SFI workers at the Harimohan Ghosh College in South 24 Pargans.
The bringing in of anti-social elements as routine chore by the Trinamuli-backed student outfits in the Kolkata colleges (Shyamaprasad College is the latest such example, in Kolkata) was yet another provocation to students who saw that the academe itself was about to be put under the shadow of the sword and the gun. The students responded with a rousing win for the SFI in a series of colleges and universities since then.

The agent provocateurs of anarchy and mayhem could mislead the young generation for a time, albeit brief, but in the final analysis it has been the politics that had dominated the thinking of the students, with the organisational integrity of the SFI at the grassroots’ level adding finally to what appears to us as a series of debacle that we are about to witness for the forces of counter-development and pro-anarchy, of the extreme right and left.

LEFT FRONT STANDS BY THE DEMANDS OF PARA-TEACHERS

KOLKATA: The demands of the para teachers who bear a bulk of teaching assignment in Bengal have raised certain legitimate demands. The demands have arisen in the backdrop of the decision of the Congress-led UPA government to draw the curtains on the total literacy campaign come 31 March of this year. The decision shall impinge on the financial arrangement and social position of the para teachers who number more than half-a-lakh in Bengal.

The para teachers have appealed to the state LF government to take up the financial responsibility of the teachers once the union governments sticks to its resolve to end the total literacy mission. Bengal CITU president Shyamal Chakraborty has said that he would raise the issue in the Rajya Sabha at the earliest opportunity.

CITU secretary Dipak Dasgupta spoke in some detail at the rally held by the para teachers’ organisation held on 18 February at Dharamtolla. Dasgupta said that in Bengal, the attacks being organised on the para teachers by the goons of the Trinamul Congress and Pradesh Congress added to the ‘norm’ that these two outfits have adopted for te para teachers in the way of not renewing the contract of the teachers in areas where the local bodies are under the thumb of these people.

Dipak Dasgupta also said that the state education minister had already written to the district magistrates and the TLC officials to renew the para teachers’ contract immediately. The state LF government shall ensure that the para teachers do not stand to lose their livelihood. Dasgupta also condemned in strong terms the physical attacks on the para teachers by the lackeys of the political outfits the ruling classes sponsored.

Other CITU leaders and LF government ministers spoke at the rally where financial assistance was extended to the families of the two para teachers whom the ‘Maoist’-Trinamuli hoods had killed at Midnapore west recently.

India state changes madrasa rules

By Subir Bhaumik BBC News, Calcutta

Madrasas or traditional Islamic religious schools in the Indian state of West Bengal are to switch to English as the medium of instruction.

The programme will be introduced in phases, state Minority Affairs Minister Abdus Sattar announced. "We believe in modernising our traditional form of education so that our boys and girls can compete with the best," he told the BBC. He said that 10 madrasas in the state will make the switch this term . The remaining 566 madrasas will follow within a few years.

Curriculum modernisation

The overwhelming majority of madrasas in West Bengal are either government-run or government-approved - both are subject to rules promulgated by the state's Madrasa Education Board (MEB).

Only a handful are completely independent and do not fall under the board's remit. Seventy madrasas in West Bengal opened this year - 34 exclusively for women. Mr Sattar, himself once a madrasa teacher, said the modernisation of the curriculum in religious schools has been taking place for a while and modern science and mathematics have already been introduced. He said that both the US and Pakistan have sent teams to study the West Bengal madrasa system to study the impact of earlier changes.

"But without English as the medium of instruction, our students cannot get the best education. So we recommended the use of English as the medium of instruction in all government madrasas and those approved by government," said Sohrab Hossain, chairman of the MEB in West Bengal.
When the Marxists first came to power in the state, they did away with English at the primary level of education. But two decades later, they reversed their decision and reintroduced English at the primary level.

Their move came after huge criticisms that students from West Bengal were suffering in all-India competition, both in jobs and higher education, due to lack of proficiency in English. Muslims compromise 26% of West Bengal's 80 million people - they are mostly poor farmers or small traders who can only afford to send their children to madrasas to get an education. "So unless we modernise the madrasa system, we will not be able to provide quality education to most Muslim aspirants," Mr Hossain said. "Our madrasas don't produce the Taliban, they will produce engineers and doctors."

Story from BBC

NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/8311357.stm

Published: 2009/10/16 16:00:01 GMT

Changing political dynamics hits Bengal's social sector projects

Kolkata June 10, 2009: Political setbacks often claim victims in the social sector. The fate of at least eight proposed centrally-funded scientific research institutes of national importance has become uncertain because of the electoral defeat suffered by the Left in West Bengal. They are National Institute of Nano Science (under the Department of Science and Technology), National Institute of Mangrove Research and Coastal Biosphere (under the Ministry of Environment), Institute of Ocean Technology (under the Ministry of Earth Science), National Innovation Centre (CSIR), National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (under the Ministry of Chemicals), National Institute of Biology and Medical Genetics (under the Ministry of Biotechnology), Centre for Space Application for East and North-East (Under the Ministry of Space Technology) and National Institute of Public Health (under Ministry of Health).

According to state government sources, the central government earlier had cleared proposals to set up and fund all these institutes much before the recent general elections and for most of them site selection and land acquisition process had been complete. Sujan Chakrabarty, former Lok Sabha member from Jadavpur, who was actively pursuing the various central ministries for speedy clearance and implementation of these projects, feels that after the election the political dynamics has changed a lot and there is strong reason to apprehend that execution of all these projects would slow down or might not take off at all.

In the aftermath of cyclone Aila, which recently devastated the coastal region of south Bengal, Anandadev Mukhopadhaya, an eminent oceanologist, has stressed the need for more research on the nature of ocean and rivers to evolve a knowledge-based strategy to tackle the natural disasters. Proposed institues like National Institute for Ocean Technology, National Institute of Mangrove Research and Coastal Biosphere, among others, could go a long way to mitigate that need. But because of the change in political equation with the Centre, the state apprehends a slowing down process to set in. Already there are indications that some of the ministries in Delhi have cooled down to the queries sent from Kolkata in pursuance of the set up of the institutes.

Political observers feel that West Bengal has entered into a phase of political transition, as the Congress-Trinamool Congress combine is aggressively occupying the political space and pushing the ruling Left to a corner after its massive victory in the Lok Sabha elections. Everyday, there are reports of clashes coming from rural Bengal and the suburbs of Kolkata.

The ruling Left parties are in total disarray. Some of the ruling party MLAs had been manhandled by the Trinamool workers. The political circles feel that the situation will further hot up in the next two years till the Assembly election takes place in 2011. Since the state’s main Opposition Trianmool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee, has taken part in the UPA government at the Centre, there would be pressure on the Centre for not clearing centrally-funded projects in the state speedily.

Seats to increase at undergraduate level

KOLKATA, 5th June: Undergraduate aspirants can breathe easy as the state higher education department has finally realised that there is a dearth of seats and these need to be increased immediately considering the whopping 82 % success rate in the HS exam.

State higher education minister Sudarshan Roychaudhuri had said on Wednesday that his department had urged the Higher Education Council to request universities across West Bengal to increase seats in select colleges by 10% provided they have adequate infrastructure.

The Council, on Thursday agreed to abide by this directive. "We estimate an increase of 30 seats in each of these courses, which means 9,000 students will be benefitted. The decision to introduce a particular course in a college depends on the demand and also the number of students in the area," said Roychaudhury. Asked about the delay in beginning counselling for WBJEE qualifiers, Roychaudhuri said, "I have repeatedly requested the Ministry of Human Resources. But AICTE will only publish their list on June 30. What if we find that they have sanctioned some new private colleges? It will lead to chaos. Hence, we have no way but to start the counselling only after June 30."

It is feared that the delay might result in many students opting for colleges outside the state. A meeting of vice chancellors has been convened by the Higher Education Council on Thursday in which the details will be discussed. "We have requested the council to ask universities and colleges to deal sympathetically with students from villages hit by cyclone Aila in South and North 24-Parganas as far as the last date for submission of applications is concerned," clarified the minister.

Combining all colleges and universities in the state, there are 3,88,300 seats available which still means a deficit of 4340 seats. This year, 3,92,640 students have passed their class XII board examinations from the state.

City smiles on CBSE results day, three girls share top slot

KOLKATA,30 May: It's not just in the West Bengal higher secondary exams that the boys are feeling the heat. Three girls have shared the city top spot in the CBSE Class X results, which were released on Friday. Shubhechhya Ghosal of Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Ashmita Saha of Kendriya Vidyalaya Ordinance Factory and Himela Moitra of Kendriya Vidyalaya Cossipore have each scored a whopping 96.8%. 

Shubhechhya expected to do well, but her final score was way beyond her expectation. She expected 94% marks at the most and never dreamed that she would be the top-scorer in Kolkata. 

School principal Anindita Chatterjee, however, knew she would do better. "We were quite sure she would excel. What has surprised us is the unbelievable result of the school. As many as 89 children have scored above 90% marks while 221 have scored above 75%. This speaks of the brilliance of the batch and the dedication of our teachers," she said. 

While most toppers would talk about studying electronics and telecommunications engineering or about becoming doctors, Shubhechhya wants to study a core engineering subject. "I want to become a mechanical engineer from IIT Kanpur. My father is a civil engineer and he is my model," she confessed shyly. 

Shubhechhya joined Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan recently after her father got transferred from Doha. "I had to cope with a huge lifestyle change, but on the whole it was fun. There wasn't much of a difference in the course as I used to study in a CBSE school there as well," she added. Shubhechhya is an avid reader of short stories and likes O Henry the most. She also loves to play badminton. What would surprise many is that she just had one tutor for maths. For the other subjects, she depended on school lessons. 

Shubhechhya's co-topper with 96.8%, Ashmita Saha of KV Ordinance Factory, Dum Dum, sparked joyful celebrations in the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan. The Sangathan happily informed that KVs of the zone have been able to clinch all the three top positions along with private schools of the city. 

Parnaba Kundu of Birla High School has scored 96.4% to be the possible second highest scorer in the city. "I am perhaps one of the lucky few who has a maths professor of Jadavpur University for a father. Otherwise I just did with one tutor who helped me with English. My mother teaches biology in a school and helped me with the sciences," Parnaba said. 

He, too, wants to crack IIT-JEE and has already started preparing for it. On Friday, he took a mock test at a coaching centre despite it being a special day for him. Ritika Chak of KV Ballygunj has shared the position with him. 

There are many contenders for the possible third position with scores of 96.2%. Some of them are Ayesha Singha of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Prerak Mall of Birla High School and Rishita Das of KV Fort William. 

The overall pass percentage in CBSE this year has been 88.84%. Girls have fared better than boys. Despite the stellar performance by city schools, the Allahabad region of which West Bengal is an important constituent has finished third. It stood fifth in the CBSE XII results. The pass percentage of this region is a tad better than the national percentage at 89.10%. Chennai region came first with 95.26%.

Bengal students bag top honours in Civil Services exams

KOLKATA:May 06, 2009-Some of the top rankers in this year’s All India Civil Services Examinations appeared from Bengal. The Indian Express profiles four of them:

Shilpa Gouri Saria

Rank: 25

Saria, a resident of Phoolbagan in Kolkata, spent 18 hours everyday on her studies. Her elated parents credit the success to Shilpa, who is working as a CA with the PricewaterhouseCoopers. “She worked very hard for this. She did her B.Com (Hons) from Calcutta University and stood 3rd,” says her mother.
Saria’s academic record has been excellent through out. She had topped in her school in both the ICSE & ISC examinations with 93 per cent. She had also secured all-India highest score in Mathematics with 99 per cent. “She was also a rank holder in the Chartered Accounts examinations and was the topper among women candidates in the eastern region,” said her mother.
“One has to forget everything. Even going to a movie was like losing three precious hours of preparations,” says Saria, whose relaxes by listening music. Keen to “serve the nation and the society”, she believes that though politicians frame policies but they have to work in coordination with administrative officers. On celebrating her success, she says: “Certainly there will be one, but my family members will be dealing about it,” Saria replies. Right now she wants to take some much-needed rest as she has a few months before her training starts.

Kaushik Bhattacharya

Rank: 30

Kaushik is currently Block Development Officer of Lalgola in Murshidabad. “After joining the West Bengal Civil Services in 2005, I realised that there is so much we can offer to the society. I was determined to crack the civil services examinations,” said the 26-year-old. He says it is a myth that civil servants cannot do much for the society. “Civil servants are endowed with enough power and can do a lot for the people,” he added.
“Interestingly, I was not asked any question in the examination about my job profile. I was rather asked a question on the image of the state after Nano was pulled out from the state,” he added. Kaushik opted for West Bengal, his home state, and he wants to work for the people of Bengal. An Economics graduate from APC College in New Barrackpore, he had chosen Economics and Political Science as his optional papers for civil services exams.
Although he made it to the top in his fourth attempt, Kaushik did not go to other states like several other candidates to appear for the examination. “There was no reason why I could not prepare from Bengal. So I did not go to other states,” said Kaushik. Kaushik comes from a family of bureaucrats. Kaushik’s father Shyamal Kumar Bhattacharya is an IAS officer and is the Director of Fisheries in West Bengal.

Anuj Jha

Rank: 52

This is the second time that Anuj has succeeded in civil services examinations. Last year, he was selected for the Railway Services, so he appeared again this year and achieved what he desired most. “I want to become a District Magistrate which is the most coveted post in Civil Services,” said a beaming Anuj.
After completing his schooling from Madhubani in Bihar, Anuj did graduation from a college in Durbhanga. His father Badri Jha retired from his job when Anuj was doing his graduation. He says that he cannot build the nation single-handedly. So he wants people’s support to succeed.

Susmita Bhattacharjee

Rank: 498

Susmita owes her success to husband Rabindranath Chaterjee, a management lecturer at the Sikkim Manipal University in Kolkata. “Without my husband’s help and guidance I would not be have been able to make it to the merit list,” says Susmita, who has a 20-month-old son Maitraiyo. A resident of Dum Dum Park in north Kolkata, Susmita says that finally her longstanding desire to serve the people has been fulfilled. Though she had high hopes for a better result but nursing the toddler and pursuing her studies proved a bit tough. She has opted for IAS, IPS and IRS. She says she will settle for IRS since it is related with her subject economics. Susmita says that she never followed a proper routine for her preparations and adds that her hobby was reading. She took coaching from the Institute for Civil Services Aspirants at Salt Lake.

‘We have reason to be ashamed’ : AMARTYA SEN

The global slowdown will further hit India’s economy and the worst sufferers will be its burgeoning underprivileged, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen tells TUSHA MITTAL

What are the principal challenges India faces in the new year?

There are traditional challenges and new ones. The traditional challenges include keeping our democracy functioning. The [general] election is coming; it is very important that there be wide participation. It is also important that our concerns about secularism, security, economic progress, and the removal of poverty and illiteracy be kept in focus. Election is a good time to focus on these issues rather than one caste battling another.

Another old challenge is removing deprivation. Huge numbers of people suffer from chronic hunger, malnutrition, lack of schooling and healthcare. Political parties should focus more on these issues. When I gave a lecture in Parliament last August, I mentioned that I am sometimes disappointed that the pressure on the government comes more on issues that concern a few people, like the Indo- US nuclear deal or rise in petrol prices, and the huge deprivation of the underprivileged masses tends to get neglected.

The global economic crisis is another new challenge: it has not yet affected India as much as it might in 2009. I will expect the growth rate, which has already fallen from nine percent to seven percent, may decline to five or six percent. Although five-to-six percent growth is not bad progress, the important thing is that underprivileged Indians will suffer greatly from that slowdown.

You’ve said that over-reliance on markets contributed to the meltdown. Has this prompted rethink on the idea of free market?

In India’s case this is more complicated. Over-reliance is in the context of the US. There, the supervisory role of the state was pretty much abandoned. Irresponsible financial actions like sub-prime mortgage lending were not regulated. There was no regulation on derivative markets either, so some of these terrible toxic loans and assets were immediately sold to others. So you can’t even find out who did how much wrong to whom.In our case, if anything, there has been under-reliance on markets in some areas. This is true for many industries and for the service sectors: tourism, for example. I still haven’t stayed in a comfortable government hotel. Someday, I hope I will. But the disastrous thing on the other side has been premature privatisation of the healthcare and education system. This is complicated by bad delivery of primary school education and healthcare by the state. That means richer kids go to private schools or private healthcare, and there is no pressure on the government coming from powerful quarters. We have to make sure the public sector rises to the challenge so that the private sector does not have this role to play.The reliance on the private sector for elementary education is very unfortunate, but we can’t just say the private sector is the evil. It is part of the problem, but the bigger problem is the public sector’s deficiency which makes the private sector flourish. That needs to change. If you look at any country in Europe, or the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, all these countries have become literate on the basis of state-provided primary education for all. And with the exception of the US, they have provided basic universal healthcare through the state system to all.

What will it take to make this a reality, since most policies now seem skewed in favour of corporate India?

That’s true. Because corporate India absorbs a lot of interest and people, things seem ill-balanced. Elections and media criticism give the public an opportunity to raise these issues. But, we need not only periodic raising of important issues every five years, we have to constantly question the terrible delivery of basic education and healthcare. If we agitate for better healthcare and more governmental concern, we will get the responsible politics we deserve. We have to make it clear that politicians recognise there is something at stake for them in terms of their performance.

Many believe the benefits of capitalism and globalisation haven’t trickled down. Yet, there is a view that access to global markets, international trade, and investment will bring jobs, which will gradually remove poverty. Is there a danger in this assumption?

This in itself is not enough to get India out of poverty, but it is a useful thing and it is important. No one policy is going to be enough, and there is never much point in asking which one — exactly one — should be done. We have to do not one thing but ten different things. And making use of the global market is certainly a very important part of the balance basket. I think making good policy decisions on that is important. We should think about a future in which the market and the state both have a role to play.

What is your opinion of the concept of special economic zones (SEZ)?

I have by and large been opposed to SEZs. It is important when incomes are growing for public revenue to flow in, and when you do SEZs, no public revenue flows in because you give them tax exemption. I also think SEZs can breed corruption. The oddity is that the argument for doing these things is the market economy. But then why do you do an SEZ, which is really state-based favouritism. I think we should make better use of the market and the global economy, bearing in mind that it needs to be supplemented by well organised public services.

You’ve said more funds should be spent on education, healthcare and tackling poverty. Yet, most government programmes which appear to have social relevance (NREGS, the farmer debt relief package) seem to backfire. What needs to happen to have tangible results on the ground?

I don’t think that there are no tangible results. If you look at the NREGS scheme, there are a huge number of problems but there have also been successes. Lots of needy people have got jobs and made good use of their income. Intensive child development schemes have been successful in states like Tamil Nadu, but not in many others. We have to see why it is so mixed. The lack of funding is certainly a problem and is the most important issue to be addressed. But the delivery system has to be improved and I think it is very important to expand the organisational network. The Pratichi Trust, which I was fortunate to be able to set up when the Nobel Prize came my way in 1998, has been particularly concerned with the delivery of primary education and healthcare. We found big neglects there. It was our analysis that the unions could make a difference by helping to make their workers on the ground, teachers and doctors in this case, more accountable and responsible. We have been working with the primary teachers’ association in West Bengal (ABPTA), the largest of the primary school unions. Our recent research findings show an increase in attendance. For example, in my district Birbhum in West Bengal, attendance has gone up from about 50 percent to 80 percent. There has been a similar increase in other districts.I think we need a change in the organisational presumptions in India. The public sector is terrible in some fields, like agriculture. But in others, like the railways, the public sector has a huge amount to offer, and performances have been exceptionally good. In healthcare, education and child integrated development, there is a real problem to be addressed. I think we need much more cooperation with the unions, and that requires rethinking, both on the part of the union, not just to think of the interest of their membership but also of the community and the country, but also on the other side. Many people are so suspicious of unions, they don’t think anything good can ever come out of them. We have to trust the unions more and they have to work in a way that they make themselves trustworthy.

You are known to be closely aligned with the Left. Is the party living up to the ideals it claims to represent?

The Left parties should have been more focused on deprivation, illiteracy and lack of healthcare, rather than the Indo-US nuclear deal, and against public sector reform. I think the basic issues of poverty should receive much more attention. I belong to the Left. I would like them to be more concerned with the poorest sections of the community and avoid divisions that make the voice of the underdog weak.

You mentioned concerns about secularism. What is your assessment of the success of secularism in India?

I think secularism in India is a success, but it requires constant vigilance. It is often said that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance; the price of functioning secularism is also constant vigilance. I don’t think secularism in India has failed because we haven’t had major communal violence since the dark days of Gujarat 2002. Even the identification of terrorists in Mumbai as Islamist terrorists has not led to the intensification or the germination of Hindu- Muslim hostility. I think that is a tribute to Indian secularism. The weakness of Indian secularism can be seen in the targeting of Christians in Orissa, and even though it hasn’t reached the level of barbarity that we saw in 2002, it requires immediate vigilance and eradication. Not only because it can escalate into bigger violence but also because whatever small violence is taking place against a minority community is utterly intolerable in a secular society.

Despite Gujarat 2002, we saw the resurgence of Chief Minister Narendra Modi. In that sense, how relevant is secularism for the average Indian?

We have to be careful in understanding the impact of the Gujarat violence. Certainly, Modi returned in the election, but the BJP lead was cut in the 2004 general election. If you look at the rest of India, along with dissatisfaction with the growing inequality, the other most important factor in making the BJP-led NDA lose its position is its being tarnished with the image of what happened in Gujarat. I think the BJP has lost ground in being able to claim to be a national party, equally solicitous of the interests of all Indians, Hindus, Muslim, Christians or Jains. I think that has not helped them in the recent state elections. This may continue to be a factor in the coming general election. So I wouldn’t say that the Indian electorate took no notice of Gujarat 2002.

What is your vision for India?

I hope it is a country where freedoms expand and people don’t suffer from deprivation, and where we do not have shameful levels of under nourishment, illiteracy, and lack of healthcare. What makes it even worse is that while there are reasons for being ashamed, often people don’t seem to be so ashamed. We want to get to a situation where we have no reason to be ashamed and reason to have some pride. If we can engage, use reason and our concern about the life of other Indians, we will be able to do it very well.

WRITER'S EMAIL: tusha@tehelka.com

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 2, Dated Jan 17, 2009

BENGAL TEACHERS ASSOCIATION HOLDS CONFERENCE

'Teachers Must Play A Key Role In Ensuring Development Of State'


by Tapati Mukhopadhyay

THE 78th state conference and 82nd annual general meeting of the West Bengal College and University Teachers’ Association (WBCUTA) was held on November 15 - 16, 2008 at Malda College in the district of Malda, West Bengal. The venue was designated ‘Durga Kinkar Bhattacharjee Manch’, after late Professor Durga Kinkar Bhattacharjee, the legendary principal of Malda College and an eminent educationist.

Around 2000 delegates representing almost all colleges and universities from all over the state of West Bengal attended the conference. The proceedings began with the hoisting of the flag of the association by Professor Subimal Sen, chairman of West Bengal State Council of Higher Education and president of the conference. The conference was inaugurated by Professor Sudarsan Ray Choudhuri, minister for higher education, government of West Bengal.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, chief minister of West Bengal, was the chief guest of the conference. Addressing the gathering in the evening of the inaugural day, he focused on the issues of West Bengal’s industrial development, the opposition's desperate attempts to disrupt it, the need for building awareness among the people and the role of teachers in this important task. The chief minister stressed that the present struggle needs to be resolved in favor of better progress and development of the state. After granting one State-funded university, i.e., the University of Gour Banga, to Malda district, the Left Front government would also set up a government medical college here, stated the chief minister. The district which remained stagnant in developmental activities, is now taking a new turn, especially with the initiative of the Left Front government of West Bengal.

A state level seminar on the topic ‘Higher Education and Employability’ was also held on this occasion. Professor Surabhi Bandopadhaya, vice chancellor of newly established University of Gour Banga chaired the first session of the seminar. The vice chancellor of North Bengal University, Professor Arunabha Basu Majumdar, chaired the second session of the seminar. Professor Thomas Joseph, president of AIFUCTO, Professor Tapati Mukhopadhaya, vice president of AIFUCTO presented their papers on the topic. Dr Abdus Sattar, minister of state for minority development and madrasah education department, government of West Bengal, Professor Asok Barman, general secretary, AIFUCTO, Professor Tarun Kumar Patra, general secretary, WBCUTA, Professor Anil Bhattacharya, Professor Mrinmoy Bhattacharya, Professor Sudhir Roy were the distinguished speakers on the subject.

Given the present context, the topic of the seminar was quite relevant and from the deliberations of the seminar it became clear that employability in a region is closely linked with the policies of higher education, its curriculum, its perspective plan and overall government expenditures on education. It is intricately inter-related with the overall process of development. Developmental activities in all three sectors (primary, secondary, and tertiary) will be the driving force for the future employment opportunities of the state.

Sailen Sarkar, minister for parliamentary affairs and environment, government of West Bengal, and the chief patron of the conference, was present for the entire duration of the conference. Several ministers of the government of West Bengal along with some MLAs were also present in the conference.

The annual general meeting was held in the evening on the concluding day. WBCUTA general secretary Professor Tarun Kumar Patra placed a comprehensive report which included highlights on the present international and national situation with special reference to education in West Bengal. The report was then thoroughly discussed. A total of 58 delegates spoke covering a wide range of issues, starting from college-level problems to state-level issues like protection of agricultural land etc. It was a confluence of different thoughts, representative of the democratic functioning of WBCUTA. Many women delegates, both from city and rural colleges, delivered speeches which continued till late evening.

At the end, election took place in which Professor Harish Sarkar took over as president of WBCUTA for the next two years with the retirement of Professor Subir Mukharjee. Professor Tarun Kumar Patra, Professor Sruti Nath Praharaj and Professor Kalyanmoy Ganguly got re-elected as general secretary and vice presidents respectively. Professor Suman Bandopadhaya was re-elected as treasurer of the association along with a team of 24 new executive committee members.

In the history of WBCUTA, the 78th conference and 82nd Annual General Meeting of the association will be remembered as a conference which gave the movement of the teachers of West Bengal a new dimension.

Professor Sadiqul Islam, national secretary, AIFUCTO and member of the executive committee, WBCUTA was the secretary and Dr Anirudha Sengupta, principal, Malda College was the president of the Reception Committee. For proper conduct of the conference 13 sub-committees were constituted and each and every committee performed to the best of their capability. Overall the reception committee's contribution for the coordination and consolidation of the conference deserves a special mention.

Manna Dey awarded DLit by Jadavpur university

KOLKATA, Thursday, December 25, 2008 : Singing legend Manna Dey, known as much in Bollywood as in the Bengali film industry for his versatile voice, was awarded an onorary doctorate of literature (DLit) by Jadavpur University.

West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi presented the DLit degree to Dey, 88, for his contribution to the Indian music industry at the 53rd annual convocation of the varsity here."All I do is a little bit of singing and don't think I deserve such an honour. It feels great and I am elated," Dey told reporters after receiving the award in the afternoon.

Dey is regarded as one of the veteran playback singers of Hindi and vernacular films. Some of the noted films he sang for are Padosan, Waqt, Shree 420, Teesri Kasam, Upkaar, Mere Huzoor and Zanjeer.

Residential schools for child labourers: absence of Central fund affects plans

Govt has planned to set up one such school in every district

KOLKATA, 23rd December, 2008: The state government’s plan to set up residential schools in each of the 19 districts in the state for the welfare of child labourers is facing stiff financial problems.

The project of the new residential schools was included in the central-funded National Child Labour project (NCLP) under which the state government had already sanctioned 924 special schools run by NGOs with an aim of absorbing 34,000 child labourers and bringing another 9,687 into the mainstream education.

Though the state government has agreed to provide an annual subsidy of Rs 6,000 per child staying in these residential schools, the absence of any hike in the Central budget allocation for the NCLP has made NGOs reluctant to take up the scheme.

“We have informed the district magistrates about the residential schools that the state government wants them to set up at the earliest. However, despite work being already started, there is a lack of resources for the proper implementation of the concept. We would want the Centre and organisations like the ILO to provide us with funds,” said state Labour Minister Anadhi Sahu on Monday.

Among the 19 residential schools started on an experimental basis, work at Hooghly is complete. Work at North Dinajpur is to be completed next with Nadia, Burdwan, Birbhum following soon. Each of these residential schools catering to 50 children, on an average, will require 3000 square feet extra space, extra staff and an increase in the amount of pay for the academic staff.

“The Centre provides Rs 2,44,400 for each of the NCLP schools present in India. But since the Centre will not increase the fund for state initiated project of the residential schools, NGOs in Kolkata or South 24-Parganas have not yet come up with their proposal. The Central budget needs to increase under the NCLP and other organisations need to chip in,” said B B Saddiqui, Joint department, state Labour department on the sidelines of a two-day state consultation on the elimination of child labour on Monday.

According to 2001 census, West Bengal has 8,57,000 child labourers. Government officials say the issue of child labour is complex and rooted in social, political and economic conditions of our country.

Sahu said that the concept of setting up residential schools was aimed to provide special care for those rescued child labourers whose parents are either too poor to support them or are unable to earn or those kids who do not have guardians.

Knowledge-based education only weapon to recession, terrorism: Chief Minister

Kolkata, Dec 14, 2008: Economic recession and terrorism are the two major challenges before the world now and creative knowldge-based education is the only weapon to fight the two devils with, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said in Kolkata on Sunday. Saying death and destruction do not win the day, Bhattacharjee felt what wins is man's creative spirit and for that education and quality teaching are the two imperatives a healthy society must have.

Quoting from Charles Dickens' 'Tale of Two Cities', the Chief Minister said, ''It is the best of times and it is the worst of times'' to describe the world situation now. Man can utilise it to his good or bad. Speaking at the Golden Jubille celebration of Dinabandhu Andrews College at Garia in the southern part of the city, he cited the example of China saying, "It is a country of 132 crore people - many more than ours - but it has presented itself as an example before the world because of its will to do good for the people.''He said that globalisation has divided the world into two halves - rich and poor - and economic meltdown has aggravated the situation. ''It is hard to guess where we are heading to.''

The Chief Minister also stressed on the need for vocational training so that all students can get a job and contribute towards the development of society. The college's Golden Jubille celebration committee has contributed has contributed Rs one lakh to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund, Rs 50,000 to the Minority development Fund and Rs 50,000 to the Vidyasagar fund for construction of a hostel for women in Purulia.

Buddhadeb on quality of education

KOLKATA, Dec. 14, 2008: Chief Minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee while addressing the opening session of the annual conference of the All Bengal Teachers’ Association (ABTA) at Kamalgaji in Sonarpur today stressed on the importance of vocational training .

Although West Bengal has made rapid stride in the rate of literacy, the chief minister admitted that the academic standard of some of the schools of the state was not satisfactory. He drew the attention of the teachers to this drawback prevailing. He asked the teaching community to come forward in an endeavour of raising the academic standard of schools.

The students coming from economically challenged families should be helped as well, Mr Bhattacharjee said.“There are some good schools as well as schools where the teachers are found to be negligent. I cannot ask the teachers not to undertake private tuition, but the time has come when they must think about how to uplift the economically backward children,” he added

Buddha writes to PM on PTTI deadlock

KOLKATA, Dec. 11,2008: Chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has written to the Prime Minister urging the Centre to allow provisional recruitment of primary teachers from among the pass-outs of Primary Teachers’ Training Institutes (PTTI) which were declared illegal by Calcutta High Court.

The chief minister has assured that the pass-outs would be confirmed only after they had completed a year-long bridge course since the National Council of Teachers’ Education recognises only two-year-long training courses for primary teachers. The Court's directive had also rendered the certificates of those who passed out of theses illegal PTTIs, invalid.

Mr Bhattacharjee has also appealed to the Prime Minister for an early resolution of the PTTI problem which has affected nearly 75, 000 people and snowballed into a major controversy. “Unless this is done, apart from the future of 75,000 students who have already completed the course, the entire structure of primary education in the state will face a serious crisis since 40,000 vacancies in schools already exists and many schools will be without teachers. I seek your personal intervention in the matter,” reads the letter.

The state government had approached the MHRD to make a legislative provision to validate the one year long training course for primary teachers till the academic year, 2005-06. The CM also met the representatives of West Bengal Primary Teachers’ Training Students’ Union today at Writers’ Buildings and discussed the problem.

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 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.

Nobel testimony to be heard in town

Kolkata, November 7 , 2008: Nadine Gordimer, South African writer, Nobel Laureate and one of the first people Nelson Mandela wanted to meet after he emerged from prison, will arrive in the city on November 10 to deliver a lecture. Gordimer, a strong voice against apartheid, has titled her talk “The Inward Testimony”, which she will deliver at Town Hall, at 6pm.

She is visiting the country on an invitation from the public diplomacy division of the ministry of external affairs. She arrives in Mumbai on November 7 and will be in Calcutta till November 13, when she leaves for New Delhi.

The 85-year-old writer of stories and novels, whose books were banned several times by the white South African government, will be given the honour of “state guest” in West Bengal, said Amit Dasgupta, the joint secretary of the public diplomacy division.

Gordimer’s lecture is part of the Nobel Laureate Lecture series organised by the division. Last year, American mathematician John Nash, on whose life the film A Beautiful Mind was made, had been invited for the lecture. But last year, Calcutta was given the miss, as Nash only visited New Delhi and Mumbai. This year, the ministry is making up for it and more, for Gordimer’s talk is reserved for the city, while in the other two, she will be reading from her books.

The writer, who won the Booker for her novel The Conservationist, wrote powerfully and movingly about the lives of ordinary people, many of them black, in the violence-ridden apartheid era, earning the wrath of the authorities repeatedly.

Her latest book of stories is Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black (2007). She has outlived that cause. But an activist forever, in a post-apartheid world, she works on AIDS and HIV prevention, a severe problem in South Africa. “Gordimer will interact with Calcuttans, including writers,” added Dasgupta. She will attend a dinner at Raj Bhavan. Dasgupta is also planning to take her to Victoria Memorial and St Paul’s Cathedral and city bookstores. But he complained that his early inquiries have revealed that not many city bookstores have any of her books.

THE TELEGRAPH