Buddhadeb visits cyclone relief camps

KOLKATA, May 26: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday visited cyclone relief camps in Nimpith in South 24 Parganas, the area worst hit by `Cyclone Alia’.

Bhattacharjee talked to people who have taken shelter in the relief camp.

About 24000 people have been rendered homeless in South 24 Parganas district.

The cyclone-affected victims have been provided with dry food.

The district administration has set up about 100 relief camps across the disaster zone and launched relief and rescue operations at the block level.

In the Sunderbans Delta zone, large areas, including several villages, within the Kakdwip Sub-Division have been inundated and thousands have been forced to quit home and hearth and leave for relief camps.

Earlier in the day, it was reported that West Bengal capital Kolkata is limping back to normal a day after `Cyclone Aila’ brushed past it at a distance of 50 km.

At least 35 people have been killed across the state, 15 of them in Kolkata and Howrah and 20 others in South Bengal districts. Over 1500 trees lie uprooted across the main thoroughfares in the city, several electric poles have keeled over, electricity, water supply and cable connections have been disrupted in several pockets across the metropolis. The storm which started around 1.30 p.m. Monday and lasted till 8.30 p.m., with a couple of hours lull around 3 p.m., rendered Kolkata immobile.  Roads were blocked, public transport collapsed, all to and fro flights were cancelled and even the dependable metro crashed.

BENGAL LEFT FRONT CALLS FOR RELIEF AND REHABILITATION OF DISASTER-AFFECTED PEOPLE

KOLKATA,25^th MAY: Bengal Left Front has called for a massive statewide collection of funds and relief materials from 28 May to 3 June 2009 for the relief and rehabilitation of the hundreds of thousands of people of Bengal, especially south Bengal, in the aftermath of the cyclonic storm and typhoon Ayela.

 

The storm struck the coastline of Bengal after suddenly making a left turn even as everyone including meteorologists thought that it had taken a right turn as such storms usually do to invade coastal Bangladesh.  This effectively prevented evacuation of people from areas that were subsequently affected.

 

As we file this report, we have received news of 40 dead including three in the city itself as uprooted trees and electricity and other service poles keeled over, killing people, and destroying houses.  Large area had to have electricity shut off for fear of electrocution.  Snapping of cable lines meant the Bengal left Front government could not utilise the TV channels to issue warnings and other relevant information to the coastal districts in particular.

 

In the affected districts, more than several lakh of people are affected, shelterless, and dependent on the dry food and tarpaulins that the LF government has hastened out to the importunate. The worse of the storm damage was done on 25 and 26 May although we hear from north Bengal that rain has restarted in places like the dooars and the terai and in great earnest.

 

The Left Front has called upon all of its units and the units of the component political parties to go forth into the midst of the affected people and help the process of rebuilding of their shattered lives.  LF chairman Biman Basu visited several flood-affected areas of Kolkata and the surrounding districts. 

 

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee went to Nimpith in south 24 Parganas to take a meeting with the local people to gauge the depth and width of the damage and the measures necessary to relieve the people in their dire stressful conditions.  Finance minister Dr Asim Dasgupta visited both north 24 Parganas and east Midnapore as last reports came in.

 

The Bengal LF has appealed to the people irrespective of political affiliation to come forward with help for the affected.  It has also urged upon the union government to offer help to the state in its hour of crisis.

BENGAL CPI (M) CALLS FOR WIDENING MASS CONTACT THROUGH SPECIFIC MEASURES

INTROSPECTION ON ORGANISATIONAL WEAKNESSES PERCEIVED

KOLKATA:The state committee of the Bengal unit of the CPI (M) sat for a one-day session at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan on 24 May.  Central committee member Benoy Konar presided.  The primary albeit analytical observation of the Bengal CPI (M) on recent developments including the elections, past and forthcoming, plus the emergent tasks ahead was identified by Bengal state secretary and PBM Biman Basu.  PBM and Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee took part in the discussions that followed.

 

The state committee was of the opinion that the Congress-led coalition/alliance achieved unexpected success at the all-India level of the Lok Sabha polls garnering 61 seats more than it had done in 2004.  The percentage increase in votes won was less than impressive, up from 26.50 to 28.50.  Congress won 205 seats, with allies the tally reached 262. 

 

There was a remarkable and welcome decrease in the electoral strength of the BJP and the NDA it leads in terns of seats won and voting percentage.  NDA won 159 seats.  BJP lost 02.90% of votes from 2004.  The combined total of voting percentage of BJP + Congress (at 48.70%) remained below the figure obtained in 2004.

 

Despite winning with élan, both seats in Tripura inclusive of every Assembly segment there, the Bengal and the Kerala CPI (M) lost 25 seats it had won in 2004.  The CPI (M) won a total of 16 seats but the CPI (M) vote share has lessened but from 05.66% to 05.52%.  The total seats won by the Left this time lessened from 61 the last time around to 24. 

 

The Bengal unit believes that the electorate did not accept the slogan for the Third Front.  The Third Front won 78 seats with a voting percentage of 21%.  However, none of the three political sides in contention could anticipate the results that came out.  The so-called surveys carried out by the media were a miserable failure in this regard as well.

 

There is need for deep-rooted surveys and analyses at the all-India and the state level in a wide manner to identify the reasons why such electoral results were obtained.  This will take some time to go through.  Primarily, the Bengal state committee has highlighted two issues in this regard. 

 

First, despite the exceptions obtaining in several states as far as results were concerned, the nation’s electorate especially the secular part being conscious the terrorist threat in particular, regarded the Congress as the more reliable vehicle for the setting up of a stable government as against a hung parliament and instability. 

 

The people were also eager to prevent a return to office of the communal BJP and this is a contributory cause why the support of the secular vote behind the Congress platform increased.  It is true that it was the pressure from the Left that saw the passage of legislations like the NREGA, the adivasi and forest rights bill, and other social welfare programmes.  Nonetheless, the electoral benefit was reaped by the Congress as a party.

 

The Left fought the election in different states in conjunction and in alliance with a number of ‘non-Congress, non-BJP’ political parties.  This was necessary to build up a ‘non-Congress-secular’ electoral alternative at the all-India level.  The people did not accept as a stable, reliable alternative such an alliance that grew up immediately prior to the elections in some states.

 

The state committee believed that the all-India trend of results played a decisive role in election results obtaining in Bengal.  Yet even if one took that into calculation, there was no denying the importance of resolving the errors of omission and commission in organising the Bengal CPI (M), the Bengal Left Front government, the Panchayats, the municipalities, and the programme of deep mass-contact. 

 

The Bengal CPI (M) shall identify these lacunae in a specific way and attach more importance to rectification of the political-organisational fault-lines.  The Bengal CPI (M) shall learn the necessary lessons from the verdict cast by the mass of the people of Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections, earnest and eager as the Bengal CPI (M) is to introspect deeply and to look forward to critique and advice from the people.

 

A large number of comrades have taken a huge risk, and have struggled to the cost of their lives in the run up to and during the elections., and 34 have been martyred by the enemies, bringing up to a total of no less that 353 members of the Bengal CPI (M) who have had to lay down their lives in the line of pro-people struggles and movements.  In an ambience of animosity and attack on the part of the enemies and their running mates, a vast number of the mass of the people have come forward to support the Bengal Left Front with a steeled resolve. 

 

The people devoted themselves heart-and-soul in a struggle that involved standing face-to-face before the combined enmity and might of the attack being centred on this Left bastion with the active participation of US imperialism’s conspiracy, the use of money and muscle power, and the constant attacking mode of the media.  Their contribution and support will form the edifice on which the struggle in the days ahead would be built up and mobilised.  

 

It does not carry with the ideological stance of the CPI (M) and the historical experience to ponder about the long-lasting character of the elements that make up the present situation.  Newer sections of the society would be pulled into the main stream of resistance and struggle because of the insistent transfer of the burden of the worldwide economic crisis onto the shoulders of developing nations like India, the surrender of the Indian ruling classes before imperialist pressure-tactics, the consequent price rise, unemployment, closure, and lay off affecting India and her people.  People across the board of political affiliation shall be the victims of the process of economic and social dysfunction.  

 

In the circumstances that have appeared before the nation, it is the Left and the Left alone that can organise in a broadest platform, all the ‘non-Congress secular’ forces in the country based on a common minimum programme.  The struggle towards this a target must be kept up relentlessly.  The unity of the Left Front must be continued with and further improved in every sense.  One of the primary tasks before the Bengal CPI (M) comprised making the Party units and the supporters and sympathisers of the CPI (M) more and more pro-active.

 

There may well be attempts made in the days to come to create limitless opposition against the ongoing and continuous attempt by the Left Front government to implement pro-people programmes.  At the same time, the Bengal CPI (M) must stand prepared and ready to face such attempts as might well be made to hold the Bengal LF government responsible for non-performance in implementation of programmes, and create an anarchic situation by creating a series of law-and-order violations.

 

CPI (M) workers, sympathisers and the mass of the people must initiate attempts step-by-step to build up a most massive movement of the people to defend the democratic situation in Bengal, to guard the integrity and solidarity of the state, and to protect with care the programmes of development.  Lost allies must be brought out of their present position.  Newer allies must be found.  This is possible once the way is cleared for further consolidation of the struggle for defending the democratic rights of the mass of the people.

 

Political mass contact must be made in a deeper and wider manner.  The relentless flood of misinformation, lies, and slandering against the CPI (M) and the Left, in the corporate media must be nailed.  There should be no attempts to either create aggravation or fall into the trap of provocation.  There is need now more than ever, for patience, toleration, control, and intelligence. 

 

The people must be reposed trust in and the trust of the people in the CPI (M) must be further enhanced.  The task of deepening mass contact must be augmented through appropriate reorganisation of the ongoing tasks.  Specific measures must be taken to up to increase the believability, trustworthiness, acceptance, and credibility of the CPI (M) amongst the mass of the people.

              

MAOISTS, TRINAMULIS KILL THREE CPI (M) WORKERS

KOLKATA: Maoists assisted by Trinamuli goons killed comrade Dinesh Mahato at the Kedua village in Balarampur, Purulia in the evening of 23 May.  Comrade Dinesh was a member of the Ghatbera-Kedua local committee of the CPI (M).  Comrade Dinesh (43) leaves behind his two sons, three daughters and his widow.  He earned his keep running a small soldering/welding shop in the locale.

 

Comrade Dinesh was on his way to his shop he was surrounded by three or more miscreants of Maoist and Trinamuli affiliation.  He was then shot repeatedly from a point blank range with sophisticated firearms.  He died on the spot.  The assailants flaunting guns and knives made good their escape on two motorcycles that they had parked nearby as getaway vehicles. 

 

Earlier in the month comrade Dinesh had led a resistance to the Maoists’ demand of the CPI (M) workers not to vote at all or if they did, to cast their franchise for the opposition candidates everywhere.  It is noteworthy that the CPI (M) and the Left won all the seats in the laterite zone of Bengal in the recent Lok Sabha elections, Birbhum being a lone exception.

 

Elsewhere far away in south 24 Parganas at Bishnupur, the attempt by Trinamuli goons to kill Nityananda and his brother Parthajit Naskar was foiled by their father comrade Monoranjan Naskar (76) -- at the cost of his own life.  Frustrated at the resistance thrown up by an infirm but determined old man, the hooligans attacked him with large meat-cutting choppers and left him dead, a bloodied mess.  Parthajit, too, was injured when he came to the rescue of his dying father.

 

At Khara-Balarampur at Nadia near Krishnagar, a school-going young boy was killed in the cruellest manner imaginable for having been associated with the CPI (M).  The young comrade Apurba Ghosh (15) who had just been promoted to class IX in the school he read.  Comrade Apurba was first abducted, had his hands tied behind his back, throttled and finally had a long sharp instrument stabbed into his left ear penetrating his head, a wound that must have cause excruciating pain to the young comrade before he would die.

 

This is not the first time that school going students have been martyred at the Trinamulis in the aftermath of the polls.  On 19 May, at Bherbheri village at Manabari in Coochbehar, SFI organiser Bibek Burman (17), a student of class XI, was speared to death in the most horrible manner imaginable after being abducted. 

 

They also attacked women of the area who were all CPI (M) workers, leaving no less than 30 injured.  Earlier still on 8 may, a young lad of ten, Sheikh Babua was blasted to death with a shower of bombs as he played on his roof of the single-storey family house at Baksi in Bagnan, Howrah.

CPI(M) POLIT BUREAU APPEALS TO THE PEOPLE TO CONTRIBUTE

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses deep concern at the loss of life and property caused by Cyclone Aila that lashed Kolkata and some districts of West Bengal on May 25. Scores of people have been killed and more than a lakh rendered homeless.

The Polit Bureau conveys its heartfelt condolences to the families of the bereaved and expresses its sympathies with those who have been affected by the cyclone.

The PB urges upon the Central government to urgently provide all necessary assistance to the state government to help in rescue relief and rehabilitation operations. 

The Polit Bureau appeals to the people to contribute their might to help mobilise resources for the cyclone affected people. Contributions may be made to the West Bengal Chief Minister's Relief Fund.

Cyclone Aila' claims 35 lives in West Bengal, Kolkata limps back to normal

Kolkata, May 25: West Bengal capital Kolkata is limping back to normal a day after 'Cyclone Aila' brushed past it at a distance of 50 km.

The size of the cyclonic system was so large - with a maximum diameter of 250-350 km - that when the core crossed the coast, the city was already reeling from its impact with wind speeds of 120 kmph.

At least 35 people have been killed across the state, 15 of them in Kolkata and Howrah and 20 others in South Bengal districts. Over 1500 trees lie uprooted across the main thoroughfares in the city, several electric poles have keeled over, electricity, water supply and cable connections have been disrupted in several pockets across the metropolis.

Office goers, however, are making efforts to go to work even as the public transport system is crawling back to normalcy.

The main problem is the blocked roads. Uprooted trees are being cut and cleared at a snail's pace by corporation staff who have not responded adequately to the crisis. Only about 75 civic personnel have been at work since yesterday evening with just 26 axes, 30 machetes and just one gas cutter, trying to clear away the over 1000 uprooted trees.

The storm which started around 1.30 p.m. Monday and lasted till 8.30 p.m., with a couple of hours lull around 3 p.m., rendered Kolkata immobile. Roads were blocked, public transport collapsed, all to and fro flights were cancelled and even the dependable metro crashed.

The last cyclone, the Great Calcutta Cyclone, wrecked the city on October 5, 1864. About 60,000 people were killed then.

CPI(M) West Bengal State Committee reviews election debacle

Kolkata,24^th May: The Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s West Bengal State Committee that met here over two sessions on Sunday to review the party’s dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections, warned of attempts by its opponents to make the Left Front government dysfunctional by hindering pro-people programmes and by creating anarchy in the State.

The next Assembly elections are due in two years when the CPI(M) along with its Left partners will be up against a Trinamool Congress-led Opposition whose claim that the Left Front “has lost its right to rule” is reaching a crescendo.

The CPI(M)’s State Committee meeting was held less than a week after the party’s Polit Bureau observed that both national and State-specific factors were responsible for the dismal performance of the party.

It had recently underlined the need for a “self-critical” approach by the party’s State Committees, while making a “serious examination” of the reasons behind the electoral reverses.

This was reiterated at the meeting. Among those present were West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and party’s State Committee secretary Biman Bose.

Benoy Konar, a member of the party’s central committee, presided.

The CPI(M) won nine of the 32 seats it had contested in the State — its worst showing since it led the Left Front to power here 32 years ago.

The CPI(M)’s State Committee observed that in no way could the faults that might have existed in the functioning of the party, the Left Front, the State government, the panchayats and municipalities be condoned. There was need to pay greater attention to address the shortcomings and to engage in intensive interactions with the people.

What is necessary is “to win back lost friends and to keep finding new friends,” the CPI(M)’s State Committee said.

People at the national level had not accepted the slogan of a Third Front as an alternative to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party for a stable government at the Centre, the CPI(M)’s State Committee noted.

The meeting marked the beginning of a process of rectifying the shortcomings in the party at the organisational level and trying to determine the lapses in its pre-poll political strategies.

A preliminary scrutiny of the party’s performance in the districts was placed by the CPI(M)’s different district secretaries and taken up for discussion.

The party’s district committees will have further discussions and will be reporting back to the State Committee that meets again in the second week of June for a detailed review of the electoral reverses.

IN 1977 BENGAL CONGRESS GOVT HAD EXCEEDED FIVE YEARS

CONTROVERSY OVER ART 356 IN CORPORATE MEDIA

KOLKATA: In the haste to toady up to Mamata Banerjee and her MPs, the corporate media have conveniently let slip of the fact that in 1977, then Congress government had exceeded its quinquennial term and was banking on a new draconian Constitutional proviso (i.e., Amendment 46) to see it carry on with depleted numbers. 

The Trinamuli supremo has repeatedly ‘quoted’ members of the fawning ‘Sushil Samaj’ of right-wing, self-proclaimed ‘intellectuals,’ that dates for the Assembly election in Bengal, due in 2011, following the Lok Sabha poll results, would be brought forward using Art 356, ‘an instrument which the Left had used in 1977 to pull down a Congress government,’ a double-lie.

It was the then Congress-supportive CPI that brought the issue up the Assembly in March of 1977 (the CPI–M had rightly chosen to boycott what was an Assembly set up in the ugly aftermath of mass-rigging in 1972).  The CPI legislators pointed out to the Speaker of the anomaly going on and also adjunctly referred to the results of the Lok Sabha elections where the non-Congress opposition had won 38 seats leaving Congress lagging way behind with four.

The 42^nd Amendment was to be used principally to allow Congress-run state governments in five other states also to have an extended lease of draconian lives for six years.  The Amendment was hastily passed in both houses of parliament.  The CPI (M) had then pointed out that the defeat of the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls had been a popular verdict against all draconian measures inclusive of the counter-democratic and anti-people Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and the 42^nd Amendment of the Indian Constitution, and all other such measures designed to build up an authoritarian régime at the centre, leaving the states’ rights severely curtailed.

Following the pressure of the CPI (M) and five other Left parties, the new union government passed in parliament the 43^rd Amendment that made the earlier amendment null and void, opening the way out for holding of elections in due time not only in Bengal but in other states as well, states that were due to go for polls.  President’s rule was clamped on in Bengal.  Elections were held.  The rest is history, and the annals of people’s struggle can never be distorted -- for the sake of trifling, opportunistic, and short-term political mileage -- enshrined as the events of the past are forever in the history of the nation’s body politic.  

BENGAL LEFT FRONT SHALL CONTINUE TO WORK DEEP AMONGST THE MASS OF THE PEOPLE

KOLKATA: The Bengal Left Front and the Bengal Left Front government would continue to work with renewed vigour amidst ever wider sections of the mass of the people.  Biman Basu, LF chairman apprised the media of this at a packed briefing in the evening of 21 May 2009 at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan following a meting of the Left Front.

Biman said that in the three phases of the Lok Sabha elections, scores and dozens of CPI (M) and LF workers/ supporters have been killed in clashes, pre- and post-poll.  He said that since the LF has bowed humbly to the popular verdict, such attacks from the Trinamuli-Congress-Maoist-SUCI combination were not really called for.  Biman called upon everyone concerned towards struggling for peace to prevail in the towns, cities, and in the vast countryside of Bengal.

Biman said that the Left Front had fought in a united way and even those constituents, who had no candidates at the Lok Sabha elections, nevertheless had their leadership touring the districts, campaigning deep and wide for the Left Front per se.  The LF meeting extended its felicitation to the people of Bengal for casting a large number of votes in favour of the Left Front in the circumstances of adversarial nature that prevailed.

The LF won 1, 85, 03,157 votes making it 43.30% of the votes cast.  The alliance of Pradesh Congress and the Trinamul Congress added up to a total of 1, 90, 70, 604 votes i.e., 45.67%.  The SUCI won five lakh 70 thousand-odd votes.  The BJP won 26, 25, 182 (06.14%) votes, while others including independents won 04.9% votes.

Each of the LF constituents would work out the post-poll review.  Bi-lateral talks would then be held amongst the LF parties.  Issues of commonality in the review and in the talks would be discussed at a LF meeting to be held in the near future, informed Biman Basu.  The LF meeting has also asked the LF government to speed up work on all pending governmental projects.

Biman said that there were no circumstances in Bengal for clamping down Art 356 of the Indian Constitution for advancing the dates for the Assembly polls.  He added to say that the Left Front had never asked for any such advancing of election dates in 1977 as was being drummed out in the corporate media; indeed, he dubbed the wide campaign misinformation against the LF as a big lie with a political motivation. 

The senior CPI (M) leader also refused to be pulled into the reactionary debate over the issue whether any particular community had or had not voted in full measure for the Left Front this time around, retorting that the CPI (M) and the LF worked for the masses of the people irrespective any qualification.

 

RGGVY to cover 244 mouzas this year

Kolkata May 22, 2009:The West Bengal power department, the implementing agency of Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana is planning to cover the 244 mouzas which could not be covered in the first phase of the rural electrification programme this year.

“We will be covering the remaining 244 mouzas that could not be covered under mouza electrification programme in the first phase due to disputes and litigation in the second phase of the RGGVY programme. By May 2009, having 6394 mouzas electified, a total of 37,666 mouzas or 99.36 per cent of the state’s 37, 910 mouzas will be electrified,” informed Sunil Mitra, additional chief secretary, department of power and non-conventional energy, West Bengal at an interactive seminar organised by the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce.

In the second phase starting this year state power department plans to intensify the electricity distribution networks in 81,967 rural habitations in 33,000 mouzas in all the 18 districts in the state, to provide access to electricity to a further 52,89,607 rural households.

By March 2009, because of the RGGVY project, around 45 lakh rural households become metered consumers of WBSEDCL.The total provisioned fund of Rs 3000 crore has been mobilised, work orders have also been issued. “We expect to complete the task by next two three years,” said Mitra.

Sipping Spirits plans rice-based distillery in Bengal

KOLKATA: Goa-based Sipping Spirits on Thursday said it plans to set up a rice-based distillery in West Bengal and a survey for the feedstock availability is being carried out.

"We are carrying out survey for availability of broken rice in the districts which would be used as feedstock for the distillery,'' Sipping Spirits Director, Mr Prasanna Natarajan said here at the launch of a new vodka brand.

The 15 kl per day distillery project would cost Rs 20 crore and would be a commodity business for the company to supply of extra-neutral alcohol to other spirit makers. **We are not going to market any branded product produced here.

It will be a commodity business for us as grain-based feedstock is gaining market,'' Mr Natarajan said. The molasses available in the country was of poor quality and in the next few years its use in distilleries was likely to decrease to 50 per cent fro m 80 per cent used now, he said.

Sipping Spirit's Goa facility is a bottling plant for the Netherlands-based Resolute brand vodka. With lowering of import duty of alcoholic spirits to 150-165 per cent down from 212-525 per cent more brands were pushing their products into fast expandin g market. - PTI

West Bengal shelves plan for Kharagpur city centre

KOLKATA: The Left Front government in West Bengal is likely to be more circumspect in acquiring land for industries and infrastructure development projects, in the light of the Lok Sabha election debacle.

The Cabinet, which met on Thursday for the first time after the results were declared, decided to set aside, for now, plans for creating a city centre on 120 acres at Kharagpur in Paschim Medinipur district, after some ministers expressed reservations about the project.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told his Cabinet colleagues that there was need for more details of the nature of land, and for an assessment of job opportunities the project would generate.

It was also decided that the Land Use Board, tasked with the preparation of a map delineating land-use patterns, be brought under the Land and Land Reforms Department, instead of the Industries and Commerce Department.

Leaders of the Left parties and some ministers felt that the political implications of the debate on acquisition of farmland for industries were evident in the poll outcome. Apprehensions of land-grabbing seemed to have weighed heavily on the minds of the rural electorate, especially the minorities, and affected the Left Front’s performance.

That State-specific issues played a critical role in the elections, despite the wave across much of the country in favour of a stable secular government at the Centre, has been underscored by the leadership of the all Left parties in a preliminary assessment of the results.

To ensure a political consensus on the issues on hand, it was decided that the Chief Minister prepare a note on all works awaiting implementation in the next two years of the government’s term.

The note would be placed before the Cabinet after discussions by its core committee so that the ministers representing the various Front constituents could order their priorities and determine their line of action.

 

State government to continue distributing rice for Rs 2 a kg

Kolkata: After the humiliating electoral setbacks in the Lok Sabha polls, the Left Front government in Bengal has another serious concern at hand — a steep price rise that is rattling the common man.

Not taking any chances, the state government is planning to take up a few measures to tackle the situation. This was announced on Thursday by Minister for Finance Asim Dasgupta at Writers’ Buildings where he held a meeting with Minister for Food and Supplies Paresh Adhikary. “The issue of price rise has become a serious one and the chief minister has expressed grave concern over this. He is going to call a meeting with all concerned on this issue very soon,” Dasgupta said.

He, however, said that price rise was not confined to West Bengal only. “So many factors are there that determine prices. Every state has been affected by this menace. We will have to take effective measures to tackle it,” the minister said. What has become a more serious concern for the state government is the rising price of potatoes and green vegetables. Potato is now selling at Rs 16 per kg at various markets of Kolkata.

Dasgupta said the state government would be able to achieve the target of procuring 16 lakh tonnes of rice, as per the target set for this year. “We have already been able to procure 11 lakh tonnes of rice and we are sure that we will be able to procure the remaining 5 lakh tonnes in the next five months,” Dasgupta said. The finance minister said the state government was determined to continue with the scheme of distributing rice for Rs 2 a kg among the poor. “We have already allotted Rs 422 crore for this scheme,” the minister said.

Meanwhile, the state government is also planning to build more godowns for foodgrains. At present, there are 174 such godowns in the state.

 

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…”.

Muslim-peasant factor, alliance arithmetic sink Left in Bengal (News Analysis)

 

By Sirshendu Panth

Kolkata (IANS): Singed by Muslim anger and mauled by peasants’ rage, the Left citadel in West Bengal gave way in these Lok Sabha elections, unable to withstand the determined onslaught of an opposition alliance stitched by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front (LF), which has been at the state’s helm for 32 uninterrupted years, seems to have fallen casualty to the anti-incumbency factor, with people developing a strong distaste for the ruling combine’s poor show in areas like health, and also due to the arrogance and changed lifestyle of the lower level party functionaries.

But more than anything, it was the Mamata Banerjee factor.

Berated in the past for her immature and whimsical ways, the Trinamool chief displayed cool calculation as she broke ranks with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to join forces with the Congress with an eye on the sizeable Muslim votes.

The Muslims, comprising around 23 percent of the state’s population, were cut up with their one-time favourite LF after the Rajinder Sachar Committee report brought to the fore their gross under-representation in state government jobs and the general backwardness of the community.

In addition, the violence in East Midnapore’s Nandigram - where Muslims are in a majority - and Trinamool’s sustained campaign that the government was planning to acquire large tracts of agricultural land across the state, also swayed the community. The Muslims in the state mostly draw their daily sustenance from small landholdings.

The mystery behind the Rizwanur Rahman death, where the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government dilly-dallied in taking action against police officials accused of forcing the Muslim computer graphics teacher to separate from his Hindu wife, only increased the anger in the community.

Trinamool’s tie-up with the Congress helped in consolidating the Muslim vote in favour of the combine.

The surprising poll debacle at the Marxist stronghold of Uluberia in the neighbouring Howrah district is a case in point. The constituency with a 40 percent Muslim population had always been with the CPI-M since 1977. But with the votes of the Congress as well as the Trinamool supporters, Sultan Ahmed of the Trinamool Congress beat eight-time MP Hannan Mollah.

The defeat of the CPI-M’s minority face, Mohammed Salim, from Kolkata North with a 16-20 percent Muslim population and the opposition’s sweep in the Muslim-dominated belt of Murshidabad are other indicators. In Malda district, the influence of the Congress leader, the late A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhury, continued.

Singur and Nandigram, which have now almost become symbols of peasant movements against land acquisition for industries, were also contributory factors in galvanising the rural peasantry to ditch the LF, thereby affecting its rural vote bank in large parts of the state.

That the CPI-M’s campaign blaming Banerjee for Tata Motors’ Nano plant moving out of the state did not cut much ice with the electorate is evident from the 22,000-plus lead taken by the Trinamool candidate from the Singur assembly segment, which falls under Hooghly parliamentary constituency.

In the five districts - Kolkata and its adjoining South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Hooghly and Howrah - the LF was annihilated in 16 seats due to the coupling of the Muslim-peasant factors.

The consolidation of the Congress-Trinamool votes also gave the arithmetical advantage to the opposition and helped it pick up seats in several constituencies, particularly in Nadia and Birbhum districts, and even in South 24 Parganas and Kolkata.

The alliance also got the votes of the middle classes, especially in Kolkata, who wanted a stable government at the centre.

But for its impressive showing in the western belt of Birbhum, West Midnapore and Bankura as also in Burdwan, the LF would have been virtually wiped out from the state.

The BJP, which won the Darjeeling seat, torpedoed the Trinamool’s chances in two constituencies, Alipurduar and Burdwan (East).

The Trinamool-Congress alliance got 26 seats of the state’s 42 seats, while the Left got 15, its lowest since 1977.

 

Assembly session from June 15

KOLKATA, 22 May : The budget session of the West Bengal Assembly will resume on June 15, Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim said on Thursday. The Assembly was adjourned on March 27.  Though the Assembly would resume in the backdrop of the reverses suffered by the ruling Left Front in the Lok Sabha election, Halim said there was no relation between the two and it was not correct that the session was being resumed earlier than usual.  Going by the results of the LS polls, in which the seats of the Left Front went down from 35 to 15, the Opposition has won in 193 of the 294 Assembly segments in the state, thus having a notional majority. LF candidates have lost in Assembly constituencies of 27 state ministers.

Left Front for more efforts to improve the lot of people

KOLKATA,21 May,2009: Stung by the reverses it suffered in the Lok Sabha polls, the Left Front in West Bengal has called for greater urgency on the part of the State government for extra initiatives in improving the lot of the people.

“Efforts will have to be made at the political level too to bring back to our fold those who had turned away from us,” Biman Basu, Chairman of the Left Front Committee, said here on Thursday after leaders of the different constituents of the Left Front met to review its performance in the elections.

The Left Front’s share of votes was 43.3 per cent (a total of 1,85,03,157 votes) while that of the Trinamool Congress-Congress electoral combine was 45.67 per cent (1,90,70,604 votes). “It is clear from these figures that a large section of the people had supported the Left Front,” he said.

One of the lessons learnt by the Left Front from the outcome of the elections was that the State government, its Ministers and the administration, be more active in initiating programmes to solve the problems of the people, Mr. Basu said.

In what could be construed as a tacit admission that not just national but also State-specific factors were responsible for the dismal performance of the Left parties, Mr. Basu conceded that there might have been certain important programmes of the State government that could not be completed within the stipulated time. “All Ministers should look at implementing the programmes of their respective departments and check to see whether they were being initiated properly.”

It was decided at the meeting that the different Left Front constituents would review their respective performances in the elections after which bilateral talks would be held. “The common issues that will emerge will subsequently taken up at the next meeting of the Left Front,” Mr. Basu said.

In reply to a question on the reported demand of the Trinamool for the dismissal of the State government and imposition of President’s Rule in the State that would pave way for early Assembly elections, Mr. Basu wondered what the “basis” of such a demand was. He also vehemently denied that the Left Front had sought President’s Rule in 1977, as claimed by the Trinamool. “They [the claims] are all lies.”

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee presented before the meeting a report on the post-poll law and order situation in the State.

“West Bengal will soon become one of the most attractive IT destinations in the country”

Siddharth, Principal Secretary, Department of IT, Government of West Bengal talked to Joy Roy Choudhury about the state’s readiness in supporting IT growth and its roadmap for the future

Siddharth

How is the state in terms of IT readiness when compared to other IT destinations in the country?

The State has the complete ecosystem required for the exponential growth of the IT/ ITES Sector. Studies by several international consultants have revealed that Kolkata is an attractive investment destination in comparison to the other IT hubs in the country. The city has a huge reservoir of talent and offers the lowest cost of operations. The attrition rate is the lowest in the country as certified by NASSCOM, the availability and quality of power is best according to Gartner, making it the most preferred IT destination in the country today.

Studies and surveys reveal that in terms of average salaries, cost of living and consumer price index Kolkata has outclassed other IT destinations in the country. All these are backed by a strong social infrastructure network.

Besides, the State Government has pursued a very attractive IT Policy. In addition to the usual incentives the State Government has declared IT as a Utility Service for the state and has provided for a training subsidy and a Venture Capital Fund (VCF) to assist entrepreneurs setting up units in the state.

Has the West Bengal IT industry been affected by the global recession?

The country as a whole is experiencing the impact of a global slowdown. Obviously, our State cannot remain untouched by this phenomenon. Like IT, several other sectors too have been affected by this economic downturn. However, there are neither pink slips flying around nor an increased number of closures. Of course there is a slowdown in projects and some staggering in fresh recruitments. At the same time, I believe that this is a big opportunity for the Indian IT industry.

Few nations have such a vast reservoir of resources and a huge market, we have to take advantage of the current world economic situation and look at the opportunities in the domestic market. Additionally we can emphasize on innovation, improving quality research and development during the period. I feel that this is a passing phase and I am optimistic about the future and feel that things will improve by the next year.

What steps has the State’s IT Department has taken to develop manpower for the IT industry?

The initiative for starting the WEBEL Finishing School was taken up with a view to the imminent future shortage of human resources. We have set-up two schools so far, one each at Kolkata and at Durgapur. These schools function more like a department store where you have fixed courses as well as a provision for tailor made courses. These schools are also envisaged as training cum placement centers where students from small colleges of moffussil towns can be trained for the IT industry and companies are invited to make campus recruitments. These schools are being professionally run with the help of the industry and faculty from IIT Kharagpur. It is our endeavor to open more such Finishing Schools in different parts of the State including Siliguri, Kalyani, Durgapur, Kharagpur and Haldia.

Additionally, a training subsidy has been conceived as an incentive to IT companies to get their employees properly trained. If an IT company hires professionals in the State, trains and retains them for over six months, then the company is eligible to get an employment generation or training subsidy up to Rs 20,000 per candidate. The idea is that if a company is willing to hire and train people on the job in the State the Government is willing to share part of the training cost.

Has the State IT infrastructure kept pace with the growth of IT industry?

The IT infrastructure has kept pace with the growth of IT companies in Kolkata. At present we have about 7-8 million square feet of office space available for the IT/ITES industry and about 20 million square feet of office space is currently under construction exclusively dedicated for the IT industry which will be added over the next 2-3 years time. It will create more than 200,000 job opportunities.

The IT Department through WEBEL is currently developing two mega projects for the IT sector in the vicinity of New Town Rajarhat. Under the integrated IT Township Project called ‘Kolkata Links’ it plans to develop on a PPP model an IT Township over approximately 1,600 acres. Out of the entire area half of the land will be kept exclusively for IT companies and on the remaining land social and institutional infrastructure will be set-up. The State Government has already signed MOUs with Infosys and Wipro offering them 90 acres each in this project.

The other IT Hub will be developed at Jagdishpur Mouza over 330 acres of land where 160 acres of land will be allotted to IT companies and social infrastructure projects will come up on the remaining area.

Both of these projects will have state-of-the-art infrastructure and facility. These two projects will totally change the face of the IT industry in West Bengal which will certainly become one of the most attractive destinations in the country.

The State IT Department is creating a new IT belt on the outskirts of Kolkata. Can you give us some insights into it?

It has always been our endeavor to have more inclusive growth in the State and not keep the IT industry confined to Kolkata. Accordingly the IT Department commissioned PriceWaterhouseCoopers to conduct a study and identify potential IT hubs in the State. The report indicates Durgapur, Siliguri, Kalyani, Kharagpur and Haldia have the potential and required infrastructure facilities to support the growth of IT industry.

In fact the initiative has already yielded results as several companies have set-up operations in Durgapur with 4,000 employed in the town. Siliguri also has some IT companies operating there and more are to follow suite.

On part of the Government, initiative has been taken to develop IT Parks on PPP model at Siliguri and Durgapur. Additionally WEBEL itself is setting up incubation centers at Durgapur and Siliguri. It has floated the EOI for selecting a partner for developing an IT specific SEZ at Kalyani over 100 acres of land.

In Kharagpur the IT Department is setting up an Advanced IT Park for which the land is being acquired. In Haldia a private initiative to set up a 41-storied IT building has already been taken. All these five places have got STPI earth stations providing the required connectivity to fuel the growth of the IT industry.