Month: February 2019

With the aim of further increasing the productivity of crops and introducing modern agricultural concepts and machinery, the State Technical Education, Training and Skill Development Department has partnered with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). They will impart specialised training to people across several blocks in the Sundarbans in South 24 Parganas.

The minister said that the training of international standards would be conducted by the Bonn, Germany-based UNESCO-UNEVOC, which is UNESCO’s specialised centre for technical and vocational education and training.

A professional training programme of international standards such as this will provide a major boost to the Utkarsh Bangla Scheme initiated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Under Utkarsh Bangla, the State Government is aiming to provide training to almost 6 lakh youths this year, after tasting considerable success with the programme last year, with 70 per cent of the people getting jobs soon after completing their training. It may be mentioned that the scheme has been declared as a ‘Champion Project’ by ITO, UN and is among the top 5 projects in the running for WSIS Prize.

Source: Millennium Post

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Durga Puja in Kolkata – be it the traditional bonedi bari pujas or the community baroyari pujas – is world famous. For the former, it’s about the traditional practices and for the latter, about the grand pandals and lighting decorations. Best of all, perhaps, is the halo of festive fervour that envelops Kolkata during the four days and more, manifested in the sea of humanity that flows through the streets of the city.

To have international recognition for Kolkata’s Durga Puja, as an example of a unique cultural masterpiece, the Bangla Government made a presentation to a team from UNESCO to have the festival listed in the latter’s ‘List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’.

The team had visited the city for two days beginning Thursday, January 21 to meet State Government representatives from across the country, and representatives of all South Asian countries, and seek preliminary applications from them about the tangible and intangible heritage of their respective States and countries. The meeting was hosted by the State Tourism Department.

It is relevant to mention here that Chief Minister was the primary inspiration for the presentation, having convinced the department to make a serious pitch to have the festival listed by UNESCO. She has been further enthused by the overwhelming response that the Durga Puja Carnival being held on Red Road over the last two years has received.

Besides Durga Puja, the Department made three other presentations for including places in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These applications were made earlier too, but this time with more preparation, almost guaranteeing listing.

There three are: Dalhousie in Kolkata, for the building heritage there; parts of north Kolkata (College Street to Sovabazar Rajbari), for distinct architectural features typical to the city’s heritage; and Bishnupur, for its ancient terracotta temples.

Source: The Times of India

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The State Fire and Emergency Services Department has decided on a plan to train youths from various clubs in Kolkata so that they can help in an emergency in their local areas. This was announced by the concerned minister recently during a programme at the Kolkata Book Fair.

Sometimes it takes time for Fire Department vehicles to reach the spots in time, often because of unavoidable reasons like traffic, distance, barriers around the structure, etc.

The minister said that if there is awareness at the grassroots level, fires can be arrested or controlled in a much better manner. The clubs would also be provided with basic fire-fighting equipment.

The Fire Department’s officer-in-charge of a particular area will be responsible for providing training to the youths of the clubs in that area.

The programme at the Book Fair also saw the release of a free booklet created by the department on fire-fighting measures. The minister also said that his department is considering the inclusion of fire-fighting measure in the State Government’s school syllabus, for which it will hold talks with the Education Department.

Source: The Statesman

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The Bangla Government has decided to appoint ‘Meen Mitras’, or ‘Friend of fish cultivators’, a category of experts who would advise fish cultivators on increasing production of fish and help in finding ways on improving fish sales.

The Panchayats and Rural Development Department would train members from self-help groups which are involved in fish cultivation.

To begin with, the department would train 164 Meen Mitras at an investment of Rs 10 crore. This pilot project on fisheries development would involve nine districts, among them being Purba Bardhaman, Purba Medinipur, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas.

Among the duties of Meen Mitras would be: (bullet points)

Going around villages to test the soil and water of lakes being used for fish cultivation
Advising self-help groups on fish cultivation
Advising fish farmers on curing fish affected by diseases

In other words, Meen Mitras would act as the representatives of the government and stand by fish cultivators in their hour of need.

Source: Ei Samay

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The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is set to open special clinics at all the 16 borough offices, starting from March 7, for treating patients with heart ailments and diabetes. The clinics will also take care of patients referred by ward-level KMC clinics (urban primary health centres).

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Saturday, February 23 signed two memoranda of understanding (MoU) with the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) – one to train the former’s medical health officers and executive health officers on the latest skills for treating cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and stroke, and the other, for overall upgrade of its doctors’ skills over a period of one year.

These announcements were made by the deputy mayor, who also said that the borough-level clinics will function every Thursday while well-known doctors will also be available for consultation. Insulin and requisite machines will be available free of cost.

KMC doctors were earlier trained in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and thyroid disorders.

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The World Bank’s investments in Bangla are set to cross the $1-billion threshold soon. Not only that, the international financial institution is also looking to raise its commitments by another $1 billion within the next two years.

This was conveyed recently by the country director of the World Bank. He said that investments in the State have really grown in the last four to five years.

This proves the success and sustainability of the development model being followed by the Bangla Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The multilateral financial institution wants to step up its investments in the areas of logistics and transport (road, jetties, etc.), irrigation, flood management, social security programmes and urban administration in the next two to three years.

A State Government official said that the State has reduced the debt to GDP ratio despite a crushing loan burden and also allocated funds for capital investment which has had a multiplier effect on the state’s economy.

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The State Technical Education, Training and Skill Development Minister announced at the recently-held Kolkata International Poultry Fair (KIPF) that the Bangla Government is in the process of setting up skill development centres for training people to work in and set up poultries across the State.

The aim is to increase poultry production, especially eggs, to satisfy the entire demand of the State, and in the process, generate employment. The production of meat was sufficient, said the Animal Resource Development, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Textiles Minister, who was also present at the programme.

The 7th edition of this annual event was organised by the State Animal Resource Development (ARD) Department and West Bengal Poultry Federation (WBPF) on February 20.

Two poultry-related skill development centres have already been set up, and the memorandum of understanding for setting up another, in Bankura, was signed between the State Government and the WBPF at the poultry fair.

The West Bengal Incentive Scheme 2017 is also providing several incentives to poultry business owners. These are also advertised regularly through newspapers across the State.

Source: Millennium Post

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Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s (KMC) Solid Waste Management (SWM) Department recently introduced facilities for waste segregation at source in 20 wards.

The corporation plans to introduce the system in all 144 wards in phases, in three months, said the mayor while inaugurating the project.

The system of segregation of waste at source requires the usage of separate bins for different kinds of waste materials – one for dumping biodegradable waste, which is green in colour, and another for non-biodegradable waste, which is white in colour.

Each household will be given the two plastic bins. Cooked and uncooked food, fish scales, egg shells, vegetable waste, parts of flowers or fruits and other biodegradable waste, etc would have to be disposed off in the green bin while discarded items made of paper, rubber, plastic, glass, wood, iron and other metals would have to be kept in the white bin.

While the green bins will be collected on a daily basis, the white bins will be collected every alternate day. The materials from the green bins will be recycled by KMC at its landfill site in Dhapa.

It may be mentioned that Kolkata, under the administration of the Trinamool Congress-run municipal corporation, was India’s first city to introduce compactor stations for processing waste, which gradually replaced almost all open vats in the city.

Moreover, the city uses pollution-free battery-operated vehicles for collecting garbage (for depositing at the compactor stations) in several places. Further, the KMC is in the process of procuring more such vehicles by the end of the financial year 2019-20, to completely replace hand-pulled garbage collection vehicles.

Source: Millennium Post

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Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated two houseboats for tourists on February 22, from her public meeting in Tarakeswar.

The houseboats, named Gangashree and Jaloshree, would ply on the Hooghly River in Kolkata. the hulls of the boats are painted green while the passenger cabins and roofs are orange in colour.

This is a project of the State Tourism Department. It has been in the planning stage for sometime now, and on the 22nd, the project came to fruition.

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