Invest in Bangla, where there’s scope for the future: Didi’s call at Bengal Business Conclave, Digha

Bangla Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today inaugurated the Bengal Business Conclave at Digha. Held at the newly inaugurated Biswa Bangla Convention Centre, the two-day programme is being attended by industry representatives and diplomats from around 20 nations.

Here are the excerpts from her inaugural speech:

In Kolkata, there is a big convention centre. I am proud to say that it is one of the biggest convention centres in the world. It is a destination for industry leaders and everything related. Digha is not too far away from Kolkata. Road connectivity is there for tourism and industry. What we have started today will work for tomorrow. Adjacent to this convention centre is a hotel with 70 rooms. Corporate houses, industrial houses can organise seminars or their office meetings here.

Digha is a beautiful place. You will appreciate that within these 8 years, Digha has been developed like anything. I am proud to say that a promenade like Marine Drive is coming up. The road is already complete. Two bridges are being made. It is adjacent to Puri. Puri has a famous temple. A temple is also coming up here, the Mashibari Temple. A port is coming up at Tajpur.

Representatives of 20 countries are present here. They are from the UK, Poland, Australia, the Netherlands, Argentina, South Korea, Singapore, UAE, USA, Australia, France, Russia, Italy, Thailand, Germany, Japan, China, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Also present here are representatives of the United Nations and a team from the World Bank. The Asian Development Bank also gave us Rs 150 million for a project. We want to congratulate them. Industry depends on the economic situation. Economic situation is something very important nowadays.

After 34 years of Left misrule, our State has overcome the situation. Now if we see the GDP growth, in the second quarter of 2016-17, it was 8.87 %. But in the second quarter of 2019-20, the rate dipped to 4.55%. Industry growth has also gone down. In 2015-16 it was 9.58 %, which in 2018-19 dipped to 6.86%. Manufacturing growth rate also went down from 13.06% in 2015-16 to 6.94% 2018-19. Industrial production growth rate went down. In September 2018, it was 4.63% while in September 2019 it is -4.27%. FDI growth rate is also down from 22% in 2014-15 and 35% in 2015-16 to 1% in 2018-19. Even unemployment rate is also highest in last 45 years.

But I am proud to say that in Bangla, we have decreased unemployment by about 44%. It depends on attitude, working capacity and government policies.

Why you should come to Bangla? If you compare, you will see that Industrial production IIP of India was only 30.6% in 2018-19, exactly double that of India. Poverty rate decline in Bangla is highest among all the states. Through the social security scheme, poverty has declined by 6%. This means that we have worked hard. State Plan Expenditure is six times higher. Social Sector Expenditure has grown by 4.5 times. Physical Infrastructure Expenditure has grown by 5 times.

We are No. 1 in this country. We are the No. 1 in lending by banks to MSME, skill development, in rural connectivity and rural housing, in generation of 100 days’ work for the poor people, in expenditure outlet for 100 days programme. We developed in so many areas because of our intention and integrity.

We want you to invest in Bangla. Choose your place where you have the scope and future. We will get the opportunity to employ people. We are not only proud of Bangla because we stay here. Bangla is not only the gateway for Bangladesh, Bhutan and North-Eastern countries; it is the lifeline for the business of the nation. It is the lifeline for the Asian countries also. Bangla has potential enough to do business.

Anyone can say anything politically. But no one can deny the fact that we have done for Bangla in the last 8 years. Bangla is now a model for the industrial development and every other development. We don’t divide the people. We never utter a single word against any cast, religion or community. We believe in togetherness. We feel we are the same family.

More than 13 lakh people are already employed in the tourism industry. My young generation is getting employment. In the hotel industry, the investment was about Rs 39,800 crore. Every year almost 16 lakh tourists are coming up in Bangla. And 8 crore domestic tourists are coming up. Our airport has grown by 178 %. International passengers have grown by 135 %. You can see the highest growth rate of passengers at Bagdogra Airport.

Our workforce is very good. In the last 8 years we have set up about 300 polytechnic and ITI colleges. We have all that you need to invest. We agree to cooperate. We have Land Bank. We have also Land Utilization Policy. We have IT Policy and Tea-tourism industry too.Along with all these we have talented students. Our young generation is working from Uk to USA to NASA to Japan, everywhere.

I will request you to invest in Bangla. We promise to give you full assistance. More than 200 acres we have allotted for silicon valley, IT sector. Our transport sector is a very potential sector.

I have the readymade business in every corner of the State. You have to use it. Invest your money for the betterment of the future. I can tell you that the Bangla will be the NO 1 destination for the world one day.

One country had said, I will not take the name that the Bangla will be on NO1 within 20 years.

We have set up 26 helipads already. We are trying to make the Air connectivity better also. I will request my UK friends to give some direct flights. There was British Airways previously. Now we are giving the fuel subsidy too. I will request you, if there is any opportunity you can pursue the matter. Airports at Balurghat, Malda, Coochbehar Airports are also coming up. Airport in Durgapur is almost ready.

There are so many areas where you can invest your money. You can enjoy our hospitality and friendship. Bangla loves all of you.

Bangla is the cultural capital of India. You can experience good culture, good behaviour, good transparency and good accountability from us. Our credential is our credibility.

I welcome all my friends from 20 different countries , my diplomats, my counsellor general and all. Thank you so much for coming here. Enjoy our hospitality. You give us business, we will offer you our all support with smile. Our country is your country too.

The next summit will be on 15-16th December, 2020 in Kolkata. I extend my open invitation to all of you.

Business Conclave at Digha begins today

Days after inaugurating the grand Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in Digha, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said that the Bangla Government will be holding an international business summit there in December.

Accordingly, a two-day Business Conclave will be held at the ‘Brighton of the East’ in Bangla, Digha, starting today. Industry representatives and diplomats from 17-18 nations will attend the meet. Bangla Chief Minister will be present there too.

The representatives will be taken to Digha via Volvo buses, trains and chopper services. The summit will be inaugurated at 2.30 PM today, followed by a cultural function in the evening. B2B and G2B sessions will be held tomorrow.

Infrastructure, transport, urban development, tourism and IT are some of the key areas which will be explored at the conclave. MoUs will be signed too.

Real Estate boom in Bangla due to low-cost housing

Reiterating that the real estate sector has witnessed a boom since the Mamata Banerjee government assumed office in 2011, state Finance and Industry Minister Dr Amit Mitra said on November 28 that out of 1,75,000 residential units, 60 to 70 percent share has been in the area of low-cost affordable housing. The total investment estimate is to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore since 2011.

“Affordable housing in real estate sector has always been a challenge. But since 2011, after our government assumed office, we have launched 1,06,000 units and 60 to 70 percent of it has been low-cost housing. The total employment that has been generated is over 40 lakh,” Dr Mitra said at an event, where CREDAI Bengal, in association with its knowledge partner CBRE, released a joint report titled ‘West Bengal: A beacon of growth in the East’ at Statecon 2019 in Kolkata.

He maintained that the real estate sector has been the second largest employment generator in the country. The total residential units launched till date since December 31, 2018 is 1,06,000 in number, while that for commercial units is 2,510.

Bangla plans setting up call centre to help women in distress

Bangla government is mulling to set up a call centre having a toll free number to cater to the complaints of crime against women in the districts. Once a call is received, the executives at the call centre will alert the concerned police station in the districts for prompt action.

Kolkata police and the police administration in its surrounding areas have already beefed up security arrangements for the safety of the women. In Kolkata, the city police has already installed CCTV cameras and planning to set up many more of them besides operating mobile toilets for the fair sex for their security.

Kolkata police is also considering a new dedicated cyber crime investigation laboratory for quick and better probe of online crimes against women, a senior officer of the force said. The force has also taken initiative to educate men to respect women.

There have been campaigns by the city police to make citizens aware of emergency numbers like 100, 1090 and 1091. Kolkata police has also launched projects like ‘Respect Women’ and self-defence drives, like ‘Tejashwini’ to sensitive people and make women self-reliant.

Bangla Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a recent meeting directed all police stations to register complaints of violence against women without any delay. The chief minister also instructed senior officers to penalise police personnel, who refuses to register complaint in such cases.

Poverty rate has declined in Bangla, says Centre’s report

Poverty rate has decreased in Bangla during Mamata Banerjee’s tenure, a recent report by the Centre shows. It has decreased by 6 per cent in both rural and urban areas.

At a time when poverty is on the rise across the country, this data from Bangla is significant. The rate of decline of poverty rate in Bangla is the highest among large States.

In 2011-12, the poverty rate in Bangla was 19.98 per cent. The rural poverty rate was 22.52 per cent and urban poverty rate was 14.66 per cent. In 2017-18, the poverty rate in the State stands at 13.98 per cent.

Undoubtedly, the credit for achieving this feat goes to Bangla Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her policies.

File complaints of crimes against women without delay: Mamata Banerjee

Bangla Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has directed all police stations to register complaints of violence against women without delay. She also directed the senior officers to penalise police personnel who refuse to file a complaint in such cases.

The Chief Minister, during a closed-door meeting with senior police officers, advised them to “increase contact with lower-ranked personnel so that information reaches them faster”.

The district police superintendents attended the deliberations via video conference.

The CM has sought heightened vigilance on radical organisations attempting to create disturbances in the state. She has also asked the police officers to intensify efforts to combat fake news and half-truths.

Bangla CM to felicitate eminent artistes at Sangeet Mela

Bangla Sangeet Mela 2019 begins today. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be felicitating eminent artistes at the inaugural ceremony to be held at Nazrul Mancha. She will also be inaugurating Biswa Bangla Lok Sanskriti Utsav.

While the Bangla Sangeet Mela will be held in as many as 10 venues in the city starting from December 4 to 12, the Biswa Bangla Lok Sanskriti Utsav will be held from December 5 to December 8.

Rabindra Sadan, Sisir Mancha, Rabindra Okakura Bhavan, Phanibhusan Bidya Binod Jatra Manch, Mohor Kunja, Hedua Park, Madhusudan Mukta Mancha, Ektara Mukta Mancha, Deshapriya Park and Rajya Sangeet Academy Mukta Manch will be the venues for the mega event.

Another venue at the area beside Charukala Parshad has been added this year for both ‘Bangla Sangeet Mela’ and ‘Biswa Bangla Lok Sanskriti Utsav’. There will be numerous musical performances under the title “Paray Paray Sangeeet Mela” at 32 different locations across Kolkata from December 5 to December 12. 

More than 5,000 singers and musicians are expected to participate at the gala musical fiesta.

 

 

 

 

Bangla Govt to set up 2000 co-operative hubs for farmers

The Bangla Government is going to set up 2000 co-operative hubs for the farmers of Bengal. They will be able to take agricultural equipment on loan from these hubs at a nominal cost. State Cooperative Minister made this announcement on the last day of State Co-operative Week at Udaynarayanpur.

The minister said that if farmers are able to loan agricultural equipment, instead of buying them, it will be more cost-effective for them. Co-operative hubs will do this job. He also mentioned that in the current fiscal year, various cooperative banks in the State disbursed more than Rs 8,000 crore as agricultural loans to farmers.

The minister added that cooperative department was working hard for women’s empowerment too. More than 2.20 lakh women are associated with self help groups, which are doing a good job. The co-operative department is to give more loans to these women. In the current fiscal year, loans worth Rs 1200 crore were given to various self-help groups.

Saugata Roy speaks on The Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Bill, 2019

FULL TRANSCRIPT

I am thankful that the House is sitting for so long at the desire of the Speaker who wants to make up for the time lost yesterday. It’s a good initiative. I have supported the extension of the time because he is trying to complete the business of the House. Let me make it clear at the outset that I was one of those who moved a statutory resolution against The Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Export, Import, Transport, Sale and Distribution, Storage and Advertisements) Ordinance 2009. I opposed the Ordinance because I don’t like the Ordinance route. It circumvents the democratic procedure and it is only a matter of one or two months, the Government should not have resorted to the Ordinance.

Having said that about opposing the use of Ordinances, let me make it clear that my Party is for the Bill for banning of e-cigarettes. My party is also against smoking and it is not a personal question, it is a political view that smoking causes lung cancer and it should be banned. The Health Minister is an eminent ENT surgeon himself. He has seen at close range the amount of cancer cigarettes produce. If he has taken this step, I have no objection. 

I have a lot of questions to ask the Hon’ble Minister. In Bangla, there is a proverb which says, ‘jhi ke mere bou ke sekhano’ (you beat the maid to teach a lesson to your daughter in law). This is what the Minister is doing. Actually his intention is to take on the manufacturers’ lobby but he lacks the courage to do it at one go. He has taken up a very small percentage of tobacco users, where only 3.95 per cent of tobacco users are aware of e-cigarettes. And the percentage of the users stood at 0.04. He is leaving 99.98 percent free of this law and it is only touching 0.2 percent. Is it wise, is it efficacious?

E- cigarettes are diminishing year after year because they are costly and beyond the reach of most people. Earlier, I even saw that ITC was importing e-cigarettes from China. There is not much manufacturing of e-cigarettes anywhere, it is a very advanced electronic item. It is mostly imported. ITC, Philip Morris these big companies import these things and market in India. 

Now, what is an e-cigarette? The Minister has defined something but basically it is a hardware which is designed to replicate the traditional cigarette smoking experience with the help of batteries, atomiser and e-liquid juice. It produces vapour when current is passed through an atomiser through a battery which evaporates the e-juice. I like to state that it is not marketed as a substitute. No one gives up cigarettes because of e-cigarettes but as a substitute of traditional cigarettes. 

So, there is, as I said a battery. You press a button, then it atomises and then the e-liquid is used. And that’s why I think that the Minister is only touching the fringe of the problems. From his Ordinance, which was hurried, it would seem that it was taking a massive step towards smoking per se. It is not only smoking, chewing tobacco is equally dangerous. Pan Parag and all these things are equally dangerous; zarda is equally dangerous. He is touching only the fringe of the problem with much fanfare. This is what I think should not have happened. So, what you might ask is, what is my solution?

The Minister has taken many steps. He said that the electronic cigarette industry is being taken under his control. Production, manufacture, import, export etc and advertisement will be stopped. Storage of electronic cigarettes will be stopped, all stocks will be taken in control by the authorised officers, and the stocks will be disposed off. This is like what you do for cocaine or marijuana or all such things and if anybody continues this act then his imprisonment may extend to 1 year or more.

Now, I have another question to ask the Hon’ble Minister. He is taking so much trouble to enforce this ban. He will appoint authorised officers to force this ban. But have bans really prevented things from happening? Gujarat has a prohibition, ban on alcohol, for so many years. Has drinking stopped in Gujarat? Bihar has a ban on alcohol for so many years now. Has it stopped the consumption of alcohol in Bihar? The idea of a ban which is very popular in government circles in our country is not efficacious, it’s cumbersome. So you might ask, what is your solution, how do you enforce the ban? The way of enforcing the ban is to price it out of the range of people.

Sir, another suggestion: this ban will ultimately not have much effect. So what we can do is not only for e-cigarettes. They can make it expensive beyond limits and regulate them imposing tax and not ban but make a solution. Make it available beyond the buying capacity seems more reasonable than banning the products. 

But even then, if the government bans e-cigarettes, they should not let cigarettes and beedis to be sold freely, which kills 1.2 million people every year. That is the main question. You are not stopping sale of cigarettes, beedis, gutkha, chewing tobacco, Pan Parag — all these things but you are just banning e-cigarettes, bringing an Ordinance to do the same. As it is, prices of e-cigarette are high. So, if it increases further, it will be more efficacious.

I shall not oppose the Bill. I have got many amendments but I shall not oppose the Bill. So, all I’m saying is that let the Minister consider this. Sir, the Minister in his conclusion has said that the available scientific evidence indicates the use of e-cigarettes is hazardous for active as well as for passive smokers/users. Where is the scientific evidence? He should have quoted the scientific evidence on e-cigarettes. 

Secondly, he has said ICMR has issued a white paper. That white paper has not been circulated to us. ICMR is Indian Council For Medical Research, Sir. That’s not available for us. The International Association of Lung Cancer does not recommend use of e-cigarettes for treating nicotine dependence, even in cancer patients due to absence of sufficient evidence on the efficacy and safety. So even the International Association of Lung Cancer has not recommended the banning of e-cigarettes.

My appeal to you is Sir, that rethink about this e-cigarette. I have given a special Amendment; I have said that he has specified three types of electronic cigarettes. Look at 3(d). Electronic cigarettes means a device which heats a substance with or without nicotine and flavors to create an aerosol (the dhuwa) for inhalation and includes all forms of electronic nicotine delivery system.

I have said that where nicotine is delivered electronically you eliminate them. E-Hookah – you eliminate them. But when they say there are some heat and burn products, we just heat the tobacco but does not burn them, whether they should be classified in the same way? Because Sir, in cigarettes there are three dangerous things. One is the nicotine, second is the paper and third is the tar that is formed. So if the heat is not burned product is used at least tar and paper smoke will not come. So I would like to ask the Hon’ble Minister, whether you would like to rethink on this matter?

Sir, having put my objections thus, let me again say that the most dangerous thing today is chewing tobacco. Fifty one million people are using it. How to ensure that the stock that exists in the market will reach the government? So now he has not done anything about it. Earlier they said that cigarette, beedi etc will not be sold within so many meters of a school or a religious place; that is also not happening. So, the Minister has to take many more steps to ensure the lessening of cigarette smoking, though banning is surely not a way in which it will be lessened. 

With these words, I would again ask the Minister to think of more efficacious ways to cut down on smoking. I know that with tobacco industry giants like ITC, Philip Morris, Godfrey Philips etc. he will not be able to close down the tobacco industry. Thousands and millions of farmers are doing tobacco farming in Andhra Pradesh and other states. He will not be able to meet the challenges of the tobacco farmers’ lobby. So, he has just taken a token step. 

I say again that Dr Harshvardhan, an ENT specialist and a Minister, see I am opposing e-cigarettes. Through this I am paying my token allegiance to the cause of stopping cigarette smoking. I would say that let him rethink on all these points. 

Thank you, Sir. 

Heard of freedom at midnight, what is this government at midnight: Mamata Banerjee

Accusing the BJP of violating the principles of the Constitution to form a “government at midnight in Maharashtra”, Bangla Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said the Supreme Court verdict and the resignation of Maharashtra CM has shown that the Constitution cannot be subverted.

Devendra Fadnavis should not have taken the oath as Chief Minister of Maharashtra when he did not have the numbers, she said while addressing a special session of the West Bengal Assembly to observe the Constitution Day.

While talking to reporters later, Banerjee questioned the role of certain governors and said the post is being “badly misused” in the State.

“In my state, the post of the governor is being badly misused. No one should forget that the post of the governor is a nominated one, but the state government is elected. We are not at the mercy of anyone,” she said.

The CM added, “The Constitution is India’s safeguard mechanism. You cannot play around with it.”