World Bank weaves a billion-dollar Bangla vision

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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State Govt setting up skill dev centres to boost poultry production

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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All KMC wards to get facilities for waste segregation at source

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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Bangla CM inaugurates houseboats for tourists

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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Khadya Sathi wins SKOCH Award

Khadya Sathi – the flagship food security scheme run by the Bangla Government has won the prestigious SKOCH Award. The award was handed over to the State food commissioner, who is also the principal secretary of the Food and Supplies (F&S) Department, at a ceremony in New Delhi.

The Khadya Sathi Scheme envisages a system of systematic distribution of foodgrains across Bangla through the public distribution system (PDS), and for this, the government, through the F&S Department, has brought about end-to end reforms in the management of the PDS.

It may be mentioned that Mamata Banerjee had been chosen as the best chief minister of the country by the SKOCH Group in 2018. She was given the award on the basis of the State’s performance as measured on five parameters – governance, culture, finance, urban development and rural development.

Source: Bartaman

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The dictatorial Modi Govt must go: Mamata Banerjee

Trinamool Chairperson Mamata Banerjee today addressed a meeting of the extended core committee of the party. She gave directions to the party workers and leaders regarding the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Mamata Banerjee said the situation in the country is dangerous and the country needs ‘poriborton’ (change).

Highlights of her speech:

Those who do not have any work, only give speeches. Their only work is to give bhashan.

They have completely ‘captured’ Doordarshan. They are misusing all the agencies. They are spending more money on PR than funding projects.

From job security to national security, internal security to farmers’ security, unemployment to demonetisation – we witnessed a disaster in India for the last five years

India’s cultural heritage, unity, federal structure, institutions, constitution, history – everything has been destroyed

There is RSS stamp on everything today. They follow an extremist ideology, spreading hate and violence

Even journalists who question the government are being harassed, whether on social media or even threatened at their homes

There is no rule of law in the country.

In Bangla, we said “Bodla noy, bodol chai” (we want change not revenge). But that is not the case in UP

All the thieves have united. All the CBI-ED ponthis (followers) have united.

They do not follow the basic courtesies in politics

Wearing a fetti (scarf) on head, they are spreading hate. We respect the sadhus of Bharat Sevasram Sangha or Ramakrishna Mission. But not these people

If you come across any rumour mongering in your area, in case someone tries to incite riots, inform the police

Whether it is Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, our MPs have the best performance. They have worked with their heads held high even in this atmosphere of fear

Whenever our MPs have tried to speak out against the government, they start a CBI investigation against them

Since 1995, I have been demanding electoral reforms. We want state funding of election. Small parties cannot match the funding of larger parties

The economy of the country has become a disaster

There is an atmosphere of hate prevailing in the country. They are creating divisions between people. This has never happened before

They are using social media to spread fake news. They are using pictures of UP or some other place and claiming the incident happened here. Their entire politics rests on lies

They are trying to “create” an atmosphere of threat by holding bike rallies at midnight.

CPI(M)-Congress bhai bhai – we have seen that already. We are least bothered about them

In the Panchayat elections Jagai-Madhai-Bidaai (CPI(M)-Congress-BJP) had an understanding in many places

Despite the huge debt burden, we have extended the Swasthya Sathi scheme to 7.5 crore people

We have waived off khajna tax and mutation fees on agricultural land

We are paying the full premium of crop insurance scheme for the farmers

We have started a new Krishak Bandhu scheme. Farmers will receive Rs 5,000 annually for every acre of land

Some people with ulterior motives are spreading rumours to incite communal tension

Let us take the pledge today to remove the dictatorial Modi regime from power

When they go out of power, truth about their financial corruption will come to light

Jagai-Madhai, the ‘brothers in arms’, who came to power after riots, are running the government

No one had the gumption to protest against their misdeeds, except us

We want poriborton in India. We want Modi-Amit Shah to be ousted

We had earlier said ‘Du hajar unish, BJP finish’. BJP hatao, Desh bachao

The government had intelligence input about Pulwama attack. Why were jawans not airlifted? Why were roads not sanitised?

They want to do politics over the dead bodies of jawans. People will not be fooled.

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time

Workers are the biggest assets in Trinamool.

A true leader takes everyone along. A true leader rises from the ranks through action

Does he (Modi) do anything else apart from posing for the cameras?

They might try to manipulate the EVMs. Our workers must be trained about VVPAT machines

They are dreaming of winning 23 seats in Bangla by tampering EVMs. We will show them

The days of Maddy babu are over. The days of arrogance are over. They days of traitors are over

Bangla will show the way to the rest of the country

I have never seen such low-level politics in my life. This is politics of the absurd

We have to win 42 seats out of 42

Bangla CM lays foundation stone of Alo Hub

The foundation stone for the hub for lighting designers and light technicians, Alo Hub was laid by Chief Minister on February 22 from her public meeting in Tarakeswar. The hub would be located in Chandannagar.

The primary aim behind the hub is to improve the technical skills through education of people involved in the light industry in Bangla. The hub is a project of the State Technical Education, Training and Skill Development Department.

Chandannagar has been chosen because it has been the traditional base of people involved in lighting decorations, especially during Jagaddhatri Puja.

The aims behind the creation of Alo Hub are:

  • Skill development of all lighting designers and technicians in Bangla through education
  • Providing training in fire-fighting skills alongside technical skills
  • Providing a base for production and sale of decorative lights and fixtures

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Karmanjali: Hostels for working women

On February 22, Chief Minister inaugurated a new project, Karmanjali. It is a scheme for building hostels for working women.

The scheme has started with the inauguration of five women’s hostels in Kolkata. More and more such hostels would be set up across the State. Karmanjali is a scheme of the State Housing Department.

These hostels would solve a major problem for women, as they often face a lot of difficulties in finding safe places to put up in when taking up jobs in places away from their hometowns.

The rent for the hostels would be nominal, so that women of all means are able to stay. Each apartment consists of a room, a bathroom, a balcony and a kitchen. There is 24-hours water supply and adequate security at the hostels.

The first five hostel blocks inaugurated are as follows: Two 34-apartment blocks located at Regent Park and on Becharam Chatterjee Street, a 76-apartment block on Harey Krishna Seth Lane, a 61-apartment block on Banamali Naskar Road and a 96-apartment block on BN Roy Road.

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State Cabinet gives nod for 25 more cyber police stations across Bangla

The State Cabinet on February 21 announced its plan to launch 25 more cyber police stations across Bangla. Twenty-four such police stations will come up in 24 police districts, while one will be set up in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

The proposed cybercrime reporting and investigation centres will tackle cyber problems faced by citizens in an effective manner as people will now have access to such a police station in their region, and also aid in generating awareness about such crimes among the common people. The police stations will also ensure that probes on cyber crime complaints are conducted appropriately.

Officials from the Home Department have informed that 249 posts in different categories would be created for these new specialised police stations, as well as 24 consultants or software specialists recruited. The primary role of the latter would be monitoring social media so that necessary steps can be taken whenever needed.

This decision to create cyber crime police stations comes as a significant step in the face of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s condemnation of attempts to “evoke fear” by spreading rumours on the web, the dispersal of fake news having created a situation of anguish over social media and the internet in general.

In this regard, it may be mentioned that Kolkata Police has issued strict directives to all the police stations in the city to launch special vigilance and strong action against rumour-mongers. The police are also spreading messages through microphones, urging people to not be provoked by any rumours.

Source: Millennium Post

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State Govt to appoint 3376 anganwadi supervisors

In order to raise the well-being of children in Bangla and in another step towards women’s empowerment, the State Government plans to appoint 3,376 anganwadi supervisors. This was announced by the minister of state for health after the State Cabinet meeting on February 21.

The posts of a supervisor is crucial is crucial as the person is responsible for the overall well-being of babies in a particular area, including investigating cases of negligence, if any. Only women are appointed to this post.

A recruitment policy for the employment of these supervisors will also be constituted soon, she said, which would include information on how many would be recruited directly through tests and how many through promotions. The appointees need to be graduates.

This decision, taken by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and endorsed by the State Cabinet, holds immense significance, more so since it was announced a few days prior to International Women’s Day on March 8.

At the press briefing, the minister of State for health also said that as a result of this decision, the work carried out through the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) will improve significantly.

She added that under the direction of Mamata Banerjee, the work of anganwadis is being looked at with the required importance, something that was never done during the Left Front rule, as a result of which so many posts are still vacant.

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