Author: AITC

The state government has decided to set upa hi-tech food preservation institute at Malda in an effort to improve the foodprocessing unit in the state.

The institute will be along the lines ofthe sub-tropical horticulture institute in Lucknow, one of the premier foodprocessing and preservation institute. Around 68 acres has been identified toset up the institute.

Mr Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury, Ministerin Charge of Food Processing and Horticulture, said the institute that will beset up in Malda will be the second most important food preservation unit. Theinstitute will have hi-tech machines so that food processing is easy.

Mr Chowdhury informed that the mini foodparks that have been set up during the Left Front regime are in a shambles andthe new government is trying to renovate them. The state is also contemplatingsetting up new vermicompost units to increase organic cultivation in the state.

After placing the budget he said that thedemand for organic food is increasing and accordingly 775 vermicompost unitshave been constructed during 2013-14 in comparison to 329 vermicompost unitsconstructed during 2010-11. “Organiccertification is an essential criteria for organic farming,” the Ministersaid, adding vermicompost would help improve soil health and production oforganic crops.

Farmers in West Bengal now have acomprehensive guide for cultivation thanks to a Crop Calendar that will givethem information regarding cropping practices. An initiative of the state government, the calendar has been drawn up byexperts and gives out information on planting, sowing and harvesting periods ofcrops in specific agro-ecological zones.

The crop calendar is a comprehensive guidefor farmers. From sowing to harvesting, details about the quality of seeds,manure and fertilisers – the calendar will come in handy with the informationprovided. To be distributed free of cost, the government has a target ofproviding the calendars to at least 3,000 – 5,000 farmers in each block.

The calendars are not for a single season.Rather they are beneficial over a longer period of time. The literate farmers havealso been instructed to help out illiterate farmers about the contents of thecalendar.

The crop calendars also provide forrehabilitation of farming systems after natural calamities like flood andeffective use of irrigation techniques lessening a farmer`s dependency on theweather. The calendars also carry information about monthly weather patterns,pesticides as well as various governmental schemes for farmers.

The calendar also serves the purpose of anastronomical almanac providing details of auspicious times for rituals,festivals and celebrations.

The state Food Supplies Department hasdecided to implement a system to enable people with digitized ration cards toprocure food grains from PDS shops anywhere in the state.

The decision was taken in a bid toeradicate corruption and to make it affordable for people to procure foodgrains from anywhere in the state. While tabling the Budget, Food and SuppliesMinister Mr. Jyotipriyo Mullick said at present around 7.64 crore ration cardshave been digitised and the need of the hour is to digitize all ration cards sothat it becomes easier for people to avail this service.

The scheme is primarily aimed at checkinglarge-scale illegal diversion of PDS commodities to the open market, manage thesupply chain, eliminate corruption and ensure accurate targeting of statesubsidy. The state has 14 crore ration cards and digital cards were beingprepared on the basis of the National Population Register and Socio-EconomicCaste Survey.

The state agriculture department hasundertaken a Seed Mission to make Bengal self-reliant in seed production. Atarget has now been set to increase seed production by five per cent everyyear. A committee will be formed soon to formulate a roadmap to achieve this.

State Agriculture Minister Arup Roy claimedBengal is the only state to go for such mission. The department has set atarget of catering to 65 per cent of the state`s demand for seeds in the nextfive years. Presently, Bengal is dependent upon other states for seeds.

For instance, few metric tonnes of potatoseeds are procured from Punjab while Jute seeds are brought from Andhra Pradeshand Karnataka. In fact, seeds produced in the state are able to address toaround 40 per cent of the demand.

The proposed state seed mission also aimsat bringing a synergy between the departments of Agriculture, Animal ResourcesDevelopment and Horticulture so that efforts can be taken for addressingrequirement of seeds together. Apart from the government-run agencies, a hugepercentage of the seeds are produced by private companies.

The state government plans to come up witha comprehensive plan so as to provide assistance. A detailed plan will be drawnup in this regard, said an official. Apart from the requirement for seeds of vegetables, pulses and paddy, thestate also has a good demand for seeds of flowers and fodder.    

Mr Roy today held a meeting with officialsof the department along with those of Horticulture and Animal ResourcesDevelopment departments and West Bengal Seed Corporation Limited at Nabanna.

It may be mentioned here that last yearonwards potato seeds are being produced in the state. Earlier, thestate-produced potato seeds were of inferior quality but this has now been doneaway with. So much so, that potato seeds produced in Bengal had been sent toAssam.

Trinamool Congress Chairperson Ms. MamataBanerjee will meet all 46 party MPs to chalk out a strategy to oppose”anti-people” measures of the Central government. The meeting isscheduled to be held on 2 July.

The Trinamool Chairperson will brief the 16Lok Sabha MPs especially of the party`s stance on different issues, includingthe rail fare hike, increase in freight charges, hike in fuel and cooking gascharges. Ms. Banerjee had said in her speech in the State Assembly on 23 June,”a new government should be given time, but if it takes unpopulardecisions right from the first day, we cannot keep quiet.”

Shehad suggested that the new government should be polite, soft and take decisionin favour of people. Miss Banerjee had also pointed out that the Trinamool`sopposition to fare hike did not mean that they were being anti-Centre. “It wasjust a reminder to the central government that the decision should be withdrawnfor the sake of the people. When a democratic government comes to power, itmakes many promises to the people,” she had said.

The Chairperson would brief the MPshow to be vocal on the floor of the Parliament that the Centre has failed tokeep its promises. Party sources said that she would also discuss preparationsfor celebrations of 21 July with the MPs.

The youth activists of Trinamool Congress organiseda mega rally at Asansol against the Central Government`s decision to raise railfare, hike the price of sugar, cooking gas and kerosene. The rally was led by MPs Suvendu Adhikari and Abhishek Banerjee. The rally isa part of the week long protest movement drawn up by the Trinamool Congress.

The two young MPs later addressed a hugegathering at Girja More. Mr Adhikari stressed on the poor service of theRailways and the contrasting fair hike. Mr Banerjee cautioned the centralgovernment that if it continues to go forward with anti-people policies, therewill not be any peace for them. Present with them were the Trinamool MLAs,Malay Ghatak, Ujjwal Chatterjee, Bidhan Upadhyay and Sohrab Ali.

In Kolkata, Trinamool Youth Congressactivists staged a sit-in demonstration at Shyambazar five-point crossingagainst the railway fare hike and increase in prices of cooking gas and kerosene.

The state government is going to form threecore committees for revival of jute industry in West Bengal.

The government organized a bipartitemeeting today at Town Hall with the owners of jute industries to look into theproblems of the jute sector in the state. A Group of Ministers, includingFinance and Industry Minister Dr Amit Mitra, Labour Minister Purnendu Bose,Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee, andrepresentatives of several chambers of commerce, attended the meeting.

The state government has announcedformation of three core committees for diversification of jute products,modernization and skill development. The State Finance Minister, said juteindustrialists, who attended the meeting, expressed their satisfaction over thegovernment`s proposal for revival of the jute industry.

The state government would sendrepresentatives to a meeting of the Union Food Ministry and more envoys fromthe state will be sent to several meetings of the Centre on jute-related issuesespecially with the demand of 100 per cent use of jute bags for packaging.

A tripartite meeting was held at theAssembly where it was decided that North Brook Jute Mill will be reopened onWednesday and the Victoria Jute Mill will be reopened on Saturday.

Mr Purnendu Bose, state Labour minister,said efforts have been taken so that the family of the deceased CEO of NorthBrook Jute Mill, HK Maheswari, will get benefits as early as possible.

West Bengal has bid adieu to the days ofpower cuts, following generation of excess electricity. The state government isstressing on futuristic planning in this sector, state Power Minister Mr ManishGupta said at the Assembly. The power minister said that the number ofconsumers have risen manifold during the financial years 2011-12 and 2012-13indicating that there is no dearth of power in the state.

The power minister also said that a 500 MWthermal power plant would become operational at Sagardighi by December. Anotherplant of equal capacity would start power generation from the same venue fromMarch next year. Durgapur Project Limited (DPL)`s 250 MW plant would startgeneration from next month. Two units of CESC each generating 300 MW wouldbecome operational from December, the Minister informed.

Sizeable power supply is expected fromhydel power projects from Bhutan during the next three years, he added. Apartfrom domestic demand, large quantum of electricity is consumed by the farmingsector of the state, he said.

The West Bengal government is optimisticabout receiving a preliminary approval soon for the first electronic cluster, aprecursor to set the ball rolling for manufacturing units for the hi-techindustry in the state.

“We hope to get preliminary approval forthe Naihati electronic cluster in the North 24 Parganas district. Once thatcomes, we will move to the next level of implementation which will includeanchor investors to get the final approval,” West Bengal Electronics IndustryDevelopment Corporation DGM Dev Baul said today on the sidelines of a seminaron IT organised by the CII.

In West Bengal, two electronic clustershave been proposed by the state government. The Naihati cluster would come upon 70 acres, while another proposed cluster at Falta would come up on 56 acres.State IT additional secretary Satish Chandra Tewary said the state governmenthad approached the Center to also consider Falta for the modified incentivepackage scheme. In the modified specialized incentive package scheme from theCenter, six locations of Bengal – Howrah, Kharagpur, Haldia, Siliguri, Durgapurand Kolkata – were chosen.

Though electronic clusters engage in nine sectorsand 30 products in the electronic and solar power, in West Bengal the clusterscould focus on Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) as they arelow capital incentive ones and job opportunity was more. Sources indicated thatif things move smoothly, the Naihati cluster could be ready with infrastructureat an estimated cost of around Rs 70 crore.

Earlier in 2011, the state government hadappointed a high-power committee on IT under the chairmanship of Sam Pitroda tochart out new initiatives for growth of information technology and electronicindustry in West Bengal.