Author: AITC

On Wednesday, the student`s cell, TrinamoolChhatra Parishad protested against the hike in rail fare in the most uniquemanner at College Square. Activists from the TMCP took up tea cups as theprotest insignia. They treated the by-standers and the passer-byes with cups totea. The cups displayed the slogan: ModirBhalo Din,Railer Bhara Besi Din.

The TMCP President Shankudeb Panda said thatthe unique protest form will be repeated across colleges throughout the state. TMCPwishes to reach out to as many as 50 lakh people, he said.

Trinamool Congress has been conducting aweek-long protest movement against the hike in passenger fares and freight chargesof Indian Railways. While the party MPs and MLAs held a rally on Monday, youthwing of the party – Trinamool Yuva – organised a rally on Tuesday.

Apart from TMCP, Trinamool Yuva alsoorganised a protest rally in Belur, Howrah on Wednesday.

State Transport Department will launchbattery-operated cars in the city to curb taxi refusals, state TransportMinister Mr Madan Mitra said.

An electric vehicle manufacturing companytoday demonstrated its four-seater car in front of the transport minister.Later, Mr Mitra said the state Transport Department will launch suchbattery-operated cars in the city as an alternative to taxis.

“State Transport Department and police arebeing regularly flooded with taxi refusal complaints. There will be no suchcomplaints in future as we are taking several measures,” he said.

Mr Mitra said battery-operated cars willalso reduce pollution in the city. The cost of the battery operated car is Rs 8lakh. “The car will run 100 kilometer a day after the battery is charged forfive hours and the speed limit of the car is 80 km per hour,” he said.These cars will ply in Salt Lake, Rajarhat, Airport, Ballygaunj, Gariahat andseveral other places.

After the launch of the flagship BiswaBangla store at the Kolkata Airport, four more such stores will be open in thecurrent financial year. The Minister of State for MSME Industries, Mr SwapanDebnath informed that the Grameen Haatat Santiniketan will start functioning from this year too.

The minister informed the Assembly that 25 Grameen Haats, under the umbrella ofNational Fiber Mission, are being set up. He said that a total of 1,21,441handicraft workers have been given photo identity cards. He also cited theexample of Tantuja, how it became aprofit making body after incurring losses for years.

The Minister also informed the Assemblythat in the field of Animal Husbandry, the Government has taken up Prani Bandhu project. Here the dairyanimals are being tagged while administering vaccine. He also laid stress onthe rejuvenation process for the state-run Haringhata Dairy.

The West Bengal government has placed aproposal to the Centre for setting up a 250MW solar power project near thePurulia Pumping Storage Project (PPSP) at Baghmundi for an estimated cost of Rs1,700 crore.

This will be the world`s biggest solar powerproject if the state gets the nod from the Ministry of New and RenewableEnergy, Government of India.

The state Power minister Manish Gupta spokeabout the plan at a national seminar organized by Ashden India Renewable EnergyCollective – a group of Indian Ashden award winners headed by solar power expertand former adviser to the state power department, S P Gon Chaudhuri. Mr. Guptasaid discussions have taken place with central government officials on theproposed project. The Centre has agreed in principle, he said.

Around 700 acres will be required for theproject. The project will be either at PPSP at Baghmundi or at Thurga that islocated nearby. A detailed project report is being prepared, the Power Ministersaid.

The PPSP of West Bengal State ElectricityDistribution Company Limited has four units of 224MW hydel power each. TheMinister said the proposal will have to be approved by the state financedepartment and in the state cabinet. The state wants grants under the nationalclean energy funds to execute the project.

The PPSP site has been proposed by thestate government as it is a natural source of water. The plan is to pump thewater through solar power. Once this happens, it will become a complete naturalwater pumping system using water and solar power.

It was also announced at the seminar thatAshden India will prepare a rooftop solar power policy for Kolkata. Funds worthRs 22 lakh have been sanctioned through DFID for preparing the policy. “Weare working on some mega schemes for rooftop solar schemes in the city,”said the Minister. Together with the UK government, the West Bengal departmentof power and Kolkata Municipal Corporation are working on developing agrid-connected rooftop solar system.

In Rajarhat New Town, which that has beendeclared as a solar city, the New Town Development Authority has already madeit mandatory for all commercial and residential high-rise buildings to installrooftop solar panels to meet at least 2% of the buildings` electrical loadrequirement.

আগামী বুধবার, ২৫ জুন দুপুর তিনটে আলিপুরদুয়ার প্যারেড গ্রাউন্ডে এসে নতুন জেলার আনুষ্ঠানিক ঘোষণা করবেন মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়। ইতিমধ্যে সেই নির্দেশ এসে গিয়েছে মহকুমা পুলিশ–প্রশাসনের কর্তাদের কাছে। শহরের প্যারেড গ্রাউন্ডে বৃষ্টির মধ্যেই জোর কদমে কাজ চলছে মুখ্যমন্ত্রীর অনুষ্ঠান মঞ্চ তৈরির। জেলা উপহার পাওয়ায় মমতা বরণে তৈরি আলিপুরদুয়ার।

শহরকে দুই দিন দীপাবলির রাতের মত আলোক সজ্জায় সাজানোর কথা ঘোষণা করেছে সাধারণ মানুষ । `ঐতিহাসিক` জেলা ঘোষণার দিনে বিপুল জনসমাগম করতে পথে নেমেছেন তৃণমূল নেতৃত্ব। এ দিন দলের প্রস্তুতি সভায় বিভিন্ন ব্লক ও জেলা নেতাদের জানিয়ে দেওয়া হয়েছে, মুখ্যমন্ত্রী মমতা বন্দোপাধ্যায়কে ধন্যবাদ জ্ঞাপনের জন্য বিভিন্ন ব্লক থেকে সাধারণ মানুষকে নিয়ে আসতে হবে। জলাপাইগুড়ি জেলার তৃণমূল সভাপতি সৌরভ চক্রবর্তী বলেছেন, “আগামী ২৫ জুন দুপুর ৩টায় মুখ্যমন্ত্রী জেলার ঘোষণা করবেন।“

সৌরভবাবু জানান, কাল মঙ্গলবার, আলিপুরদুয়ারের প্রথম জেলাশাসক ও পুলিশ সুপার তাঁদের অফিসের দায়িত্ব বুঝে নেবেন। ২৫ জুন নতুন অধ্যায় শুরু হতে চলেছে। দিনটিকে স্মরণীয় করে রাখতে আমরা বিপুল জনসমাগম করার সিদ্ধান্ত নিয়েছি। বহু মানুষ ওই দিনে মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়কে ধন্যবাদ জানাবেন। তৃণমূল নেতা জহর মজুমদার জানান, মুখ্যমন্ত্রীকে স্বাগত জানানোর জন্য ওই দিন রাস্তার দু`ধারে মহিলারা সারি বেঁধে দাঁড়িয়ে শঙ্খধ্বনি করবেন।

প্রশাসনিক সূত্রে জানা গিয়েছে, অনুষ্ঠানে উত্তরবঙ্গের সমস্ত সাংসদ ও বিধায়কদের আমন্ত্রণ জানানো হচ্ছে। অনুষ্ঠান মঞ্চে মোট ৭০ জন অতিথি বসার জয়াগা করা হচ্ছে। বর্ষার মরসুম থাকায় নবান্ন থেকে নির্দেশ দেওয়া হয়েছে, ১০ হাজার অতিথির মাথার উপর যাতে ত্রিপল থাকে সেই ব্যবস্থা করতে হবে। রাজ্যের মুখ্য সচিব, রাজ্য পুলিশের ডিজি–সহ অন্য সচিবেরাও আলিপুরদুয়ারে উপস্থিত থাকবেন। 

ইতিমধ্যে আলিপুরদুয়ার সার্কিট হাউস–সহ নানা বাংলো সাজানোর কাজও চলছে। মুখ্যমন্ত্রীকে ধন্যবাদ জানানোর জন্য ২৪ ও ২৫ জুন রাতে শহর আলোয় সাজাতে মানুষের কাছে আবেদন জাননো হয়েছে। পাশাপাশি, টাউন ব্যবসায়ী সমিতির পক্ষ থেকে আলিপুরদুয়ারের চৌপথীতে ২৪ জুন সন্ধ্যায় আতসবাজি পোড়ানো হবে।

দলমতনির্বিশেষে সকলেই যে এই প্রস্তুতিতে যে মেতেছেন । ২৪ জুন দলমত নির্বিশেষে মুখ্যমন্ত্রীকে ধন্যবাদ জানিয়ে শোভাযাত্রার পরিকল্পনা হয়েছে।

State government fixed Rs 14 as theretail price of potatoes per kg in view of a sharp rise in prices. Thegovernment has also decided to open 27 fair price outlets for vegetables acrossKolkata and suburbs.

West Bengal Chief Minister Ms. MamataBanerjee held a meeting with the task force members to control prices ofessential vegetables. Ms. Banerjee asked the officials and traders` forum toensure that potatoes are not sold at higher than Rs 14 per kg. Presently, theprice of potatoes varies between Rs 20 to 25 per kg.

The traders' forum had attributed theincrease in price of potatoes along with other vegetables to monsoons, which isdamaging the stocks. The state government has decided to set up eight fair priceshops for selling vegetables in the city. The details of these outlets will bedrawn up.

A similar measure was taken last year whenthe price of potatoes had risen. The state government had not only fixed theprice of potatoes but also put up outlets at the KMC run markets for sellingthe stocks at lower prices.

The rise in onion prices was also taken upat the meeting today. The government assured that the prices will not risefurther as fresh stocks from southern states are supposed to reach Bengal soon.In case prices are not arrested then the proposed outlets or fair price shopsmight even sell onions as well.

Bengal is truly becoming a global brandwith several schemes and projects of the state government earning internationalrecognition. Citing the example of West Bengal villages, a top US official hassaid that local elected bodies with greater women representation raiseimportant social issues.

“In India, research showed West Bengalvillages with greater representation of women in local panchayats, saw aninvestment in drinking water facilities double that of villages with fewerwomen on local councils,” said Catherine M Russell, Ambassador-at-Largefor Global Women's Issues.

Ms. Russell noted that despite comprisingover 50 per cent of the world's population, women continued to beunder-represented in every aspect of political and public life and form only 21per cent of the world's parliamentarians.

“There are 21 women either serving ashead of state or head of government. Only 17 per cent of government ministersare women, with the majority serving in the fields of education and health.Since 1992, women have represented fewer than 3 per cent of mediators and 8 percent of negotiators to major peace processes,” she said.

Incidentally, Trinamool Congress has 33%women MPs in Lok Sabha. It has also reserved 50% of the panchayat seats forwomen. The government under the Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee has also setup all women police stations, among other beneficiary schemes. Recently theState`s Kanyashree project received international recognition with UNICEFdeciding to showcase the project at London Girls` Summit.

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বঙ্গের উদাহরণ মার্কিনআমলার

সামগ্রিক উন্নয়নের স্বার্থে মহিলাদের প্রতিনিধিত্ব জরুরি। এই কথাটি বোঝাতে গিয়ে পশ্চিমবঙ্গের উদাহরণ দিলেন উচ্চপদস্থ মার্কিন আধিকারিক। জানালেন, পশ্চিমবঙ্গের বহু গ্রাম–পঞ্চায়েতে মহিলাদের প্রতিনিধিত্ব বাড়ায় অনেক বেশি সমস্যা সামনে এসেছে। পরোক্ষে যা উন্নয়নের পথই প্রশস্ত করেছে।

আধিকারিকের নাম ক্যাথরিন এম রাসেল। মার্কিন প্রশাসনের বহু পদে কাজ করার অভিজ্ঞতা রয়েছে তাঁর। তবে আপাতত মার্কিন সরকারি সংস্থা `গ্লোবাল উইমেন ইস্যু`-র অন্যতম প্রধান পদে আছেন। এই সংস্থার মূল কাজ মহিলাদের উন্নয়নের নীতি–প্রক্রিয়া ঠিক করা। তারই এক সভায় ক্যাথরিন বলেন, “ভারতের একটি সমীক্ষায় দেখা গিয়েছে, পশ্চিমবঙ্গের যে সব গ্রামের পঞ্চায়েতে মহিলাদের প্রতিনিধিত্ব বেড়েছে, সেখানে পানীয় জলের পরিকাঠামো তৈরিতে অনেক বেশি বিনিয়োগ হয়েছে।”

ক্যাথরিনের ব্যাখ্যা, পঞ্চায়েতে মহিলা প্রতিনিধিদের সংখ্যা বেশি হওয়ায় পানীয় জলের মতো বহু বাস্তব সমস্যার ছবি বেশি উঠে এসেছে। তারই ফলশ্রুতি এই বিনিয়োগ। পশ্চিমবঙ্গ তথা ভারতের মতো অন্যান্য দেশেরও প্রশাসন বা সরকারে মহিলাদের প্রতিনিধিত্ব বাড়লে উন্নয়নের পথই প্রশস্ত হবে, মনে করেন ক্যাথরিন।

Classes in West Bengal`s first IndianInstitute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Kalyani will begin from July thisyear, IT Minister Amit Mitra told the Assembly today.

While the campus was not yet ready, classeswould be held in the premises of an engineering college, while IIEST (formerlyBESU) would be the mentor academy, Mitra said.

The institute would come up onpublic-private partnership (PPP) basis with the Centre holding 50 per centequity, the State 35 per cent and the rest 15 per cent divided among CoalIndia, Rolta Foundation and JSW Steel, he said.

The State has provided 50 acres, while thecost involved for setting up the institute was Rs. 128 crore, Mitra said.

The institute would offer BTech and MTechcourses, he said.

To another query, he said that the stategovernment was setting up several IT parks and hardware parks in various areas.

Besides, companies such as TCS, TechMahindra, Accenture and Cognisant were expanding facilities in the State, whileITC Infotech had been allotted 17 acres at Rajarhat, he said.

Software exports from West Bengal during2012-13 stood at Rs. 11,200 crore, he added.

When the Trinamool Congress formed thegovernment in 2011, it promised to set up 17 clusters of micro, small andmedium industries (MSME) in the state. In only three years, it has surpassedits target forming 152 new MSME clusters in the state. Chief minister Ms. MamataBanerjee announced this on a Facebook post on Sunday.

The chief minister posted: “At the time ofWest Bengal assembly election, 2011, our party manifesto committed to launchmassive cluster development drive across the state to give our micro, small andmedium industries sector a new trajectory of growth and efficiency and generatehuge employment. We had targeted to set up 17 clusters. I am indeed happy toshare with you that we have set up 152 new clusters in three years of ourgovernment in the MSME, handloom and khadi sector.”

She further posted that these clusters aregoing to generate more than four lakh employment in the state. “As a matter offact, over the three years of our government, more than 35,000 new units in MSEsector have been set up in the state with employment of nearly 3.20 lakh,” theCM posted.

Prodded by the CM, the department of microand small scale enterprises and textiles (M&SSET) had earlier launched its Shilpa Abhijan initiative in thedistricts so that entrepreneurs can start business on their own and developclusters of micro and small-scale industries.

The centre for entrepreneurship andinnovation (CEI) – a centre of excellence established by the Indian Instituteof Management, Kolkata – has been working intensively in giving training toMSME officials to become more oriented on how this sector could be furtherdeveloped.

In the Synergy MSME Conclave that wasorganized last year, the CM had handed over incentive cheques to two MSMEunits. The government had announced a host of incentives in the MSME Policy forthe financial year of 2013-14, including capital investment and interestsubsidy on term loans, electricity duty waiver, reimbursement of entry tax,refund of central sales tax and stamp duty waiver.

The MSME department would hold more regionallevel synergy MSME conclaves across the state. The last regional level synergywas held at Siliguri in February this year. The next synergy will be held atHowrah from July 31 to August 2, where MSME entrepreneurs from parts ofHooghly, Midnapore and Burdwan will also be covered.

Also last year, the CM had announced theplan to come up with the Biswa BanglaBrand, in which a holding company will be formed based on the public privatepartnership model to bring in all MSME companies under one umbrella with an aimto help in marketing all MSME products together under one brand and develop thestate`s handloom and handicrafts. Already, a few outlets have been set up topromote the Biswa Bangla Brand withits handicrafts, handlooms and other products.