SSKM’s new-look Woodburn Ward a big success

SSKM’s new-look Woodburn Ward a big success

Posted on September 3, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

The new budget service at the Woodburn Ward of SSKM Hospital, the State Government’s premier super-specialty hospital, has been an unqualified success.

According to a senior official in the Health Department, the earning comes to an average of Rs 6 lakh per month.

The service is called budget service because, compared to the best private hospitals, the cost is less. But the quality of service is as good, if not better. It was opened more than a year back, on May 26, 2018.

There are 16 cabins in all, 10 small and six big. The rates have been fixed at Rs 2,500 for a small cabin and Rs 4,000 for a big cabin.

Source: Bartaman

State Govt helping farmers do organic fish farming in farmlands

Posted on August 30, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

The Bangla Government has started a project for supplementing farmers’ agricultural income with income from fish cultivation, and that too in organic form.

The State Agriculture and Fisheries Departments have jointly taken up this project in Malda district, to be taken up elsewhere later on. The project is part of the State’s Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) Scheme.

Boon for farmers

For small farmers, the income from agriculture, after deducting the cost of inputs, is not much. So, considering the demand for fish in the State (production is still less than the total demand), fishlings are being released in the flooded fields after the planting of paddy. And no pesticides are being allowed for the paddy or any chemicals for helping the fish to grow. So the entire process is organic and hence the end products would be extremely healthy.

Fish cultivation in parallel

Fish varieties being released include koi, singhi, magur, rohu and catla. The fish would also help the crops as they would eat away the pests and weeds that can hamper the growth of the paddy.

Canals and small waterbodies are being dug beside the plots so that when the water levels come down in the fields, the fish would be able to swim across to them.

For the farmers, for six to seven months the fish would grow alongside the crops. After the crops are cut and the fish are caught, the water in the canals can be used for cultivating vegetables.

The economics explained

Explaining the cost factor, the Malda district project director for the ATMA Scheme said: “On one bigha of land, at least 1,000 fishlings are released. Only three to four less rows of crops need to be planted per plot to accommodate the fish, as that portion is needed to cut canals around the plots. And if there are existing small waterbodies, even that amount of land is not required to be kept free.

“One bigha of land generally produces 20 to 22 mons of paddy (in the case of Malda), whose market price is Rs 15,000. This isn’t much. But if this is combined with fish cultivation, a substantial income is guaranteed. Rs 5,000 spent per bigha on cultivating fish would produce about five quintals of fish whose market price is Rs 50,000.

“To make it economical, cultivation would be done by combining a few plots. This would lead to joint ownership of the projects and would in turn lead to a decrease in the cost of agriculture.”

State Govt educating farmers on indiscriminate use of fertilisers

Posted on August 30, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

The Agriculture Department has taken up a State-wide scheme to spread awareness among the farmers about the ill-effects of environmental hazards caused due to indiscriminate and non-judicious application of chemical pesticides, and exhorting farmers to turn to bio-fertilisers instead.

To ensure the quality of pesticides, measures are being taken for examining pesticide samples. Analysis of the quality of pesticide samples are done in various government-run laboratories.

The plant protection wing has been implementing Bio Village Demonstration Programme, a seed treatment campaign to overcome various environmental hazards.

It is also taking necessary steps to combat threats to different crops due to environmental hazards and bad weather.

Set up task force to detect & take action against tax evasion: Dr Amit Mitra to Union Fin MIn

Posted on August 29, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

Flagging concerns regarding many instances of frauds under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, Bangla Finance Minister Dr Amit Mitra has written a letter to the Union Finance Minister asking for the setting up of task force having both State and Central officers to detect all cases of tax evasion and take action against racketeers for recovery of evaded tax.

The letter, dated Tuesday, says that Union Government data presented in the Rajya Sabha last month showed that 9,385 cases of tax fraud involving an amount of Rs 45,682.83 crore has been detected by authorities under the GST regime since its rollout on July 1, 2017.

Even this amount, stated Dr Mitra, is “understated” since it does not include complete data of frauds under SGST, which, if compiled for all States, may show tax evasion of over Rs 1 lakh crore.

In view of this huge loss of tax revenue, the State Finance Minister has requested for the topic of GST fraud and its impact on overall GST collections to be discussed in-depth in the upcoming GST Council meeting.

Dr Mitra has also asked for the compilation of a list of all cancelled GSTINs with PAN, email addresses and other details, to be shared with all officers so that the same fraud is not investigated by multiple agencies.

Another aspect of GST mentioned in the letter is that the new return system with invoice matching needed to be put in place in October (for large taxpayers) and in January (for all taxpayers) “without fail”.

It needs to be mentioned here that the issue of tax evasion had also been broached by Dr Mitra in his letter to the Union Finance Minister on July 1. Among other issues, he had stated that “for want of inbuilt system-based matching, hawala billing and fake trade has grown in leaps and bounds and the realization of tax has suffered.”

Source: The India Express

Didi visits INTTUC hunger strike mancha

Posted on August 28, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

Trinamool Chairperson Mamata Banerjee today visited the protest mancha where INTTUC activists are staging a hunger strike. The hunger strike is being staged at the foot of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue on Mayo Road from August 16 to protest against the Central Government’s decision to disinvest 42 public sector companies.

The Trinamool Chairperson met the trade union activists at the mancha and spoke with them.

The protest is being led by INTTUC’s senior leader and Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha MP, Dola Sen.

It may be recalled that Trinamool Chairperson Mamata Banerjee staged a 26-day hunger strike to protest against the illegal acquisition of farm land in Singur.

RBI cash transfer to govt increases financial risk for nation

Posted on August 28, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

The Trinamool Congress Government has expressed grave concerns over the huge transfer of cash reserves from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the Central Government.

The State Finance Minister, Dr Amit Mitra said yesterday in the Assembly that the Rs 1.76 lakh crore transferred from dividend and surplus reserves has increased the financial risk of the country, suffering already as it is due to the massive mismanagement of the economy by the BJP-led government.

Contrary to the general condition of the country, he said, Bangla was faring much better, its GDP growth rate in 2018-19 being the highest among all the States.

He said two past governors of the RBI have spoken on the issue of transfer of cash reserves. It is a question of the RBI’s autonomy, which is under a question mark now. There should be a discussion on this topic. This decision will not only affect the Central Government but also all the State governments.

Explaining the reasons behind the superior performance of Bangla among the general gloom, he said that because the State Government increased the planned expenditure and capital expenditure, and because private investments are pouring in as a result of the industrial policy of the State, there has been a rise in the GDP.

The planned expenditure was increased from Rs 57,779 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 71,113 crore in 2018-19, which is an increase of 23 per cent, while the capital expenditure was increased from Rs 19,085 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 23,787 crore in 2018-19, an increase of 25 per cent.

Source: moneycontrol.com

Grand rally in Kolkata to celebrate Trinamool Chhatra Parishad’s foundation day

Posted on August 28, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

Today, August 28, is the foundation day of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), the students’ wing of All India Trinamool Congress. Like every year, there will be huge student rallies in Kolkata and across Bangla.

The biggest rally will take place in Kolkata, at the Mayo Road crossing, in preparation for which hoardings have been installed all over the city.

Trinamool Congress Chairperson Mamata Banerjee will be the chief speaker. Abhishek Banerjee as well as student leaders from across the State will be present, some of whom will address the gathering too.

Everyone is waiting eagerly for the message that Mamata Banerjee has for the student community, and on how the TMCP should move forward to achieve its objectives.

KMC introduces online mutation for house-owners

Posted on August 27, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has introduced online mutation to save house-owners from the hassles of repeated visits to Corporation offices. The software has been developed by the civic body’s IT Department.

One has to log in to the KMC website and fill up the digitised version of the A42 form. The fee can also be paid online.

After reviewing the application, the concerned assessor-collector fixes a meeting with the concerned person for checking documents. If the official is satisfied, the mutation certificate will be issued online, which can then be downloaded.

If there is a problem with the documents, then the house-owner will be notified through an SMS or a phone call so that they can do the needful.

Source: Millennium Post

State Govt’s chain of grocery outlets, Roudra Brishti doing good business

Posted on August 22, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

Roudra Brishti, the State Food and Supplies Department’s chain of outlets selling items of grocery, which includes around 200 types of products, is doing flourishing business, thanks to everything available at affordable prices. Efforts are on by the department to introduce another 450 types of branded goods before this year’s Durga Puja.

Not only are things like rice, pulses, spices, etc. available at prices less than that in most markets, the qualities are also of the highest order and on top of that, there is the variety – even rarely available types of rice like banshkati, jeerakati and tulaipanji are available.

From the first outlet on Mirza Ghalib Street (Free School Street), Kolkata, which began selling in February 2014, the chain has spread to districts all over Bangla. Municipalities and municipal corporations have been linked to the project – the outlets have been opened in buildings owned by them and it is they who manage the outlets.

Everything related to the items sold is the responsibility of the Food Department. It is the department that decided where to source the items from and at what prices as well as at what prices to sell them at.

Outlets in Bankura, Manbazar, Kamarhati, Rajpur, Sonarpur, etc. are in the process of being opened in the near future. These shops have enabled people to get items of daily use at affordable rates.

Source: Ei Samay

Nabadwip and Cooch Behar given heritage status

Posted on August 16, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

The towns of Nabadwip and Cooch Behar have been officially given heritage status by the State Government. The process was in the works for the last few months, and finally, recently, the announcement was officially made.

The decision regarding giving the status of heritage town has been taken by the State Government after detailed studies of the places by teams of multi-disciplinary experts from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and the Indian Institute of Science and Technology, Shibpur.

Long and storied history

Both towns have a lot of history and culture entwined with them. Nabadwip is the birthplace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the 16th-century proponent of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

Cooch Behar is well-known as the capital of the formerly princely state of the same name, and the royal palace there draws a lot of tourists. It is also famous as the site of a famous Ras Mela at the Madan Mohan Bari temple grounds.

The State Heritage Commission has brought out a detailed list of the heritage structures in the two towns. Nabadwip has 86 such structures and Cooch Behar has 155.

Preserving heritage

Being a heritage town comes with several restrictions aimed at preserving the heritage value of the place and keeping the place beautiful to draw tourists. And arrival of more tourists would naturally open up a lot of economic opportunities.

As part of the rules, putting up advertisement hoardings in and around the heritage structures is banned. There are strict rules regarding the sale, lease and renovation of properties and setting them up as lodges. Applications need to be sent to the relevant municipality or zilla parishad, or even to the State Heritage Commission, if required.

Source: Ei Samay