Tag: Bengal

Pursue a career of your choice, undaunted by any adversity: Bengal CM to board toppers

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Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today felicitated the toppers of Madhyamik, Higher Secondary, ICSE, CBSE, ISC and WBJEE examinations. The felicitation programme was held at Netaji Indoor Stadium.

It was Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had initiated the programme to felicitate the toppers in the state from all boards.

In her speech, she congratulated all the students for securing a rank in the merit list, in this age of competition. She also urged them to stick to the values imparted by their teachers and parents, and pursue a career of their choice, undaunted by any adversity.

Highlights of the Chief Minister’s speech:

  • My best wishes to all the students who aced the various board exams and secured top ranks. I want to mention the toppers of Madhyamik exam, because it is the first board exam of their life, an experience which comes once in a lifetime.
  • In this age of tough competition to secure a rank in the merit list is no mean feat. Times are changing, the infrastructure has improved. Teaching methods have undergone a change. There are more opportunities.
  • There are many stories of struggle, we must salute those. There may be students whose parents may not be well-to-do, and have to make ends meet to buy them books. We must recognise their struggle too.
  • Our teachers play a major role in shaping our future. The students are their pride. The talent that teachers create requires a lot of dedication, determination and devotion; this is unmatched.
  • There was a time when teachers used to think twice before giving full marks. But our students have to compete with the world now. So, I had requested our Education Minister to ensure our students also get marks at par with ICSE or CBSE. They have done really well.
  • I want you to use your talent and pursue a stream which you like. I would urge you not to neglect the teachers who taught you, or your parents, or even the land where you received your education. This is a learning for your life.
  • Our parents imparted values in us. They taught us Rabindranath-Nazrul, the ideals of Swami Vivekananda and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. They instilled a sense of patriotism and harmony in us. This helped in shaping our conscience.
  • We have learnt not to bow our heads before any hindrance. We should not be afraid of any turbulence. We have to keep marching ahead.
  • Talent from Bengal is famous all over the world. We all have our roots in the villages.
  • Your merit should be your pride. Your skill will help shape your future. Some of you will become doctors, some engineers, some may become professors, some may choose research.
  • We have set up 22 new universities, 6 more are coming up. We have set up 47 new colleges and 7 new medical colleges. 13 new medical colleges are in the pipeline. Number of medical seats has gone up, and we have to keep increasing the number of seats.
  • Granthan, who secured the first rank in Higher Secondary exam, has proved even a student of humanities can secure full marks. No matter which stream you choose, you all must excel in your respective fields.

7 years: Chronicles of Bengal’s progress

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In May 2011, the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, established efficient governance in West Bengal, with the Government of Maa, Mati, Manush. On May 27, 2016, through a historic verdict, the government was sworn in for the second time in a row.

On the seventh anniversary of that historic day, the State Government came out with a book enlisting all the work done by various departments in the last seven years. The book was released by the Chief Minister during the administrative review meeting at Howrah on June 7, 2018.

In the last seven years, Bengal has witnessed phenomenal growth in development and prosperity. Nearly 90% of the State’s population has benefited from various public services. 90% of the State’s population is provided with food grains at a subsidised rate, under the ‘Khadya Sathi’ scheme. Apart from this, the Government has also taken initiatives such as ‘Sabujshree’, ‘Kanyashree’, ‘Sikshashree’, ‘Sabuj Sathi’, ‘Sishu Sathi’, ‘Yuvashree’, ‘Rupashree’, ‘Manabik’, and ‘Samabyathi’, to name just a few.

These schemes have made available a plethora of services to all citizens, including members of scheduled castes, tribes, minorities, and OBCs.

Click here to read the book.

Our Govt’s professional coaching for SC/ST students has yielded great results: Mamata Banerjee

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Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, through a Facebook post today, congratulated the scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) students who achieved ranks in the State Joint Entrance and NEET examinations after getting coached at specialised centres set up by the State Government.

She wrote, “The unique initiative of our government to provide high-end professional coaching to SC/ST students for engineering and medical entrance examinations have yielded great results.”

According to her post, out of the 939 students who took coaching this year, 348 SC and 76 ST students achieved ranks in the Joint Entrance Examination for engineering courses, including 95 in the top 1,000, while 125 qualified for medical courses through NEET.

“My heartiest congratulations and best wishes to all of them,” she wrote.

The Chief Minister further said that the Government is already taking steps to expand the specialised coaching arrangement so that more and more students can benefit from it and get placed in professional courses.

Click here to read Mamata Banerjee’s Facebook post

Integrated Child Protection Scheme: Protecting and educating those who have none to look after them

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The Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) has played a key role in strengthening the child protection regime in Bengal. This has done by setting up necessary institutional delivery mechanisms and statutory bodies, increasing investment in child protection, and continuously drawing focus on the right of all children to be safe.

The Directorate of Child Rights and Trafficking (DCRT) is responsible for the implementation of ICPS through the State Child Protection Society (SCPS) and the District Child Protection Units (DCPU), the latter running in 20 districts. Only the newly-formed districts of Paschim Bardhaman, Jhargram and Kalimpong are left, where DCPUs are in the process of being set up. All statutory structures like Child Welfare Committees and Juvenile Justice Boards have also been formed in the 20 districts.

Under the aegis of institutional care, DCRT looks after 4,687 children across the State, housed in 19 Government-run Homes, 39 non-governmental organisations (NGO)-run Homes, 23 Open Shelters and 22 Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAA).

There are four additional Places of Safety, namely, Sumangalam (in Bankura), Ananda Ashram, Shilayan (both in Murshidabad) and Ananda Math (in Purulia).

To provide better institutional care, 71 contractual staff were given employment during financial year (FY) 2017-18 in six Government-run homes – Korok Observation and Juvenile Home for Neglected Boys (in Jalpaiguri), Sundarbai Mulchand Mohota (SMM) Home (for girls) (in Liluah), Government School for the Blind, Sahid Bandana Smriti Mahila Abas (for girls) (both in Cooch Behar), Nadia District Shelter (for girls) (in Krishnanagar) and Malda District Shelter (for girls) (in Malda town).

Source: Departmental Budget

Capacity building under Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) for both officers and inmates

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Over the last financial year (2017-18), the State Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Department has done a lot of work in the area of capacity building regarding the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS). The ICPS has played a key role in strengthening the child protection regime in Bengal.

 

Capacity building of child care officers:

  • 217 Child Welfare Police Officers trained on TrackChild portal in collaboration with National Informatics Centre (NIC)
  • Two sensitisation programmes organised for district judges and principal magistrates on Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 (JJ Act) in collaboration with West Bengal Judicial Academy
  • Training of ICPS functionaries on the implementation of JJ Act, covering all the districts
  • Workshop on rehabilitation of children with special need (CWSN) for district social welfare officers (DSWO), Home superintendents and district child protection officers (DCPO) from November 16 to 17
  • Outreach programmes on alternative care and child protection committees (CPC) in Sandeshkhali-1 and Sandeshkhali-2 blocks in the district of North 24 Parganas by officers of State Child Protection Society (SCPS), State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA) and District Child Protection Unit (DCPU)
  • Phase-wise training on minimum standards of care for superintendents, probation officers, child welfare officers, House mothers and House fathers of Child Care Institutions (CCI) across Bengal

 

Capacity building plan for FY 2018-19:

  • Operationalising block-level child protection committees (BLCPC), ward-level child protection committees (WLCPC) and village-level child protection committees (VLCPC) through sustained capacity building
  • Creating information, education and communication (IEC) material on trafficking, adoption, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act), etc.
  • Developing advocacy strategy on child protection issues
  • Rehabilitating and mainstreaming children through capacity building
  • Developing State guidelines on POCSO Act
  • Implementing State Plan of Action to combat human trafficking
  • Capacity building of ICPS functionaries

 

The State Government is also providing vocational training of various types to the inmates of the various Homes

  • Vocational training for inmates of Juvenile Justice Homes (JJ Homes) in painting of car bodies in collaboration an industrial training institute (ITI) and Maruti Udyog
  • Training inmates of CCIs in retail management (leading to placement), hair cutting, tailoring, etc.
  • Training female inmates of SMM Home in Liluah in weaving and designing in collaboration with internationally renowned fashion designer, Bibi Russel
  • Training female inmates of SMM Home in the peeling, scaling and packaging of fish, and cutting of fish fillets, on stipend basis

 

Thus, through a comprehensive exercise of training child care officers as well as Home inmates, the State Government is bringing about all-round improvement in the child care scenario in Bengal.

 

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Initiatives for prevention of trafficking and reintegration of trafficked children

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As child protection is the core mandate of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), a number of child protection committees (CPC) – community-based child protection mechanisms – have been formed at the village level (VLCPC), ward level (WLCPC) and block level (BLCPC).

As on December 31, 2017, VLCPCs have been formed in 41,899 villages out of the total of 46,505 villages in the State, WLCPCs in 1,702 out of the 2,900 wards and BLCPCs in 340 out of the 341 blocks. Hence, the Government has covered almost the entire State and the rest would be covered soon.

The first phase of training of the master trainers at the district level on standardised child protection committee (CPC) modules has been completed in all the districts. These master trainers would then train officers at the block level.

The Directorate of Child Rights and Trafficking (DCRT) has undertaken several important initiatives to ensure inter-State and inter-departmental cooperation and coordination in combating trafficking of children.

One such initiative was the formulation of State Plan of Action to Combat and Prevent Human Trafficking (SPAHT) in December 2016. Currently it is being rolled out in the districts of South 24 Parganas and Jalpaiguri, where the incidence of trafficking is considerably high.

Various community awareness programmes have been undertaken at the grassroots level to spread awareness on the issue of trafficking including sensitisation of ICDS workers, school students, teachers, para-legal volunteers, police, etc. Local folk artistes are also trained to spread awareness on human trafficking.

Child-friendly police stations have been set up in Sonarpur and Kulti in South 24 Parganas. Adolescent groups and Kanyashree Clubs have been formed which are working as watchdogs in the communities to prevent human trafficking.

The DCRT gives special emphasis on trafficked victims and matters related to their restoration and repatriation. It also organises continual capacity building of State and district stakeholders on child rights, missing children and trafficked persons.

All these work are overseen by the Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Department.

 

World’s 2nd largest coal mine allocated to Bengal, CM elated

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Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today announced through a Facebook post that Deocha-Pachami and Harinsingha-Dewanganj coal blocks in Birbhum district have been allocated to Bengal.

This is a major gain for the State as the two coal blocks combined form the world’s second largest, and India’s largest coal mine, having an estimated reserve of 2,102 million tonnes.

Mamata Banerjee shared her happiness with all regarding the allocation of these major coal mines to the State. She said, “I am very happy to share with all of you that after a long wait of 3 years, West Bengal has got the allocation of the Deocha Pachami Harinsingha Dewanganj Coal Mines in Birbhum district”.

In her post, she further said that the mining project has huge potential for generating nearly a lakh of direct and indirect employment opportunities in Birbhum and neighbouring districts. The project will also involve investments worth Rs 12,000 crore.

All these aspects of the project, the Chief Minister said, will enable “huge socio-economic development of Birbhum, the neighbouring districts and the entire State”.

Necessary administrative infrastructure has already been set up to start the project immediately.

To read the Facebook post, click here

Three-day Bengal Mango Utsav starts today

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The State Government is organising a mango festival in Kolkata called Bengal Mango Utsav. It will start today at New Town Mela Ground, and will continue till June 10.

The Food Processing Industries and Horticulture Department is organising this festival, in collaboration with Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The entry to the festival is free. Another important fact is that this is a plastic-free event, in line with the Bengal Government’s initiatives on creating awareness about the environment.

The festival will host an exhibition on exotic varieties of mango and mango products from the various districts of Bengal. Of course, one can buy the articles on display as well.

The exhibition will be held from 4 PM to 8 PM today (June 8) and from 11 AM to 8 PM on June 9 and 10.

Another attraction at the festival will be a cooking competition, revolving around mangoes, which will be held on June 9 from 3 PM.

After UN, Sudip Bandyopadhyay to visit European countries

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With the blessings from Hon’ble Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Leader of All India Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party in Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandyopadhyay will be embarking on a tour to European countries this summer.

The countries that Sudip Bandyopadhyay will be visiting include Belarus, Germany, and Austria. He will be accompanying the Speaker of Lok Sabha. Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly, Nayana Bandyopadhyay will also be accompanying him.

It may be mentioned that in 2017, Sudip Bandyopadhyay had addressed the United Nations General Assembly, with 193 nations attending the session. He has spoken about how the international community needs to step up its efforts to promote an environment free from sanctions and embargoes.

In the past, Trinamool MPs Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O’Brien and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar have visited the United Nations on various occasions.

Bengal Govt to open 50 tourist information centres across Bengal

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To make information to tourists easily available, the Bengal Government has decided to open as many as 50 tourist information centres across the State.

Though aimed primarily at tourists from other parts of the country as well as from across the world, the information centres would cater to tourists from the State as well. All information related to a particular area would be available at each centre. These would be run by the Tourism Department.

These tourist centres would play a major role in making Bengal more tourist-friendly. As it is, it is one of the top States in terms of tourist arrivals, both nationally and internationally. This project would take Bengal significantly higher in the rankings.

Where to stay, what to do, what to eat, what to buy, what are the specialities of a particular place or area – information of every kind would be available at these centres. Guide books would be available in English, Hindi and Bengali. They would contain detailed information about the history, geography and culture of a place.

These centres are already running at the airports in Kolkata and Bagdogra. Soon they would come up in four other places in Kolkata (Kolkata and Sealdah railway stations, Rabindra Sadan and Madhusadan Mancha), Howrah and Santragachi railway stations, Kakdwip and Diamond Harbour railway stations (South 24 Parganas district), Murshidabad, Malda, Bankura, Birbhum district, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Siliguri and other places to cover all the districts.

The information available at the centres would also help tourists to decide how and where to go next. All in all, the tourist information centres would act as one-stop centres for all tourists visiting Bengal.

Source: Sangbad Pratidin