State Govt gives traditional treatment methods a fillip

State Govt gives traditional treatment methods a fillip

Posted on September 6, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is creating more avenues for traditional methods of treatment to contribute towards health care delivery. The State Government has taken several more initiatives recently in this regard.

Hospitals and courses

A yoga and naturopathy degree college and hospital will be set up in Belur in Howrah district at an estimated cost of Rs 67 crore. It will have 100 beds with an annual intake capacity of 60 students.

A 50-bedded integrated AYUSH hospital is under construction in Medinipur town. It will become functional in this financial year.

The State Government has also given consent to provide 10 acres in the premises of Kalyani TB Sanatorium for a Central Research Institute on Yoga and Naturopathy at Kalyani in Nadia.

Pathological and biochemical tests are now being done free of cost at Viswanath Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya and Hospital in collaboration with private laboratories.

Two new postgraduate courses have been started, each with six seats – ‘Practice of Medicine’ at Calcutta Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital and ‘Materia Medica’ at Mahesh Bhattacharyya Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital.

Benefits

The Trinamool Congress Government has laid enormous stress on the development of infrastructure in the AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha, homoeopathy) sector. The AYUSH method of treatment is also cost-effective.

The Government created the AYUSH Branch under the Health and Family Welfare Department. Many AYUSH hospitals have also been constructed in different parts of the State.

State Assembly passes 2 Bills to set up universities

Posted on September 6, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

The State Assembly passed the Hindi University Bill tabled by the Government on Thursday to encourage Hindi-medium education in Bangla. The State-aided university will be set up in Howrah.

Commenting during the tabling of the Bill, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the Bill was introduced because “there are several Hindi-speaking people staying in Bangla” and that it “will show us a new path” and “will stand for harmony and unity”.

She also requested the Education Department to quickly initiate the construction of the university on the land that has been already acquired. The name, she said, will be decided after talking to all communities.

A day earlier, the Assembly had passed a Bill to enable the setting up of a university in the name of Swami Vivekananda.

This self-financing private university will be set up in Barrackpore, North 24 Parganas. The proposed university would deal in various specialised fields like science, technology, law, management, social sciences, medicine, education, humanities and performing arts.

Bangla CM to give away Tele Academy Awards today

Posted on September 6, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be giving away the Tele Academy Awards today. The prize distribution will be followed by a colourful cultural programme with performances by television artistes.

Actors and technicians working in the television industry will be awarded for their outstanding performances throughout their career as well as over the last year. A Hall of Fame recognition has also been instituted since 2015.

The West Bengal Tele Academy Awards cover the entire array of television productions, rewarding excellence in production, programming, photography and technology, among others.

Special cell and helplines for backward communities launched by State Govt

Posted on September 5, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

The State Backward Classes Welfare (BCW) Department recently launched several initiatives for the redressal of grievances of the people belonging to the backward communities of the State.

A special cell was launched, along with two helplines – a toll-free number and a number for WhatsApp and text messaging. The toll-free number is 1800 5727 730, while the number for text messaging and WhatsApp is 85829 56555.

This measure was adopted in light of the directives provided to the department by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to ensure that the SC, ST, tribal and other backward class communities do not encounter any harassment in attaining their caste certificates.

At a meeting on July 2, 2019 with the Chief Minister and all 84 SC and ST MLAs, irrespective of their political affiliation, the State Assembly had instructed the concerned officials to expedite the process of disbursement of SC/ST certificates, since backward class communities require them for admission into schools and universities as well as for jobs in reserved posts in both the State and Central Government.

The BCW Department has delivered more than 90,000 caste certificates to beneficiaries in recent weeks, via camps across districts. Another 40,000 would be given away soon. The BCW Department has formed a committee comprising 23 senior officials to expedite clearance of the applications.

Bangla the best in financing SHGs

Posted on September 5, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

Bangla is number one in the country in financing self-help groups (SHGs) in the cooperative sector, said the State Cooperation Minister recently at the first conference of the West Bengal Co-operative Bank Employees’ Sangha in Kolkata.

The minister said that the Government’s intention was to enable and empower the rural populace, especially women (since they make up the composition of most of the SHGs) across the State.

He said that in financial year 2018-19, the State provided credit to 97,000 SHGs, far ahead of the number two State. Currently, there are 2.2 lakh SHGs which are beneficiaries of loans provided by cooperative banks.

At a Government function in August, the minister had said that the State Government would be distributing a total loan amount of Rs 180 crore to about one lakh women from rural self-help groups so that they can rear goats, cows and hens for poultry products.

Sources: The Statesman, Bartaman

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

Kolkata Traffic Police begins campaign to ensure school children wear helmets

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

From Monday, Kolkata Traffic Police began its Traffic Awareness Week. The aim is to create awareness among schoolchildren about wearing helmets while coming to and leaving from school on their guardians’ scooters and bikes.

It has been found that parents too are often unaware of this essential need, and so the effort is to make them aware too.

Workshops are being held by Traffic Police officers at different places, involving children and their guardians. There they would be taught the pros and cons of wearing helmets.

The Traffic Awareness Week is part of Safe Drive Save Life, the now State-wide campaign of the government to make drivers/riders aware of the rules of the road.

Over the years, the project has become a buzzword for following traffic rules in Bangla, and through the project’s success in the State, in other parts of the country too. The Supreme Court too had showered appreciation on it, holding it up as a shining example of what honest intent can achieve.

State Govt starts web portals for job assistance and training

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

The State Labour Department has recently started two web portals for delivering multidimensional services to unemployed youth. The portals are called Aakarshan [link http://elearning.wblabour.gov.in/] and Prashikshan Shibir. [link http://wbdomestichelp.wblabour.gov.in/] They were inaugurated by the Labour Minister.

Aakarshan, the first-of-its-kind initiative by the department, provides a single platform to the job-seekers of the State who have enrolled themselves in the employment exchanges (who become automatically enrolled in the online State Employment Bank).

It comprises of all the facilities required by aspirants for getting quality employment through competitive examinations or self-employment – online psychometric tests, one-to-one and group career counselling sessions, link to the Android-based spoken English self-learning app called English Bolo, live-streamed special coaching classes, online mock tests and question banks on various subjects with more than 50,000 questions in total.

The portal also provides a last-mile employability module that encompasses CV writing, interpersonal skills, presentation skills and basics of entrepreneurship.

The minister said after the inauguration that at present, the facilities of the portal, being provided free of cost, will be available to the job-seekers enrolled in six employment exchanges – Siliguri, Malda, Kalyani, Kolkata, Asansol and Bankura. The facilities would be gradually extended to all the 71 employment exchanges in Bangla.

There are more than 23 lakh people enrolled in the employment bank that was started in 2013. About 1.62 lakh people have already been trained.

The second portal that was launched by the minister, Prashikshan Shibir, is meant for training domestic workers. The training for such workers, though, is being organised since 2012 and already 42,000 have been trained.

Now the training would entail Rs 250 per day as stipend – for a 10-day training comprising of five hours per day. The workshops would impart hands-on training on operating household electronic gadgets, cooking and hospitality, first aid, safety and security, health and hygiene, etc., said the minister.

Through this website, candidates would be able to enrol themselves for such types of work online as well as know about and apply for training workshops across the State. A mobile app would also be launched soon for connecting domestic workers with employers.

The Labour Department has also set a target of training one lakh unemployed youths in driving in 18 districts.

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.”

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