Money power being used in elections: Mamata Banerjee in Mathabhanga

Money power being used in elections: Mamata Banerjee in Mathabhanga

Posted on April 4, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

Trinamool Chairperson Mamata Banerjee today addressed a public meeting at Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar district. In her speech she said that the BJP will do away with elections if voted back to power, and Ambedkar’s Constitution will be destroyed.

Highlights of her speech:

A bridge is coming up, connecting Mekhliganj and Dinhata. I have named it “Joyee Bridge”.

Another bridge has been constructed, which I have named Bhawaiya Setu

Nearly 19-20 bridges have been built here, spreading the wave of development in Cooch Behar district.

I come here throughout the year, unlike my predecessors who neglected the region.

We gave land for the enclaves (Chhitmahals) and took the initiative to solve the problem. No other party cared before us. The Expiry Prime Minister had no role in this. It was done entirely by us.

We have allocated Rs 1,100 crore for the development of Chhitmahals. We have given them land rights

We have set up Panchanan Barma University in Cooch Behar, along with engineering & medical colleges, ITI, polytechnics, Karmatirthas, Kisan Mandis, blood banks, Mother and Child Hubs, industrial clusters for small-scale industries, among other things.

During demonetisation, we gave the needy families Rs 50,000 each to set up businesses.

Five years ago, the Expiry Prime Minister called himself a chaiwallah. Now he calls himself a chowkidar – people are saying, “Chowkidar chor hain”, I say, “Chowkidar jhootha hain”.

This is the first time so much money is being spent in elections. The PM has never helped the people. On the other hand, they have taken away the money which the common people had saved.
The youth of today, the brave young voters of today, will bring new hope

More than two crore people lost their jobs in one year.

The expiry PM is just doing big talk. He promised Rs 15 lakh per account, but he gave nothing. He fooled you into voting for him.

Now he’s taken on the garb of a chowkidar. In reality, many chowkidars all over are losing jobs, are in a desperate state.

We work for the people all the year round, not just during the elections.

The Centre has failed to create jobs. More than 12,000 farmers committed suicide.

They are killing people in the name gau-raksha.

They are threatening to send Bengalis out of the country in the name of NRC. Let them even attempt to do that.

They are stained with the blood of riots. They lack the basic courtesies of politics.

Some media houses have been intimidated into towing their party line. I appeal to the media to be fearless.

Modi is now talking about the welfare of Rajbanshis. Where were you till now?

They made false promises even to Bimal Gurung on the issue of Gorkhaland

He’s saying I don’t allow Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja in Bengal. It is absolutely false

In the upcoming elections, like Maa Durga killed Mahisashur, the mothers of the country will slay Modi democratically

They are trying to intimidate us using agencies like the IT, ED and CBI. We are not scared of them.

Now, the new drama is to insult the armed forces – Army and CRPF. They are calling them “Modi Sena”

The armed forces are impartial institutions. Modi cannot misuse them. The BJP cannot misuse them.

If they come back to power, they’ll destroy Ambedkar’s Constitution – even do away with elections.

NRC & Citizenship Amendment Bill will take away your citizenship for six years. Then they will consider anew if you can be granted citizenship. Therefore you will lose your houses, lands, passports, bank accounts, every opportunity provided by the government. Never let them do this to you

No party other other than the BJP has supported the NRC.

A delegation of Trinamool went to Assam to meet the people affected by NRC. They were assaulted.

I have promised the people of Assam affected by the NRC, that if you are thrown out of Assam, Bengal will welcome you

Modi Babu is saying what development has happened in Bengal? How will he know if he doesn’t come here ever?

Ensure that we win 42 out of 42 seats. Bengal will play a significant role in the formation of the next government at the Centre.

Let everyone from every region in the country live in peace.

Trinamool’s garbage is now BJP’s pride: Abhishek Banerjee

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

Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee today addressed two public meetings at Sitalkuchi and Tufanganj, both in Cooch Behar district.

Highlights of his speeches:

I begin by paying my respects to candidate Paresh Chandra Adhikari, blessed by our leader Mamata Banerjee, and all the leaders present here, and to all of you who have come he to attend the meeting.

Vote for Paresh Adhikari, but remember that you are actually voting for Mamata Banerjee and her positive politics.

This meeting was arranged at short notice and hence, want to thank you the more for filling this venue up to the brim.

I am very happy to see the cheerful faces all around, and this proves that only Trinamool Congress has organisational capacity in Cooch Behar; others don’t even have a fraction that capacity.

People who were once small-time bike-borne intruders now go around with the BJP’s CISF force threatening people.

The rejects of the Trinamool are now the jewels of the BJP.

And the less said about the CPI(M) and the Congress, the better.

I am requesting all of you to vote for the ‘Jora Phool’ symbol on April 11.

Across the country I’ve heard the refrain, ‘Deshi ka netri kaisi ho/Mamata Banerjee jaisi ho’.

We have fought the BJP for five years, both inside and outside the Parliament.

The source of our power is you, the people – without you there would have been no ‘poriborton’, and without you, she would not have been able to make the call for throwing the BJP out of power

Narendra Modi is coming to Siliguri today. He comes here only before elections, never otherwise, same with Surya Mishra, Somen Mitra and Dilip Ghosh.

We in the Trinamool Congress know that we have the support of the mothers and daughters here, and any party which has woman power in its support is sure to win.

We promise to bring development in Cooch Behar three times that what was done in the last five years.

Mamata Banerjee’s workers stay by your side all year round while the prime minister and his party people come here once a year, like ‘shyama poka’ before Kali Puja and Diwali.

We have to take the vow here to ensure that the candidates who nothing but fakes in saffron garb, lose so badly in the general elections that they lose even their deposits.

We help you in every way possible – be it for helping solve any major family problem or calling the fire brigade or ensuring you get your due widow pension or retirement pension or Kanyashree or Yuvashree stipend or Rupashree grant or Gatidhara or Samabyathi or Baitarani grant or Gitanjali or Nijo Bhumi Nijo Griha.

Mamata Banerjee helps people by doing developmental work irrespective of colour, caste, creed or religion.

The 2019 election is an extremely crucial election because in 2014 the prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi had shown us a grand dream, had said that two crore people would get jobs every year, that every person will get Rs 15 lakh in their account.

But the reality is that nobody has received even 15 paise, on the other hand, we have seen the BJP building a seven-start party office in Delhi by spending Rs 1,200 crore.

Our chief minister though has kept her words – university in the name of Panchanan Barma, medical and engineering colleges, roads, piped drinking water, ITSs, polytechnics, schools, madrasahs.

The prime minister of the country had earlier said that he was a tea-seller, but our chief minister still lives in a small, tile-roofed house and governs the 10 crore people of the State from there, and ensures that the wave of development reaches every one of them.

Now he’s calling himself a chowkidar. I say, the country does not need a chowkidar like him – a chowkidar under whose watch Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya and Mehul Choksi escaped from the country after looting thousands of crores of people’s money.

They haven’t been able to scare us to submission.

Netaji had said, give me your bloods and I’ll give you freedom; now Mamata Banerjee is saying, ensure for me 42 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats, and I’ll ensure a secular, forward-looking, peace-loving government at the Centre.

Eighty years ago, a Bengali leader (Netaji) had said ‘Dilli Chalo’, now 80 years later another Bengali leader (Mamata Banerjee) is saying ‘Dilli Chalo’. We must all heed her call.

Our prime minister has not done anything for the people here – why is he so callously uncaring for the people of the Chhitmahals? Why hasn’t the Centre taken any decision on the airport in Cooch Behar?

Mamata Banerjee has come here again and again, she has visited your houses even more than the local panchayat members.

No other chief minister has held administrative meetings the way Mamata Banerjee has done.

The BJP is picking up our garbage and putting them on pedestals; given ticket to a criminal here.

The people of Cooch Behar has realised that ‘chowkidar is a chor’, letting people like Nirav Modi escape while sucking his thumb.

We have to drive Modi out of the country.

Drive the BJP away – Modi is the ‘shani’’, Amit Shah the ‘rahu’’ and leaders like Dilip Ghosh and others, the ‘ketus’.

Cooking gas, kerosene, petrol all have gone up. GST has caused much loss to businesses.

The more the BJP has lost the more the prices have come down, GST has come down.

Now they have GST on biscuits we eat everyday at the rate of 18% and on gold biscuits which only the super-rich buy, at 3%.

They had thought about dividing the people of Bangla. Now they’ve realised that chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ has become useless.

Mamata Banerjee has never played with religion like the BJP has. Don’t teach us about religion.

What Mamata Banerjee has done for the Hindus, nobody else has; she has also done much for Muslims, for Sikhs, for Christians, for Jews. We have never played the politics of division.

Members of the BJP are indulging in corruption, so much so that only for them has ‘Achhe Din’ come. The wealth of Jay Shah, son of Amit Shah, has increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 80 crore in a short span of time.

Narendra Modi had said that he would fight against corruption. But what do we see? He has made the candidate for Cooch Behar such a person who has 11 criminal cases against him. There can be nothing worse than this.

Mamata Banerjee is our ideal, our guiding light, and we have always walked the path shown by her. We had vowed to fight against the BJP, Congress and CPI(M), and we have kept our word.

On May 23 the BJP will realise that all the support for ‘Padma Phool’ has been converted into support for ‘Jora Phool’.

After May 23, the BJP would be wiped out of power.

State Govt promoting herbal colours for a safe Dol Jatra

Posted on March 20, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

The State Food Processing and Horticulture Department is promoting the use and sale of herbal colours for Dol Jatra celebrations.

The herbal aabir, as the colours used in the festivities are called, are manufactured by a self-help group (SHG) and are being sold at Mayukh Bhavan in Salt Lake, which houses the Horticulture Department.

The counter will remain open till today (March 20). The price of the herbal colours has been fixed at Rs 30 per 100 grams.

The members of the SHG responsible for manufacturing the herbal colours have received training from Jadavpur University. The colours are extracted from flowers and mixed with talcum powder and arrowroot to manufacture the finished product, said the head of the SHG.

There are five varieties of aabir – green, orange, pink, yellow and violet, extracted from rose, marigold, palash, aparajita and balsam, respectively.

If the schemes for the poor not continued, then they will suffer: Mamata Banerjee

Posted on March 18, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addressed the media at Nabanna today.

Here are the salient points that she said:

* Have instructed the chief secy to request EC to allow development programmes started before the poll dates were announced.

* Told to carry out relief work in storm affected areas. Permission sought to give relief to the families of deceased and severely affected

* If the schemes for the poor not continued, then they will suffer

* Among them are Khadya Sathi scheme, pension and health schemes, tea garden schemes

* These are public schemes and the people will suffer if they are discontinued for almost three months

Swasthya Sathi: Bangla beats Centre’s target by 28 lakh families

Posted on February 22, 2019 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

When the memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Bangla Government and the Central Government for family health insurance, for combining Swasthya Sathi and Ayushmaan Bharat, the target set was to enlist 1.12 crore families.

However, when the scheme started to be implemented, the Centre started sending letters to the families with the prime minister’s photo on the letters, despite the State’s Swasthya Sathi playing a crucial role in building up the number of beneficiaries.

This rightly prompted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to withdraw from the agreement and make the Bangla Government entirely responsible for the health insurance scheme. In terms of department, the scheme is run by the Health and Family Welfare Department.

Not only is the State entirely responsible for the scheme now, it has also increased the total number of beneficiary families to 1.5 crore, thus beating the Centre-set target by 28 lakh. There were already 54.76 lakh Swasthya Sathi beneficiary families in Bangla.

This has made the Bangla Government the first State Government to have so many families enlisted under a government health insurance scheme.

With the number of families increasing to 1.5 crore, the number of individual beneficiaries has now increased to about 7.5 crore. To pay the entire premium for these new families, the State Government would be spending more than Rs 850 crore additionally.

The benefits of Swasthya Sathi are available at 1,300 hospitals (including 745 private ones) registered under the scheme.

Another facility under the scheme, as part of the State Government’s efforts for the empowerment of women, is the providing of Swasthya Sathi smart cards to female members of the beneficiary families.

To know all the details regarding Swasthya Sathi, including how to get the smart cards, contact the nearest BDO or municipality office, or call the toll-free number, 1800 345 5384, or visit the website, swasthyasathi.gov.in.

Source: Bartaman

File Photo

Total loan amount to farmers by State Govt to see substantial increase

Posted on February 2, 2019 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

The Bangla Government has decided to increase the total amount of loan it provides to farmers for farming-related purposes by a significant Rs 3,000 crore. While at the end of financial year 2018-19, the estimated amount would stand at Rs 5,000 crore, in financial year 2019-120, the government would be providing a total of Rs 8,000 crore.

About 90 lakh families would be benefitted as a result of the disbursal of the loans, to be disbursed by agricultural cooperative banks at a rate of interest of 7 per cent.

As a big incentive to farmers, those who would pay repay the total amount, consisting of the capital and interest, within the stipulated time frame, would have 3 per cent of the interest paid back to them. The amount of 3 per cent would be transferred electronically to the farmer’s bank account as soon as the total amount is repaid.

In terms of amount, loans are provided depending on the crops. As examples, for aman rice cultivation, Rs 15,000 per acre is provided, for boro paddy cultivation, Rs 45,000 per acre is provided, while for potato cultivation, Rs 60,000 per acre is provided.

In terms of types of loans, there are three types: one-year loans, short-term loans and long-term loans. For one-year loans, as the name suggests, the loan, along with the interest, has to be repaid within one year. Short-terms loans are for a period less than one year. Long-term loans can span several years; for example, for buying a tractor, a farmer can get a loan whose repayment period can span from seven to nine years.

To ensure that farmers get the loans through Kisan Credit Cards (by adopting which means loans can be transferred electronically), in financial year 2018-19, the State Government has set up banking infrastructure at 3,000 primary agricultural cooperative societies (PACS), including setting up micro-ATMs. Rs 400 crore has been allocated for the purpose.

For leasing of farming machinery on easy terms, the government is creating machinery hubs at total cost of Rs 1,000 crore. Tractors, paddy cleaning machines and several other machines and tools crucial for making farmers’ work easier can be hired from these hubs.

Then, on December 31, 2018, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a few other crucial measures meant to make farmers’ lives easier. These were her New Year gifts to them.

The Krishak Bandhu Scheme was introduced, which is made up of two components. Krishak Bandhu 1 is in the form of an assurance model, wherein if a farmer dies between the ages of 18 and 60, due to any cause, the family would receive a one-time grant of Rs 2 lakh. Krishak Bandhu 2 is in the form of a yearly grant to farmers’ families, of Rs 5,000 per acre per annum in two instalments.

Besides these, another announcement was also made. The full premium under the crop insurance scheme, Bangla Fasal Bima Yojana (BFBY) would henceforth be handled by the State Government, which means that the 20 per cent paid by the Centre too would now be paid by the State. The latter was already paying the farmers’ share of the premium for the last few years besides, of course, its own share.

Source: Aajkaal

Bangla Fasal Bima Yojana: State Govt to pay 100% of the premium

Posted on February 2, 2019 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Starting from the next financial year, that is, 2019-20, the State Government has decided to pay the full amount of the premium to farmers for the crop insurance scheme, Bangla Fasal Bima Yojana (BFBY). The full premium includes the Centre’s share, the State’s share and the farmers’ share.

This was announced recently during the course of a press conference by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Till now, the Bangla Government used to pay 80 per cent of the premium, that is, the State Government’s share and the farmers’ share.

Now, the State Government has decided that it would no longer take the help of the Centre as, despite paying the lion’s share, the Centre used to take all the credit by making it mandatory for the prime minister’s picture to be there on all promotional and other materials for the scheme.

The State Agriculture has already completed the procedures required for the new structure of the scheme. The State Government has also brought in certain changes to the scheme to make it more attractive for farmers so that more and more of them opt for it.

Farmers would now be able to get their crops insured against less earnings due to loss in production as a result of unfavourable weather or damages due to heavy rain, fire, lightning, storms, cyclones, typhoons, tornadoes, hailstorms, floods, droughts, and damages by insects and organisms like fungi, bacteria, viruses, etc.

In recent years, among the help provided by the State Government to farmers include paying almost 30 lakh farmers about Rs 1,200 crore for damages to their crops due to floods and droughts, waiving off of the agricultural tax and mutation fee, and the latest, introduction of the Krishak Bandhu Scheme.

Source: Sangbad Pratidin

Bangla Govt ensuring farmers’ welfare with old-age pension

Posted on February 2, 2019 | by admin2 | Leave a Comment

Besides the recent announcements of the Krishak Bandhu Scheme and the full payment of subsidies for crop insurance by the State Government, and the earlier announcements of the waiving off duties on mutation and of agricultural tax, another announcement has been made – pension for farmers.

The pension amount would be Rs 1,000 per farmer.

Listed below are the rules for the pension, as recently published in a government advertisement:

Minimum age should be 60 years, and for differently-abled farmers, 55 years
Must be a resident of Bangla for the preceding 10 years
To be a farmer, must own a maximum of 1 acre, and to be a bargadar, must own a maximum of 2 acres, or can be a landless labourer
Should not have any other source of income or not have anyone to take care of
Should not be drawing any emoluments or pension through any other scheme of either the State or the Central Government

Through Khadya Sathi, State Govt is ensuring ‘Food For All’

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

The Bangla Government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has adopted the philosophy of ‘Food For All’, being implemented through the Khadya Sathi Scheme.

The Khadya Sathi Scheme envisages a system of systematic distribution of foodgrains across Bangla through the public distribution system (PDS), and for this, the government, through the Food & Supplies (F&S) Department, has brought about end-to end reforms in the management of the PDS.

The public distribution system consists of the public distribution outlets (PDO), commonly known as ration shops, which are basically fair-price shops (FPS).

Features of Khadya Sathi, being implemented through the public distribution system

To make the process of distribution of foodgrains hassle-free, the government has provided digital ration cards to 8.82 crore people.

Of these, 7.42 crore people are getting foodgrains at Rs 2 per kg while the rest 1.4 crore are getting foodgrains at half the market rate.

Of those getting foodgrains at the rate of Rs 2 per kg are

3,12,718 people of the Cyclone Aila-affected blocks and 3,619 reluctant farming families of Singur, getting 16kg foodgrains per month
8,75,703 beneficiaries of the Hills and 35,11,186 beneficiaries of Jangalmahal, getting 11kg foodgrains per month
All working and non-working families residing in the tea gardens (enrolled under Antodya Anna Yojana), getting 35kg foodgrains per month

The more needy beneficiaries are getting foodgrains completely free

1,572 beneficiaries of 139 Toto families in Alipurduar district, getting 11kg foodgrains per month
Almost 6,000 malnourished children and their mothers getting 5kg rice, 1kg masoor dal, 2.5kg wheat or fortified whole wheat flour (i.e., fortified atta) and 1kg Bengal gram
With the aim of ensuring proper nutrition, government is providing whole wheat flour instead of wheat

Festive season bonanza

For the important festivals – Durgotsav, Kali Puja and Diwali, Eid, Ramzan, Chhat Puja – edible oil, Bengal gram, flour and sugar supplied at subsidised rates from ration shops

Fair price shops

Part of the food distribution scheme for the needy is the setting up of fair-price shops in 120 tea gardens. The construction of 46 more is in progress.

Both supply and demand crucial for the success of ‘Food For All’

To ensure the success of the concept of ‘Food For All’, supply or production as much as distribution is required.

On the supply side, the government has ensured and is continuously ensuring better food storage capabilities, better facilities and schemes for farmers, and better food testing facilities.

These are touched upon in brief below:

Food storage capacity: Over the last seven-and-a-half years of the Trinamool Congress Government, the food storage capacity has been gradually augmented, and a lot of work is constantly being carried on, in terms of building more and better warehouses

Food storage capacity increased by 15 times to 9.36 lakh metric tonnes (MT)
Work currently in progress for enhancing the capacity by another 5 lakh MT
51 Khadya Bhawans built at the district and subdivisional levels
Work currently in progress for construction of 14 more Khadya Bhawans

Better facilities for farmers: As part of the mantra of ‘Food For All’, the State Government has also ensured that farmers get as much help as possible in producing that food, in the form of incentives. A few of the important developments in this aspect are:

No incidents of distress selling
In the 2017-18 kharif marketing season (KMS), 32.23 lakh MT paddy procured at minimum support price (MSP) from 4.67 lakh farmers
For the 2018-19 KMS, registration of farmers initiated from October 1, 2018 and paddy procurement begun from November 1, 2018
For selling to cooperative societies (samabay samitis) and at centralised procurement centres (CPC), farmers getting incentive of an MSP of Rs 1,750 per quintal
For selling at CPCs, farmers getting an incentive of Rs 20 per quintal over and above the MSP
Another incentive recently introduced is ‘Dhan Din, Cheque Nin’ (sell paddy, get cheque) wherein farmers get immediate payment for their paddy sold through cheques

Food testing system: State-of-the-art laboratories are being set up across Bangla for carrying out for carrying food quality tests.

There is a central laboratory in Kolkata.
15 district laboratories are being set up in 15 districts
6 regional laboratories are being built in Medinipur, Bardhaman, Krishnanagar, Malda, Siuri and Siliguri

Hence, as we see, Khadya Sathi has been a resounding success for Bangla. The scheme is the brainchild of Mamata Banerjee. As a result of it, people across the State, those who require, are getting foodgrains at subsidised rates.

Mamata Banerjee and her government’s commitment to ‘Food For All’ has resulted in an unwavering commitment towards farmers right from 2011. Among other things, their average annual income has increased by more than three times, from Rs 91,000 in financial year (FY) 2010-11 to Rs 2.91 lakh in 2017-18.

Headless agency has now become spineless BJP: Mamata Banerjee on CBI

Posted on January 25, 2019 | by aitc | Leave a Comment

Describing the CBI as one of the “allies” of the BJP-led Central Government, Bangla Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday alleged that the Centre was using the agency to harass the opposition parties across the country.

She called the CBI, which was yet to get a new director, “headless” and said it has now become a “spineless BJP”.

“So political vendetta continues. BJP & its ‘allies’ comprising multiple govt agencies harassing all allies of Oppn from Kol to Delhi & beyond,” Ms Banerjee tweeted.

She also doubted whether the BJP was “scared” and using the agencies in a “desperate” move.

“From Akhilesh Yadav to Behen Mayawati Ji, nobody is spared. From north to south. From east to west. Political vendetta by BJP. Are they scared? Are they desperate? One headless agency has now become spineless BJP,” she added.