Elite panel to shape Institute of Public Health

An enviable ensemble of academics -led by Amartya Sen and belonging to iconic institutes like MIT, University College London and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine -will now help set up and shape Bengal’s first Institute of Public Health.

West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will give shape to the ambitious project, which is expected to come up in Kalyani, during her upcoming maiden visit to the UK. An MoU will be signed between the state and the top British institutions and academics on Monday.

Mamata Banerjee has handpicked the illustrious governing body of the institute. Apart from Sen, the panel will include former health secretary of India Sujatha Rao, Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee from MIT, Grant Miller from Stanford School of Public Health and Michael Mermet from University College London.

Job boom in Bengal infotech industry

The infotech sector in Bengal is on a recruitment drive. As many as 50,000 jobs will be created in 15 IT parks being set up in the state and as part of hiring plans of industry majors such as Wipro, Cognizant and TCS.

Bengal finance and industries minister Dr Amit Mitra, who is also in charge of information technology department, said at least eight of the 15 IT parks will be ready by the end of July or early August. These include the IT hubs in Rajarhat, Asansol, Durgapur Phase-II, Barjora, Purulia, Bolpur, Kharagpur and Siliguri Phase-II.

In the private sector, Wipro has assured the recruitment of 2,400 employees by this fiscal, he said. “The Wipro CEO told me that they are in the process of expanding their Saltlake facility for an additional 2,400 employees,” Dr Mitra said.

He added that Cognizant had promised to hire 5,000 employees this fiscal and has already recruited 1,500. “The vice-president of Cognizant has said he would take the total number of employees to 18,000 here.”

The minister added that TCS will be ready with its second campus soon. The campus will have an employment capacity of about 20,000.

Big numbers

The state government aims to create at least 20,000 jobs in 15 IT parks. Nasscom has come forward to promote the hubs in Kalyani, Durgapur and Siliguri.

“Work is proceeding at a fast pace in seven other locations as well (other than the eight almost ready),” said Mitra. These include Kalyani, Howrah, Haldia, Taratala, Bantola, Malda and Krishnanagar.

Mitra also spoke of a hardware hub in Sonarpur that will be operational in two months and will house small and medium enterprises. Additionally, Naihati and Palta will soon have one electronic manufacturing hub each.

Unprecedented success in information technology in Bengal

With a view to playing a leading role in information technology and electronics in India, the Mamata Banerjee Government put out the West Bengal Policy on Information and Communication Technology, 2012 and the West Bengal ICT Intensive Scheme, 2012. Special emphasis has been placed in the fields of hardware, gaming and animation.

The various aspects stressed upon as part of the policy include setting up information technology centres in the districts, proliferating the hardware and electronics industries, setting up national centres of education, setting up centres of excellence in information technology, taking up new e-governance initiatives, taking up e-district projects through which, among other things, all villages would be getting the benefits of Government schemes vis e-kiosks, turning all State Government offices into e-offices, digitising all Government information in order to enable the Document Management System, setting up state-wide wide area networks (WANs), setting up a State data centre, setting up a full-fledged State portal and a State Service Delivery Gateway, creation special computer education kits for all State Government schools, etc.

In 2012, the State Government was awarded the Data Quest E-Readiness Award.

Huge increase in budgetary allocation

The yearly Budget allotment for the information technology and electronics sector by the Trinamool Congress Government has been much more when compared to the previous Left Front Government, which points to the serious intent of the present Government to develop this sector.

The Left Front Government, in its last four years, spent a total of Rs 16,39,41,000 whereas the Trinamool Government, in its first four years (2011-12 to 2014-15) has spent a total of Rs 299,48,64,000 (Rs 29,58,14,000, Rs 43,09,60,000, Rs 100,10,90,000 and Rs 126,70,00,000, respectively). This is a massive increase of 1,726.79% over the previous four-year period. The plan outlay for the present financial year (2015-16) is even more.

Information technology parks in eight districts

The State Government is setting up information technology (IT) parks in eight districts in 2015-16. In the last three years, 15 IT parks have been announced of which eight are on their way to completion. The eight are located in Siliguri, Durgapur, Asansol, Barjora, Rajarhat (near Kolkata), Kharagpur, Bolpur and Purulia. These eight would create employment opportunities for 20,000 people.

The other seven would be located in Malda, Howrah, Haldia, Kalyani, Krishnanagar, Taratala and Bantala (the last two are in Kolkata).

E-governance

Transparency in service, speed of service, efficiency of service – to ensure the implementation of these three aspects in all State Government work, the Trinamool Government has decided on e-governance as a backbone for implementation of all services and schemes.

  • E-office schemes have been implemented in North and South 24-Parganas districts.
  • E-office schemes have been implemented in North and South 24-Parganas districts.
  • Staff Selection Commission and the Depart of Information and Technology have been converted into e-offices.
  • As per the latest report, in 2013-14, Document Management Systems (DMS) have been implemented in 13 district magistrate offices.
  •  The same for the rest of the districts is going to be completed soon. For this purpose, 114 lakh documents would have to be scanned and stored digitally, 90% of which work is over.
  • The departments of Urban Development, School Education, and Commerce and Industries have already had electronic file tracking systems implemented in 2013-14, and Home and Higher Education in 2014-15.
  • Integrated Finance Management System (IFMS) has been implemented.
  • Tracking of taxis through radio frequency identification (RFID) tags has been implemented.
  • Information technology has been successfully used in the implementation of the Kanyashree project.
  • For this creating and maintaining this IT backbone, about 500 departmental staff are working relentlessly.

 

E-districts

  • The e-district project is being implemented through the digitization of 36 services.
  • Of these 36, 16 have already been implemented as part of Phase-I.
  • As part of Phase-I, over 200 block offices in nine districts have been connected with LAN technology.
  • Project managers for the E-district project have been appointed in 17 districts.

 

IT majors setting up offices

  • TCS is setting up offices spread over 40 acres in New Town-Rajarhat, where 3,500 are currently employed.
  • Cognizant is setting up offices in the second Tower Complex in Bantala, where 5,000 would be employed.
  • Unitech is setting up offices in Rajarhat.
  • ITC has been given 17 acres in Rajarhat, where constructions are already underway.

 

Industrial and educational setups

  • Land for electronics manufacturing clusters (EMCs) has been granted in Naihati and Falta.
  • Work for a hardware park spread over 10 acres is on in Sonarpur; the work is going to be completed in the current financial year.
  • An Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) is coming up in Kalyani.

 

Employment

It is estimated that by the end of financial year 2015-16, 1,80,000 people would be employed in the IT and electronics sector, against the only 90,000 that got employment during the last year of Left Front rule (2010-11). On an average, employment in this sector is increasing by 20% annually.

IT in education

The State Government is implementing scholarship schemes online through State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG). Computer systems with special education kits installed are being set up in schools in tribal regions. Schools for the blind are being supplied with state-of-the-art Braille monitor computers.

Hence, as we can see from the above information, the Maa-Mati-Manush Government of Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee has had unprecedented success in the information technology and electronics sector.

WB Govt comes up with new township policy providing housing for all

The West Bengal Government has come up with the terms and conditions that developers and investors should follow for the proposed theme-based townships. The new township policy focuses on economic activities and providing housing for all.

According to the guidelines, 25% of the land in a proposed township has to be set aside for the thematic or economic development, for which builders will be selected through e-auction. The developers will have to follow town planning norms, civic laws, environment laws and the national building code for constructions. Besides, 25% of residential units have to be reserved for the poor. While selecting developers, the authorities will check their efficiency, years of experience in handling similar projects and financial strength.

The State Urban Development Department will be the central agency for the six proposed theme-based townships and the West Bengal Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation will be the state-level nodal agency to assist investors.

Developers will not have to scout for land as the townships will be developed on identified state land. Besides, selected developers will get speedy approvals and clearances at the state level.

A total of 447 acres have been identified for the six proposed townships in Kalyani, Bolpur, Dabgram, Asansol, Dumurjala and Baruipur.

A meeting with prospective investors is slated for July 10 when state officials will brief them on the concept. The State is hoping for optimum utilization of land where state-of-the-art facilities will be set up, along with housing for all.

WB CM lays foundation stone for IIIT, Kalyani

West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee today laid the foundation stone for the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Kalyani, (IIIT) near Buddha Park, Kalyani-Barrackpore Expressway, Kalyani, Nadia.

The West Bengal Chief Minister said that the State is setting up two Electronic Parks and 15 IT Parks.

The Chief Minister also said that six crore  people below poverty line will be distributed with rice@Rs 2/ kg besides the existing three crore people  totaling the number to nine crore people in the State, in this scheme.

The Government of West Bengal has granted 50 acres of land for the setting up of the campus.

State IT minister Dr Amit Mitra, panchayat & rural development minister Subrata Mukherjee and MPs Dr Tapas Mondal and Mamatabala Thakur were present on the occasion, besides other distinguished guests.

The West Bengal Chief Minister on her social media wrote:

” Today, I laid the foundation stone of the first ever Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) of our State at Kalyani, Nadia. It is indeed a proud moment for all of us.

Our State is committed to work for advancement of IT-based products and services like Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), knowledge-based export, animation and in so many areas.

The IIIT will provide significant boost to nurture talent of our State and create more qualified and technically skilled manpower for tomorrow.

Besides IIIT, Kalyani will also have an AIIMS and Institute of Public Health which will turn Kalyani into a seat of advanced learning in Bengal.

My best wishes to everyone.”

World-class Public Health Institute coming up in Bengal

The West Bengal Government has decided to constitute a global advisory group for developing an institute of public health at Nadia’s Kalyani. The group will comprise Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and other educationists who are experts in public health. The institute will be developed as a world-class global centre of education and research in public health.

“An Institute of Public Health is being set up at Kalyani, Nadia. The Institute will develop as a global centre to address key areas of education, research and policy formulations in public health and related subjects,” Mamata Banerjee posted on facebook on Wednesday.

Mamata added, “To make the Institute a world-class centre, we have decided to constitute a Global Advisory Group with eminent persons. They are Prof. Dr. Amartya Sen, Prof Abhijit Binayak Banerjee of MIT, Prof. Sir Michael Marmot, Director, University College of London Institute of Health Equity, Prof. Lincoln Chenn, Chairman, China Medical Board in US, Harvard School of Public Health, Massachusetts, Prof. Grant Miller, Director, Stanford Centre for International Development, Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, President Public Health Foundation of India and Ms. K. Sujatha Rao, Ex Union Health Secretary.”

The state is developing Kalyani as a theme-based township. The town already has several plots earmarked for residential and commercial purposes. The CM has named the theme township ‘Samriddhi’

The government recently took the decision to set up the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Kalyani. The government has allotted 180 acres of land, worth Rs 57 crore, to set up the hospital.

Besides this, the state will develop Kalyani as an analytical city covering over 50 acres of land. Bengal expects to draw Rs 3000 crore of investment from the project.

Kalyani Analytics Hub raises industry hope

The proposed analytics city in Kalyani is likely to attract investments of more than Rs 3,000 crore in next three years. In the first phase, being developed over 52 acres off Kalyani Expressway, the hub will accommodate academic, residential and commercial centers apart from real estate projects.

According to Kallol Dutta, the immediate past president of BCCI, the original plan is to set it up on 250 acres. In that case, the investment will go up to Rs 6,000 crore.

Holistic solution to consumers

While MNCs in the field of banking, insurance, retail, telecom and automotive industries have in-house data and analytics facilities, there is no analytic hub that can provide holistic solution to analytics consumers. While a number of small boutique analytics service providers have come up in the country, the state is looking at bringing the majors under one umbrella.

With research facilities being proposed inside the city, there are proposals to tie up with the education institutions. Apart from universities in the country, efforts are on to tie up with foreign universities. Apart from organizing road shows, chief minister Mamata Banerjee will showcase the project during her visit to London.

Data and analytics, which require strong science, puts India in an advantageous position with a ready talent pool. “We have a large talent pool in Bengal who work in other cities. The analytics city will have access to the talent pool available within the state,” Sen said.

 

Excerpted from a story that appeared on The Times of India on 20.06.2015

Bengal cabinet clears deck for developing six theme cities

West Bengal cabinet on Friday cleared the deck for developing six modern cities in the state.

Speaking to the press after the cabinet meeting, state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim said the location for six modern cities had already been finalised. The Cabinet had even named all the six proposed cities according to choice and importance of the place, he said adding they would have modern facilities for decent living.

Naming the theme cities

Speaking about the smart cities, Hakim said one would come up over 85 acres at Dabgram near Siliguri and would be called ‘Teesta’ after the name of a major river in north Bengal. Another city would come up near Bolpur in Birbhum district over 127 acres and christened ‘Gitabitan’ after a popular compilation of songs by Rabindranath Tagore.

A third city over 50 acres would come up near the twin industrial towns of Asansol-Durgapur covering Churulia, birth place of the poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. It would be named ‘Agnibina’, after the name of a collection of poems by the rebel poet. One more city would come up near Kalyani, developed by erstwhile chief minister Bidhan Chandra Roy, in Nadia district over 50 acres and would be known as ‘Samriddhi’.

Another city, which is yet to be named, would come up at Dumurjala in neighbouring Howrah district over 50 acres. The sixth smart city would come up at Baruipur in the southern outskirt of the metropolis over 86 acres and would be named after the famed Bengal matinee idol Uttam Kumar, the minister said.

Allotment of land

In all cases the state government has adequate land and would be developed by the state urban development department, Hakim said. Besides, the state government would also develop some thematic private township over land within ceiling at different places in the state.

The themes could range from knowledge, sports and IT and the townships would be developed by various wings of the department like HIDCO and KMDA, he said.

Hakim hoped that the projects would bring in huge investment and create a lot of employment opportunity. In all cases there would be 25 per cent reservations for the economically weaker sections.

Bengal allots land for proposed AIIMS at Kalyani

The West Bengal Cabinet on Tuesday cleared 180 acres of land for the proposed AIIMS-like super- speciality hospital at Kalyani in Nadia district.

Speaking about the Cabinet decision, State’s Finance and Industry Minister Dr Amit Mitra said the entire 180 acres of land lay with the State Government under the Animal Resources Development Department.

“We have cleared the entire land valued at Rs 57 crore for the proposed AIIMS-like super-speciality hospital at Kalyani,” Dr Mitra said.  “Since the land is in hand, no problem is now left for this project. Now the issue is with the Centre for implementation of the project,” he said.

The State has also chosen Kalyani as a potential area for the development of a satellite township and several plots of land there have been identified for both residential and commercial purposes. The CM has named the Kalyani theme township Samriddhi. The Government will showcase the proposed six theme township projects during the Chief Minister’s London visit slated July.

Bengal to woo IT cos at Analytics City

Keeping up with its smart city initiatives, the state government is now working on plans to develop an `Analytics City’ near Kolkata to woo reputable IT firms dealing in data analysis. It will have the infrastructure of a smart city with residential and commercial complexes and other facilities.

The proposal of developing such a theme-based city was earlier mooted by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI). Discussions have been held with state urban development officials on the proposal.

The state government is already working on plans to develop a number of ‘theme-based’ townships and cities. Places like Bolpur, Kalyani, Asansol, Dumurjala, Baruipur and Debgram has been identified for such theme-based townships and a number of real estate developers have also shown interest to build these theme cities.

Besides, the state government is also working on plans to develop smart cities, keeping New Town, where a number of initiatives have already been taken, on top of the list.