Month: May 2015

Bengal has adopted a Sports Policy: WB CM at Namkhana

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West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee was present at the prize distribution of the Sunderbans Football Cup 2014 at Namkhana today.

Organized by the West Bengal Sports Department, the third edition of the Sundarban Football Cup 2014 saw 147 clubs participating in the men’s section and 18 clubs participating in the women’s section from North 24 Parganas and sat 812 clubs participating in the men’s section and 62 clubs participating in the women’s section from South 24 Parganas. More than 15 thousand male and female football players participated in this edition of this huge tournament.

Urging the youth of Bengal to participate more in sports, WB CM said, “Even Swami Vivekananda used to say to reach God it is better to football than reading the Gita.”

She announced that the State has adopted a Sports Policy and those associated with sports will get added advantage in employment. She also promised to give further assistance to local clubs for developing sports infrastructure.

The West Bengal Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of a concrete bridge over the Dhonpota-Mandirbazar canal through remote control from the programme venue at Namkhana. She asked people to participate in the overall development of South 24 Parganas.

The West Bengal Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of a concrete bridge over the Dhonpota-Mandirbazar canal through remote control from the programme venue at Namkhana.

“A multi super speciality hospital is coming up at Kakdwip. Diamond Harbour will get a women’s university. A deep sea port is coming up at Gangasagar. It will be called Bhor Sagar. It will generate employment. We are developing tourism infrastructure at Gangasagar. A new spot called Rupsagar is coming up,” she added.

TMC wins hung civic bodies in Bankura, Murshidabad

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The hung civic body in Dhuliyan in Murshidabad was taken over by the Trinamool as three BJP councillors, two CPI councillors and one Independent councillor of Dhuliyan today joined the Trinamul.

In Bankura too, four Independents today joined the Trinamul, which would allow the party, which got 12 seats, to form the board.

Workshops for councillors

The Chairperson announced that workshops for party workers would be held at the level of the KMC, at all municipalities and also for gram panchayats, panchayat samities and zilla parishads.

She asked the mayor Sovan Chatterjee, Municipal affairs minister Firad Hakim and state rural and panchayat affairs minister Subrata Mukherjee to complete the workshops before 21 July.

Mamata Banerjee announces names of KMC Chairman and Mayor-in-Council

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Trinamool Chairperson Ms Mamata Banerjee Wednesday met the newly elected councillors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and ninety civic bodies in the state at Nazrul Mancha.

Office bearers of KMC

Ms Banerjee decided at the meeting that Mr Sovan Chatterjee will be Mayor of the KMC for the second time. Ms Mala Roy will be chairperson of the KMC. Iqbal Ahmed will be the deputy Mayor and Ms Ratna Sur will be the chief whip of the Trinamool Congress in the KMC.

Swapan Samadder, Atin Ghosh, Manzar Iqbal, Tarak Singh, Ram Pyare Ram, Debasish Kumar, Debabrata Majumder, Samsujjaman Anshari, Indrani Saha Banerjee, Amiruddin Bobby, Ratan Dey and Abhijit Mukherjee will be members, mayor-in-council of the KMC.

This is the first time in the history of KMC that a woman councillor has become chairperson of the civic body, Mamata Banerjee said.

Three newly elected Independent councillors joined the Trinamool Congress yesterday, bringing the total number of Trinamool Congress councillors in the KMC to 117.

Borough Chairmen

Mamata Banerjee also named the Chairmen for the 16 boroughs under Kolkata Municipal Corporation:

Borough I – Tarun Saha

Borough II – Sadhan Saha

Borough III – Undecided

Borough IV – Smita Bakshi

Borough V – Aparajita Dasgupta

Borough VI – Sanchita Mandal

Borough VII – Bishwanor Chattopadhyay

Borough VIII – Jiban Saha

Borough IX – Ratan Malakar

Borough X – Tapan Dasgupta

Borough XI  – Tarakeshwar Chakraborty

Borough XII – Sushanta Ghosh (Swarup)

Borough XIII – Sushanta Ghosh (Buya)

Borough XIV – Manik Chattopadhyay

Borough XV – Indrajit Bhattacharya

Borough XVI – Ranajit Shil

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar speaks on the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014 | Full Transcript

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Full Transcript

I rise to discuss the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2014 brought by our Hon. Minister Smt Maneka Gandhi. This Bill replaces the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill, 2000. It permits juveniles between the ages of 16 and 18 years to be tried as adults for heinous offences. Also any 16 to 18 year old who commits a less serious offence may be tried as an adult only if he is apprehended after the age of 21 years.

There are different views on whether juveniles should be tried as adults. There are arguments that the current law does not act as a deterrent for juveniles committing heinous crimes. Another view is that a reformative approach will reduce the likelihood of repeating offences.

The provision of trying a juvenile committing a serious or heinous crime as an adult based on date of apprehension could violate the Article 14- Rigt to Equality and Article 21- requiring that laws and procedures are fair and reasonable. The provision also counters the spirit of Article 20, Sec-1 according to a higher penalty for the same offence.

India has ratified the United Nation’s convention on the rights of the child and it requires treating every child under the age of 18 as equal. The provision of trying a child as an adult contravenes this convention also.

Of course, the penalties provided in the Bill are not in proportion to the gravity of the offence. For example, the penalty for selling a child is lower than that for offering intoxicating or psychotropic substances to a child.

However, the census data at the moment shows that juveniles between the ages of 7 to 18 years constitute about 25% of the total population and the National Crime Records Bureau shows that the percentage of juvenile crime has gone up in the recent past and it has increased from 1% to 1.2% from 2003 to 2013.

During the same period 16 to 18 year olds accused of crimes as a percentage of all juveniles accused have increased from 54% to 56%. So here comes the necessity for giving this a serious thought. But the mention of the Juvenile Justice Bill and also the boards to look into whether these children as we call them should be taken care of has a financial implication which has to be dealt with in detail. I would like to mention here that the police who are going to investigate or the boards that are going to look into these matters should have women.

As my learned friend there was speaking about psychiatrists, I would also think that we should have children’s psychiatrists in these boards that should look into the mental capacity of children. I would like to bring to the notice of this august House a film which was called Taare Zameen Par. Just because children’s requirements are not understood or appreciated, sometimes children get misled.

In this country we have so many families who live below the poverty line that a child lifting something –a food article or a toy article- out of dire shortage of funds at home, then I should think that the child is not to be blamed. It is the society or the State which has to be blamed and the corrective measure has to be taken by the family, by the neighbourhood, by the State. This child-friendly step that has been taken by the minister has been appreciated besides trying to lift the social status of these children through education, through supplying them food as we are doing in the Government Schools. Particularly in our State of West Bengal we are trying means to educate the children, particularly the girl child through the Kanyashree scheme.

The country is trying to provide food grains through the mid-day meal but there should be other facilities given to the child besides education. The children should be exposed to recreational facilities. The children should be educated and vocational training should be given. Their childhood should be our concern and we should see that the child is not carried away due to poverty to commit such a crime which might lead to the child being maimed as a criminal.

This kind of criminal mentality in a child can be combated only if the child is taken care of in a compassionate way right from birth and given if not equal, similar facilities of a middle class family so that the child’s mentality is not crime oriented.

Thank You Sir.

Derek O’Brien makes a Special Mention on the achievements of West Bengal’s sanitation programme | Full Transcript

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Full Transcript

Nadia district of West Bengal has become the first in India to have modern toilets in every household. This remarkable feat in sanitation, called ‘SobarSouchagar’or ‘Toilets For All’,has made Nadia a ‘NirmalZilla’. International recognition has also come.

The project has been shortlisted for the prestigious UN Public Services Award, 2015. Loughborough University, UK has selected the project as an inspiring model for eliminating open defecation, and it is to be presented at the WEDC International Conference in July.

Open defecation is a major problem in India. The State of West Bengal has taken a commendable lead in tackling this issue. To change this social behaviour, the administration started a practice of oath-taking by children in schools that they will ensure total sanitation in their houses. This has proved to be the biggest game-changer as children went home and forced their parents also to use toilets. Besides, religious leadershave also done their part in spreading the message of safe sanitary habits during gatherings.

Other districts, like Hooghly, North 24-Parganas and Bardhaman, are also well on their way to achieving a 100% open defecation-free status. Funds from Central schemes like National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan and National Rural Livelihood Mission are being used for the purpose.This kind of district-level sanitation programme is the need of the hour; the State of West Bengal has shown the way to success, and now it’s for the others to implement similar schemes to remove the scourge of open defecation.

Sukhendu Sekhar Roy speaks on The Constitution (One Hundred and Nineteenth Amendment) Bill, 2013 | Full Transcript

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Full transcript

I would like to say in brief that on 16th May 1974, an agreement between India and Bangladesh was signed internally for the demarcation of boundaries for exchange of 162 enclaves which were a pre independence legacy.

Sir, on 28th November 1974, Bangladesh parliament ratified the agreement whereas the successive governments in India failed to ratify the agreement for four long decades for some inexplicable reasons, however, better late than never. Sir, from 15th July 2011, a headcount of the enclaves on the both sides was conducted and it was found 37369 people live in 11 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 14221 live in 57 enclaves of Bangladesh in India.

Sir, on 6th September 2011 a protocol was signed by India and Bangladesh, which was referred to by the Hon’ble Minister for external affairs for exchange of these enclaves and to implement the related matter. Now Sir, when the Bill was introduced in 2013, my party, the All India Trinamool Congress opposed to it because the pending political, social and economic issues were neither discussed with the Government of West Bengal at the appropriate level, nor the concern expressed by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal Ms Mamata Banerjee who was insisting of this problem for a long time was not adequately expressed by the Government of India. All these enclaves existed within the district of Coochbehar where the separatist agitation is going on for a long time. I need not go to that extent to explain that thing, but we all are concerned about that.

Sir, it is the assessment of the Government of West Bengal that all the residents of Bangladeshi enclaves in India would opt to remain in India for two main reasons. They would not be displaced from their lands and for improvement of their land when the enclaves become a part of India. But the residents of Indian enclaves in Bangladesh might move to India even at the cost of displacement due to better economic opportunities and that is quite natural and human.

Sir, in this backdrop, our Hon’ble Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee has asked upon the Central Government to help the State’s intervention keeping in view the maximum displacement and to extend material help for implementation of a comprehensive rehabilitation program which must not be a BPL package but a decent and human one for which physical and social nature of these enclaves need to be upgraded.

Sir, keeping this in mind the Government of West Bengal as urged upon the Central Government that a sum of Rs 3900 crore be granted out of which Rs 2234 crore is variable components and as assured by the Hon’ble Minister for external affairs while moving this Bill that the Government of India has agreed to sanction the amount as per the requirement and this is why the West Bengal Government has accepted this Bill in totality.

Sir when this agreement is implemented the fate of about 51000 people will be decided and long standing problem between these two countries will be resolved once and for all.

Sir, we must not forget that due to partition of the country in 1947, Bengal has sacrificed huge land and natural resources due to construction of the Farakka Barrage when there was a hue and cry West Bengal has shared Ganga waters with Bangladesh at the cost of Calcutta Port. Now with this agreement we are going to exchange the enclaves to have a permanent solution to the long standing problem. Sir, we have given also blood during the liberation struggle of Bangladesh. Now Mamata Banerjee stands for betterment of the relations between Bangladesh and India to the extent it is  desired subject to the Government of India takes a stand in extending its helping hand to West Bengal as per the need of the hour and as per the situation demands.

Sir, we all of us in Trinamool Congress believe that once this agreement is going to be implemented it would be good for India, it would be good for Bangladesh, it will be good for the people living in enclave and it will also be good for India’s relationship with Bangladesh and we sincerely expect and believe that we have achieved a goal and will further achieve the goal once this agreement is implemented in later and spirit. I strongly support this Bill.

Thank you.

 

Land Boundary Agreement will solve a long-standing dispute: SS Ray

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Trinamool today supported the Constitution (One Hundred and Nineteenth Amendment) Bill, 2013 in the Rajya Sabha which will pave the way for exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh.

Speaking on behalf of the party, the Chief Whip Sukhendu Sekhar Ray said Trinamool opposed the Bill earlier because State government was not appropriately consulted with by the then central government.

“WB CM Ms Mamata Banerjee has asked Central Govt to help the State in intervention to extend help & comprehensive rehabilitation. Bengal government has accepted the Bill in totality after the Central Government has agreed to sanction Rs 3900 crore for the rehabilitation,” he said.

We all are concerned about the separatist agitation that is going on within the district of Coochbehar, added SS Ray.

Maintaining that the agreement will solve the long standing problem between the two countries, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray also added that implementation of the Bill will decide the fate of 51,000 people.

He concluded saying that West Bengal government will work towards better relations between India and Bangladesh.

Click here to read the full transcript

 

Supporting Land Boundary Agreement because people want it: WB CM

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said her government supported the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh as the people wanted it and sought a package from the Centre for rehabilitation of those affected.

“With (rehabilitation) package we are supporting it (agreement),” Banerjee told reporters here after holding an administrative meeting with officials at Uttarkanya, the secretariat in north Bengal. “I talked to the local people. We are supporting it because the people were in favour of it. It is not that we are imposing it (on them)”, she said.

On the rehabilitation package, the chief minister said, “Our involvement of land is 17,000 acre. 60,000/70,000 people will come. We have demanded a package for their accommodation, food, for building roads, schools etc. We have to look after their livelihood and for that a package is required. We have to look into their problems. It is a humanitarian problem.”

Ms Banerjee had earlier stated that she demanded a ‘comprehensive package’ for rehabilitation of those who would come to this side of the border and settle here following exchange of enclaves between the two countries.

Will give memorandum to PM on social sector schemes: WB CM

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday said she would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the state beginning Saturday and give him a memorandum regarding development of the state.

“It’s a courtesy of the government to meet the PM and (we will) give him a memorandum regarding the development of the state,” she told reporters here.

“There are some schemes where funds have been stopped. I have to talk regarding why the funds have been stopped. I’ve to talk to him why the funds were stopped for my Jangalmahal (tribal area in south Bengal),” the chief minister said.

The PM is scheduled to pay a two-day visit to West Bengal starting May 9.

“We cannot stop all social sector programmes because social sector is the backbone of society. It is our responsibility to help the poor. We will fulfil our social commitments,” she said. “The Centre has also curtailed funds for Sarbasikhya Abhiyan, 100 days work … Despite all these the development works are still on,” she stated.

Talking about the development review meeting with senior government officials earlier in the day, Banerjee said, “We had discussion on varied subjects starting from 100 days work, mid-day meal, tourism, potato cultivation, malnutrition, tea, small scale industry, women and child.”

TMC is in, rest all are out: Mamata Banerjee to party councillors

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Mamata Banerjee today met the newly elected party councillors, including the outgoing civic body chiefs who won, from across Bengal at Nazrul Mancha to lay down guidelines on how to adhere to a “time-bound” schedule for development activities for the next five years.

Besides the Chairperson, party’s Secretary General Partha Chatterjee, urban development minister Firhad Hakim and the party’s general secretary and MP, Suvendu Adhikari also addressed the gathering.

Trinamool has won 70 of the 91 civic boards in the districts in addition to sweeping the Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls.

A total of 1,425 elected representatives, including the 114 Trinamool councillors in KMC, are expected to participate in today’s session.

Highlights of the Chairperson’s speech:

  • I welcome all the elected representatives who are present here today.
  • People of #Bengal have given a fitting reply to the canards spread by a section of people.
  • We dedicate our victory to the people. This is the beauty of democracy.
  • You have to go to every household in your wards to thank people for their support.
  • We are not here for power. We are just representatives of people.
  • We are here to work for the people. This is our duty. This is our responsibility.
  • Those who perform well must be acknowledged. Those who are committing mistakes must correct their course.
  • We are working for people of all castes, creed, communities.
  • Some people are trying to incite communal tension. It is easy to create rifts. It is not easy to win hearts.
  • Every municipality should organise training camps to make new councillors aware of their duties.
  • I will meet the PM during his State-visit. It is my Constitutional duty which I have to perform.
  • When I was Railway Minister I had initiated several projects for Bengal.
  • When we came to power I said I will develop land maps and land banks. I have done that.
  • We have lost a lot of time because of various elections. We could have done much more.
  • We inherited a huge debt burden. Centre takes away our revenues for no fault of ours.
  • Centre takes taxes from all States and then distributes money to us. They are not doing any favour.
  • Centre has slashed allocations for various schemes like Sarva Siksha Abhiyan & Backward Region Development.
  • They have reduced funds for ICDS. There are no funds for mid-day meal scheme. How will poor students survive.
  • So many people will be out of work if 100 Days’ Work Scheme is curtailed.
  • I will raise all these issues with the Centre.
  • When I don’t meet the PM, media says I am always fighting. When I meet him, they say we have a deal.
  • I am in favour of making the federal structure of India stronger.
  • We are giving rice at Rs 2/kg to the land losers in Singur.
  • We are providing vocational training to Adivasi, tribal students.
  • We have a social responsibility. We are aware of our duties.
  • CPM-Congress-BJP-ABP have formed an alliance.
  • These days anything and everything is presented as news. Facts are not even cross-checked. Lies are spread for TRP.
  • Three districts from Bengal are among the Top 4 districts in India in building toilets.
  • A leader has to take everyone along. Let Opposition continue their slander. We will work for the people.
  • We will celebrate our victory through Rabindra Jayanti function at 4 PM on Saturday in every block.
  • Trinamool Congress is intact. TMC is in. Rest all are out.
  • We gave the slogan ‘Bodla noy, bodol chai’ (We want change not revenge) in 2011.
  • Stay alert. Serve the people in your municipalities. Work for people. Stay well.
  • Young generation must come forward. We have to prepare the new generation.