Bangla CM to give away Tele Academy Awards today

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

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 held 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.

It may also be mentioned that the BCW Department has delivered more than 90,000 caste certificates to beneficiaries in the last three weeks, via camps across districts.

Bangla the best in financing SHGs

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

New fleets of electric, CNG buses flagged off

Twenty electric buses and 20 CNG buses were flagged off recently by the State Transport Minister from Paribahan Bhawan in Kolkata.

Both electric and CNG buses are environment-friendly and hence are being introduced by the government to curb the level of pollution in the State. Several such buses are already running in the State. In February, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had inaugurated 20 electric buses.

While the electric buses will be run by West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC), the CNG buses will be run by South Bengal State Transport Corporation (SBSTC).

Each of the electric buses is 12 metres in length. They are more spacious and have more number of seats. While the electric buses will run in and around Kolkata, the CNG buses will be plying in and around the Durgapur-Asansol zone.

It may be mentioned that the State Transport Department has planned to operate CNG buses all over the State, which will be done in phases.

During the inauguration programme, the Transport Minister said that the State Government will be purchasing 150 more electric buses. Of the 150 e-buses, 25 each will be rolled out in Asansol and Siliguri and 50 each will be rolled out in Haldia and the New Town-Rajarhat zone.

Sources: Millennium Post, The Statesman

 

SSKM’s new-look Woodburn Ward a big success

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

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

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.

Set up task force to detect & take action against tax evasion: Dr Amit Mitra to Union Fin MIn

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

 

Break down the walls that are trying to crush your dreams: Didi to students

Trinamool Congress Chairperson Mamata Banerjee today addressed students at Dharmatala in Kolkata on the occasion of the foundation day of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), the students’ wing of Trinamool Congress.

She gave a rousing speech, asking the students to break down all the walls that are trying to crush your dreams. She asked them to never bow their head to the atrocities and fear tactics of the BJP.

Mamata Banerjee also announced a two-day-long interactive session with students leaders of the TMCP from across all the districts on November 14 and 15. Through the interactive sessions, she said, she would select the next level leadership of the party.

Highlights of her speech:

Bangla is the land of the strong, the land of culture,the land of history. Bangla will show the way to the future

We never bow our heads in defeat, we never give up

Some people are trying to scare us, people who are new in the political field. They don’t know what fighting political fights really means. It is we who have fought our way to reach where we are today

Trinamool Congress has achieved what it has after a lot of struggle

The BJP has bought off the country. On the one hand, they have taken over all the media channels, all the newspapers. That’s why there is only the BJP’s news that you read about and only their leaders that you see

And on the other hand, they are continuously sending advisories to us. The word ‘advisory’ has become their favourite word

People in the country cannot speak up anymore. The duty of students is to speak up, to protest against the wrongs

Partha Chatterjee will tell you when the student union elections will be held

The BJP is using religion to create an atmosphere of fear and hate in the country

Look at the country’s state of economy. The government has brought together a group of retired people – bureaucrats and others – and it is they who have advised the RBI to give away its emergency reserves to the Centre. This is deplorable

Also look at Kashmir. They have shut off the media. They have shut everybody off using the power of the gun

The CPI(M) had come out on the streets of Kolkata once protesting against the war in Vietnam, shouting the slogan, ‘Amar naam tomar naam Vietnam’. And now they have come together with the BJP. They are scared of the BJP

The BJP is scaring our ministers, other ex-ministers and politicians using Central agencies

They are asking the Election Commission (EC) to send letters to political parties saying there is discrepancy in the latter’s accounts

The country is moving towards a presidential form of government – one election, one party, one emergency. There is an emergency situation

Our freedom fighters fought against British for their atrocities. Now the time has come to fight once again.

The BJP is indulging in horse trading; they are buying off politicians

The BJP is after Bangla because we are putting up resistance against them. I am ready to go to jail but will not give in to the BJP’s demands

There is a tough fight going on, and more is to come. I exhort you all, the students, to fight for two more years, and then Bangla will fight for you for the next 50 years

Regarding Kashmir, we never said that you cannot take a decision, but should have taken it after consultation with everybody. You have forced the decision on Kashmir on everyone.

You learnt about Goddess Durga from us, and now you are using the issue of worshipping Durga against us. We worship all gods and goddesses. You worship the evil Ravana

You try to decide who will eat what and who will wear what

IAS officers are leaving their jobs because of the way the BJP is running the country

After independence, Mahatma Gandhi sat in protest in Beleghata. Vidyasagar, who fought for the remarriage of widows and who wrote books to teach us our language, was from Bangla

This year is Mahatma Gandhi’150th birth anniversary, Vidyasagar’s 200th birth anniversary and the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre’s 100th anniversary

I will request Partha Chatterjee to organise celebrations of these anniversaries in colleges across the State

We should never forget history. The BJP is trying to change history

Our forebears fought for freedom. The people who ultimately went on to form the BJP and who influenced many to join the latter, on the other hand, supported the British, and not the freedom fighters

On Nov 14 and 15, we will organise interactive sessions with all the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad units from all colleges and universities, interactive sessions with college and university teachers too

Student leaders of the future will come out of those sessions. I will select people who have the potential to stand up strongly to the BJP. I will create the next level of leadership from among those students across the districts

I want people who will wholeheartedly work with me. I want a list of such people, and I will work with them

The leadership I will create will scare the BJP, with their evil intentions, to keep away from Bangla for the next 50 years

From 12 universities in 2011 we have set up 38 universities. We have set up 50 colleges. We give scholarships to all female students through the Kanyashree Scheme and to everyone else through the Swami Vivekananda Merit-cum-Means Scholarship Scheme. Through the Sikshashree Scheme, we give scholarships to students belonging to SC and ST communities

Unemployment in the country is at a 45-year high, while we in Bangla have decreased unemployment by 40 per cent

We still give pension to State Government employees, something which others have stopped giving; and this despite the huge debt we have

For the last 13 days, we are leading a hunger strike against the Centre’s decision to divest from 42 PSUs, which will lead to large-scale employment. I request all of you to go meet the protesters after this rally gets over to give them encouragement and the strength to carry on with their struggle

We are beside all workers of all PSUs, here and elsewhere

The BJP Government does not even want us to change the name of our State. They can’t tolerate even the name of our State. Actually they can’t tolerate our intelligence, our ability to stand up against their atrocities

They are trying to crush our bones, crush our strengths. But they won’t succeed

This is political vendetta. The BJP is demanding cut money in exchange for giving houses through their schemes

You are concerned about the prices of diamonds, and not potatoes because you are not concerned about the poor of the country,

Where did you get so much money that you spent during the general elections?

The Centre spent so much money on the election yet is not able to give rations for the poor

I will create a core group for organising the November 14 and 15 interactions..

You should be proud of Bangla. Always remember, this is the land of your dreams, the land of your purposes

Break down all the walls that are trying to crush your dreams. Sing the song of life, sing the song of victory

 

Grand rally in Kolkata to celebrate Trinamool Chhatra Parishad’s foundation day

Today, August 28, is the foundation day of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), the students’ wing of All India Trinamool Congress. Like every year, there will be huge student rallies in Kolkata and across Bangla.

The biggest rally will take place in Kolkata, at the Mayo Road crossing, in preparation for which hoardings have been installed all over the city.

Trinamool Congress Chairperson Mamata Banerjee will be the chief speaker. Abhishek Banerjee as well as student leaders from across the State will be present, some of whom will address the gathering too.

Everyone is waiting eagerly for the message that Mamata Banerjee has for the student community, and on how the TMCP should move forward to achieve its objectives.