News Analysis India

Tag: West Bengal

  • GST Council needs course correction: West Bengal Finance Minster to Nirmala Sitharaman

    By Express News Service
    Kolkata: The Finance and Planning Minister of West Bengal Amit Mitra on Wednesday wrote to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman saying that the GST Council needs a course correction to restore consensus-based approach in decision making.

    He also referred instances in the past where the Centre and states accepted each other’s suggestion to important issues such as setting the threshold for GST registration.

    Mitra assured Nirmala that states will respond to equal measures if the Centre brings back consensual atmosphere that had defined the Council since its inception.

    Mitra’s suggestions indicate the rift within the council along political lines. Non-BJP states have been raising voice expressing their concern about GST compensation, need for full GST relief on all Covid-related medical supplies and an officials’ panel allegedly making significant changes in rule outside the political oversight of the council.

    “What pains me the most is the fact that GST Council meetings have become acrimonious, vexing and almost toxic with erosion of mutual trust that had held fast between states and the Centre since the inception of the GST Council,’” Mitra wrote in his letter, adding, “Frankly speaking, Hon’ble Minister, an undercurrent has emerged in recent times that while the Chair hears the submissions of all States very patiently, indeed, there is a predetermined conclusion with which GoI, aided by its top bureaucrats, comes to the GST Council meetings.”

    Seeking the Union Minister’s attension, Mitra further said, “I urge you to kindly introspect on what I have taken liberty of bringing to your attention with utmost sincerity and frankness, so that you may consider a course correction in the matter of functioning of the GST Council.”

  • West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on week-long visit to North Bengal from June 20

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar will embark on a week-long visit to North Bengal from Monday, within a week of a demand by certain BJP MPs for carving out a separate Union Territory for the region.

    His visit also comes within days of meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah twice amid allegations of post-poll violence.

    Leader of opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, called on Dhankhar on Sunday and sought his intervention to stop the alleged post-poll violence and violation of human rights in the state.

    The governor on Sunday tweeted that he will embark on a week-long visit to North Bengal from June 21.

    He will proceed to Darjeeling from Bagdogra airport following a stopover at Kurseong.

    Dhankhar, however, did not cite any reason for his visit.

    This will be the governor’s second trip to North Bengal in two months.

    ALSO READ: BJP’s North Bengal leader Ganga Prasad Sharma set to join TMC

    Following the declaration of results of the West Bengal assembly elections, which the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress won with a huge majority, he had visited Cooch Behar following allegations of post poll violence.

    He had also visited Ranpagli in neighbouring Assam where people had taken shelter owing to the “violence”.

    Adhikari “sought urgent intervention for worst ever post-poll violence and outrageous violation of human rights @MamataOfficial by implication in false cases all over state, the governor said in a Twitter post.

    “LOP alleged complicity of state machinery @WBPolice @KolkataPolice in perpetration of gruesome violations of human rights. In barbaric and dastardly criminal acts there has been no investigation, much less arrest of culprits @MamataOfficial,” he tweeted.

    A fresh controversy has also erupted with BJP MP John Barla from Alipurduar demanding that North Bengal be made a Union territory, with party colleague and lawmaker from Jalpaiguri Lok Sabha seat, Jayanta Roy, coming out in support of it on June 15.

    Roy has, however, clarified that the comments were made in their personal capacity.

    Accusing the BJP of trying to divide Bengal, Chief Minister Banerjee has asserted that such attempts will never succeed.

    The governor went to Delhi on Tuesday, a day after a delegation of BJP MLAs petitioned him on the alleged deterioration of the law and order situation in the state.

    Dhankhar met Shah twice, on Thursday and on Saturday.

    During the first meeting, he is believed to have briefed the home minister about the law and order situation in the state.

    During his five-day visit to Delhi, the governor also made courtesy calls to President Ram Nath Kovind and National Human Rights Commission chairperson Justice (retd) Arun Kumar Mishra.

    Hours before his departure to the national capital, Dhankhar had written a letter to the chief minister alleging that she has been silent over post-poll violence in the state and has not taken steps to rehabilitate and compensate the “suffering people”.

    Dhankhar, who has been at loggerheads with the Trinamool Congress government in the state on several issues since taking over in July 2019, also accused the police and administration in the state of being partisan.

  • BJP’s north Bengal leader Ganga Prasad Sharma set to join TMC

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: In a major setback for the BJP in north Bengal, where it fared well in the assembly polls held earlier in the year, the president of the party’s Alipurduar district unit, Ganga Prasad Sharma, on Sunday said he will shortly be joining the TMC.

    Sharma told reporters he was “finding it hard to put up with the policies” of the saffron party, and working for people have become increasingly difficult for him under such circumstances.

    “I did everything to ensure that the BJP wins the polls, and the party did bag five seats. But some of us are feeling suffocated in the party now, which is expanding in size without establishing links with grassroots workers,” he told reporters before leaving for Kolkata.

    Sharma also said the recent demand by “our local MP for a union territory status for north Bengal” has further prompted him to take the decision.

    ALSO READ: West Bengal govt moves Calcutta HC seeking recall of order on NHRC probe in post-poll violence

    Several top-level BJP leaders will also follow suit, he claimed, refusing to take names.

    Sources in the TMC said Sharma is slated to join their party in a few days.

    Reacting to Sharma’s assertion, BJP MLA and opposition leader in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said, “Our organisation is strong in north Bengal. Ganga Prasad’s exit hardly matters.”

    “We will create another Ganga Prasad. Individuals don’t matter, BJP matters,” Adhikari added.

  • West Bengal govt moves Calcutta HC seeking recall of order on NHRC probe in post-poll violence

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The West Bengal government has filed an application before the Calcutta High Court seeking recall of its order that directed the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to constitute a committee to examine all cases of alleged human rights violations during post-poll violence in the state.

    The application has been listed for hearing on Monday before a five-judge which passed the order two days ago after taking into accoount the PILs on post-poll violence.

    The state government prayed for grant of an opportunity to deal with a report by the member secretary of the State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) on the matter before the next date of hearing, and make submissions on the steps taken by it on such complaints of clashes and violence.

    The PILs have alleged that political attacks have led to displacement of people from their residences, physical assault, destruction of property and ransacking of offices.

    The government also prayed that the findings in the order of June 18 “against the state of West Bengal and/or its officers may be expunged”.

    It claimed that the order had been passed without giving the state an opportunity to file its response in connection with the SLSA member secretary’s report.

    The state also prayed for a stay of operations given in the order till the disposal of the PILs.

    The five-judge bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar, has directed the chairperson of the NHRC to form a panel for examining all cases of alleged human rights violations during post-poll violence.

    The bench said that the committee will scrutinise the complaints the NHRC has received or could receive, and submit a comprehensive report before it about the present situation, after “may be by visiting the affected areas”.

    It further asked the committee to suggest steps that has to be taken to restore confidence in people and ensure they get to live peacefully in their houses and carry on with their occupation or business.

    “The persons prima facie responsible for crime and the officers who maintained calculated silence on the issue be pointed out,” the bench ordered, directing that the matter would be taken up for hearing again on June 30.

    The court noted that the SLSA member secretary will be a part of the committee, to be formed by the chairperson of the NHRC.

    It said that a representative from the State Human Rights Commission, West Bengal, be also associated with it.

    The bench observed that in a case where the life and property of the residents of the state are allegedly in danger on account of post-poll violence, the state cannot be allowed to proceed in the manner it likes.

    Contending that the complaints required immediate action, the bench said, “Somehow from the facts as are available on record and are sought to be projected by the petitioners, such an action is missing.”

    “It is the duty of the state to maintain law and order and inspire confidence in the residents,” it said.

    The bench observed that complaints with regard to post-poll violence received by the SLSA have been tabulated in six different categories — property vandalised, looted or damaged by miscreants, threat by miscreants as a result of which the applicant(s) are out of his/their house and requires to be reinstated, assault or sexual assault, grabbing or encroaching of property, shop/business forcefully closed by miscreants, and demand of ransom.

    A report submitted by the SLSA member secretary said 3,243 persons had reported suffering till noon of June 10.

    The official also said that complaints were referred to the superintendent of police or police stations concerned in some of the cases, but no response was received.

  • Kolkata Diary: All that is happening in the ‘City of Joy’

    Express News Service
    Private hospitals’ help sought for ramping up vaccine drive

    The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has sought the help of private hospitals to ramp up COVID-19 vaccination in the city and offered properties belonging to it for private units to organise off-site vaccination drives.

    The issues related to vaccination were discussed during a meeting with senior officials of private hospitals at the civic headquarters on Thursday. The hospitals were asked to place more orders for vaccines than what they are doing now so that more people can be brought under the vaccination net.

    The state government will help source COVID vaccines for private hospitals so that they do not have to slow down their vaccination pace because of any supply issues, said the officials.

    Formula to evaluate Class 12 students ready

    In lieu of Class 12 examinations in the 2020-21 academic year, the Bengal higher secondary council has decided to evaluate students by giving 40 per cent weightage to their performance in Class 10 board exams and 60 per cent in class 11 annual exams.

    The state education department decided to scrap Higher Secondary 2021 exams because of the surge in COVID cases.

    Instead, it has decided that combined weightage of the two exams (Class 10 and Class 11) will be added to 30-mark practicals (for lab-based subjects) or 20-mark project work (for non-lab subjects) and this will be considered the “principal basis of evaluation” to arrive at the final marks of Class 12 candidate.

    While factoring in the secondary exam marks, students’ performance in the best four subjects (carrying 400 marks) will be considered.

    Candidates to write XLAT from home on July 18

    St Xavier’s University, New Town, which had postponed the Xavier Law Admission Test (XLAT) in April because of the COVID-19 pandemic, has scheduled the test for July 18. Aspirants can write the tests online from home.

    The computer-based test that would have required visiting examination centres was to be held in nine cities, including Kolkata, on April 25. Now, the test will be internet-based. If an aspirant has poor connectivity at home, he or she can go to the campus and use the university’s facilities to write the test, said the varsity officials.

    Action recommended against three city hospitals

    The West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission on Friday recommended legal action against three private hospitals in Kolkata. A probe found that the three hospitals, with common ownership, lacked adequate infrastructure and had presented inflated bills to patients and were operating with healthcare personnel who were not qualified.

    One of the complainants told the commission that he had deposited Rs 1 lakh during admission and when the patient was discharg- ed after a day, he was refunded only Rs 20,000. The patient was charged `80,000 for one day’s treatment.

  • ‘Alliance with Congress to be blamed for poll rout’, feel CPM West Bengal leaders

    KOLKATA: The CPM West Bengal state committee members were at loggerheads during a two-day review meeting to discuss the party’s disastrous performance in the recent Assembly elections. As the party failed to send a single representative to the House of 294 lawmakers, most of the leaders blamed it on the decision to join hands with one-month-old outfit Indian Secular Force (ISF).  

    Many members also expressed their discontent for the party’s alliance with the Congress saying similar tie-up had caused damage to the party in 2016 polls. The Congress had pocketed 44 seats at that time while the Left parties could bag just 26 seats.

    In the recent election, the Left Front, Congress and ISF, the outfit floated by an influential Muslim cleric, formed an alliance to consolidate electorates who were against the ruling TMC and the rising BJP. Both the LF and Congress failed to bag a single seat while the ISF won only one out of 27 where it had contested.

    “Inclusion of ISF in the alliance was not a unanimous decision. It was Selim (politburo member Mohammad Selim) who had projected the ISF as a progressive force which, in reality, was not. Those who were in favour of joining hands with the new outfit wanted to arrest migration of minority votes to the TMC. The strategy was wrong and electorates did not accept it as CPM has always been vocal of secularism,” said a state committee member.

    The alliance also received a set-back as the ISF fielded candidates in some of the seats in Murshidabad against Congress. State Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who was against the inclusion of ISF, had his party did not share seats with the outfit. Incidently, many CPM state committee members had wanted the party to contest in the polls without joining hands with the ISF and Congress. 

  • EIMPA urges West Bengal CM for a relief package for cinema halls

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: With single screens and local multiplex chains reeling under the blow of COVID-19 for past one year, the Eastern India Motion Picture Association on Saturday urged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to come out with a relief package for the “gasping” cinema halls.

    EIMPA while sending a letter to the CM also sought an audience with her to apprise of the situation faced by the exhibitors while pledging its support to the fight against the pandemic by the state government.

    It is becoming increasingly difficult for cinema hall owners to pay salary to its employees with the suspension of shows for several months since March 17 in 2020 and again since May 1 in 2021, EIMPA office-bearer Ratan Saha said, adding that “we have urged the government three year soft loan for working capital.”

    In the letter the EIMPA sought three year “soft loans amounting from Rs 2 lakh to 5 lakh per cinema per screen multiplied by the number of months of inactivity.”

    “Yearly operation cost per screen being Rs 15 lakh with one year moratorium for the same,” the letter claimed.

    The monetary compensation was required for electricity charges, rent, dues accrued during period of closure and repair and maintenance to get cinemas back in running condition after shutdown, the apex body of distributors said.

    “We also urge exemption of tax and duties for the theatres and providing financial help to the employees of the closed single screens as the owners are hard pressed in the present situation,” one of the owners of a cinema hall in Behala and head of a film distribution company Satadeep Saha said.

    “Last year it was really bad as after seven months we could open the halls in Durga puja-Diwali period. However the old scenes never came back as audience turnout was very poor and there were no big banner releases. Finally it is back to square one as we closed shop from May 1 again. We are only staying afloat hoping for better days,” Saha said.

    EIMPA sources said around 120 of the 250 single screen theatres were operational before May 1 restrictions were imposed.

    The rest have closed shop, and some permanently.

  • West Bengal govt’s ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ scheme to include 1.6 crore beneficiaries: Official

    The state government would incur a cost of Rs 11,000 crore annually to fund the scheme, which was a part of the Trinamool Congress #39; election manifesto.

  • Mamata Banerjee’s counsel seeks reassignment of election petition against Suvendu to another bench

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s counsel Friday wrote to the secretary of the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, seeking reassignment of her petition challenging the election of BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram, to another bench.

    Claiming Banerjee has been made aware that Justice Kausik Chanda, who is hearing her plea, was “an active member of the BJP” and since the adjudication of the election petition will have political ramifications, it was prayed that the matter be assigned to another judge by the Acting Chief Justice, who is the master of roster.

    The CM’s lawyer also stated in the letter that she “had objected to the confirmation of the Hon’ble Judge as a Permanent Judge of the Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta” and as such, apprehends there is a likelihood of bias on the part of the judge concerned.

    Banerjee’s counsel urged that the letter be placed before the Acting Chief Justice forthwith “for necessary re- assignment of Election Petition so as to avoid any prejudice and/or presumption of prejudice”.

    Justice Chanda earlier in the day adjourned till June 24 Banerjee’s petition for declaring election of Suvendu Adhikari, at present the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, from Nandigram null and void.

    Meanwhile, a section of lawyers staged a protest in front of the high court over Justice Chanda being assigned to hear the election petition by the Trinamool Congress supremo.

    “We have no personal ill-feeling or allegation against the judge, but he was associated with a particular political party,” one of the lawyers said.

    The judge should recuse himself from hearing Banerjee’s plea, he added.

  • BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari submits petition to Bengal Speaker seeking Mukul Roy’s disqualification as MLA

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Leader of the opposition in Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Friday submitted a petition to Speaker Biman Banerjee seeking disqualification of Mukul Roy’s membership in the House under the anti-defection law as he has recently crossed over from the BJP to the TMC, a senior leader in the saffron party said.

    The TMC, in response, insisted that the opposition leader should request his father and parliamentarian Sisir Adhikari to lead by example, as he, too, switched over to the BJP from the Mamata Banerjee camp ahead of the assembly polls.

    The speaker, when contacted, however, said he won’t be able to say anything about the petition for now as he was yet to visit the Assembly.

    “We have submitted a letter to the Speaker seeking disqualification of MLA Mukul Roy’s membership in the House. He had won the election on a BJP ticket, but joined the TMC subsequently.

    “Therefore, as per law, he should resign. We have requested the Speaker to look into the matter,” saffron party MLA Manoj Tigga said.

    Earlier this month, Roy rejoined the TMC, of which he was once the second-in-command, following his three-and-a-half year-long stint in the BJP.

    He had contested the March-April assembly polls on a BJP ticket and bagged the Krishnanagar Uttar seat.

    Adhikari, a few days ago, had met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to complain about Roy.

    Takiing to Twitter, Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta, who had unsuccessfully contested the assembly election on a BJP ticket, said the law demands that he resign as MLA as he was elected on the BJP symbol.

    “Last week Mukul Roy joined AITC in presence of @MamataOfficial. There was no ambiguity over his defection. Politics will take its course, but law demands he resign as MLA elected on BJP symbol. Let him follow his own course of resigning from Rajya Sabha in 2017 before joining BJP,” Dasgupta tweeted.

    Making light of BJP’s assertions, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh, said the leader of opposition should ask his father Sisir Adhikari, who joined the saffron camp in March, to “resign as our party MP before lecturing others”.

    Sharing a similar view, TMC Rajya Sabha deputy leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said the BJP, which has formed government in other states by “poaching MLAs” from others parties, shouldn’t be the one giving sermons on the anti-defection law.

    “The TMC has not forced anyone to join the party, unlike the BJP. The BJP in other states have used every trick — from threats to intimidation — to poach MLAs of other parties,” he added.