Traders give cops a hair-raising time!

10 January 2013

biswabrata goswami
TAMLUK, 10 JAN: Angry traders gave East Midnpore police a hair- raising time for failing to trace a truck ferrying Rs 4 crore of processed human hair that was hijacked on its way from way from Chandipur to Nimtouri two days back.
Hundreds of traders in human hair, who painstakingly collect women's locks from villages and sell these to exporters, today vandalised Chandipur police station in East Midnapore.
The incident occurred following an altercation with the police over the failure to trace the hair-laden Nimtouri bound vehicle. As the police have not recovered the lorry yet, nor made any arrests, the infuriated hair dealers  vandalised the Chandipur police station in East Midnapore.
Hours before they vented their fury on the police station, they set up a road block on the Digha- Nandakumar state highway at Chandipur for over an hour but relented after the police invited them to the police station to hear them out. . “The police  were sitting on the  matter. When we realized this, some of us attacked the police station and damaged some chairs and tables”, a protestor said. Police officials, however, denied any inaction and said, “We are trying our best to recover the hijacked lorry, but have no leads yet”.
According to a hair trader, hair collected from different villages and towns across the state is sent to Andhra’s West Godavari district, where the small town of Eluru is the hub of India’s hair export trade. Chandipur is one of the main hair collection centres in West Bengal and these hair-laden vehicles   then head to Andhra Pradesh.  Hair processing units, where each worker cleans, grades, and packs around 300-400 gm daily, then ensure that shipments meet the specifications of large importers in China. China is India's top customer for human hair, said Pratap Jana, a hair trader in Chandipur.
As village women don’t dye, bleach and streak their hair - at least for now,  even their comb remnants fetch a far higher price in world markets than average temple hair, which is usually shorter than 16 inches.
“In fact, Tirupati and all the temples together contribute only 20 out of every 100 locks of premium hair sold. The rest are patiently procured from village women, who are quite happy to exchange hair headed for the dustbin with the fancy clips and baubles offered by the “hair collector” who comes with his bag once a week”, Mr Jana said.
Another trader said, “Rural hair sells for a premium because it is untouched by any chemicals and rarely more than two or three human hands. Not surprisingly then, comb waste sells for Rs 1,225 per kilogram.”
But even village belles are slowly losing their lustrous lengths. “Earlier we would get 40-inch long hair from villages. Now it is rarely more than 30 inches. But even so, it is longer than Tirupati first grade, which rarely crosses 26 inches,” said Amulya Dey, a hair collector.
“The procurement chain, from village to hair export units, is highly informal and nebulous. Even, many hair collectors themselves do not know who organises the collectors and ensures adequate volumes”, said a police officer.

TMC, CPM blame game continues

7 January 2013

biswabrata goswami
MIDNAPORE, 7 JAN: In a show of strength, the Trinamul Congress today held a public rally at Chandipur in East Midnapore where the former chief minister and CPI-M politburo leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had addressed a rally at the same venue two days ago.
Throwing a challenge to the CPI-M, the Trinamul Congress MP Subhendu Adhikari, who was instrumental in the people’s movement against the erstwhile CPI-M’s decision on setting up a chemical hub at Nandigram in 2007, said: “Let the CPI-M capture a single seat of panchayat in the forthcoming panchayat polls here if they can”. At the gathering, he said: “Not a single inch of land will be provided for the CPI-M in the ensuing panchayat polls. They (the CPI-M cadres) will try to enter into the villages, but you will have to keep a close vigil on them. You will have to remember that all the CPI-M leaders are nothing but poisonous snakes.”
Replying to Mr Bhattacharjee’s allegation that the Trinamul Congress government is taking the state towards disaster, Mr Adhikari said: “The CPI-M is worried about our government’s performance towards implication of various development works across the state. And so they are trying to malign our government by framing false charges.” Referring to the CPI-M activities during the Nandigram violence in East Midnapore and Netai massacre in West Midnapore, he demanded that the CPI-M be banned immediately.
Before the meeting, Mr Adhikari went to Nandigram early today at around 4.30 am and took out a rally with candle sticks to commemorate the three martyrs who were killed at Bhangabera during the Nandigram violence in 2007.
Later, he went to Netai village in Lalgarh in West Midnapore where nine people were killed and 29 persons received bullet injuries in a firing from the top of a CPI-M leader’s house on 7 January, 2011.
While paying homage to the nine villagers who were killed in the firing, Mr Adhikari demanded that CBI investigation into the Netai and Nandigram violence should be completed at the earliest. “It was one of the heinous crimes committed by the CPI-M. But the CBI investigation is going at very slow pace which is unexpected. We are demanding immediate arrest of Susanta Ghosh and Dipak Sarkar and a supplementary charge-sheet against these two CPI-M leaders should be submitted before the court by the CBI”, he said.
Mr Adhikari said the family members of the martyrs in Nandigram have not received justice yet. Though, the High Court has instructed the CBI to conduct a probe into the killings and disappearances of people during the Nandigram violence in 2007 but the CBI is reluctant to conduct a probe into this matter. “If the CBI fails to begin an investigation immediately, the family members of the martyrs will begin a sit-in before the CBI office in Kolkata,” he said.
Expressing shock over the Delhi gang-rape incident, he claimed that a more shocking incident of similar magnitude took place in Nandigram few years ago, while referring to the Tapasi Malik murder case.

Survey on out-of-school kids

1 January 2013

biswabrata goswami
TAMLUK, 1 JAN: The state government is all set to conduct a survey of all children living across the state to ascertain the number of children who are still out of school.
This child survey will be held on 13 January in every booth area of all districts under the supervision of the district project officer of Sarva Siksha Mission.
 “One of the conditions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act is to enroll each and every child in the neighbourhood school. So, the government is all set to conduct a survey of all children in the age group of 0 to 14 years ( up to 18 years for CWSN) of all families residing in any particular habitation”, said an official.
The child survey contains details of the child like age, sex, caste, disability status, migration status, disadvantage group, weaker section, guardian details, class-wise information, nature of institution, enrollment status and out of school children, the officer said.
As per the order, the enumerator will be all para-teachers, Siksha Bandhus and Special Educators. Supervisor of the booth-wise survey will be head of the institution who will co-operate with the Circle Project Co-ordinator for completion of the survey and compilation of the work.
According to the survey, it has been observed with concern that though the RTE Act is in place, underprivileged children are often being denied their rights. When conducted in 2007, the survey had found that 7.8 per cent children between six and 14 years of age were out of school which has declined to 4.6 per cent in 2010. However, the figure remains higher than the national average of 3.5 per cent in 2010.
The State has the fifth highest percentage of out-of-school children following Meghalaya (7.2 per cent), Rajasthan (5.8 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (5.2 per cent), and Assam (5 per cent). Neighbouring Bihar had a higher number of out-of-school children than West Bengal just a couple of years ago, but has now achieved parity with the national average, according to the survey.

State to conduct census for inland fisheries resources

31 December 2012

biswabrata goswami
MIDNAPORE, 31 DEC: The state government has started the process to conduct a census for inland fisheries resources across the state to collect information on the number of fishermen, their craft and gear, socio-economic profile, demographic features, behavioural parameters and other related facts.
Though, at the national level, no such census has been conducted yet for inland fisheries in any state in the country. this is the first time a state government has conducted such a census, said an official.
The state Fisheries Department has already circulated an order to respective fisheries officers of all districts asking them to take suitable steps so that the survey work could be executed in the right manner and completed within the stipulated time period of three months from January to March 2013.
According to the department, water body resource survey in the state was started during 2009-10 to prepare GIS map using RS technology, but due to its limitations it was not possible to cover all aspects of fisheries resources.
“In order to fill up the gap and to plot all resources ~ water bodies, fisherman family, household, market, hatchery, co-operatives, crafts and gears, fish-based industries, processing plants and ice plants ~ to make it more informative, a pilot project entitled “Complete Enumeration of Fisheries Resources” will be implemented in some selected blocks of all districts,” the joint director of the fisheries department said.
According to the plans, a contractual enumerator will be engaged from every gram panchayat with a fixed remuneration of Rs 4,000 per month for three months.
The enumerators would visit every fisherman's home in all concerned villages. They would note down the number of country boats, mechanised boats, traditional boats, fishing gear besides collecting information about the families according to the guidelines of the Fisheries Department. To conduct the census, the state government has allotted Rs 14. 97 lakh, said an official.
He said: “Fisheries is an important sector in the state. It provides employment to millions of people and contributes to food security. As no specific data on the inland fisheries resources is currently available, our government cannot chalk out development plans on this sector. After completion of this census, the state government can go through with the various development plans.”

Cold weather fails to dampen festive spirits

28 December 2012

biswabrata goswami
DIGHA, 28 DEC: The cold wave gripping the state has failed to dampen the spirit of thousands of tourists who arrived at the state’s sea resorts ~ Digha, Mandarmoni, Sankarpur and Tajpur ~ to celebrate the Christmas and the New Year.
This time, the number of domestic tourists has outnumbered their international counterparts. Despite pollution and exorbitant hotel rates, the flow of tourists is on the rise. The calm and serene environs are luring a lot of tourists to Mandarmoni, Tajpur and Shankarpur beaches, too.
Keeping in mind the promise made by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to convert Digha into Goa of the east, the government has introduced paragliding as part of the year-end festivities.
On the lines of Goa and other beach towns, paragliding has begun at the Digha beach. But it is the first of its kind in eastern India and third in the country after Delhi and Pune which runs on a motor.
While inaugurating the paragliding at New Digha beach on Wednesday, the state Tourism Minister, Mr Krishnendu Chowdhury, said: “The chief minister had dreamed about turning Digha into Goa. Many other things have to be done to fulfil the dream. This is just the beginning. Digha needs to be made affordable for everyone from the middle class to the high class”.
It would cost Rs 2,500 per head for a 15-minute ride, 18,000 ft above the sea level. The minister, however, lamented several work have been put on hold in the Digha-Mandarmoni tourist circuit due to objections raised by the Environment Department as it falls under the special economic zone.
This apart, the state government has launched a Rs 41 crore World Bank-aided project to build a storm water drainage network system in the coastal areas of Digha and its surroundings. The project, expected to be completed in the next two years, is part of the World Bank-aided Integrated Coastal Zone Management programme. “There are several plans that have been chalked out to spruce up the coastal regions of the state and make them popular on the lines of Goa. While the authorities had decided to set up a wooden pedestrian walkway at Shankarpur for tourists, plans are also afoot to introduce a hovercraft service,” said Soumen Pal, Executive Officer of Digha Sankarpur Development Authority.
In Digha the tourists inflow has increased from 8 lakh to 35 lakh in the past one year. “Compared to the past two years, this year, tourist inflow increased abnormally, especially after Miss Banerjee introduced direct rail services here,” said a hotel owner. With the rise in tourist flow, the pollution level has also risen. Digha, which was once called the “Brighton of the East”, has turned into a garbage dump, with plastic and litter everywhere. The famous casuarina forests off Digha coast has lost its charm. The sewage system here has been a problem for many years.

Sarsanka, Mughalmari may become tourist destinations

24 December 2012

biswabrata goswami
MIDNAPORE, 24 DEC: The state tourism department plans to promote Sarsanka and Mughalmari ~ two places of historical interest in West Midnapore district ~ as new tourist destinations.
While paying a formal visit to these two places on Saturday, Mr Vikram Sen, principal secretary, state tourism department, said: “The state government has already sanctioned Rs 80 lakh for excavation and development of Mughalmari. An overall development plan for Sarsanka, at a cost of Rs 150 crore, has already been chalked out.”
Recent excavations at Mughalmari, a Buddhist monastery in Dantan in West Midnapore, reveal a strong presence of Buddhism in the state which dates back to the sixth century AD. It is believed to be the biggest monastic structure discovered so far in West Bengal and it was probably an institution on the lines of Nalanda.
Several relics of post-Gupta period, dating back to the sixth and seventh century AD, have been unearthed which resemble those found in Nalanda and Karnasubarna. This monastic structure was, however, made in two phases: after the destruction of its original monastic complex another structure was built on its basic foundation. Its early phase structure was made of various decorative bricks and beautiful relics.
Later it was painted in red and the whole complex was decorated with beautiful artwork. But, in the second phase structure, the complex was not made with earlier phase’s arts. The monastic complex was left abandoned after 12th century. A team comprising eight members from Calcutta University's archaeology department, led by the late Ashok Datta, started digging the area in 2003. During the sixth phase excavation, it was believed to be the largest find till date in Bengal, measuring about 3,600 sq mt.
The complex and the statues trace their origin to the reign of Sasanka, who ruled Bengal between 590 AD and 626 AD. The relics which have been recovered include a 10th century Buddha idol, a map of the Bouddha Vihar and a dozen other figurines. The team had discovered 45 types of decorative bricks and some statues of Buddha in various forms.
They have also come across some sculptures of Dharmachakra as well. Dharmachakra, the wheel of life, is a religious symbol representing Buddha’s path to enlightenment.
Like Mughalmari, Sarsanka in Dantan is also a historical place where the seventh century king of Gour had dug a large tank which is still in use but is now known as Sarsanka Dighi commemorating some local chieftain of the Ganga dynasty who probably had it renovated in the 11th century. Lord Chaitanya travelled to Puri and on the way he rested at Dantan which has become an important Vaishnava centre on that account.
“The state government has honoured the demand of the residents who have repeatedly urged promotion of the place into a new tourist destination. We have decided to excavate the site and develop the area with the help of some other departments. The infrastructure will be developed to attract foreign tourists,” said Mr Sen.

Tehatta firing ‘undesirable’, CM calls for peace

20 December 2012

biswabrata goswami
TEHATTA, 20 DEC: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today described the Tehatta police firing, where one person was killed and two others were injured, as “undesirable” and asked residents to live altogether in peace.
“I have come here to stop the recurrence of such incidents. Investigation into the firing is going on and the guilty will be punished,” she said at a mass rally here.
She announced that she has handed over a cheque of Rs 2 lakh as compensation to the wife of the deceased and a job of police home guard to the victim’s next of kin.
The injured were also given compensation to the tune of Rs 25,000 each and Miss Banerjee assured that she would extend her government’s assistance to their families as well.
On 14 November, trouble had broken out after police refused to allow a Jagaddhatri puja at a particular spot. They had initially lathicharged and then opened fire after a mob hurled brickbats and torched two police vehicles.
While talking about the "undesirable" incident, Miss Banerjee also spoke strongly against the "politics of communalism" and said her government would sternly deal with any attempt to foment communal trouble in the state.
“When I was walking along the street from a place five kilometres away from the rally ground, I talked with two families ~ one Muslim and another Hindu. I wanted to know the real fact behind the incident was,” she said adding that every one should hate the riot.
Accusing the Centre for not co-operating with her government, Miss Banerjee said: “The Centre used to help the previous CPI-M government in our state, but not helping our government. It had allowed it to borrow money indiscriminately for which our government is now facing an acute financial crisis. Our money is being used to repay the huge loan taken by the previous government and the Centre is trying to block all avenues to get loans. Still, we are not helpless. We are working hard for the people of Bengal. I have settled the Junglemahal problem. The crisis in the Darjeeling Hills is also over and I had promised to create 10 lakh job opportunities in our five-year tenure in the government and already more than two lakh have been created,” she said.
She said: “I won’t accept any advice either from the CPI-M or from the Congress. Similarly, I won’t accept any advice from the BJP. I would rather listen to the advice of the common people.”
Miss Banerjee reached Krishnagar, Nadia, last night and held meetings with her party MLAs and leaders. Today, she addressed the rally where more than a lakh people gathered. As many could not enter the Tehatta High School ground, they stayed on the roads, leading to an acute traffic jam.

State move to boost SHGs

19 December 2012

biswabrata goswami
TAMLUK, 19 DEC: To provide a boost to products manufactured by various Self Help Groups (SHGs) in East Midnapore, the district administration plans to give them a unique brand identity with a logo and monogram. It also plans to develop the concept of “one village-one product”, as well as new clusters.
A brand name, Urja, with a logo, Udiyaman Surya (Rising Sun), and a monogram have already been prepared to provide products with a unique identity to help them compete in open market. “Marketing of SHG products is now a big challenge as customers are becoming rather brand-conscious,” said Parvej Ahmed Siddiqui, district magistrate.
“A policy note drawn up by the department states that product quality is linked to the brand name and attractive packaging. Efforts will be made by the government to standardise the products of SHGs and get the required certification from government-approved agencies,” he said.
East Midnapore has been one of the pioneering districts in the state to have set up SHG institutions like Sub-Cluster, Cluster and block level Federations, with the objective of overall empowerment of women. The key strategy that the district adopted was social mobilisation of women by encouraging them to form SHGs and by promoting savings and thrift. The SHG movement in East Midnapore started in April 1999. Over the past 13 years, it has spread across the district.
At present, around 2.2 lakh families have been mobilised into some 22,356 SHGs. A total of 20,232 SHGs have started economic activities with their savings, bank credit and financial assistance by DRDC (Revolving Fund). Total savings of all SHGs under the district is Rs 7767.88 lakh as on 31 March 2012, said Mr Siddiqui. The scheme is sponsored by a state government fund and involves formation of new SHGs, capacity building of SHG members and representatives, skill training, enterprise development training, credit assistance to SHGs, setting up a revolving fund, credit linkages through banks, and marketing of SHG products through exhibitions and branding. For effective promotion of SHG products at the state, national and international level, the district administration has also launched a web-based marketing system through the website www.purbamedinipur.gov.in from where any one can directly establish contact with the SHGs. This apart, any one can get all types of information about the products, said Mamud Hossain, saha-sabhadhipati of zilla parishad. He said: “In five blocks, namely Tamluk, Panskura, Ramnagar-I, Bhagwanpur-I and Patashpur-I, Block Federations have been formed. In Tamluk Block Federation, Tamluk Block Mahila Bikash Mahasangha, is one of the best not only in West Bengal but also in India. A Cooperative Bank, Tamluk Block Mahila Bikash Credit Cooperative Society Limited, which was set up first in West Bengal on a pilot basis, is well managed by the federation.”

VU authorities covering up misdeeds?

9 December 2012

biswabrata goswami
MIDNAPORE, 9 DEC: The authorities of Vidyasagar University seem to have suppressed the case of misappropriation of UGC Unassigned Grants funds by former Vice-Chancellor, Professor Swapan Kumar Pramanick, who enjoyed two successive terms during the Left regime in West Bengal.
Prof. Pramanick sanctioned his own travel grants amounting to over Rs 60,000 to attend an international congress in Sociology held in Beijing, when he was the chairman of the UGC Unassigned Grants Committee in its meeting held on 6 May 2004. This was against the guidelines of UGC since the V-Cs were supposed to apply directly to the secretary of the UGC under the Travel Grant Scheme for college teachers/VCs/Commission members according to the UGC website.
Moreover, Prof. Pramanick also did not submit his round-trip air-tickets and boarding cards as proof of his expenditure which is a must in every public institution. Interestingly, Prof Jing Tian Kui, Director of Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in a letter sent by e-mail to Prof Pramanik on 11 November 2003 addressing him as "V-C of VU”, invited him to attend the Congress held from 7 to 11 July 2004 although Prof Pramanik officially had taken over charge as V-C of the university on 1 December 2003.
All this came to light through the replies to a number of RTI applications submitted by Mr Abhijit Guha, a teacher of the Department of Anthropology at Vidyasagar University in 2010.
Based on the replies to his RTI queries, Mr Guha complained to Mr Bratya Basu, the state Higher Education Minister, on 1 August 2011 and also to the UGC Chairman on 16 March 2012. Responding to Mr Guha's complaint, the deputy secretary of UGC sent a letter dated 27 July 2012 to the Registrar, of VU to refund Rs 60, 976 spent by Prof. Pramanick, since the money, according to UGC, was “misappropriated by the former V-C of Vidyasagar University”.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal State Council of Higher Education formed a two-member inquiry committee comprising Prof. Subhasankar Sarkar, Vice-Chancellor of Netaji Subhas Open University and Mr G K Pattanayak, finance officer of Jadavpur University to probe into the matter about two months ago.
Surprisingly, the WBSCHE has not yet issued any public notification nor has it notified the "terms of reference" of the inquiry committee in the public. No one knows what the committee will actually probe and when the inquiry will be completed. On the other hand, the Vidyasagar University authority has not yet refunded the money misappropriated by Prof. Pramanick to the UGC.
When contacted, Mr Ranajit Dhar, Registrar of VU, said: “The money has not been refunded to UGC yet.”
He, however, said the two-member committee of the West Bengal State Council of Higher Education is conducting a probe into the matter. He said: "They have not communicated with us yet."
It was, however, learnt that the committee members visited the Vidyrasagr university on 9 November and talked to the registrar, vice-chancellor and other concerned officials.