Bengal

Re-excavating history

• The Statesman
• 12 Jan 2015

Biswabrata Goswami
biswabrata@thestatesman.net
Midnapore, 11 January
The state archaeology department is all set to conduct re-excavation of the Mogolmari mound in Dantan in West Midnapore which is believed to be the ruins of a ‘Buddhist monastic complex’ resembling the ancient Nalanda University and Karnasubarna.
It is being believed to be the biggest monastic structure discovered so far in West Bengal and it was probably an institution on the lines of Nalanda.
Last year, the state archaeology department had taken charge of its excavation and it had been able to do excavation work for about three months. For further excavation work, it applied to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) this year and the ASI authorities in its meeting held on 7 January has renewed its appeal, a senior government official said.     
The Mogolmari mound was first discovered in 2003 by Indologist BN Mukherjee who visited Dantan to document Bengal’s navigational history. Calcutta University started excavating the site in 2004 and did it in several phases till 2012 to arrive at the conclusion that a Buddhist vihara existed underneath the massive mound of Mogalmari, that developed in two phases from sixth to seventh centuries and then again from ninth to tenth centuries. However, due to lack of funds and several other infrastructural shortcomings, the university could not continue to excavate the mound. The state archaeology department took it over and started re-excavating the site from November last year.
The state archaeology department has gradually excavated a tri-ratha type of structure that is typical of the Buddhist monastic architecture, complete with many cells lined on all four sides.
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.
In the latest, six terracotta tablets were found lying inside a container that was kept below a staircase; that too has been unearthed intact. Brahmi inscriptions have also been found on these tablets that read the equivalent of, ‘Ye darma hetu prabhabo...maha shaman’, indicating clearly that the site was a prominent and proliferating vihara (monastery) of the times. A large number of deities have been unearthed during the course of the excavation and historians feel that the monastery was built during the Vajrayana phase of Buddhism.

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Youth slaps Mamata’s nephew, nearly lynched

• The Statesman
• 05 Jan 2015

TMC workers go on rampage after incident at party rally

Biswabrata Goswami
Chandipur, 4 January
A Trinamul Youth Congress rally turned into a battlefield after an unidentified youth slapped Abhishek Banerjee, a party MP and the nephew of chief minister Mamata Banerjee on the stage in front of a bunch of leaders, including a minister and two MLAs, at Chandipur in East Midnapore this afternoon.
The youth was caught by party workers and leaders who started beating him up on the stage;  he was then pulled down on the ground where the crowd joined in. The youth was later rescued by police and admitted to the Chandipur block hospital in critical condition.
Hundreds of workers and supporters pelted stones at police and security officials who rushed to the stage to rescue Mr Banerjee. The irate workers also jumped on the stage and vandalised it. They then went to the Chandipur police station, which they ransacked.
At least 15 police persons including senior police officials were injured in the incident.
The Trinamul workers also targeted mediapersons too. Four mediapersons of two vernacular news channels were beaten up and their cameras were broken.
The youth’s motive in attacking Mamata Banerjee’s nephew is yet to be ascertained. The party claimed that the youth was not a Trinamul member but an outsider.
According to party leaders, the youth was apparently allowed to go on stage after he told party workers that he wanted to take a photo of Mr Banerjee on his cellphone.
Mr Sisir Adhikari, a veteran Trinamul Congress leader said, “I am astounded at this incident. I don’t know the youth, but I believe that it was not a factional feud that led to the incident. There is obviously a conspiracy and it should be properly probed”.
Mr Akhil Giri, who belongs to Mr Adhikari’s rival lobby, said, “The party will conduct a probe into this matter. It is impossible to say anything before the investigation is completed.”
A CPI-M leader said, “Following the Saradha scam Miss Banerjee decided to put aside many senior leaders, perhaps to distance herself from such scam-tainted leaders, and started promoting her nephew. This has aggravated the internal feuds in the party’s district leaderships and this incident may be the resultant of the factional feuds. Though I personally condemn the attack on Mr Banerjee”.
Congress leader Mr Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, said, “It is nothing
but a crude manifestation of an internal conflict within the TMC. The Frankenstein syndrome has become very visible in the Trinamul.”

Bengal

‘Pisciculture changed lifestyle of self-help group members’

• The Statesman
• 02 Jan 2015

Biswabrata Goswami
biswabrata@thestatesman.net
Midnapore, 2 January
At a time when the state government is planning to frame a policy to attract investments in the fisheries sector, a research study revealed that pisciculture has changed lifestyle of Self Help Group members in Birbhum.
Mrs Rajyosree Roy, a student of Vidyasagar University, who has conducted a research study on socio-economic development of Self Help Group members involved in fishery activities in Birbhum district, said that her research works would help the government to formulate plans in eradicating poverty among fishing community through pisciculture in rural Bengal.
Government officials said that at present, there is no specific policy to attract investments in this sector. The proposed policy will have a comprehensive outline on what incentives, subsidies and grants the state government could provide to entrepreneurs or private companies.
Self Help Groups (SHG), non-formal cooperatives, are making a silent revolution through micro-credit and various other activities involving women as major change agents to make pisciculture sustainable.
Nearly 30,000 SHGs have been formed so far in Birbhum district who have made a notable success in micro-finance. The study, however, focused on the functioning of 93 SHGs of which 45 run by male, 38 by female and 10 by mixed groups respectively, located in 19 blocks of Birbhum district comprising 644 members mainly belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL). Also, different social class of this fishing population of these SHGs was assisted under Swarnjaynti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY). These SHGs were found to save a portion of their meagre income and pull away that money for inter-lending among them at an interest decided by the SHGs.
Mrs Roy in her survey projected how the credit and project loan were used for better sustainability and enhancement of income in changing the lifestyle of poverty-stricken group members from pisciculture. Empowerment of women was undertaken through training and other assistance provided by local panchayats, NGO’s and government officials. The SHGs members increased their self-confidence, leadership qualities, skill to undertake pisciculture, marketing, knowledge of book keeping, enhanced income, linkage with banks and protest against social injustice.