News and Views regarding Bengal and Bengali culture

Friday, February 11, 2011

GenX makes Dada duck and drive


Sourav Ganguly padded up on Wednesday against a pace battery from Jadavpur University, Presidency and Calcutta University. Only, the bowlers had questions to hurl, not a shining leather ball. The students posed to the former skipper uncomfortable questions that rose from a good length and slower ones that confirmed they weren’t in a friendly. The Prince of Calcutta edged some, let go of some and drove some through the off, bringing lusty cheers from (alas!) the Town Hall and not the Eden. A selection of questions at the show organised by a Bengali news channel

Student 1: The CAB (Cricket Association of Bengal) has failed as the Eden custodian, losing the right to host the India-England tie. Isn’t this the time for you to step in?

SOURAV: I don’t believe in taking advantage of a situation when someone is down on the mat. You should only lend a helping hand at such times. I do plan to get into cricket administration but this is not the time for it.

Student 2: Were you ignored for IPL because there were too many Aussie coaches?

SOURAV: I don’t know if that’s the way to put it. The team owners, too, take decisions. But ‘Aussie coach’ is one theory I hear. The other theory is that I am 38. But there is Shane Warne, who is 41, and Adam Gilchrist, who is 40, and they are playing.

Student 3: Do you think you should have played county cricket or more of Ranji Trophy to prove your match fitness? Would they have treated you better then?

SOURAV: Who would have treated me better?

Student 3: The IPL people…

SOURAV: I have at least played some cricket. Warne, Gilchrist and Mathew Hayden played nothing.

Student 4: The IPL starts right after the World Cup. Will you play the IPL if you are picked as a replacement for an injured player?

SOURAV: Oh yes, of course! (Loud cheers)

Student 5: What if Kochi picks you and the Eden stops cheering for KKR. How would you feel?

SOURAV: How would I get a chance to feel anything? I would be in the middle, playing.

Student 6: Do you judge Dhoni when you see India play and ponder how you would have done things?

SOURAV: No, I don’t. I will never in this life be where Dhoni is and I am aware of that.

Student 7: You had skipped the Nagpur Test (against Australia in 2004)…. Was it because the wicket had grass?

SOURAV: Ghasher mathe ghash-i thake (A field will always have grass).
(The Telegraph Calcutta 10th Feb 2011)

Friday, February 4, 2011

AK-47 seized on leads given by Maoists held in Trinamool camp

KOLKATA: The police claimed to have recovered on Thursday a sophisticated firearm and several rounds of ammunition and explosives from Kanyabali village in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district based on information provided by two suspected Maoists, who were arrested from a Trinamool Congress-run relief camp in Midnapore town on Monday.

Additional Director-General (Law and Order) Surajit Kar Purkayastha said one AK-47 rifle, 50 rounds of 8-mm cartridges and 61 gelatine sticks were recovered from an abandoned house. The AK-47 rifle reportedly has ‘PLGA' (the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army) and ‘EER' (Eastern Frontier Rifles) written on it, making the police suspect that it could be one of the firearms looted by Maoists from the Silda armoury after they massacred 24 EFR jawans on February 15, 2010.

“The arms and ammunitions were found when the security forces raided various places at Kanyabali and Lakhanpur villages on the basis of information revealed during the interrogation of Asim Mahato and Amiyo Mahato. Investigations are still on to examine if the duo was involved in the Silda incident,” Mr. Kar Purakayastha said here.

Both were produced before Midnapore's Chief Judicial Magistrate during the day and remanded to police custody for five days. Murder charges had been slapped on them.

http://www.hindu.com/2011/02/04/stories/2011020465690100.htm

‘Major’ protest threat from Morcha - Agitation to start on February 8 - ‘Indecisive’ tag on Trinamul chief and Morcha president

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has threatened to start a “major” agitation across north Bengal from February 8 even as the Centre indicated that the draft of the interim authority might be soon presented to the party.

However, starting tomorrow, the party will scale down its existing programmes till February 6.


Union home minister P. Chidambaram, while presenting his ministry’s report card for January, said: “Next steps are being actively considered.” While laying emphasis on “actively”, Chidambaram indicated that the meeting with the Morcha last week was positive. In the same breath, he urged the Morcha to call off its agitation and cooperate in maintaining law and order. Chidambaram said he was happy to note that the bandh had been lifted by the Morcha. The minister was referring to the 27-day strike called by the Morcha in the hills to pressure the Centre to clear its stand on Gorkhaland.

The party is yet to react to Chidambaram’s statement.

Morcha general secretary Roshan Giri said: “An emergency meeting of the party’s central committee was held in Darjeeling today where we decided to start a major agitation in the Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars from February 8 onwards. We are, however, not immediately announcing the programme but are trying to convey a message to the general public to be ready for this agitation.”

Another round of the Morcha’s central committee meeting will be held on February 7. Till then the party has decided not to push hard for the Bimal Gurung-led “long march for Gorkhaland” to the Dooars. The march has been stopped by the administration at Kumani More on the edge of the Dooars where the security forces have set up a barricade.

“The march is being suspended till February 6. Between February 1 and 3, no demonstrations will be organised in front of police stations. The demonstrations will resume on February 4. The relay hunger strike will continue as usual,” said Giri. A proposed padayatra from Darjeeling to the Terai, which had been lined up for February 2, has also been postponed.

The Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Morcha will, however, go ahead with its “black flag” rally in the hills tomorrow. The rally is being organised to condemn the alleged lathicharge on Morcha supporters at Sibchu in Jalpaiguri district yesterday.

Asked about the sudden change in programme, Giri said it was “a party strategy”.

“We are fighting against the atrocities of the Bengal government, and the Centre, too, seems to be a silent spectator,” he said, an indication that the Morcha probably wants Delhi to end the Dooars stalemate.

For the past 14 days, the Morcha has been trying to enter the Dooars through the Kumani area but the Jalpaiguri district administration has stopped the marchers and imposed Section 144 on the Dooars. Nearly 600 marchers have been camping in Kumani.

For the past one year, the hills had been breathing easy as the Morcha, the state government and the Centre had agreed in principle to accept the interim set-up.

But the recent Morcha decision to reject the interim set-up is largely because of the delay in solving the contentious issues regarding the new arrangement for the hills. “The overwhelming majority in the Morcha’s central committee now feels that the set-up has been delayed for long and that the party will no longer benefit as the Bengal government is not sincere about devolving powers to the new authority. The party now firmly believes that it should strongly go ahead with the Gorkhaland agitation as this was the slogan that catapulted the hill party to a force to reckon with in the region,” said a Morcha source.

Probe plea granted

The court of the chief judicial magistrate in Darjeeling has accepted a prayer of the CBI to reinvestigate the murder of ABGL leader Madan Tamang and the alleged escape of the prime accused in the case, Nickole Tamang, from CID custody.

“The prayer for reinvestigation was made by the CBI on January 29 and the court today accepted the prayer,” said a court source.

All records related to these cases including the chargesheet will be handed over to the CBI.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110201/jsp/siliguri/story_13517915.jsp

Railways to recruit around 3 lakh people: Mamata Banerjee

HALDIA(WEST BENGAL)IANS: The Indian Railways will recruit 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh people in the next six months across the country, union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said here Friday.

"We will take 2.5 lakh - 3 lakh people all over the country. But I am sure we will get over three crore job applications," Banerjee said at a railway programme in this industrial town.

"The written tests will be held throughout the country over several days and the entire process will take over six months," she added.

The railways minister laid the foundation of a diesel multiple unit here, a wagon component factory to be set up in nearby Jellingham and the second Haldia dock complex of Kolkata port at the function.

The diesel unit project was shifted here from Howrah district's Sankrail following anti-land acquisition protests.

"Only one percent of people instigated by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) were opposing the project at Sankrail. Ninety nine percent people wanted it there. And I know if I had waited, things would have been sorted out," the minister said.

The diesel multiple unit factory will be set up on 42.5 acres of railway land and produce 96 coaches per year in phase 1 and 500 coaches in phase 2.

At Jellingham, the Steel Authority of India, railway and central public sector unit Burn Standard and Braithwaite will join hands to set up the wagon component factory.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/railways-to-recruit-around-3-lakh-people-mamata-banerjee/articleshow/7427914.cms

State violence ‘history’

New Delhi, Feb 4: Chief election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi today said the poll panel’s proactive approach in Bengal had been prompted by the state’s “history of violence” and “bitter political rivalry”.

“The Bengal elections are a huge challenge for us. The state has a history of violence, which is a matter of concern for us,” he said at an interactive session of the Indian Women’s Press Corps in Delhi.

He said that like the other three poll-bound states, Bengal too had “issues specific to it”. Quraishi said the commission was in the process of “vulnerability mapping” at the booth level in Bengal.

Asked about the importance of the observer team — led by Bihar chief electoral officer Sudhir Kumar Rakesh and including five IPS officers — that was sent to Bengal last month, Quraishi said: “The committee has submitted its report. But we receive inputs from various sources, including our observers.”

He chief said another observer team would be sent to the state as the “Left has complained that we had left out certain areas from our survey”. He said the commission wanted “the truth, the reality, and we will take all steps to get it”.

Quraishi laughed away suggestions that political considerations prompt the commission to be “slightly more proactive” in states where Opposition parties (not the Congress and its allies at the Centre) are in power.

He said that in Bengal, the commission’s challenges were the “intense political rivalry” and “armed struggle”.

Quraishi said the commission’s “worries” in Assam were the border issue and militancy while in Tamil Nadu the concerns were intense political rivalry and money power. He said that in Kerala, the poll panel’s concern was how to get the state’s substantial NRI population to exercise their voting rights.

Elaborating on the panel’s plan to ensure peaceful and fair polling in the Maoist-affected regions of Bengal, Quraishi said the commission would relocate booths to safer areas, reduce voting hours to allow poll personnel to shift to safer places before sundown and ensure that booths are set up in clusters. He said the commission would ensure that security was tight and also gather intelligence on candidates. He said choppers could be pressed into service if forces needed to be mobilised.

He said the commission had found out that in Bengal, “fathers don’t get their daughters enrolled as voters as it would reveal their true ages” and hamper their marriage prospects.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110205/jsp/bengal/story_13539595.jsp