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| Lalgarh shows why Naxalism is growing | 21-NOV-09 |
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| The road to Lalgarh, in the heart of West Bengal’s Naxal badlands, is now secure. But it is still a distance too far for many of the districts' administrators to travel. |
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| Barun Roy: For Tagore's sake | 19-NOV-09 |
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| I don’t wish to get into the question of who’s right and who’s wrong, but the recent turmoil at Visva-Bharati, in Santiniketan, West Bengal, is highly disturbing and it diminishes its sanctity as an institution founded by Rabindranath Tagore. The simmering problems that have plagued Visva-Bharati for long and culminated in an ugly showdown between its vice-chancellor and its faculty and employees call for an urgent and convincing intervention by the highest authorities in New Delhi. |
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| No one's home | 17-NOV-09 |
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| Interestingly, the familiar Left faces were not to be seen on various TV channels after the party got wiped out in the West Bengal by-elections. Sitaram Yechury, the most visible face of the CPI(M) on nightly television, was in Madrid participating in the 18th Congress of the Spanish Communist Party while Brinda Karat was in Brazil attending another fraternal party’s conference. Prakash Karat was in London around the same time. |
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| T N Ninan: No one barked | 14-NOV-09 |
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| If you’re looking for the dog that did not bark, look no further than the (lack of) response to the government’s recent economic policy pronouncements. Two weeks ago, the home minister announced the Cabinet’s decision to list on the stock market all qualifying (e.g. profitable) state-owned companies, with a minimum float of 10 per cent. Already listed companies with a smaller float would take up their public stake to 10 per cent. |
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| Ramsarup Ind signs power purchase agreement | 13-NOV-09 |
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| Ramsarup Industries, a leading manufacturer of steel wires in India, has signed a power purchase agreement for its waste heat, CO-gas based 22 MW power plant with West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company (WBSEDCL) , a state government owned electrical utility company. |
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| Newsmaker: Asim Dasgupta | 13-NOV-09 |
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| He’s the hero for forging consensus on GST, popular in the Left Front and among his students, but industrialists are less than enamoured. |
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| TC-Cong combine bags 5 seats, leading in 3 others | 10-NOV-09 |
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| The CPI(M)-led ruling Left Front in West Bengal appeared heading for another poll debacle after the Lok Sabha elections with the Trinamool Congress-Congress combine winning five of the 10 seats where by-elections were held last Saturday. |
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| Abode of turmoil | 08-NOV-09 |
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| It is an eloquent comment on the deplorable state of the country’s higher education system that Visva Bharati, a central university founded by none else than India’s first Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore, was allowed to remain shut for about six weeks from September 24. Worse, neither the education ministry at the Centre nor the government of West Bengal, where the university is located, intervened in any constructive manner to defuse the crisis. At the centre of the controversy was the university’s vice-chancellor (VC), Rajat Kanta Ray, an academician of repute. The striking employees and teachers had alleged corruption, financial mismanagement and nepotism in a few of the decisions Mr Ray had taken. The VC’s response to these charges was to call for an external inquiry not only into the allegations against his conduct, but also into the “activities” of some of the workers. |
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| Keya Sarkar: The inglorious present | 07-NOV-09 |
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| As I write this, both the teaching and the non-teaching staff are on strike at Tagore’s Visva Bharati University. This not only extends the long Puja holidays that the teachers and students have already had, but makes it clear to those with any interest in academia that syllabi will not be completed in time for the November semester exams. |
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| TMC creating lawlessness in West Bengal: CPI(M) | 06-NOV-09 |
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| The ruling Left Front in West Bengal today took a swipe at Union Home Minister P Chidambaram for telling the state government to ensure law and order, saying it was the Trinamool Congress which was responsible for "lawlessness". |
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| Musical politics | 30-OCT-09 |
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| Kabir Suman, the maverick singer-cum-MP in Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress takes politics so seriously he manages to convert even his musical shows into mini-rallies. At his first performance in the capital after he became an MP, Suman chose not to sing his popular songs, and instead sang song to sympathise with the Maoists and slamming the West Bengal government. He also gave short speeches in between the songs. “Whatever I did in life, people said someone else had done it before. But I am the first singer to defeat CPI(M)”. As the winter chill set in on the open air stage, Suman said, “I am sure the CPI(M) is thinking that if I die in the cold there will be a by-election and they can win back the seat. But I will not die so easily.” He did announce though, that he would not contest the Lok Sabha election again. |
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| Bengal transfers 533 acres for airport city project | 29-OCT-09 |
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| The West Bengal government has handed over the first tranche of 533 acres to Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL) for setting up a new airport city project. This is to come up in the Durgapur-Asansol region, of Bardhaman district, at an estimated investment of Rs 10,000 crore. |
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