The Asian Age – Shinde: High-level probe of attack on Mamata

Asian Age Correspondent

Kolkata, 18 April 2013. n a clear bid to placate sulking Mamata Banerjee, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Wednesday announced in Kolkata that the Centre had set up a high-level inquiry into the attack on her and the state finance minister Amit Mitra by SFI activists in Delhi.

“I have instituted an inquiry into the incident. Special secretary, home, is probing the matter,” Mr Shinde added. He was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the 20th Eastern Zonal Council meeting which was held at the Town Hall.

Chief ministers of four states, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand, were supposed to attend the meeting. However, only Ms Banerjee was present. Since Jharkhand is under President’s rule, the state was represented by governor Syed Ahmed.

However, contrary to speculation, the chief ministers of Bihar and Orissa Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik also gave it a miss. Mr Shinde, who presided over the meeting, did not forget to say a special thank you to Ms Banerjee for participating in the meeting. “I am grateful to Mamata didi that she came to the meeting though she is not keeping well,” he said.

Immediately after she returned from Delhi on last Wednesday, the chief minister was admitted to a private hospital. Although she was discharged on Saturday the doctors had advised her total rest.

Ms Banerjee has not been attending office at the Writers’ Buildings since then. On Wednesday, she attended an official function for the first time since her stormy visit to the Planning Commission last week.

http://www.asianage.com/india/shinde-high-level-probe-attack-mamata-230

The Tribune – Menon in Beijing; Army chief reviews border security

Kolkata, December 2. On a day when National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon arrived in Beijing for carrying forward the border talks, Army Chief Generak Bikram Singh reviewed the operational preparedness of troops along the China border in the NorthEast.

“Eastern Army Commander Lt General Dalbir Singh Suhag briefed the Army Chief on the operational preparedness and the security scenario in the eastern region,” a defence spokesperson said. The Eastern Command is in-charge of securing the region east of Kolkata up to Arunachal covering boundary with China.

India is upgrading its defence preparedness along the eastern boundary by raising more troops, new formations and deploying more lethal assets such as the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.

This was General Singh’s maiden visit to the Fort William-based Command headquarter since taking over as Army Chief on May 31, this year.

The visit follows his earlier visits to the three Corps headquarters under Eastern Command based at Sukna, Dimapur and Tezpur in recent months.

“It is virtually a homecoming,” said General Singh on arrival. Having commanded the Eastern Command for over two years, this is one formation that is very close to my heart,” he said.

As a mark of respect to former Prime Minister I K Gujral, who passed away on Friday, several planned social events were cancelled during the visit, the spokesperson said.

The Army Chief, who has so far addressed nearly 16,000 officers during his official visits to various formations and units across the country, including via video conferencing, addressed over 250 officers posted in and around Kolkata.

Sharing his vision to enhance operational effectiveness of the Army, he dwelt on some of the thrust areas that include effective fulfilment of the constitutional obligations and assigned roles, including force modernisation as per stipulated time lines.

General Singh also stressed on effective human resource management to ensure highest standards of motivation and morale.

“In my reckoning, unless these people are happy, the Army cannot be strong and happy. We cannot afford to ignore our ex-servicemen and ‘veer naris’ (war widows)” he said, while delving on various measures initiated for their welfare.

Menon in Beijing for talks

Beijing: In the first high-level Sino-India contact since the once-in-a-decade leadership change in the ruling CPC, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon arrived here on Sunday for wide-ranging talks on bilateral ties, including the vexed border issue.

During his three-days stay here, Menon would be meeting some of the new leaders elected during last month’s Congress of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) to succeed the outgoing administration headed by President Hu Jintao.

There is no official announcement here about Menon’s schedule.

Besides holding talks with his counterpart and China’s top diplomat Dai Bingguo, who too would retire in March next year, Menon is expected to call on Vice Premier Li Keqiang, the number two leader in the seven-member new Standing Committee of the party headed by General Secretary Xi Jinping, according to official sources.

Li is tipped to succeed Premier Wen Jiabao when he steps down in March after which a new administration headed by Xi, who would replace President Hu Jintao, would take over power formally.

The two officials designated as Special Representatives for the talks to resolve the border issue would review the progress achieved during the last 15 rounds of parleys and exchange views on a wide spectrum of bilateral relations, according to officials.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121203/main4.htm

The Hindu – Mamata’s attitude toward rape myopic: Karat

Ananya Dutta

Kolkatta, 18 October 2012. Expressing concern over the “unprecedented rise in attacks on women” in West Bengal, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat said here on Wednesday that the issue was compounded by the attitude of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was adopting a “short-sighted and pernicious approach.”

“Earlier it was denied that any such thing was taking place. Now she [Ms. Banerjee] is saying that the media is exaggerating and glorifying incidents of rape,” Mr. Karat said at a function to observe the foundation day of the party.

Mr. Karat said that at the national level, attacks on women was becoming a matter of growing concern, pointing out that 19 rapes were reported in Harayana in one month. The situation had arisen as a result of medieval regressive values as expressed by the khap panchayats and the “glorification of market values and the commodification of women” in the consumerist culture, he said.

He said the attacks on women in West Bengal are “a serious problem that has emerged” and must be tackled without politicising the issue.

“West Bengal is considered to be relatively a more enlightened society with regard to the attitude towards women, the status of women and the social values that have been there over a long period of time,” he said.

Commenting on the situation prevailing in the State, Mr. Karat said that communists were under attack in two ways — everyday supporters and party workers were being maimed and killed, and an attempt had been made to “imitate” the CPI (M) and steal its slogans.

Drawing a parallel with Kerala, Mr. Karat said that ever since the first communist government was formed in the State in 1957, even the leaders of the Congress raise issues that had been raised by the communists.

“Congress politics forever changed in Kerala. No Congressman in Kerala will take the stand that land reform is not necessary.

No Congressman will take the stand that the big bourgeoisie will be allowed to come in Kerala,” Mr. Karat said, adding that the stand taken by Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy to not allow FDI in retail in the State is “not surprising.”

Similarly, Mr. Karat said that the long time the Left Front was in power in West Bengal had forced the Trinamool Congress to adopt a stand against FDI in retail.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/mamatas-attitude-toward-rape-myopic-karat/article4006843.ece

The Hindu – Trinamool to move resolution against FDI

Shiv Sahay Singh & Gargi Parsai

Kolkata/New Delhi, September 22, 2012. The Trinamool Congress will move a resolution in the next session of Parliament opposing foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, senior party leaders said here on Saturday.

The matter was discussed at a meeting the leaders had with party chairperson Mamata Banerjee at the State Secretariat in Kolkata on Saturday.

Speaking to journalists in New Delhi, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav remained non-committal on whether his party would support the Trinamool resolution. “We are against FDI in retail and we will decide our parliamentary strategy against FDI and other recent government decisions only ahead of the winter session.”

Earlier, Mr. Yadav told a news channel that his party itself might bring such a resolution. Asked about his “flip-flop” on the issue, he shot back: “I stick to whatever I say.”

In Kolkata, senior Trinamool leader and former Union Minister Saugata Roy told The Hindu that the party’s stand “opposing foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail has been very consistent and it has raised the issue in Parliament several times.” The party opposed the issue in its election manifesto before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and the 2011 Assembly elections, he said.

The party also decided to organise protests in the State and in New Delhi.

Ever since the Trinamool announced its decision to withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance government, Ms. Banerjee has been campaigning on the issue by posting comments on her Facebook page.

On Thursday, she posted the statement made by the then Union Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, in the Lok Sabha on December 7, 2011 that a final decision on allowing FDI in multi-brand retail would be taken only after consensus was reached.

Later, she questioned the notification by the UPA government on entry of FDI in retail. “Is it ethical, moral and democratic for a minority government to issue [a] government order forcefully and hurriedly when massive protest against it is taking place across the country?”

Mulayam meets Badal

Mr. Yadav declined to divulge details of his meeting earlier in the day with Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal saying he was the son of his old friend, Prakash Singh Badal. The meeting should not be seen as a move towards formation of a Third Front, he added.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/trinamool-to-move-resolution-against-fdi/article3926510.ece

The Hindu – Mamata withdraws support to UPA government

Ananya Dutta

Kolkata, 18 September 2012. Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee announced here on Tuesday that her party would withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre, even as she indicated that the decision might yet be reconsidered if certain demands related to the recent reform measures were met.

“Our party [Ministers] will go to [New Delhi] to submit their resignation on Friday. Today is Tuesday. Let them [the Centre] say, yes, instead of six cylinders we want to give 24 cylinders at least.

Diesel also, they can withdraw the hike and bring down the price by Rs. 3 to 4… Regarding FDI in retail they have to withdraw (sic)…,” Ms. Banerjee said when asked if there was a possibility of her revoking the decision.

Ms. Banerjee said all six Trinamool Ministers would submit their resignations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at 3 p.m. on Friday.

“We are not staying in UPA-II. It is unfortunate for me to announce all this… We have decided to withdraw support to UPA-II,” Ms. Banerjee told journalists, adding that the unanimous decision was taken at an extended meeting here of all MPs, some Ministers in the State and senior leaders of the party.

She said it “saddened” her to take the decision, but she had given the Congress time to reconsider the reforms.

“I waited… We felt that at least this government will take some decisions, but they did not take those decisions… We were not allowed to stay,” she said.

Ms. Banerjee said she was beginning to wonder whether the recent announcements were a Congress tactic to divert attention from the coal blocks allocation scandal. “Is it a fact that to suppress Coalgate they started this FDI-gate? Is it proper?”

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3911517.ece?homepage=true

The Asian Age – Didi on warpath against FDI

Parwez Hafeez, Asian Age Correspondent

Sunday, 16 September 2012. Trinamul Congress chief and chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday went on a warpath against the Centre, dropping broad hints that she would not hesitate to pull out of the UPA II, if it did not scrap its decisions to hike the price of diesel price, restrict the number of subisidised LPG cylinders to six and allow FDI in multibrand retail.

She made it clear that if her demands were not met before the expiry of the 72-hour deadline she had set on Friday, she would take the “hard decision”. In the past, Ms Banerjee had repeatedly regretted that the people misunderstood her decision to resign from the railway ministry and dump the BJP-led NDA over the defence scam in 2001. Although she did not spell out her intentions but she requested the people to not misunderstand her move if she took the drastic step.

“I have given them 72 hour time. If they do not take a decision by then, then I will take my decision. I hope people will not misunderstand me however hard the decision may be because my decision will be in the interest of the people,” she said while addressing a large gathering at the foot of Gandhi statue. She led a padyatra from Subodh Mullick Square to the Gandhi statue.

In a hard-hitting speech, Ms Banerjee claimed that she did not care for power. “We have only one significant Cabinet berth — that of the railways. That also we did not get at their mercy. We have 20 Lok Sabha and nine Rajya Sabha MPs and are the second largest constituent of the UPA. I do not care if I lose one ministry,” she added.

Political observers pointed out that Ms Banerjee has sent a clear message to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA president Sonia Gandhi that she meant business. “It is for this reason that she took the people into confidence in advance asking them to not misinterpret her decision,” observers.

Scoffing at the Centre’s explanation that every state would be free to allow or disallow FDI in retail, she termed it as lollipops. “When the Government of India takes a policy decision it becomes applicable in the entire country. We are not fools who will be placated with a lollipop,” she thundered.

Without naming the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ms Banerjee said political leaders should be more concerned about the interests of the people rather than their own personal laurels.

http://www.asianage.com/india/didi-warpath-against-fdi-311

The Asian Age – ‘Neither male nor female’, Pinki gets bail

Rajib Chowdhuri, Asian Age Correspondent

Wednesday 11 July 2012. A Barasat court in North 24 Parganas on Tuesday granted bail to 2006 Doha Asian Games gold medallist Pinki Pramanik on the ground that she is “neither male nor female”.

The order came as a relief to the 26-year-old sprinter who spent 25 days in jail on rape charges brought by Pinki’s live-in partner. The athlete is likely to be freed on Tuesday.

Going through Pinki’s medical reports, district sessions judge Nirmal Kumar Ghoshal observed that since the sprinter is unable to “perform sexual intercourse” in the absence of either a male or female sex organ, the charge of rape under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code cannot be applied in the case.

Pinki was not present during the hearing. Pinki’s counsel Shibaprasad Mukho-padhyay said, “The court disbelieved and rejected all the charges brought against my client. It included the rape charge which the court disbelieved absolutely and held that Pinki cannot perform sexual intercourse.”

Pinki may have a gene-related disorder, the district court held, while granting bail to the athlete against a surety bond of Rs. 5,000.

http://www.asianage.com/india/neither-male-nor-female-pinki-gets-bail-884

The Hindu – Will talk to Mamata when she is ready, says Pranab Mukherjee’s

All UPA partners but one have endorsed my candidature

Shiv Sahay Singh

Kolkata, 9 July 2012. Amid reservations of the Trinamool Congress to his candidature, UPA presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee made it clear here on Monday that he will approach Mamata Banerjee for support, only if she is willing to speak to him.

“I am ready to talk to her as and when she is ready. Since my candidature was announced, I have expressed my desire to have the support of the Trinamool,” Mr. Mukherjee said here.

Mr. Mukherjee was speaking to journalists after meeting the MPs and MLAs of the Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Forward Bloc, the Samajwadi Party and the Democratic Socialist Party at two separate meetings. Mr. Mukherjee said all partners of the UPA had endorsed his candidature “except one.”

He emphasised that parties in the National Democratic Alliance and several regional parties were supporting his candidature.

“I understand that they [Trinamool Congress] have not yet taken a decision. When they will take the decision, I hope she will support my candidature,” he said.

Mr. Mukherjee’s comments are seen as a hardening of stand by the Congress, increasingly averse to going out of its way to seek the Trinamool’s support even though it would welcome it.

Mamata’s silence

So far Ms. Banerjee has maintained a studied silence on whom her party will support in the presidential contest. After her nominee, the former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, had opted out of the race, she had asserted the “game was not yet over.” Later she told her party MPs and MLAs she would take a final call on the matter three days before the July 19 election.

There has been a shift in the position of the Congress. Earlier, it had urged its bigger ally in the State to support Mr. Mukherjee’s candidature. However, at a meeting with him during the day, some of its senior State leaders were critical of the line taken by the Trinamool.

The Congress is confident of Mr. Mukherjee’s victory even without the support of the Trinamool Congress. Last week, during a visit here, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal asserted that the UPA nominee would win the polls with at least 65 per cent of the votes.

This was irrespective of how the Trinamool decided on its stand regarding the election.

‘Initiative should come from candidate’

Special Correspondent reports:

In the ongoing war of nerves between the Congress and its biggest ally at the Centre over the presidential polls, the Trinamool Congress indicated on Monday that the first move on a dialogue should come from the ‘other side’.

Asked to respond to the comment made by Pranab Mukherjee that he was ready to talk to Mamata Banerjee whenever she was, senior Trinamool Congress leader and Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Subrata Mukherjee said: “He will have to speak his mind if he is keen to talk … when we contest elections, we approach everybody.”

“Pranab Mukherjee could have telephoned her to ascertain that and this requires no mediator,” Mr. Subrata Mukherjee said, adding that the party had no information of his visit to the state to campaign for the elections.

In an oblique reference to Pranab Mukherjee’s meeting with MPs and MLAs of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Forward Bloc in the Assembly seeking their support for his candidature, the Panchayat Minister said “Some people feel comfortable in the company of CPI(M). If it makes them happy, so be it.”

“It is a shame to seek support of the CPI(M), we would never do this even if we were in dire straits,” Firhad Hakim, Minister for Urban Development, said.

To a question on the Trinamool Congress candidate for the polls, Subrata Mukherjee said that while the Trinamool Congress has no candidate, but A P J Kalam was its choice as the presidential candidate.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3620078.ece

The Tribune – After particle discovery, spotlight on Bose

Kolkata, July 5. The discovery of a new subatomic particle, possibly the Higgs boson considered “a key to the cosmic riddle”, has put the spotlight once again on Satyendra Nath Bose, the Indian scientist from whose surname the word ‘boson’ is derived.

“India is like a historic father of the project,” said Paolo Giubellino, spokesman of the Geneva-based European Organisation for Nuclear Research (also known as CERN), which conducted the experiments to find the elusive ‘God’ particle.

Bose (1894-1974), a physicist from Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta) and a contemporary of German scientist Albert Einstein, did path-breaking work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, using maths to describe the behavioural pattern of the bosons — one of the two families of fundamental particles that the universe is classified into.

The other family of fundamental particles — fermions — is named after Italy-born American physicist Enrico Fermi.

Bose worked with Einstein in the 1920s, providing the foundation for Bose-Einstein statistics, and the Bose-Einstein condensate. He is also acknowledged as the person who laid the foundation of quantum statistics.

However, Bose never won the Nobel Prize, even though in later years the award was given several times for research on bosons.

“He laid the base though his work. He definitely deserved the Nobel Prize. Definitely,” said Archan Majumdar, an astro-physicist at SN Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences here.

“However, at the same time, some kind of historical justice has also been done. His name has been immortalised in bosons,” Majumder said.

“And while it is always good to recognise past achievements, it does not take the sheen away from the present successes.

What the CERN scientists have done is great. It’s a great leap forward in the fundamental research and knowledge of human civilization,” he said.

Milan Sanyal, director of Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, though delighted at the discovery, rued the fact that while the Higgs (named after British physicist Peter Higgs) in Higgs boson was in upper case, the boson was in lower case.

“I shall write to CERN on this. It is not a complaint. But I will point it out. I have already received many emails and calls on this. I don’t want to shoot any letter now as they are celebrating. But I shall write to them soon,” Sanyal assured IANS.

However, he said scientists of his institute had collaborated with Geneva-based European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) for the crucial Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiments.

“On August 26 last year, we signed three memoranda of understandings with CERN, one of which was on CMS,” he said. Five faculty members from the institute were part of the core CMS team. “Besides, we have 10 Ph.D. students who are part of the project,” he said. (IANS)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120706/main8.htm

The Hindu – Hillary’s visit signals growing importance of regional players

West Bengal keen on showcasing it as an attractive investment destination

Marcus Dam

Kolkata, 6 May 2012. The significance of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s scheduled meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Writers’ Buildings — the State Secretariat — on Monday morning cannot be overstated.

While it is being viewed as a sign of recognition by the U.S. government of the growing importance of regional players like Ms. Banerjee in the national political scenario, the West Bengal government is working towards seizing this opportunity to showcase the State as an attractive destination for U.S. entrepreneurs keen to invest in the region.

It is only obvious that the U.S. administration is closely watching the developments in West Bengal that barely a year ago witnessed a major political transformation with Ms. Banerjee assuming power after 34 years of Left Front rule.

Time magazine nominating her in its 2012 list of the 100 most influential people in the world could just be an indication of heightening American interest in Ms. Banerjee.

U.S. Ambassador Nancy Powell’s remark here ahead of Ms Clinton’s visit to the city that it is “exciting to sense the new energy in the State” and her being “amazed by all the transformation that has taken place” is symptomatic of U.S. interest in the goings-on in the State.

As Ms. Powell had put it, Ms. Clinton’s visit would be an opportunity for her to see first-hand “how much this city and eastern India have transformed and what a bright future lies ahead.”

There are also certain contentious issues Ms. Clinton could be looking forward to get a better understanding about. This could include Ms. Banerjee’s opposition to foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail trade — that has put on back-foot the UPA government of which her party is a part of, not to speak of its impact on prospects of American corporations like Walmart.

On her part, Ms. Banerjee would like to remove prospective investors’ misgivings about her government’s land policy of not acquiring plots for industry.

Though there has been no official word on the matter, there is considerable speculation that the issue of sharing of Teesta waters between India and Bangladesh could crop up in Monday’s meeting, particularly in view of the fact that Ms. Clinton also visited Bangladesh.

Ms. Banerjee’s reservations on the quantum of water for release are well known. Left leaders here have, however questioned the propriety of discussions involving a U.S. official on an issue concerning just two countries.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3391178.ece