| |
|
Mamata Banerjee a best-selling author at Kolkata Book Fair
Kolkata, January 31, 2012 (PTI): Sales figures at the annual book fair, deemed one of the largest in the
world, demonstrate that Mamata has emerged quite a literary sensation. “The response has been overwhelming for us. We are already running out
of stock,” Sudhangshu Dey of Deys’ Publishing told PTI. Publishing her books since 1995, he said that thousands of copies of her
books have been sold since the last five days. Last year, books worth Rs 10 lakh authored by Banerjee were sold
,earning her a cool Rs one lakh in royalty.
“The sales of her books had equalled popular Bengali authors like Mani
Shankar Mukherjee and Buddhadeb Guha last year. The sales are even better this time with the rise in her popularity graph,” the publisher said.
A regular writer and a poet besides being a feisty politician, Banerjee has so far written around 33 books, three of which were released last
week during the inauguration of the fair. Bibliophiles have queued up at many stalls including her party Trinamool
Congress’ stall ‘Jago Bangla’ to read her works. In spite of her very busy work schedule, Banerjee has made it a point to
release her books at every edition of the book fair for the last few years.
Nine infants dead in last 48 hrs at
WB government hospital
Kolkata, January 29, 2012: After Malda, infant deaths were reported from the West
Bengal state-run Behrampore Hospital in Murshidabad district, where nine
babies have died during the last 48 hours. Sources said they were suffering from Pneumonia.
Malda Sadar Hospital had reported 110 deaths between January 1 and
January 27. The hospital's vice-principal, MA Rashid, told reporters on
Saturday that of the 110 deceased, 87 were below one-year-old. According to him, the state health department has decided to open a
70-bed separate paediatric unit in the Malda Sadar Hospital within a
month to cope with the situation. Besides, the number of doctors, nurses
and para-medical staff would be increased shortly, he said.
However, West Bengal Mamata Banjeree defended her government on January
19 in the case of several infants dying in Malda, blaming the media and
criticising her party workers for blowing events out of proportion. Mamata had reiterated that in eight
months of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) rule, crib deaths came down by 2 per cent and said that the
government will bring it down by 25 per cent. Claiming that 40,000 kids died during the Left rule, she had said that a
large number of children in the state are undernourished. |
|
|
|
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's 115th birth anniversary
Kolkata, January 23, 2012: Today the 23rd January 2012 is the 115th birth
anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The West Bengal government has
declared a holiday. Meanwhile, the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) on Saturday condemned the
"negative attitude" of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in not observing Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's birth anniversary
as 'Desh Prem Divas' "The Congress led UPA-2 government's negative attitude to observe Netaji
Jayanti (Jan 23) as 'Desh Prem Divas' is highly condemnable and tantamount to dishonour Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose," AIFB general
secretary Debabrata Biswas said in a statement. Biswas said the followers of Netaji have all along demanded that January
23 be declared as 'Desh Prem Divas' as a perfect way to recall the great
sacrifice of Netaji. But by giving "lame and untenable excuses" the government is refusing to accept the popular demand.
The statement said when the AIFB approached the government, the ministry
of culture replied that many eminent personalities took part in India's
freedom struggle and contributions made by them cannot be judged relatively.
It quoted the ministry as saying: "It does not appear to be appropriate
to declare Jan 23, birthday of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as Desh Prem
Divas." Said Biswas: "It is nothing but an insult to Netaji. If Mahatma Gandhi
is the 'Father of our Nation', then Netaji is the 'Revolutionary hero of
India'."
Trinamool holds fire, offers talks
Kolkata, January 09, 2012: After her outburst on Saturday when Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief
Mamata Banerjee said the Congress was free to leave the ruling alliance
in West Bengal, her party piped down considerably on Sunday, leaving the
door open for negotiations. "We did not and do not want to sever relations with the Congress or close the door for dialogue. We
just want the Congress to be pro-people at the Centre and respect the
aspirations of the people of Bengal," Trinamool's union minister Sultan Ahmed said.
"We never went public with our reservations nor did we say something
wrong against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But the Congress should
stop taking decisions, keeping us in the dark," he added.
The Congress, on its part, also took a conciliatory stand.
"We all understand her concerns and I am sure she also understands our
compulsions. I think it's just the need for better communication and
there isn't lack of ability on both sides to be able to communicate,"
senior Congress leader and union minister Salman Khurshid said in New
Delhi. "I am sure Mamataji also has expectations from people who voted
for her to change the ruling establishment in Bengal after such a long
time. But again we are a national party and we have a lot of expectations that go beyond the concerns of only one state," Khurshid added.
The Trinamool however retained some reservations about the Congress in
West Bengal. "(Chief minister) Mamata Banerjee has in such a little time
done mammoth work despite the fact that she inherited a debt of nearly
Rs 3 lakh crore from the Left Front government. Source: Hindustan Times
TCS to create 16,000 jobs in Bengal
Kolkata January 5, 2012: The country's largest information technology (IT) service provider, Tata
Consultancy Services (TCS) is all set to expand its footprint in West
Bengal, according to state IT minister Partha Chatterjee. Chatterjee, speaking to mediapersons, after a meeting with TCS chief
executive office, N Chandrasekaran, said that the company is expected to
soon start construction on its second campus in Rajarhat. The company had taken 40 acres in 2009. It already employs 14,000 people
in Kolkata and has a campus presence in Sector-V as well."TCS said that they are keen to start work on its second campus soon.
The campus will employ 16,0000 people in addition to the current strength in Bengal. Most of these will be high-end
jobs," Chatterjee said.
Besides TCS, two other biggies of IT-Wipro and Infosys-have also
committed to starting work on their respective campuses in Rajarhat respectively.
The IT sector currently employs over 1 lakh people in West Bengal. Since assuming the chief ministership of the state, Mamata Banerjee has said
that IT is a priority sector for her government and IT hubs will be established in small towns across the state to provide gainful
employment to the youth of Bengal. So far, the government has said that IT hubs will be established in Durgapur, Haldia, Siliguri and Darjeeling.
When contacted, TCS spokesperson told Business Standard that Chandrasekaran was in the state on a courtesy visit, and that the
company remains committed to Bengal. "We will start work on the second campus soon. The processes of work on
the land are on already. We will also keep adding on the current strength of 14,000 people in the state,? a TCS spokesperson said.
Work on the Rajarhat campus was, incidentally, supposed to start in 2009 itself but was hit by the slowdown hurdle. |
|
|
|
