The Himalayan Beacon

FROM TIMES OF INDIA 

BY AJANTA CHAKRABORTY

KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a fortnight ago seems to be bearing fruits slowly and steadily. The Centre has started loosening its purse strings. It has granted Bengal special central assistance (SCA) of Rs 158.35 crore for border development. That’s higher than the allocations for Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan which border Pakistan.

Officials at Writers’ Buildings are upbeat over the small yet significant gesture since they have been provided with a list of allocations for 17 states by the ministry of home affairs (MHA), which shows that Bengal’s share is the biggest.

The letter to chief secretary Samar Ghosh reveals that Rs 2.16 crore has been allocated for “the hilly areas of the border blocks in Darjeeling”. CM Mamata Banerjee has been campaigning for special funds for Darjeeling after last year’s earthquake and to strengthen her efforts to restore peace in the Hills.

Only 24 hours ago in Parliament, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had resolved to look into Bengal’s distress along with the other two debt-stressed states of Punjab and Kerala. He talked about special packages but officials at Writers’ Buildings feel that Mamata’s recent talks with the Prime Minister were more effective.  Read the rest of this entry »

FROM TIMES OF INDIA

NEW DELHI: A doctor has been arrested from Mayur Vihar Phase I for allegedly raping a 30-year-old woman from Darjeeling. The two had known each other for several months, said cops. The woman has claimed that he drugged her before raping her.

The incident took place on May 15 at the doctor’s Mayur Vihar residence. “We received a complaint on May 16 and arrested the accused the same day after a medical examination of the victim confirmed rape,” said DCP (east) Prabhakar. On Tuesday, the doctor had called over the victim to his house and allegedly raped her.

Sources in east Delhi police said the accused, Dr Pradip Kumar Bhatia, works at a government hospital in east Delhi. He had met the victim while she had gone to him for treatment.

“The two got talking and soon their friendship developed into an intimate relationship. The doctor proposed marriage to the woman but he failed to keep his promise,” said a cop. On her latest visit to his house on Tuesday, Bhatia tried to get intimate with her. but the woman resisted his advances. When he couldn’t have his way, he drugged her and then raped her.  Read the rest of this entry »

FROM THE STATESMAN

KOLKATA, 17 MAY: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today announced an increase in government subsidy from 20 per cent to 30 per cent to the Self Help Groups for various poverty alleviation projects while inaugurating the National Rural Livelihood Mission or Aajeevika.

The project, a joint initiative of the Centre and the state government, named by Miss Banerjee as ‘Anandadhara’, is aimed at achieving self-reliance and socio-economic development of the rural poor in the state. She was overwhelmed to see the Netaji Indoor stadium packed with women.

The chief minister also said that her government will set up markets for the SHGs at block, sub-division and district levels to help them sell their produce.

Today she renewed her commitment to develop rural economy, remove poverty and encourage self-employment in the state.

“We need to develop rural economy on a faster pace through strong grassroots institutions like Self Help Groups (SHG),” Miss Banerjee said while launching the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) project here.

The chief minister also announced setting up of a “task force” to speed up the project under the chairmanship of the state’s Panchayat and Rural Development minister, Mr Subrata Mukherjee. Read the rest of this entry »