Waving the industry flag

Trinamool chief and Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjees attempt to prove herself as a pro-industry leader before the...

Trinamool chief and Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjees attempt to prove herself as a pro-industry leader before the crucial Assembly elections got a boost after the UPA decided to handover Burn Standard and Braithwaite to the Ministry. Both are two of the oldest PSUs in Bengal which Mamata Banerjee had asked be handed over to her Ministry. The Railway Ministry has already placed orders of 500 wagons each with Burn Standard and Braithwaite to keep them afloat. In a recent press conference Mamata Banerjee also announced a special rejuvenation package for the two sick PSUs. The time for Mamata to prove her pro-industry credentials has come.

MILES TO GO

Success has come a little late for the joint operation against the Maoists in Bengal which is set to finish a year this Friday. It was on Wednesday that the security forces claimed to have shot dead 15 Maoists and recovered the bodies of eight apart from seizing a huge cache of arms,ammunition and explosives. With incidents like the abduction of OC Sankrail Atindranath Dutta,the Silda camp attack and the Jnaneshwari tragedy still fresh in the minds of the people,the joint forces were badly in need of an image booster. However,there were successes like the arrest of Telegu Dipak and the curbing of the influence of Maoist frontal organisation PCAPA. The state administration is now bracing itself for a retaliation by the Maoists.

In the limelight

The suicide of Rouvanjit Rawla,a class VIII student of La Martiniere Boys in Kolkata,has brought to the fore corporal punishment at its most dangerous. Rawla committed suicide on February 12,allegedly after a bout of caning and harrassment by teachers and the principal at La Martiniere Boys. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights,the ICSE Board and lately Union Human Resource Development Ministry,have all taken up the case along with the Kolkata police. The NCPCR has already linked the principal and some school teachers to the suicide in its report. Even the Bengal state government has proposed to set up a regulatory body against grievances of corporal punishment in schools.

The rehab carrot

The West Bengal government has managed to put together a rehab policy for the Maoists almost a year after it was forced to start joint operations against them. A one time payoff of Rs 1.5 lakh and other incentives form the package which the state government proposes to give to Maoists if they agree to abjure violence. Vocational training and a stipend of Rs 2000 per month for three years is also in the offing. An AK-47 returned would fetch Rs 15000,where as a machine gun would fetch 25000 and a revolver Rs 3000. Experts believe that more incentive is needed since Maoist cadres receive more that Rs 300 daily apart from other benefits and have a strong ideological commitment.