Amitava Chakraborty

What resonates, again and again, is the fear of another lockdown, and what it will do to an economy revolving around tourism.

The fifth phase of polling will see voting across North Bengal's tea belt — holding 302 big tea gardens, over 60,000 small gardens and 182 ‘Brought Leaf Factories’ (factories not attached to gardens), with around 10 lakh workers.

It's not just the BJP that's turned the smartphone into an election rally ground. As the fifth phase of Assembly elections nears in West Bengal, the ruling TMC has ramped up its online operations, too.

Over two days last week, in the run-up to voting in Cooch Behar for the fourth phase, The Indian Express tracked the smartphones of several BJP and TMC workers to know what’s streaming.

Inhabited by Totos, the smallest tribal group in West Bengal, the only signs of the election campaign in the village are the 12 flags of the BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), a poster of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and a wall painting of the saffron party’s election symbol “lotus” at the main chowk.

Since 2012, the Mamata Banerjee government has established a Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, two Rajbanshi language academies, and a board for the development of the community.

The Toto tribe, numbering around 1,600, is more concerned about its dwindling numbers, the daily struggle for livelihood and the annual battle against rains.

Since 2012, the Mamata Banerjee government has established a Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, two Rajbanshi language academies, and a board for the development of the community.

Mamata Banerjee was held up for more than two hours in a polling booth in Nandigram where supporters of the ruling TMC and BJP nearly came to blows. Her security guards formed a cordon as she waited in a wheelchair.

In Nandigram, Section 144 is in force and 22 companies of central forces are posted for the 255 polling booths.

The two parties, led on the ground by Banerjee and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, went all out Tuesday, firming battlelines for the vote Thursday.

Local people acknowledge the change in their lives since the Trinamool Congress came to power and the bloodshed stopped. Now they want more.

Trilochan’s killing started a new trend of murder and hanging in Bengal’s violent politics. At least six BJP leaders and workers have been killed in similar fashion since.

The first sitting president of the JNU Students’ Union to contest an election, Ghosh says, “There are a lot of differences between JNU and Jamuria (Assembly seat).

Come elections, elephants are back as a poll issue in the 12 Assembly seats of Bankura that vote in the first and second phases, but villages this time hope for a permanent solution.

A constituency reserved for Scheduled Castes, Saltora was won by the Trinamool’s Swapan Barui the last two times, by a margin of over 10,000 votes.

In the heated political battlefield of West Bengal ahead of the Assembly election, set to be a bitter contest between the ruling Trinamool and the BJP, both Poush Mela and the land row are seen to be motivated.

"Football is a contact sport. So, on the pitch, it isn’t possible to maintain distance like you can in an office job. However, once off it, we wear our masks all the time, space ourselves out at team meals and meetings."

The mills suffered greatly during the nationwide lockdown announced in end-March to check the coronavirus. First, there were production losses as the mills shut, leaving many without wages. Then, when these labour-intensive units were allowed to reopen, they did so with only 15% of the workforce.

Many members of UK’s National Trust, which drew up the report, have threatened to withdraw their membership and cancel subscription.

Established in 1952 as Factory No. 918, Zvezda is a Russian company which primarily designs, develops and produces portable life support systems for aircraft and spacecraft crew.

All orders have to be placed on WhatsApp a few hours ahead of the scheduled delivery.

The scheme by the West Bengal Comprehensive Area Development Corporation (CADC), an autonomous organisation under the Panchayat and Rural Development Department, is outsourced to women self-help groups (SHGs) and aims to help senior citizens through the lockdown.

This week, Delhi announced reopening of hotels in a bid to kick off the economy. But with few travellers and no tourists, the industry’s climb out of the pandemic is expected to be the hardest and the longest.