West Bengal, the chief minister said, cannot be compared with other states and despite all hurdles it had an increased revenue generation over the last three years from Rs 21,000 crore (Rs 210 billion) to Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion).
The company is facing resistance on renewal of its Agriculture Produce Market Committee license to buy farm produce directly from farmers for its Kolkata store. The ruling Left Front partner Forward Bloc is opposing its bid to renew the license as it is of the opinion that this would affect small traders.
Polling will be held in all 13 seats in Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.
Tata's Nano project sinks back into crisis. While Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee hinted at reviving her agitation at Singur, the Left Front came down heavily on her demand that ancillary units be shifted across the highway opposite to the project site.
In a jolt to the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress defeated its candidates in trouble-torn Nandigram in the three-tier panchayat elections. The front also faced rout in three zilla parishad seats in Singur to Trinamool Congress candidates. The polls are seen as a litmus test for the Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee government's farmland acquisition policy for industries.
Mass agitations are not particularly uncommon in India. But a mass agitation led by an environment-related issue that has gone out of hand is not something that can be easily recalled.
With two years to go before West Bengal elects its next government, the BJP's internal objective is to scale down the Trinamool Congress tally from 211 to 45 seats. This amounts to an annihilation of the TMC while enabling the BJP to win a record 250 seats in the 295-member legislature, reports Radhika Ramaseshan
The West Bengal Governor-brokered talks between the State government and the Trinamool Congress-led opposition to break the Singur deadlock ended inconclusively on Friday.
'The strategies outlined in Jaitley's Budget won't create the millions of jobs needed to dispel the despair and cynicism of militant youth in the Red Corridor running from Nepal to Tamil Nadu.'
Allegedly owned by CPI(M) promoters, it is not cultivated, says Trinamool leader. Rally turnout lower than expected.
The Congress plans to ensure that even if its candidates fail to register a win in the Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, the benefit should go to the Left Front and not to friend-turned-foe Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress. Renu Mittal reports.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again led the BJP's campaign holding several rallies and stepping up his attack on Opposition parties, particularly the Congress.
The Congress said on Tuesday that "time is running out" for finalizing seat-sharing with Trinamool Congress for coming Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal and talks are on between the two parties for reviewing some of the seats.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who has so far maintained silence about his expulsion from the Communist Party of India Marxist, is planning to write a letter to party General Secretary Prakash Karat, according to sources.
Hitting back at Lal Kishenchand Advani for levelling charges of incompetence against him, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday asked the Bharatiya Janata Party leader to do some "introspection" over his role when Gujarat was burning and during the Kandahar hijack crisis.
Infosys has asked the West Bengal govt to give them land or repay the token amount the former had paid earlier.
The party president also said that India's self-confidence, pride and scale of ambition have grown manifold in three years.
Asked about US Ambassador India David Mulford's comments that the deal could be finalised under Bush, who is in his final year in office, State Department's deputy spokesman Tom Casey said, "There are internal political considerations in India which have not been resolved yet and it is for the Indian government to do so". The questioner had asked what sort of message Mulford intended to send when the deal is largely though to be on a backburner in the face of opposition.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday criticised the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee led-government in West Bengal for its handling of the situation in Nandigram, and said that she was concerned over the law and order situation in the area. She said that the Congress officer-bearers in the state had complained of repeated torture and atrocities against the people, adding that in a democracy, there was no place for political violence.
The resolution said the state will be called Bangla in three languages -- Bengali, English and Hindi.
The Left Front government in West Bengal will close down two public sector enterprises (PSEs), offload shares in nine PSE to hive them off as joint ventures, retain 13 enterprises and decide on three more using a line of credit from UK's Department for International Development (DFID) worth 23 million pounds.
The three leaders had at a public meeting on November 17 allegedly derided the court order of the previous day that had also directed the West Bengal government to pay Rs five lakh as compensation to each of the families of the 14 who died in the police action on March 14.
In spite of increasing opposition from the Left Front to the India-United States nuclear agreement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said that his government is committed to developing nuclear energy as a clean source of electricity."Our government is committed to developing nuclear energy as a clean source of electricity," Singh said after laying the foundation stone of the 1500 MW Pragati Phase three-gas power project at Bawana.
China's First Automobile Works and Ural India might get the Singur land to set up an automobile manufacturing plant.
Mamata Banerjee flayed the ruling Left Front government in West Bengal for failing to bring those 'guilty' in last year's violence in Nandigram to justice. She called on the people of West Bengal to observe March 14 as 'martyrs' day'. She also said that her party would hold a rally in Kolkata to pay tribute to the 'martyrs of Nandigram'.
An image of Pratibha Patil in Hyderabad as part of her campaign.
In a determined voice, she told rediff.com, "I beckon the people of the state and voluntary organisations to launch a well-concerted protest to counter the injustice meted out to the people of Nandigram. We cannot just sit idle and let a government destroy a state."
The nuclear pact is not an issue any longer, it can still serve as an excuse for calling a general election before it is due.
Signaling its keenness to create a third alternative along with the United National Progressive Alliance, the Left Front on Thursday announced that they will coordinate with the alliance against the government over the India-United States nuclear agreement and other issues. The Left, which provides crucial outside support to the ruling United Progressive Alliance, dropped hints of its intention to stitch a non-Congress and non-BJP alliance.
The West Bengal government will not appeal against the Calcutta High Court directive for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the mysterious death of computer graphics teacher Rizwanur Rehman. The state government will also take apppropriate action against those senior police officials who are found guilty in the probe, Left Front chairman Biman Bose said on Wednesday.
The ruling Left Front constituents and opposition parties in West Bengal on Tuesday hailed the Calcutta High Court order directing the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate the death of Rizwanur Rehman, who married the daughter of a Hindu industrialist.
She wondered why PM Modi is not removing his own cabinet secretary or the Union home secretary, if he was so 'fond of making last-minute changes'.
The fourth meeting of the United Progressive Alliance and Left Front's joint committee to resolve concerns about the Indo-US nuclear deal ended on a lukewarm note on Tuesday. The committee is scheduled to meet again on October 22. "The fourth meeting of the UPA-Left Committee on the India-United States civil nuclear cooperation was held today. All members of the committee took part in the meeting, which was held in a cordial atmosphere," Pranab Mukherjee said.
Four Forward Bloc supporters were killed and 12 policemen injured in Dinhata in Coochbehar district on Tuesday, when a district agitation programme organised by the party turned violent. The activists clashed with the police, which opened fire to quell the mob, after tear gas and baton charging proved ineffective.
Four people, three belonging to RSP and one to CPI-M, died in poll-related violence at Basanti in South 24 Parganas district and another was killed at Domjur in Howrah district, IG (Law & Order) Raj Kanojia told media persons in Kolkata.
India will have to request the NSG to relax its restrictions on the transfer of nuclear technology and fuel.
A meeting of the United Progressive Alliance leaders with the Left Front leaders is expected after April 23, in which a number of matters including the Supreme Court verdict on the Other Backward Classes quota issue, are likely to come up. This would be the first UPA-Left meeting after the apex court judgment, which has seen division in the ruling alliance on the creamy layer issue.The meeting could also be an occasion for consultations over the Women's Reservation Bill.
All shops and markets remained closed in both east and west Midnapur district.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf traces the trajectory of Lal Kishan Advani from the highs of the 1990s to the present, when he may have to watch the elections from the sidelines.
Communist Party of India-Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu turned 95 on Tuesday, with a wish to see the Left Front government in West Bengal on its eight consecutive term.
