The Covid pandemic has left a question mark on how the central government manages its staff.
Shortly after scrapping the proposed IT township project -- Vedic Village -- at Rajarhat near Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said late on Wednesday that the two IT majors must be retained in the state, reports the Indian Express.
Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Sitaram Yechury on Sunday said that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will remain West Bengal's Chief Minister, laying to rest speculation that he would be replaced.
A parallel meeting called by the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha on Tuesday passed a resolution demanding creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland.
The students, Eben Murmu of class VII of Lalgar Ramkrishna Vidyapith, Buddhadeb Patra, a student of class VIII and Goutam Patra, a student of class IX, both of Kantapahari Vivekananda Vidyapith were arrested from Bansbar village which is around 40 km away from the site of the blast.
The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha on Friday rejected the West Bengal government's offer for talks on the Darjeeling issue on June 18, saying the agenda of development of the hills was "irrelevant" when the main issue was a separate state of Gorkhaland.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was on Sunday discharged from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences as doctors declared him fit to go home after 26 days of stay at the Intensive Care Unit, family sources said.
Nandigram remained in headlines throughout the year despite the West Bengal government cancelling the SEZ project of Indonesia's Salem Group in January following violence and political pressure on Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
The Centre on Friday asked the Maoists in Lalgarh area of West Bengal to lay down arms and come for talks. Home Minister P Chidambaram said he endorsed the appeal of West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to the Maoists and the tribals to come for talks.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will seek Rs 15,000 crore from the Centre for building a "mini Chinese Wall" along the coastal area of the Sundarbans to protect the area's 4.1 million people from further cyclones and high tides. The area was recently hit by cyclone Aila.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday said he had called Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata and urged him to resume work at Singur.
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.
A committee constituted under the aegis of the governor of West Bengal, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, may seek more time to submit its final report on land to be provided to the agitating farmers.
Asked about rumours that the Chief Minister was holding talks with key investors on the Singur controversy, Dhoot said, "The CM calls me every three months to know the progress. The Videocon group was hopeful of land acquisition with its compensation package which includes land price, job assurance and equity in the project.
India recognised the right to strike in its Industrial Disputes Act of 1947, but this law is confined to 'industries'. There was a time when the term was extended by the courts to mean even universities and hospitals, but more recently the Supreme Court held that government employees could not go on strike. The International Labour Organisation has some conventions on the subject.
In a sharp deviation from his party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M), West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday described gheraos, the practice of disrupting work by intimidating managements, as "illegal and immoral" and said he was opposed to bandhs, or full-scale closure of state services.
In this winter of discontent, in every procession, in every demonstration, in every protest -- from Jawaharlal Nehru University to Jamia to Shaheen Bagh to the streets of Mumbai -- the front rows have been occupied by women. It's been weeks since women have been sitting in protest across the country against the newly-introduced Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens. The protests are a nerve centre of unwavering voices against what has been perceived as a discriminatory law. The women -- some housewives, some students with hijabs covering their hair, and others in full-length burqa robes -- are rallying against the 'Man' in what could also be perceived as a revolution for the 'weaker sex' in India.
The West Bengal government has denied before the Supreme Court all allegations regarding the reported excesses committed by the state administration in Nandigram where 14 people were killed in police firing in March last year.
Trinamool Congress on Wednesday called for a 12-hour general strike in West Bengal on March 16 in protest against alleged police atrocities in Nandigram.
He told the state party conference that West Bengal now stood at the crossroads and there was no prior model for industrialisation available to it.
'Adi Sir told me when he watched Gully Boy, he felt I was hero material.'
Putting up a brave front after the exit of Tata's Nano project from Singur, West Bengal Chief Minister Budhdhadev Bhattacharya on Sunday said the state government will fight and overcome the obstacles for industrialisation, observing that the state has lost one battle but not the war.
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.
On Wednesday, September 18, the Supreme Court denounced manual scavenging as 'most uncivilised and inhuman'. 'It is the notion that they are born to do this which needs to change.'
Saying the CPI-M has nuked the farmers in Nandigram and the UPA government, LK Advani says the NDA will raise the Nandigram issue in Parliament.
Sajjan Jindal, vice-chairman and managing director of JSW Steel and one of West Bengal's most valued investors, said that he would have compensated unwilling farmers with double the land 800 acres next door in return for land for the Tata Motors factory at Singur.
Prominent Left leaders will lead the funeral procession of CPI-M leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet, who passed away on Friday.
In view of the recent attacks on its agri retail stores, the Reliance Industries group company on Tuesday said it will go slow on the roll out of Reliance Fresh outlets in the state.
Germany is keen on investing in specific areas in West Bengal as part of a bid to strengthen Indo-German bilateral ties.
On January 3, Bhattacherjee had strongly advocated capitalism and not socialism as the only way to industrialise the state.
Then chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, had laid the JSW project's foundation stone on November 2,2008, for the 10-million tonne capacity plant.
Facing all-round attack over Nandigram, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee sought on Wednesday a 'fresh look' into the Centre's policy on SEZs, which he felt should be restricted to select industries. He also wanted the Centre to fix a ceiling on land for a particular type of SEZ and work out the percentage of land area to be compulsorily utilised for industries within that limit.
Choosing the next Dalai Lama is too profound a tradition to be controlled by the Communists in Beijing.
Seeking to clarify his controversial remarks on the existence of Lord Ram, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on Saturday blamed the media, saying his remarks were "taken out of context".
Standing by his denouncement of the ruling CPI(M)'s capture of Nandigram, West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Sunday visited the troubled area on Sunday and said wrong-doers must not be exonerated and pitched for presence of CRPF for some more time.
In the small-scale sector, the chief minister claimed to have created 12 lakh jobs.
A foreign visitor to the city agreed, but with a note of caution. "West Bengal as an investment destination remains to be first on the list for the Australian mining companies as this state is rich in minerals," said John McCarthy, Australian High Commissioner to India, in Kolkata to attend a seminar.
"We want the Centre to invoke Article 356 of the Constitution in West Bengal. We want Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to go. He is an arrogant and stubborn leader. Let a sincere leader come as the chief minister. Please remove him. The United Progressive Alliance government should take action to send message to the poor people that they care," says Maulana Mahmood Madani, All India general secretary, Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Hind.
Three Bhopal gas tragedy survivors' organisations have opposed West Bengal government's move to invite Dow Chemicals to the proposed chemical hub in Haldia after the state government failed to acquire land at Nandigram.
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