West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose has resigned from his post, triggering a political storm in the state ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. The sudden resignation has led to speculation and accusations between the ruling TMC and the BJP.
The GoM of state ministers on GST rate rationalisation on Thursday accepted the Centre's proposal to move to a two-slab structure of 5 and 18 per cent. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and convenor of rate rationalisation GoM Samrat Choudhary said the six-member state ministerial panel has also accepted the proposal of removing the 12 and 28 per cent slabs.
The Election Commission released the names of deleted voters in West Bengal ahead of the publication of the draft electoral rolls for the upcoming assembly elections.
The roadshow in Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency was held in support of the TMC's veteran leader and candidate Saugata Roy, who is seeking a fourth consecutive term from the seat.
The Group of Ministers (GoM) on goods and services tax (GST) rate rationalisation, which convened in Goa on Wednesday, reviewed the GST rates for over 100 items, including textiles, handloom goods, agricultural products, fertilisers, and educational materials. However, no consensus was reached on any of the items, with further discussions scheduled for next month in Delhi.
Earlier, Mamata Banerjee appealed to the agitating doctors to join the meeting, amid their demand for live-streaming of the discussions.
Analysts have their doubts how much independence she has as finance minister. As Amit Mitra advises the chief minister, day-to-day work is done by the finance secretary and the chief secretary.
Finance ministers of states demanded an increase in allocation under 50-year interest-free loan scheme, while fiscally stressed states like Punjab and Kerala pitched for a special package and borrowing flexibility, sources said on Friday. In a pre-budget meeting with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, states have also urged for higher borrowing limits to support fiscal activities, besides additional funds for Jal Jeevan Mission.
Amid persistent rain, the protesting doctors continued their sit-in outside 'Swasthya Bhavan', the state health department headquarters in Salt Lake, for the sixth consecutive day.
The TMC-led West Bengal government has already started laying the groundwork for the election, setting the tone with the recent Bengal Global Business Summit and the state Budget.
Term life insurance policies, and senior citizens' health insurance premium are likely to be exempted from GST as most members of a state ministerial panel favoured cutting taxes to benefit the common man, an official said on Saturday. The GoM to decide on GST on health and life insurance premiums in its meeting on Saturday decided to exempt GST on premiums paid by individuals, other than senior citizens, for health insurance with coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh. However, 18 per cent GST will continue to be levied for health insurance cover of over Rs 5 lakh.
Kharge said conducting polls in seven phases meant that nearly all the development works will be stopped.
Two children died and over 400 others were hospitalised after eating food at an iftaar party in North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal, Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya said on Tuesday.
The minister urged the doctors to rejoin work by respecting the Supreme Court's direction to them, but refrained from giving a direct reply on whether the state government would take any punitive action for violating the apex court's order.
Embroiled in a controversy over his 'slip of the tongue' on Lord Jagannath, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and party's Puri Lok Sabha candidate Sambit Patra apologised and announced he will undertake penance by observing fast for three days from Tuesday after being criticised from different quarters.
The top court on Monday directed the protesting resident doctors to resume work by 5 pm on Tuesday, observing that if "there is continued abstention from work, there may be a likelihood of adverse action".
Of the two rate structures on the table, one suggests tax slabs of 8 per cent, 16 per cent, and 24 per cent. The other proposes tax slabs at 9 per cent, 18 per cent, and 27 per cent.
Senior police officials said they received a complaint and are looking into it.
Banerjee said her microphone was stopped after five minutes, while other chief ministers were allowed to speak for longer durations.
A team of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday held on-spot inquiries in Sandeshkhali to ascertain facts about alleged sexual abuse by some Trinamool Congress leaders even as fresh agitation rocked the trouble-torn village, where locals torched the property of accused Trinamool leaders and held demonstrations against the delay in arresting the main accused, Shahjahan Sheikh.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's youth wing leader Pamela Goswami was arrested with cocaine from south Kolkata's upscale New Alipore area on Friday, the police said.
Armed with sticks, they set ablaze thatched structures near a fishing yard in Belmajur area of Sandeshkhali, venting their fury against the elusive TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his brother Siraj. The torched structure, it was revealed, belonged to Siraj.
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The state's Law Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said that on Saturday the public prosecutor Sharbani Roy went beyond her jurisdiction in pleading with the judge that the degree of punishment for the convicted be "kept to minimum".
The Trinamool Congress on Monday wrote to Kolkata Police Commissioner Soumen Mitra seeking 'necessary action' under the law against the Central Bureau of Investigaton officials who arrested three senior party leaders 'illegally'.
This takes the total number of apprehended persons in this case to nine, a police officer said.
'Being a woman chief minister we certainly expect from her some decency that goes well with the culture and tradition of Bengal, and with the values of a Bengali woman'
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested senior Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal from his residence in Bolpur for allegedly not cooperating in its probe into a cattle smuggling case, an official said.
'For the politics of patronage in West Bengal, it has always been important to have territorial control.'
The home minister called up the chief minister to express serious concern over the reports of large-scale violence.
Security measures have been heightened in view of the violence in the previous phases, particularly the death of five people in Cooch Behar in the fourth phase of polling on April 10, an Election Commission official said.
Three TMC leaders Amit Mitra, Bratya Basu and Rathin Ghosh were sworn-in virtually. Mitra is unwell and both Basu and Ghosh are recuperating from COVID-19.
The party brought back Yashwant Sinha as its national vice-president.
Two persons died and seven others were injured in a stampede after a fire broke out in Murshidabad Medical College Hospital in Berhampore district of West Bengal triggering panic among patients and their relatives.
No longer Bengal's finance minister, Amit Mitra, Mamata's principal chief advisor, will still advise and aid the 'chief minister and finance department on all matters relating to management of state finance', represent the 'state government in national and international events/meetings/committees' and examine 'important proposals/files and policy issues relating to financial matters referred to him for advice/views'.
The three-member TMC delegation, led by state minister Partha Chatterjee met EC officials and registered a complaint into the incident and demanded a thorough probe.
The Trinamool Congress won 211 seats.
The demand for extension of the GST cess regime among others was made by several state finance ministers at a pre-budget consultation called by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi. Besides, many states also demanded raising the share of the Union government in the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS). Currently, the central government and state government share in some CSS is 60:40 while in others it is 75:25.
West Bengal is yet to implement the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, the law that replaced the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, on January 1 this year.
The move came after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee directed Kolkata Police commissioner Anuj Sharma to deploy a nodal police officer in every hospital.
The phase is crucial as it will decide the fate of several ministers -- Finance Minister Amit Mitra, Agriculture Minister Purnendu Basu, Law Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, Tourism Minister Bratya Basu, Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick and Agriculture Marketing Minister Aroop Roy.
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