Statesman (India) articles from February 2006

Statesman (India) archives from February 2006

Power debts.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) KOLKATA, Feb. 27. The state Cabinet will deliberate on converting debts to the tune of about Rs 2,000 crore of West Bengal State Electricity Board and West Bengal Power Development Corporation into...

Search on for landmines.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service MIDNAPORE, Feb. 27. A search for landmines was being made at the spot where Maoists blew up a police jeep killing four people, including two policemen, at Jamboni village in Midnapore...

Womens abuse still a reality.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Cursed birth Statesman News Service KRISHNAGAR, Feb. 27. A 25-year-old housewife was allegedly forced by her in-laws to commit suicide by setting herself on fire because she had given birth to two girls. The...

Police ask parties to erase poll graffiti.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service KOLKATA, Feb. 27. Political parties have been asked by the city police to discontinue defacing walls with poll graffiti. They have also been told to erase existing poll graffiti. ...

Cabinet to decide on doctors posts.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service KOLKATA, Feb. 27. The state Cabinet will, at its meeting on Wednesday, discuss the sanctioning of 200 senior resident doctors posts for nine medical colleges in the state. The state...

Bengal asks for Central forces.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) KOLKATA, Feb. 27. Red-faced after yesterdays landmine blast, the state government today sent requests for Central forces to be deployed at least a month before the elections in the three Naxalite-dominated...

Keep party offices open on poll day.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) KOLKATA, Feb. 27. CPI-M state secretary Mr Anil Biswas today said that the Election Commission should allow six national parties and three state parties in West Bengal to keep their state and district offices...

Revised manifesto.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) KOLKATA, Feb. 27. The CPI-M today released the revised edition of the election manifesto of the Left Front but kept mum on the issue of private partnership on developing a new international airport a point...

Panel to choose next VC for V-B.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) SANTINIKETAN, Feb. 27. A three-member search committee will be formed to choose names of three persons for the post of vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati, after June, the end of Prof Sujit Kumar Basus tenure....

Freight corridor.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) KOLKATA, Feb. 27. The chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has requested the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh to review the decision to short- terminate the Delhi-Kolkata rail freight corridor at...

Home secy hints at Intelligence failure.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) KOLKATA, Feb. 27. State home secretary Mr Prasad Ranjan Roy today hinted that Intelligence lapses were behind yesterdays landmine blast at Belpahari. The chief minister, however, remained mum. He only said: I...

False voters in final list, says Opp.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service KOLKATA, Feb. 27. - Though the North 24-Parganas district administration has claimed that it has deleted names of all ghost voters from the final voters' list, Opposition parties have...

Folk tradition showcased.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Rajib Chatterjee in Kolkata Feb. 27. - With Western culture spreading its wings, rural hamlets of West Bengal are not immune to the aggression of Western music that has made it tough for traditional folk...

Mograhat health centre's litany of woes.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service KOLKATA, Feb. 27. - The Mograhat primary health centre, in Mograhat II block in South 24- Parganas, is struggling to resolve several problems. First, the health centre cannot provide...

Live cartridges in airport.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service KOLKATA, Feb. 27. -CISF personnel at NSC Bose Airport found 19 live cartridges of .32 bore in a small carton under a chair in front of Jet Airways' check-in counter late last evening...

Krishnaganj declared Nirmal block, hastily.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service KRISHNAGAR, Feb. 27. - The Centre has started the 'Nirmal Gram Puraskar', a community-based incentive scheme for the Panchayati Raj Institutions which have attained full sanitation...

PWD neglect kills youth.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service DURGAPUR, Feb 27. - An FIR was lodged against an executive engineer of the state PWD after the death of a youth in the Salanpur area of Asansol. The youth, while on his way home on his...

Smallest tractor gets ready.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service DURGAPUR, Feb 27. - The smallest indigenously developed tractor is now ready to hit cultivation land. The 10-HP tractor has been developed in view of the need of small farmers by the...

Chicken festival to end all fear.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service KOLKATA, Feb. 27. - Anyone watching hundreds of people happily chomping on chicken dishes would think bird flu was the last thing on their minds. Chicken fry to chicken biriyani,...

Arcelor stand on takeover bid softening: Mittal.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Press Trust of India WASHINGTON, Feb. 27. Mittal Steel has said that opposition to its controversial takeover bid of Luxembourg-based Arcelor is softening and the whole deal could be finalised by the end of...

Core sector growth falls by 1.9%.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Press Trust of India NEW DELHI, Feb. 27. With Indias roads, airport and port sectors requiring a whopping Rs 2,60,000 crore investment in the next six years, the government should frame conducive policies...

India Inc welcomes Economic Survey.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service NEW DELHI, Feb. 27. The Economic Survey 2005-06 has been hailed by the Indian industry with its projection of a strong economic growth of 8.1 per cent, while focusing on reform...

Steps in aviation sector hailed.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) NEW DELHI, Feb. 27. The Economic Survey 2005-06 has lauded the policy initiatives taken by the government, saying they had a marked impact upon the aviation sector. The low-cost carriers, offering no-frills...

Sops for unorganised sector likely.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Mukesh Ranjan in New Delhi Feb. 27. To placate the Left parties who have been angered by the Rail Budget, the general Budget to be presented tomorrow is going to announce some measures for the unorganised...

Compliments for telecom.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) NEW DELHI, Feb. 27. While the government-owned telecom companies performed negatively in the fixed line segments, where they have been losing their market share for the past five years, their performance in...

Increase in refining capacity urged.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) NEW DELHI, Feb. 27. With a view to meeting the domestic demand of petroleum products and compensate the import bill by exporting finished petroleum products, India has targeted an increase in its refining...

Pvt sector more sick than PSUs.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) NEW DELHI, Feb. 27. Contrary to perception that non-performers were almost always from the public sector, it is the private sector that accounts for the maximum cases of industrial sickness and closure,...

FAKE RATION CARDS.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Left Front Paves The Way For Vote Fraud By SUNANDA SANYAL On coming to power in 1977, the CPI-M hit a gold mine through Bangladeshi infiltration. Many of the Hindus that sought refuge in West Bengal during...

Filipino ferment.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Arroyo vs army and the people Though it doesnt stand comparison to the mass upsurge exactly 20 years ago, the turmoil in Manila and the proclamation of emergency underscore the Presidents desperate, even a...

Miserly myopia.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Exposed by fog Aviation observers were appalled by the contention of many private airlines that it was too expensive to have their pilots trained and certified to use the upgraded instrument landing system...

Written off.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Graffiti ban another bold step By banning wall writing during the poll campaign, the Election Commission has pressed home the point that it is doing what the state government ought to have done implement the...

Al-Qaida Overran Kabul Jail.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Kim Sengupta & Rupert Cornwell LASHKAR GAR/ HELMAND/WASHINGTON, Feb. 27. Afghan, Nato and US forces surrounded the main high security prison in Kabul yesterday with tanks after it was taken over by more...

100 years ago TODAY: FEBRUARY 28, 1906.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Floral Fete And Orchid Show. Mr S.P. Chatterji is organising a Floral Fete combined with his annual orchid show, which is to be held at the well-known nursery at Narcoldanga on the 12th March and the two...

Chicken back on rly menu.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service NEW DELHI, Feb. 27. Chicken is back on the menu of Indian Railways catering units, both static and mobile. It was withdrawn following fears of H5N1 virus which causes bird flu spreading...

CBI hunt for Dawood hots up.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) NEW DELHI, Feb. 27. The CBI will soon send Letters Rogatory to Abu Dhabi seeking deportation of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his two other associates, for their alleged involvement in several cases,...

Charges framed against Salman & co.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Press Trust of India JODHPUR, Feb. 27. Charges were framed today against actors Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam, Sonali Bendre and two others by the judicial magistrate Mr Dalpat Singh Raj Purohit...

Left slams govt for betraying Iran.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service NEW DELHI, Feb. 27. The BJP joined hands with the Left today and attacked the government in Parliament on Indias vote against Iran at IAEA terming it a betrayal. They said it was not...

AIIMS on alert for Bush visit.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Pragya Kaushika in New Delhi Feb. 27. Though the US President, Mr George W Bush, does not have a history of hypertension, diabetes, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, stroke or heart disease, the...

Amar Singh CD rocks Houses.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) NEW DELHI, Feb. 27. The Amar Singh CD issue today made waves in both Houses of Parliament. The leader of the House in the Lok Sabha, Mr Pranab Mukherjee said the home ministry was examining the authenticity...

700 secret service agents descend on Capital.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Mayank Aggarwal in New Delhi Feb. 27. The Capitals five star hotels are witnessing a boom, courtesy the US Presidential entourage. Three of the elite hotels in the Capital, Le Meridien, The Imperial and The...

Alls well in J&K.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Kavita Suri in Jammu Feb. 27. Alluding to a decision by India and Pakistan to allow merchandise-laden lorries on Jhelum Valley Road, the Governor, Lt-Gen. (retired) SK Sinha, today said it would boost Jammu...

India Briefs.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) CET order CHENNAI, Feb. 27. Madras High Court today struck down the Tamil Nadu government legislation exemp-ting state board students from appe-aring for the Common Entrance Test for admission to...

Flu across border firms up fears.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Sanjay Singh in New Delhi Feb. 27. Claims that bird flu has been successfully contained and restricted to the affected poultry sites of Navapur and Ucchaar districts in Maha-rashtra and Gujarat res-pectively...

When the President came calling...
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) 25 February occurs every year but 25 February, 2006, was a historic occasion for me, writes Subbudu Hearing from his scientist friend, Dr YS Rajan, that I was recovering from a heart attack, President Dr APJ...

City toasts restoration recipe.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service KOLKATA, Feb. 27. Anyone watching the hundreds of people ravenously chomping on slices of chicken would have thought and rightly, too that bird flu was the last thing on their minds....

Cartridge scare.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service KOLKATA, Feb. 27. Central Industrial Security Force troopers at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport last night found 19 live .32-bore cartridges in a carton under a chair...

Making derelict land bloom.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service KOLKATA, Feb. 27. With the laying of the foundation of a shopping mall, to be called CESC-Godrej Plaza, at Park Circus, the RPG Group today announced its plans to unlock assets either...

Rats! Chicken off zoo menu.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Pranesh Sarkar in Kolkata Feb. 27. The two pythons at Alipore Zoo have always enjoyed their weekly helping of chicken. But as of this week, poultry is strictly off the menu. With the threat of avian flu...

NLCP kids selected for bridge courses.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service RAIGANJ, Feb. 27. - To bring those children who passed their Class IV examinations from the National Child Labour Project-sponsored schools into mainstream education, the North Dinajpur...

Medical camps held at Dinhata.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service COOCH BEHAR, Feb. 27. - As part of a 10-day special camp of the National Service Scheme (unit-I) of Dinhata College, a medical camp was organised at Karishal New Primary School in...

College workshop on child labourers held.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) COOCH BEHAR, Feb. 27. - The two-day special seminar-cum-workshop that was held at Vivekananda College Alipurduar, concluded yesterday. The Central Board for Workers' Education (CBWE) organised the programme...

Das Munshi Intuc target.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service MALDA, Feb. 27. - The Malda Intuc president today said Intuc activists would show 'black flags' to the Union minister Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, as a mark of protest against the...

Sikkim to be a riot of colours.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service GANGTOK, Feb. 27. - Driving experience along the roads of Sikkim may never be the same again. In three years' time, a wide variety of evergreen trees and exotic species of ornamental...

KLP calls for12-hr bandh.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service MALDA, Feb. 27. - The breakaway group of the Kamtapur People's Party, the Kamtapur Liberation Party, has called a 12-hour bandh in North Bengal on 10 March to protest against the...

Police arrest Siliguri hotel murder accused.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service SILIGURI, Feb. 27. - Siliguri police in association with Kolaghat police succeeded in arresting Subrata Maiti - the prime accused in the murder of a woman named Geeta Pattanaik Das - at...

Wait and watch.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service SILIGURI, Feb. 27. - Scoring over others can at times land one in an awkward situation. And the irony could come true for the Left Front candidate from the Siliguri constituency Mr Asok...

Teachers happy with easy English paper.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service KOLKATA, Feb. 27. - Prior to the elections, the Board of Secondary Education has not taken any chances with the Madhyamik English question paper this year and prepared a much more...

Kite deaths not due to any virus.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service MALDA, Feb. 27. - Animal health officials today claimed that the kite deaths in Siliguri recently was due to a quarrel amongst the birds over a piece a food. Reportedly, ten kites were...

8 dacoits nabbed in Siliguri.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service SILIGURI, Feb. 27. - In two separate attempts, Siliguri and Pradhannagar police today arrested eight dacoits with firearms and ammunition. The arrests were made in Siliguri and the...

Mughal magic.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Kolkatans got an eyeful of the medieval monuments of Delhi which came up during the Pathan and Mughal period. Thanks to Pranab Kumar Mukhopadhaya, a civil servant who chose to capture in celluloid the Alai...

Notebook.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Not an agile flier when it is not being relished as curries or fries, chicken seems to have flown away from lunch and dinner tables. As long as the avian flu scare continues, the bird whose sight normally...

Talcher gropes with pollution.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service ANGUL, Feb. 27 More than two lakh people living in Talcher industrial belt are facing a serious health hazards due to the huge coal dust throughout the year except in rainy days. Huge...

Workshop focuses on protection of kids.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service PHULBANI, Feb. 27. A regional workshop on community-based solution on protection of child right and Juvenile Justice Act-2000 organised by the youth council for development...

How a BJD MLA got rid of his laptop.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service BERHAMPUR, Feb. 27. You can easily get a laptop if you are a close friend of an Orissa MLA, for whom computers are still puzzling. Dr Ramesh Chandra Chayu Patnaik, a friend of BJD MLA...

Training programme on first-aid.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service PHULBANI, Feb. 27. A three-day training programme on first-aid and home nursing, organised by the Ayush Hospital, Phulbani, in association with the state unit of St John Ambulance,...

Solve childrens issues.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, Feb. 27. Mr Tom Olsen, the Unicef representative in India, said that a staggering number of children, particularly girls, are not going to school, but are engaged in work...

One arrested for murdering brother.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service PARALAKHEMUNDI, Feb. 27. In a bizarre incident, one person was murdered by his bother over a minor incident. The incident occurred at the residence of Agapati Sabhapati in the...

Travel woes of Mohona people.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) PARALAKHEMUNDI, Feb. 27. Communication is a major hindrance in the development in Gajapati district, and this can be aptly justified if one manages to make a trip to some of the important interior villages in...

23 houses gutted in Berhampur.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service BERHAMPUR, Feb. 27. The diya lit up, a part of the Shivratri celebrations, became the cause of a massive fire in the Jagdalpur village on the outskirts of the city yesterday. A total...

BRIEFS.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Robbery foiled NIMAPARA, Feb. 27. The local people have foiled a bank robbery here recently. According to police, the dacoits, who broke open the door of Khelar branch of Puri Gramya Bank on Friday, had to...

Uphill task for MKCG Hospital.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service BERHAMPUR, Feb. 27. The MKCG Medical College has not undergone any major infrastructure development in recent times. And this will be a major stumbling block in its attempt to expand...

CM against Katragada weir.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, Feb. 27. Chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik urged the Centre to direct the Andhra Pradesh government to stop the construction of the Katragada side weir on the Vamsadhara...

State urges revision of coal mine land Act.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) BHUBANESWAR, Feb. 27. The state government has urged the Centre to amend the provisions of the Act relating to the coal-bearing land for the benefit of land owners and farmers. Disclosing this to the media,...

Tulasi Munda game for Rajya Sabha nomination.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, Feb. 27. Noted social activist, Ms Tulasi Munda said she would give her consent if an offer was given by the ruling BJD-BJP for nominating her to the Rajya Sabha. Ms...

Vistapita Virodhi Janmanch says no too.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) JAJPUR, Feb. 27. Vistapita Virodhi Janmanch rejected the state governments invitation to participate in the ministerial committee meeting on resettlement and rehabilitation (R & R) policy at Bhubaneswar. The...

Tribal leaders boycott ministerial committee.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, Feb. 27. Tribal leaders of the trouble-torn Kalinga Nagar and a few others, including former chief ministers Mr Giridhar Gamang and Mr Hemananda Biswal, today boycotted...

Doctors desert health centre fearing public ire.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service BALASORE, Feb. 27. The functioning of Gopalpur (Khantapara) primary health centre has been paralysed for four days as all the doctors and other staff have deserted the centre following...

Coastal districts asked to chalk out exigency plans.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service KENDRAPARA, Feb. 27. The state government has asked the authorities of both Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts to chalk out off-site emergency plans to deal with any exigencies....

Vehicles seized for flouting transport rules in Keonjhar.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) KEONJHAR, Feb. 27. Rampant use of blue-dyed kerosene in trucks and buses has come to light, when a team led by district collector, acting on a tip off, raided some houses at Dhangarpada and seized two buses...

Column 1.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Its Asom now Guwahati, Feb. 27. Assam will henceforth be known as Asom following a Cabinet decision. It is now Asom, said the state minister for planning and development, Mr Himanta Biswa Sharma, today. SNS...

PJO Taylor passes away.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service KOLKATA, Feb. 27. Life lost one of its most intoxicating spices today with the death in England of one of The Statesman's most distinguished contributors, PJO Taylor. According to a...

Centre hints at Jessica retrial.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service NEW DELHI, Feb. 27. The Centre today indicated that a fresh probe into the murder of Jessica Lal could be possible after members of both Houses of Parliament demanded a retrial. They...

Reforms stress in rose-tinted survey.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service NEW DELHI, Feb. 27. A healthy growth rate of 8.1 per cent in the current fiscal notwithstanding, the Economic Survey 2005-06 has advocated deepening of the reform process, including...

Nuke separation Indias call: PM.
February 28, 2006... (From The Statesman (India)) Statesman News Service NEW DELHI, Feb. 27. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, today told Parliament that India had proposed to put about 65 per cent of its functional nuclear power reactors in the...