Free travel is becoming an acceptable norm in former railway minister Mamata Banerjee’s signature train — the non-stop Duronto. Launched in 2010 during Banerjee’s tenure, the Duronto was the only Indian train that did not permit free rail travel. However, things changed after Banerjee quit as the railway minister to take charge as the CM of West Bengal in May 2011. At first, MPs inched their way into the Duronto on free...
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Forests equal to half of Delhi lost, reveals report-Jayashree Nandi
-The Economic Times Going by the latest report on deforestation in India, we have lost forest area equivalent to more than half of New Delhi or as big as a tier two city between 2007 and 2009 alone. The study conducted by a team of forestry researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore for "Current Science" journal says that massive deforestation has been masked by Forest Survey of India's afforestation...
More »India's Westminster-type government is struggling with coalition woes-Pradeep S Mehta
At a recent meeting in Kolkata, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee threw up his hands for not being able to present a bold Budget because of coalition politics. Indeed, Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress, a coalition partner, has been a thorn in the side of the UPA. She enjoys a veto on nearly everything that the government wishes to do. If such are the compulsions of coalition politics, should we not...
More »India has the scope to export 2-2.5 mn bales of cotton: Agriculture ministry-Sanjeeb Mukherjee
The agriculture ministry has said the country still has the scope to export another 2-2.5 million bales of cotton if fresh registrations for export are allowed in the coming weeks. The ministry, which has been strongly opposed to the current cap on exports at 12.5 million bales, is of the opinion that if exports are re-opened at this juncture, only 2-2.5 million bales can be exported. The remaining cotton, from the...
More »Bengal back in ‘Animal Farm’-Prithvijit Mitra
On March 15, 2011, when the Mamata Banerjee wave was at its zenith, thespians Saonli Mitra and Arpita Ghosh went to Bansberia in Hooghly to stage the anti-establishment play 'Poshu Khamar', based on George Orwell's Animal Farm. But they were turned back by local CPM MP Rupchand Pal, who feared that the play was meant to denigrate the then ruling Left Front. The public outrage against CPM's "social hegemony" was...
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