-The Times of India   It will be illegal for government employees in the state to go on strike or hold rallies if chief minister Mamata Banerjee has her way.  In a decision that has sent ripples down both camps, the government wants to take away the employees ' right to association, leave aside strike, that the Left Front government had bestowed upon them.  The bold step - once approved by the Cabinet -...

-The Indian Express   The West Bengal government announced Tuesday that it had decided to withdraw the trade union rights of its employees. The announcement, made at the secretariat by the labour minister, triggered outrage among state government staff. Minister Purnendu Bose said the government would withdraw a clause in the service rules, introduced by the LF government in 1981, giving full trade union rights to state government staff. Withdrawal of the amendment will...

Baishakhi Ghosh sits at the threshold of her home at Kauri village in Bardhaman district with her new-born son, but breaks into tears as her mother feeds her a sweetmeat — part of the rituals of bringing her first grandchild to the home for the first time. Alternating between wailing and consoling each other, the women of the household of Bhootnath Pal, a farmer who was found hanging from the...

The culture of cholchhe, cholbe is very much alive and kicking. Most of the 18 departments that were asked by the state home department to submit a list of their employees in the Maoist-affected Jungle Mahal area by December 10 have failed to do so. The list was sought to draw up a central incentive scheme for employees working in such sensitive zones. Officials at Writers’ Buildings said that so far, only...

-The Times of India   West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s request for increased supply of urea as prices of nutrient based fertilizers are increasing has highlighted the challenges the Centre’s bid to reduce urea use and promote a more balanced product mix faces.  Arguing that farmers should not be asked to purchase costlier nutrient-based NPK (nitrogen, phosporus and potassium) fertilizer, Banerjee has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for more urea for the...