န Kolkata boy shines on National scoreboard with 99.25%

Bengal's schools have done the best

< Ankita Mukherjee and Subhojit Ghosh >

Kolkata, Asansol, 20 May : The state may fail to retain the best brains but as long as they stay in Bengal, they are capable of outscoring their counterparts in other states. The ICSE and ISC results, which were declared on Wednesday, proved that some of the best brains are still bred in Bengal as the city schools matched the performances in cities like Mumbai and Bangalore.
Subhojit Ghosh of St Joseph’s College, a school on BB Ganguly Street, created history by scoring 99.25 per cent, an all-time ISC record. “I am happy with my performance. It is also good to learn that Calcutta schools have done much better this time,” said Subhojit, who attributed his success to his school and the academic infrastructure in Kolkata.
A girl from the Asansol branch of the Assembly of God Church School in Burdwan district, Ankita Mukherjee, scored the highest in the state and second highest in the country with a score of 98.6 per cent in ICSE 2009.
“Not just individual performances, the best thing about this year’s result is a collective improvement of performance by the Bengal's schools,” said Gerry Arathoon, the additional secretary and officiating chief executive and secretary of the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination.

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Congress discusses issue of portfolio
allocation with Mamata Banerjee
New Delhi, 20 May : Congress on Wednesday discussed with Trinamool Congress the issue of Cabinet berths and portfolio allocation amid indications that Mamata Banerjee is staking claim for five ministerial slots.
Trinamool Congress chief Banerjee met Ahmed Patel, political secretary to the Congress president, to reach an understanding on the issue. Trinamool, which won 19 Lok Sabha seats, is believed to be seeking at least two Cabinet berths and three slots of ministers of state.
The new government will be sworn in on Friday.
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WC 2011 opening ceremony at Bangabandhu stadium
Dhaka, 20 May : The Bangladesh parliamentary standing committee on sports today announced that Bangabandhu National Stadium would host the opening ceremony of Cricket World Cup 2011.
Committee Chairman Zahid Ahsan Russel said this after a meeting with Bangladesh Cricket Board officials, held at the parliamentary complex this afternoon. But the decision is yet to be taken whether any match would be held at the stadium, Russel said. Bangladesh will stage eight world cup matches including two quarterfinals as well as the opening ceremony on 18 February, 2011.
India will host 29 of the 49 matches across eight venues including the final and a semifinal and Sri Lanka will host 12 matches in three venues.

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INTUC state secretary quits Congress, Joins CPI(M)
Agartala , 20 May : Secretary of the Tripura unit of INTUC and former vice-president of Congress led Agartala municipal council, Sadhan Das joined the ruling CPI(M).
Das today said he joined the ruling party at a meeting held yesterday and promised to work unconditionally for strengthening the party organisation. The state unit of INTUC today announced that Das was expelled from the party for indefinite period on charge of breach of discipline.
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Viswa Bharati Entrance Exams to be held in 8 centres

Kolkata, 20 May : In an attempt to bring students from different parts of the country under its fold, the Viswa Bharati University in Santiniketan will from now on hold admission tests at eight centers in different parts of the country for the fist time since its inception. Earlier, the admission tests for undergraduate courses used to be conducted only at Santiniketan in both Bengali and English. Now along with Kolkata, the students can take up the examination at Bhubaneshwar, Ranchi, Shillong, Nagpur, Hyderabad and New Delhi.
The examination in other states, which will be conducted on 21 June, will be held in English only. “We had a number of applicants from other states. But it was difficult for them to come down for the entrance test. Conducting admission tests in different parts of country will help more students to join our university,” said Amitava Choudhury, a spokesman for the Viswa Bharati University.
The university, which is known for its distinct approach to education and Tagore heritage, has also drawn many foreign students who either join the usual courses of the university or certain special courses designed for foreign casual students.

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Over 2,500 border guards arrested

since mutiny, says Bangladesh govt
Xinhua, Dhaka, 20 May : Over 2,500 border guard personnel have been arrested in connection with the 26 February mutiny by Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), Commerce Minister Faruk Khan told Xinhua.
Khan, who was tasked with the inquiry into the incident, said : “At least 1,398 members of the BDR have been arrested in Dhaka, while 1,581 more were held in 29 other districts.” Khan said 585 accused have confessed to their involvements in the mutiny.

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5 sentenced to life for Khadim owner kidnapping case

Kolkata, 20 May : Mafia don Aftab Ansari and four others were sentenced to life imprisonment by a court here on Wednesday for the sensational 2001 kidnap of Partha Pratim Roy Burman, owner of the shoe manufacturing firm Khadim.

Delivering the verdict, Additional District Judge of Alipore Court Biswarup Bandyopadhyay acquitted 17 others chargesheeted in the case for lack of evidence. The four others others were jailed for life. Aftab, the prime accused in the case, was the brain behind the conspiracy hatched in Dubai to kidnap Roy Burman, the owner of Khadim Shoes. Aftab was arrested in Dubai and flown to India after the terrorist attack on the American Center here in 2002. He has already been given the death sentence in the American Center case.
According to the prosecution, Roy Burman was abducted on way to his company's factory 25 July, 2001 from the Tiljala area of east Kolkata and kept confined within a house in Pakuria village of neighbouring Howrah district. The injured Roy Burman was allowed to return home 2 August, 2001 after his family members paid a ransom of Rs.37.5 million.

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Bangladesh hopes to have headquarter of 'BIMSTEC'

Dhaka, 20 May : Bangladesh hopes to house the permanent secretariat of the sub-regional bloc, BIMSTEC, which was formed for rapid economic development and to accelerate social progress, officials have said.
Senior officials of the seven-nation Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) began their second scheduled meeting here Wednesday to discuss the issue of the permanent secretariat.
On 6 June, 1997, the sub-regional grouping was formed in Bangkok. It has Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand.

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Mamata can be next chief minister

of West Bengal : Pranab Mukherjee

< Mamata Banerjee in New Delhi Today morning. န Photo :PTI

New Delhi, 20 May : After the Congress-Trinamool alliance's body blow to West Bengal's ruling Left in the hustings, Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee Today said that Trinamool Congress supreme Mamata Banerjee could be the next chief minister of the state.

In an interview to a news channel, Mukherjee, the West Bengal state Congress president, said it was possible that Banerjee would emerge as the next head of the state after the electoral rout of the Left after three decades. "We (the Congress) have no problems with that (Banerjee as chief minister)," Pranab said, when asked what he thought of Banerjee becoming chief minister.
Mukherjee was instrumental in stitching the Congress-Trinamool alliance in West Bengal, which resulted in the Left Front winning just 15 of the 42 parliamentary seats. The Trinamool Congress and the Congress won 26 between them. Of these, the Trinamool claimed 19 and the Congress seven.

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Passenger quarantined for suspected Swine Flu at Kolkata Airport
Kolkata, 20 May : One Emirates passenger coming from Philippines via Dubai was quarantined on Wednesday at NSC Bose airport here for showing the suspected Swine Flu symptoms.
Shyamal Sarkar(35) of Ranaghat, who suffered from fever and some respiratory problems, was initially checked up by medical authorities at the airport and was taken for further examination, airport sources said. Additional general manager (Medical), Sujit Baksi, sent the patient to the Infectious Disease (ID) hospital at Beliaghata in the metropolis, they added.

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Rohingya rebels trained JMB men at border camps

RAB glean it from Boma Mizan, HUJI too received training from RSO

Chittagong, Dhaka, 20 May : Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had close links with Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), an insurgent group in the Arakan state of Myanmar, JMB's explosives expert 'Boma' Mizan revealed in interrogations.

Sources close to RAB interrogators said Mizan and some other JMB operatives received training from RSO arms experts in a camp near Myanmar border in 2002. Now executed JMB chief Shaekh Abdur Rahman sent them for the training. In exchange for the firearms lessons, JMB trained Rohingyas to improvise and set off bombs.Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (HUJI) Bangladesh, another outlawed Islamist outfit, too had strong connections with RSO.
Officials from the police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and some intelligence agencies have been quizzing Mizan, who was captured by Rab on 14 May, and is now on a seven-day remand. The sources said JMB military wing's former chief Ataur Rahman Sunny and activist Galib are among those trained by the Rohingyan arms experts.
RSO had some make-shift camps for their shelter and training. A good number of RSO-trained Huji cadres, they added, went to Myanmar to fight for the Rohingyas, ethnic Muslims of northern Arakan. န Photos : AP