PTI, New Delhi, 28 August : Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday exuded confidence that the economy would grow by more than 8.5% this fiscal, despite partial roll back of stimulus measures.Addressing heads of Indian Missions here, Mukherjee said the economy is likely to continue the high growth trajectory in the coming years as well. Indian economic growth slowed down to 6.7% during 2008-09 from nine percent in the previous three years after the deepening global financial crisis hit the economy.
To blunt the impact of global crisis, the Government provided stimulus to the economy by cutting taxes and stepping up public expenditure. This catapulted economic growth to 7.4% last fiscal, despite just 0.2% farm growth because of drought in many parts of the country. In fact, the Finance Minister expressed confidence that the economy would grow faster than 8.5%.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PM asks recommendations for framing vested property act
BSS, Dhaka, 28 August : Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today called upon the Hindu religious leaders to send common recommendations for framing the vested property act, saying that it would help passage of the bill in the Jatiya Sangsad. Mentioning various government steps for the vested property act, PM said the bill is now with the concerned parliamentary standing committee for its consideration.
The Prime Minister said this when leaders of Dhaka and Chittagong of Bangladesh Puja Udjapon Parishad and Janmashtami Udjapon Parishad called on her to exchange Janmashtami greetings at Ganobhaban.
The Prime Minister said this when leaders of Dhaka and Chittagong of Bangladesh Puja Udjapon Parishad and Janmashtami Udjapon Parishad called on her to exchange Janmashtami greetings at Ganobhaban.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
West Bengal needs more industries, says CM Buddhadeb
Jagatballavpur, 28 August : West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said that after achieving success in agriculture, the state now needs to pay more attention to developing industries.
"We need more industries and factories in the state to provide employment to the unemployed youths and those passing out from the different engineering colleges," Bhattacharjee said while inaugurating a rolling mills cluster set up by the Howrah Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Gumadangi in Howrah district.
Jagatballavpur, 28 August : West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said that after achieving success in agriculture, the state now needs to pay more attention to developing industries.
"We need more industries and factories in the state to provide employment to the unemployed youths and those passing out from the different engineering colleges," Bhattacharjee said while inaugurating a rolling mills cluster set up by the Howrah Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Gumadangi in Howrah district.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
India's best Rugby Championship begins at CCFC grounds
IBNS, Kolkata, 28 August : India's top twelve teams on Saturday assembled here to vie for the 77th Royal Challenge All India & South East Asia Rugby Championship, the best known tournament India hosts in Rugby Football.Chennai Cheetahs take on Kolkata Police and defending champions Red Army play against local Jungle Crows as the kicks off for the eight-day knock out competition begins at 3.00pm at CCFC Grounds on Saturday. The Sports Authorities of India will also host two games of the championship. Besides these four clubs, Army Green, Bangalore, Bombay Gymkhana, Delhi Lioans, Delhi Hurricanes, Tamil Nadu Police are participating. Kolkata has the largest numbers of four participanting clubs in the competition.
No foreign teams are taking part this year as all Commonwealth nations members are taking part in CWG in New Delhi. The CWG's regulating authority has banned all top players to take part in club level tournament to avoid injujry.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anti-liberation force killed Bangabandhu: Mosharraf Hosain
UNB, Dhaka, 28 August : Bangladesh Labour and Employment Minister Eng Mosharraf Hossain Saturday said that the anti-liberation force, who could not accept country’s independence, killed Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.“This anti-liberation force is still active for jeopardizing country’s sovereignty and we must be aware about them,” he said at National Museum auditorium in the city. Grater Faridpur Employers’ Welfare Association organized the discussion marking the 35th day of martyrdom of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Mosharraf said when Bangabandhu had been trying to rebuild the war-ravaged country, the vested quarter stopped the country’s development by killing him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
50% seats in AMC & N-Panchayats reserved for women
Agartala, 28 August : The Left Front government in Tripura has decided to reserve 50% seats for women in the civic bodies including the Agartala Municipal Council (AMC) and the 15 nagar panchayats, official sources said today.
Joint Electoral Officer D K Roy said a draft notification issued by the state election commission recently stated that 112 of the 230 seats of the AMC and 15 nagar panchayats will be reserved for women in the elections, tentatively due in December. Voters and political parties can file claims and objections till 31 August, which will be settled on 6 September and after that a final notification would be published, he said. Haripada Das, the office secretary of the CPI(M), said his party believed in empowering women in the state and the decision for reserving seats for women was timely.
Agartala, 28 August : The Left Front government in Tripura has decided to reserve 50% seats for women in the civic bodies including the Agartala Municipal Council (AMC) and the 15 nagar panchayats, official sources said today.
Joint Electoral Officer D K Roy said a draft notification issued by the state election commission recently stated that 112 of the 230 seats of the AMC and 15 nagar panchayats will be reserved for women in the elections, tentatively due in December. Voters and political parties can file claims and objections till 31 August, which will be settled on 6 September and after that a final notification would be published, he said. Haripada Das, the office secretary of the CPI(M), said his party believed in empowering women in the state and the decision for reserving seats for women was timely.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Singur's farmers in a spot over unplanned land acquisition
ANI, Singur, 28 August : Farmers, who gave up their lands for the small-car manufacturing project of Tata Motors in West Bengal's Singur town, are now suffering the fallout of unplanned land acquisition.As a part of the drive to acquire land, farmers were promised jobs in the unit. But now that factory production is stalled and the unit itself lies incomplete, the former farmers are being refused employment with the company, in spite of the fact that they even got training for the same.
Now, villagers of Singur say that the acquisition process could have been carried out in a more planned, negotiated and amicable manner if the authorities had shown a little foresight. န File Photo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meeting to resolve Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border row
ANI, Dispur, 28 August : A high-level meeting of officials from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh was held to resolve the tension prevailing in the Charaipung area along Assam-Arunachal Pradesh (AP) border.
During the meeting, it was decided that the bunkers erected by the Arunachal Pradesh police in the area between Charaipung and the Teok River would be removed immediately. "Arunachal Pradesh has sent a delegation to Guwahati to meet our counterpart government of Assam, to discuss and make efforts to neutralise the situation at Charaipung, which is affecting the normal life of the common people," Setong Sena, Finance Minister of Arunachal Pradesh said on Friday. The Revenue Minister of Assam, Bhumidhar Barman, urged to the media to cooperate in bringing back normalcy to the area.
ANI, Dispur, 28 August : A high-level meeting of officials from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh was held to resolve the tension prevailing in the Charaipung area along Assam-Arunachal Pradesh (AP) border.
During the meeting, it was decided that the bunkers erected by the Arunachal Pradesh police in the area between Charaipung and the Teok River would be removed immediately. "Arunachal Pradesh has sent a delegation to Guwahati to meet our counterpart government of Assam, to discuss and make efforts to neutralise the situation at Charaipung, which is affecting the normal life of the common people," Setong Sena, Finance Minister of Arunachal Pradesh said on Friday. The Revenue Minister of Assam, Bhumidhar Barman, urged to the media to cooperate in bringing back normalcy to the area.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPM called bandh hits South Kolkata, normal life disrupted
+called+bandh+hits+South+Kolkata_28082010.jpg)
Kolkata, 28 August : Normal life was disrupted in large parts of south Kolkata today due to a strike called by the CPI(M) to protest an alleged attack on their activists by the Trinamool Congress.Office-goers had a trying time commuting as transport was seriously affected in large areas of south Kolkata. Shops, markets and business establishments remained closed at Santoshpur, Baghajatin, and some parts of Kasba area, officials said. No untoward incident has been reported so far, police said.
At least 22 people, including a CPI(M) MLA and a Trinamool Congress councillor, were yesterday injured in a clash during a borough election under Kolkata Corporation at Baghajatin, which falls under the chief minister's assembly constituency. န Photo : Indrajit Dutta
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Low carbon fair' in Meghalaya to commemorate CWG
PTI, Shillong, 28 August : In order to commemorate the upcoming Commonwealth Games in the national capital, a week-long 'low carbon fair' is being held here from today.
Several activities promoting low carbon practices will be held during the initiative being organised by environment forum CMS Vatavaran in collaboration with the CWG's organising committee. Seminars, workshops, open forum and panel discussions on several contemporary issues related to environment, climate change, sustainable technology and eco-tourism will be held till 3 September, an official release said.
PTI, Shillong, 28 August : In order to commemorate the upcoming Commonwealth Games in the national capital, a week-long 'low carbon fair' is being held here from today.
Several activities promoting low carbon practices will be held during the initiative being organised by environment forum CMS Vatavaran in collaboration with the CWG's organising committee. Seminars, workshops, open forum and panel discussions on several contemporary issues related to environment, climate change, sustainable technology and eco-tourism will be held till 3 September, an official release said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Experts prefer 'monorail' instead of 'metro rail' in Dhaka city
BSS, Dhaka, 28 August : Foreign Transport experts prefer construction of monorail instead of underground metro rail for Dhaka city as the subways will be less feasible and will cost one billion dollar more than the sky-trains.They said approximately 2.6 billion US dollar will be required to build the country's underground metro railway but will cost one billion dollar less to build monorails high over the ground. This was estimated by the urban transportation expert team of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), involving in conducting the feasibility study of setting up the first metro rail line aiming at reducing the huge tailback on the road of capital Dhaka.
"The underground route will cost more as we have to make it firmly waterproof considering acute water-logging problems of Dhaka city security concern is another risk factor for the underground system in Dhaka," Senior Transport Adviser of JICA Tamaoki Watanabe told BSS on Friday.
Tomaoki said there is common concept that the government needs to acquire lots of land for building the over ground metro link but only some land in Gulistan area will be needed to acquire for setting up the over the ground railway track.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vehicle plunged into the Rangit river, 9 killed in Jorethang
ANI, Jorethang, 28 August : Altogether nine people drowned, when the vehicle they were travelling, plunged into the Rangit river late last night, Sikim police today said.
The accident occured on the Jorethang Melli road when the vehicle, headed towards Siliguri, tried to negotiate a sharp bend. The bodies were recovered and, after autopsy, handed over to the relatives, DIG (Range) N Sridhar Rao incident. The exact cause of the accident could not be ascertained, the DIG added.
ANI, Jorethang, 28 August : Altogether nine people drowned, when the vehicle they were travelling, plunged into the Rangit river late last night, Sikim police today said.
The accident occured on the Jorethang Melli road when the vehicle, headed towards Siliguri, tried to negotiate a sharp bend. The bodies were recovered and, after autopsy, handed over to the relatives, DIG (Range) N Sridhar Rao incident. The exact cause of the accident could not be ascertained, the DIG added.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Water Bus Service introduced on Sadarghat-Gabtali route
UNB, Dhaka, 28 August : Inaugurating water bus service in the capital today (Saturday), Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan said the government also has a plan to introduce similar water bus service in the southern parts of the country including Chandpur and Barisal.Addressing the inaugural function at the Gabtali landing station in the morning, he said the government had planned in 2001 to introduce the waterbus service, but the BNP led 4-party alliance government had shelved the plan.
Two water buses - Turag and Buriganga - will ferry passengers on Sadarghat-Swarighat-Kholamura-Gabtali river route as a pilot project. The Shipping Minister hoped that another 10 waterbuses will be introduced on the route within 3-4 months.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sea Plane to operate in Andaman Islands once again
Port Blair, 28 August : History will be relived in Andaman and Nicobar Islands once again as the local Administration has got clearance from Planning Commission of India for operation of ‘Sea Plane’ in these remote scattered Islands.
The only deference will be this time sea plane won’t be used for attack or counter attack by Japanese and British Forces but by the local Administration for connectivity between small small inhabited Islands, which are spread over a distance of about 800 km in Bay of Bengal. Between 1942 to 1945 Japanese forces during their occupation used to operate large number of Sea Planes in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. After independence though once there was an attempt to operate sea plane again but the maiden flight crash landed killing one passenger.There are also evidences of operation of Catalina Flying Boats (Sea Planes) between Andaman and Nicobar Islands – Rangoon and Andaman and Nicobar Islands - Kolkata in 1950s. Even before Second World War, British forces, especially Royal Air Force used to operate Sutherland flying boats (Sea Plane) for mapping of these far-flung Islands.
According to the Director of Andaman’s Tourism Department, Binay Bhushan, the Director the Planning Commission has cleared Sea Plane operation in Andaman and Nicobar Islands from 1 October. The Sea Plane, which are originally called as Amphibian Aircraft, will be operated in these remote Indian Islands on 50:50 partnership basis. He added that the Andaman and Nicobar Administration has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Pawan Hans Helicopter Ltd. (PHHL), which will run the pilot project initially. As per the MoU PHHL will operate Sea Plane from 1 October.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------www.bengalnewz.com-----
