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The Hindu
5 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Allegations of tender irregularity, fraud at Deocha-Pachami coal project ‘baseless': WBPDCL
The West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL) on Friday (July 4, 2025) refuted allegations of tender breach and financial fraud made by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on the tendering process behind the Deocha-Pachami-Dewanganj-Harisingha (DPDH) coal mining project in West Bengal's Birbhum. A senior official of the WBPDCL told The Hindu on Friday that the CPI(M)'s demand for a judicial probe into the tendering process of the coal project 'makes no sense'. CPI(M) State Secretary Mohammad Salim on Thursday had accused the Trinamool government and WBPDCL of breach of tender guidelines, violations of allotment agreement, and miscategorisation of the coal mine 'to bypass the need for environmental clearances and public hearings.' Addressing CPI(M)'s allegations of irregularities in the tendering process, the WBPDCL official said that the tendering process was conducted on a national e-procurement system operated by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). 'A total of 11 companies had shown interest, of which eight had qualified and participated in the tender process. Five of them were from other States like Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand. Of them, the company with the highest bid value of 71.5% revenue share was selected. This means, in a revenue sharing model, 71.5% of the profit would go to the government,' the official claimed. They added that this is the highest bid value received by any company pertaining to basalt or stone mining so far in the State, for this kind of tender. WBPDCL also refuted allegations that clearances were not obtained and the mining plan was not submitted before mining operations began at the DPDH project. 'All necessary clearances have been obtained. A series of statutory clearances and permissions is required to operate a mine. We have obtained the necessary permissions, submitted our mining plan, secured consent to operate from the Director General of Mines Safety, and obtained other requisite clearances. It must be remembered that DPDH is a continuous project which will go on for months and years,' the WBPDCL official said. The official further stated that the reason basalt had to be mined before coal is that, unlike in other coal mines, the coal in the DPDH project is trapped under a layer of basalt, which is 80 metres to 200 metres thick. 'How can we mine the coal if we do not mine the basalt first? It is not clear why questions are being raised on the ongoing basalt mining project given these circumstances,' the official said. CPI(M) leader Mr. Salim had raised questions on why a power development corporation was concerned with the basalt mining work at the DPDH mine. On the CPI(M)'s allegations that the mining work was started in a 12-acre area 'to deliberately bypass the need for clearances and a public hearing needed for a mine of a bigger scale', the WBPDCL official told The Hindu that 'it is not possible to start mining operations in the entirety of the 3,500 acre project area at once.' However, the CPI(M) had also alleged the tender guidelines were breached when the company selected as the mine developer and operator at DPDH, 'Trancemarine and Confreight Logistics Private Limited', reportedly underwent an acquisition after being awarded the contract. No clarification was given on this matter. The CPI(M) State Secretary, Mr. Salim had alleged that the acquisition and consequent ownership change of the selected company violates WBPDCL's own tender conditions and 'hints at deep corruption in the DPDH project'. It is worth noting that there have also been prolonged and widespread protests in the Mohammed Bazar block of Birbhum district, where locals accused the government of 'tricking them into surrendering land' for the DPDH coal project in exchange for lucrative benefits.
The Wire
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Wire
Kolkata's Vietnam Connection: A Forgotten Chapter of Familiarity
Kolkata: For any city, the past is an echo of the times it has lived through. Fifty years ago, in 1975, May Day in Kolkata had transformed itself into a spontaneous and triumphant celebration of the defeat of US imperialism and Vietnam's victory, celebrated as the reunification of the two sundered parts of the country, was declared official. From a show of working class solidarity and strength, which is how Kolkata has always celebrated May Day, it became both, the city's salutation to the 'sheer human courage and resilience' of the people of Vietnam as in iconic director Satyajit Ray's Pratidwandi (The Adversary), 1970, and an occasion for yet another remarkable show of solidarity. On April 30, 1975, the day North Vietnam Army's troops and tanks rolled into Saigon – now Ho Chi Minh City – Kolkata, the only city that could, hit the streets as news spread of the US defeat. Veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Rabin Deb recalled he was also on the streets, participating in a rally of celebration. On May Day, apart from the Left trade union leadership, the CPI(M)'s leadership were at Sahid Minar, the favourite rally ground of the city; it was large, well-connected to public transport and accessible from both the railway stations – Howrah and Sealdah. It was not as challenging and vast as the sprawling Brigade Parade Grounds. The crowds spilled out of the Sahind Minar grounds and among them were students, like now-retired professor Pranab Basu; distinguished scholar of films, theatre and the performing arts like Samik Bandopadhyay, and Professor Tridib Chakraborti, an expert on Vietnam-India relations. There were thousands of others, those who were inspired by the slogan ' Tomar Naam, Amaar Naam, Vietnam, Vietnam, ' (Your name and my name is Vietnam, Vietnam). Or, they had read the poetry of Beerendra Chattopadhyaya, a fiery radical poet and Mangal Charan Chattopadhyaya and one of the foremost poets of the 20th century in India, Subhas Mukhopadyaya, also known as 'padatik kobi' (footsoldier of poetry). Or, they were people who probably watched the iconic theatre personality Shombhu Mitra's version of Badal Sircar's The Rest of History. Master of his craft, Mitra substituted Vietnam as an example of The Rest of History, because the name, place and the people and their heroic struggle were proximate, immediate, familiar and significant for Bengali alternative theatre goers. In the original version by Sircar – a pioneer of street theatre in India, an experimentalist and a legend – he had used Congo as the example. The substitution was striking because Vietnam had become an unmissable part of the public discourse. In the Bengali imagination, the war in Vietnam was the most important event of the 'past decade' – more important than Apollo 16 docking on the moon. The reason, as Dhritiman Chatterjee says in Pratidwand i, is that five years before Vietnam's liberation, it was so 'unpredictable.' Against US imperialism In the late 1960s, especially after 1968, Bengalis talked all the time about Vietnam and its 'heroic struggle' to defeat US Imperialism armed with inadequate fire power against B-52s flying carpet bombing missions, of helicopters with American soldiers armed with machine guns strafing the rice paddies, of the resilience and courage of the physically puny, rice-eating people who were fiercely waging war against a 'superpower'. In the Bengali imagination, there was a trace of identifying with the North Vietnam Army forces fighting, apparently, insuperable odds. A city and a polity that had coined ' Tomar Naam, Amar Naam, Vietnam, Vietnam ' as a war cry against 'US imperialism and neo capitalism,' where a street in 1969 was renamed Ho Chi Minh Sarani, only because the US Deputy Consulate Office was located on it, where a bust of Uncle Ho had been installed so that all manner of communists and emotionally connected individuals could garland the sculpture, made itself a distant outpost of a liberation movement in East Asia. Inside the National Library, India's largest library by volume and for public record, there is a small corner, dedicated to Vietnam. It opened in 2016, as the first country-specific section within the National Library. And then there is Ho Chi Minh. Like Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh's face is familiar; it is printed on T-shirts and is always included in the line up of legendary communist leaders. He remains an icon even today, though the details of what he did beyond fighting French and US imperialism have been forgotten. Not all the cadres of the dwindling CPI(M) and the CPI recall that 'Uncle Ho' visited Kolkata more than once; he made a halt in 1946 on his way to Paris to attend the preliminary round of negotiations for the peace accord, which incidentally collapsed. There is a plaque at the Great Eastern Hotel, described by Mark Twain as the 'Jewel of the East,' installed after the grand building was taken over and renovated by the Lalit Group. In 1958, Ho Chi Minh visited again, probably on a stop over on his way to Paris. That visit is significant; it explains why Ho Chi Minh is so much a part of the city's history and its imagination. In 1958, Ho Chi Minh went to the office of Swadhinata, the evening daily of then undivided Communist Party of India, to meet Dhiraranjan Sen, who was injured in a rally organised in support of Vietnam's struggle in January 1947. The British police had fired on rallyists and two people were killed. They were the first martyrs of the movement in India that supported Ho Chi Minh's fight to liberate Vietnam from French colonial rule. When Madam Nguyen Thi Binh visited Kolkata in 2007, the public welcomed her with a massive rally. This was not her first visit. She had come earlier, probably for the first time in 1973. However, this time the turnout was huge; the enormous Netaji Indoor Stadium with a seating capacity of 12,000, was packed. People also gathered outside the stadium just to be in the presence of the lady who stood up to Henry Kissinger and was part of Vietnam's negotiating team for the peace accord. She was inspiring. In 1989, Kolkata hosted General Vo Nguyen Giap, the man who defeated the French army and ended its colonial rule by winning the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. He paid his respects at the Ho Chi Minh statue, met the leaders of then ruling CPI(M)-led Left Front, including chief minister Jyoti Basu, attended a public reception and dominated the headlines the next day in the Bengali print media. Since 1947, when the first rallyists of the Vietnam liberation died in police action, Kolkata's relationship to Vietnam has been visceral. Samik Bandopadhyay is now 85 years old; his encyclopedic memory is awe inspiring. Even so, the vividness of his recall of the day Vietnam was liberated is remarkable. He says, 'We celebrated on the streets, joined the rally and celebrated at home, too.' Vietnam was a place not out there somewhere in the vast world; it was a place to which the Bandopadhyay family felt connected with, much like many other Bengalis. However, there was a key difference: Samik Bandopadhyay's eldest brother, Subrata Banerjee, was posted in Vietnam when he joined the British Army, post 1942, on directives issued by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that the world war had become a peoples' war. Serving in Vietnam, Banerjee made friends; these friends then made tracks to visit him in Kolkata. The distance was bridged by the emotional attachment between spirited Bengalis inspired by the courage and resilience of the Vietnamese people. Other notable visitors Kolkata has hosted many visitors. Back then, after Independence and before globalisation and the digital revolution, the city was a magnet for a particular kind of world leader. Writing for the New York Times in 1955, the day General Secretary of CPSU Nikita Krushchev, who was Stalin's successor, and Premier Nikolai Bulganin flew in, A.M, Rosenthal, who later became the newspapers managing editor, painted a picture of the city: 'Late into the night, the streets of India's largest city were jammed with people hoping to get a glimpse of the Russians. This was by far the largest crowd to greet the Soviet leaders. Oldtime residents of Calcutta said they had never seen anything like it, not for Mohandas Gandhi or Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, nor for Indian Independence day.' The reason why world leaders came to the city, then called Calcutta, was its 'reputation of being India's most leftist and turbulent city.' The turbulence was packed away when the city played host; the people took over and transformed a formal visit into, as Rosenthal wrote, 'the welcoming crush of one of the largest crowds in Indian history'. 'More than 2,000,000 Bengalis turned out to greet Soviet Premier Nikolai A. Bulganin and Communist party chief Nikita S. Khrushchev and turned a day of welcome into a security officer's nightmare,' he wrote. Calcutta-Kolkata's police experienced in managing huge shoving, pushing, excited and determined crowds had to rescue Krushchev and Bulganin from the car in which they were travelling and put them into a secure police van. The crowds remained an index of the size of mobilisations by political parties for decades to come. Nelson Mandela also visited the city. So did Yasser Arafat. The public receptions were exceptional. West Bengal and the city always converged at the reception venues, regardless of the effort it may have been to travel from other districts into Kolkata, on packed trains – even the 27 special trains that ran for the Krushchev-Bulganin visit. When the first democratic election, following the end of monarchy, in Nepal was won by the Left coalition headed by Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, a contingent of its leaders had arrived in Kolkata to receive a hero's welcome at Esplanade East on August 15, 2008. The victory was celebrated in Kathmandu and Kolkata, almost as though Esplanade East was a rally space in Nepal, except for the fact that the crowds who clogged the thoroughfare were Bengalis and resident Nepalese. Kolkata knew how to make itself a vibrant extension of whatever was happening in the world. It broke the tall window panes of the American Centre in 1968, as thousands of students and anti-American pro-Vietnam rallyists took to the streets, protesting the visit of Robert Mcnamara, then US Secretary of Defence, and a key figure in the decision to use Agent Orange, increase bombing and escalate the intensity of the war in Vietnam. It knew it had to make itself seen and heard when relief ships carrying wheat from Punjab – some donated and some purchased – were flagged off from Haldia port to Cuba after tougher US sanctions were imposed in 1992. Like the characters in Badal Sircar's play, the horizon of Kolkata, like that of its immensely aware, educated and conscientious middle class, seems to have closed in on itself. The tendency to behave like frogs in the well was always there. Vivekanda used the word Kupamanduka to describe the Indian condition, whereas conscience keeper and the voice of the Bengali spirit, Rabindranath Tagore lamented that Bengal as the mother had nurtured Bengalis, not humanity.
News18
24-06-2025
- General
- News18
'She Dreamt Of Coming Home She Built': Tearful Adieu To Kerala Nurse Killed In Air Plane Crash
Last Updated: Ranjitha Gopakumaran, 42, a native of Pullad, was working at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, England Ranjitha Gopakumaran, a nurse from Kerala's Pathanamthitta district who died in the tragic Air India AI 171 crash on June 12, was laid to rest on Tuesday with thousands gathering to pay their last respects. The 42-year-old, a native of Pullad, was working at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, England. She had returned to Kerala briefly to oversee the final stages of her new house's construction and to request an extension of leave from the state health department. She was due to return to the UK when tragedy struck. Ranjitha's body was flown from Ahmedabad to Thiruvananthapuram early Tuesday morning. Her remains were first taken to her alma mater, Sree Vivekananda High School in Pullad, where hundreds of locals, students, and well-wishers lined up to pay their respects. From there, the procession moved to her partially completed dream home, where she had hoped to settle in three months with her two children and widowed mother. The emotional farewell was attended by several ministers, including V. Sivankutty, G. R. Anil, V. N. Vasavan, and Saji Cherian, alongside senior political leaders like CPI(M)'s M. A. Baby and Congress leader Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan. Representatives from NORKA ROOTS and police officials were also present. A single mother, Ranjitha had recently enrolled her son and daughter in classes 10 and 7 at the same school she once studied in. She was looking forward to rejoining Kerala's health service and settling in her hometown, Indian Express reported. Her nursing career had taken her from Oman to the UK. In 2019, she was selected for the Kerala state health service and worked at the Pathanamthitta District Hospital before taking long leave to work abroad again. She moved to England last year to support her family. Ranjitha's remains were kept at her home for public viewing before cremation was held in the evening. Her final journey was accompanied by her brother and a close relative. First Published:
The Print
22-06-2025
- Politics
- The Print
‘No 1 rogue nation,' CPI(M)'s MA Baby condemns US strikes on Iran, calls it ‘naked declaration of war'
Baby further stated that the strike is similar to the lies about weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) that preceded the Iraq war. He warned that this attack's economic and political fallout would be global, including for India. Baby described the US as the 'No. 1 Rogue State' and called for protest action wherever possible. CPI(M)'s Baby expressed that his party unequivocally condemns the attack, which was reportedly carried out on the orders of the US President Donald Trump, ignoring the US intelligence. In an official post on X on Sunday, MA Baby said, 'We unequivocally condemn the US attack on Iran's nuclear sites — a grave violation of international law. Trump ordered this strike, ignoring US intelligence that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons. This mirrors the Iraq war lies — lies about WMDs then and nukes now. The economic & political fallout will be global, including for India. The US has proved itself to be the No. 1 Rogue State. Call for Protest action wherever possible.' Additionally, while speaking to ANI on the issue, Baby declared that the CPI(M) and other left parties have called upon people to come out in protest against the 'naked declaration of war' by the US and Israel. They have also demanded that the Indian government take a firm stand against the attack on Iran. 'We condemn this attack unequivocally. We, the CPIM and other left parties, call upon people to come out in protests against this naked declaration of war. We want the Indian government to take a firm stand against the attack on Iran by the USA and Israel…' MA Baby told ANI. The statement comes in the wake of heavy military strikes by the United States, targeting nuclear facilities in Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow. Iran condemned the attacks, calling them a violation of international law and vowed to continue its nuclear program. A statement issued by AEOI confirmed that early on Sunday morning, Iran's nuclear sites were 'subjected to savage aggression–an act in violation of international laws, particularly the NPT.' 'This action, which violates international regulations, unfortunately took place under the indifference–and even complicity–of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),' it said.'The American enemy, through virtual space and by the declaration of its president, has taken responsibility for the attacks on the mentioned sites, which are under continuous IAEA monitoring in accordance with the Safeguards Agreement and the NPT,' the statement read. Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation said that it expects the international community to condemn the actions and support Iran in asserting its rights.'The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran assures the great nation of Iran that despite the malicious plots of its enemies, with the dedication of thousands of revolutionary and motivated scientists and experts, it will not allow the development of this national industry–built on the blood of nuclear martyrs–to be halted. This organisation is taking the necessary steps to defend the rights of the noble Iranian people, including legal actions', the statement concluded. According to a CNN report, the US likely used six B-2 bombers to drop a dozen GBU-57 A/B 'bunker buster' bombs, also known as Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP), on the Fordow nuclear site, which is Iran's main location for uranium enrichment. A US official also told CNN that a full payload of bombs was dropped on his first public remarks following the strikes, President Trump warned that further action could be taken if Tehran fails to agree to a satisfactory peace settlement.'There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we've witnessed over the last eight days,' Trump said in his address to the nation from the White House on Saturday (local time). In a Truth Social post, he added, 'This cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be a tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill.' Trump also praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stating: 'I want to thank Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we've gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel.'He also lauded the military minds behind the joint operation: 'I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they've done and most importantly I want to congratulate great American patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight, and all of the United States' military on an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in many, many decades. Hopefully, we will no longer need their services in this capacity. I hope that so.' Trump was joined by key members of his administration, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth , as he delivered the remarks from the White House. (ANI) This report is auto-generated from ANI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
The Hindu
21-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
K.K. Surendran slams CPI(M) over ‘Bharatamba' row
BJP State executive member K.K. Surendran on Saturday (June 21) alleged that the controversy over 'Bharatamba' was evidence of the CPI(M)'s continued reluctance to acknowledge Bharat as a nation. The agenda behind insulting 'Bharatamba' was a delusional attempt to gain political mileage by taking a stance that encourages anti-national forces, he said. Mr. Surendran said the CPI(M) still maintained the stance that Bharat was a conglomerate of multiple nations. He said that India has a culture that envisioned its land as a mother, whereas the CPI(M), upholding communist culture, has attempted to mould Bharat in the image of the former Soviet Union. 'That is why the CPI(M) is confined to Kerala. It should be willing to correct its mistakes at least now,' he said. Inaugurating a public meeting after offering floral tributes to 'Bharatamba' here, Mr. Surendran said that opposing the saffron colour and culture was tantamount to opposing India's culture. BJP district president Deepa Puzhakkal presided over the function.
