Former Sheffield of India's dream takes shape

Jadavpur University's aid for Howrah foundry industry
Howrah, 27 December : The foundry industry of Howrah is all set to make a turnaround with Jadavpur University's Research, Development and Innovation Centre for Foundry Cluster in Howrah coming forward to help them in attaining better productivity and superior energy management. The principal scientific adviser to the government of India, Dr R Chidambaram, inaugurated the centre yesterday.
"A university researches while an industry delivers. Both can play a complimentary role for each other. This centre would be an ideal platform for the industry-university interface. Unless that happens, there is every chance that the industry gets stuck in the beaten track and the research organization gets away from the ground reality," said Dr Chidambaram, an eminent scientist and chairman of Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC). The council has funded the centre in a major way.
The Howrah foundry cluster was the first organized modern industrial cluster in India. It was set up in British days, when Kolkata became the political and commercial capital. The history of the foundry cluster, along with the jute industry, is synonymous with the rise of British mercantile colonialism in India. The cluster used to be considered the Sheffield of India.
"But over the ages, the industry started lagging, thanks to outdated technology, energy inefficiency and an old-fashioned mindset. Now, their products are completely rejected in Europe for not complying with the requisite standard of Euro countries. But this would change as we help them in complying with the standard. Secondly, it takes the industry months just to design the model for production. Through computer-aided design (CAD) and computer aided mechanism (CAM), we will develop the model for them too," said Professor P K Bose, director of NIT, Silchar and Agartala, and former director of School of Automobile Engineering, JU.
Abundant raw material and cheap and skilled manpower further strengthens the case of the cluster. Moreover, 36% of the country's installed capacity (foundry units) comes from West Bengal. There are about 280 units in the Howrah Foundry cluster, which has a turnover of more than Rs 1,500 crore and exports of more than Rs 600 crore. Indian Foundry Association is the apex body of foundry associations in Bengal.

Women steal the Corporation show in Howrah

Mayor, Deputy mayor and the Chairperson all woman bridge
Howrah, 8 December : Women emerged as natural choice for the top civic posts in Howrah creating a precedence. The new mayor of the Howrah Municipal Corporation is a woman, so is the deputy mayor and the chairperson.
Despite rumours that the top civic post will go to Samir Saha an experienced councillor and leader of the municipal employees' association the Left Front could not just ignore the public mandate that voted 30 women to the 50-seat civic body. Mamata Jaiswal is Howrah's new mayor.
Jaiswal has established her identity as a capable administrator on her own. Unlike many of her councillor colleagues, she doesn't bask in the reflected glory of her husband. She has been a councillor and member of the mayor-in-council (MiC) since 1989, and has managed to work up to this position despite controversy over her selection. That the Left Front meeting took quite a few hours to select the mayor and other office-bearers is indication enough that the choice was not at all easy. CPM district secretary Sridip Bhattacharya's wife Swapna has been selected the chairperson of the corporation. The Big Brother CPM has left the deputy mayor's post for the CPI, which has nominated Kaveri Moitra to the post.
Jaiswal and other winning councillors will take oath on 12 December. They include Basanti Majumdar, late CPM leader Chittabrata Majumdar's relative, CPM MP Swadesh Chakrabarty's daughter Sampurna Chakrabarty, party state secretariat member Dipak Dasgupta's wife Aditi Dasgupta, CPM district secretary Sridip Bhattacharya's wife Swapna Bhattacharya and CPM legislator Lagan Deo Singh's wife Meena Singh.
According to CPM insiders, Mamata Jaiswal is not a confidante of the party's Howrah district secretary. In fact, she is close to Swadesh Chakrabarty, who leads the other faction in the Howrah CPM. But Samir Saha is close to Sridip Bhattacharya. But he lost to Jaiswal in the final round of discussions in the party meeting. That explains why Bhattacharya's wife was given the chairperson's post. Jaiswal, however, has a difficult road ahead. Apart from managing the civic problems in this centuries-old city, she will have to tackle the controversy over her role in her home turf. In the past few years, she had taken a lot of controversial decisions as an MMiC. She will also have to manage her political bosses, who will try to control the civic works from behind.

Shibpur BESU classrooms turn battlefield

Campus shut, Students asked to vacate hostels
Howrah, 6 November : Campus violence hit a shocking low at the prestigious Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) on Thursday when clashes broke out in classrooms , unprecedented even on the volatile BESU campus. Undergraduate classes have been suspended indefinitely and boarders told to vacate the hostels.
It was also the first time that police and RAF had to enter classrooms in BESU, making it one of the worst days in the university’s history since 2006, when clashes between SFI and Independents Consolidation (IC) had ended in the death of a boarder. The two groups were involved in Thursday’s violence also.
There was tension on campus since Tuesday night. On Thursday, practical classes were on when students, armed with hockey sticks, stormed into the IT and electronics labs. Lecturers stood stunned as fights broke out, with bottles, bricks, sticks and rods being used to deadly effect. Several students were injured. One of them - fourth-year IT student Sandip Pal - was taken to SSKM Hospital with head injuries. Both laboratories were badly damaged. SFI members dragged two IC supporters off a minibus outside the gate and beat them up. They were on their way to court to seek anticipatory bail after SFI filed FIRs against them.
On Tuesday night, two second year Independents Consolidation (IC) students were allegedly attacked by SFI members. IC allegedly retaliated with hockey sticks when SFI members were playing soccer in front of their hostel on Wednesday. Police were called in but they were outnumbered when violence erupted in classrooms on Thursday.
Four policemen, including DSP Howrah town (south) Anjan Chakraborty, were injured when they tried to intervene. Chakraborty was seen bleeding from the mouth after students landed fists on him. Howrah SP N K Singh had to rush in with reinforcements, including a stronger RAF unit, to relieve his besieged men. Students finally faced off with police near Gate No. 1. A lathicharge was ordered and pandemonium ensued.
Eleven students were arrested and eight were slapped with non-bailable charges for attacking police. The incident comes a day before a NAAC team is scheduled to visit the campus.
BESU registrar Biman Bandyopadhyay admitted that clashes had never broken out in classrooms. Vice-chancellor N R Banerjea convened a meeting of heads of departments as well as teaching and non-teaching staff. "It was decided to suspend undergraduate classes indefinitely. Inmates of all boys’ hostels were ordered to vacate them by 4 pm. They complied," he said.
The students union election, scheduled for this month, has been postponed indefinitely. No union election has taken place at BESU since 2005 and the authorities were planning to issue a notification for the polls on 9 November.
The union is presently controlled by IC. Its spokesperson Rajarshi Dutta accused SFI of trying to scuttle the polls. SFI spokesperson Rasel Aziz countered that they had submitted a memorandum to the VC demanding punishment for the guilty.