The pavements are choked with hawkers and the air is toxic

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee affirmed on Wednesday that his government will go on using agricultural land for his state's industrialisation.

The model for kala azar eradication is a cross-sectoral public-private partnership, writes Kavita Khanna in the second of a two-part series Globally, kala azar is the second largest parasitic killer after malaria. In India, Bihar is the epicentre of kala azar, home to, as per the state Kala Azar Task Force, over 1,00,000 patients. Kala azar is eminently preventable and curable. The parasite that transmits the disease is the sandfly. An extensive and effective vector control programme can go a long way in preventing transmission of the disease.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee affirmed on Wednesday that his government will go on using agricultural land for his state's industrialisation. Addressing the media at the 19th party congress of the CPI(M) here, Bhattacharjee said that West Bengal just did not have an option. "Sixty-three per cent of our land is agricultural land, 1 per cent is fallow land, 13 per cent is forest cover, and only 23 per cent is left for industrial purposes. So what do we do? We can't do with 23 per cent, we must move ahead,' he asserted.

In a political message to West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee that the party is supreme and his industrialization drive needs to be reworked, he was made to announce an industrial policy that for a change emphasizes on land acquisition with caution, proper compensation and rehabilitation.

People living in West Bengal are least tolerant towards animals and Punjabis happen to be among the friendliest as far as their behaviour towards animals is concerned.

Food scientists are meeting in Cusco, Peru, this week to find ways of boosting world potato production to ease the strain of surging cereal prices on the world's poorest countries. Potato production already reached a record high last year as cereal prices rose, partly as a consequence of grain producers - such as the US - switching to bio-fuel crops. The impact of more expensive cereals has been harshest on developing countries that are dependent on imports.