With the recurrence of the virus in Murshidabad, the administration is now a picture of indifference.

Alipurduar: In a move to control Malaria in Jalpaiguri, the district health officials with the help of the forest department and NGOs will set up 55 fever treatment depots (FTDs), along with laboratories, in 76 forest villages. Thousands of people suffer from malaria and die of the disease in the district every year. Among the worst affected areas are forest villages which do not have sufficient medical facilities. The North Bengal Development Council has already sanctioned Rs 49 lakh and eight NGOs in the district have been selected to make the project successful. Besides testing blood at the laboratories, health staff will be distributing mosquito nets to the villagers under the scheme.

"At the current pace, on each day of the year, 290 habitations are provided with drinking water,' announced the government in the Budget session to showcase the "impressive progress' made under the UPA's flagship Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission (RGDWM) meant to provide "safe and sustainable drinking water sources' to villages. What the Government glossed over is the official reality check

With the tiger fighting a losing battle for survival in the wild, here is the story of one man's resolve to see the royal beast in its natural habitat. Sought-after prize of tourists: A tigress at the Ranthambore Park. Tales of all-eluding tigers are perhaps the most swapped stories among eco-tourists. I remember sharing tables and travel stories with complete unknowns at a non-descript coffee house in Kolkata a year and a half back. Those were the days when the realisation that there existed fine demarcations between travellers also had not dawned on me. On that table that day, I understood that I was a cultural traveller

PM must keep his pledge by Lt Gen (retd) Baljit Singh Because it is there'! That was the pithy response of George Mallory during a fund-raising lecture in Cambridge in 1924 when one in the audience asked: "Why climb the Everest?' Elaborating further on the interrogative "why' to our quest for preserving the Royal Bengal Tiger species in the wilderness in India, let us not forget that first and foremost the tiger is India's national animal. And therefore it is one of the icons of our nationhood. Now that the Government of India has conceded that we are left with less than 1,200 tigers, the question which begs the answer is: how shall we save the species from imminent extinction? Perhaps we can draw strength by recalling experiences from the last century where certain mammal and bird species were successfully provided a second lease of life, and draw lessions therefrom to mitigate the current tiger crisis facing us. We have the case when in 1903 the eight Asiatic lions in the Gir forest constituted the only surviving pride of lions in the entire world. It was a common practice in colonial India for the rulers of the princely states to host the Viceray over the Christmas week. So the Nawab of Junagadh conceived the idea of tempting Lord Curzon with what would virtually be the last hunt in Asia for a lion trophy. Making departure with protocol, Lord Curzon replied in person to the Nawab. He declined his gracious invitation, inveigled with him to ban lion hunting altogether and protect the Gir forests so that the Asiatic lion may survive to perpetuity. This provides us the finest example where the astute vision of the head of a Government coupled with an unwavering political will saved a mammal species from the very jaws of extinction. Lord Curzon's successors and the Nawabs of Junagadh kept up that resolve so that on India's Independence in 1947 there were about 62 Asiatic lions in the Gir. Today they number more than 300! Moving on to 1972 we arrive at the fateful year when the Arabian Oryx was declared extinct from the wild. And with that we come to the story where philanthropy of a handful petro-dollar rich princes of the UAE has aided the reintroduction of this speices. Starting in the 1980s, in zealously guarded and regularly patrolled selected areas on the Arabian peninsula, where about 800 captively bred Arabian Oryx were released in trickle now and then, a new lease of life was provided to this species. This is a beginning of what may be the only initiative in the reintroduction of a species after total extinction. One crucial factor of success was that in Saudi Arabia alone a mind-boggling 2200 sq miles area for reintroduction was totally fenced-in which, without philanthropy, is simply unthinkable. At this stage, it is essential for me to state emphatically that as of now, unfortunately, there has been very little success with reintroducing hand-reared or captively bred carnivore to the wild. George and Joy Adamson, who left India in the 1940s to settle in S. Africa, tried to release in the wild their hand-reared, orphaned lion cubs. These animals were either not canny enough or were wanting in physical vitality to stand up to their free-ranging members. The attempts failed to establish a precedence. In India, "Billy' Arjun Singh, now an octogenerian, attempted to hand-rear a female tiger cub born in and purchased from the London zoo, with the idea of ultimately releasing it in the Dudhwa tiger reserve. He fared better than the Adamsons in as much that Harriet did made with a free-ranging tiger, littered in the wild but brought the week-old cubs back, one by one to a room in Tiger Haven, Billy's home on the fringes of Dudhwa! The story beyond is marred in controversy whether Harriet and her progency perished through deliberately poisoned baits by the Forest Department or at the hands of poachers? A similar attempt by Billy with a leopard cub (Prince) also remained an inconclusive venture. Antagonists of the tiger conservation idea will be quick to point out that in Texas there as nearly 3,000 tigers (Royal Bengal and Sumatran species) living in captivity inside large enclosures on the ranches of the rich Americans. But this in no way can be a living gene pool for us to reintroduce them in our wilds for two basic imponderables. First, there are no reports yet of their having littered in capivity in Texas. If they do and by the time we hand-rear them in India, they may meet the same fate as Harriet's progeny. Worse, by then their natural prey base in India's wilds would have diminished forcing them to become cattle or man eaters. And the same disadvantage will be faced even if we were to purchase adults from this lot in Texas and reintroduce them after the extirpation of the species from its habitat. We must save en block the last 1,000-odd surviving tigers and their habitat and create conditions for the numbers to multiply to about 5,000 animals or else India and the world would lose the tiger species from the wild

The Nano, whose projected Puja rollout is being greeted with a host of new showrooms Dealers of Tata Motors in the state are busy putting infrastructure in place for the Puja rollout of Nano. Lexus Motors, the largest Tata Motors dealer in West Bengal, has acquired land in Barasat, Chinsurah and Uluberia for opening outlets to showcase Nano, while RD Motors is preparing to launch showrooms in Baruipur and Chinsurah. The third dealer, KB Motors, is strengthening its network by opening outlets in Madhyamgram, Kalyani and Hooghly. Since Nano is expected to have a strong semi-urban and rural market, the company is looking to augment its distribution network in the districts. "We will add showrooms and also open dealerships in areas where we don't have a presence,' said a Tata Motors spokesperson from Mumbai. "The idea is to take Nano to the customer rather than make him come to Calcutta to buy the car,' said Anil Bagaria, the director of KB Motors. The new showrooms for Nano, as specified by Tata Motors, will be D-class outlets with floor space of about 1,000 sq ft. "These will be sales stores without workshops,' said Vinod Kumar Agarwal, the managing director of Lexus Motors. "The company is yet to give us an LoI (Letter of Intent) but is guiding us in opening the outlets. I am expecting the LoI within a couple of weeks,' added Agarwal. The company is laying a lot of stress on the rollout. "We are adding new dealerships every fortnight. Currently, we have 170 dealers across the country. We hope to appoint more distributors before the Nano arrives,' said the spokesperson. In addition to three distributors in Calcutta, Tata Motors has four others in the rest of the state, with eight showrooms in Siliguri, Malda, Kharagpur, Asansol and Haldia. "We are looking to add four to five showrooms through our existing distributors in Durgapur and Burdwan. We are also looking for a new distributor in Howrah,' added the spokesperson. The Lexus Motors Uluberia store will be for commercial vehicles but will also sell the Nano, said Agarwal. RD Motors opened a 1,000-sq-ft showroom in Krishnagar in November last year and is launching the two stores by April. "Yes, we are preparing for the Nano rollout,' said Pradip Jain, the proprietor. KB Motors is looking at a branch in Joka, said Bagaria. Tata Motors remained tightlipped about when bookings for Nano would start. Trial production is slated to start in June-July. The dealers expect bookings to open by August.

The United Nations has praised the "swift and comprehensive' measures taken by India to bring under control the "worst-ever' outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal, while urging the country to maintain vigilance in view of similar incidents reported in its neighbourhood. Culling The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation's veterinary expert Mohinder Oberoi said intensive culling in the predominantly backyard poultry sector of West Bengal appeared to have stopped the disease in its tracks. Mr. Oberoi made the comment after a recent field trip to the affected areas, where no new outbreaks have been reported since February 2. FAO's Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph Domenech, however, urged the country to maintain intensive surveillance in high-risk areas as the possibility of new occurrences remained high. "The virus could still be present in the environment despite heavy slaughtering and extensive disinfection of affected areas, or it could be reintroduced from other countries,' he said. Praised The officials praised the national and State governments' political and financial commitment to stamp out the disease. They said public awareness campaigns, a strong command chain from districts to villages, compensation payments and an effective collaboration between animal and human health departments at field level were the key factors for the success.

The West Bengal Power Development Corporation's Bakreswar Thermal Power Project in Birbhum district. WEST BENGAL has emerged as one of the fastest-growing States in India and is the third largest economy in the country. So its growing reputation as a preferred investment destination should come as no surprise. The State has registered a high growth in real State domestic product (SDP) over the past eight years and is one of the top-ranking States of the country in terms of growth in per capita income. Despite being one of the most populous States in the country and the State with the highest population density, West Bengal achieved a growth in per capita income of 5.72 per cent in 2004-05, well above the national growth rate of per capita income in the same year, which was 5.2 per cent. In the period between 1991 and 2004, West Bengal's share of foreign direct investment (FDI) was $1,789.3 million. However, between 2004 and 2006 alone, the State attracted FDI worth $119 million, spread over 178 new industrial units that are being set up now. The State's exports also grew from $816.1 million in 1995-96 to $3,769.5 million in 2004-05. In fact, with respect to the volume of export, it has been found that West Bengal ranks seventh amongst all the States. According to different human development index indicators such as literacy rate and life expectancy at birth, the State has performed impressively. In the National Census 2001, West Bengal's literacy rate was estimated to be over 69 per cent as against the national average of 65 per cent. Urban market The sheer volume of the State's market is its primary attraction. With a population of around eight crore, according to the 2001 Census, and with steady economic growth in terms of the net State domestic product (NSDP) and per capita income, West Bengal has more people with greater disposable income than many other States. West Bengal is, in fact, the third largest State in terms of savings, with the commercial banks accounting for almost Rs.855 billion. Besides, West Bengal is ideally located, with a vast hinterland, comprising Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Sikkim and the north-eastern States, that increases the market size by about another 180 million consumers. West Bengal is also one of the most urbanised States in the country, with an urban population, according to the 2001 Census, of 22.5 million persons, 60 per cent of whom are below 30 years of age. This, in the context of rising incomes and the general boom in urban renewal and economic activity, has resulted in an increasing demand for quality goods and services. Kolkata, the State capital, alone accounts for a consumer profile of around 10 million, and major towns such as Siliguri, Durgapur, Asansol and Malda are also on an upswing. Rural market SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH South City, a Rs.10-billion multi-use project in the heart of Kolkata. It is not just the urban market that is undergoing a paradigm shift; it is happening in the rural sector too. With the enormous potential that exists in agriculture and farm products and food processing and agro-based industries, the State government is looking into investment proposals of considerable value from corporates for the procurement and large-scale marketing of agro products. This is expected to facilitate an increase in rural purchasing power and consumption profile. Agro industries With six agro-climatic zones, West Bengal offers an extensive variety of environments for the development of temperate, sub-tropical and tropical agricultural and horticultural produce. Agriculture contributes 30 per cent of the SDP and employs 57 per cent of the workforce. In fact, the State accounts for 30 per cent of India's potato production, 27 per cent of its pineapple production, 12 per cent of its banana production and 16 per cent of its rice production. The State ranks number one in the country in meat production (including poultry) and is one of the largest producers of fish, satisfying nearly 80 per cent of the country's carp seed demand. West Bengal also accounts for around 10 per cent of India's edible oil production and is the second largest tea-growing State in the country, contributing around 21 per cent of the total production in the country. A study conducted by the Government of India estimates that the investment potential in the State's food processing industry is Rs.154.52 billion over the next 10 years if the processing level is increased from the existing 2 per cent to 10 per cent in the same period. West Bengal has certain intrinsic strengths that give it an advantage in the field of food processing: vast agro raw material resources, six agro-climatic zones, an abundant supply of water from the many rivers across the State, fertile alluvial soil, low-cost and skilled labour, self-sufficiency in power, a large domestic market, and easy access to markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar. In a recent conference on industries, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee emphasised the need for a modern market mechanism in the agricultural sector in the State. "Even though agricultural production is increasing, there is no proper method of preservation. As a result 10 to 20 per cent of the vegetable produce perishes every year mainly because of the lack of a modern marketing mechanism. We want more companies investing in this sector, and that will also help the economy in rural areas grow,' he said. Floriculture, including ornamental plant production, is an emerging industry in West Bengal. The State produces around 58,000 tonnes of flowers every year and has more than 10,000 acres (1 acre is 0.4 hectares) of land devoted to that purpose. Flowers are mainly grown in Kalimpong, Panskura, Ranaghat, Thakurnagar, Bagnan and in regions around the State. The main flowers produced are tuberose, gladiolus, rose, gerbera, carnation and cockscomb, and the countries that import flowers from West Bengal include the Netherlands and the United Kingdom and West Asian states, mainly Sharjah. The State government has already set up a floriculture park at Mungpoo in north Bengal, and a mega flower mart is also coming up in Kolkata at a project cost of Rs.250 million. Apart from these, there is a multi-storied flower market at Panskura, and another floriculture park is being developed at Jagulia in Nadia district. The State government recently received a $33-million proposal for setting up an open-air floriculture park on 200 acres of land at Rajarhat in Kolkata. Iron and steel PTI Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. is India's second largest integrated petrochemical complex. Apart from being one of the main priorities of the State government's industrial drive, the iron and steel sector is one of the oldest industries in the State. The establishment of the Bengal Iron Works at Kulti in Bardhaman district in 1870 ushered in the era of iron and steel in the State. The growth of the industry in the State is largely related to the proximity of raw materials, skilled manpower, port facilities and the vast market for iron and steel products. In the period 1991-2004, as many as 243 new iron and steel units were set up, involving a total investment of $1,856.8 million. In fact, between 2002 and 2004 alone, 108 iron and steel projects, with a total investment of $414.3 million, were implemented. According to the State government, the largest investment in 2007 also came in the steel sector. JSW Steel of the Sajjan Jindal Group is setting up the 10 million-tonne-capacity integrated steel plant