Out of court settlement!

Singur that once catapulted Mamata Banerjee to power has now become a bone in her throat.The recent verdict of Calcutta High court declaring the Singur Land Act unconstitutional and void has put her on the spot,While in opposition she demanded return of 400 acre of land from Tata Project area to the 'unwilling farmers' who refused to accept cheques from the the Left Front govt.LF govt argued land once acquired for public purpose can't be returned according to the prevailing land acquisition law.This issue of 'return of 400 acre of land' ultimately put an to end to coming up of Tata's Nano factory that reached near completion.Tatas shifted their project to Gujarat.Mamata Banerjee came to power and framed Singur Land Bill which Tatas contested at single judge Bench of Calcutta High court and lost.They appealed to the new two-judge Bench of the court and has won the case.The so-called unwilling farmers who were eagerly waiting for the judgement are now shell-shocked.Many of them are eking out miserable existence for long six years.Now State govt would appeal to Supreme court aginst the judgment and no body knows how many days it'd take to have a final verdict from the apex court.That apart it can in no way be guaranteed that the verdict would come out in favour of the farmers.In case the judgement goes against the state govt, what would be their(farmers) fate ?Trinomool Congress is contemplating to launch agitation in favour of the farmer's demand to get back their land. but such movement would be of no use as the case is sub judice Nor does it behove a ruling party to start agitation virtually against the court verdict while the govt is engaged in legal battle with Tatas at the apex court.Now govt should go in for out of court settlement with Tatas at least in the interest of abjectly suffering farmers.As the nature of the land has changed it needs to be made cultivable again.Govt should take the responsibility to bring back the land to cultivable state.However,it'll be all possible provided Tatas are agreeable in this respect.

Justice Sen's reccommendation and its aftermath!

Little did GJM think when they agreed to abide by Justice Shymal Sen's recommendations regarding the number of moujas from Terai and Doors to be appended to GTA that Sen might recommend only five mouzas against their demand of 396.They were confident Sen would find at least 150 moujas appendable to GTA.But how did they get such confidence?Justice Sen Committee acted within certain parameters which were supposed to have been endorsed by four members of GJM who were on the Committee.They didn't object to the terms of reference on which the Committe worked at the out set.Nor did they register any note of dissent at any stage of Committee's work.But after the job is finished and results are out the've started clamouring injustice has been meted out to them and they've been duped by justice Sen.They've declared they'd ask the govt not to accept Committee's suggestion and launch movement against the injustice done to them.In view of roaring business in tourism at Darjeeling this time after couple of years perhaps the common people here are in no mood to extend support to the movement of GJM.However, GJM won't relent and they'd gradually rev up their agitation particularly after the tourist season is over at least for their prestige and credibility.So peace and tranquility now prevailing in hills are likely to be disturbed in near future. Now, if the recommendations of Sen Committee were in favour of GJM in that event too problem could take a different turn.The people of Tarai and Doors who are already determined not to concede an inch of their land to GTA would have started agitation.There might be confrontation between Adibasi Bikas Parisad and GJM.Then peace of both hills and plains were seriously disturbed. In fact, the problem of inclusion of Moujas from Tarai and Doors might play spoilsports in successful implementation of GTA treaty that was supposed to have solved problem of hills.GJM are interested in accession of so many Mojas to GTA to expand its territory in size to facilitate their demand for separate state of Gorkhaland in future.So it's unlikely they'd settle for only five mouzas as endorsed by Justice Sen Committee.However,we like to see peace and amity prevailing in hills and planes as well.

College Principals and Spoken English

It's reported most of the candidates, who are likely to be no lesser persons than associate professors at college or university levels, appearing at interview for college principals at College Service Commission have fared badly in verbal communication in English.They often stumbled or felt ill at ease while speaking in English.Incidentally,many of them have brilliant academic records and presented research papers at conferences or delivered lectures at learned gathering at home and aboard.In fact, there's no element of surprise in this matter.Nor does it mean they don't know English.May be, many of them can write excellent English rather. For fluency in speaking a foreign language regular practice is necessary.In respect of fluency in spoken English students of English medium schools have certainly edge over their counter parts from Bengali medium ones because the former learn spoken English from primary levels. . In our state in most of the average colleges subjects are taught in Bengali though many students write answers in English in examinations.In fact, students in classes like to be taught in Bengali as they can follow the subject matter better in mother tongue.Even the Honours students find it difficult to follow lectures in English.So teachers hardly find scope for teaching in English, which could help them improve their English speaking ability.When these teachers deliver lectures at seminar most of them read the matter out from their written scripts or recite the matter after repeated cramming at home. In question-answer session they reply more in 'broken' than in spoken English.However, there're exceptions too.What's actually needed is spoken English be made compulsory at primary level as proposed by Education minister Bratya Bose.But who'll teach spoken English at primary levels?However, it's a problem that can be sorted out by the education department.