1. Mamata: Bengal Assembly To Pass Anti-CAA Resolution
The West Bengal Legislative Assembly would pass a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, CM Mamata Banerjee said in Kolkata on Monday, ramping up the rhetoric against the new citizenship law and the BJP government at the Centre.
Banerjee appealed to all northeastern and opposition parties to “study” the National Population Register directives before implementing them; she pointed out some “contentious columns” introduced in the NPR form “to pave the way for a countrywide National Register of Citizens”.
(Source: The Times Of India)
2. I-Card Cry In Ex-Enclaves
Residents of erstwhile Bangladeshi enclaves gathered at the district magistrate’s office on Monday to demand that they be given “citizenship identity cards”, mirroring the fear among people who were formally given Indian citizenship as part of an international treaty four-and-a-half years ago.
Around 200-odd residents of the former enclaves that are Indian villages now were part of the team that submitted a memorandum at the DM’s office. DM Pawan Kadyan was not in office. The ADM accepted the charter.
The enclaves were merged with the Indian mainland in July 2015 as per the Land Boundary Agreement signed between India and Bangladesh.
(Source: The Telegraph)
3. Didi’s Plea To Northeast Against CAA
Mamata Banerjee said on Monday that her government would soon pass a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and urged the northeastern states, including the BJP-ruled Assam and Tripura, to introduce similar motions in their Assemblies.
“We will soon pass a resolution against the CAA,” the Bengal chief minister said at Calcutta airport before taking a flight to Siliguri.
Annoyed by the bandh-day violence, the Trinamool Congress had earlier refused to let the Left Front and the Congress move such a proposal in the Assembly. The Left government in Kerala has passed a resolution against the CAA.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. Bengal Cities On Top Of Pollution Pile
Bengal has the largest number of polluted cities in the country when the concentration of the toxic PM10 pollutant is taken into consideration, according to a report prepared by the international environmental organisation Greenpeace.
The report is based on national air-quality data made available by the central government.
Once inhaled, PM10, fine particulate matter of 10 micrometre diameter or less, which is roughly one-tenth of a human hair, can reach the lungs and trigger a range of respiro-cardiac diseases.
The Bengal Pollution Control Board could not offer a reason behind such high numbers of PM10 in cities, saying it would have to analyse the report first. Environmentalists pinpointed pollution caused by diesel vehicles as the major cause.
(Source: The Telegraph)
5.‘Bomb In Bag’: Irritated Flyer Throws Luggage At Staffer, Held
Angered by the multilevel checking going on at the Kolkata airport, owing to red alert issued ahead of Republic Day, a 28-year-old youth threw his bag at a security officer on Sunday, saying “the bag contained bomb”.
Pradipta Bandopadhyay was about to board a flight to Bangalore, where he works at a private firm, around 5.30pm on Sunday, when he was stopped by a security officer of SpiceJet before entering the aircraft SG658. The officer told him to open his hand bag and asked him if there was any hazardous or dangerous bag. “The passenger had already undergone multiple screening. At being told to open his bag yet again, he possibly lost his cool and threw his bag at the officer, saying it contained a bomb. The officer isolated him, prevented him from boarding the flight and called the CISF officers,” said a senior airport official.
(Source: The Times Of India)