Bengal in foreign media

Kolkata, February 3 BCC
Bird flu cull hit by ‘corruption’
By Subir Bhaumik
KOLKATA, JANUARY 29
Several culling teams have stopped working in districts of West Bengal hit by bird flu, complaining of corruption. They say that they are being put under pressure by local politicians to exaggerate the number of birds killed so that more compensation is paid. Some of the extra money is pocketed by local politicians, they say. Nearly 200 culling team members have withdrawn from working in Rampurhat and Baroncha in protest against “pressure for false certificates”. “If we kill five birds, we are asked to certify the killing of 50 birds so that the villagers get more compensation, part of which is pocketed by the village politicians,” alleged Pintu Ghosh, member of a culling team at Rampurhat. The officials all work for West Bengal’s health and animal husbandry departments. In the district of Nadia, other culling teams have stopped work because they say they are “too tired”. “We are too few and our task is huge. We have been working relentlessly for the last week,” said Chandan Das, a culling team member. Desperate district administrators have threatened to arrest those members of culling teams who pull out of work.

Khaleej Times
Kolkata schools to curb ‘classroom rage’
KOLKATA, January 31: In the wake of the Gurgaon school shooting which claimed a teenager’s life, educational institutions in the West Bengal capital are trying to ensure that students do not fly into a rage on any pretext and go berserk. Schools want parents and teachers to deal collectively with the situation in the best interests of children. There are reports that while some schools are educating the children on the virtues of curbing anger, others are trying to identify the causes of aggression among students by organising interactive sessions with parents and teachers, in the presence of counsellors and child psychologists.

St. James School held a workshop for all its 70 teachers on the day the school re-opened after winter vacation to discuss behavioural issues related to children.The teachers were asked to recall the memories of their childhood and speak about the attributes of their tutors they considered their role models. Schools are dwelling on the ‘mental health problems’ faced by children. Several schools are also beefing up security on campuses.

EARTHtimes.org
Man held for stealing Nobel medal
Dhaka: A man was arrested in connection with the theft of a Nobel foundation gold medal from a museum in the Indian city of Kolkata, the Criminal Investigation Department of Bangladesh announced Saturday. The man named by a CID spokesman only by the name Shimbu was arrested for stealing Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel medal from Santiniketan University four years ago. Shimbu allegedly crossed the border to go into hiding in Bangladesh after committing the theft with several Indian accomplices in neighbouring West Bengal state.