Government Of Bengal Research Articles

Legal monism and white violence in South Asia

Reiterating that unified legal systems have emerged historically as ordering devices sustaining the rule of law in societies capable of upholding the state's monopoly of the legitimate use of physical violence, the article takes up a series of cases where legal pluralism obscures and confronts integrated systems of legal monism. The article presents the role of TB Macaulay in the introduction of Western law in India and discusses its application to a white ‘interloper’ (non-official sojourner) in the early nineteenth century. Contemporary Western interlopers are discussed through an extended analysis of the case of Niels Holck, a Dane accused of airdropping a large consignment of weapons to the Indian sect Ananda Marga for its ‘self-defense’ against the democratically elected communist government in West Bengal. India's demand for his extradition is analyzed on the background of Danish legal monism and of innovative forms of Indian litigation, including Public Interest Litigation, aiming to infuse Indian law with the spirit of the constitution as in the case of Nandini Sundar and others versus State of Chhattisgarh. The encounter between the two legal systems did not bring about a juridical reconciliation, but resulted in a diplomatic crisis that led India to impose unspecified sanctions on Denmark. The article also considers the Raymond Davis case in which the United States succeeded in retrieving an intelligence agent by submitting itself to Pakistani sharia-inspired law, thus allowing legal pluralism to ‘cannibalize’ US law-ways at high transaction costs.

Secondary Hospitals in West Bengal: Health Care Resources and Technological Efficiency

This paper attempts to locate the distributional inequality of health care and efficiency of utilization of those resources in West Bengal. Output oriented Data Envelopment Analysis under VRS and Group Frontier approach has been used. Data have been collected through a primary survey funded by Government of West Bengal. Results show that there is a significant inequality in distribution of resources across region, violating the basic iota of 'vertical equity'. The overall mean efficiency of all hospitals is 0.728, suggesting that they could produce at least 37 per cent more of output with the same input volume. The scarce resources are sub-optimally used. The group frontier analysis shows that bigger hospitals situated in backward regions perform badly compared with others. The policy must attempt to reduce the inequitable distribution of resources and control the under-utilization of resources available with the hospitals.

E-Governance Adoption in Government Organization of India

India, the growing economic super-power proceeded with lightning speed towards the adoption and successful implementation of e-governance. The Government of West Bengal (federal unit of India) implemented e-governance in pension office i.e. Pension Management System (PMS), for faster and efficient delivery of public services. The success of PMS is dependent on many factors and one among them is the successful adoption by the employee which has been empirically analyzed. The study used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Trust to build a conceptual model. Data collected from 60 employees working on the system and the model is assessed with regression analyses. The findings show that the determinants of the research model are support. The study also shows that the system doesn’t perform completely error free tasks which the Government of West Bengal should address. This is the first study of employee adoption of e-governance in pension office of India.

Between Egalitarianism and Domination: governing differences in a transitional society

This article presents the problem of governing differences as a problem of constituting a social whole out of the play of antagonistic elements like class, caste, gender, religion, etc, which is essentially a modernist political project in its normative grounding. The problem is explored here vis-à-vis the trajectories of global capitalism and the options for development (that is, the transition from an agrarian economy to an industrial one) for the smaller federal states. The experience of the Left Front Government in West Bengal, India is analysed to understand the issues at stake. The narrative presented in the article shows that questions of land ownership and freedom from oppression and bodily toil remain the fundamental political problem which determines the course and dynamics of governance of differences, particularly its egalitarian mode. This problemat also points towards the limits of agrarian modernity, which many post-colonial countries have tried to constitute.

<em>Robert Knight: Reforming Editor in Victorian India</em>, by Edwin Hirschmann

Reviewed by: Robert Knight: Reforming Editor in Victorian India Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre (bio) Robert Knight: Reforming Editor in Victorian India, by Edwin Hirschmann; pp. xi + 272. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2008, £21.99, $50.00. The history of the imperial press is enjoying a healthy popularity, and thus a biography of Robert Knight, the English-born newspaper editor in Victorian India, is timely and welcome. Robert Knight: Reforming Editor in Victorian India is not, however, a rushed attempt to respond to that trend. Edwin Hirschmann explains in the preface that his biography is one forty years in the making, and this is evident in the strong empirical research: the bibliography boasts a generous list of primary sources consulted, both published and archival, on three continents. Rather unfortunately, it also reveals the relatively slim range of recent secondary sources with which Hirschmann has engaged. This is a shame, as this author has undoubtedly witnessed such broad developments in historiography over the past four decades that it would have been interesting to have his reflections on how his subject should be located in the recent historical scholarship on India, the British Empire, press history, and biography more generally. The book is chronologically structured into five chapters which reflect Hirschmann's view of Knight as progressing from reformer to editor, dissident, imperial critic, and finally to "statesman elder" (193). Hirschmann introduces political events and debates, then gives detailed reports of Knight's writings and pronouncements on the Raj. Often quoting Knight's newspaper editorials at length, Hirschmann offers a service to scholars to whom Knight's newspapers are not available. Hirschmann provides historical background that students will welcome for its clarity and accessibility; its particularly strong description of economic, demographic, and technological changes reflects Knight's interest in these topics. Knight is entirely deserving of a biography as the English editor in India who established several major Indian newspapers, including the Times of India and the Statesman, and emerged as a persistent and vocal critic of British policy in India. Of humble London origins, he arrived in Bombay in 1847, married into an Anglo-Indian family, but struggled financially in several commercial positions in trade and brokerage. In 1857, he was offered, on the strength of several articles he had written on Indian [End Page 305] economics, the acting editorship of the Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce. The beginning of his tenure was marked by the so-called Indian Mutiny, and Knight adopted an unusual editiorial position, arguing that the Mutiny revealed the poverty of the Indian people and their exploitation by the Raj. It is regrettable that more source material is not available for Knight's early life; Hirschmann is forced to extrapolate based on what is known about the mores of the London community into which Knight was born to build a picture of him as imbued with the reformist spirit of Chartism. But in terms of his first decade in India, tantalising questions are left unanswered about how Knight went from being a bankrupted Englishman of modest origins and connections to being invited by Indian businessmen to replace the permanent editor of the Bombay Times, with all the cross-cultural negotiations and politics that must have involved. As editor of the Bombay Times (which became the Times of India in 1861), Knight called for Indian land reform, the fair and equal distribution of justice, and fiscal caution. He believed that Christian conversion would be necessary for social reform in India, but he argued for separation of church and state. His tenure as editor ended in 1869 following a dispute with his business partner, Mathias Mull, after which he founded the Indian Economist. A brief spell in official employment analysing economic data for the Bengal government conflicted with Knight's critical editorial output and ended badly. A London edition of the Statesman was short-lived, as Knight was sued for libel and suffered poor health. Back in Calcutta, the Statesman moved forward and gave its support to the young Indian National Congress but faced another expensive libel trial. Knight died in 1890, having consistently scrutinised imperial rule over thirty years, whilst maintaining a belief that imperial government...

Groundwater irrigation and livelihoods in the Ganga Basin: Analysis of minor irrigation policy in North Bengal, India

In terms of water resources, North Bengal is one of the best‐endowed regions in India. While the region has huge ground and surface water potential, it also concentrates a large number of rural poor who depend on smallholder farming and farm labor for their livelihoods. The issue central to water governance is how to best design instruments of public support to stimulate smallholder (minor) irrigation and harness the abundant groundwater resources to improve conditions for the region's rural poor. Extreme poverty precludes private investments in minor irrigation on the scale necessary to make a significant and quick impact. As a result, subsidy support for minor irrigation investments has remained crucial in North Bengal as well as in much of the eastern Ganges basin. This paper assesses the North Bengal Terai Development Project (NBTDP) developed by the Government of West Bengal. During much of the 1990s, the North Bengal Terai Development Project shaped and implemented the Minor Irrigation Policy of the Government of West Bengal in this region. This paper deals with three distinct sets of questions regarding the subsidy policy: (1) What is the rationale for minor irrigation subsidies in North Bengal? (2) Does the North Bengal Terai Development Project's subsidy policy achieve its minor irrigation objectives in an efficient, sustainable, and socially adequate manner? and (3) Is there scope for designing minor irrigation subsidy policies for better impact? The conclusion also explores what should be the objective of minor irrigation policy for North Bengal's socioeconomic and aquatic conditions and how this might be achieved.

An Overview of Land Acquisition in Singur

The paper explores the controversy that has surrounded the West Bengal Government’s land acquisition programme in Singur and situates it within the overall context of economic growth and transformation. It argues one of the most adversely affected groups as a result of the acquisition is relatively large farmers for whom agriculture is a source of profit and accumulation and not livelihood and subsistence. This might explain in part why the resistance has been so strong. The legality of the demands made has also been examined in light of the verdicts given by the appellate courts. The paper argues that equitable and sustained growth is possible only by reducing the share of agriculture in the labour force and that the current strategy of the West Bengal Government may not be sufficient to guarantee a significant decline in that share. Any equitable growth strategy has to therefore focus on maximising the generation of non-farm rural employment.

Central Institute of Psychiatry: A tradition in excellence.

Byline: S. Nizamie, Nishant. Goyal, Mohammad. Haq, Sayeed. Akhtar Introduction Growth of mental asylums in British India was a less conspicuous form of social control which reflected the colonial mindset of the prevailing societal norms.[sup] [1] The first lunatic asylum in India was established in Bombay (Mumbai) in the year 1745, followed by Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1784. Subsequently number of such asylums increased significantly and by the year 1947, there were 31 mental hospitals in India.[sup] [2] After independence mental hospitals were opened in various states. A recent survey revealed that there are 59 mental hospitals in the country.[sup] [3] Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP), Ranchi is a premier institute for mental health in India. It started in 1918 and since then it has been a pioneer in the field of psychiatry. Till independence, this hospital was meant exclusively for the treatment of European patients. With a bed capacity of 643, it is spread over an area of 210 acres and the wards are named after eminent European psychiatrists, e.g., Kraepelin, Bleuler, Freud, Maudsley, etc. Recent facilities and establishments are named after eminent Indian psychiatrists like D. Satyanand, L. P. Verma, R. B. Davis, K. Bhaskaran, etc. It may be worth noting that unlike other mental hospitals, CIP has never been a custodial care facility. It has always been an open hospital with a comprehensive biopsychosocial approach for management of mentally ill patients. Currently, the institute functions under the administrative control of Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi, with the objectives of patient care, manpower development, and research in the field of mental health. Development of CIP: 1918–1947 In India, the traditional approach for the care of mentally ill patients during the last 200 years has been modeled after contemporary Britain, being custodial in nature.[sup] [4] Patients were treated at secluded places in unhygienic conditions without any facilities to fulfill their basic needs. The condition worsened in the early years of twentieth century when there was substantial increase in the number of patients during World War I. By the end of 1914, it was recognized that the lunatic asylums at Bhowanipore and Berhampore in Bengal were in bad shape, overcrowded with European patients. A dire need to establish a new asylum to accommodate these patients was felt. Ranchi was proposed as the preferred site for construction of a mental asylum probably for its location, climate, and wilderness at that time. Writing about inception of this hospital, Lt. Colonel Owen Berkeley-Hill[sup] [5] wrote: To the best of my knowledge Ranchi European Asylum as it was first called was the product of a panic on the part of the government of Bengal. people of Calcutta were beginning to realize that the old Bhowanipore asylum was a disgrace to their fair city. I know as a fact that round about 1880 Indian lunatics in Bhowanipore were employed in dragging scavenger carts through the streets. Guilty conscience in Calcutta grew so numerous that at least it was decided that some thing should be done about it. The ravaging condition of the lunatics caused a lot of stir in Calcutta and after much deliberation the work started at Kanke, Ranchi and by 1918 the asylum destined for Europeans and Anglo-Indians was ready to receive its guests. Ranchi European Lunatic Asylum came into existence on May 17, 1918 and all Europeans and Anglo-Indian inmates of Bhowanipore and Berhampore Lunatic Asylum were transferred here.[sup] [6] At the outset, it had a bed capacity for 174 patients and it was under the direct control of Government of Bihar. On October 27, 1919 Lt. Colonel Owen Berkeley-Hill, a psychiatrist in the British Army became the medical superintendent of the European Lunatic Asylum. With great efforts, he could manage to convince the authorities to change names of ' lunatic asylum ' in India to ' mental hospital ' in 1920. …

A review on salt lake city, Kolkata, India: Master planning and realization

Motivation for construction of Salt Lake City comes from the circumstances characterizing life in Calcutta known by its social, political and cultural activities. Among many problems, the City was faced with poverty and overcrowding. West Bengal Government realized that serious steps have to be taken to resolve the situation. One of the biggest actions of the Government was creation of so called 'NEDECO' Plan for reclamation certain area of the Salted Lakes, followed by the tender for urban planning. The enterprise for water ways Ivan Milutinovic was considered the most convenient for both: reclamation and planning. The Conceptualization covers the Main Aims and interests forming plan basis where three factors were selected: urban character, new vs old town, inhabitants and town growth. Follows Existing Land Use Pattern of the Municipal Area. The realization of the Salt Lake Master Plan, as a part of the Municipal Area, is shown through an Overview of Achieved Infrastructure covering Roads, Water Supply, Sewerage, Area Level Storm Water Drainage, Solid Waste Management and, finally, through the Other Municipal Services, such as: Administrative Infrastructure, Health Infrastructure, Greeneries, Water bodies, Socio-Cultural Infrastructure. .

Devolution of Financial Power to Local Self-Governments

The article notes that though it was an early starter in decentralisation programmes, West Bengal seems to have failed to keep pace with the resurgence of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in India during the 1990s and is now lagging behind other states. The Mukarji and Bandyopadhyay Committee found in their evaluation report in 1993 that the PRIs of West Bengal were suffer-ing from conceptual and programmatic constraints. Inability of the state to perceive the PRIs as self-government institutions was denoted as a conceptual constraint which, the Committee felt, eventually led to a programmatic constraint. The present study demonstrates that the conceptual limitation originally identified by the 1993 Committee appears to be legitimised in the very con-ceptualisation of the ‘feasibility frontier’ offered by the Left Front Government of West Bengal.

Indian Renaissance: British Romantic Art and the Prospect of India (review)

Reviewed by: Indian Renaissance: British Romantic Art and the Prospect of India Richard Cronin Hermione de Almeida and George H. Gilpin, Indian Renaissance: British Romantic Art and the Prospect of India (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005), pp. xv + 336. £75 hardback. 0 7546 3681 X. This book tells three stories. The first traces the succession of English painters who worked in India between 1765 and 1825, lured there by the enticing prospect of a new landscape and of finding patrons amongst the super-rich English nabobs: Paul Sandby reported to a friend, Zoffany's 'departure for the East, where he anticipates to roll in gold-dust'. The second tells the story of how the British presence in India developed from a first stage characterized by intellectual curiosity, tolerance, and the cultivation of intimate social relationships with Indians, to a second stage in which the British withdrew into a racial cantonment from which they ruled a nation now conceived as barbarous and alien. The third argues that just as the recovery of the classical world produced the first European Renaissance, the recovery of the ancient culture of India produced another, and that it was this second Renaissance, the Indian Renaissance, 'that would, in time, become synonymous with the European movement called Romanticism'. James Forbes was a Company employee, who arrived in India in 1765 when he was sixteen and had no formal training as an artist, but it was Forbes who first sketched the banyan tree and the cave temple at Elephanta that Hermione de Almeida and George H. Gilpin persuasively identify as the two Indian images that were most deeply absorbed into the European Romantic tradition. In 1769 Tilly Kettle, who had established himself in London as a painter of theatrical portraits, sailed for India, to become the first important British painter of India. Kettle astutely recognized that in London portrait painting was a fiercely competitive profession, whereas in Warren Hastings' Calcutta he would have the whole field to himself. His affinity with the theatre alerted him to the splendour of Indian costume, and also, the authors suggest, allowed him in a painting such as The Ceremony of a Gentoo Woman Taking Leave of her Relations, in which a young widow prepares to join her husband on his funeral pyre, to register the action as heroic. In Kettle's hands the scene becomes operatic, an occasion for noble gesture, the young woman less a victim than an ideal of womanhood. For a brief period in the 1780s William Hodges, Thomas Daniell, and Johan Zoffany were all of them working in India. Hodges, who had sailed with Captain Cook, made visible Indian landscape, Daniell Indian architecture, and Zoffany left a record in paint of a short-lived and remarkable cultural moment. Zoffany's Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Match is perhaps the masterpieceof these years, but by 1786, when that painting was completed, the moment had ended. Even George Chinnery, 'the last Romantic artist of India', who arrived in 1802 and stayed until 1825, could only recall it nostalgically. Whereas Zoffany had paintedan India in which British and Indians came togetherto make an exuberant, unconstrained new society, Chinnery's India is fully present only in 'scenes of village life and marginal existence outside the towns and cities', in places, that is, which the British have not [End Page 295] reached. It is the function of the book's second storyto explain this sad outcome. The hero of the book is Warren Hastings. 'The Indian Renaissance in Romantic art was made possible' by his appointment in 1772 as Governorof Bengal. In 1785, when he was recalled to Britain, where he would face impeachment, and succeeded by Lord Cornwallis, the Renaissance came to an abrupt end. The huge granary that Hastings built at Patna, designed to resemble a Buddhist stupa, and represented in several paintings reproduced here, is the proper measure of his achievement, signalling both his benevolent determination to spare Bengalany repetition of the terrible famine of 1769, and his sensitive appreciation of Indian cultural traditions. The differences between him and his successors are clearly displayed in their portraits. Zoffany paints Hastings standing in front of a banyan tree, his Palladian country house in...

Colonialism, Philology, and Musical Ethnography in Nineteenth-Century India: The Case of S. W. Fallon

S. W. Fallon (1817–80), best known as a compiler of Hindustani dictionaries, submitted a detailed proposal to the Government of Bengal in 1873 for an extensive collection of Indian folksongs, of which he provided a classification. Although the outcome of the proposal is uncertain, his expressed aims alone are remarkable, in their relationship to the colonial enterprise and, more especially, for the ways in which they anticipate major concerns of ethnomusicology right up to the present.

Cultural Possession, Imperial Control, and Comparative Religion: The Calcutta Perspectives of Sir William Jones and Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

This article focuses on the contrast between the attempts of Sir William Jones and those of his fellow Orientalist, Nathaniel Halhed, to introduce the Hindu deities and their native devotees to a Western audience, both within the colony and in Europe. Works written by imperial administrators in Bengal represent a distinctive discourse of Orientalism, and it will be considered to what extent they constitute a case of possessing India culturally [pace Edward Said] or of being culturally possessed by India. Nathaniel Brassey Halhed (1750-1831) enjoyed his time at Oxford and the culmination of his literary and libertine researches was to publish with Richard Sheridan a verse translation of The Love Epistles of Aristaenetus (1771). Halhed, who used to sign his letters to Sheridan as LYD (lazy young dog), was sent out to India in 1772 to cure him of his riotous behaviour. In England he had been a rival with Sheridan for the hand of Elizabeth Linley and in Calcutta he lost no time in presenting his poetic and personal addresses to the most attractive women, married or single, of Fort William. (1) In contrast with the conventional picture of the nabob, however, India ultimately exerted a maturing influence upon Halhed. The Calcutta catalyst proved to be Halhed's meeting with Warren Hastings, Governor and Governor-General of Bengal from 1772 to 1785. A key plank of Hastings's rigorously Orientalist policies was to establish the authority of the British government in Bengal on Indian laws, which necessitated European judges' familiarity with native laws, and the reassurance of the British public concerning the sophistication of these laws. This had led to the employment of eleven learned Brahmans by the Revenue Board from 1773 to 1775 to compile for use in the courts of the province a Sanskrit law code that was subsequently rendered into Persian. In choosing Halhed to translate the Persian text into English, Hastings, always astute in recognizing and recruiting potential Indologists, cured him of his aimless dissipation. Halhed's A Code of Gentoo Laws (1776) effectively marks the transformation of libertine into Orientalist; its preface reveals Halhed's intense fascination with Hindu culture. Two years later, having become expert in Bengali, the principal medium for commercial transactions, Halhed published A Grammar of the Bengal Language. Increasingly, Halhed's concerns were with the control of language and the language of control. One of the first of Halhed's Indian poems, `The Bramin and the River Ganges', written while he was at work on his translation of the Code, was sent to Hastings on 22 May 1774. As the first European privileged to receive the full cooperation of Hindu pandits, it is perhaps not surprising that, in this poem at least, he initially appeared to empathize with the `care-worn Bramin': Silent and sad (where Ganges' waters roll) A care-worn Bramin took his pensive way, Prescient of ill, in agony of soul Tracing his country's progress to decay. Age on his brow her furrow stamp had wrought, While sorrow added to th' impression deep: And melting Nature at each pause of thought Snatch'd the indulgent interval to weep. Thus straying, as he wearied out with pray'r Each fabled guardian of that hallow'd wave; To soothe the misery of vain despair The river's goddess left her oozy cave. (l. 1) (2) In her response the river goddess Ganga, despite her `oozy' environs, demonstrates an almost `British' stiffness of upper lip/bank as she berates in pronounced `masculine' tones this lamenting stereotype of the feminized Hindoo, this lethargic and torpid Gentoo: (3) `O lost to thought and obstinately blind! Weak man!' she cried, `thy baseless passion cease: Rouse from this torpid lethargy of mind, And wake at last to comfort and to peace. Smile, that no more ambitious spoilers range Thy labour's fruits relentless to devour: Smile to obey (and hail the happy change) The rule of reason for the rod of pow'r. …

Globalisation and the Cultural Politics of Educational Change: The Controversy over Teaching of English in West Bengal

(Globalisation and the Cultural Politics of Educational Change: The Controversy over the Teaching of English in West Bengal) – This article deals with the articulation of educational policy, cultural politics, and social class in the era of globalization. It analyses the policy of the Government of West Bengal to remove the teaching of English from the primary school syllabus in the state in the early 1980s and its subsequent reintroduction from the beginning of the school year in 2000. The author argues that English is a crucial component of the middle classes' cultural capital and is essential to their future employment success, especially in a globalising work environment. This is supported by interviews conducted during 1998/1999 with middle-class Bengalis. For governments of postcolonial, developing societies, this dispute highlights an essential dichotomy between, on the one hand, the ideal of broad-based educational policies and, on the other hand, the need to prepare children for employment at home and abroad in the context of globalisation.

Philip Francis and the Government of Bengal: Parliament and Personality in the Frustration of an Ambition

Philip Francis and the Government of Bengal: Parliament and Personality in the Frustration of an Ambition

Refugee Resettlement in Forest Reserves: West Bengal Policy Reversal and the Marichjhapi Massacre

While boating down the ganges delta on a visit to the Reserve Forest Tiger Sanctuary, I noticed on the bank some idols overlooking the river. When I asked about their significance, it was explained that a tiger had killed and carried off a girl; these idols were meant to ward off future attacks. Since I was on tour with a West Bengal government Secretary who had police bodyguards to protect him against pirates and tigers, we had none of the apprehensions locals experienced. As the launch continued downstream, the conversation among the government officials took an unexpected turn. They talked of a massacre in the area of Untouchable refugees who had illegally settled in the protected forest reserve: the killings were said to number in the thousands of families.

Human exposures to arsenic from consumption of well water in West Bengal, India.

The authors visited the State of West Bengal, India, in August 1996, as consultants to the World Health Organization (WHO). The general mandate of the mission was to formulate recommendations to the Government of India regarding its efforts to assist the Government of West Bengal in remedying health problems arising from the presence of arsenic in groundwater in excess of the WHO guideline limit of 0.05 mg/L in eight districts of the State. The authors held discussions with Government of India and Government of West Bengal officials, as well as scientists, engineers, and physicians studying the analytic, medical, engineering, and hydrogeologic facets of the problem. They conducted field visits to arsenic-affected villages; inspected health centers, including the laboratories conducting the analytic and clinical studies; and interviewed and examined local lay people, including many arsenic-poisoned patients. This overview of the arsenic contamination problem in West Bengal is based upon a review of the scientific literature and government reports and the authors direct, firsthand assessment. The authors hope that their recommendations will assist in the development of a comprehensive infrastructure and plan of action, which are necessary to control the epidemic of chronic arsenic poisoning now afflicting West Bengal.

Management of Calcutta megacity: a transition from a reactive to a proactive strategy

Until very recently urban management in Calcutta has been curative, reactive or ad hoc in nature, and the major contributor to its own problems. The holistic and proactive approach adopted, since the 1980s, by both the city government of Calcutta and the government of West Bengal have, significantly, helped to ameliorate some of these problems. The reform measures in the rural economic sector, land tenancy and rural local government systems contributed to the decline of population growth in Calcutta. The improvement in the transportation system equally has helped in keeping the people outside the Calcutta Metropolitan Area (CMA). While these measures have reduced the demand on the city services, the bustee (home of almost 35% of the CMA population) improvement programme focusing on primary health care delivery, education and skills training, as well as improvement in the environment and physical condition, has been able to bring about an overall development in the quality of life of the residents in Calcutta. The paper discusses these aspects, emphasizing the replicable lessons learned from the Calcutta experience. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Management of Calcutta megacity: a transition from a reactive to a proactive strategy

Until very recently urban management in Calcutta has been curative, reactive or ad hoc in nature, and the major contributor to its own problems. The holistic and proactive approach adopted, since the 1980s, by both the city government of Calcutta and the government of West Bengal have, significantly, helped to ameliorate some of these problems. The reform measures in the rural economic sector, land tenancy and rural local government systems contributed to the decline of population growth in Calcutta. The improvement in the transportation system equally has helped in keeping the people outside the Calcutta Metropolitan Area (CMA). While these measures have reduced the demand on the city services, the bustee (home of almost 35% of the CMA population) improvement programme focusing on primary health care delivery, education and skills training, as well as improvement in the environment and physical condition, has been able to bring about an overall development in the quality of life of the residents in Calcutta. The paper discusses these aspects, emphasizing the replicable lessons learned from the Calcutta experience. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

An integrated approach for potato crop intensification using temporal remote sensing data

Temporal remote sensing data, along with soil, physiographic rainfall and temperature information, were modelled to derive a potato-growing environment index. This was used to identify the agriculture areas suitable for growing potato crops in the Bardhaman district, West Bengal, India. The crop rotation information derived from multi-data Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) LISS-I data were used to characterize the present utilization pattern of the identified area. The result showed that around 99,000 ha agricultural area was suitable for growing potato crops. At present, only 36–38% of this area is under potato cultivation. Around 15% of the area goes to summer rice, and is thus not available for potato crop cultivation. The rest of the identified area, amounting to around 45,000 ha (46–48%), lies fallow after the harvest of kharif rice. This area thus, if given priority under the potato crop intensification programme initiated by the Government of West Bengal, has a high probability of success.