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CALCUTTAWEDNESDAY 6 FEBRUARY2013 Rs 3.00 www.telegraphindia.comXXCL38 PAGES

You askwherethe state will stand

after five years.Where will thechildren of this

state go?BUDDHADEB

BHATTACHARJEE

Twobattles for the futureBuddha:Wherewill the

kids go?DEVADEEPPUROHIT

Calcutta, Feb. 5: Buddha-deb Bhattacharjee todaysuggested that he was try-ingtoreformhis ownpartyandchallengethe MamataBanerjeegovernment,yok-ing the very futureof Ben-gal to his two-prongedthrust.

Set aside the CPM, setaside Trinamul. You askwhere the state will standafter five years. Where willthechildren of thisstatego?Bhattacharjee asked duringaninterviewto ABPAnanda,his first since losing powernearlytwo yearsago.

The former chief ministerfieldeda flurryof questions ranging from if despair drovehimto silenceafter thepolljoltto what his recent readingpreferences are but thethemethatdominatedthe two-hour interaction was the fail-ureof thenewgovernmentonindustrialisation.

The Trinamul govern-ments failurein bringing big-ticket industry has been a re-curring theme in most publicmeetingsof CPM leadersin re-cent months. But Bhattachar-jeehas soughtto taketheissueto a different plane, castinghimself as a concerned ifnot alarmed guardian ofthe next generation whowants to prevent the statefromslidinginto danger.

Bhattacharjee took thetheme beyond political con-fines, beyond the immediateconcerns of growth and

development and asked aquestion that should worryevery parent and every childinBengal.

So many universities, somany colleges, so many poly-technic institutions, so manyITIs,so manyengineeringcol-leges. All these kids, whenthey pass out, where will theygo? he asked. These kidswho have studied well, knowcomputers, know English,theywillhavetorun toBanga-loreagain.

The context in which he

was speaking holdsenormoussignificance for Bengal. Bhat-tacharjee spoke of the impor-tance of agriculture and con-ceded that the state would beruined if agriculture isweakened.

But he added: At thesametime,we had understoodvery well that with only riceproduction, only success inagriculture, the state wontprogress. For instance, atthismomentin theIndiancon-text, look at the educationalsystem.

Bhattacharjee then re-ferredto thehostof education-al institutions and wonderedwhat would happen to thosepassing from these establish-ments.

If hesoughtto strikea bal-ance to address a section ofthe CPMs core constituency,hewas also unequivocalon in-dustry and the scale that the

state needs. Without big in-dustry, it just wont do. Whenbig industries are set up, withthem come the medium andsmall-scale set-ups. Big indus-try means manufacturing,said Bhattacharjee, who de-fended his initiative to bringTataMotorssmall-carplanttoBengal.

The first challenge beforeBhattacharjee is to convincehis own party that this is thebig ideathatwillset itapartfrom Trinamul. In govern-ment and out of it, Bhat-

tacharjee never received thewhole-hearted support of theCPM in implementing his in-dustrialisation drive.

Bhattacharjee, who has atendency to withdraw into ashell when the going getstough, too, did not aggressive-ly push the agenda within thepartyor provideit anideologi-cal or emotional underpin-ning.

His stress today tyingthe future of Bengal to indus-trialisation appears to sug-gest he is making a renewedand far more thought-out ef-fort.

To a question if his partylistens to him, he said therewas a feeling that private in-vestors have to arrange theirown land and the governmentwill not do anything. I dontthink that is possible. A re-sponsible government cannotaskan industrialistsay Sin-

gur if we need a big manu-facturing industry, we willneed, we should need weneed more of them. If some-one needs 1,000 bighas, 2,000bighas, will I tell him you goand find your own land? Howcan I dothat.It willmean thatindustry will go out of myhands, Bhattacharjeesaid.

Healso appearedwillingtotake calculated risks. Whilerepeatingthat hisgovernmentshouldhavebeenmore carefulaboutindustrialisation initia-tives in one or two cases,

Bhattacharjeesaid thatif wehave been defeated because ofthat, hoychhi (we have).

We have learnt a lesson.We have to be careful regard-ing land acquisition. Thereshould be no oppositionamong people. Say, we lose,another party wins, all right.But industrialisation cannotbe scrapped because of that,headded.

Bhattacharjee indirectlyconceded that some of thedebilitating problems werea legacy of his partys longrule. He said the presenceof politicians in college gov-erning boards was not desir-able andsaidthathe hadtriedto remove such appointees inthe last six months of histenure.

What he did not mentionwasthatthe CPMhad perfect-ed the art of packing educa-tional institutions with its

nominees. What the CPM didwith finesse, its successor isdoingwithoutany figleaf.

Bhattacharjeedid not fightshyof conceding: Amra bhulkichhu korechhi (wehadmadesome mistakes.) But the mis-takes that are being commit-tednow disaster.

He added: Moving out ofthe colleges not interferingwith the universities. I havetried,not thatI havent.

Bhattacharjee said thatunnecessary interference inthe lives of people was the

other factorthat cost theCPMdear. We have decided thatsuch interference would haveto stop.

Complementing his stresson industry, Bhattacharjeesoughtto takeonthe tradition-alists in his party on bandhs.Within a few hours after hemade public his reservationson a two-day shutdown, theBengal Citu was forced tohalvethe duration.

The former chief ministerskirted questions on whetherhe would contest elections infuture, but made it clear thathe would reach out. Now themost important thing is mak-ing people aware of whatsgoingon. Wehaveto reachoutto every single man, who istrying to raise his headagainstoppression.

Accordingto him,the stategovernment was failing to at-tract industry because it had

no clear idea about its priori-tiesand a faultyland policy.Although Mamata rode to

power playing the forcefulland acquisition card, the for-merchief ministerpressedforgovernment role in plots forprivate projects. I think thegovernments role ought to bemore important But if thegovernment does not take re-sponsibility onits own, theal-ternative to the industrialistsis the land mafia or doingnothingat all.SeePage7

2-day bandh halved instrike against fossilsOURBUREAU

Calcutta, Feb. 5: BuddhadebBhattacharjee today succeed-ed in forcing Citu to roll backthefirst48-hourstrike inBen-galin nearly half acentury, re-vertingto apositionfromwhi-ch adversities dislodged himand making a political pointagainstone of thefossilisedideasthat drive theCPM.

The two-day general shut-down on February 20 and 21has been reduced to a one-dayaffairconfined to thefirstday,Bengal Citu president Shya-mal Chakraborty announcedtoday.The seconddaysprotesthasbeenconvertedintoan in-dustrial strike during whichpublic transport and otherthingswould remainnormal,headded.

The landmark retreatcame less than 24 hours afterformer chief minister Bhat-tacharjee told ABPAnandainan interview: We have toldthe central trade unions to se-riously rethink about Bengal.WehavetoldthemthatonFeb-ruary 21,therewillnotbe anybandh in Bengal. We will ob-serveBhashaDivas.

Bhasha Divas promotesawareness of linguistic andcultural diversity and tracesits roots to the death of stu-dents at the hands of Pak-istani security forces inDhaka during the BengaliLanguage Movementin 1952.

The rethink on the nation-

widestrike calledby11 cen-traltrade unions isa water-shed,pointedout aCPM veter-an,asthepartyhasnevergoneback on its call for a strike.Traditionalists inthe partyre-gard bandhs as the most po-tent tooltouphold thecauseoftheworkingclassandto boostthe morale of the cadre whentheyare down.

Asked whether schoolsandcollegeswouldbe allowedtofunctionon February21, thestate Citu president said: Itwill be an industrial strike onFebruary 21. So, other thingswillremainnormal.

Although the Left is stillsupporting a one-day strike,Bhattacharjee has managed apartial victory by forcing theparty wings to cut short theduration of the general shut-down.

The former chief ministeris considered inherently op-posed to the idea of cripplingnormal life. He belongs to asectionof CPMleaderswhichfeelsthatthepartyoughttoad-vocatewhatisgood forBengaland not what is good for Al-imuddinStreetalone.

Some similarities do existbetween the stands of chiefminister Mamata Banerjeeand Bhattacharjee on bandhsin the sense that both haveturned their back on shut-downs.

Mamata who had lastcalleda 12-hourbandh onFeb-ruary 6, 2008 has also pub-

liclyrenounceddisruptivepol-itics and said that she pre-ferred other forms of protestsovertotalshutdown.

A key difference is Mama-tasline againstbandhs begancrystallising when she waswithinstrikingdistance of po-werandthestandgotmorepr-onounced in government. Be-sides, her penchant to declareholidays has ensured thatworkculturetakesa backseat.

But Bhattacharjeehas cho-sen to speak out when he is inOpposition a slotwherepar-ties usually find bandhshandy to torment the govern-mentof theday.

In power, Bhattacharjeehad spoken out against thepartys addiction to bandhs.During an interaction organ-ised by industry body As-socham on August 26, 2008, hehaddrawna hugeroundof ap-plauseforhis promise tobringanendto strikes.

Personally if you ask me,Ithinkit(strike)isnot helpingus, our country. But unfortu-nately, as I belongto one party,and they call strikes, I keepmum. ButI havefinallydecid-ed that next time I will openmy mouth, the then chiefminister hadsaid.

Party sources said that aseries of electoral defeatssince the 2008 panchayat pollspreventedBhattacharjeefromdeliveringon hispromise.

Higher education alarm rings

Big Two amplify concerns thrown up by studies

BASANTKUMARMOHANTY

NewDelhi,Feb. 4:Indias head of stateandhead of governmenttoday echoedin un-equivocal languagewhat sectionsof acade-mia andindustry have bemoaned foryears thestateof highereducation.

Weare witnessing decliningstandardsinthe qualityof highereducationin ourcountry, President PranabMukherjeetolda conference of vice-chancellorsof centraluniversities.

PrimeMinister Manmohan Singhwas morecritical. Wemust recognise that toomanyof ourhigher educationalin-stitutionsare simply notup tothe mark.Toomanyof themhavesimplynotkeptabreast of therapidchangesthathavetakenplacein theworld aroundus inrecentyears,stillpro-ducinggraduatesin subjects that thejobmarket nolongerrequires, Singhsaid.

Thegrimassessmentcomes ata timetwodifferentstud-ies oneby industry body Ficci andtheWorld Bankandtheother bythe AllIndiaCouncil of TechnicalEducation(AICTE)and theCII haveflagged thepooremployabilityofengineering graduates.

Questionsare certainto beaskedwhythe Prime Minis-ters government,which hasbeenin powerfor nearlya

decade,couldnotstemthe slide.Both Singh andMukherjeedidnot desistfrommakingit

clear they were disappointed bythe stateofaffairsin highereducation.

SobhaMishra, the education directoratFicci,told The Telegraphthat thePrimeMinisterand President have articulated ex-actly what theindustryfeelsin terms ofgapsbetween education andrequirementsof industry.

TheFicci-WorldBank surveylast yearfound that 60per cent employerswerenot

happywith thekindof engineersbeingproducedby thein-stitutions.The industry-academia linkageis completelymissing, she said.

Theothersurveyby theAICTEand theCII alsofoundthat activitiesfor industry linkage,a key requirementto pro-duceindustry-readymanpower, wereeither moderate or lowinover80 percentof engineeringcollegesin thecountry.

Singhsaid the centralgovernment hadexpandedaccessto education by openingmore institutionsand increasing in-vestment.Despite theexpansion,the enrolment ratein high-ereducationrevolvesaround18per cent,muchbelowtheworldaverageof 26per cent.

Butinrecognitionof thefactthatexpansion withoutqualityimprovementserves littlepurpose, we will nowgiveoverridingemphasis on quality, Singhsaid.

Singh,Mukherjee

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!Cautiousapproach toindustrialisa-tion butwithoutindustryBengalsfuture isbleak

!Need toreduce partyinfluence ineducation

!Zero tolerancefor intemper-ate remarksby leaders BuddhadebBhattacharjeeduring the interviewtelecast

onABPAnandaonTuesday evening

!Hands-off land policy

!Directionlessindustrialisation

!Jalsa (concert) culturein government

!Allowing communalforces to gain ground

!Corruption by leaders

!Attitude to law and order

!Mishandling in Darjeeling

!Party interference ineducation and culture

!Rail mismanagementas UPA ally

WHATBUDDHAHASLEARNT

WHAT BUDDHAWOULD LIKEMAMATA TOUNLEARN