West Bengal government moves to end Lalgarh impasse

Kolkata, April 20 (IANS) Officials of the Election Commission, the West Bengal government and representatives of agitating tribals will hold a meeting Wednesday to end the stalemate at Lalgarh on holding Lok Sabha polls on April 30.

The meeting will be held in Midnapore town, the district headquarters of Midnapore West.

Earlier, the tribal body Peoples’ Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) had submitted a 23-point charter of demands and said that it would allow central forces to be deployed for 12 hours on polling day for conducting the polls only if its demands were met.

Confirming the meeting, state home secretary Ardhendu Sen said the charter will be discussed, but the government will not give in to the demand that former police superintendent of police Rajesh Singh apologise to the tribals for alleged police atrocities.

‘We will discuss their demands but it does not mean that we will accept all of them,’ Sen said.

Besides state chief electoral officer Debashis Sen, the district superintendent of police, the district magistrate and the central observer for the Jhargram parliamentary constituency will attend the talks.

State’s special secretary (home), special secretary (backward class welfare) and special secretary (rural development) would take part in the deliberations, said the home secretary.

Trouble erupted in Lalgarh last November after the police arrested some school students and allegedly harassed tribal women following a landmine blast on the route of the convoy of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and central ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitin Prasada near Bhadutala area.

Lalgarh residents have been protesting police ‘excesses’ and resisting a planned government crackdown ahead of the elections.
Indo Asian News Service

EC pipes down to ‘only living’, too late for CM

day after he angrily described as “absurd” an Election Commission directive against displaying any posters or pictures of political figures in government offices, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today piped down and ordered the removal of all his 24 photographs displayed at the photo gallery in front of his office.

The CM’s order came even before an EC clarification could reach the Writers’ Buildings, in which the Commission has said its earlier directive was only about the photographs of living political functionaries. “The Commission has respect for great national leaders. Their pictures can remain there,” Chief Electoral Officer Debashis Sen said.

While the CM was quick to get his all 24 posters in the gallery outside his office removed in the morning itself, his Cabinet colleagues could not care less.

The photographs of former chief minister Jyoti Basu, adorning the offices of Minister for Sports and Transport Subhas Chakraborty and Minister for Fisheries Kiranmoy Nanda remained in their places.

This apart, almost all the ministers have their photographs shot during some government function and displayed in their chambers. For example, there are five photographs of Minister for Commerce and Industries Nirupam Sen displayed in his room. Minister for Jails and Social Welfare Biswanath Choudhury and PWD minister Kshiti Goswamy also have their pictures displayed in their respective chambers.

Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti said in the evening that the government had not received any clarification from the EC.

Meanwhile, the ministers are biding their time. “We are waiting for the clarification. In fact, I have already checked with the chief secretary’s office. If any directive comes for removal of my photographs, I will do that,” Goswamy said. At the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, photos of the present Mayor Bikash Bhattacharya and that of former Mayors Subrata Mukherjee and Prasanta Chatterjee remained on the walls. “We are not removing them unless we get a clear order,” Bhattacharya said.

Max New York Life launches Unit Builder

New Delhi, Mar 5 (ANI/Business Wire India): In the backdrop of the prevailing volatility in capital markets, Max New York Life Insurance Co. ltd has launched the “Max New York Life Unit Builder” T, a flexible Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP) which offers secure returns even during market volatility.

Unit Builder has been specially designed for the Partnership Distribution and Bancassurance channels and will initially be available across India through Max New York Life’s distribution partners Peerless and Yes Bank.

Moving forward the distribution rights will be spread across all partnership distribution relationships.

Commenting on the launch Debashis Sarkar, Sr. Director and Chief Marketing Officer, Max New York Life Insurance said, “Max New York Life has designed this product keeping in mind the financial goals and current risk perceptions of the majority of Indian consumers as a great protection cum long term wealth creation option that assures safety and optimum returns on investment. The policy is aligned along the long term financial goals and the risk appetite of an individual and provides the necessary corpus for fulfilling financial needs arising at various life stages.”

Unit Builder ensures, up to 200 per cent guaranteed loyalty additions at maturity or death. Fund Management Charges are adjusted in NAV whereas administration and mortality charges are adjusted in units.

The product offers three fund options – Secure, Balanced and Dynamic Opportunities Fund. One of the key features is availability of the Dynamic Opportunities Fund wherein the expert fund managers dynamically shift the investment between equities, bonds and money market instruments depending on the market conditions.

This takes away the burden of investment decision from the policyholders and helps them protect against the downside while still being able to participate in upsides offered by the market. Unit Builder offers the option of six switches and three redirections free every year.

Unit Builder offers an optimum balance of protection and wealth creation. Sum Assured is ten times of annual premium. From third policy year onwards the death benefit is higher of sum assured or fund value plus guaranteed loyalty additions. After five years, the product also offers partial withdrawals to meet the unplanned needs.

Applying for the Unit Builder has been made easy by simplifying the policy issuance process. (ANI)

Structure of key breast cancer target enzyme unravelled

London, Jan 8 (ANI): A researcher at Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute has moved a step closer to a cure, and possibly the prevention, of the most common type of breast cancer.

Debashis Ghosh, a senior research scientist, reached a milestone by determining the third and last structure of Aromatase, an enzyme used by the human body to create estrogen.

This work will enable further research to develop drugs to specifically target estrogen-dependent tumours in breast cancer.

“This is a dream come true,” Dr. Debashis Ghosh, an HWI senior research scientist and a principal investigator who also holds a joint faculty appointment at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), said.

“Scientists worldwide have been trying for 35 years to crystallize this membrane-bound enzyme and we are the first to succeed. Now that we know the structures of all three key enzymes implicated in estrogen-dependant breast cancers, our goal is to have a personalized cocktail of inhibitors customized to the specific treatment needs of each patient.

“Our knowledge about these three enzymes will enable us to develop three mutually exclusive inhibitors customized to each patient”s needs which will work in harmony together with minimal side effects,” Ghosh added.

The completion of the third enzyme structure follows Ghosh’s work on the first structure in 1996 and the second in 2003.

Walter Pangborn, executive vice president at HWI, said: “This means that results from this research will form the basis for novel breast cancer drugs that are highly specific for aromatase, but cause minimal side effects.”

The new research will be featured in the scientific journal Nature. (ANI)