Mamata Banerjee's party seeks distance from libraries controversy in West Bengal

Kolkata:  Mamata Banerjee's party today tried to distance her from the controversy that has erupted after all public libraries were ordered to drop all English dailies and most other newspapers including the Ananda Bazar Patrika, which is the state's most-read paper.  

On Twitter this evening, her party's MP, Derek O'Brien said,  "To drag the CM's name into this 'controversy' is unfair.  Are we suggesting she starts micromanaging even library department lists?"  He added, "Circular issued by small time library services dept."
Last night, a circular signed by the Special Secretary, Library Services told 2500 public libraries what newspapers they can stock. All English dailies were to be removed, the notice said. Only eight papers made the cut  - five five Bengali, one Hindi and two Urdu dailies. Of these eight publications, four have editors or senior journalists who have been elected to the Rajya Sabha on Trinamool Congress tickets.   The circular states that public funds could not be spent on "any papers published or purported to be published by any political party." But the list of banned papers includes only one publication with direct links to a political party- the Ganashakti, which is a CPM mouthpiece.
Mr O'Brien says that the Times of India will also be stocked at government-funded libraries.
"This is worse than censorship; this has shades of fascism," said Sitaram Yechury from the Left, the main opposition party in West Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has appreciated the move, countered Library Services Minister Abdul Karim Chowdhury to local TV channels.  
"I have no idea why she has done this; she is trying to control what I read," said Pradeep Bhattacharjee, the president of the Congress, which is a partner in Ms Banerjee's government.  

The issue was also brought up in the state Assembly yesterday by a Congress MLA who called the government circular undemocratic and urged the chief minister to have it withdrawn. Mamata Banerjee was not present in the Assembly at that time.

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CAG's coal report: 10 big facts on this big controversy

New Delhi:  The government is now under fire on account of a report by its auditor that says it lost 10.7 lakh crores because it undervalued coal deposits and did not auction coal fields between 2004 and 2009. Here is your 10-point cheat sheet to this story:
1) The losses are part of a draft report by the government's auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General, which was leaked to the media.

2) The draft report says 155 coal-fields were allocated to about 100 private and some state-run firms or public sector units in a manner that gave "undue benefits" to the companies. The report said the sale of the blocks was "subjective" and allowed "windfall gains", but does not make allegations of corruption or bribe-taking.

3) This afternoon, the CAG wrote to the Prime Minister's Office and said it was embarrassed by the leak. "The observations which are under discussion at a very preliminary stage ..and hence are exceedingly misleading," the letter allegedly states.

4) The Opposition attacks in Parliament, says the Prime Minister, who supervised the Coal Ministry for some of the period in question, must explain.

5) Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal says ads were placed to invite offers from interested firms, and that BJP state governments, like in Rajasthan, had opposed a process of bidding.

6) India is the world's third-largest coal producer in the world after China and the United States.

7) Analysts and experts say that  an auction would raise power tariffs and that not all coal blocks are profitable or commercially viable. They say CAG has erred in its calculation of losses.

8) State-run power company NTPC says it made no windfall profits from the allocations and that the lower costs meant cheaper electricity for consumers.

9) The Indian subsidiary of ArcelorMittal, and steel makers Tata and Jindal Steel and Power, are among the companies named in the report. Jindal's controlling shareholder, Naveen Jindal, who is also a member of parliament, defended the policy of direct allocations, saying it had allowed private companies to jump-start production at mines left idle by state-run Coal India Limited, the world's single largest producer.

10) Coal fields are currently allocated by a screening committee.  Interested firms are given points for different parameters- whether land and environmental clearances are in place, for example. Parliament last year approved amendment to Mines and Minerals Regulation and Development Act of 1957 to enable the government  to auction coal blocks

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