Dear Friends

In 1992, Nagarik Mancha published a Citizen’s Report on the ‘Public Sector in India’ dealing with various aspects of its financial condition, government policy, and proposed reforms besides the state of affairs in some of the PSUs.

Thirty years later we intend to revisit the entire issue.

We are glad to announce that we have decided to organise an Interactive Session on ‘Public Sector in India’, as a preparatory move towards publishing an analytical Report.

Date: Sunday, 7 August 2022

Time: 10am to 6pm

Venue: West Bengal Voluntary Health Association (WBVHA)
WBVHA Tower, Ground Floor Conference Hall

580 Anandapur, Kolkata 700107

(Near Ruby Hospital, behind Emami Building, opposite CISF HQ)

The discussants and participants would include economists, academicians, trade unionists and civil society activists.

Since we can have a very limited number of participants, I request you to kindly inform me over email, mobile call, SMS or WhatsApp as soon as possible. Unfortunately, confirmation has to be on a first come, first served basis.

Thanking you,

With fraternal regards,

Naba Dutta

General Secretary

9831172060

বিশ্ব পরিবেশ দিবস পালনের অনুরোধ

কর্মক্ষেত্রে যৌন হেনস্তা ও জুট শিল্পে নারী শ্রমিকের অধিকার

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Newsletter – DEUCHA PACHAMI AND COAL MINING – PRELIMINARY FACTSHEET

মাননীয় বার্তা সম্পাদক

বীরভূম জেলার দেওচা পাঁচামির প্রস্তাবিত কয়লাখনির পরিবেশের উপর প্রভাব সম্পর্কে সবুজ মঞ্চর বিভিন্ন স্তরে বেশ কিছু আলোচনা হয়েছে। গত ১৪ ফেব্রুয়ারি ২০২২ আমরা সবুজ মঞ্চ-র পক্ষ থেকে মাননীয়া মুখ্যমন্ত্রীকে একটি চিঠি দিয়ে এই প্রকল্প বিষয়ে কিছু প্রশ্ন পাঠাই। আজ ১০ দিন হল আমরা সরকার পক্ষ থেকে কোনো উত্তর বা এমনকি চিঠিটির প্রাপ্তি স্বীকার পাইনি। আমরা তাই জনসমক্ষে এই চিঠি প্রকাশ করছি। যাঁরা এই প্রশ্নগুলির সঙ্গে সহমত, তাঁদের কাছে অনুরোধ আপনারাও মাননীয়া মুখ্যমন্ত্রীর কাছে এই প্রশ্নগুলি পৌঁছে দিন। গত ২০ ফেব্রুয়ারি ২০২২, চন্দননগরে অনুষ্ঠিত সবুজ মঞ্চর কাউন্সিল সভায় সিদ্ধান্ত হয়, দেওচা পাঁচামির প্রস্তাবিত কয়লাখনির পরিবেশের উপর প্রভাব সম্পর্কে এই প্রশ্নগুলি নিয়ে কলকাতায় বিশিষ্ট পরিবেশবিদ এবং পরিবেশকর্মীদের একটি সভা অনুষ্ঠিত হবে। আলোচনার সময় এবং স্থান পরে জানানো হবে।

মুখ্যমন্ত্রীকে লেখা চিঠি সংযোজিত হল।

নব দত্ত,
সাধারণ সম্পাদক, সবুজ মঞ্চ

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Mancha Sambad 15 Dec 2021

KMC Election 2021 Press Note

To

Mr. Saurabh Kumar Das, IAS (R)

State Election Commissioner

West Bengal State Election Commission

18, Sarojini Naidu Sarani, Kolkata 700017

Sub : Flagging off our concerns and demands vis-à-vis protection of environment pre, during and post election period to be held in Kolkata Municipal Corporation on 19.12.21 as well as in municipal elections planned in near future within rest of the state

Sir,

Greetings from Sabuj Mancha; the platform of organizations and individuals working at the cause of environment in West Bengal, working since 2009.

We are writing this letter to you from our previous experiences from earlier election that most of the time, the activities of the participant political parties and candidates during campaigning and holding of election cause considerable environment pollution. So we request you to kindly issue appropriate instructions before the ensuing election to all the political parties and candidates to follow the environmental rules and guidelines as mandated under law. We refer few for your convenience. 

1.  Use of plastic in banners, posters and other campaign materials may be avoided as far as possible.  If used, only plastic with permissible thickness, as per law, should be used; and once the election gets over all wastes generated should be cleaned up by the respective political parties / candidates/ KMC within 24 hours and the plastic waste should be sent for recycling and West Bengal Pollution Board, as a regulatory body, should take responsibility to implement the process.

As per Waste Management Rules, 2016, in case of any assembly of more than 100 persons, the organizers of the assemblies have to take responsibility for proper management of the waste produced in those gatherings.

2.      Sound norms should be meticulously followed in accordance to the directions issued from time to time by Kolkata High Court, National Green Tribunal and West Bengal Pollution Control Board. Sound limiters must be fitted to all the microphones used in campaigning at open spaces which should take place within stipulated hours (6 am to 10 pm); and that too after obtaining due clearance from local police stations.  DJ boxes, often used by some candidates, must be prohibited. 

3.      During election campaign any tree or plant should not be harmed. Felling and chopping of branches of trees and fixing nails on the tree branches for fixing banners, posters, festoons etc. must be prohibited.

4.      We understand an elaborate arrangement has been made for using disposable gloves and masks etc during voting to ensure that Covid infection cannot be spread. While hailing the decision, we request you to see that the medical waste, generated in the process, should be handled, managed and disposed as per the Biomedical Waste Management Rules; and in accordance to judicial orders in this context.

Hope you will take necessary action, and pass appropriate directions to political parties; candidates; KMC; WBPCB and line government agencies, immediately and ensure protection of already vulnerable environment deemed to be threatened during election campaigns and process thereof.

Thanking you,

Naba Dutta

General Secretary, Sabuj Mancha

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Mancha Sambad 01 Dec 2021

Working People’s Convention against Labour Code Saturday, 4 December 2021, 3pm University Institute Hall, College Street, Kolkata.

Supreme Court Order dated 1.11.21 – very unfortunate for the victims of sound and air pollution in the festive season.

Appeal during the Times of COVID-19

Feared environmental degradation and destruction of biodiversity at Rabindra Sarovar and Subhas Sarobar during ensuing Chhat Festival

Implementation of High Court order on all kinds of fireworks and use of other equipment’s creating sound pollution

Nagarik Mancha Newsletter-17

Nagarik Mancha Samayiki-16

PRATYAY GENDER TRUST PRESENTS*
*7TH RITUPARNO GHOSH MEMORIAL LECTURE 2020*

*NABA DUTTA*

(TRANS) GENDER, LABOUR & HISTORIES OF UNIONISATION

Pratyay has been actively engaging with transgender persons’ labour rights for more than a decade now. This work has posed an exciting challenge for us because scholarship on transpersons’ participation in the labour force in South Asia is almost non-existent. The histories of our labour struggles and unionisation efforts have been rendered invisible or not documented in labour union archives. We have been having a series of conversations with a range of communities, activists and leaderships in multiple sites in order to stage our own intervention in these archives and literatures.

In one such long conversation we spoke to *Naba Dutta*, someone who has worked tirelessly on labour issues and has been an advocate for workers’ rights and justice struggles for more than three decades. He is also one of the founding members of _Nagarik Mancha_, a citizens’ initiative that has functioned as a non-party social-action group concerned with issues related to labour, industry, environment and development since 1989.

In the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic, we will not be hosting the annual Rituparno Ghosh Memorial Lecture on a physical platform this year. That is indeed a disruption, given how the last 7 iterations of the lecture have mobilised a thinking, speaking public. However, we also want to seize the political importance of this historic moment. The Covid 19 scenario has revealed the brutality and chronic disregard for the rights and lives of migrant labourers, many of whom have been rendered even more vulnerable on account of their gender identity. We felt our long conversation with Naba Dutta about transgender persons’ participation in the workforce of industries and in unionisation efforts at a certain historical moment in 20th Century Bengal will be extremely relevant for the contemporary moment.

*We will upload a work in progress version of this conversation on Pratyay’s YouTube channel for viewing from 00 hours on Monday, August 31 for 24 hours*, keeping with the spirit of the Memorial Lecture. Thereafter we will return with a final version of this important conversation alongside more content from our research on labour when it gets readied.

Should you have any questions/ feedback we will encourage you to write to us at *pratyaygendertrust@gmail.com*

Dear Sir / Madam,

Sabuj Mancha is a platform of organisations and individuals concerned for the environment. The organisation has been active and working on several environmental issues in West Bengal since 2009.

Kindly see our comments on draft notification and take necessary action.

Naba Dutta
Secretary, Sabuj Mancha

Download Attachment

Labour Welfare in India: Experience of States (Nagarik Mancha Newsletter 11)

Nagarik Mancha Samayiki-9-Covid-19 Tukitaki

Newsletter-8 As if Occupational Health Matters

Nagarik Mancha Newsletter-7 PLIGHT OF WORKERS

Nagarik Mancha Samayiki 6

Nagarik Mancha Samayiki 5-Swasthyo Byabostha Ekhon

Nagarik Mancha Samayiki 4

Plight of Workers: Crushing Labour Rights (Nagarik Mancha Newsletter 3)

Plight of Workers: Financial Assistance during Covid19 Lockdown (Nagarik Mancha Newsletter 2)

Shramik Shreni Ekhon Biparjasta Shramik Adhikar

World Environment Day

International Worker’s Memorial Day Statement – Deads want justice In the memory of the ones that lost their lives making the country better!

অধ্যাপক সুজয় বসু, সভাপতি সবুজ মঞ্চ

আমরা অত্যন্ত শোকাহত- আমাদের সবুজ মঞ্চ সংগঠনের সভাপতি মাননীয় অধ্যাপক সুজয় বসু মহাশয় গত ২2 ফেব্রুয়ারি শনিবার (৮৪ বছর বয়সে) প্রয়াত হয়েছেন।

তাঁর পারিবারিক প্রয়োজনে মরদেহ রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর হাসপাতালে সংরক্ষিত ছিল। আজ ২৫ তারিখ সকালে তাঁর জীবনের বহু সময়ের কর্মস্থান যাদবপুর বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় হয়ে কেওড়াতলা মহাশ্মশানে তাঁর মরদেহ দাহ করা হয়। সবুজ মঞ্চের সদস্যরা তাঁকে শেষ শ্রদ্ধা জানাতে সঙ্গে ছিলেন।

আমরা তাঁর আত্মার পরম শান্তি কামনা করি। তাঁর পরিবারের প্রতি সহমর্মিতা প্রকাশ করছি। তাঁর আদর্শ অনুসরণ করে যেন আমরা কাজ করতে পারি এই কামনা করি ।

আগামী ৭ মার্চ বিকেল ৪টায় তাঁর স্মরণে একটি সভার আয়োজন করা হয়েছে। স্থান পরে জানানো হবে।

Dear Friends,

Some of you have already come to the Nagarik Mancha stall (No. 433) at KBF-2020.

Others are yet to come.
It is located just in front of Gate No. 7.

We request you to kindly pay your annual membership / donation, if any, at our KBF-2020 Stall No. 433, if you have not done so already. It will be wonderful to meet you and we will also be getting a chance to show you our book collection.

Hope to see you soon.

Warmly

Naba Dutta
General Secretary
9831172060

Dear Friends

You are perhaps aware by now that Nagarik Mancha is at Kolkata Book Fair. The Stall No. is 433, which is just in front of Gate No. 7.

Kindly note that this year, after a long gap, we have been able stock for sale current publications from CSE (Center for Science and Environment, Delhi) and RUPE (Research Unit for Political Economy, Mumbai).

It is very heartening to note that ‘Down to Earth’ publications and the ‘Aspects of Indian Economy’ are in great demand.

Qualitatively and quantitatively, the overall collection of books at our stall is even better than last year.

Additionally, ‘Manushir Boighar’, the collection of books related to women’s issues, is unique, and is attracting both attention and praise for the 300 odd titles on a single subject.

We are sure that you will come yourself and inform others about our stall and collection.

We need not remind you that this annual activity at the Book Fair, since 1993, is aimed at connecting with as many members and well wishers as possible and raise funds for our year-long activities.

With warm regards

Naba Dutta
General Secretary

On 31st January, Friday at 5-30 pm the Book Titled – “ICHHAMOTI EKTI ANDOLANER NAAM ” written by Sri Jyotirmoy Saraswati will be opened by Prof. SUGATA HAZRA( Jadavpur University) at NAGARIK MANCHA BOOK STALL( Kolkata Boi Mela, 2020) Stall No- 433 ( Entrance by Gate No-7, move straight and just right/ front of Deb Sahitya Kutir Book Stall) .
We invite you all with the request to kindly take part in this Publication / inauguration ceremony of so important Book on the matter of Ichhamoti River Conservation / Environment Protection Movement in West Bengal .
Thanking you,
With regards
NABA DUTTA
General Scretary

SAMAJIK SURAKSHA YOJANA 2017
       “Consolidated Social Security Scheme for the Unorganised Workers, West Bengal”

18 August, Saturday, 2018, 4PM-7PM: ‘Manusi Katha Ptrikar Borshopurti te alochona Naribad Lingovittik Noi – Ekti Dorshon’, at Ekatre Bulding – Avishar, Kalikapur.

India’s first IT workers union is being formed in Tamil Nadu