Know thy Railway Minister
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In Brief
Ms.Mamta Banerjee, Daughter of freedom fighter late Shri. Promileswar Banerjee, was born on January 5, 1955 in Kolkata.
Biography - She completed M.A in work education from Basanti Devi College and qualified in B.Ed., add an LLB (Legum Baccalaureus-Indian standard of law degree) from Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College under Calcutta University Mamta Banerjee is a prominent political leader in West Bengal.. She is the President of the Trinamool Congress. She has sworn in as Cabinet Minister for Railways on 22nd May 2009 in the 15th Parliament with the note "I would like to bring out the humane face of the Railways".
In facet
Born in Kolkata, Ms. Mamata Banerjee completed degrees in work education from Basanti Devi College and an LLB (Legum Baccalaureus-Indian standard of law degree) from Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College under Calcutta University. During her first parliamentarian campaign, she was widely referred by Congress poll campaign as Dr. Mamata Banerjee, holding a Ph. D degree from US, which she never opposed or clarified. She started her political career with Congress(I), and as a young woman in the 1970s, she quickly rose in the ranks of the local Congress group. In 1984, she became one of India's youngest parliamentarians ever, beating veteran Communist politician Somnath Chatterjee, from the Jadavpur parliamentary Constituency in West Bengal. She also became the General-Secretary of the All India Youth Congress. Losing her seat in 1989 in an anti-Congress wave, she was back in 1991, having settled into the Calcutta South constituency. She retained the Kolkata South seat in the 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009 elections.
In the Rao government formed in 1991, Ms.Mamata Banerjee was made the Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development, Youth Affairs and Sports, and Women and Child Development. As the sports minister, she announced that she would resign, and protested in a rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, against Government's indifference towards her proposal to improve sports in the country.She was discharged of her portfolios in 1993. In April 1996, she alleged that Congress was behaving as a stooge of the CPI-M in West Bengal. She claimed that she was the lone voice of protest and wanted a "clean Congress". At a public rally at Alipore in Kolkata, Ms.Mamata Banerjee wrapped a black shawl around her neck and threatened to make a noose with it. In July 1996, she squatted at the well of Lok Sabha to protest against the hike in petroleum price, though she was a part of the Government. In that very time she clasped the coller of Amar singh, MP of Samajwadi Party, in the well of the parliament. In February 1997, on the day of railway budget presentation in Lok Sabha, Mamata Banerjee threw her shawl at the railway minister Ram Vilas Paswan for ignoring West Bengal and announced her resignation. The speaker, P. A. Sangma, did not accept her resignation and asked her to apologize. Later she came back as Santosh Mohan Deb mediated.
Trinamool Congress
Flag of Trinamool Congress. In 1997, Ms.Mamata Banerjee split the Congress Party in West Bengal and established the All India Trinamool Congress. It quickly became the primary opposition to the long-standing Communist government in the state. On December 11, 1998, she controversially held a Samajwadi Party MP, Daroga Prasad Saroj, by the collar and dragged him out of the well of the Lok Sabha to prevent him from protesting against the Women's Reservation bill. In 1999, she joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and was allocated the Railways Ministry.
As Railway Minister
In 2000, Ms.Mamata Banerjee presented her first Railway Budget. In it she fulfilled many of her promises to her home state West Bengal. She introduced a new biweekly New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani Express train and four express trains connecting various parts of West Bengal, namely the Howrah-Purulia Express, Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri Express, Shalimar-Bankura Express and the Sealdah-Amritsar Superfast Express (weekly).She also increased the frequency of the Pune-Howrah Azad Hind Express and extension of at least three express train services. Work on the Digha-Howrah Express service also hastened during her brief tenure. She also focussed on developing tourism, enabling the Darjeeling-Himalayan section with two additional locomotives and proposing the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited. She also commented that India should play a pivotal role in the Trans-Asian Railway and that rail links between Bangladesh and Nepal would be reintroduced. In all, she introduced 19 new trains for the 2000–2001 fiscal year.
After differences with NDA
In early 2001, after making allegations against the BJP, she walked out of the NDA cabinet and allied with the Congress Party for West Bengal's 2001 elections, amidst speculation that the move could unseat the Communist government. She returned to the cabinet in January 2004, holding the Coal and Mines ministry until the 2004 Elections in which She was the only Trinamool Congress member to win a Parliament seat from West Bengal.
On August 4, 2006, she hurled her resignation paper at the deputy speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal in Lok Sabha. The provocation was the speaker's (Somnath Catterjee) rejection of her adjournment motion on illegal infiltration by Bangladeshi's in West Bengal. The letter she had scribbled was turned down by the speaker on the ground that it was not in proper format. On October 20, 2005, she protested against the industrialization policy of the Buddhadev Bhattacharya government in West Bengal. Benny Santoso, CEO of the Indonesia-based Salim Group had pledged a large investment to West Bengal, and the West Bengal government had given him farmland in Howrah, sparking protest. Despite soaking rain, Mamata and other Trinamool Congress members stood in front of the Taj Hotel where Santoso had arrived, shut out by the police. Later, she and supporters followed Santoso's convoy. A planned "black flag" protest was avoided, when the government had Santoso arrive 3 hours ahead of schedule.
Ms.Mamata Banerjee suffered further setbacks in 2005, when her party lost control of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the sitting Mayor defected from her party. In 2006, the Trinamool Congress was defeated in West Bengal's Assembly Elections, losing more than half of its sitting members.
In November 2006, Ms.Mamata Banerjee was forcibly stopped on her way to Singur for a rally against a proposed Tata Motors car project. Ms.Mamata reached the West Bengal assembly and protested at the venue. She addressed a press conference at the assembly and announced a 12-hour shutdown by her party on Friday. The Trinamul Congress MLAs protested by damaging furniture and microphones in the West Bengal Assembly. The damage was estimated at Rs 15 lakh. They also took to the streets and blocked roads and torched vehicles in many places. A major strike was called on December 14, 2006 that threw life out of gear in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.
Victory in 2009 Indian Parliamentary Election
Trinamool congress performed well in the 2009 parliamentary election, bagging 19 MP seats, among them 4 women, reiterating her faith in the Women's Reservation Bill. It’s allies Congress and SUCI also got 6 and 1 MP seats respectively. This is the best performance by any opposition party in West Bengal since start of left regime. Till date the congress victory of 16 seats in 1984 , by the sympathy vote after the death of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, was considered the best opposition show. But Ms.Mamata packed the entire left front to 15 seats this time and vowed to end the left regime in upcoming assembly .She has been inducted as union Railway Minister in 2009 elections in Dr Manmohan Singh' cabinet.
After of 10-years, Ms.Mamata Banerjee, on Saturday (23.05.09), has been allocated the Union Railway Ministry in the new Union Cabinet. In an unusual step, Railway Minister Ms.Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday 26th May 2009 assumed charge of her office at the Eastern Railway headquarters instead of Rail Bhavan in the national capital.
The Trinamool Congress chief has guaranteed "economic freedom" for marginalized sectors to travel by rail and renew the rail system with a human face. Monthly passes for unorganised labour, vendors, domestic workers and landless labourers in addition to pupils would be her main concern in the ministry. Packed with fresh thoughts to aid the unorganized segment, vendors and pupils, Mamta, who is widely tipped to get the Railways portfolio, is ready to undertake projects that will benefit the country people.
"It is a social obligation we have to fulfill for the humanity. We will try to give economy freedom to these sections for train travel," Banerjee told reporters hours after she was given the railway portfolio.
While talking to media persons, Mamata said, “I would like to bring out the humane face of the Railways.” Giving information regarding her future plans, she said, “I would like to issue Rs 50 per month passes for students and Rs 20 per month passes for vendors. She also talked about passes for poor people.” “I have never aspired for any ministry and I have run ministry in the past as well,” she added.
On the other hand, Her publications are
(i) Upalabdhi; (ii) Janatar Darbare; (iii) Maa; (iv) Pallabi;
(v) Manabik (in Bengali); (vi) Struggle for Existance; (vii) Motherland (in English); (viii) Crocodile Island
WE STATION MASTERS / STATION MANAGERS fraternity, assure to execute the plans as well her desire to bring out the humane face of the Railways, earnestly from the floor level for writing the success story for our Indian Railways.
About the Author
Compiled by Com.D.PONNIVALAVAN. SM/MAS
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