The state Cabinet on Tuesday gave its approval for the formation of a separate Lepcha Development Board for the welfare of the Lepcha community in the hills. Only last week, during her visit to the hills, the chief minister had, after a meeting with the representatives of Lepchas in Kalimpong, announced her decision to set up such a board. She had said that she would make another such body for the Buddhists of the hills.

A chartered accountant-cum-tax consultant was robbed of around Rs 1.20 crore at gunpoint in a moving taxi on Monday late evening. Vikash Hetampuria, the victim, runs a tax consultancy firm at Metcalfe Street.

Fresh controversy erupted at Milli Al Ameen College for Girls when three lady professors were suspended for the alleged assault on teacher-in-charge Shabina Nishat Omar. However, no action was been taken against Ms Omar who has also been accused of assaulting two of these professors on January 31. The professors have decided to move court against the decision.

The Delhi gangrape incident that rocked the nation has left students and their parents in two-minds about moving to Delhi. Every year, several students from Kolkata head to the capital’s illustrious universities for management or masters programmes but will it be the same in 2013?

Two women became the victim of molestation within an hour in two separate incidents in Kolkata on Sunday morning. One of the victims is a student of Calcutta University (CU) and daughter of a retired police officer.

Desperate to stop chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s party — Trinamul Congress — from sweeping away the upcoming panchayat election, the beleaguered CPI(M) is eyeing a “secret pact” with the Congress in the state. Significantly, both CPI(M) and Congress are now in the Opposition camp and have been extremely vocal against several policy decisions the Trinamul Congress government.

The Kolkata Literary Meet (KLM) at the book fair seems to have been plagued by Salman Rushdie controversy. A high-profile session at the KLM on Sunday saw the participation of none other than Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen who took a dig at the fundamentalists for protesting against Rushdie’s visit to Kolkata. He said that such actions distracted attention from the real problems of underdevelopment and poverty that Muslims face.

Virtually throwing a challenge to the Left parties, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that her government would oppose the two-day general strike scheduled on February 20 and 21. “They (Left parties) seem to have an annual quota of imposing two bandhs every year. I want to make it absolutely clear that I will not allow any strike in the state,” she added.

In an unprecedented move, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday asked the block development officers (BDOs) to contact her directly whenever they needed. She sought their telephone numbers and email IDs and offered them her own phone number and email ID. The chief minister took the decision apparently to expedite development work in the villages. However, her move has sparked a major controversy in the state.

After much deliberation, the Presidency University (PU) is all set to hold its first student body election on March 1. The students union election was last held in 2010 when the institution was a college.