Paschimbongo

Aug. 19: If alphabets decided the destiny of Indian states, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu should have been the most desolate after West Bengal. And Arunachal Pradesh and Assam among the most delighted.
By that logic, investors such as BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Nissan, Nokia, Dell and Samsung must be alphabetically challenged. For, all have chosen Tamil Nadu as their investment destination.
Cut to Uttarakhand, which is also an investment magnet, though the attraction has dimmed a bit after the Centre withdrew tax reliefs.
Says B.C. Khanduri, a former chief minister of Uttarakhand: "It matters little whether any state is listed at the top of any official list at the central government or at the bottom. If you don't have the political will to pursue your state's interest doggedly at the Centre, you will remain neglected."
Agrees Congress veteran N.D. Tiwari, who was also chief minister. "In my entire four-year rule in Uttarakhand as chief minister I never faced any disadvantage, administrative or otherwise, because my state's name began with U. Neither did I ever develop any complex that my state is listed among those at the bottom of the list."
Officials in Tamil Nadu, among the bottom-rung states on the list, said they rarely felt disadvantaged at meetings of the National Development Council (NDC). "The speeches at NDC meetings are mere formalities and we read out only key portions as the full prepared speech is anyhow recorded in the minutes as read. Whether NDC meetings or that of state home ministers, the speeches or when you are heard is not an issue. Normally, it is a core committee under the Union home ministry that assesses the requirements of the state and replies to its proposals at the NDC," explained a former chief secretary.
According to a former finance secretary, the state's financial allocation is anyway decided at direct meetings between the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and the chief minister and officials when the annual plan is finalised. "The alphabetical order is not going to count here as the state that sends in its proposal first is heard first," pointed out a principal secretary.
Mamata Banerjee got her plan outlay approved a month earlier ' June ' than Tamil Nadu despite Bengal wearing the purported "W" millstone around its neck.
"If alphabets decided such things, Assam and Bihar should have been among the most developed states benefiting from being on the top of the alphabetical heap," an official pointed out.
"If someone has an XYZ complex, perhaps he can request the Planning Commission to hold one meeting in the A-Z order and the next in Z-A order and rotate the sequence," another official said.


The above is from my Yahoo news feed.
Ever since Mamata was the railway minister she has gone on a name changing spree.Places have been renamed as per her whims.Naming Bengal as Paschimbango is the height of madness..We do not work and then blame our stars and our names.
When the CPM took over from the Congress in 1967, they too had gone about removing statues of people associated with Bengal's history and changing names.They even named Calcutta as Kolkata after Rajiv called Calcutta a dead city.Did it become alive? Look where they have landed Bengal.In 1967 we were one of the leading industrial states in India, we had the same name. It was the CPM which brought us to the bottom of the list in everything by their agitations and idiotic policies
The name Bengal has a long history associated with the history of India. Now we are being cut away from our history.
If they really wanted to go to the top, they should work harder instead of going about changing names.