Ban on caning

Calcutta, Aug. 21: The government has asked the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education to issue a circular banning caning in its 12,000 affiliated institutions in accordance with a recent court order.

The minister for school education, Kanti Biswas, today said the education department has also issued a circular banning caning.

Killers jailed

Bankura: Four CPM activists were on Friday sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and levied a fine of Rs 2,000 each for the murder of 18-year-old Congress supporter Pirumohan Dalal on August 26, 1987. The boy was killed for stealing Rs 20 from the rice shop where he was employed.

Mine collapse

Durgapur: An abandoned mine of Bharat Coking Coal Limited at Barakar Station Road near Asansol town, 250 km from Calcutta, caved in on Saturday morning. However, there was no casualty.

Cop kills self

Krishnanagar: Constable Benu Das, 47, consumed poison on Friday night at the traffic outpost in the Dhubulia police station area, about 110 km from Calcutta, where he was on duty.

Nuclear plant

Dankuni: Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee inaugurated a nuclear irradiation plant at Dankuni on Saturday. The plant, the first of its kind in eastern India, will help improve the quality of potato produce by eliminating micro-organisms in food.

Science prize

Purulia: Abhisek Dey, a Class IX student of Ramkrishna Mission Vidyapeeth, stood first in the annual district science competition organised jointly by the district science centre and the district youth office.