The North Bengal Committee of The Bengal Chamber works towards extending The Chamber’s unstinted commitment, support and holistic development of North Bengal from the Industry and Socio Economic perspective. An earnest endeavour of the Committee is to work on preparing a comprehensive strategy for Industrial Development of the Region and implementation of same, with focus on revival of traditional Tea and Tourism Sectors with export maximization outlook. 

Towards this end, The Bengal Chamber organized a conclave on March 31, 2021, titled “Transforming North Bengal – An Industry Vision”. The Hon’ble Governor of West Bengal, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar, and Shri Tathagata Roy, Former Governor of Tripura graced the occasion. 

There was a panel discussion on Transforming North Bengal, moderated by the Chairperson of North Bengal Committee Shri Biswajit Mohinta. The panellists were Mr. Yogdeep Gurung,  Director of Glenmore International School, Mr Ashutosh Jaiswal, President of International Business, Shipping & Logistics Division of Century Plyboards Limited, Mr. Anoop Hoon, Chairperson of the Marketing & Brand Committee of The Bengal Chamber and Dr. Rabin Chakraborty, Chairperson of the Health Committee of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry & Senior Vice Chairman - Cardiology Services & Senior Consultant Interventional, Cardiologist & Electrophysiologist, Medica Hospitals Pvt. Ltd.

Mr. Gurung shared his thoughts on the tea industry.He mentioned that the problem is known to the industry tea captains. The problems plaguing the Tea sector were low yields, inferior quality of Tea and manpower crisis. The manpower crisis has made it difficult for the tea companies to sustain. He suggested various methods to improve the yield and quality. Due to the various financial conditions of the industry, the solutions, though known to all, could be difficult to be implemented. 

Dr. Rabin Chakraborty spoke about the Healthcare of North Bengal. He said that despite the unique geography in North Bengal, it is very favourably connected. According to Dr. Chakraborty, when we talk about healthcare development and growth in North Bengal, we need to speak about the places from Murshidabad and not only about Siliguri. Dr Chakraborty pointed out that it is very unfortunate that the growth in healthcare system in North Bengal has been very slow and still does not have enough infrastructures. We need to focus on Medical Tourism and to do that we need to have a good infrastructure. There needs to be good hotels, schools connectivity in terms of roads etc. Dr. Chakraborty opined that India has a huge potential for medical tourism. We need to give serious thought on medical tourism in Bengal and North Bengal having a geo political advantage can be in focus.

Mr. Ashutosh Jaiswal said that for any business to survive, logistics has to be cost effective. We do not have proper infra, proper load carrying policy. 3 to 4% of the GDP logistics cost is the inefficiency cost that we are paying, which is very alarming. The first mile and last mile connectivity needs to be very good but it is not there in our country. He spoke about the roads which are not proper and hence cost of transporting is very high and takes much longer time. 

Mr. Anoop Hoon said that we need to have a platform which has a blue print with a 360 degrees solution for all stakeholders and an agency which works to achieve that goal. He felt that creation of change champions are required who would know how to implement the changes at the ground level. Once we have the product created by the appointed agency, we can think of the Marketing. 

In the second session Shri Tathagata Roy spoke on The Importance of Integrating North Bengal with North East growth ecosystem.He spoke about the fact that there needs to be intent to make improvements in North Bengal. He said that North Bengal is one of those regions with 4 international borders within a close proximity. North Bengal needs a separate airport. There needs to be transport between NJP and the bus terminuses and the airport. The roads need major improvements as they are not properly planned. Shri Roy suggests that if we get into a treaty or paying royalty with Bangladesh by building a corridor via Tentulia (in Bangladesh), we can shorten the distance between Jalpaiguri and Islampur by approximately 80kms. He felt that the North Committee of The Chamber can take up with the external affairs ministry. He said that Bangladesh is extremely important strategically, and this importance needs to be understood. 

The Third Session was on The Emotional Quotient Factor towards revival of the past glory of Tea and Tourism in Darjeeling Hills. The session was addressed by Mr Ravi Thapa (Former VP, Manjushree Plantations). He mentioned how warm the people of Darjeeling were and how tourism flourished before there were various reasons which led to the unrest in the hills, affecting industry there. Mr. Thapa spoke about “what goes down comes up”. He spoke about people in Darjeeling conveying their interest in the endeavour of reviving the glorious past of Darjeeling to bring back its old glory. Tea Tourism, education and football need to be revived. Football is something which brings people together. The old and young mingle very freely which is an opportunity to exchange ideas. People from all walks of life come together and build the camaraderie. The worker in the tea estate needs recognition. Education is extremely important. If we can give them some direction and help them we will be able to revive the past glory of Darjeeling hills. 

The Fourth and the last Session for the day was Environment and Sustainability – Himalayan North Bengal, the environmental challenge. The session was addressed by Prof. Jayanta Bandyopadhyay, who is a visiting Distinguished Fellow of the Observer Research Foundation. The session was moderated by Mr. Deb A Mukherjee, The President, The Bengal Chamber. Prof.Bandyopadhyay said that the modern concept of industrial growth is based on flat planes. When we come to the industrialization or economic development in the mountain areas, we have to think differently. He spoke about alternative concept of economic activities in the mountains which we will have to identify to highlight the specific advantages that the mountain areas enjoy over the plains. While Tourism is one, it is very important that we have a very theoretical analysis of specific advantages of North Bengal with respect to the surrounding plains. A comprehensive analytical approach should be the backdrop. While we have tourism and bio diversity, the Himalayas can be a major producer of medicinal plants with an organized strategy for each of the Himalayan regions. These specific advantages can go a long way in forming the basis of the new concepts of economic advantages of the mountains.