Ravik Bhattacharya is assistant editor of Hindustan Times. He has spent over 16 years in journalism covering political, trafficking, crime and human rights issues in various parts of India.
Articles by Ravik Bhattacharya
'Chase Maoists beyond borders'
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has asked the security forces leading the anti-Maoist offensive to go beyond the borders of the state into Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
Updated on Nov 21, 2011 02:06 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Jailed Pak citizen denied consular services for 6 years
In violation of a 2008 Indo-Pak agreement, Pakistani citizen Ghulam Zannat Ansari’s son Mohammad Waqar Saleem, 29, has been in Kolkata’s Alipore Central Jail for six years without any access to Pakistani consular services. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Nov 16, 2011 11:51 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Mamata gives green signal to anti-naxal operations
After the recent murder of a Trinamool Congress worker in Purulia, the Mamata Banerjee government has given the green signal for assault on Maoists in Jangalmahal.
Updated on Nov 10, 2011 12:14 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Mamata sets sleuths on partymen
Keeping her commitment on zero tolerance towards corruption, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has asked sleuths of the Intelligence Branch to gather information about Trinamool Congress leaders involved in financial wrong-doing.
Updated on Oct 31, 2011 01:15 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Despite ceasefire offer, anti-Maoist ops continue
Setting aside the Maoist offer of a ceasefire and its own pre-poll promise, the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government is scaling up armed operations against the leftwing rebels in the Jangalmahal area.
Updated on Oct 10, 2011 02:23 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Mamata-Maoist honeymoon over
The honeymoon between Mamata and the Maoists seems to be getting over fast. The West Bengal government has prepared the blueprint for a full-scale offensive against the Maoists led by the elite Commando Battalion for Resolute Action that are being brought back to the rebel-dominated forest areas in the west of the state.
Updated on Sep 27, 2011 07:02 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Maoist woes for Jindal plant in Bengal
Maoist frontal organisations have vowed to stall the proposed mega steel plant of JSW Steel Ltd at Salboni, about 150 km west of Kolkata. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Sep 15, 2011 11:44 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Trinamool is doing a CPM, Cong tells Rahul
The new Trinamool Congress-Congress combine in West Bengal has barely completed 100 days in power, but already, cracks are appearing within the alliance. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Sep 12, 2011 11:12 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Bengal's first Facebook FIR
South 24 Parganas police not only lodged a complaint based on information that it had received from Facebook, but also intimated the victim of its success through the social networking site in a first-of-its-kind case of the state.
Updated on Aug 30, 2011 06:15 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Mamata scores on most counts in 100-day rule
Rameshwar Singh has been driving a taxi on Kolkata's streets for more than three decades. He witnessed the Left Front coming to power in 1977, and Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee rule West Bengal for 34 years.
Updated on Aug 29, 2011 01:15 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Ghosh receives all comforts in prison
A ward meant mainly for AIDS patients at Alipur Central jail was vacated on Saturday to make room for CPI(M) MLA Susanta Ghosh, for whom the prison has taken the appearance of a guesthouse.
Updated on Aug 21, 2011 11:54 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
CPM men part of wide gun running racket?
Sophisticated arms were smuggled from Nepal and Bangladesh to execute the killings in Netai, West Midnapore, on January 7 and the nine-year-old incident in which CPI(M) MLA Susanta Ghosh is allegedly involved, say investigators. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Aug 14, 2011 11:15 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
No Rakhi gifts for Mamata please!
On Friday 20B, Harish Chatterjee Road in Kalighat will be the destination for Trinamool leaders and ordinary people alike, as Mamata Banerjee popularly known as Didi (sister) will be ready with Rakhis. But no gifts are allowed.
Updated on Aug 12, 2011 07:25 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Neighbours cry foul over Didi’s Maoist policy
Bengal's neighbouring Maoist-affected states have raised objections against Mamata Banerjee's soft line towards the rebels, alleging her suspension of anti-Maoist operations have turned Bengal into a safe haven for the ultras, on the run from the adjacent states.
Updated on Aug 03, 2011 11:19 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Facebook, a ragging tool on campus
Social networking has come of age, an ugly age in this case. What is considered as a medium of connecting people online has become a tool of intimidation. Ravik Bhattacharya writes.
Updated on Aug 02, 2011 08:25 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Mamata pulls out CoBRA force
The elite anti-Maoist force CoBRA, raised by the Centre, has been withdrawn from West Bengal, apparently in the wake of chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s push for peace talks with the rebels.
Updated on Jul 28, 2011 01:36 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Farhan Akhtar, Paes turn Trinamool advisors
The youth wing of the Trinamool Congress has apparently taken a leaf out of Rahul Gandhi’s book.
Updated on Jul 25, 2011 11:43 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Didi's nephew to give party youth edge
Five months after leaving the national stage for the hot seat in Bengal, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee wants a pan-Indian face for her party.
Updated on Jul 21, 2011 11:44 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Lift ban before we can sit for talks: Maoists to Mamata
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee would first need to create a congenial atmosphere before talks can begin, Maoist ideologues as well as leaders of pro-Maoist organisations said in one voice laying down preconditions a day after Mamata said her government was open to talks with the rebels. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Jul 08, 2011 06:57 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Trinamool to agitate against Maoists in three districts
The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has decided to launch an agitation against Maoists in three districts. The decision comes as the state government gears up to launch an all-out offensive against the rebels.
Updated on Jul 06, 2011 11:47 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Governance first, party later: Mamata to partymen
Governance comes first, party second – chief minister Mamata Banerjee has started enforcing this credo, asking her ministers, most of whom are top party portfolio holders to keep workers and leaders at bay and concentrate on development. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on Jun 10, 2011 07:02 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
A day in life of Mamata
If West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee decides to lead by example then her team better shape up because she is setting a punishing pace with 16-hour workdays during which she has a lot on her plate except food.
Updated on Jun 03, 2011 01:36 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Report cards to monitor performance in Didi’s class
It is a 'Maa Mati Manush' government with corporate accountability that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is aiming for. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on May 29, 2011 01:55 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
All work, no fun for ministers
If any of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's 36 cabinet colleagues thought the grind was over with the polls fought and won, they must be in shock. In her first cabinet meeting on Friday night, Banerjee extended her austerity list to the members.
Updated on May 22, 2011 12:49 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
The female gaze
With so many women now in power as CMs and party leaders — and also a President — we look at how they bring the female point of view into a male-dominated world.
Updated on May 21, 2011 11:25 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Saroj Nagi, Sunita Aaron, Shekhar Iyer, Atul Mathur
Didi seeks bailout for Bengal
Just a day after she swept the Left Front out of power, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee got down to serious business, bracing for a hard bargain with the Centre for a special Bengal bailout package that would take care of the financial crisis. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on May 15, 2011 12:35 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
‘It’s been like a long-drawn freedom movement for us’
Good governance and a focus on reconstruction were uppermost on the mind of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee as Hindustan Times met her at the gate of her 5 ft x 7 ft office at 30B Harish Chatterjee Street.
Updated on May 14, 2011 05:01 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Full ‘Marx’ to Mamata
After making history, Mamata Banerjee was a picture of calm, in sharp contrast to the frenzied mass outside her modest house in the city’s Kalighat neighbourhood. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on May 14, 2011 04:57 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata
Who’ll be new Rly minister?
The Trinamool Congress came to power on the promise of change. There was no positive blueprint on governance. Ravik Bhattacharya and Arindam Sarkar report.
Updated on May 14, 2011 12:41 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya and Arindam Sarkar, Kolkata
Trinamool paints the town green
After making history, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee was a picture of calm, in sharp contrast to the frenzied mass outside her home in the city’s Kalighat neighbourhood. Ravik Bhattacharya reports.
Updated on May 14, 2011 01:51 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Ravik Bhattacharya, Kolkata