G Plus Vol 05 Issue 16 by G Plus

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018 @guwahatiplus www.guwahatiplus.com

Inside

Volume 05 | Issue 16 Feb 10 - Feb 16, 2018 Price `10

‘Well-wisher’ kidnapper lands in police net while trying to help locate victim

PG 02

Hollow Promises or a Game Changer? Global Investors’ Summit: A fact-check Nehal Jain jain.nehal@g-plus.in

PG 12

Lack of records hurt enforcement of CCTV Camera installation in PreSchools PG 05

Brahmaputra Lit Fest begins amidst alleged ‘anomalies’

PG 07

Lead Story

SNIPPETS Khetri PS OC allegedly molests female NCC cadet

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

‘Well-wisher’ kidnapper lands in police net while trying to help locate victim A former accountant of the victim’s father who had siphoned off Rs 7 lakhs and gone into hiding surfaced as a well-wisher after effecting the kidnap himself with the help of his wife and an accomplice Rahul Chanda rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

girl student of Dimoria College, who is also an NCC cadet of the educational institute, alleged that officer-in-charge of Khetri Police Station, Girindra Nath Deka, misbehaved with her, during security check. According to the allegations, the police officer tried to outrage her modesty with the excuse of checking if her belt was tight or loose. According to sources, there have been several allegations of the same sort against the concerned officer earlier. n

NF Railway employee hacks wife with machete

n a sensational incident that took place on the streets of Maligaon, one Hillalul Rahman brutally hacked his wife with a machete (dao) on Thursday afternoon. Rahman is an employee of SNT Department, Northeast Frontier Railway. The victim is in a critical condition and was taken to the Maligaon Railway Hospital. Hilalur is currently absconding. n

Massive fire breaks out at Basistha, 3 minors dead

n Tuesday morning, 3 minors passed away and 2 were severely injured after a massive fire broke out at Patharkuchi area of Basistha. The fire, that is suspected to have started from the residence of one Sameshwar Timung, caused damage to at least 12 houses in the area. The involvement of some goons in the incident has also been suspected. n

n an interesting revelation of things, it comes to light that it might not have been as easy for the police to crack the Manvik Surana kidnapping case had the main accused, Keval Mour alias Gullu, not himself have visited the school after kidnapping the child. Joint Commissioner of Police, Diganta Bora said, “After kidnapping the child, the main accused - Gullu - called the victim’s father as a wellwisher and visited the school to help search for the child. His suspicious body language in front of the discerning eyes of the police gave him away. He was detained and interrogated where after he confessed to the crime.” At 11.30 am on 5th February, Manvik Surana was having lunch during the lunch break when an unknown person visited the school and introduced himself to the principal as the driver of Manvik’s father, Vikash Surana. He informed the Kid Veda School authorities that he had been sent by Manvik’s mother to fetch the child as the family urgently needed to visit Nagaon. While the school authorities hesitated, the man made the headmistress talk to a woman over the phone. The woman impersonated Manvik’s mother and asked the school authorities to hand over the child to the man. Later, at 12.30 pm, when Manvik’s mother (Sudipa Surana) went to the school to fetch Manvik, she was informed that someone had already taken away her child. All the relatives were informed immediately by the mother and at around 1 pm the Dispur police was informed by the school authorities. The local police, crime branch and other special investigating agencies reached the spot and at around 2.30 pm Manvik’s father arrived. He was travelling from Nagaon to Guwahati. While talking to the police the father narrated his story of the recent past even as the police tried gauge if he had any rivalry or faced a threat. Vikash informed that he had an accountant, Keval Mour, who had illegally transferred Rs 7 lakhs from Vikash’s account to his personal account and had been absconding. Around 30 minutes prior to his arrival at the school while he was travelling

The kidnappers after their arrest; (L-R) Keval Mour, Deepak Biswas and Rinita Baniya | G Plus Photo from Nagaon, he had received a call from Keval who called as a well-wisher. At around 3.30 pm Keval reached the school to understand the status of the inquiry. Police thereafter questioned Keval and his body language seemed suspicious. Keval was detained and taken to Dispur

police station. After a thorough interrogation, at around 7.30 pm, Keval confessed to the crime but initially refused to provide information about the whereabouts of the child. After several rounds of interrogation, at around 9.30 pm he took the police to Bhaskar Nagar where the kid was found with two other

accused, Rinita Baniya (wife of Gullu) and Deepak Biswas. Deepak was the man who had gone to the school posing as Vikash Surana’s driver and had made the school authorities talk to Rinita Baniya who impersonated Manvik Surana’s mother. All three are in police custody now. n

Kidnapping to recovery – the timeline 11.30 am Lunch break at Kid Veda School located at Christian Basti 11.30 am Deepak Biswas visits the school impersonating as Vikash Surana’s driver 11.45 am Deepak Biswas and Keval Mour (waiting outside the school on a bike) takes away Manvik Surana 12.30 pm Sunita Surana (Manvik’s mother) reaches school to collect her child as the school gets over then, but is informed that someone has already taken the child 1.00 pm Local police and all the relatives informed 1.15 pm Police and other investigating agencies reach school 1.30 pm Police finds no CCTV camera installed in the school 1.45 pm Police finds a clue from a CCTV installed in a nearby house that two persons on a bike took the child; the visuals are not too clear though 2.00 pm Manvik’s father (Vikash Surana), on way to Guwahati from Nagaon, receives a call from 2.30 pm Keval Mour as a concerned well-wisher. Keval was absconding since last 6 months after siphoning off Rs 7 lakhs from Vikash Surana 3.30 pm Manvik’s father arrives at the school and talks to the police; informs them about his past and also the call he received from Keval Mour 30 minutes prior to his arrival 3.45 pm Keval Mour alias Gullu reaches school as a well-wisher to help the Vikash search for his child Police start questioning Keval and finds his body language suspicious 4.00 pm Police take Keval to Dispur Police station for further interrogation 7.30 pm Keval confesses to the involvement in the kidnapping but refuses to disclose the whereabouts of the child 8.30 pm Keval takes the police to Nepali Mandir and tries to confuse the police 9.30 pm Keval finally takes the police to a house at Bhaskar Nagar under Fatasil Ambari police station from where Manvik was recovered along with two other accused, Deepak Biswas and Rinita Baniya

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

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Crime

SNIPPETS Drinking in public places might land you in jail

uring the recent budget session, the Assam Government tabled the Assam Excise (Amendments) Bill, 2017 to include strict provisions with the prime objective of curbing drunken hooliganism at public places. The amendment will make drinking in public places a punishable offence in the state. The amendment will propose to make excise offences such as illegal storage of liquor, transport, labelling and sale non-bailable and to be tried by the court of law.

APSC scam update

officers appeared for a 5 page spelling test in the latest APSC situation. The officers are Abhisikha Baruah (ACS), Rituraj Gogoi (ACS), Jaydev Mahanta (ACS), Kaushik Kalita, (APS), Satyajit Sarkar (Assistant Employment Officer), Bornali Devi (Tax Inspector), Abhishek Borbora, (Excise Inspector), Shanjan Phukan (ACS) and Debabrata Dey (APS).

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Delay in charge sheet filing upsets Sweta’s parents; kin of accused get bail G Plus provides an update on one of the ghastliest murder incidents of the city in which a brilliant student, Sweta Agarwal was brutally killed by her boyfriend last December Rahul Chanda rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

ven after two months of the sensational crime which created uproar in the city regarding women’s safety, the police are yet to file the charge sheet in the Sweta Agarwal murder case. The parents of the victim

Their bail was rejected for around 2 to 4 times in the session court. But now, as Bijan Mahajan, is their defence lawyer, they obtained bail from the high court” Om Prakash Agarwal, Father of Sweta

are worried as the mother and sister of the accused Govind Singhal, got bail recently from the Gauhati High Court. Father of Sweta, Om Prakash Agarwal said, “Their bail was rejected for around 2 to 4 times in the session court. But now, as Bijan Mahajan, is their defence lawyer, they obtained bail from the high court.” Om Prakash also said that he is fed up of visiting the police station to pressurise the police to file the charge sheet, as the police come up with some excuse or the other every week. A senior police official said, “The forensic reports had not been received because of which the charge sheet was not filed.” The official further informed that the police have received the forensic report on 9th February and so the charge sheet will be filed within one week. The police are confident that after the charge sheet is filed, the accused will be convicted as the police are putting all the evidences minutely and

(L) Prime accused Govind Singhal, (R) His sister and mother in custody | G Plus Photo meticulously in the charge sheet. When contacted, the defence lawyer, Bijan Mahajan said, “The matter is subjudice. So it’s better not to comment anything now.” The police had arrested the sister and mother of the accused with allegations of conspiring in the crime and helping the accused to destroy evidence. The 5th semester student of KC Das College, who topped

Grade 12 in the state in 2015, was allegedly killed and burnt within 4 hours after her exams were over on 4th December, 2017. Her charred body was recovered from the house of Govind Singhal and thereafter Govind, along with his sister and mother, were arrested. Moreover, after his arrest, Govind was taken back to his house by the police to recreate the crime scene. n

In The News

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Lack of records hurt enforcement of CCTV camera installation in pre-schools While most pre-schools of the city do not have CCTV installations, the district administration strangely cannot enforce the same as it does not have the complete record of the number of such schools issuing authority of the district administration – has, however, said that enforcing would be tough if the authorities don’t have all the pre-schools registered. “On an ad hoc basis, all the circle officers were asked to survey such establishments and were provided with 100 such notices each to be served to those found flouting the norms. But, it

Avishek Sengupta avishek.sengupta@g-plus.in

he district administration is at a loss with regard to enforcing installation of CCTV cameras within the premises of all preschools as it has no record of the number of such schools and crèches that are operating in the city. This was revealed in an answer to a question raised by the opposition during the ongoing Budget Session of the Assam Legislative Assembly when asked how many private schools in the city had CCTV surveillance cameras. The installation of surveillance cameras in preschools – institutes where children learn basic life skills before formal schooling – has gained significance after a 5-yearold student was kidnapped from a city-based Montessori school named Kid Veda School on February 5. Though the abductor was caught within 11 hours of the

crime, the police apparently had a hard time in the initial stages to get any leads due to lack of surveillance in the campus. Two days after the kidnapping incident surfaced, the Kamrup (Metro) district administration, through a notification, had instructed all the private schools, private junior colleges, pre-primary schools, kindergarten schools etc to take all the required safety measures and obtain the Safety Certificates. (See box) A source in the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) – the certificate

Fear psychosis among parents after kidnapping case

arents who send their children to pre-schools and crèches are wary of the safety of their children as they believe most of these establishments don’t have adequate safety measures. Terming the February 5 kidnapping incident as a “disaster waiting to happen,” Bijan Medhi, whose son studies in a Kidzee pre-school at Lachit Nagar said, “There isn’t any regulating authority for these pre-schools due to which, these are thronging rampantly in every nook and corner of the city. Forget CCTV surveillance, most of these institutes don’t even do a background check of the teachers and people working there.” In Lachit Nagar itself, within the radius of 100 metres, there are four such pre-schools and crèches operating. The facilities provided by these institutions become necessary for working couples who spend most of the day outside home in jobs. “It is a compulsion for us as both I and my wife have to go for

work by 11 am and return at 6 pm. After this kidnapping incident, my wife is trying to convince her company to allow her to work from home,” Medhi said. Medhi has refused to send his son until his school installs CCTV cameras and obtains the Safety Certificate from the district administration. Another parent, Sarav Baruah, said that enrolling children becomes necessary in pre-schools as they have affiliation with reputed schools of the city. “Only the children of particular pre-schools get preferences in those schools during admission. So, even though my parents stay at home to attend to my kids, I have to send them to the preschool because if not, they won’t get admitted in a certain reputed school,” Baruah said. Both his daughters are studying in Jingle Bells at Uzan Bazar. However, after the incident, despite his wish to see his daughters admitted into the particular institute, Baruah is contemplating switching to another school that has the safety certificate.

doesn’t guarantee that the circle officers will be able to cover all such establishments as they might even miss out on one or two such operating establishments,” the official said. Enforcing would be even tougher for pre-schools and crèches as these are not affiliated to any educational boards or universities.

“The pre-schools are mostly affiliated under private preschool agencies such as Kidzee or have a tie-up with one of the citybased schools. Since this whole concept is a new trend, there is no state government legislature to govern these,” Dwijen Singh, additional commissioner of Guwahati Municipal Corporation, said. n

Concern

SNIPPETS I have my own identity besides being a minister’s wife: Rita Chowdhury

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Meddlesome locals delaying water supply project completion in North Guwahati G Plus checks out the tardy progress of the JICA assisted water supply construction work in North Guwahati and finds the reason to be the age-old malady of locals demanding material supply contracts Avishek Sengupta avishek.sengupta@g-plus.in

C Rita Chowdhury addressing media | File photo

ahitya Akademi awardee, writer Rita Chowdhury, on Tuesday, came down heavily on those who have spawned controversy around her on being conferred the Assam Valley Literary Award. The controversy has it that Chowdhury, who is also the wife of Assam cabinet minister Chandra Mohan Patowary, received the award because of her husband’s “political influences.” “I have my own identity and individuality. I have been writing since 1980 and the Sahitya Akademi Award was conferred on me in 2008. If I had to use my husband’s political influence, I wouldn’t have waited this long for the award,” Chowdhury told media here, clarifying, “There is no political influence involved.” Without naming anybody, she said, “Those who are spewing such controversies regarding me getting the award are not democratic. They identified me as someone’s wife instead of an independent woman. It is not my fault that my husband is a minister. I accept the award.” Born in 1960, Dr Rita Chowdhury, who had been an Associate Professor of Political Science in Cotton College since 2001, is an established poet and novelist. She is currently the director of National Book Trust, India. A prolific writer, Dr Chowdhury has an immense body of work and has to her credit several novels, including Abirata Jatra, Tirthabhumi, Jala Padma, Deo Langkhui and Makam. She also has several books on poetry to her credit. She has been awarded a number of literary awards and recognitions, major among them being Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rabha Award and Lekhika Samaroh Sahitya Bota.

ontractors constructing the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) assisted North Guwahati Water Supply Project alleged obstruction by locals to be the main reason behind the sluggish progress of the work. “The locals had threatened that if they were not involved in the construction process, they will not let the work be completed. They expressed their demand to supply construction materials to the sites. But they are charging higher than the market rates and are forcing implementation of obsolete technologies which delays the work process and poses risk to the constructed reservoirs,” a contractor who was awarded a sub-contract for the construction of the water project, said under condition of anonymity. Northern Guwahati water supply project is part of the JICA assisted project, besides the South Central Guwahati project currently being constructed to ensure 24X7 water supply to the respective regions of the city. When completed, the project

Long shot photo of the construction of a water reservoir in progress at North Guwahati | G Plus Photo is slated to provide 38 million litres per day (MLD) of water to North Guwahati. The general contractor Jindal Groups, which is conducting the works in North Guwahati, had recently terminated the contract to the Australian company, Aqua

Project overlay Intake point A well is being dug on the Brahmaputra which will be fitted with 1500 millimetre wing length turbines run by 2707.7 MTS pump sets that will pump out water from the river and transport it to the water treatment plant at Kharguli.

Water treatment plant Pumped water will go through four stages of filtration – aerated filtration, coliform filtration, filter beds and chlorination. In the aerated filtration, iron content of the water will be eliminated. In the coliform filtration, bacteria content will be stabilised while the water passes through filter beds of sand and different filter rocks, alum will be added and sediments will be separated. In chlorination, remaining bacteria and microbes will be neutralised.

Reservoir The water then will be transported to a 10 million litre capacity water reservoir built at Majhgaon hills, the highest advantage point of North Guwahati, to be stored and then distributed throughout the region.

Outlet Network The outlet network consists of 5 small reservoirs spread across North Guwahati and a network of pipelines, 60 percent of which has already been laid. From these reservoirs, filtered water will be distributed through pipes into households.

Field Pvt Ltd, which has its headquarters in Gujarat, due to sluggish progress in work. TK Sen, general manager of Jindal Group here, told G Plus, “We had to terminate the contract because the construction process was taking too long. But it is not the fault of the contractor. They could not work because of the local people’s interference. Now, we have decided to provide subcontracts in parts.” Only 60 percent work of the project that was slated to be completed in 28 months, has been completed after six years. Construction of the pipelines and reservoirs began in early 2012 and work on the intake wells and treatment plant commenced in October 2012. S Venkatesan, managing director of Guwahati Metropolitan Water & Sewage Board under the Guwahati Jal Board - the government agency that is looking over the completion of the project - said that the project has four parts. “There are four major parts of construction for the entire project viz. building intake wells in the Brahmaputra River, building of the water treatment plant, building of the reservoirs and finally the outlet network. While 66 percent of the outlet network has already been completed and the primary reservoir has also been completed, 45 percent of the work on the treatment plant has been completed and the intake well’s work has started recently and is ongoing on a war footing. To sum up almost 60 percent of the work is done,”

Venkatesan said. The entire project had a total budget of Rs 1636.28 crores – Rs 1363.28 crores through JICA loan and Rs 273 crores from the state government. According to the sources, Rs 80 crores has been sanctioned for the completion of the water treatment plant. Contractors said that since they are using ready mixed concrete (RMC), they cannot involve the locals. “To maintain the uniformity in the construction, we are taking RMC - that too from Jindal Group’s assigned suppliers. The locals, on the other hand, only supply sand, stone chips and cement separately. Moreover, these RMCs are mixed on the RMC trucks which mix the concrete mortar as it is pumped up and dumped at the desired location. But the locals are expecting us to engage local labourers who do not have the expertise,” the contractor said. He said that the entire RMC procedure speeds up the construction process by at least six times. “We have seen that with the current technology, we can cast at least 40 cubic metres per day. However, if we involve locals, we cannot achieve more than 6 cubic metres, which hardly matches the desired pace of work. It would be wastage of money and time for a project which is already getting delayed,” the contractor said. The project has missed two commissioning dates in 2015 and December 2017 and now is targeted to complete by 2019. n

City

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Brahmaputra Lit Fest begins amidst alleged ‘anomalies’ G Plus investigates a controversy that has emerged at the Brahmaputra Literary Festival just prior to its onset with regard to a tender allotment for its publicity Rahul Chanda rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

rahmaputra Literary Festival (BLF) has budgeted Rs 42 lakhs earmarked for its publicity and the work was allotted to an advertising agency by the organisers “inappropriately,” alleged a bidder from the advertising industry of Assam.

The source said that according to the financial evaluation document, Media Unlimited was awarded the work after the agency reduced the quoted Rs 30.40 lakhs to Rs 27.37 lakhs. The source said that any negotiation after the opening of the financial bid may not be appropriate as this was a case of tender and not open bidding where prices can fluctuate. Countering the allegations, a senior official of the Publication

Brahmaputra Literary Festival outdoor publicity | G Plus Photo The bidder said, “After the financial evaluation of the bids, the lowest bidder (L-1) was Aahana Ads and Outdoors which offered a quotation of Rs 29 lakhs. The second lowest bidder (L-2) was Media Unlimited which quoted Rs 30.40 lakhs. The tender however was awarded to Media Unlimited.” The bidder added that there is an “anomaly” in the process of selection.

Board, Assam (organisers of the festival) admitted that Aahana Ads and Outdoors was L-1 after the bid was opened but they had quoted Rs 1.47 lakhs for installing 400 wooden kiosks across Guwahati which is impossible as Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) charges Rs 900 as tax for one wooden kiosk. The official said that the GMC tax would, by itself, cost

Many prominent writers throng BLF, claim organisers

he three-day Brahmaputra Literary Festival is expected to witness the participation of more than 120 literary personalities from different parts of the world, according to the organisers. Reputed litterateurs of the northeast have also been invited to the festival to be held at Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra from February 9 to 11, 2018, said a source in the organising committee. Publication Board, Assam and National Book Trust are jointly organising the festival. “The festival is going to be the biggest literary festival in the northeast and one of the biggest such festivals in the country. This

is the second edition of the festival and so we have invited many literary figures to offer our local literary persons a platform for interaction,” said an official of the Publication Board, Assam. The event allows free entry for all and the organisers have also invited college students and teachers for interaction with the reputed literary personalities. The interaction would offer the city’s teachers and students a better understanding of the literary personalities and become familiarized with their works. The organisers aim to make the Brahmaputra Literary Festival as big an attraction in the world of literature as the Jaipur Literary Festival held annually in Rajasthan. n

Rs 3.60 lakhs for the kiosks. It was clearly mentioned in the tender document which was floated that the amount quoted should be inclusive of all kinds of taxes. Therefore, the financial evaluation committee rejected Aahana Advertising’s bid despite the fact that they were the lowest bidder, the official clarified. The advertising industry experts however feel that the GMC tax is the concern of the advertising agency and not of the organisers. GMC very well understands its prerogative of

how to collect its taxes, an expert said. One of the experts said that the lowest bidder should have been awarded the tender as they clearly qualified in the technical bid. More so, the beneficiary of the work, Media Unlimited, is also not a regular advertising agency that owns hoardings which was part of the eligibility criteria. Many advertising agencies participated in two rounds of evaluation – technical and financial. After the technical evaluation, five advertising

agencies were selected (Aahana Ads and Outdoors, Binayak Advertising Pvt Ltd, Marcom Media, Media Unlimited and Prodigy Communications and Marketing Ltd). Eventually, only three were shortlisted and Aahana Ads and Outdoors was the lowest bidder. The three-day festival was inaugurated yesterday by the Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal where prominent writers like David Collin and Indranath Choudhury were present. n

Ward Watch

SNIPPETS Brick kilns without proper documents shut down at Sonapur

n a drive conducted by the administration along with a CRPF team, two brick kilns have been shut down in the last two days as action on the allegations received by a section of concerned people of the society. It must be mentioned that the Dimoria unit of All Assam Students' Union (AASU) submitted a memorandum to the administration on 21st December last year, demanding strict action against the irregularities of the brick kilns. Unfortunately, no action was taken against the kilns violating norms, which, in turn, irked the students' union to raise the issue once again with the administration on Tuesday. Acting on the strong allegations made by the students' union, the Sonapur revenue circle officer, Dr Dhrubajyoti Hazarika had seized two brick kilns, namely SRI Bricks Industry and RNB Brick Industry, which were violating norms set up for the running of the kilns. According to the circle officer, RNB brick kiln situated in Kurkuria near Sonapur was seized today, as it had largely encroached government land and had been running without proper documents. It must be mentioned that on Tuesday, RNB Brick Industry came into limelight for forcefully indulging labourers in their kiln paying low wages contrary to the promised amount by the kiln's contactor. The labourers, including women, alleged that they were mentally and physically abused and were also not allowed to go out of the kiln. The SRI Brick Industry was seized on Tuesday for having tin chimney instead of brick chimney, violating the norms. Dr Hazarika said that they have just started the drive and all the kilns with irregularities will have to face the consequences for not complying with the norms set for their working."The kiln's owners, cutting earth for their kilns without proper documents will be identified and if required, FIR will be lodged against them and strict action will be taken", he added. Jatindra Nath Deka, President of the Dimoria unit of AASU said that a good step has been taken by the administration. "A lot of hills and trees from government lands have been cut and various agricultural lands have been dug by the brick kilns but the Sonapur range is yet to take action against such activities, which is making their stand clear on such issues", he added. n

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

E-rickshaws creating unease, logjams at Bishnu Rabha Path In this week’s Ward Watch, G Plus checks out the problems created by e-rickshaws and their undisciplined traffic behaviour in the Beltola area under Ward No 28 Avishek Sengupta avishek.sengupta@g-plus.in

ommuting on the Bishnu Rabha Path in Ward No 28 under Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has become a nightmare for the residents due to a large cluster of unruly e-rickshaws. At any given point of time, one can find at least 20 to 25 e-rickshaws parked haphazardly near the Beltola Masjid, about 50 metres from one of the busiest traffic junctions of the city Beltola Tinali. “There is a constant traffic jam in this area due to these e-rickshaws. For the residents along this road, it is the only way to the city and during the office hours, it is very difficult to cross this stretch. These vehicles crowd the area near the Masjid from 9 in the morning when the traffic for office goers reaches its peak and they stay there till around 9 at night,” Dipak Talukdar, a resident of the area, said. The e-rickshaws mostly ply between Beltola Tinali and Saukuchi/Nalapara. The congestion caused by these vehicles is so chronic that Pawan Kalita, a resident near Beltola Tinali, said that he completely avoids this route at the expense of a detour.

E-rickshaws parked at Beltola-Bhetapara Road | G Plus Photo “I take a detour through Binapani Road from Beltola which exits at the HatigaonBhetapara Road and travel an extra kilometre to reach my office located about 100 metres from Bhetapara Chariali. It is a longer route but with lesser hassles and it saves more time,” Kalita said. The Bishnu Rabha Path, a 1.4 km stretch of narrow road that

connects Bhetapara Chariali with Beltola Tinali, has, over time, developed into a sprawling upscale residential area. Pyali Bujarbaruah, who lives in a flat there, said that she feels unsafe to commute through that stretch due to “uncivil” conduct of the e-rickshaw drivers who occupy the footpaths as well. “While the vehicles remain

parked on the road, the drivers flock together on the footpaths. They smoke and use uncouth language including slangs while conversing with each other. At nights, they play cards and generally keep an undesirable presence in the area. It doesn’t seem safe anymore for the women at nights,” Bujarbaruah said. n

Police fails to control Councillor promises to raise issue with GMC

he Bishnu Rabha Path Unnayan Samiti had filed a written complaint at the Hatigaon Police Station, but couldn’t remove these e-rickshaws. “We had filed the complaint a month ago following which the police had led two separate drives to clear the Masjid area. But when the police go away these drivers return,” Dipak Talukdar, who is also a member of the committee constituted by the residents of that area, said. E-rickshaws that operate on battery and came into business after the Motor Vehicle Act 1988, is not recognised as a vehicle and thus doesn’t fall under any category of the vehicles as per the act. The Supreme Court has barred these vehicles from operating in the metro and urban areas. However, these vehicles can be registered by the district ad-

ministration with the authority vested by the state government and are allowed to ply in the suburban areas and outskirts of the city. “These vehicles cannot cross the road into Beltola as it is an urban area. But since these are registered, we cannot drive them away either. Police cannot do much if the district administration registers excess number of vehicles,” police said. n

“I

will take up this issue in the GMC council meetings,” Bhagya Ram Terong, councillor of Ward No 28 told G Plus here. Admitting of being unaware of this development, Terong said, “Had they approached me

Concentrated Area: Bishnu Rabha Path (28B) Ward No: 28 Population of the Ward: 33,000 Voter Population: 21,800 Population of Bishnu Rabha Path : 6,750

personally, or filed a written complaint to the GMC, I would have known about this development. I am not aware of this problem. I will raise this issue in the GMC council meeting.” He also said that he will get a better perspective of the problem from the officer-in-charge of the Hatigaon police station. “But the police can only get involved if these e-rickshaw drivers misbehave or break any rule. Since their registration isn’t under police jurisdiction, traffic police cannot cancel their license,” Terang said. Be that as it may, the e-rickshaws remain a matter of concern not only in Beltola but in may other localities as well. n

In The News

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

GMC mandates sale of hygienic mutton; all mutton to be routed through ALPC slaughterhouse Rahul Chanda rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

o ensure sale of only hygienic mutton in Guwahati, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has asked all the mutton vendors to sell mutton after the same is slaughtered in the government run slaughterhouse only. Veterinary doctor of GMC, Dr Pradeep Medhi said, “All the mutton sellers have to either buy or get the mutton slaughtered from the slaughterhouse where experts will verify if the mutton is consumable.” If mutton sellers purchase the mutton from the slaughterhouse, the cost price will be Rs 420 per kilogram and they can charge Rs 500 from the customers to earn a profit of Rs 80 per kilogram. If not purchased from the slaughterhouse, the live goats will have to be taken to the slaughterhouse where they will be kept under observation for 12 hours. The veterinary doctors from GMC and the

The ALPC slaughterhouse and the imported equipment there in | G Plus Photo slaughterhouse will conduct the ante and post mortem, and if the slaughtered mutton is found consumable, it will be marked

Fear of corruption

he mutton sellers also expressed apprehension that there might be a huge opportunity for corruption by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and slaughterhouse officials with this decision. A mutton seller based in Ganeshguri said, “There will be times when the officials might demand money just to mark the mutton as hygienic,” adding that the decision will only give birth to a new syndicate. The expert veterinary doctors claim that the ante and post mortem after 12 hours of observation will decide whether the mutton is 100% diseasefree or not whereas the mutton

sellers feel that the experts might just take advantage of such rules and might form a syndicate to fleece money from the mutton sellers. If, after the mutton is slaughtered in the slaughterhouse, it is found to have disease it will not get the approval seal and so cannot be sold, which will result in a loss to the mutton seller. The mutton seller can never know before purchasing his goats whether a particular goat is disease-free or not, said a mutton seller. Also on 7 th February, some mutton sellers had gone to the slaughterhouse for purchasing mutton, but they were not able to do so as there was no stock. So a line of thought has surfaced that once people start buying mutton from only the slaughterhouse, the authorities will control the demand and supply, and if anyone pays more another syndicate might start. n

There will be times when the officials might demand money just to mark the mutton as hygienic” A mutton seller, Ganeshguri

with a GMC quality approval seal. Medhi said that GMC veterinary doctors will keep inspecting the mutton shops in

Mutton sellers upset with the move

fter the urban local body’s decision, the mutton sellers of the city are upset with the same as they feel it will just be an added harassment to them. A mutton seller from Colony Bazar, Md Yusuf Kureshi said, “In Delhi there are slaughterhouses in every area, and in Guwahati we just have one located at Panjabari.” The mutton sellers will have to spend a fair amount by way of transportation costs if they have to take the goats to slaughterhouse for slaughtering or freight slaughtered meat from there to their respective vending outlets. Furthermore, they have been asked to buy mutton at Rs 420 from the slaughterhouse and sell it at Rs 500, which they feel will give rise to a monopoly situation. Another mutton seller from Paltan Bazar said, “The rates keep fluctuating depending on the season. During Holi, Dusshera and Bihu, we get the chance of earning more. We even incur losses as sometimes the slaughtered mutton does not get sold.” The GMC decision, according to them, is loss making for them as after bearing the cost of transportation they will earn very less and during seasons of high demand they will lose out on profits. n

the city and anyone found selling slaughtered meat without the approval seal will be penalised. In the backdrop of the

Supreme Court’s instructions to ensure painless and scientific slaughter of livestock in 2014, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) had, in the same year, initiated the process of implementation of the Slaughter House By-laws, 2012 in Guwahati. However, the decision had not been mandated so far. There are around 180 licensed mutton shops in Guwahati and all are expected to follow the new rules. GMC sources said that the same technique will be implemented for sale of chicken and pork in the city within 2 to 3 months. The Assam Livestock and Poultry Corporation (ALPC) run slaughterhouse is said to have state-of-the-art technology with most of the equipments having been imported. The slaughterhouse has remained practically defunct for the last three years due to resistance from meat sellers and now, as the slaughterhouse is set to function continuously, the authorities feel that the move will ensure hygienic meat supply to the customers. n

Sports

SNIPPETS Assamese designer features in Forbes India 30 Under 30

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Kho-Kho an emerging game in Assam G Plus traces the growing popularity of the traditional sport of Kho-Kho in the state of Assam and the many players who have found careers through it “Our players did not win the matches, but their grit and energy was open for all to see and the sport got a lot of attention since then,” Baruah said. Formation of all the district associations was completed by 2008. The state team was coached by Arjuna Pantheon M Prakash in 2005 and 2007. Currently, the state team has a NIS Coach training them along with kabaddi players as only one coach is allotted from the institute for both the sports. Baruah, encouraging more players to enrol for the game said, “Football and cricket were the popular games back then and

anjan Bordoloi, the young founder and creative director of Studio Bordoloi, has been selected for the Forbes India 30 Under 30 2018 in the ‘Design’ category. Ranjan, who studied Furniture and Interior Design from IIT Guwahati, has been reworking on the revival of the ancient brass work traditionally practised by artisans - a craft that has been continually obliterating from the Assamese society. Bordoloi says he came up with the idea of using brass during his college days when he was exploring different materials and production techniques. A Pitoloi chair, created for his final year graduation project, won the Park Elle Decor Student Award, 2015 (the best use of traditional material). Showcased at India Design ID in February 2015, his work was also spotted by Giulio Cappellini, art director of Milan-based Italian design firm Cappellini and he was selected to showcase at the Salone del Mobile in Milan in April 2015. Earlier, at the Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2017, Ranjan was the only Indian to walk away with two awards, including the Best of the Best, in the furniture category. His collection ‘Pitoloi’ comprising small stools and a barstool, was made by cutting sheets of brass and given shape by wooden moulds with the small pieces joined by an ancient floor-based coal welding technique. Bordoloi was also one of the winners of the Godrej Design Lab 2016 competition where he won for his edgy Kaathfula chair, inspired by the shape of a mushroom. n

are still now. But more players should start playing this game as it needs no equipment or investment and provides fitness, stamina and agility like any other game. Moreover, since there is less competition, there are more opportunities in this sport than its counterparts.” Besides Supriya Gogoi, whose feat in SAG landed her a job in one of the leading corporate houses of the northeast, a government grant of Rs 10 lakhs and an opportunity to pursue her studies, several players have received scholarships and state government jobs in various departments. n

File photo of a Kho-Kho match during South Asian Games

Avishek Sengupta avishek.sengupta@g-plus.in

rom being one of the least played games in the 1970s to clinching gold for the country in the 12th South Asian Games, 2016, KhoKho has come a long way in Assam. Despite being one of the most ancient games that originated from India, Kho-Kho, which is mostly played in the central and north India, did not find much following in Assam until now. Today, however, there are district Kho-Kho associations in all the 21 sports districts that train cumulatively more than 2,500 players and organise regular matches. The state team is capable of representing Assam in national tournaments and has one player from Assam in each of the male and female Indian Kho Kho squads. Pinku Deka, an apprentice from Sonapur-based Sports Authority of India earned accolades from the nation and internationally for his international debut match against England at New Delhi last year, while Supriya Gogoi, who hails from Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh helped India clinch

gold in the South Asian Games, 2016. The state team had clinched the 11th position in the sub-junior level of the National Games and first position in an inter-school tournament. But, it was no easy task for the sport in Assam. Back in 1975, when the All Assam KhoKho Association (AAKA) was established, it was a group of the sport’s enthusiasts with no environment or players in the districts struggling to get slots in national tournaments. “Most of the players were tea garden workers who came from Jharkhand and Bengal and had little knowledge of the game. Youths from Assam were not that interested. It went on like this till 2000 when the association was reformed and built with grit resoluteness to engage more youths and districts with the sport,” Rajiv Prakash Baruah, president of AAKA, who took over the helm of affairs in 2000, said. “The national matches were mostly played by states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, where the sport is very popular,” Baruah said. The first break, however, came in 2007, when Assam hosted the National Games and being host state, got enlisted by default.

Weather report for the week Guwahati

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

Partly Cloud

Sunny

Mostly Sunny

Sunny

26°/14° C

28°/14° C

27°/16° C

27°/15° C

SATURDAY Partly Cloud

26°/14° C

City

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Temporary city beautification wasting public money, feel Guwahatians While the temporary beautification that the city undergoes with every major event is welcome, Guwahatians justifiably seek something permanent along with a maintenance policy Rahul Chanda rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

henever a VIP visits Guwahati or a national level event is organised, the entire city gets beautified using public money. But the beauty is never sustained. The Rs 32 crore budget Global Investors’ Summit (Advantage Assam) compelled the district administration to order the citybased government departments to individually beautify the city. The city was beautified but many Guwahatians feel it is temporary and wastage of public money. City-based social activist Ajoy Dutta said, “It is nice that the city was beautified using public money but it should be permanent,” adding that all these “tamashas” are not gaining anything for the state and are rather wasting public money. The Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) received a budget of Rs 1.5 crores to beautify the city. Similarly, even Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), Public Works Department (PWD)

Streetlight poles being lit during the Advantage Assam summit | G Plus Photo and many other departments received some funds to beautify the city for the global summit. The GMC did not use the money and carried out the beautifying work by collaborating with some advertising agencies in a public private partnership (PPP) mode, claimed a senior official. The agencies, in return, received advertising rights for

beautifying the city. The official also claimed that the advertising agencies were selected by a selection committee. But sources in the department said that many agencies that carried out the various works were very new and did not have any eligibility criteria. The selection, it seems,

Guwahatians seek permanent beautification

fter the summit, many Guwahatians called for permanent beautification of Guwahati rather than temporary beauti-

fication. The chairman of Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), Abdul Mannan Faruk said, “I received a letter from retired IAS officer, Swapnanil Baruah, saying that the city requires permanent beautification.” The chairman said that all the streetlight poles were illuminated with decorative lights by GMDA, but to sustain it like the West Bengal government

Strict policy required

uring the recently held Global Investors’ Summit, pictures of paan spit stains on the newly painted road dividers went viral on social media with users slamming the situation.

has done in Kolkata, some extra funds would be required and he is planning to request the government for the same. Similarly, many students, activists and other prominent citizens of Guwahati have demanded for permanent beautification. After the summit was over city authorities like Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) have decided to form a committee to work for permanent beautification. A senior official of GMC revealed that a committee has been formed which will meet soon to discuss the measures required for permanent and sustainable beautification of the city.

Talking about city beautification during VIP visits and major events like Advantage Assam, only roads and streetlights are illuminated - that too only at the places where the VIP movements take place. There are many city streets which are lacking functional streetlights. Even the Brahmaputra riverfront beautification is a long pending project and at present the officials have a ready excuse that the project is under Smart City. Smart City officials are providing an excuse since the last few years that the detailed project report (DPR) is being prepared. n

Even Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) officials claimed that strict action would be taken against those who spit on the newly painted dividers, but no action was reported. Meanwhile, a resident of Guwahati, Neel Saikia, who recently came from Mumbai said, “In Mumbai the local unemployed youths are associated with the urban local body to check that people do not spit anywhere

they want.” In Mumbai the BMC (Bombay Municipal Corporation) Act was amended to implement fines on people who spit on streets. A fine of Rs 500 is levied by the local youths out of which a share goes to the BMC. A similar policy is implemented in Shillong against people who urinate in open space. Many Guwahatians feel Guwahati requires a similar policy. n

was done on ad hoc basis. There were agencies that submitted proposals for a sustained and permanent beautification, but such proposals were not accepted. The beautification works are not complete at various places till date. For temporary beautification just for the two days, plastic flowers and other temporary methods were used. Other departments like PWD and GMDA invested public money to beautify the city but temporarily. Huge amounts of money are pumped in for beautification during every major event. But after the event is over, the beautification elements gradually disappear. During Advantage Assam, GMC, through some private agencies, constructed colourful fountains under some flyovers. On the final day of the event it seems the brass nozzles of the fountains were missing as they were stolen, an official source said. Similarly, many such beautifying elements go missing after the events or VIP visits resulting in huge wastage of public money. n

SNIPPETS Tarun Gogoi disappointed with Advantage Assam

aising questions on Advantage Assam - Global Investors Summit, former chief minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi, said that the twoday Advantage Assam was an attempt to create a monopoly of corporate houses in the state. Of the MoUs worth Rs 1 lakh crore, signed during Advantage Assam, he doubts if even one-fourth of it would be implemented. Gogoi is also not in favour of the twin towers in Guwahati. He says, “What is the point of developing the capital alone if development cannot be spread across Assam?” Slamming the Sonowal government once again, Gogoi said that there were no incentives provided to the small industries. On the other hand, corporate houses were provided a red carpet welcome which is a wrong concept. “A lot of Assamese youths have also opened hospitals, restaurants and are engaged in the transport sector. Why did the government not help them form tie-ups with the corporate houses? The divide between the rich and the poor is ever-increasing under the NDA government. There has been growth of the jobless and even if jobs are provided, timely salary is not disbursed. n

Centre Spread

G PLUS | FEB 10 -

Nehal Jain jain.nehal@g-plus.in

Assam gets investment worth Rs 62157.18 Crores Assam will get approximately Rs 62157.18 crores investment commitments in a range of sectors. Leading from the Oil and front, public sector oil behemoth ONGC committed Rs 13,000 crores Gas sector in investments in the state, followed sta by Oil India Limited that pledged an attracts mo investment of Rs 10,000 crores. Two more oil firms Indian Oil Corporation investment (IOC) and Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) also evinced interest to invest Rs 3,432 crores and Rs 3,410 crores respectively. Among the private players, the highest investment was announced by RIL Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani. Ambani pledged an investment of Rs 2,500 crores in Assam in various sectors, including retail, petroleum, telecom, tourism and sports, creating jobs for at least 80,000 people over the next three years.

Hollow Promises o a Game Changer?

Advantage Assam, a two-day maiden global business s Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the summ leaders from India and abroad. Organised with the aim t Summit saw participation of many, but investment According to the press release issued by Advantage Assam a a total of 200 MoU’s were signed during the summit that According to the organisers, these MoUs are yet to be upd According to the list acquired, th

In the health sector, the most major decision announced during the summit was the setting up of an elaborate cancer care programme across the state by the TATA Trusts in association with Assam government.

Sector-wise invest

Total Amount of investme

Other major companies that announced investments in Assam are Essel Infraprojects (Rs 6,000 crores), Star Cement (Rs 2,100 crores), Century Plywoods (Rs 2,100 crores), Infinity Infotech Parks (Rs 1,000 crores), Indo-UK Healthcare (Rs 2,700 crores) and Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India (Rs 400 crores), among others.

Sector of Oil and Gas

`29,842

Numerous MoUs of small amounts signed 45 out of 176 companies invest less t han or equal to 10 Crores

Department of Health and Family Welfare

A couple of days before the summit, senior officials from the Assam Government had said that only those MoU’s will be signed that have a business plan of Rs 50 crores or more. But, to the contrary, MoU’s have been signed for investments amounting to as low as Rs 1 crore.

`5,169.54 GDD, UDD

Department of Tourism

`1,563.21

`1,449.5

Many disappointed with PM Modi’s speech After the inaugural speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, local business experts and investors felt that Modi did not announce anything big which could impress the local investors. Many felt that Modi, in his Advantage Assam inaugural speech, was just bragging about the development which the BJP government has carried out till date under the leadership of Modi. While many expected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to go beyond rhetoric to explain how this business summit will be a game-changer for the state, he chose to elaborate on his budget promises.

Department of Higher Education

PM Modi 8 repeats 201 ch budget spee

`460

Department of Handloom & Textiles

Department of Veterinary a Animal Husbandry

`190

`115.66

Centre Spread

- FEB 16, 2018

or ?

No FDI raised during the summit

Global Investors’ Summit: A fact-check

Government sources had said that the Advantage Assam-Global Investors’ Summit will provide investment opportunities for global investors to invest in Assam. They claimed that the summit would bring Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) to the State.

SpiceJet mulls introducing seaplanes in Assam

tments (in crores)

ent - `62157.18 crores

SpiceJet to invest Rs into 1,250 crore Assam sea planes

Department of Industries

`14,228 Department of GDD & UDD

Department of Agriculture

`4,259.42

`2,173.8 Department of Industries and AGCL

`1,400

Department of Transport

`332.85

`300

and

In the absence of a Detailed Project Report (DPR) or feasibility report, experts feel that the claims of the state government of dredging the Brahmaputra River is a questionable matter. To top that, claims were made during the summit about making the Brahmaputra in Assam the largest river waterways in the world. Low cost carrier SpiceJet expressed interest in exploring the possibilities of introducing seaplanes on the river.

‘Invest Assam’ to follow up on MoUs signed In order to follow up with the promised investments, an agency named ‘Invest Assam’ led by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, will be formed to follow up on all the MoUs signed during the global investors’ summit and also to find opportunities to persuade the investors in the state.

`547

Department of IT

Zero investment from foreign investors

The Assam government has rolled out the red carpet to a host of dignitaries and business leaders with the hope of clinching more agreements. Many MoUs with Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Bhutan were expected to be inked. But, according to the list acquired, not even one foreign origin company has invested a single penny, leading to zero FDI. While so many foreign officials and guests from ASEAN and BBN countries had attended the summit, none have actually committed to invest so far.

summit of Assam, was held in the city on February 3-4. mit was attended by business tycoons as well as political to draw global investors to Assam, the “Global” Investors’ promises by none of the foreign companies present. authorities post the two-day long Global Investors’ Summit, t would get in investments amounting to Rs 1 lakh crores. dated whereas a list of 176 MoUs were provided to G Plus. hese were some of the findings:

Department of Education

Assam govt to keep tab on the investment s promised

Local players portrayed as heavy investors

Department of Science and Technology

Department of Skill, Employment and Entrepreneurship

`45

`31.2

Guwahati n businessme ith sign MoUs w Assam govt

Local shopkeepers from Guwahati were portrayed as potential investors during the summit and MoUs amounting to Rs 1-5 crores were signed by them, probably to increase the total number of MoUs.

14 E

G Talk D

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Mukeshbhai’s DODO, COCO & CODO

ukesh Ambani committed an investment of Rs 2,500 crores during his maiden visit to the state for the Advantage Assam summit. Brilliant! Retail outlets to be increased from 2 to 40. Petrol depots to be increased from 27 to 165. Many jobs to be created within this retailing sector itself. A rosy picture of development indeed! But as his captive audience, ‘mesmerized’ by his speech, I have an observation. For paucity of space let’s talk about just Reliance petroleum. So far, the existing 27 Reliance petrol depots have been created on the DODO model – dealer owned dealer operated. What this essentially means is that a person who is keen on operating a Reliance petrol dispensing outlet and having the requisite plot that satisfies all criteria becomes a dealer with financial investment to the tune of nearly Rs. 1.5 crores by way of security deposit with Reliance, purchase of equipment from Reliance, setting up the basic infrastructure as per requirements of Reliance and having a reasonable working capital to sell petrol from Reliance. Now, I have been given to understand that there is

another model called the COCO – company owned company operated - and so far as my knowledge goes, Reliance had purchased two plots at two different locations of Assam long back which now apparently have only wild grass growth to show. I have also reliably learnt that the committed investment of Mukeshbhai pertains to the COCO model which essentially means that big investments are indeed being mulled, Reliance executives are already being put on top gear mode to scout for suitable land all over the northeast and the actual figure that Mukeshbhai is looking at is 200 – 35 more than committed. If there is truth in this matter – which I am keen on believing there is – then plenty of jobs are sure to be created only through the petroleum arm of the Reliance business empire. However, certain pitfalls remain. After all, it is not legally permissible to acquire or purchase land in the hill states like Meghalaya etc and the company might just have to consider the CODO model – company owned dealer operated – in such situations. Well, plenty of reasons to feel good thanks to Mukeshbhai. Swapnil Bharali Editor

GUWAHATI ADDA

Can we abstain from stains? Three journalists are on a break from their grunt work. This is the conversation that follows... Dhiren: Rajnigandha dia rey olop. Khau... Niren: O gimme some too! Tulsi milai dibi! Hiren: Dhet ro! Agote milabo tu de *starts shaking the packet vigorously * Dhiren: Aah... Eiya khale he matha tu kaam koribo! *stuffs Rajnigandha inside his mouth* This blood colour makes blood flow to my brains. After this I have to file an article. Niren: O moza! What are you writing about? Dhiren: Guwahati beautification drive. Guwahati is looking great after hosting Advantage Assam. Niren: Nice. What a positive story! Tumi ki likhisa Hiren? Hiren: I’m following up a health report shared by the Ministry that puts Assam on better health indices. Niren: O very cool. While you’re at it maybe you can shed some light on sale of smokeless tobacco and rising cases of oral cancer in the state. I wonder if the government is ever going to take that seriously... They all walk to the nearby paan dukan. One buys a packet of guthka, one spits out the Rajnigandha and one is fiddling with his phone, because there’s always that one guy... Sidharth Bedi Varma

Budget 2018: A realistic boost to Indian economy

n 1st February, 2018 finance minister Arun Jaitley presented the union budget for 2018-19 with a new developmental framework primarily focussing on the agrarian economy, rural development, social welfare, health, education and infrastructure development. In the budget, the finance minister announced a couple of agri-centric measures including raising the minimum support prices (MSP) for crops to at least 1.5 times that of the production cost, creation of a fisheries and aquaculture infrastructure development fund and an animal husbandry infrastructure development fund with a total corpus of Rs 10,000 crores, a Rs 2,000-crore agri-market infrastructure fund for developing nearly 22,000 rural haats into grameen agricultural markets and for upgrading the 585 existing agriculture produce market committees. Another scheme, “Operation Green,” which focuses on kitchen staples such as tomatoes, onions and potatoes, to protect farmers from sudden price crash was also launched. Operation Greens shall promote farmer producers’ organizations (FPOs), agri-logistics, processing facilities and professional management too. Keeping in view the export potential of farm products, the export norms for agricultural commodities have been proposed to be liberalised with the aim of facilitating the way for making India’s agri-produce, particularly fruits and vegetables, compatible with global food-safety requirements. The finance minister also emphasised on rural electrification and enhanced power supply in the villages. He announced Rs 16,000 crores under Pradhan Mantri Saubhagya Yojana for such power supply. The prime objective behind

such schemes is to turn the countryside into a vibrant growth engine and shifting focus on farmer’s income as against age old focus on food policy. The initiatives have been taken keeping in view the government’s promise to double farmer incomes by 2022. Social sectors contribute to the all-round development of the society. The spending on these sectors has a direct impact on health and education and both these sectors carry 2/3 weightage in human development index. A flagship programme, National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), termed as “the world’s largest government-funded health care programme,” was launched to cover 10 crore poor and vulnerable families with Rs 5 lakh health insurance. The government announced an allocation of Rs 2,000

Indian economy is now 2.5 trillion dollar economy – 7th largest in the world and it is expected to become the 5th largest economy very soon. crores for the scheme in 2018-19. Commitment of Rs 1,200 crores towards the National Health Policy, 2017 was also made which aims at building 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres across India, providing comprehensive healthcare, free essential drugs, and diagnostic services. Announcement of establishment of 24 new government medical colleges and hospitals by upgrading existing district hospitals in the country was also made. With the government’s commitments towards social sector, the finance minister announced the establishment of “Ekalavya Model Residential Schools.” These schools, at par with Navodaya Vidyalayas, will be built in all blocks of the country having more than 50 percent Scheduled Tribe population and at least 20,000 tribal people. An initiative named “Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE),” by 2022, with a total investment of Rs 1,00,000 crores in the next four years is another significant announcement of the budget.

rDeserves kudos

O p i n i o n Kumar Padmapani Bora

The union budget has given significant emphasis on infrastructure, including rural infrastructure to support long term strategy to create employment through skill development. As per the budget presentation, the centre will invest as much as Rs 5.97 trillion in creating and upgrading infrastructure in the next financial year. Infrastructure development has been one of the focus areas of the present central government and it has substantially increased the budget allocation from around Rs 1.81 trillion in 2014-15 to Rs 4.94 trillion in 201718. The government has unveiled the largest-ever rail and road budget of Rs 1.48 trillion and Rs 1.21 trillion, respectively in 201819. The finance minister stated that the cabinet had approved the Bharatmala scheme to strengthen the road network, for which the government will raise Rs 5.35 trillion as equity from the market. Total investment for Bharatmala is estimated at Rs 10 trillion which is the largest ever outlay for a government road construction scheme India. Apart from creating infrastructure for seaplanes to boost connectivity, the push will also be towards the government’s regional connectivity scheme which aims to connect 56 airports and 31 helipads. The scheme, “Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik” (UDAN), proposes that at least half the seats on every flight should have a fare cap of Rs. 2,500 per seat per hour of flying. The government has taken up programmes to direct the benefits of structural changes and good growth to reach farmers, poor and other vulnerable sections of our society and to uplift the under-developed regions with particular focus on strengthening agriculture and rural economy, provision of good health care to economically less privileged, taking care of senior citizens, infrastructure creation and working with the states to provide more resources for improving the quality of education in the country. n Email: kpbasom@gmail.com (The views expressed by the writer are entirely personal and does not, in any way, represent the government)

Letter to the Editor

ssam Police deserves all the kudos and appreciation for safely rescuing 4 year old Manvik Surana from the clutches of his kidnappers. As already stated by the Commissioner of Police, Hiren Chandra Nath, it was a well coordinated rescue operation by all the wings of the police department. The kidnapping episode of the specially abled child was closely followed by the general public as social media sites namely Facebook and WhatsApp were flooded with updates. In such a situation anything could have happened to the child but the meticulously planned operation of the police department thwarted any eventuality. Truly, every policeman involved with the rescue operation deserves a big pat on their back. Dr Ashim Chowdhury, Ambari Guwahati-1.

In Focus

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Daniel Langthasa Musician

aniel Langthasa, more popularly known as Mr India, is a self-taught musician from Haflong. Daniel is best known for his songs on bribery, celebrity controversies, natural or manmade disasters and the doings of the government. His music throws light on the truth whilst harnessing an unperturbed and fun connection with the listener. Born in Haflong town of Dima Hasao District, Daniel spent his days as a toddler in Aizawl, Mizoram. At the age of 3, he returned to his native place where he did his schooling from Don Bosco School. He came to Guwahati and did his higher secondary in science from Cotton College and thereafter joined the Assam Engineering College (AEC) to study mechanical engineering. Talking about choosing science stream and taking up engineering, Daniel informed G Plus, “I was good at studies all through my school life. So I decided to take up science. While I had some sort of phobia towards hospital smell, the idea of building something always fascinated me. And so I joined engineering.”

Langthasa started his musical journey in class 8 when he got his first acoustic guitar. He started to play the guitar and jammed with his friends. “I was always surrounded by music and politics in one form or the other,” he said. “My father, who was a politician, played various musical instruments and my mother was a wonderful singer.” It was during his stay in Guwahati that he started to lose interest in studies and decided to take up music as his profession. Daniel said, “I faced a lot of problems during higher secondary as well as engineering. Everything seemed unfamiliar – the language, the people, the study environment. I expected an environment of idea sharing and practical learning, but instead, it was all about rote learning and assignments.” Daniel began performing in 2006 with a band called “Ahimsa” that comprised his childhood friends

from Haflong. At that time, he was studying in AEC and his friends had also shifted to the city. In his final year of engineering, Daniel skipped his final semester exams in order to play at the

Hornbill Festival in Nagaland. He never finished his degree and ventured into the independent music industry full time. But like most artists, Daniel too faced a lot of challenges in his journey. He calls the period of 2006-07 a very harsh and difficult one. Soon after he decided to drop out of college, his father passed away and Daniel had to take care of the family, being the eldest of his siblings. He shifted the entire family to Guwahati where they survived on savings for a couple of years, after which they opened up a small eatery called Tribal Hut where his mother would cook and serve authentic tribal dishes. Daniel started to take music more seriously, started doing more shows and soon, life got direction. In 2008, he formed Digital Suicide and began to write what he calls “protest music.” “It was a band, so the song-writing process was collaborative and our musical influences were mostly western,” Daniel said. Things began to change when he returned to Haflong in 2015. He wanted to keep things “simple and spontaneous” and began recording songs in Haflong Hindi, which is a mix of Hindi, Bengali, English and other languages. “More than anything else, I just wanted to talk to the people of Haflong about things that mattered to us, and in our own language,” he said. On January 10, 2016, he

began his YouTube channel named ‘Mr India’ and thus became popular by the same name. His songs are often cheeky takes on trending topics, political status and life as a citizen of northeast India. What shines through the simple acoustic ditties set to popular tunes is the earnestness of the man who sings them with a pair of hand-shaped plastic glasses that hide his eyes. This is Daniel’s stage persona, Mr India. His tunes are bright and eminently hummable, but his lyrics are formed by dark humour, political anger and a keen sense of the outrageous. Mr India has performed at various venues and festivals across the country including Hard Rock Cafe, Harley Rock Riders, Indian Rocktober Fest, Great Indian Rock Festival, Ctrl Alt Del and Campus Rock Idols to name a few. After a lot of pressure, Daniel decided to take a break from Mr India. Currently, Daniel lives a minimalistic life in Haflong with his wife and 11 dogs. They grow their own vegetables, follow an eco-friendly lifestyle and write songs as well as design and sell artisan clothing and jewellery. They have opened up an NGO called Roohi, a label that works with local craftswomen to reinvent traditional textiles and motifs. Dimasa textiles are known for their bright colours and at Roohi these textiles are reinvented in contemporary ways.

The recent attempted abduction of little Manvik Surana from his school created a social uproar galvanizing the police into immediate rescue operations. Here are some bouquets for the police and brickbats for the school authority Manashi Choudhury The school authority is fully responsible for this incident. It’s pure negligence from their side. How can someone just hand over a kid without any valid id proof? I request all the school authorities and parents to learn about cautiousness from this incident. Previously also such type of incidents occurred in our city which came to notice. I especially request to all the kids’ school authorities to kindly look into this issue.

Sweetypaul Phukan Its very easy to open the school in one flat naming it by any name for business purposes. But it takes a lot to be responsible for the child. Hope strict action is taken against the school for being so irresponsible. Thanks to Assam Police for early recovery. I feel bad thinking about the condition of the kid’s parents and what they had to face due to principal’s irresponsibility.

Nilotpal Roy Recent developments prove one fact for sure. Assam Police can really solve any case under pressure of media/political power/social media/ general mass uproar. I wait for that day when the police force will work on all cases with the same commitment. I truly wish AP many congratulations. Police has really played a role of a hero and found the kid in less than 24 hours. It’s a great achievement by itself for the department and the police should now see to it that all schools follow all safety norms for their children. I hope such incidents don’t happen in future.

CA Bijay Bagaria There should be authorised identity cards issued by the schools for the family members who come to take the child and proper procedure should be there for early leaving in school or any kind of situations. Parents leave their children on the school’s responsibility and increase in such incidents in the city might develop fear among the parents.

Pankaj Surana A major fault of the Principal. He/she should have used the registered number of the parents instead of talking over the phone handed by the person. A good lesson to be learnt. We should also educate our children not to trust any person who says that his or her parents have sent him to pick them up. Instead they should be very cautious and should call their respective parents on the registered mobile or land-line number.

Bibhash Roy Parents’ contact numbers are shared during the time of admission. The school authority should have checked its database and confirmed with the parents directly instead of believing any random person who claimed to be a relative. Even my kids are also studying in school. Tomorrow we also might need to check with the school as to how they take care of the children during emergency situations. It’s a serious issue for all parents now.

Feature

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Remembrance, Redemption, and ‘Rainbow Fields’; Bidyut Kotoky discusses his personal historical film about violence without showing bloodshed – a film which the kids can enjoy at their level and which will give some food for thought to grown-ups too. So, I was consciously trying to achieve these characteristics.

Christy Addis

idyut Kotoky’s ‘Xhoixoboite Dhemalite’ (Rainbow Fields) is all set to premiere at Cinema Village, New York as part of the 7 th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival. Set against the backdrop of bitter intolerance and terrible violence in the Indian state of Assam in the 1980s, this semiautobiographical tale is told through the eyes of children impacted by events they don’t fully understand. The children’s playtime games lead to an incident that changes them forever and years later as adults they must grapple with coming to terms with what had happened and with themselves. First-rate acting, notably by Victor Banerjee and the child actors, added with rich cinematography add depth to the film. The film features Victor Banerjee, Dipannita Sharma, Nakul Vaid, Naved Aslan and Nipon Goswami among others. However, new young actors play the most crucial parts. Earlier, the film was appreciated at the screening at International Film Festival of

What were some of the challenges faced while making this movie? The main challenges were financial in nature. As Assam doesn’t have a sustainable film industry, getting finances for the film was a big challenge. We had to operate within a shoestring budget, with no buffer whatsoever. We were, however, determined not to allow this constraint to affect the final look of our film – if we wanted to take this story to the outside world, it is imperative that technically we make a world class product.

Victor Banerjee(Grandfather) in a shot from ‘Xhoihobote Dhemalite’ for the inspiration of my films. I strongly believe that if we don’t learn from our history, we are condemned to repeat it. I grew up in a violent period of Assam history (1980s) and it did disturb my impressionable mind greatly

made is Assamese. But I was not looking at making an “Assamese film” so to say – I am making a film for the global audience in the Assamese language. I strongly believe that the color of emotions is the same across the world and everyone can relate to those emotions.

Did making the film in Assamese help attract the likes of Victor Banerjee and Amrit Pritam, who are tops in their fields and also associated with Assam?

prevailed in the 1980s. Would you say these differences manifest themselves similarly today as they did in the 80s when the story took place, or have they changed? Unfortunately, the more things change, the more they remain the same. In my film, I made an effort to show that we react subconsciously without realizing the actual impact

What do you want the viewers to take away from your film? If we say that we don’t own this world but borrowed it from our children, then what kind of world are we leaving behind for them? This question used to haunt me strongly, especially after my daughter came in to my life four years back. Well, I’m under no illusion that my film will change the world, but

I would like to believe that it is the content of the film that attracted them. Yes, the fact that both of them are strongly connected to the land did help. And knowing the current state of the Assamese film industry, both of them did the film without bothering to charge even a fraction of their market price! India (IFFI) in Goa. It also won the best foreign film award in the Hollywood International Cinefest and the maiden edition of Catoosa Country Film Festival in the US.

Tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to tell this particular story about a violent time in the history of Assam, India. I was born and brought up in Assam. You can take a boy out of Assam, but you can’t take Assam out of the boy. A part of my soul remained in that evergreen land. Ever since childhood, I dreamed of being a filmmaker. And finally when I got the chance to live my dream, I didn’t have to look far

and it also disturbs me to find that almost nobody wants to visit that period of Assam’s history in literature or in films.

What movies and other resources did you consult to prepare to make this film? For this particular film, I just had to take a trip down memory lane. The film is inspired by true incidents and a lot of it is semiautobiographical in nature. Was making the film in Assamese an important decision? I strongly believe that every film decides its own language. In the case of Rainbow Fields, I’m convinced that the only language in which this film could have been

For the child roles, your young cast is quite compelling. What was the casting process for them like? We did an extensive audition and to a large extent depended on my gut feeling while finalizing the selection. Of course, we didn’t put any emphasis on their previous acting experience. In fact, the challenge was to make them not to “act” but to “react”. And I did have a couple of excellent teachers with me – Tapan Baruah and Jyoti Narayan Nath – who did an extensive workshop with the young cast.

Your story touched on the class differences that

and I guess across the world, things are not very different. At times, it could be the economic background or the color of one’s skin, but the results remain the same. But yes, I’m an eternal optimist and I strongly believe that things will change for the better.

Your film has a soft style and quiet beauty. How did you achieve this? I wanted to make a film

I needed to make this film if I wanted to look straight into the eyes of my daughter, unflinchingly.

Do you have a future movie project currently being planned? I do have a few scripts ready. Given a choice, I would like to concentrate on A Shot in the Dark – a story about how a game of soccer got a bunch of extremists back to the mainstream. n

Trotter

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Mumbai man orders iPhone online, delivered detergent bar

26-year-old software engineer in the city was in for a rude shock when the e-tailing major Flipkart delivered a

detergent bar instead of an iPhone-8 which he had ordered and paid for. After he approached the Byculla police in central Mumbai,

a case of cheating was registered against Flipkart. Tabrej Mehaboob Nagrali, the complainant, said he had ordered an iPhone-8 on the shopping portal and made the full payment of Rs. 55,000. He alleged that the package delivered at his house in Panvel in neighbouring Navi Mumbai had a detergent bar inside instead of the premium mobile phone. “Nagrali approached us with a complaint yesterday, and an offence of cheating was registered against Flipkart,” AvinashShingte, senior police inspector at the Byculla police station. A Flipkart spokesman said that the company is conducting an inquiry into the incident. (Source: ndtv)

$3,000 Valentine’s Day burger includes diamond engagement ring

night,” the restaurant said. “Make this the best V-day yet!” The burger, which must be ordered at least 48 hours in advance, contains a 7/8 carat Neil Lane engagement ring from Kay Jewelers in the bun, included in the hefty price tag. “Nothing says ‘I love you’ quite like Boston’s best burger topped with a princess cut ring framed by round diamonds on a band of 14k gold,” the restaurant said. “For $3,000, savor the flavor of Pauli’s Big Boy Burger and simmer in sweet bliss, if they say yes!” (Source: upi)

Massachusetts restaurant is offering a special burger with a diamond engagement ring in the bun for Valentine’s Day. Pauli’s Northend in Boston shared a photo of the $3,000 Big Boy Burger which features a romantic surprise lodged inside the bun. “It also happens to come with an engagement ring to propose to your loved one later that

Pakistani journalist covers own wedding, interviews wife

ot everyone can switch off from work when they’re home. A case in point is this Pakistani journalist who covered his own wedding. He reported from the venue, shared updates about the ceremony and even interviewed his wife and family. Videos of the coverage have since gone viral and left many on social media thoroughly amused. Dressed in his wedding finery with a mic in his hand, Hanan Bukhari, a reporter for a local news channel, shared updates about his wedding. “Bahutkhushika din hai mere liye bhi aur mere ghar walon ke liye bhi (It’s a moment of great happiness for me and my family),” he says. He goes on to explain that his is a love marriage and that is why his wife and her family are also very happy. He then proceeds to interview his father and others from the family. One of the more entertaining moments is when he interviews

his wife. Describing himself as a ‘Majnu’, he asks her how she feels about their wedding. While several versions of the clip are going viral and being shared on social media, two posted by Pakistani journalist Amar Guriro have received over 2,000 ‘likes’ and more than 1,100 retweets collectively. A longer video shared on the channel’s Facebook page shows another reporter covering the wedding. However, when he hands over the mic to Bukhari to ask him about the wedding, the journalist takes over the report as if he was the one covering the event. Talk about commitment to work. The video has prompted quite a few reactions on Twitter since it was posted. While some suggested the groom should be given ‘journalist of the year award’, some others didn’t quite like the video and criticized the whole thing. (Source: ndtv)

11-year-old girl ‘gives birth to 14-year-old brother’s baby’

Saudi father ‘irons son’s genitals as punishment for getting sexually assaulted’

Saudi Arabian father ironed his son’s genitals after he told him that he had been sexually assaulted, a psychologist has claimed. According to local media, the Saudi psychologist was approached by the father after he had ‘punished’ his son. Dr Hussain Al Shamarani revealed how the father was looking for help and that he genuinely believed he had done the right thing. The psychologist claimed the man put a hot iron on his son’s genitals after he told him that a group of teenagers sexually abused him. Dr Al Shamarani then shared the tragic case online to show how sex abuse victims in the country are being treated.

“This man came to ask for my advice, not knowing that his action had already done more damage to the child’s health and mental well-being,” he said. “There are so many similar cases, where parents resort to punishing a child after an assault or simply choose not to come forward to get them help they truly need in the wake of such incidents.” Soon after the psychologist tweeted the case, people condemned the father’s actions. One Twitter user wrote: “Ignorance is catastrophic. This father knows he won’t be punished for his actions. This is why similar incidents will always recur.” Another added: “Some people are not fit for parenthood.” “This is how their brains are

programmed, to blame the victim for being harassed,” another said. Some called for the authorities to take action and bring in hotlines to professionally deal with similar cases. (Source: Dailymail)

young girl, a Bolivian immigrant, gave birth to a boy at a hospital in Murcia, south east Spain. Officers were later called in to probe the identity of the dad. An investigation resulted in the family stating the child’s older sibling to be the father. Sources close to the case

said the brother was 13 when his sister fell pregnant. He will not face any criminal proceedings under Spanish law as he is below the age of criminal responsibility. DNA tests will now take place to confirm the family’s claims about who the baby’s dad is. (Source: metro.co)

Review

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte Director: R Balki

A vie Mo view Re PAD MAN

young girl teases her brother when he wants to romance his wife, but runs away horrified when she sees a sanitary napkin in his hands. A loving but naive wife is scandalised as her husband is “obsessed with women’s problems”. It is moments like these that make Akshay Kumar’s PadMan elevating, without being didactic. R Balki’s film is based on the real life story of Arunachalam Muruganantham, called India’s “menstrual man” for transforming the lives of underprivileged women who had to use old rags, sand and leaves during their periods. Despite being peppered with melodrama and some scenes that go on for too long, Pad Man delivers a

robust message - the importance of women’s menstrual health. From women being ostracised during “that time of the month” to young girls shying away from school to avoid “embarrassment”, co-writer Balki and Swanand Kirkire have managed to put it out exactly as it is. Some of the exchanges that Lakshmi has in the course of attempting to find a cheap alternative to sanitary pads seem in-your-face, but these also bring forth issues that our society needs to address. While Akshay kumar shines in his role as Lakshmikant Chauhan, the characters in the supporting cast seem to be in a race for overacting - be it Akshay’s onscreen mom or random background characters in every frame. n

Gadget Review

non-professional clunkiness. The effect of realness in this film is a strange one. The three are bad at acting, of course, and the attack itself is robustly and forthrightly shot. It is all over pretty quickly. It seems almost anticlimactic and detached. Perhaps that is faithful to the experience itself. Eastwood and his screenwriter Dorothy Blyskal, who has adapted the three men’s book about the event, have rigorously avoided any premonitions or creepy omens, although Spencer talks about God having a purpose to his life. The movie is dull. But perhaps that’s what life is – dull – specially compared to a sudden burst of frenetic, heroic activity on a train when your training kicks in. n

Maze Runner: The Death Cure 01:10 PM

Anuradha Cineplex Noonmati 0361 2656968 Pad Man 11:00 AM, 05:15 PM, 08:15 PM Padmaavat (3D) 02:00 PM

Cast: Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler, Jenna Fisher, Judy Greer Director: Clint Eastwood he authentic courage of three American heroes who foiled a terrorist attack has been antialchemised by Clint Eastwood into a strangely boring, dramatically inert film in which the main characters remain as opaque and unreadable as sphinxes to the very last. But there is some interest in this film nonetheless because of the experimental chutzpah Eastwood has showed in using – not Chris Hemsworth, not Bradley Cooper, not Trevante Rhodes – but the three actual guys stolidly playing themselves. (The attacker, one Ayoub El-Khazzani, being now incarcerated, was not available for filming.) The resulting film looks bizarrely like an essay in take-it-or-leave-it social realist grit or radical and

Cinepolis Christian Basti 09435025808 Pad Man 08:30 AM, 08:55 AM, 10:35 AM, 11:35 AM, 12:00 PM, 02:40 PM, 03:05 PM, 05:45 PM, 06:10 PM, 08:30 PM, 08:50 PM, 09:15 PM Padmaavat (2D) 01:40 PM, 05:05 PM Padmaavat (3D) 09:40 AM, 04:05 PM, 07:35 PM

vie Mo view Re

The 15:17 to Paris

Gold Cinema Lakhtokia 0361 2735367 Pad Man 11:15 AM, 02:00 PM, 05:00 PM, 08:00 PM Padmaavat (2D) 02:15 PM, 05:15 PM Gold Cinema Paltan Bazaar 09854066166 Pad Man 11:00 AM, 11:15 AM,

Design and build

The Centric L3 is a budget smartphone and is predominantly constructed of plastic.

Specifications

The Centric L3 has a 5-inch HD IPS display with 2.5D curved glass on top. It isn’t the best panel out there at this price level, and we could see rows of pixels easily. The viewing angles are decent and the display does get bright enough to be viewable un-

Padmaavat (2D) 02:15 PM, 05:15 PM, 08:15 PM

Grande Cines Paltan Bazar 09854017771 Pad Man 10:00 AM, 12:45 PM, 02:15 PM, 03:30 PM, 06:15 PM, 09:00 PM Padmaavat (3D) 11:00 AM, 05:15 PM, 08:30 PM PVR Cinemas Dona Planet 08800900009 Pad Man 09:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 03:00 PM, 06:00 PM, 09:00 PM Padmaavat (3D) 10:30 AM, 01:45 PM, 05:00 PM, 08:15 PM Galleria Cinemas HUB 09706989143 Pad Man 09:20 AM, 12:00 PM, 05:50 PM, 09:00 PM Padmaavat (3D) 02:45 PM Apsara Cinema Paltan Bazaar 0361 2541335 Pad Man 11:00 AM, 02:00 PM, 05:00 PM, 08:00 PM

you change wallpapers just by shaking the phone, and you can double-tap the screen to wake the device or draw alphabets on the screen to launch specific applications.

The build quality isn’t great, and this phone doesn’t feel very premium, which is obviously not a surprise given its price tag. We also weren’t impressed with the glossy finish of the back, which is a fingerprint magnet. At the front, the phone has a 5-inch display with the traditional 16:9 aspect ratio. The earpiece, selfie camera and notification light are above the display while the fingerprint scanner is positioned below it. The fingerprint scanner is slightly recessed which forces you to press your finger down for a proper scan.

Centric L3

he Centric L3 is one the newest smartphones to be launched in the subRs. 8,000 segment in India. The Centric brand is owned by an Indian company, which has previously launched the Centric G1 which had a few rough edges. Centric says that the L3 is the best in its class and that it was designed with Indian consumers in mind. With so many manufacturers battling it out in this segment, does the Centric L3 stand a chance to be number one? We put it through its paces.

02:00 PM, 05:00 PM, 08:00 PM

Camera

The Centric L3 has a 13-megapixel camera on the back with autofocus. The performance is kind of sluggish as it takes too long to focus and enables auto scene mode by default. Landscape shots look good and have decent amounts of detail, but grains appear when fully zoomed in.

Verdict

der direct sunlight. Centric has opted for the MediaTek MT6737, a quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz. It has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage which is expandable by up to 256GB using a microSD card. In terms of software, the

phone runs on Android Nougat with a few customisations. There are motion gestures which utilise the proximity sensor. You can wave your hand in front of the phone to mute an incoming call, change music tracks, and capture photos. The phone also has a shake gesture which lets

The Centric L3 wants to compete in an already crowded space. It offers the same hardware and functionality as most other manufacturers in this price range. There is nothing particularly wrong with this phone, but at the same time, there is no specific reason to recommend it over others. n

Entertainment

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

British Council places northeast musicians on the global map T he northeast edition of Mix the City - a web application that would allow users of northeast to create and share their own unique audio-visual soundtrack globally - was unveiled in Guwahati on Friday, February 2. The British Council unveiled the northeast version in a bid to provide an interactive music platform that draws users across UK and the world to explore the diversity of sound, music, cultural influences and city sights from the eight states of the northeast viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, connecting them with the world. Created by British Council and designed by award-winning British start-ups, Mix the City will not only

nurture young talent by providing a platform for self-discovery and experience but also exposure to a global audience.

Liakat now available on YouTube

he highly score by Ambar acclaimed Das, art direction Assamese by Ronal Hussain short film and Dipika Deka titled ‘Liakat’ (It and sound design Rains in the End) by Amrit Pritam. that shined at D.I. Colorist is various film fesSujit Borah, costivals has been tume has been made available designed by Rani on popular online Dutta Baruah, networking site make-up is by ‘YouTube’ from Ashitav Baruah, Friday, the 9th of production deFebruary. signed by Mukut ‘Liakat’, diSaikia and edited rected by Monjul by Twenchang. Baruah of ‘Antareen’ fame and The film was earlier produced by popular writer and screened at the 9th Jaipur International Film Festival 2016 cultural activist Gopal Jalan unand Delhi International Film der the banner of ‘Jalan Films’, Festival 2016 along with almost is about the twists and turns in 60 short films from across the the friendship between Liakat globe. The story of the film is an and Hanif, caused by Liakat’s adaptation of popular novelist sense of loss over Hanif’s well Manikuntala Bhattacharjya’s being, about which he has been short story, apparently the screenconcerned so Kalyan Kumar Kalita play of which far. In a fit of has been jealousy at written by Monjul Baruah and the certainty of Hanif’s well bedialogues have been penned by ing, he again tries this time to Manikuntala Bhattacharjya and shape Hanif’s life in a different Monjul Baruah. way, but his this attempt brings The film was also screened his own life to a fateful state inat ‘Smita Patil Documentary stead, showing us the fragility and Short Film Festival 2016’, of individual’s commitment in ‘GCC Short Film Festival 2016’, our current reality. ‘5th Indian Cine Film Festival The key roles in the film 2017’ and ‘Brahmaputra Valley have been essayed by Boloram Film Festival 2017’. The producDas, Mayukh Sarma, Kamal Loer has recently made another chan, Purnima Saikia and Chanshort film titled ‘Letters from dan Bhuyan. The cinematograDeuta’. He is very hopeful about phy of the film has been done by both his short films. Suman Dowerah, background

This edition has been produced by Tattva Creation and features 14 exciting northeast-based musicians and bands including Abio-

genesis (Nagaland), Tetseo Sisters (Nagaland), Koloma (Agartala), Sachindra Debbarma (Agartala), Lawrence Lalnithanga (Mizoram), Zothanmawia Zemabawk (Mizoram), Rida and the Musical Folks (Meghalaya), Sofiyum (Sikkim), DJ Sagar (Assam), Hirak Jyoti Sarma (Assam), Arak (Assam), Rishav Bhuyan (Assam), Lama Tashi (Arunachal Pradesh ) and Sampaa (Manipur). Addressing the media at a press meet held in Guwahati, Alan Gemmell OBE, Director India, British Council, said, “We’re inspired by young people, artists and musicians from across the northeast. Mix the Northeast is our digital celebration of their unique fusion of contemporary and tradition and our 70th anniversary gift. With performers like DJ Sagar and the Tetseo Sisters

and content from all 8 states, Mix the Northeast will inspire people all over the world with a unique introduction to a unique part of India. This app is a part of our mission to partner the knowledge ambitions and economic growth of the northeast. Over the last year we’ve built connections and relationships with chief ministers, education ministers and with Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) to play our part to Look East and show how access to British Council education and skill programs can benefit young people in all 8 states.” As a part of the launch, Mix the City Northeast India was showcased with live performances of a few musicians at IIT Guwahati’s student fest Alcheringa on February 4 last.

Priyanka Chopra backs Assamese Film “Bhoga Khirikee”

or the first time ever, brand ambassador of Assam Tourism and internationally acclaimed actress, Priyanka Chopra, along with Dr Madhu Chopra and Shahnaab Alam, are producing an Assamese film titled ‘Bhoga Khirikee’. The director of the film is acclaimed filmmaker, Jahnu Barua. ‘Bhoga Khirikee’ is a multilayered story from the perspective of a female protagonist whose life is in turmoil due to the ideological and existential clash amongst the three men in her life - her father, her husband and a stranger who forces his might upon her. How she picks up the broken pieces to chart her own life’s path forms the crux of the story. The principle cast of the film includes Zerifa Wahid, Seema Biswas, Sanjay Kharghoria, Kashvi Sharma and Mohammad Ali Shah. Veteran art director Phatik Baruah is the art director of the film with Suman Dowerah as the

cinematographer and Amrit Pritam as the sound designer. The movie has one song which has been written and composed by Ibson Lal baruah and sung by Anindita Paul. The film has been jointly produced by Purple Pebble Pictures and Easterly Entertainment making it the first time that two Mumbaibased film companies have collaborated to produce an Assamese language film set entirely in Assam. Dr Madhu Chopra, director of Purple Pebble Pictures and the mother of Priyanka Chopra, came to Guwahati to formally announce the film along with Shahnaab Ali of Easterly

Entertainment. Addressing the media here, Madhu Chopra said, “With Priyanka as the Brand Ambassador of Assam Tourism, this production is of great significance to us. We believe in providing a space to budding artists to present their talents to a wider audience, and so, we will release this film nationally as well as internationally.” Though the film is titled ‘Bhoga Khirikee’ for the domestic market, for the non-Assamese and international markets, the film will be called ‘Broken Window.’ Speaking on the occasion, director Jahnu Barua said, “The film is largely concerned with women belonging to the rural areas of the state and I hope that it touches the hearts of the audience worldwide.”

Fun

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Horoscope of the week Are you looking for adventure? If so, this week’s backdrop could coincide with an encounter with someone who has an engaging idea. They may suggest a trip or an opportunity to explore new ideas or traverse fresh terrain. On another note, getting support from someone for an idea of yours can be crucial to having the confidence to go ahead. Be sure to talk to him or her about it. Finally, as lovely Venus enters Pisces and your career sector on Saturday, you may find that charm is the key to progress.

You could be tempted to put money into a brilliant idea. However, it might be wise to do some research first, because it could be a waste of money should you lose interest. When it comes to romance, you might be tempted to try to hurry the progress of a budding relationship. This could be wise, but a quarter moon in Scorpio suggests that doing so could hinder rather than help you. However, once lovely Venus enters Pisces on Saturday, things can begin to develop naturally.

Your relationships can be upbeat and vibrant this week, with one encounter proving exceptionally exciting. You may be tempted to go on an impromptu trip or break, and if you do it could be most enjoyable. This is very much a time for teamwork and cooperating with others rather than going it alone. You stand to gain more by assisting in rather than directing key projects. Over the weekend, luscious Venus enters your home zone, making this a perfect time for entertaining and a little pampering.

The current blend of energies could certainly keep you busy, which is why it’s so helpful to look after your well-being. With an intense focus on your sector of creativity, you could be deeply involved in projects that demand a lot of you. Therefore, eating well and working out on a regular basis can help you stay upbeat and positive, as well as enable you to feel really good. However, try not to promise more than you can deliver when the sun angles toward jovial Jupiter on Saturday.

You may be enjoying a new romance or the chance to indulge in a favorite hobby. With a lively focus on your leisure zone, time spent in fun pursuits can act as a restorative, especially if you have a lot of responsibilities at home. A quarter moon in Scorpio on Wednesday might encourage you to keep an eye on the costs, though, especially if a creative project looks like it could be rather expensive. There may be a cheaper way to do it. The temptation to indulge could be strong over the weekend, so go easy.

The stellar backdrop for this week could see you enjoying homey comforts and taking the chance to step back from life and see things in perspective. However, with lovely Venus aligning with electric Uranus, you might be eager to purchase a gadget for the home that can save time and make life easier. If it improves your diet or gets you exercising more, so much the better. With delectable Venus entering your romance zone from Saturday, your love life can begin to sizzle.

The midweek quarter moon suggests that unresolved issues could be the reason you’re holding back from making a move or beginning a new phase or project. If there’s one matter that has been causing you to lose confidence, it would be worthwhile to take the time to resolve it. Once you do, you’ll have a lot more energy to put into any plans you’ve been mulling over. Luscious Venus moves into your home zone on Saturday, making this a great time to entertain or have guests to stay.

This might not be the best time to join expensive groups or clubs, even though Wednesday’s quarter moon may be urging you to invest in your social life. It’s best to do a little research on prices before you go ahead. In addition, if someone asks to borrow money, it might be wise to say no for now. On another note, the move of convivial Venus into your communication zone on Saturday might get you thinking about a reunion. Connecting with old friends could be especially rewarding.

With lovely Venus in your sign aligning with electric Uranus in your sector of communication, unexpected news or an impromptu invitation could bring a pleasant surprise. However, the midweek quarter moon suggests you’ll need to consider your priorities before you make any decisions. The choice between running with goals and plans that pertain to your career or those that are meaningful to you personally can be a big one. The weekend looks good for shopping and buying something special for your loved one.

This week could bring an opportunity to make a key decision regarding your spiritual path. The quarter moon on Wednesday might encourages you to learn to meditate, take up yoga, or connect with others who share your ideas and ideals. Even so, beliefs inherited from childhood or another time in your life could conflict with the ideas you’re eager to adopt. You’ll need to resolve this in whatever way seems best. As luscious Venus enters your sign on Saturday, it’s time to enjoy a little pampering.

Wiggins, a street urchin, was the leader of which fictional intelligence network?

Langlen Thadoi is the first colour film in which language of the northeast?

One of the oldest structures of its kind, it was built during the reign of Ahom king Swargadeo Rudra Singh. Identify it.

Which system of awarding stars according to grades was started by brothers Andre and Edouard in 1926, from a pre-existing guide for a certain kind of travellers?

Identify this Mountaineer, the first to climb Mt. Everest without oxygen? Dr. Soubhadra Chakrabarty This quiz has been brought to you by Brain Jam, a property of Priya Communications

Cathy by Cathy Guisewite

curio-city

8 9 4 2 9 41 5 6 79 9 35 6 6 1 2 4 95

9 8

4 7 3 1 7 1 5 5 7 1 65 6 8

5 6 3 3

8 9 24 8 96 2 1 3 4 9 9 2 7 7 5 5 easy Daily Sudoku: Fri 9-Feb-2018 9 6 1 Daily Sudoku: Thu 1-Feb-2018

7last 5 3week 1 2 8 6 9 4 7 8 9 14 23 45 8 9 7 1 6 3 2 9 4 5 3 8 5 6 68 82 79 9 5 2 8 29 37 14 6 4 5 6 1 7 3 3 7 6 5 1 4 1 53 18 82 2 3 1 5 3 9 4 4 9 2 7 6 6 Sudoku: 4 Fri89-Feb-2018 1 7 Daily 2 9 7 6 5

hard

solution 6 4 9 8 3 15 41 72

2 27 86 11

5 66 92 33

57 65 18 99 48 24 64 59 77 28 73 81

1 73 57 44 39 82 96 65

3 9 5 2easy 8 3 4 1

Daily Sudoku: Thu 1-Feb-2018

hard

http://www.dailysudoku.com/

Word of the week 1. Sholay 2. Baker Street Irregulars, in the Sherlock Holmes canon 3. Manipuri 4. Rang Ghar in Sivsagar district 5. Michelin stars for restaurants 6. Nawang Gombu

“The greatest star cast ever assembled/the greatest story ever told” is the tagline of which classic film?

http://www.dailysudoku.com/

curio-city 1

Sudoku

With the sun in the topmost sector of your chart, you might enjoy being in the spotlight. This, along with other aspects, encourages you to come forward and showcase your best qualities. If you get an intuitive nudge to connect with someone, listen to it. It could help you move further along your path to greater success. On Saturday, delightful Venus, your ruling planet, moves into Pisces and your social zone. This can enhance your love life and add a sparkling quality to any key events.

Your social life continues to blossom, and with lovely Venus aligning with electric Uranus on February 6, an unexpected encounter could prove quite delightful. However, if you want this to develop into a supportive friendship, you will need to nurture it. Tuesday can be an opportunity to clarify the final points before a project or plan is completed. Doing so can help ensure success, Finally, with sociable Venus moving into Pisces on Saturday, you may be eager to help with a charity bash or just be there for someone.

Byzantine adjective [biz-uh n-teen] Complex or intricate

Crossword Across

Down

1 Cream applied on a scorching day (8) 5 Crust-like surface over a wound (4) 9 Set (5) 10 Declare invalid (7) 11 Words like “and” and “but” (12) 13 Not properly acclaimed (6) 14 Cause to leave the tracks (6) 17 Army officer’s short leather-covered cane (7,5) 20 Mass calved from a glacier (7) 21 Dodge (5) 22 Written record (4) 23 Completely dry (8)

1 Settee (4) 2 Toxic (7) 3 The Nine Day Queen, executed 1554 (4,4,4) 4 Fundamental principles generally accepted in a particular field (6) 6 Eldest of the Marx Brothers (5) 7 In the manner of a lad (8) 8 Abuse (3-9) 12 Challenge (8) 15 Explanation (7) 16 Kind of parachute (6) 18 Turn away (5) 19 Ring recurrently (4)

Last week’s solution

Lifestyle

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Why shouldn’t you let your policy lapse?

onsider this, you bought a Life Insurance Policy three years back and have been paying regular premiums ever since. But recently, due to some unavoidable circumstances you missed paying the premium. In such a case, your policy would be lapsed and your family will be bereft of the underlying benefits. Yes, lapses do happen! Insurance is an ideal tool to cover the risk of your life so

that in case of any adversities, your family and loved ones don’t face financial troubles. However, the risk coverage and other benefits under the policy remain valid only if the premiums are paid regularly. In case you miss paying the premium by the due date, there is a grace period of 30 days to make the payment. And the insurer is bound to pay the policy benefits during the grace period as well. However, a life insurance policy lapses if you fail to pay the premium even within the grace period. A lapsed insurance policy can cost you dearly in terms of reduced/ nil insurance cover and high insurance costs for future policy purchases. Let us consider different consequences in detail:

1. If the Policy is in force for less than three years

If you fail to pay the premium by the due date or within the grace period, the insurance policy lapses. As such, the insurer is not bound to pay you any amount in case of any unfortunate event which is simply not desirable.

2. If the Policy is in force for three years or more

Generally the insurer reduces the amount of sum assured, pro-rated with the amount of premiums paid. As such, the insurer will pay only the reduced amount in case of any eventuality. This again is not desirable as the sum assured must have been calculated by you considering the future financial requirements of the family and a reduced sum may do no good to cover the risk of uncertainty.

How to Revive a Lapsed Insurance Policy? Considering

the

reduced

insurance cover, you may want to look at reviving the lapsed insurance cover. However, it comes at a cost. The insurer company may call for all the unpaid premiums along with the interest on the amounts overdue to revive the policy. Further, besides fresh documentation, insurers may also like to get medical examinations to check your latest health conditions.

Additional Considerations in the Revival of Your Lapsed Policy:

You may not be able to revive the policy with the same premium and you might need to go for a fresh purchase which may indeed be costly. This might be due to the following reasons:

1. Higher Age at the time of revival

The insurance premium is calculated on the basis of age of the insured, health condition, mortality tables etc. So, one parameter which would have definitely changed would be your

Vaastu for flooring of the house

This direction must be kept very clean all the time because the west is also a good direction to have the puja area. So white is recommended for the western side. There should not be too many designs or shapes in the flooring.

The North

This direction is regarded as the direction of wealth and prosperity as Lord Kubera resides here. Black stones may be used for tiles at north. Dark green colour is also an alternative.

There are high chances that your health condition may not be similar and hence, a higher risk premium is likely.

Avoid the hassle and stay insured

A Lapse of insurance policy indeed comes at a heavy price and hassles of additional paperwork. It is always advisable to get yourselves insured at an early age for insurance at lower costs. Also, set autopay options in order to mitigate the risks of forgetting to pay insurance premiums resulting in lapse of policy. Pallav Bagaria CEO, Brand New Day – one of Northeast’s leading Mutual Funds Investment Consultancy and Portfolio Management Services pallav@salasarcapital.com

Stand Still my friend, For you know in the end You’ll be on your knees For peace. Have you ever seen Sunlight on a leaf Glowing in its veins Like golden rain? Have you ever touched The stones of a Church Felt the grooves of time It survived? There’s a choice you make Each day you wake To follow or find You decide. Though I ask, my friend What is it, in the end You ask to be imparted From the departed?

The East

The West

2. Changed Health Conditions

Stand Still

eople use different types of floors to beautify their houses. Among these, marble, granite and ceramic tiles are the most popular. Now vinyl floorings and tiles with natural wood like finish are also being increasingly used. But if proper colours are not used, it may spell disaster according to Vaastu as the floors cover a lot of area in the house. In the first place, let me inform the readers that marble is regarded as a holy stone and it should be used in temples or puja room only. It is forbidden to walk on marble with shoes on. So, do not use marble flooring in the house except for the puja room. Lord Indra is the ruler of the east. This direction is also dedicated to Sun god as the sun rises from the east. Name and fame are associated with east. According to Vaastu, green colour should be used on the floors.

age. This translates to a higher premium for taking a life cover at a higher age.

The South

The south is ruled by Yama, the lord of death. So Vaastu experts forbid openings or main doors at the south direction. It is also ruled by the fire element. So red coloured tiles may be used at south.

The Northeast

Northeast is considered as the abode of the Gods. Lord Shiva is the ruler of northeast. It should always be kept clean. Sky blue is his favourite colour. So go for sky blue or light aquamarine in the northeast floorings.

The Southeast

Purple or violet colours are suitable at southeast because it is ruled by Lord Brahma. Being ruled by the fire element, some amount

of red colour may be used too.

The Southwest

Southwest is ruled by Rahu. There should be no openings at southwest. Since this is the best direction for the master bedroom, light pink colour is recommended for the floors at southwest.

The Northwest

This direction is ruled by Vayu, the lord of winds. Grey is a suitable colour at northwest as this is also ruled by the Moon. Silver and light blue are the next choices. Hemanta Kumar Sarmah Engineer, Businessman, Advanced Pranic Healer and Su Jok Acupressure specialist.

Sanjali Dixit

Buzz

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Subhash Chandra inspires students at city based institute

G Plus shines at NE Media Sports Fest

ember of Parliament, Subhash Chandra, addressed the enthusiastic students of Royal Global University, Guwahati, for the next episodes of India’s popular motivational youth show, “The Subhash Chandra Show” which focused on the themes – “Aggressive Behaviour is not Progressive!” and “The Real Meaning of Freedom.” The Subhash Chandra Show aims to showcase inspirational stories of people from different backgrounds. The episodes shot in Guwahati will be telecast on Zee Media’s channels on 10th February and 17 th February 2018 respectively. Sharing his views on the topic “Aggressive Behaviour is not Progressive,” Subhash Chandra said, “It has been rightly said that every second spent in anger, is a minute of happiness wasted. In order to tame your temper, one must resolve to manage it. You have to quit saying, ‘I can’t control it!’ and realize that you can. Just like love, anger is a choice.

When you get angry, you choose to get angry. Nobody is forcing you to get angry. People say, ‘You make me so mad!’ But nobody can make you mad without your permission. And remember the most important thing is not to control or vent your anger, but it is to not get angry at all. Not showing that you are angry and not getting angry are two different things.” Enlightening students on “The Real Meaning of Freedom,” the Rajya Sabha MP

added, “Freedom is a tricky phenomenon and a lot of factors decide whether it is beneficial to us or not, such as the difference between our present and future freedom. Moreover, freedom can have several forms like political and philosophical. While political freedom is concerned with factors like how much can we express ourselves, philosophical freedom talks about freedom from within. Thus, it is of much more value than political freedom. Also, freedom cannot be absolute and your freedom is limited to the level where it does not encroach upon someone else’s freedom.” The inspirational guests and change-makers invited on the show were Dr Sangeeta Goswami, Counselling Psychologist; President of MIND India, Institute of Positive Mental Health & Research; Miguel Das Queah, Founder of UTSAH; Ranjan Kumar Baruah, Motivational speaker and Lakhimi Barua, Founder of Konoklota Women Urban Cooperative Bank. n

Guwahati hosts ‘The Great Debate’

he British Deputy High Commission, in association with Cotton University, held the Guwahati chapter of “The Great Debate” competition at the Sudmersen Hall of the university on February 6, Tuesday. Over 20 teams from the top colleges and universities of the city including B Borooah College, Handique Girls’ College,

National Law College, IIT Guwahati, Tezpur University, Assam Veterinary College, Arya Vidyapeeth College, Assam Engineering College, Gauhati University and Cotton University participated in the debate. The theme for the Guwahati chapter of The Great Debate 2018 was “Women’s Empowerment.” While the preliminary rounds

debated the topics “Beauty pageants are a means of objectifying women,” “Equal pay for women applies across all sectors” and “Women claim sexual harassment to settle scores,” the topic for the final round was “Internet is a gender equaliser.” The Great Debate celebrates the shared culture of vibrant discussion and debate of UK and India. British Deputy High Commissioner, Bruce Bucknell, Director of North East Network, Anurita Hazarika, and Advocate Dipak Sarma (a news anchor and an ace debater) were the judges for the debate. Speaking on the occasion, Bucknell said, “Debate is alive and well in India. Debate is often loud, chaotic and trivial. But there is debate. And out of debate and argument comes critical thinking without which democracy cannot flourish. I was delighted to see the participants in The Great Debate in Guwahati enjoy their chance to test their debating skills.” n

Don Bosco wins eco quiz contest

on Bosco School, Pan Bazaar won the Guwahati edition of the Saevus Eco Achievers Quiz Competition organised by Rotary, Rotaract Club of Guwahati Luit. The quiz, held on January 31, witnessed participation from 18 teams from 8 different schools of the city.

The quiz master for the event, based on wildlife and nature, was noted quiz master Rajib Sanyal from Kolkata. In the keenly contested battle of nerves, Don Bosco School’s team comprising Nilay Jain, Krishti Nayana Nath and Bibhash Gogoi bagged the winner’s trophy, with Delhi Public School

emerging as first runner-up and South Point School as second runner-up. The winners are all set to represent Assam at the national finals scheduled to take place in Mumbai on February 11. Teams from 40 different cities would be competing for the grand finale title. n

he 9th Topcem ASJA Media Sports Festival was held at Nehru Stadium, Guwahati from February 5-8. In the badminton tournament, Kriti Bajaj of

G Plus secured the silver medal

while Angshuman Kalita and Vikasjyoti Das from G Plus emerged as champions in the Table Tennis team event beating Doordashan Kendra.

USTM signs MoU on Food Processing Research and Training

o enhance the cutting edge research and innovations, University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT),

Presently, the Department of Food Science & Technology of USTM is successfully running the Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science & Technology and planning to start the masters program from the next academic session along with the food processing unit. The MoU has become effective

Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India on Friday, 2 February 2018. This collaboration with the premier institute of the country is expected to facilitate a collaborative program of research, training, curriculum, institutional development, information dissemination and exchange of faculty, students and staff.

immediately. It shall continue in effect for a period of three years and may be extended by mutual agreement. On the occasion of signing of the MoU at USTM, insightful deliberations were presented by Dr C Anandharamakrishnan, Director, Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology and one of the most accomplished scientists of the country. n

Events

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

February 2-18 International Guwahati Trade Fair Maniram Dewan Trade Centre February 10, Saturday Celebrity Night with Parth Samthaan Topaz 2.0 7PM onwards February 10, Saturday Pre Valentine Night Bulls and Beers 7PM onwards February 10, Saturday Pre Valentine Party ft. Tina Club XS 7PM onwards

Date: February 1-4 Event: Alcheringa 2018 Venue: IIT Guwahati The annual cultural festival of IIT Guwahati, Alcheringa, took place in the city from 1st to 4th February. Alcheringa 2018 witnessed amazing performances by Bollywood duo Vishal-Shekhar, Australia based EDM group Mashd N Kutcher, Portugal DJ Diego Miranda and Padma Shri Shahid Parvez Khan, to name a few. Along with the entertainment and live performances, a plethora of events which consisted of dance, drama, fashion, sports, literary, fine arts and fine music were also conducted. Some of the most sought after events hosted during Alcheringa are the Rock-o-phonix, the rock band competition; Mr and Ms Alcheringa, the personality contest and Haute Couture, a team based fashion event.

Date

February 3, Saturday

Event

100 Pipers: Celebrating 12 years of purity

Venue

Hotel Novotel

Date

February 3, Saturday

Event

DJ Snea LIVE

Venue

Terra Mayaa

February 10, Saturday Pre Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Party ft. DJ Rachel NYX, Hotel Palacio 7PM onwards February 10, Saturday Pre Valentine Party ft. Ayush Terra Mayaa 7:30PM onwards February 10, Saturday Pre Valentine Bash Underdoggs 7PM onwards February 11, Sunday Queer Pride March Dighalipukhuri 2PM - 5PM February 14, Wednesday Valentine Special Dinner Buffet Legacy, Hotel Palacio 7PM onwards February 14, Wednesday Candle Light Dinner Club Madiza 7PM onwards

Date

February 6, Tuesday

Event

Northeast Live Launch

Venue

Vivanta by Taj

February 14, February 14, Wednesday Gift of life Greenwood Resort

G PLUS | FEB 10 - FEB 16, 2018

Printed & Published by Sunit Jain on behalf of Insight Brandcom Pvt. Ltd. and Printed at Janambhumi Press (P) Ltd., Kalapahar, Guwahati and Published at 4A, Royale Arcade, Ulubari, Guwahati - 781007, Editor: Swapnil Bharali. Phone: 0361 2522444, Email: info@g-plus.in, RNI No: ASSENG/2013/52641