G Plus Vol 4 Issue 16

Cotton merger impasse continues; students, Govt at loggerheads PG 05

Assam budget: Himanta’s acumen; Cong dubs it imaginary PG 06

New Chic on the Block Nigama Medhi PG 23

VOLUME 04 | ISSUE 16 FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017 PRICE `10

IIT Alcheringa Molestation Fact or Farce?

Two IIT students are in judicial custody as the Alcheringa molestation allegation gets mired in controversy; two out of the three girls who had visited the annual IIT festival denied any molestation incident to GU authorities

PG

11 Also Read PG 02

Feasibility of Kamakhya station development deal

PG 04

Guwahati’s cleanliness rank drops to 41 from 17

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G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

Lead Story

Feasibility of Kamakhya station development deal questioned

Rahul Chanda

Developers fail to get attracted towards generating Rs 228 crores, which is the estimated cost for developing the railway station, for a leasehold deal of just 45 years

A Map of the proposed Kamakhya Railway Station redevelopment

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ailway Minister Suresh Prabhu recently unveiled the first phase of the Station Redevelopment Programme.

Tenders were floated for development of 23 stations out of a total of 400 stations which are set to get a facelift. The entire project aims to attract investment of up to Rs 1 lakh crores from developers and it is estimated that the railways will generate a surplus of Rs 10,000 crores thereby gaining options of investment in other modernisation programmes. Out of the 23 stations, Kamakhya Railway Station is one which is also expected to be redeveloped. What is the scope and intricacies of this development plan? What is the deal being given to the developers? What is the estimated budget? For how many years will the developers be able to earn revenues? Brainstorming on all these points G Plus tries to explore the plan.

The development According to the expectations of the Railways, the developer will have to make an iconic structure of the Kamakhya station with state-of-the-art facilities, congestion free entry/exit to the station premises and segregation of arrival/departure of passengers.

The station is expected to have a large concourse area with facilities like waiting areas, lounges, wash rooms, cloak rooms, drinking water, ATM, catering, small retail, etc. The station is to have sufficiently large circulating area with provisions for drop off, pickup and parking. The station should have itself integrated with bus services and the planned metro railway. A 4-lane flyover is to connect the circulating area on both sides of the station directly

with AT Road and a road of minimum 15 metres’ width should connect the circulating area on the south side of the station with NH 37. According to the Railways, the approximate cost of the Kamakhya station development work would be Rs 228 crores. This essentially means that the developer will have to spend that amount in developing the station and for

that the developer will not only fully finance the station development works out of the proceeds of the commercial development but would also generate surplus revenue for the Railways. The station will eventually provide world class amenities and services to the passengers. The Kamakhya Station would be developed to cater to increased number of pas-

“The entire railway colony waste water gets drained into that part of the land adjacent to Kendriya Vidyalaya, and during rainy season, it is because of the absorption characteristics of that part of land that the railway colony does not witness floods as all the water is absorbed by the marsh and later trickles out to Deepor Beel.”

- A Local Resident of Railway Colony the same, the Railways has offered a deal to the developed to establish commercial options which would allow him to generate revenues and give a surplus to the Railways. So, what is this deal?

The deal According to Railways, the developer would be provided encumbrance-free vacant railway land measuring 50,000 sq m (5,38,000 sq ft) adjoining Kendriya Vidyalaya, Maligaon for commercial development. This land would be on a 45-year lease-hold and not perpetual free-hold, i.e., the developer may hold possession of the land, develop it commercially and earn rent from it for a maximum of 45 years. In addition, the developer may also commercially develop the air space above the station building. It is expected

sengers with a 40-year perspective as after 40 years it is expected to handle approximately 40,000 passengers per day. According to Railways, Modified Swiss Challenge method has been adopted for the bidding process and in the first stage of bidding, the eligible bidder (based on rigorous technical and financial evaluation) from the open market with the best proposal will be selected as the project proponent. They will develop the Detailed Project Report (DPR). In the second stage, bids would be invited from the open market again to better the financial premium. In case a higher premium is received, the project proponent gets the first right of refusal. So after the DPR is prepared by the project proponent, another party could get the tender if a better DPR is provided.

Also the land would be provided to the developer on a lease of 45 years. The developers will be responsible for maintaining the station for 15 years. Now, is this deal viable?

Viability of the deal A developer, talking in anonymity with G Plus, said that according to the deal 50,000 sq m of land will be given to the developer for 45 years and an approximate investment of Rs 228 crores for the development of station is expected in return. So the developer has to invest this amount. Now, some basic arithmetic reveals that 5 kathas is equal to 1 bigha land, 1 bigha is approximately 1,350 sq m. So, 50,000 sq m is equal to 37 bighas. If Rs 228 crores is divided by 37, 1 bigha of land will cost Rs 6.16 crores. Hence, 1 katha of land will cost Rs 1.23 crores to the developer who will “own” the land for only 45 years. ARIEDA president PK Sharma, who is a developer talking to G Plus said, “The deal does not appear to be feasible and financially attractive.” He said that the land that is being offered is marshy and in a mere 45 years recovery of the investment or generating adequate revenues does not seem possible with the developer also expected to build the flyovers. Sharma has apparently also informed the NFR general manager that the tender is not feasible for the developers as the property cannot be sold but only rented and in 45 years an amount as massive as Rs 228 crores would be tough to recover just by renting the property. After 45 years there will be a tender renewal process and all sorts of uncertainty factors will loom large. Sharma was planning to participate in the bid but is not

G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

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Lead Story Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu unveiled the first phase of the station redevelopment programme, the GMDA officials who participated in the meeting in Guwahati questioned the NFR general manager whether the land which is being offered to the developers is marshy since proper drainage system has to be there to

File Photo | Kamakhya Railway Station sure now given the seeming lack of feasibility and elements of attraction.

Another developer, on conditions of anonymity, put up a straight-forward calculation. He said that at current prices, the cost of just construction (not including earth-filling and additional superior finishing works) at conservative estimates comes to Rs. 1,500/- per sq ft. Now, 50,000 sq m of land is roughly 5,38,000 sq ft. Developing just the superstructure (that would be a commercial building without residences or flats for sale) would cost a devel-

5 katha of land = 1 bigha 1 bigha = 1350 sq m approximately 50,000 sq m of land = 37 bighas approximately Total estimated investment = Rs 228 crores So cost of 1 bigha land = Rs 6.16 crores Hence, cost of 1 katha land = Rs 1.23 crores

oper around Rs. 81 crores while the total investment is pegged Is buying 1 katha of land at Rs 1.23 crores over at Rs 228 crores.

45 years profitable?

Recovering and generating further revenues from only rent- negate floods. A G Plus team visals earned from the commercial ited the area and saw that a huge establishment that will be develparcel of land, marshy in soil conoped over a mere 45 year term is dition, had a small drain that led a seemingly impossible propositowards Deepor Beel. A local resition to take up and makes the deal dent who lives in Railway Colony, rather unattractive. talking to G Plus, said that the entire railway colony waste water Marshy land gets drained into that part of the During the meeting, when the land adjacent to Kendriya Vidya-

laya, and during rainy season, it is because of the absorption characteristics of that part of land that the railway colony does not witness floods as all the water is absorbed by the marsh and later trickles out to Deepor Beel. The resident said that if the size of the land is 50 000 sq m then approximately 1 lakh cubic meters of water is absorbed into it from the surrounding areas. Another developer said that crores of rupees will have to be spent to fill the marshy land and a proper drainage system has to be planned.

Enquiring how the surplus will be calculated which will be given to the railways by the developer, the NFR General Manager Chahatey Ram said that nothing has been calculated and it is up to the developers to give an idea of the surplus that the Railways will get.

So, for all the ambitious plans that the government might have to generate revenues by developing the railway stations on PPP mode, the deal being provided to the developers hardly looks attractive. rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

Rs 3,062 Cr sanctioned to rid city of railway level crossings O

n 5th November, in its Volume 4 Issue 2, G Plus reported that Guwahatians waste 18 hours a day at the railway level crossings of the city.

The report mentioned that the TVUs (Train Vehicular Unit) of all the city rail level crossings suggest that the crossings have since long required road over bridges to avoid traffic congestion but the state government has not ever bothered to take any

Rahul Chanda

action. Ten years after the construction of tracks, over-bridges, if any, require 50% investment from the state government. There are 8 level crossings between Kamakhya and Guwahati railway stations and 13 between Kamakya and Narengi. A gate closes for approximately 13 minutes every time a train passes and on an average 82 trains cross a level crossing every day. So the commuters get only 6 hours per day to

City Railway level crossing | File Photo | commute and a colossal 18 hours are wasted at the crossings. G Plus suggested that there should be over-the-road bridges at the crossings or the tracks should be elevated.

Interestingly after the report was published, the Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, announced a Rs. 5,000 crore joint venture with the state government to construct four elevated railway tracks between Kamakhya and New Guwahati to eliminate 12 level crossing gates in Guwahati city. At a function held at the RPF Parade Ground at Maligaon, the minister made the announcement while laying the foundation stone for the project of doubling of the railway line from New Bongaigaon to Kamakhya via Goalpara Town and the doubling of railway line from

Digaru to Hojai. Prabhu said that construction of the elevated tracks connecting Kamakhya and New Guwahati would decongest city roads, free up railway land and enable railways to develop Guwahati station as a commercial hub. He also said that the new projects would keep provisions for connectivity with the proposed metro rail.

So pondering over the latest status, G Plus questioned the NFR general manager Chahatey Ram about the probable date of commencement of the project.

Ram said in a press conference that the Railways is not in a hurry as the project is included in the union budget and some money has also been sanctioned.

He said once the money is allotted the survey will be done and a detailed project report will be

prepared for the construction of the elevated tracks which, while clearing the railway land in Guwahati, could be further developed. A source in the NFR talking to G Plus said that a quadrupling elevated four track from Kamakhya to New Guwahati is planned and incorporated in the union budget. The length of the elevated track will be 10.3 km and the sanctioned amount is Rs 3,062 crores out of which Rs 1 crore is allotted in this year’s budget. The source said that the money will be released after April once the budget is approved by the cabinet and accordingly the DPR work will start. So Rs 1 crore has been allotted this year for starting the elevated track work from Kamakhya to New Guwahati. rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

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G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

City

Kalyan Deb

Guwahati’s cleanliness rank drops to 41 from 17 Mayor urges public participation and feedback

A garbage dumping spot in the city | G Plus Photo

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uwahati’s position of 17th on the list of Swachhta ranking till December last underwent a sharp downslide with the city finding itself ranked 41st as on 9th February. The city’s mayor has appealed to the residents of Guwahati to download the Swachhta app on their mobile phones.

With it, they can upload pictures of any civic related problem which will be addressed by the officials concerned on that very day. Residents can also provide their feedback on the same app.

“We all know that the contest is going on in 500 cities of India but I feel really sad to inform the citizens of Guwahati that our city has gone down from 17th position to 41st position in the Swachh Survekshan ranking. Public co-operation is very important as it would help the city to bag a better position as one

of the cleanest cities in the contest organised by the Union ministry of Urban Development under the Swachh Bharat Mission. The last day of this competition is 28th February. Hence, I request all citizens

to be active on the App and help our city figure among the top clean cities of this country,” Mayor Mrigen Sarania said.

Altogether 500 cities are participating and they will be judged on the basis of certain criteria like urban sanitation and open defecation free strategy. Apart from Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Silchar and Nagaon are participating.

“We want Guwahati to feature among the top 10 cleanest cities in the country and for this the public will have to cooperate with the state government, district administration and civic bodies to keep it clean. I hereby request the public to download the Swachhta app on their phones. For instance, if a person comes across any area littered with garbage, he can click a picture and upload it on the app. The official concerned will have to address

this civic problem on that very day as otherwise we will lose points under the Swachh Survekshan. Public participation plays a vital role in taking the city to the top of the list.

Thus, I want to appeal to all citizens

to download the “Swacchta App” and upload the photos of your area where work (cleanliness) needs to be done. Also after the work is completed, do reply with your feedback and help in keeping the city clean,” the Mayor added.

sponsible for achieving the objectives of Swachh Bharat Mission in urban cities and towns.

As a prelude to encouraging cities to improve the level of cleanliness, sanitation and hygiene, the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) commissioned an extensive survey across 73 cities, including 53 cities with population of more than 1 million and the state capitals. The survey, the first for Swachh Bharat Mission, was conducted by Quality Council of India and has been aptly named as ‘Swachh Survekshan.’

Swachh Survekshan was conducted between 5th and 20th January 2016 where cities were given

Public co-operation is very important as it would help the city to bag a better position as one of the cleanest cities in the contest organised by the Union ministry of Urban Development under the Swachh Bharat Mission. The last day of this competition is 28th February. Hence, I request all citizens to be active on the App and help our city figure among the top clean cities of this country,” Mrigen Sarania, Mayor “We will also form committees of shopkeepers in different locations of the city and involve them in keeping their surroundings clean. Those shopkeepers who have garbage near their shops will be fined by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation,” Sarania said.

The city administration has started cleanliness drives in different parts of the city under the Swachh Bharat Mission. The mission is aimed at ensuring door-todoor garbage collection and proper disposal of municipal solid waste in all urban areas by 2019. The mission seeks the active participation of various stakeholders including the private sector and the citizens for Swachh Bharat to become a mass movement. The Union Ministry of Urban Development is re-

two months’ preparatory time from October 2015 to support the data collection activities carried out during the field visits. A team of 110 assessors was deployed on the ground to conduct the survey. The survey involved assessors visiting all the 73 cities and their ULBs to collect data from the ground level.

The control room also reviewed the data submitted by the assessors in detail on a real-time basis to ensure the objectivity of the survey and to avoid any ambiguity in the process.

Based on the findings of the Survekshan, this report ranks the cities on various parameters in the area of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation. The Survekshan was divided into three parts: Service

level status, Independent Observation and Citizen Feedback. The cities have been ranked individually on their performance on above parts as well as their overall performance.

The performance of each ULB has also been benchmarked across 6 areas of evaluation: Strategy for Open Defecation Free town (ODF) and Integrated Solid Waste Management (SWM), Information, Education and Behaviour Change Communication (IEBC) activity, Door-todoor Collection, Sweeping, Collection & Transportation, Processing and Disposal of Solid Waste, Public & Community Toilet Provision and Individual Toilets.

While some municipalities like Mysuru, Chandigarh and Tiruchirappalli are leaders in the area of sanitation, health and hygiene, Guwahati is yet to come anywhere near topping the list.

The survey offers a comprehensive assessment of the level of cleanliness, and the respective Municipal Corporation’s level of preparedness in urban India and would help the government to mentor and guide cities on the basis of needs and gaps. It will help the ULB in assessing their performance vis-a-vis other ULBs and identify areas of improvement.

The findings will also enable the ULBs to learn about best practices being implemented in other cities and to adopt them, tailored to their own requirements. The survey aims to foster a spirit of competition among the cities in urban areas. In the long run, an effective reform involves a sustained and knowledge based process that requires benchmarking, consultation, sharing of information and most importantly monitoring and evaluation. This report is inspired by the notion that, “What gets measured gets done” and “Competition makes us strive to be better” and therefore, it is intended to trigger a multi-stakeholder, participatory and reform-driven process.

Download the app: https:// play.google.com/store/apps/ details?id=com.ichangemycity.swachhbharat&hl=en kalyan.deb@g-plus.in

G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

5

In The News

Cotton merger impasse continues; students, Govt at loggerheads

Juthika Baruah

Cotton College students oppose the decision of the cabinet to merge the college with the university saying that it will hamper the education scenario of the college and will deprive the poor from getting quality education

The Cotton College protest rally by students’ | G Plus Photo

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he students of Cotton College took out a rally from the administrative block of the college protesting against its merger with the Cotton College State University (CCSU). The merger move had also been declared by the state education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during the budget session of the Assam Assembly.

The students took out the procession from the college to the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup (M) to register their protest against the merging of the century old college with the university. Such opposition was registered earlier as well by the students on the grounds that the merging of the college with the university will result in the college losing its dignity and heritage. The students

also submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal.

In the memorandum, the students demanded that the state government should hold an open discussion involving all the stakeholders, including past and present students, teachers, employees of the college, and intellectuals of the state within the next three days to discuss the contentious issue of the merger of the college with the CCSU. They warned that in case the state government fails to hold such an open discussion within the above time frame, the students of the college would intensify their agitation against the proposed merger of the college with the CCSU. Speaking to G Plus, General

Secretary of Cotton College Union Society, Jintu Thakuria said that the students will never accept the move as the college has a long historical background which will be rendered invalid once it becomes a university. “The college should remain as a constituent body of the Cotton College State University but it cannot be converted into a full-fledged university. It will hamper the students and as every student has a craving to study in Cotton College this move would bring a sudden death of the British era college,” said Thakuria.

He said that the dignity of the college will be lost and the higher secondary students will be affected the most. “This year NAAC has assessed it as the best college and has also offered to introduce the Com-

Google India calls on CM to realize the goal of Digital Assam

G Plus News

The Google India team meeting the CM | G Plus Photo

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team of Google India led

by Chetan Krishnaswamy, Country Head, Public Policy, Google, on Thursday met chief minister Sarbananda So-

nowal to discuss various issues to boost the government’s goal of digital Assam.

The Google India team apprised the chief minister about

several measures for enhancing use of digital medium in the operation of small business, skill development, promotion of cultural sites, supporting the ecosystem and the ‘Internet Sarathi’ project successfully implemented in different parts of the country by the internet giant.

Sonowal also informed the delegation that the government has made provisions in the budget to connect with the rural masses in each village through new technology. He further asked the Google team to augment internet penetration substantially in the rural areas to project Assam as the gateway to the South East Asia.

merce stream and the PG courses.

If it becomes a university, these courses will not be of any use. The number of students will also lessen with the formation of the university as students will opt mainly for Gauhati University rather than the Cotton University,” said Thakuria.

Meanwhile, education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, while commenting on the merger of the college with the university, said that he respects the democratic protest and that any kind of promotion will not harm the prestige of the college. He said that up-gradation of a college means it has developed and not degraded and that the government has taken the decision for the benefit of the students.

The decision has been taken based on the advice of the special committee formed to merge the college and the university.

However, president of CCUS, Surajit Dutta, in a press conference said that the decision was taken without the consent of the former and present students and the first step seems to be limiting Cotton College to just the higher secondary level and slowly abolishing it thereafter. The decision will deprive the poor and will hamper the quality education that

is being dispensed to the students from across the northeast.

“Such a decision will hit the tradition, sentiments and intellectual pursuits in the state. We, therefore, appeal to the government not to take any decision without taking the opinion of the present and former students of the college, the academicians and intellectuals of the state into confidence,” said Dutta. juthika.baruah@g-plus.in

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G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

In The News

Assam budget: Himanta’s acumen; Cong dubs it imaginary

Rahul Chanda

The government has announced a number of schemes but Congress opines that without resources it would be difficult to implement the promises

Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma along with CM Sarbananda Sonowal during the budget | G Plus Photo

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very year the state budget is anxiously awaited for by all sections of people. The budget dictates how people of the state will be benefitted and what their tax liabilities will be. The state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had recently announced the budget for this year which has elicited mixed reactions from the people. G Plus tries to analyse the budget and gauge if the state is on the developmental path or if it is the normal case of old wine being served from a new bottle.

How will the government generate revenue?

Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently presented a deficit budget of Rs 2,349.79 crores for the state for the financial year of 2017-18 and combined the plan and non-plan heads.

Considering the budget estimates of the next fiscal only, the year will result in a projected deficit of Rs 367.19 crores, Sarma said in the Assembly while presenting the budget.

On restructuring the budget, he said that the plan and non-plan heads have been merged and the estimates have been made through capital and revenue heads. He said that all

employees who were earlier getting salaries from plan head will join those who were earlier drawing their salaries from non-plan and now all salaries are put under the head of establishment expenditure. Thus the systemic discrimination in the budgeting of salaries of some categories of employees has been drawn to a close with this budget and he happily announced that everyone will now receive their salaries and wages regularly.

Without levying any further tax, he proposed exemption of luxury tax to boost tourism and 50% exemption on entertainment tax on multiplexes and cinema halls for screening Assamese and regional language films. He also proposed to reduce cess on green tea leaf for small tea growers. Planning to boost the tourism sector, the state government has already launched a programme to encourage homestays and during the budget he

fects most people and many a times it is noticed that greedy traders hoard commodities which leads to price rise. To tackle the issue the government wants to strengthen the hands of Food and Civil Supplies department by providing a price stabilisation fund. A provision of Rs 150 crores has been made in the budget; the guidelines of the operation will be issued soon.

Certain provisions of the Assam Motor Vehicle Rules have been amended for the enhancement of revenue collection which includes restructuring of the fees for conductor license, duplicate driving license, inspection fee of vehicles on arrival at dealer point, registration permission of new vehicles etc.

The government has introduced auctioning of fancy and choice registration marks while online dealer registration of vehicles has also been initiated.

To boost revenue generation in the environment and forest sector, 101 new areas have been identified for extraction of sand which is expected to fetch additional revenue of Rs 45 crores.

As the country is expected to implement GST from July, Sarma expressed that Assam will get a benefit of around Rs 300 crores

“Assam budget is nothing but a sugar coated tablet to divert the attention of people from the main issues,” Apurba Bhattacharya, Congress spokesperson proposed exemption of luxury tax in respect of hotels, lodging houses and home-stays providing residential accommodation in rural areas.

Himanta said that price rise af-

every year in terms of GST compensation for some years. He also expressed that once the GST rule is implemented and stabilised the state government might gradually remove the check posts.

Industry The budget allocated Rs 433.50 crores to the industries and commerce department. The budget said that primary production centres are being proposed to be set up at point of production for primary processing of food and agricultural products. A unique craft policy will be announced shortly. The government will establish a high end handloom production centre. The

government will organise a business summit called ‘Vivacious’ in the month of October or November with a budget of Rs 20 crores. The government also said that it will create an industrial land bank; a policy will be incorporated for providing land to industries transparently. There will be a separate department to ‘act east.’ Some more industrial announcements were also made in the budget.

Along with this, G Plus tries to put in perspective the gains that will accrue to Guwahati.

What will Guwahati get?

The finance minister said that the government is going to estab-

G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

7

Snippets lish a separate authority – Assam State Capital Region Development Agency – which will work in coordination with the existing agencies like GMDA, GMC and other urban local bodies and Panchayats to transform Guwahati region into a large and vibrant metropolis. He said, “Guwahati is the only city in the entire state that has been seeing rapid growth and expansion. For the continued growth of the city and to prevent haphazard growth in outlying areas, a longterm plan and zoning is paramount. Keeping this in view, our visionary Hon’ble Chief Minister announced in his address on the last Independence Day that a State Capital Region will be established encompassing Guwahati and its neighbouring areas. In this regard, we have initiated the preparatory works and different city development models available in the country including the National Capital Region are being studied.” He

said that the Assam State Capital Region Development Agency will work in coordination with the existing agencies like GMDA, GMC and other Urban Local bodies.” He said that the preparatory works for the ‘Guwahati Smart City Project’ have been initiated and an amount of Rs 189 crores as central share has been received. He announced Rs 400 crores in the current budget for this project. According to Sarma, laying emphasis on the expansion of the city to the north bank requires two bridges across the Brahmaputra - one connecting Panbazar to North Guwahati and another connecting Palasbari to Sualkuchi. He said that a global tender has been called for the consultancy works for the preparation of the DPR and he has allocated Rs 100 crores in this financial year for construction of these bridges.

Once this project is completed, according to him, Guwahati city will expand. The Finance Minister said

that to resolve solid waste management, Guwahati Jal Board would implement a sewerage project for a major portion of the city which should be completed by 2022. Also with announcements of one more underground parking lot Sarma gave his best shot at wooing Guwahatians this year. But some sections remained critical.

The critics Congress chief spokesperson Apurba Bhattacharya, talking to G Plus said, “Assam budget is nothing but a sugar coated tablet to divert the attention of people from the main issues.” He questioned that without any resources is it possible for the government to implement the budget? He also said that no hope was provided in the budget to resolve the issue of unemployment and no special package was provided for the farmers as most of them are already victimised because of demonetisa-

tion. He questioned that while free scooties will be provided to poor girls how will they buy fuel? He said that it’s been more than one month and the government has not been able to provide books.

That being the case, how will they fulfil all the promises made in the budget? He said this year’s budget is nothing but an imaginary budget.

A city based CA, talking to G Plus in anonymity, said that no new tax policy has been announced as the GST implementation is at hand. So he felt it’s just a normal budget and there is nothing great about it.

While the budget may have been announced with many new schemes and hopes, the coming days will explain how effective the budget will be as implementation of the promises will decide it all. rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

186 nominations across 25 categories in Guwahati Food Awards 2017 A

fter the phenomenal success of G Plus Guwahati Food Awards (GFA) in the last two years, its third edition is back with unprecedented fervour.

The GFA 2017, an initiative aimed at recognizing the best in the city’s food and beverage business, has received over 180 nominations, more than its last 2 editions, across 25 award categories. Nominations have been received from the entire gamut of the food and beverage industry in Guwahati comprising restaurants, cafes, lounge bars, bakeries, caterers and fast food eateries amongst others.

Citizens are being encouraged to vote for their favourite players via the GFA website (www.guwahatifoodawards.com) or by sending votes via SMS using a unique short-code assigned to each nominee. The voting lines are open till the 20th February 2017, with the awards ceremony taking place on

26th of February 2017 at Hotel Vivanta by Taj. The participants will be assessed on parameters like food, ambience, service, key specialities and their USP. The jury panel is headed by renowned culinary historian and author, Dr. Ashish Chopra and supported by the Principal Advisor, Mr. Suresh Hinduja, a celebrated food critic, author of Times Food Guide and CEO of Gourmet India.

Speaking on the awards, Mr. Sunit Jain, Director & Publisher, G Plus said, “Its overwhelming how people have responded to the Guwahati Food Awards through its 2 seasons. We expect the same enthusiasm from them this year by participating through their votes to make sure the deserving ones win.” The award is set to become the definitive guide to the best in the business, with an unmatched jury panel that is un-

Tweet!?

The UP Assembly polls starts from February 11 Seats: 403 Congress contests in 105 SP for 298 seats Twitterati gets creative about ‘Sangam’

SUHEL SETH @suhelseth I think Rahul saw Raj KAPOOR’s Sangam last night on DD. rajat sabharwal @rajat_sab #UPKoYeSaathPasandHai Aaj Rahul ji zaada pard ke aye hai.He knows full answers.He is not even waiting for ques.

Ganga yamuna ka Milan Uzair Hasan Rizvi @RizviUzair Rahul Gandhi seems to be obsessed with Ganga-Yamuna and Sangam, can’t get these words out of his head #UPElection2017#Congress #SP

G Plus News

Transfer Pricing @JitendraJain_ “Ganga Jamuna Ek soch hai”, says Rahul Gandhi. I always thought it was a movie.

Haritha Varanasi @csharitha Top lessons learnt from Rahul Gandhi: History keeps changing Ganga & Yamuna are thoughts.

This man deserves national award for best humour.

biased and uncompromising when it comes to food.

Guwahati Food Awards is an initiative of the city’s English weekly, G Plus in association with Blender’s Pride Reserve Collection Music CDs, powered by Airtel

4G, co-sponsored by IO Plus Salt and Magik Cook, supported by Asomiya Pratidin and Pratidin Time with Hospitality Partner Vivanta

by Taj, Radio Partner 93.5 Red FM and Outdoor Partner, Outreach Advertising.

Assam Govt mulls banning usage of polythene

D

What the

Kalyan Deb

uring a discussion in the Zero Hour in the ongoing Assam Assembly, Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the Govt is concerned about the environmental impact of polythene and hence considering on putting a ban on its usage.

Concerned about the harmful impact of polythene on environment, Assam Govt today said the initiative is a unanimous call to protect the environment.

“For any reason, if we cannot ban polythene, then we will try to levy an environmental tax on it. But our first

G Plus News

priority is to ban it,” Sarma said.

“We had banned polythene around six years ago, but we could not sustain it in the High Court and it was stayed. After that, some other states like Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have also banned it and have been able to sustain it in the High Court,” the minister said.

“The Assam government has asked officials to bring the documents from these two states to prepare a prohibitory order again for polythene in Guwahati so that this time the decision can withstand the judiciary,” he informed.

Usha Padiyar @UshaPadiyar @OfficeOfRG “Gandhikul ki Ganga, aur Yadavkul ki Yamuna ka, Bol Rahul Bol,Sangam Hoga ki Nahi?

“Hua, Hua, Hua!” Harish Bhatia @Harishbhatia7 M/s rahul & akhilesh ganga jamuna could meet but sarswati has to disappear so progress of up will disappear as ganga jamuna hve joined hands CS Rabi Narayan @csrabi Sangam of Lord shiva and Lord Vishnu in Mohini avatar then and Akhilesh and Rahul now ?

Result? Ravan Rajya Nain @inavin9 First it was women empowerment now its ganga yamuna.

Rahul Gandhi keeps using the same answers for all the questions. #pappu Kartik Nijhawan @NijhawanKartik Almost 100th time Rahul Gandhi called this alliance Ganga - Yamuna ka jodd. This is new ‘women empowerment’ for him.

8

G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

City

Kalyan Deb

LGBI Airport facility expansion remains a distant dream

The capacity of the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport is rapidly becoming hopelessly inadequate and while measures are being taken for easing passenger inconveniences, the capacity enhancement process continues to be a matter of the long run

Long queues inside the LGBI terminal | Photo source: Twitter

O

f late, much has been discussed about the huge inconveniences and time wastage caused to the passengers at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport (LGBI) due long queues at every step – right from gaining entry into the terminal building onto the ridiculously few baggage X-Ray machines, inadequate check-in counters and further queues at the security check gate. Also, in the name of security, the visitors’ area has been drastically reduced to a small space near the arrival lounge that has inadequate seating arrangements and no access to the snack and food outlets inside the terminal building making a mockery of the endearing gesture of “seeing off” a guest. Painfully slow and seemingly inefficient CISF personnel, who are in charge of the airport’s security, add to the delays as passengers might require as much as quarter of an hour to just gain entry into the terminal and thereafter join the other serpentine queues. Many have expressed their frustration on social media as a slew of posts and comments flooded several pages highlighting the issue. It seems,

the entire exercise of catching a flight nowadays is a 2-hour process and passengers need a 3-hour head start from the city to be “on time.”

Union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju, who had also witnessed the inconveniences caused to the passengers at the airport during peak hours, took to Twitter to share his observations.

On 23rd January, Rijiju tweeted:

Meanwhile, it was informed that Airports Authority of India has put several de-blockading measures in place in order to handle the rush of passengers and put a system in place that could address to the inconveniences caused.

When asked about any kind of updates following Rijiju’s Tweet Airport Director, BK Tailong said that the airport witnesses 24.5% rise in passenger traffic at the LGBI airport in Borjhar every year. He also mentioned that apart from the peak hour rush that exists from 9 am to 11 am and from 3 pm to 5 pm,

the airport is catering to 2.7 million passengers every year against its capacity of 1.5 million.

“Several measures have been taken over the past few months in order to take care of the rise in passenger traffic and address the inconveniences caused to the passengers. To name a few, we have introduced an additional baggage X-ray machine and put it at a strategic location. Earlier, there were three baggage X-ray machines, one of which were shared by two top airlines and became a prime cause of passenger rush. Also the X-ray machine of Air India has been replaced with an upgraded version that has helped in reducing the queue of people,” Airport Director, LGBI, BK Tailong mentioned to G Plus.

He also informed that queue managers have been stationed to assist passengers adding that 30 flexible check-in counters have been put in place. “We have put in place what we call flexible checkin counters that will facilitate passengers of any airline so that the load is taken off from the checkin counters where there are more people. We have also placed around

24 chairs near the departure gate that has recently been upgraded to two gates. Moreover, we are trying to mitigate the inundation of passengers to a minimum. While the over-crowding initially took place at the departure gates, it now takes place at the security check. However, people have to be patient as it is a very important measure for a hypersensitive airport. It is also very evident that although the queues might be long, it does not take too long for a passenger up to the time when one boards a flight,” the airport director said.

Informing about other measures that has been taken in order to ease the rush and help the passengers, two help desks have also been introduced, separate rooms have been set up for children and the toilets are being modified. The airport will soon witness several other modifications as an escalator and an elevator will also be placed within the premises of the airport.

“Proposals on further modifications have been sent to the headquarters. Two more aerobridges are being built and are likely to be commissioned in the next six months. The airport currently has two aerobridges and the additional two will facilitate smooth entry and exit of passengers from the terminals to the aircraft and vice-versa.

We have also proposed three more X-ray machines which are likely to arrive by the end of February and also to expand the security holding by 260 square meters. Moreover, 155 additional sanction of CISF personnel has also been approved,” he said. Besides these, several welfare measures have been put in place.

The airport director said he had apprised the union minister about the measures taken. “The minister was satisfied and appreciated our efforts. My aim is to develop LGBI as a true international airport,” Tailong mentioned.

G Plus was also apprised about the introduction of a new airport

terminal that will be spread over an area of 80,000 square metres in comparison to the 19,000 square metres of the present terminal building. The new terminal will be constituted within an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crores. The tendering process of the project has already begun. kalyan.deb@g-plus.in

Weather report for the week Guwahati

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

Sunny

Sunny

Sunny

Sunny

Sunny

Sunny

29° / 16° C

29° / 16° C

29° / 16° C

30° / 15° C

SATURDAY Sunny

29° / 16°C

30° / 16° Cjuthika.baruah@g-plus.in 30° / 16° C

G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

Mushrooming culture of pre-schools in Guwahati

9

Feature

G Plus Feature

Several kindergarten schools have mushroomed in the city and they all strive for holistic and all round development of the child

K

indergarten and Preschools have mushroomed in the city at an incredibly rapid rate. This reveals the fast paced nature of Guwahati and exponential population growth. Most of the nuclear families have both parents holding hectic jobs. The life of a child in a kindergarten or a preschool is the first instance when children are separated from the comfort and security of their parents. Therefore, it is imperative that the school be a second home to the child; a place which has enough material to attract and make the child feel comfortable and secure.

G Plus explores the city’s popular preschools and identifies how things are being done differently.

do not fall under a government department for which such schools do not come under scrutiny. However, the administration has come

have with the people as they grow up. We train them scientifically so that the children can gain not only the formal education, but also the

to involve and absorb.

There are several identified methods which are used by these schools and its application helps

Establishment The preschools and quality education Culture Club, a preschool located in Zoo Road provides quality controlled education to the kids.

To change the existing system of preschools, Culture Club offers co-curricular activities along with preschool education so that children have an all-round development and ensures their wellbeing.

The school program introduces English, Maths, Science and Social Skills in a natural sequence to nourish learning one step at a time.

“We teach the students both playing and learning so that they do not feel pressurised with studies. These are very small children and they

On an average, most schools have 1 teacher

out with the rule after a per student, a healthy ratio. high court order that the schools need to be registered under the administration. education which could groom them Culture Club provides innoas best a person as they can be. We vative and enriched learning enhave a parent-children programme vironment for kids and focuses where we also teach the parents on developmental skills that are on how they should deal with chilknown predictors of later success dren,” said Purabi Talukdar, Prinin school and beyond. The school cipal of Euro Kids, Bharalumukh provides education with smart Branch. classes - with the latest education There are other pre-schools in technology in each class to assist the city that offer other extracurthe teachers and students. ricular activities and have interac-

Moreover, Euro Kids, another pre-school in the city trains the children not only in formal education but also grooms the children to be valuable assets to the society.

“Pre-school is not only meant for formal education. Formal education can be given by all schools but the most important thing is that a child should be groomed in a way that they should learn how to be-

Free health screening at Kamakhya Temple by city hospital G Plus News

N

arayana Superspeciality Hospital, Guwahati in association with Kamakhya Devalaya will conduct a free health check-up camp at Kamakhya Temple premises on Saturday, 11th

February from 10 am to 2 pm.

The camp will be arranged in the health centre of the temple for its devotees and people residing in the neighbourhood. Apart from general health screening such as height,

The Issues

tive elements such as a farm house, doll house and storytelling sessions which apparently help the children concentrate in their studies.

Tender Petals, a kindergarten school in the city, provides play method of teaching the children by trained Montessori teachers. ‘Nurturing through love’ - this method enables the child to grow at their individual pace and motivate them

Several kindergarten schools have mushroomed in the city without adhering to any norms and objectives which may be detrimental, and at times deprive a child from the right education. Childhood care and education of children until the completion 6 years of age has been made a directive principle and therefore the high court has issued an order to submit all the relevant documents in the administration’s website www.kamrupmetro.in.

Section 18 of the Act, which describes the admission and fees, states that a child who has not attained the age of 5 years shall not be admitted to Class 1, an equivalent class or any class higher than Class 1. A student seeking admission in non-government educational institution in any class higher

weight, body mass index and blood sugar levels, doctors will also check for heart and diabetes related problems with free ECG and random blood sugar.

“We at Narayana Superspeciality Hospital believe in creating awareness on the importance of healthy living by sensitizing people

on possible risk factors. Unhealthy lifestyle, ill-effects of smoking and imbalanced dietary habits, long working hours causing high blood pressure, high amount of cholesterol and sugar in blood, and stress that is affecting the health of many individuals who remain unaware to the ailments unless it is diagnosed early,” said Abid Taqueer,

“We teach the students both playing and learning so that they do not feel pressurised with studies. These are very small children and they should be taught without stress and therefore we teach them in ways where they can enjoy the learning process,”

- Nikhil Mozika, Administrative Head of Culture Club.

should be taught without stress and therefore we teach them in ways where they can enjoy the learning process,” said Nikhil Mozika, Administrative Head of Culture Club.

Mozika said that the children should be safe and secured. Most of the preschools in the city do not follow requisite norms and they

the overall and holistic growth of the children.

Some of these methods are Montessori method, Playway method, Multiple Intelligence, Psychosocial Development, Thematic, Project Method and Development of Intelligence. Five skills for holistic development are also identified as creativity, cognizance, language, sensomotor and personality.

than Class 1 shall have to submit original Transfer Certificate from the recognised school where the student studied last to the head of the non-government educational institution where admission is sought. Admission of students in non-government educational institution shall be made without any distinction of religion, race, caste, creed or any of them. Every recognised non-government educational institution shall reserve 5% seats for admission of meritorious pupils hailing from poor families as recommended by director in this behalf. Such pupils shall be selected as per norms to be prescribed.

The students admitted against the reserved quota as provided in subsection shall pay such fees as may be fixed by the director in consultation with the concerned school authority on receipt of an application from the pupil in this behalf.

Although there are a lot of kindergarten schools of the city, it is a cause for concern as there is no defined jurisdiction for these schools and the Gauhati High Court has also made a statement that the schools are running without following proper guidelines.

There are also several loopholes in the pre-primary schools and it is doubtful whether the students are being provided quality education.

Several city schools lack fitness certificates, proper infrastructure like fire safety or other disasters and such facilities are crucial for parents when they hand the lives of their little ones in the hands of an establishment. juthika.baruah@g-plus.in Facility Director at Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Guwahati.

The objective of the camp is to promote preventive healthcare with an objective of detecting any possible health issues early in the areas of cardiology, diabetes, medicine and ENT such that the same can be diagnosed and treated effectively.

10

G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

In The News

GMC eviction drive frees up encroached Paltan Bazaar land

Juthika Baruah

The drive was carried out at KB Road where a number of houses along with the old wholesale fish market were evicted the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) also assisted the district administration during the eviction drive.

“We will carry out eviction drives along water bodies across the district. During previous evictions, we had dismantled several concrete structures that had been

the eviction drive has been taken up to clear all water channels. He pointed out that 50% of water is carried by the Bharalu River. He also highlighted that 366 landslide prone areas have been identified by experts of Assam Engineering College. For ensuring safety of life and property he requested

“We will carry out eviction drives along water bodies across the district,”

~M. Angamuthu, DC Kamrup (M)

The eviction drive being carried out at Paltan Bazaar | G Plus Photo

T

he Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has evicted the old wholesale fish market and some houses on KB Road at Paltan Bazaar area.

The eviction drive was carried out on a number of houses and a

fish market which have been demolished as it created congestion in the place leading to traffic snarls in the said area. The drive targeted unlawful residents who had returned to the area after a round of eviction which had been carried

out earlier. At least 22 illegal structures were demolished after the encroachers returned to the place.

Evicted people usually return after a few days to encroach the same areas and this case was no different. Police and officials from

built illegally along these water bodies. Those structures had obstructed the smooth flow of water.

But the problem is people keep on encroaching these areas,” Angamuthu said.

The district administration had last month issued an order prohibiting street vending activities in that stretch of KB Road and asked local officials to take action against encroachment within seven days. It had said that such activities are causing severe traffic congestion as well as inconvenience to the general public commuting through that road.

There are some habitual offenders who usually hamper the work of the government and it is not necessary that everyone should settle in the city. “It’s not necessary to come and settle in the city by encroaching on government land. It becomes difficult for us to provide land for government offices due to these encroachers who occupy the place. We are continuing the drive and since one and half years the scenario has been changed to some extent and it will be completely different in another one or two years when the encroachers will stop occupying the places,” said an official of GMC. The authority carried out the eviction but failed to provide space to the vendors. “We have been evicted many times but we have to come back again to the same place as the concerned authority fails to provide us space for running our business. We are feeding our families with this source of income and if the department evicts us then how will we run our families? We have been deprived of a proper vending place for which we have to face loss on many occasions. We also don’t want to face trouble and it is due to our compulsion that we have to put up with such trouble so many times,” said one of the fish vendors.

The Deputy Commissioner M. Angamuthu earlier said that

people living in vulnerable landslide prone areas on 19 hillocks of the city to take shelter in the safer places to avoid any untoward incidents during the monsoon period.

He also disclosed that no eviction drive will be carried out in these 366 places. He sought active co-operation from the councillors to create awareness among the people.

He requested councillors to take active role for a garbage-free city.

He also informed that district administration has already directed all commercial establishments to

keep trash bins in front of their establishments. He requested councillors to keep strict vigil in this regard in their respective areas.

The administration has also directed the NHAI to ensure that all cattle roaming in and along the NH 37 are collected and handed over to nearby cattle sheds.

The district administration and GMC has carried out eviction drives in various places of the city but the authorities fail to keep the momentum going as the encroachers keep returning. It has become like a game of hide-and-seek with the encroachers always returning to the area from where they were evicted after a certain period of time and one of the main reasons is that they do not get an approved place to run their businesses. This is despite repeated assurances by the department to provide vending zones and their continuous failure to do so. juthika.baruah@g-plus.in

G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

IIT Alcheringa Molestation Fact or Farce? VC orders enquiry

11

Crime

Bharalu police deny killing Raja G Plus News

Rahul Chanda

Two IIT students are in judicial custody as the Alcheringa molestation allegation gets mired in controversy; two out of the three girls who had visited the annual IIT festival denied any molestation incident to GU authorities

A I

IT Guwahati’s (IIT-G) annual cultural festival “Alcheringa” this year was gripped by controversy after a female student from Gauhati University lodged a complaint of molestation against two IIT-G students at the North Guwahati police station. Following the complaint the police arrested the two alleged accused and the court has even rejected bail; the duo are in judicial custody now.

Meanwhile, the case looks to be seeped in confusion with varied opinions coming from various quarters over the issue. G Plus tried to talk to Gauhati University authorities as also the authorities of IIT-G to understand what exactly transpired.

The incident According to the sources in IIT-G, on the morning of 4th February, three girls and two boys were found near the administrative building of the institute in an inebriated condition by the security personnel following which the authorities of the institute were informed. The authorities took the students to the institute’s hospital where it was known that the three girls were from Gauhati University. Accordingly, the authorities of Gauhati University were informed.

The Gauhati University authorities came to the IIT campus and took the girls along with them. On the way, the GU authorities took the girls to Narayana Hridalaya Hospital and after the girls seemed to have regained their senses they were taken back to their hostel.

According to the Vice-Chancellor of Gauhati University, the girls had not taken the requisite permissions from the hostel authorities to visit IIT. So then what happened?

The case According to sources in Gauhati University the girls behaved normally and had no com-

plaints of any untoward incident until 6th February. A senior official of Gauhati University, talking to G Plus, said that on 4th and 5th February the girls attended their classes and behaved normally. But as the incident of gross indiscipline whereby the girls had gone

the police is investigating the matter and whoever is guilty should be punished accordingly. According to media reports it seems that the victim who has lodged the complaint told many sections of the media that the Gauhati University authorities were asking her weird

“The girls had not taken the requisite permissions from the hostel authorities to visit IIT.” - ViceChancellor, Gauhati University out of the hostel without requisite permission had come to light, the authorities decided to enquire into the matter and on 6th February the three girls were called for an enquiry by the university. According to the official, it is then that one girl said that she was unconscious because her drink was spiked and later the other two girls confided in her that she had been molested.

When asked, the other two girls denied the allegation and said that no one was molested. The official then said that on the evening of 6th February, a local guardian of the girl who said she was molested came and took custody of her. On the morning of 7th February the girl, along with the local guardian, went and filed a complaint of molestation with the police. The ViceChancellor of Gauhati University, Dr Mridul Hazarika talking to G Plus, said that he has formed a high level internal committee to investigate the matter and a report will be submitted to him by next week. Meanwhile, Labanu Konwar, Public Relations Officer of IIT Guwahati, said that they were contemplating taking action against the two students as they had been found in inebriated condition inside the institute campus. But before they could take any action the complaint was filed and the police arrested the students. He said that

and uncomfortable questions. The VC however, denied any such allegations.

The police A highly placed source in the North Guwahati police, talking to G Plus, said that a molestation case was filed by one of the girls on 7th February (case number – 14/17 under section 352/354/34 of IPC) and she had complained that her drink was spiked where after she was molested by two students of IIT Guwahati. The police accordingly arrested the two accused on 8th February and they were further produced before the court which has sent them to judicial custody. According to sources in IIT, their bail plea was rejected by the court. The police said that the case is sensitive and they are investigating it thoroughly. They hope to soon uncover all the facts.

The police source also said that the girl who complained knew the IIT boys from before as they had taken coaching together.

The question remains that in a cultural festival of the magnitude of “Alcheringa” how are students allowed to get so inebriated and how come the Gauhati University was not even aware that three of their female students were out of hostel the whole night without permission.

rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

13-year-old boy, Raja Ali, died in Gauhati Medical College & Hospital (GMCH) on the early morning of 10th February after he was brought for treatment from Boko observation home.

The boy was a resident of Shantipur near Bhootnath and Bharalu Police had arrested him on 6th February with two other children as a complaint was lodged against them by a shopkeeper near the police station for theft of several items from the shop. The family members of the boy doubt that he died because police had thrashed him in the police station. The Bharalu police, talking to G Plus, said that they did not beat the child as they never beat a juvenile and according to the law the boy was sent to Boko observation home after which they don’t have any idea what had happenned to the 13-year-old. G Plus talked to the observation home authorities who said that on the night of 7th February they took custody of the child who seemed normal then. The next day also the boy was behaving normally and was eating on time.

The next day he was sent to a doctor for regular check up as he was complaining of some kind of pain in his abdomen. The observation authorities said that the Boka doctor referred the child to GMCH for some checkups and accordingly he was brought on the afternoon of 9th February. On the way, his family members in Shantipur were informed and they also reached the hospital. The GMCH authorities conducted some tests when suddenly his health deteriorated and early morning of 10th February, at around 3 am, he passed away. The police was accordingly informed and the body was sent for postmortem. The observation home superintendent said that Raja was released from the observation home on 24th January after he was sent for another crime and even in those days he used to complain about some pain; apparently he had health issues related to his kidneys.

Bharalu police is confident that they did not beat the child that led to his death.

12

G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

Feature

PWD set to deliver 7 roads to Guwahatians in 2017 Kalyan Deb

A major reason for citizens in Guwahati spending more time commuting was put down to poor road conditions and nothing would make commuters happier than being delivered proper roads to travel on. Most people of this developing city complain about bad road conditions and drainage system that perennially leads to water logging, floods and mud covered roads. The growth of traffic volume on major arterial roads of the city has been phenomenal during the last few years. It is clearly evident that the growth of vehicles has had severe impact on the existing road system especially on the busy streets such as GNB Road, AT Road, GS Road, etc. For a piece of good news, seven spanking new roads are set to be delivered to the city this year. G Plus provides the details.

Krishna Nagar

guered by the na Nagar were belea The residents of Krish a remained are e of GMDA/JICA as th water supply project s initiated wa s es ar’s time. The proc afflicted for over a ye even as hs nt mo inued for several ty situin June 2015 and cont ali loc a is es. Krishna Nagar eering rains added to the wo gin En m sa ari area on the As of the ated near the Chandm rn Tu Us jacent to the famou ChanInstitute Road and ad e th to ds e area further lea Manik Chandmari flyover. Th , ad Ro an ects to Piyoli Phuk be redmari Hill and conn ll wi s nt ide . However, the res lated Choudhury Road, etc pu sti e th is s by March which lieved off their problem of the project. month for completion

Length of road

800 metres

Sanctioned Amount

Rs. 103.462 lakhs Source of fund

A.P. (General Area)

Stipulated date of completion

28th March, 2017

Jyoti Nagar

Length of road

2,400 metres

With monsoon just aro und the corner, the pro cess of delivering a stretch of mo re than 2 kilometres ha s been initiated in Jyoti Nagar. On e of the densely populat ed areas of Bamunimaidam, Jyoti Nagar is also a connectin g road to Chandmari via Piyoli Phukan Road and Krish na Nagar.

The area also has the Gu wahati College located there and remains buzzing with stu dents. The 2,400 metre stretch is stipulated to be delivere d by 28th March this ye ar.

Sanctioned Amount

Rs. 133.053 lakhs Source of fund

A.P. (General Area)

tion Stipulated date of comple

28th March, 2017

Fakaruddin Ali Ahmed Road Most of us are aware of one FA Road being surrounded by commercial establishm ents neighbouring Fa nc y Bazar. However, another Fakaru ddin Ali Ahmed Road is loc ated near the Chachal area VIP Ro ad. An area mostly wi th res tlements, it shares th idential sete locality with Radha Nagar, Aziz Nagar, Puran Basti, Triveni Path and further co nnects to Panjabari Road. The area has be en suffering from flo od onslaughts due to inadequate drainag e system. However, the same is to be addressed by PWD as a proper drainage sy stem will be put in place that will connec t to the Silsako lake.

Length of road

800 metres

Sanctioned Amount

Rs. 606 lakhs Source of fund

A.P.

Stipulated date of completion

3rd March, 2017

G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

13

Feature

Ramkrishna Mission Road After several sustained calls of the locals (that included drastic measures of a dharna that was carried out for development in the area on 8th August 2015 and which was followed by several arrests) to be provided with the basic necessities of proper road, dra inage and footpath, their voice has finally been heard by the authorities.

Project 1

Length of road

396 metres

Sanctioned Amount

Rs. 199.40 lakhs Source of fund

The area has been in substa A.P. (General Area) ndard condition for over sixteen years and as stated by letion locals no initiative of deStipulated date of comp velopment had been taken in the past twenty five years.

Several departments were 28th March, 2017 approached including the Guwahati Municipal Corporatio n (GMC) and the District Length of road Administration but to no avail.

During monsoons, most parts of the area come under knee 510 metres deep water. The Ramkrishna Mission Road that connects Biru bari faces severe unhygienic conditions during heavy rainfall Sanctioned Amount when the garbage containing syringes, clothes of the tuberculosis patients, drip pipes and other waste materials comes Rs. 198.65 lakhs flowing from the backyard of the TB hospital that shares its boundary wall with the road.

Source of fund However, the Public Works Dep artment (PWD) is soon expect A. P. (General Area) ed to provide a huge breath of relief as two stretches of the area (396 metres and 510 me tres ) is expected to be completed Stipulated date of co by 28th March this year. The wo mpletion rk initiated by the department will be completed with a sanctioned amount of over Rs 398 28 lakhs. Considered as one of the th M arch, 2017 busiest areas of the city the Ramkrishna Mission Road con nects Birubari and Sharabhat ti.

Project 2

d Balaji Nagar Roa

le, Maniram Trade famous Balaji Temp e th to se clo ted ca Lo idential area that i Nagar Road is a res laj Ba T, ISB d an re nt Ce ns leading to flood. m poor road conditio fro g rin ffe su en be s ha etch of 450 metres ll be addressed as a str wi me sa e th r, ve we Ho of the area on 29th ered to the residents liv de be to d cte pe ex is March.

Length of road

Rajgarh Road

1130 metr es

Sanctione

d Amount

Rs. 960.30

lakh e transformation taken place about th Source of ram BaMuch discussion has da an An e th e for Be fund o 4-lane. of the Rajgarh Road int e route of the vehicles th 85 19 in d A cte tru . ns P . rua flyover was co rough Rajgarh Stipulated Road was diverted th to d a ate te travelling to RG Baruah of comple an estim tion PWD had submitted rh 1 jga 5 Ra Road. In July last the g t kin h ma to A ard u reg g th u wi n s tio t tra , nis 2017 the district admi Road 4-lane. d a vital es of commutation an ut ro jor ma e ad falls prey th of e Road, the Rajgarh Ro Despite being on ah ru Ba ed in kneeRG d an ad een GS Ro the road gets submerg as g gin log ter wa es connecting route betw caus ly project tion and the monsoon GMDA/JICA water supp of on ati nt me ple im to severe traffic conges e ce th ition has worsened sin restored. deep water. The cond with but has not been red pe tam s wa ad ro e th ich in the area for wh ) to Barnali (near railway crossing ari dm an Ch m fro s meter dth of 18.5 ct the stretch of 1130 e that will have a brea an 4-l to ed ert nv co According to the proje ll be ned amount l pump in the area) wi year within a sanctio is th st gu Au th 15 Service Station (a petro by ered estimated to be deliv metres. The project is of over Rs 960 lakhs.

Length o f

road

510 met

res

Sanction

ed Amou

Rs. 198.

nt

65 lakhs

Source o

f fund

A.P. (Ge

Stipulat e

neral Ar ea)

d date o

28th Ma

f comple tion

rch, 201 7

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G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

G Talk E

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‘Film’tastic budget

t was the best of times and the worst of times, so said Dickens in his best seller of the day.

Something of a literal metaphor can be drawn to the current situation of the Assamese film industry – especially post the state budget presented by finance minister, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma. For what can be termed as the best possible propositions for the resurrection of the industry, it is indeed the best of times. Given that one struggling film-maker had to recently face sedition charges for reaching out to the outlawed Paresh Baruah because his film was being taken off the local theatres to make way for Bollywood blockbusters Raees and Kaabil, consider the following – YY50% entertainment tax exemption for three years to permanent multiplexes provided they undertake to exhibit available Assamese cinema on at least one screen, YYSubsidy of Rs 50 lakhs to reopen closed cinema halls and Rs 25 lakhs to renovate existing/ functional ones, YYSubsidy of 25% of the capital cost for establishing new cinema halls, YYProposal to hold an annual international film festival on the scale of Goa, Kolkata and Thiruvanthapuram.

Short of announcing finances for cinema ventures, the finance minister could not have done a better job. The worst of times comes now as local film-makers have to grapple with the situation and make the best of it without fail.

And the challenge is immense

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while it is two-fold. Ever since Assamese audiences acquired a taste for cinema from Bollywood and Hollywood, it is but natural for comparisons to set in. Assamese movies are being compared to and judged against the best of productions from around the world. And yet, Assamese cinema will continue to be produced at a budget that is a minor fraction of Hindi blockbusters purely due to business constraints. Therein lies the challenge. To make the most of the sops that the finance minister has doled out, filmmakers of the region simply have to come up with solid, taut scripts backed by heartwinning performances.

It remains to be seen if entrepreneurs would take up the subsidy offers and open or reopen cinema halls across the state.

Should that happen, it would mean good tidings for the local industry; it will have greater exhibiting options. But the current mindset of wallowing in self-pity at movies being removed by cinema hall owners (who are, after all, in business to maximize profits) and seeking help from outlawed militants is certainly not a professional approach that would resurrect Assamese cinema. The Film Fraternity of Assam has been demanding these reforms; the reforms are being implemented. The fraternity’s job is now to deliver products with such finesse that audiences are drawn inexorably to the theatres.

The best of times and the worst of times, I say!

Swapnil Bharali Editor

Winds of change in UP?

he world’s biggest democracy is going to have one of its most significant elections starting today. The Uttar Pradesh elections have always been the centre of attention for the country’s democratic discourse, purely because of its geographical size, but also for its 218-million strong vote bank.

The UP elections are getting psephologists excited; two Davids have come together to destroy the Goliath; the downsized Congress Party and dynastically disturbed Samajwadi Party being the Davids. The election is significant because UP is the closest, most politically relevant state to the national capital with 80 MPs in the Lok Sabha. This election also gives Congress a shot at regaining national prominence.

BJP has 71 MPs from UP currently. Although this election will not change that figure, it will help take a gander on the future of the Modi-led BJP government and whether the ‘BJPwave,’ despite the demonetization perhaps stirring up some public dissent, still holds.

Although demonetization

was hailed as a bold move, its garb of ‘eradicating corruption’ has had a two-way effect on the government. The BJP government must pass this litmus test in order to realize their relevance or change strategies for the 2019 elections. In case the BJP does lose to the unexpected SP-Congress alliance, this will be the Congress’ beckoning back to mainstream politics and the BJPs reckoning.

The minority Muslim Diaspora of UP will have a crucial role to play in this election because of the recurring communal tension between the Hindu majority and Muslim minority in UP. With the BJP party being portrayed as ‘Hindu-centric,’ what everyone must be alert for is a possible Hindu-Muslim communal clash.

The other major player, BSP’s target will continue to be the Dalit vote bank. The 19% Muslim vote bank will be fodder for both the Congress and SP. BJP will have to rely on their Hindu voters to remain relevant in the coming years.

SIDHARTH BEDI VARMA

Trump’s Inauguration – An Alternative View

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was asked to do an Opinion article on the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. It would have been easy to write an article excoriating the man and his philosophies and the ego that surrounds him and his cohorts but I have decided to take an alternative approach. About 59 million Americans opted to vote him into power, despite the scandals surrounding him, his obnoxious behavior and statements and his horrific views about this country and the world in general. So, the driving question remains - why?

How could the same nation that elected Barack Obama into power for two consecutive terms opt to give this egotistical billionaire an opportunity to shape policies for many years to come?

I believe that the first response is lack of choices for the voting citizen of the USA. Power has bounced back and forth between the two parties that dominate politics in this country – the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. As I discussed in a previous article, the parties’ philosophies may be radically different but at the end of the day, the same politicians attend each other’s parties, scratch each other’s backs and navigate in the same elite circles while the rest of us “average Joes” struggle to make a living and try to carve a future for our children. The situation is not a whole lot different in India but at least the Indian voting citizen has a few more choices, whether it is the BJP or the Congress Party or the Aam Aadmi Party or the plethora of local parties that seem to come and go from the political scene.

The situation is very different here in America. We have

no choices because any third party that tries to rise is drowned out by a tsunami of money and power. Case in point is the politician Bernie Sanders, an independent senator (member of the upper house, known as the Senate) from the tiny little state of Vermont.

He railed against the power of politicians, the legal industry and the finance industry, that pull all the power chords in America. He spoke vigorously for a nationalized health care system, the need for free college education and an opportunity to give the struggling middle class a chance to pull out of the quagmire of stagnant wages and dead-end jobs. As an independent, he stood no chance and as a result, he had to declare himself a Democrat and fight the financial behemoth of Hillary Clinton and her supporters. In the end, the juggernaut of Hillary’s money and power crushed poor Bernie, a man who understood the struggles of the average family. Hillary, with her own enormous wealth generated from political back-scratching, had lost touch with the daily needs of the lower-income American family.

On top of that, her own personal scandals alienated many lower middle-class white citizens who felt that there was no way that they could vote for her.

Which leads to the second response to the question… how could this very same country that elected Barack Obama to power hand over the reins of power to a self-serving billionaire? The answer is very simple.

He appealed to the same nativist sentiments that resides in all of our hearts. “The immigrants are taking over our country”. “The jobs that belong here are being shipped elsewhere”. “We are losing our culture”. “The foreigners are taking over the political power.” Sound familiar to the Oxomiya readers of this article?

Have we not been subject to such clarion calls from our own politicians in Oxom who have implemented fear as a tool to garner votes? “The Bangladeshis will rule our state very soon.” “Oxom will become a Muslim republic that will implement Sharia law.”

“The Oxomiya language will disappear.” Whether such fears are warranted is a continuing point

Opinion Arnav Mahant

of discussion and speculation but the fact remains, fear sells in the same manner that sex sells. Just as sex is used to market all sorts of products from cigarettes to pharmaceutical products, fear, especially in a period of deep uncertainty, “trumps” (yes, pun intended) rational thinking. The voting citizen of America has been lured into the orbit of fear by the thundering rhetoric of a man who was born with a sliver spoon in his mouth and has never lived a single day in his life where money was an impediment to his glamorous lifestyle.

Trump’s inauguration was a surreal scene. There were scenes of warm smiles and bonhomie from the very same people who a few months ago railed against the ascent of Trump. How quick we are to lay down in front of an oncoming bulldozer but isn’t that part of our human history? There were bright smiles from ex-Presidents Carter, Clinton, Obama and Bush, the very same people who spoke scathingly against the very same person whose inauguration they were attending. It rained in Washington and at the same moment, 3000 miles away, it also rained in California, a state that overwhelmingly voted against Trump. Was that an omen of what lies ahead?

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was voted in as President in the depth of the 1930s Depression, he urged people to gather up courage and thundered that the only thing that Americans had to fear was fear itself ! John F Kennedy asked Americans to not ask what the country could do for them but what they could do for their country! Rhetoric to stir the soul, lift the spirits and allow humanity to soar!! On the flip side of the coin, Trump screamed against the “carnage” that was inflicting America, this in an era where most Americans were employed and a sense of peace and power prevailed. Of course, nothing is perfect but when the opening salvo of a President just accepting power is to appeal to the fear factor of his people, there is sufficient reason to doubt whether good things lie ahead. I hope that the 45th President will set his ego aside and work for the betterment of the entire world.

Letter to the Editor r Greatest of all time The recently concluded Australian Open 2017 has proved to be graveyard for the seeds. The first grand slam of the year, considered to be toughest amongst the four grand slams, has proved that age is just a number if one is determined to achieve glory. The newly crowned Men’s and Women’s singles champions Roger Federer and Serena Williams respectively defied their age to triumph in the hot and humid conditions of the championship for the two grueling weeks. Even Runner’s up in both the categories Venus Williams and Rafael Nadal respectively deserve accolades for putting up a fantastic display of tennis thereby sending ominous signals to their younger rivals. The record makers Roger Federer and Serena Williams are truly the greatest of all time in their respective categories.

Dr. Ashim Chowdhury, Ambari, Guwahati-1.

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Trotter

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special

Why is Amazon India charging so much for delivery suddenly?

Miley Cyrus performs Lakshmi puja, posts a photo which also shows her gurus

Answered by: Rahul Kumar, studied Bachelor of Computer Applications at Bareilly College, Bareilly (2016) Amazon change the game after launching Amazon *PRIME* service.

The fast service they used to provide now take even longer, just to “itself” promote the new addition. Also, the shipping price elevated for the same reason.

But still I can say Amazon is better than other eCommerce sites.

Reason, Quality of product.

Buyer verification (every site do the same but amazon has even much strict policy).

Product rate comparison (personal experience).

Though bad is shipping charges rate elevation and long shipping time.

Yes, its not a 100% accurate and desired answer but opinion.

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inger Miley Cyrus has performed a Lakshmi Puja, or at least, an Instagram post

she posted on Monday suggests so. The 24-year-old songstress posted a picture on Instagram

where one can see a traditional Hindu prayer set-up with the goddess of wealth being worshipped, alongside an offering of fruits and halwa with incense sticks and diyas. “#FruitBowl over Super... #offering,” captioned the Wrecking Ball singer, giving a light and healthy angle to the homely function in the wake of the ongoing Super Bowl 2017. The picture also gives a sneak peek into Miley’s spiritual side showing the photographs of gurus whom she perhaps follows.

The singer had also taken the services of a pundit to conduct the prayers.

(Source: HT)

Man given 18 months to live now cancer free after taking world first drug

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cancer patient who was given just 18 months to live has no trace of a tumour in his body after taking a wonder trial drug.

Bob Berry is one of only 12 people in the world to have taken the drug, which is so new it can’t be named, with the results of his treatment labelled ‘phenomenal’ by doctors.

The 60-year-old was diagnosed with lung cancer three years ago after suffering shoulder pain, and was given just 18 months

to live after radiotherapy and chemotherapy failed to work.

He was put on a clinical drugs trial at Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester becoming one of the first people in the world to have access to the drug.

It was the first time the drug, which works in combination with immunotherapy treatment, had been used in humans to fight cancer.

Bob’s consultant at The Christie, Dr Matthew Krebs, told Manchester Evening News: ‘Bob has had a phenomenal response

Doctors Remove Live Cockroach from Woman’s Nostrils

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octors in Chennai operated on a woman’s nose for 12 hours and removed a cockroach – alive.

Selvi, 42, woke up on Tuesday night with an itchy sensation in the nasal cavity.

“At first, I thought I was coming down with a cold,” she said. But whatever was inside began to wriggle.

Doctors suspected a nasal growth.

At a second hospital, a contraption was used to pump it out with water, but failed. At the third hospital, doctors attributed the discomfort to a “foreign body that seemed to be mobile” and recommended a scan.

On Wednesday morning, Sel-

vi, who was struggling to breathe, was referred to Stanley Medical College and Hospital. Doctors in the ENT department used an endoscope and found the blob had a pair of antennae. “It was a full grown cockroach,” said Dr M N Shankar, head of the department.

It was in the nasal cavity between the eyes, close to the brain.

“It was alive. And it didn’t seem to want to come out,” said Dr Shankar.

When a suction apparatus was used, the insect clung to the tissues. “We had to use a combination of suction and forceps to finally pull it out,” said Dr S Muthuchitra, part of the rescue team. The process lasted 45 minutes.

The department has in the past removed beads, a button cell, leech and chalk piece from nasal cavities. “But not a cockroach, especially not one this large,” said Muthuchitra, showing the ‘invader’ on its back in a container, its wings spread and legs moving excitedly.

to taking part in this clinical trial.

‘His most recent scans show that he’s had a complete response with no apparent trace of tumour in his body.

‘We will need to monitor Bob closely with regular scans to assess how durable this response will be.’

Bob added: At the end of the day, this clinical trial at The Christie has extended my life and I couldn’t be more grateful. Anyone who is offered a clinical trial should seriously consider it.’

Queen marks Sapphire Jubilee a first for a British monarch

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ueen marks Sapphire Jubilee — a first for a British monarch February 6, 1952 marks her Ascension Day and also the day her father George VI died.

Queen Elizabeth II, the world’s longest reigning sovereign, on Monday became the first British monarch to reach the Sapphire Jubilee, with 65 years on the

throne.

The 90-year-old monarch is marking the landmark as a day of private contemplation at her Sandringham estate in Norfolk as it also coincides with the day her father, George VI, died.

To mark the occasion, Buckingham Palace has re-released a photograph of the Queen, wearing distinctive sapphire jewellery.

The picture was taken by celebrated photographer David Bailey in 2014 for the GREAT campaign, a publicity campaign to promote Britain around the world. In the photograph, the queen is wearing a suite of sapphire jewellery given to her by King George VI as

a wedding present in 1947.

At the time of the commission, Mr. Bailey said he had “always been a huge fan of the Queen.” “She has very kind eyes with a mischievous glint. I’ve always liked strong women, and she is a very strong woman.”

It was on the February 6, 1952 that her father died while at Sandringham.

Princess Elizabeth, who was 25, was in Kenya on a royal tour with her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at the time.

Royal gun salutes in London marked Ascension Day with a 41gun salute by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery at Green Park near Buckingham Palace. A 62-gun salute by the Honourable Artillery Company was presented at the Tower of London soon after.

The U.K.’s Royal Mint is to mark the 65th anniversary with a range of specially designed Sapphire Jubilee commemorative coins, as the Royal Mail issues a Sapphire Blue 5 pound stamp.

Large-scale jubilee celebrations are expected to be reserved for the Platinum Jubilee in 2022, when the monarch will mark 70 years.

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Lifestyle

When everything is changing then how can it still be meaningful?

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verything is changing and that change is meaningful.

Everything is changing, and there is something which is not changing. And the changing and non-changing are two sides of the same coin. The non-changing has become the changing, that is the meaning of it. If you

are confused, that means you got it (laughter). If you feel you have understood it, then you have not got it.

Keep the aspiration for higher knowledge. Be content, happy and yet have aspiration for higher knowledge. These are two opposite things – one side is content-

VAASTU SHASTRA

Balancing The Five Basic Elements For Smooth Relationships

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ccording to Vaastu, the sun produces different qualities of energy from east to west and can influence our daily life. Each of the five elements i.e. fire, water, earth, air & space is associated with a direction and each direction has a particular influence on us. Different aspects of relationships are there in different directions.

Relationships are strained when there is stress caused by finances, sexual imbalances, overwork, inability to communicate, children, and health challenges.

The northeast area of a house is associated with the water element and influences the growth of relationships. The northeast is good for entrances.

If this area has proper Vaastu, there will be a positive effect on relationships and finances will be good. If there is a toilet, a missing corner, clutter, heating or lighting systems, or blockage in the northeast, growth of relationships will stagnate. If the master bedroom is in this area, there will be a lot of tension.

The southeast area of a home is associated with the fire element. The southeast influences the energy needed to have lively relationships. Kitchens, heating and electrical systems are best in the southeast. There will be passion in your life and relationships If this area is balanced according to Vaastu. If there is a cut or blockage in this area, relationships will suffer. If the master bedroom is in the southeast,

there will be lot of quarrels.

The southwest area of a residence is associated with the earth element. The southwest influences the stability of relationships. The best place for the master bedroom is in the southwest.

If this area has proper Vaastu, relationships will be very good.

In this area, if there is a missing corner, toilet, or heating source, there will be some problems to relationships.

The northwest area of a house is associated with the air element. The northwest influences the ability to create and communicate. Toilets and guest bedrooms work well in the northwest and support mental stability, attraction, and clear communications. If there is a missing corner, no windows, or very little space between a house and another building, there will be mental instability, poor communication, and aBorKotoKi lack of attracKasturi Kasturi is a palette knife artist and tion between people. paints impressionist The central offloral a designs resiin oils. Shearea hails from Guwahati. dence is Blog: associated with the kasturiscanvas.blogspot.com space element. It is desirable to keep this area spacious KasHmiri natH and free Foodie, owner XOXOarea cupcakes, as far as possible.

If atthis is food blogger, recipe developer and open thereexpert will on beAssamese good cuisine. communication in relationships. If there is clutter, toilets, a kitchen or no open spaceKuLKuL in theraHman central area of Entrepreneur, mother and a a home, there willcook. be disagreepassionate ments.

Hemanta Kumar sarmaH Engineer, Businessman, Advanced Pranic Healer and Su Jok Acupressure specialist. sHri sHri ravi sHanKar Founder- Art of Living Foundation.

ment and on the other side is longing for higher knowledge.

If you are simply longing for higher knowledge without any contentment, then you will go all over the place, you will go spiritual shopping and hear and do so many things and get thoroughly confused. If you have only contentment and you feel ‘I have learnt it all’, then you will allow the passion for knowledge to die out. The skill that you need to develop is to keep the passion for knowledge, and at the same time maintain the contentment; a balance – this is the bicycle that you have to ride!

Longing or craving with frustration will do you no good. The scriptures very clearly say this. If you are longing, craving and running with frustration, you will get more frustrated. You won’t get anywhere. At the same time, if you are contented, inert and laid back, and you think, ‘Anyways whatever has to happen will happen. Anyways it is all karma’,

then too, you will not get anywhere.

In India this is what has happened. When it comes to doing something good, people say, “God willing, it will happen”. To do anything wrong, we don’t say, “If God is willing let it happen”.

When I was in Israel, they showed me two groups of people – one group of society are working hard. The other side of the society keeps saying,” If God willing it will happen”, and they haven’t ploughed the field at all. Nothing is growing on the field.

On the other side, the people are finding innovative ways of farming through drip irrigation, and other things, and they are growing.

In India also, it is like this.

People say, “If God calls me to do meditation, then I will come.”

You think God is going to call you, “Come, do meditation.”

So this is a sense of contentment with no passion. And there are some who have passion with

no contentment. Both are two extremes. But the one who succeeds will have passion and contentment, together.

If you look at Mahatma Gandhi’s life, this was there – he was content at every step and he had passion as well. He would do satsang every day, meditate, Kasturi BorKotoKilisten to Kasturi is a palette knife artist and the Bhagavad Gita.

Contentment paints impressionist floral designs and passionin was both part of his oils. She hails from Guwahati. kasturiscanvas.blogspot.com routine. YouBlog: will also see this in all those who are successful.

(To the KasHmiri crowd natH attending the Foodie,inowner at XOXO cupcakes, satsang): Keep mind, that you food blogger, recipe developer and already have contentment expertboth on Assamese cuisine. and passion. I see the contentment in all your faces, and it is KuLKuL raHman because you have passion Entrepreneur, mother and a that you are all passionate here. So, cook.don’t doubt yourself. If you have no passion, you wouldn’t come here. You have Hemanta sarmaH all the virtues.

YouKumar don’t have to Engineer, Businessman, Advanced cultivate any of these. with Pranic Healer and Su Go Jok Acupressure specialist. this confidence! sHri sHri ravi sHanKar Founder- Art of Living Foundation.

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Reviews Cast: Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki Director: F. Javier Gutiérrez

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young woman becomes worried about her boyfriend when he explores a dark subculture surrounding a mysterious videotape said to kill the watcher seven days after he has viewed it. She sacrifices herself to save her boyfriend and in doing so makes a horrifying discovery: there is a “movie within the movie” that no one has ever seen before.

Rings is the third installment of the horror franchise based on the Japanese film Ring, coming 12 years after 2005’s The Ring Two. The film conducted principal photography back in 2015 and went through multiple delays as Paramount kept pushing the release date back. Now that it’s finally in theaters, the hope is that it can essentially act as a

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soft reboot, bringing The Ring property back to the limelight by giving viewers a creepy experience. Unfortunately, the filmmakers are not completely successful in their goals. Rings is a mediocre horror sequel handicapped by poor writing that will only appeal to die hard fans of the genre and source material.

The film is directed by F. Javier Gutiérrez, whose approach here is a mixed bag.

There are some sequences that are well-crafted and suitably creepy (mainly, any involving Samara), but moments like these are few and far between.

Even though Rings is under two hours, Gutiérrez struggles with the pacing, and the movie crawls along and feels boring instead of scary. Part of the blame in that

regard falls to writers David Loucka, Jacob Estes, and Akiva Goldsman, as their screenplay is exposition-heavy and crafts a mystery around Samara that never truly engages the audience. None of the characters are all that interesting as well, which hurts the film’s ability to connect.

In the end, Rings exists solely for the longtime fans eager to see more from the long-running horror series. This film isn’t going to win over any converts, mainly due to the weak script and familiar narrative that doesn’t take the franchise in any new directions. Those looking for a creepy time at the movies would be better served seeing Split and waiting for home media to catch up with Samara.

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Cast: Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan Director: James Foley

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he pain is real. There are moments in Fifty Shades Darker when you might care more about Anastasia Steele’s lipstick shade than her tortured romance with cold billionaire Christian Grey. Now here comes the pleasure: The sequel, once again starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, is more unintentionally hysterical than the original. In fact, some of the wooden line readings and melodramatic twists rank right up there with the gold standard of cinematic erotic camp, the one and only Showgirls. Consider this film as a ticket to two hours of blessedly brainless escapism, and, guaranteed, it will not be the biggest time suck of 2017.

Us Weekly film critic Mara Re-

Hind Ka Napak Ko Jawab MSG Lion Heart-2 12:30 PM

instein lists 50 reasons why it’s totally ridiculous.

The sex scenes, which are fairly graphic at times, are always accompanied by syrupy rock music. A particular nadir is reached when Christian secretly pleasures Ana in a crowded lift as Van Morrison’s “Moondance” blasts away on the soundtrack. At least, there is a little ironic humour to leaven proceedings. “Does she dust in here,” Ana asks Christian about the housekeeper as she surveys all the whips, collars and other assorted sex toys in the “red room”. When the inevitable spanking scene takes place, it is tongue in cheek (although not quite literally so).

Plot wise, the film is utterly threadbare. Ana has landed a

job as an assistant at a Seattle publishing house. At the beginning of the movie, she is adamant that she’ll have nothing to do with Christian after her experiences in the first film.

When he sends her flowers, she throws them straight in the bin.

However, after running into him at a photographers’ gallery, where all the pictures are of her, she shows remarkably little resistance when he asks her out. “OK, I will have dinner with you because I am hungry,” is how she justifies her immediate capitulation. Soon, they are back together, but this time on her terms. Fifty Shades Darker is an ordeal to watch not because of its gothic eroticism but because of its utter blandness.

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Album Little Fictions By Elbow

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he seventh full-length studio release for the British alternative rock band is its first without drummer Richard Jupp, who left to pursue his own projects.

Elbow sounds more refreshed than they have since The Seldom Seen Kid, and hopefully Little Fictions is a signal of the beginning of a new creative phase. Out of disappointment and distress, Elbow have crafted another brilliant album.

While this seventh album continues the band’s slow move away from the anthemic drama of The Seldom Seen Kid, there’s a richness of ideas here that rewards repeated listening. Little Fictions is more upbeat in tempo and outlook an sounds like a band given a jolting shot of B12.

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Little Fictions, in the end, though a welcome sign of elbow gently progressing with their formula, is a step forward feels too hesitant.

Having married last year, the mood on his band’s first album in three years is even more explicitly joyful. The gorgeous Trust the Sun, in particular, is the sound of a man hopelessly in love (“You’re my reason for breathing”), and an air of unconfined happiness permeates several other songs (although there’s an uneasy nod to Brexit on K2). And while this seventh album continues the band’s slow move away from the anthemic drama of The Seldom Seen Kid, there’s a richness of ideas here that rewards repeated listening.

Game NIOH Platform Playstation 4

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ake up your sword and travel to Japans bloodbathed Sengoku period an era ravaged by warring states and dark, malevolent forces and cut a violent path through the land as the masterless samurai, William. Cross blades in brutal hand-to-hand combat, wielding swords, axes, spears and even war hammers against foes both human and demon. Endure the vicious encounters and learn from your mistakes: each death will bring you resurrection and each resurrection a greater resolve to overcome your foes.

Nioh is a triumph. It stands head and shoulders above every other title in the genre, even eclipsing its obvious inspiration.

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Team Ninja is not only back, but it has thrown down the gauntlet, and only time will tell who’s up for the challenge. As close to perfect as it gets. Nioh is a stunning title and is easily an early contender for game of the year.

Nioh will break you down (and note this clearly, this is an uncompromising game that does not mind crushing your dreams) before it lifts you up, but you soon crave the thrill of mastering a new weapon or toppling a titanic boss. Endless optimization and customization, engaging encounters, and unparalleled combat by yourself or with a friend make Nioh an excellent choice for your next dark action/RPG.

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Jairaj Kabir Singh Manchanda a.k.a.

Acoustic Singh – ‘The Singh that Sings’

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Entertainment

G Plus Feature

“Naam lamba hoga, toh kaam bada karega” (If you have a long name, you’ll do good work in life) is what my mom tells me. half months into it, and I started getting requests about covers.”

Quality Control

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airaj Kabir Singh Manchanda a.k.a. Acoustic Singh is a 17 year old from Guwahati studying in the 11th Standard at Don Bosco School, Panbazar. Better known as Acoustic Singh, he is a YouTube based singing sensation with over 90,000 subscribers, which he has acquired over just about 6 months. With this huge and fast growing subscriber base, Kabir has got himself an audience that loves him already. He is one of the youngest people in the city to have such a fan base.

The idea of a YouTube Channel “I was in Delhi for a long time and my cousins used to tell me, that since I had the talent why

My first video was ‘Ijazat’ from One Night Stand and people liked it a lot. They demanded I do full song covers. I used to upload my videos using a simple smartphone which my cousin would shoot over lot of ambient noise. People observed that I should bring into my videos some of my cool cat nature and some o t go y l d r quality processa h “I d a lot n ing instead of e t t a , l .I m r schoo o f just sitting on r e o s and p of show if I’ll make it t y a chair with my guitar. m ow don’t kn ation, but mum i I learnt u ah my grad padh singer n na hi some editing and says, ‘an raduate to kar te, some don’t I try post a g u , tu ad banega will have to gr ated processing showcasing c the same to which got hai’ (You ’t be an unedu n ic the people? me lots of a t c s u u o o y – Ac People should thumbs ups. I singer).” gh. know about me. think if I cannot Sin Based on that, I give my audience started off on Instagram, what they want, the endoing cover, making short clips. I tire process would be redundant. I brainstormed with my cousins for could offer them a good audio exa long time and after coming up perience and then some. with terrible names like Punjab B-Singer Boy, The Khalsa Boy, we , finally fixed on ‘Acoustic Singh, First Upload: 11:30 PM 16 The Singh that Sings.’

August 30, 20 It was after that, people started following my channel, loving My third my content and made requests, cover, Teri Khair Mangdi from one of which was for me to come the movie Baar Baar Dekho was on YouTube and get a YouTube a great hit for me. People started Channel started. Just one and a liking it a lot and it went viral.

Since then the graph has been upward. My covers from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil were massive – with over 2,000,000 views on these songs.

So much Attention?

“I am treated normally; in school, at home, or outside,” says Kabir. At home, he belongs to a regular family that eats together, stays together, fights together and yet, sticks together. At school, Kabir is like any other kid. He is often chided for missing classes, or scoring less and the teachers expect a lot from him, academically, and from his talent.

Family and Roots Kabir’s father is an army contractor based out of northeast.

Kabir’s grandmother is a Naga tribal (Tangkhul) from Manipur and grandfather from Punjab and this makes Kabir a union of two states stretched out from each other. With a Punjabi heritage and Manpuri roots it is clear that Jairaj Kabir Singh Manchanda is the best of both worlds.

The father-son duo are fitness freaks and religiously work out.

Kabir’s dad says, “Kabir will be a singer with a difference – the youth icon that inspires and says no to drugs, smoking and promotes fitness.”

Since childhood, singing caught Kabir’s attention and his family has been ever supportive.

Going to reality shows, being rejected, through thick and thin, Kabir’s determination has only

increased with this push from his family.

How hard it is “With the camera, it is a little difficult, but once I’m set, there’s nothing holding me back,” says Kabir. A semi-finalist at the SaRe-Ga-Ma-Pa Little Champs at the age of 10, Kabir was famished, hungry and tired when performing which he says could be why he forgot a couple of lines.

Reality shows take their toll on participants and has often been a point of debate for many parents.

How he keeps his voice in tune “I love ice-cream! If there’s a bowl in front of me, I will devour it,” says the 17 year old. He says that there is no real maintenance that he does – just avoiding soft drinks is good for him. “I also avoid shouting which often gives me a sore throat,” shared Kabir.

He’s the ‘not-so-sensitive’ and rough and tough kind of guy.

His start to singing Jeet Kashyap, the music teacher of Sanskriti – The Gurukul, in Guwahati is one of the first people who recognized and brought out Kabir’s talent. He was his guide and mentor. Kabir has learnt and picked up a lot of learning from a lot people in his journey so far.

Kabir soon plans to shift to Mumbai to further his dreams because “Bollywood is Life.”

Small Town Boys’ new Assamese single ‘Hengdang’ KALYAN KUMAR KALITA

A

newly released Assamese audio-video song titled ‘Hengdang’ has been able to garner huge popularity on social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube due to its completely different concept and technique. The song from the album ‘Small Town Boy’ is presented

by Small Town Boys which is penned

by Tofiqur Rahman. The song is composed by Shahnawaz and Sharmin whereas the music has been produced Manash Borthakur. The song is beautifully rendered by Preetom Dutta.

Mixing and mastering of the song has been done by Pankaj Borah at Phatbox, Mumbai. Concept and cinematography is by Shahnawaz Rahman while direction and editing has been done by Sasanka Bora. The VFX artists are Sasanka, Sohom and Deepjyoti; graphic design is by Deepjyoti Bordoloi and the colourist is Samir Gogoi. The song has been produced

by Nazbin Sultana. The main aim of

this song is to make people realize that within everybody’s heart there exists a superhero of northeast like Lachit Borphukan, Kanaklata, and Tarunram Phukan. But people have to feel his power and fight against the unpleasant elements to build a peaceful society.

The composer and cinematographer of this song, Shahnawaz Rahman, started his career in 2010 from Nagaon with the encouragement and motivation of Arup Manna and Diganta Talukdar. They believed in him and paved the way for him towards the world of cinema in which he had a keen interest. He worked in regional films like ‘Adhyay (A Chapter)’, ‘Arohi’, ‘Saknoiya’ and many more. After that, he went to Mumbai in 2013 and worked as a cinematographer in the Bollywood film industry. Initially, he started working in Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Excel Entertainment.’ He worked in Hindi films like ‘Zid’, ‘Mahi’, ‘Alone’,

‘Rock On 2’, ‘Raees’ and many more.

Besides these, he worked with various brands in the advertising industry and also worked with Amitabh Bachchan and the team of ‘Incredible India’ for Discovery Channel. Presently, he is working as an official director of photography in Pulp Cinema, Mumbai. Again, the singer of ‘Hengdang’, Preetom Dutta, is a singer and music director who has worked on the albums like ‘Krishna’, ‘Bisaru Tumakei’ Assamese Mega-serial ‘Bindaas’ and also as a music producer in the Hindi movie ‘Lal Rang.’ Manash Borthakur has been working as a music producer in Bollywood film industry since 2009.

He worked with films like ‘Lanka’, ‘Revolver Rani’ as well as in the songs like ‘Revolver Rani’, ‘Bollywood Diaries’, ‘Main Aur Charles’, ‘Lal Rang’, ‘Bulleya’, ‘Lali Ki Shadi Main Laddu Diwana.’ ‘Hengdang’ is the first Assamese video song of ‘Small Town Boys’.

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G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

Events Royal Stag Barrel Select presents “MTV UNPLUGGED” ft.

PAPON live Venue: Greenwood Resort , Khanapara Date: 4th February, Saturday.

Guwahati was treated to their hometown lad playing some Hindi numbers and made the crowd groove to fast paced Bihu numbers

Alcheringa 2017 “Eternal Sands” The annual cultural fest of IIT-Guwahati was a blast and had stellar performances by Vikku Vinayak Ram, Marnik, Carl Nunes, Bollywood icon Javed Ali and the iconic duo, Sajid-Wajid.

Venue: Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati Date: 2nd - 5th February

G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

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Events

Rongali Festival Venue: Khanapara Veterinary Field Date: 3rd - 5th Feb The 3 day program was spread out across Guwahati and included sports activities, bike and dog shows, Rock Shows and was finished in style by Nucleya

Queer Pride Rally Guwahati took out the 4th Queer Pride Rally organized by XUKIA Venue: Dighalipukhuri Date: 5th Feb

Mercedes Benz LuxeDrive Venue: Mercedes Benz Axom Motors A fine combination of Adrenaline, Gourmet and Lifestyle, Guwahati was treated to a unique event with Chef Ranbeer Brar and designer Nandita Mahtani.

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G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

Leisure Horoscope of the week

Pleasure options continue to delight as the Sun moves through your sector of leisure and fun. It might be best to keep an open schedule this week and expect the unexpected. One or two events could prove very surprising but still enjoyable. Should you find yourself falling in love, tread very carefully. With a Lunar Eclipse in your social axis, this is quite possible. Don’t rush into anything. Take the time to get to know the person better before you commit.

This could be a week when you’re stirred by the powerful vibes of the Lunar Eclipse in your chart’s topmost sector. It’s a chance to think about what’s most important to you, not only for the coming weeks but also for the rest of the year. What do you hope to achieve? The days ahead could also bring new considerations that surprise you with their freshness and sparkle. It’s possible that a career path you’ve never considered suddenly seems very attractive.

As Jupiter continues retrograde in your friendship sector, connections from the past could reappear and be important in the weeks and months ahead. Also, a piece of information could have you exploring some very entrancing opportunities, but make sure they’re solid and real, not simply a mirage, before you dive in. Moreover, you might have to let something go in order to take advantage of it, so be sure that it’s right from the start.

Although the week could seem predictable at first, it may not remain that way.

In fact, it might help to lighten your schedule to make way for the unexpected. You also need to take care with your finances, particularly when it comes to shared resources. A Lunar Eclipse indicates that you should go easy if taking out a loan or mortgage. On the plus side, this Eclipse can encourage you to pay off debt and sort out things to your advantage.

You might be in the mood to study, especially if it will help you forge ahead with your career and goals. Meanwhile, the presence of Venus in your sector of communication can be helpful for finding romance online or off. A Lunar Eclipse in your relationship zone could be a call to explore options that improve your connection with a friend or present partner. Something might need discussing, and the way you do it can hold the key to success.

The presence of Mars in your money zone could stir things up in this sector and encourage you to take action, especially regarding overdue bills or money matters that need attention.

Doing it now offers a sense of relief and leaves you feeling more in control. The cosmos is encouraging you to attend to your health and let go of any habits or routines that no longer serve you. Opt for a schedule that enhances your well-being instead.

Picture Perfect

7

2

4

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curio-city

1 2 3 4 5

Name a place in Assam which has an etymological connection with places like Penang in Malaysia, Ko Mak in Thailand and Fuvahmulah in Maldives.

Which Assamese food item is named because of its resemblance with patella or the knee cap ?

Which Assamese film is based on Himanshu Prasad Das’s play Ekhon Gaonot Eta TV Asil?

“GUITAR NO GO” - Rearrange these letters to get the name of a famous personality.

Located in the South-East corner of Guwahati, it is a Shiva Mandir constructed by Ahom King Rajeswar Singha along with a gift of 835 bighas of land. What is it?

Maharnav Gogoi (Quizmaster) This quiz has been brought to you by Brain Jam, a property of Priya Communications

Garfield by Jim Davis

Picture Perfect

5

Mera Joota hain Japani, Patloon Englishtani, Saar pain lal topi rusi Phil phi dil hain hindustani

3

curio-city

1

Thinking: What are the pictures tryQ .ingLateral to say?

4 1

5 9 7

3

2

7 5 6 5 2 3 9 9

3

9 8

5 1 34 4

4 5 7 45 2 2 11 8

8 3 6 71 6 3 23 9 58 Daily Sudoku: Thu 2-Feb-2017 5

(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2017. All rights reserved.

As your personal planet Mercury enters your sector of routines and lifestyle, the coming weeks can be an opportunity to explore ways to improve key facets of your everyday life. This week’s Lunar Eclipse can be a call to let go of habits or activities that no longer serve you. The days ahead could bring a series of revelations regarding areas where you may have a blind spot. Events can highlight this and encourage you to take action over the coming weeks and months.

87 1 8

(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2017. All rights reserved.

Feisty Mars continues its journey through your sector of travel and new experiences, so the urge to learn something to your advantage could be quite strong. Your focus may be very much on the future and what you can do to make it as exciting and worthwhile as possible. Relationships need work this week, and a Lunar Eclipse in Leo could encourage emotions to surface. This can be a good time to resolve issues that need some careful handling.

3 1

4 6

Daily Sudoku: Thu 9-Feb-2017

9 2 11 76 43 4 9 7 65 38

6 4 39 55 7 2 8 1 9 24 18

5 8 74 22 9 9 1 3 4 31 65

4 7 6 9 58 8 93 4 1 5 6 2 3 2 8 6 77 1 39 2

1 3 72 17 58 6 6 5 89 44

8 1 29 43 14 5 7 2 96 67

2 5 64 91 36 7 8 3 58 29

3 7 65 88 2 7 9 4 1 43 51

3 6 8 5 2 7 4 Daily 8 Sudoku: 3 Thu62-Feb-2017 1 2 5 7 hard 9 9 5 6 7 4 3 8 1 2 http://www.dailysudoku.com 1 Word 2 7 of 8 the 5 9 week 3 4 6

Daily Sudoku: Thu 9-Feb-2017

Troglodyte

(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2017. All rights reserved.

With some lovely aspects this week, career options could appear out of the blue. If you’re looking for a new job, think back to the past and to skills and abilities that you used in previous years and jobs. Even if they need to be upgraded, you could find that they’re exactly what someone is looking for and the key to a new job or contract. Also, go easy regarding finances. Try to save so you’ll have spare cash for unexpected events.

Sudoku

(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2017. All rights reserved.

You could develop a feeling of wanderlust and a great fondness for exploring new territory. This desire to enjoy new experiences may also be a sign that aspects of your life need upgrading. If your routines have become too familiar lately, you’ll certainly crave something different. This week’s Lunar Eclipse could bring fresh opportunities your way that sparkle with promise. Don’t rush into anything, however. Instead, take your time to thoroughly check out the merits of each option.

last week solution

You’re very much in the limelight with the Sun moving across the topmost sector of your chart. That means this is the ideal time to showcase your skills and abilities. With a Lunar Eclipse across this axis, business proposals, contracts, or your career plans may change. As one door closes, another one may open to bring fresh opportunities that prove very appealing. On another note, you might connect with an old friend who has something interesting to share with you.

1. Guwahati. All these places are named after areca nut. Guwa means areca nut and hut means market.

2. Ghila pitha 3. Doordarshan eta jantra 4. Tarun Gogoi 5. Basistha Temple

The upbeat element to the week ahead increases as lively Mercury enters electric Aquarius. The week could bring unexpected invitations and opportunities to connect with friends and network for pleasure and profit. The big news is the Lunar Eclipse, which could bring about a small revolution, particularly when it comes to your personal interests and leisure. A sport or subject may prove fascinating and pave the way for new activities and friendships.

medium

[trog-luh-dahyt] noun http://www.dailysudoku.c a person of degraded, primitive, or brutal character.

Crossword Across

Down

1 Dilapidated (10) 7 Amount (8) 8 Sluggish (4) 9 Pavement edge (4) 10 Dirigible (7) 12 Ungenerous behaviour (11) 14 Attack (7) 16 Cease (4) 19 Military vehicle (4) 20 U.S. state (8) 21 Near thing (5,5)

1 Lorry (5) 2 Dog of mixed breed (7) 3 Den (4) 4 Natural illumination (8) 5 Stinging insects (5) 6 Imitations (6) 11 Scoundrels (8) 12 Title given to a nun (6) 13 Baltic country (7) 15 Horrify (5) 17 Trophy (5) 18 In addition (4)

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G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

23

Catching Up

Nigama Medhi

Most shared story of the week

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Plus shared the news of Stuti Shree Bora, a student of Class 12 of Gurukul Grammar School who went missing on Wednesday. Stuti was found the same day after she contacted Childline (1098) when she was in distress after running away from home. Childline Guwahati’s quick response was commendable.

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GYAN

About Me

Did you know?

Uzan Bazaar

A

small locality of Guwahati called Uzan Bazaar, located between the south bank of Brahmaputra and the city railway station, is the most culturally and historically rich part of the city. The ancient pond of Dighlipukhuri is placed like a jewel, at the centre of this area. The area is ideal for taking walks with a number

of places to see.

While the Dighlipukhuri Tank is the biggest attraction, its fringes include the Assam State museum, the District Library, Rabindra Bhawan theatre hall, Ambari archeological area, Cotton College and Nehru Park.

There are several other places of interest in the area that include the Jor Pukhuri, Latasil, Maas Ghat, Baruwari Puja Mandap and Vivekananda Kendra. Uzan Bazaar today remains the oldest and most preferred residential area of the city and continues to retain an old-world rustic charm within the bustle of Guwahati.

PIC OF THE

WEEK

That liberating feeling! | Photo: Surajit Sharma

New

Chick on the block

Hello everyone. I am Nigama Medhi.

I am 23 years old. I have completed my M.Com. from NERIM College, Guwahati. I am a fun loving girl who also believes that girl power is about loving yourself, having confidence and strength from within. It’s about feeling sexy in your skin, even if you are not wearing a sexy outfit. In fact, I believe simplicity is what makes a person their most beautiful self.

Mojo I believe that self confidence is the most attractive attribute of a person.

What matters most is how you feel about yourself and your abilities.

Route in the Woods In future I want to see myself as a successful independent women.

Photographer : Kakali Das

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G PLUS FEB 11 - FEB 17, 2017

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