G plus volume 1 issue 45 by G Plus

VOL 01 | ISSUE 45 | AUG 9 - AUG 15, 2014

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Amrit Maghera Catching Up, Pg 24

CAG FLOORS GMC IN AUDIT PG

Despite the low turnout, ten more city buses, customised exclusively for women are likely to be added, with the authorities determined to make the service a success.

PG 04

The Guwahati Municipal Corporation has come under fire following the audit report filed by the Comptroller and Auditor General

NO-ENTRY ZONES OR MONEY MAKERS? The No-Entry zones of the city are also turning to be good money-spinners, albeit illegal.

PG 03

Women bus service to continue

PG 15 You should not overexpose yourself Bobbeeta sharma

Ward Watch @

jyotikuchi Ward No 27 Page No 14

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

Lead Story

CAG FLOORS GMC IN AUDIT Mrinmoyee Hazarika

The Guwahati Municipal Corporation has come under fire following the audit report filed by the Comptroller and Auditor General

or the last one month, the local authorities have been seen toppling down illegal dwellings and sweeping up the drains and other channels of the city in order to make it free from encroachment. All these exercises to mitigate the flash flood situation of the city, which took 11 lives occurred at the end of June this year, could have been avoided if the authorities had sincerely carried out their duties and responsibilities from the very beginning. In its performance audit report on the working of the GMC for the fiscal year 2012-13, undertaken by the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General), it had mentioned that building bye laws were violated by NOC holders due to lack of supervision by GMC. “Rule 58 read with sub-rule (58.17) of the building bye-laws states that the structural design, constructional standard etc of all multi-storeyed building are required to be supervised during construction at three stages viz foundation, plinth/ground floor and upper floor. Scrutiny of records disclosed that the GMC had no system to supervise the under construction buildings as per rule. Taking advantage of the loopholes in the bye-laws and due to lack of supervision on part of the corporations, developers as well as individuals made gross deviations by contravening the approved building permission” the CAG report says. The report further mentions that an illustrative but not exhaustive position of penalties were imposed for violation of various provisions of the building bye-laws during the period of 2007-12. “A total number of 272 cases were penalised due to violation of various provisions of building bye-laws. Out of 272 cases, in 93 cases, penalty was imposed ranging from a minimum of `1.02 lakh to a maximum of `26.32 lac. This indicated that the lack of supervision had enabled the promoters and individuals to violate the master plan and zoning regulation of the GMC,” the CAG report also states. The office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which is responsible for carrying out audits at different levels of the government also stated in its report that the GMC did not follow the procedures prescribed in the bye-laws in regard to processing and approving building permissions. “Audit observed that during the calendar year 2010, as many as 392 NOCs were issued wherein GMC cleared NOCs within 55 days in case of apartments or commercial establishments, while in residential houses, it took a minimum of 518 to maximum of 941 days. This indicated that authority had no mechanism to clear the cases in a first come first serve basis. Moreover, reasons for delay in issues of NOCs were not on record in

“

Suspected mis-appropriated amount by GMC Year

Date of collection

2010-11

A total number of 272 cases were penalised due to violation of various provisions of building bye-laws. Out of 272 cases, in 93 cases, penalty was imposed ranging from a minimum of `1.02 lakh to a maximum of `26.32 lac.

Amount (in Rs)

1/4/2010

28,700

14/12/2010

32,812

01/01/2011

021,440

18/01/2011

36,547

Total

1,19,499

Detailed cases of penalty imposed `1 lakh and above for violation of building bye-laws Year

Total no of NOCs issued

Total penalty cases

% of violation

Total penalised cases

Total amount of penalty

2007-08

399

4.51

43,86,524

2008-09

480

16.04

2,31,43,164

2009-10

496

13.51

1,14,57,359

2010-11

589

9.85

65,38,936

2011-12

471

11.04

27,13,563

Total

2,435

272

11.17

4,82,39,546

SOME RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GMC • A structured system of planning - long, medium and short term and systematic reporting mechanism needs to be implemented to enable improvement in the deliverables of the Corporation and provide adequate feedback to all stakeholders. • Budget formulation should be realistic and completed within the time frame as stipulated in the GMC Act, 1971. No expenditure should be made before the approval of the Annual Budget. • Effective monitoring, supervision by the higher authorities should be ensured to stop pilferage of revenue. • Effective action needs to be taken to ensure dwelling houses to urban poor are completed as per schedule. • Action needs to be taken to bring all of GMC’s landed properties to GMC own possessions and made encroachment free.

the test-checked cases,” CAG report says. During its audit, CAG also found anomalies in the handing of financial matters of GMC, which includes delay in making budget estimates, huge variations in expenditure made without budget provision, deficiencies in maintenance of cash books, misappropriation of municipal fund etc. The report mentions, “Analysis of the relevant files relating to budget estimate of the corporation revealed that GMC took the initiative for preparation of annual budget with a delay of five to fifteen months while

the adoption of budget estimates was delayed by six to eleven months. Scrutiny of records also disclosed that the GMC authority spent a minimum of `59.59 crore to a maximum of `104.34 crore before the final approval of the budget during the period of 20072012” Besides, it was also observed during the audit carried out by CAG that the corporation spent `7.97 crore under the major heads during 2007-08 and 2009-10 without budget provision which indicated absence of budgetary control over expenditure. Moreover, the report also mentioned that between June 2009 and March 2012, an amount of `10.21 crore was handed over by the six branches of the corporation to the three banks engaged by the corporation to collect day-to-day receipts directly from the different branches, for onward deposit into the representative bank accounts of GMC. The amounts so collected by the banks were not accounted for the municipal cash book.

mrinmoyee.hazarika@g-plus.in

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

G-View

NO-ENTRY ZONES OR MONEY MAKERS? The No-Entry zones of the city are also turning to be good money-spinners, albeit illegal.

rahul chanda

here are many roads and lanes in the city where particular vehicles are not permitted during some hours of the day, but still the roads become congested and chaotic. Recently, in view of increasing traffic congestion on public roads and as per the order of the Gauhati High Court dated 04/06/2014 in PIL No. 35/2014 for taking effective remedial measures to remove traffic hazards in different roads of Guwahati, the Governor of Assam constituted a committee with the involvement of various government departments and civic bodies. The committee is expected to make suggestions and recommendations for improving the regulatory framework, road design and enforcement to ensure effectiveness of the traffic management plan for the city. This proves that the situation of traffic is so pathetic that the Gauhati High Court and the state Governor had to interfere, but will this help? The idea of no entry zones are to ease the road congestion of certain areas but, it is seen that people violate the rules and cops keep fining them.

The business

Usually, it is the home guard personnel who guard the roads where there is a no entry sign and they make sure that the slow moving vehicles do not enter these roads during the specified timings. According to a notification sent to all the concerned officers by the city traffic SP, the movement of all slow moving vehicles, rickshaws, thelas, pony carts and handcarts are restricted from 8 am to 9 pm on the following roads:-

DG Road MG Road GNB Road RGB Road GS Road RP Road B. Barooah Road KLB Road National Highway 37 (from Khanapara to VIP Road) Now, no entry zones can be implemented in some roads and lanes, if required by the local police station to manage the traffic. There are many roads like the Athgaon Road, Fancy Bazaar and other roads connecting to the AT Road, which are no entry zones. While entering the Athgaon Road from the Marwari Hospital side, the road looks like a no entry zone with a board put up at the entry.

There is always a home guard personnel deployed there, who makes sure that slow moving vehicles are not allowed into the road. Interestingly, any vehicle travelling towards Athgaon might get confused seeing the sign as it is not clear that it is off limits for slow moving vehicles only. The four-wheelers can enter the road and are not stopped by the guards whilst the cycle rickshaws and auto carriers are mostly halted by the guards and are allowed to pass after being fined. The fines taken are without any receipt and because Athgaon is full of business establishments and wholesale markets, the vehicles have to take the road anyway. As per observers in the area, this way, the guards stand to make money out of the fines collected and the traffic congestion is also never eased. Similar problems are seen in the

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I have to take the goods to many shops in Fancy Bazaar and this is a shortcut from the AT Road from where we get the goods. I pay `20 in fine saving `100 on petrol. So I enter the market crossing gate number 3 which is a no entry zone”

Fancy Bazaar market where the slow moving vehicles are not allowed to enter crossing Gate number 3, but they pay the fines and get in. Rajib Sarkar, an auto-carrier driver said, “I have to take the goods to many shops in Fancy Bazaar and this is a shortcut from the AT Road from where we get the goods. I pay `20 in fine saving `100 on petrol. So I enter the market crossing gate number 3 which is a no entry zone.” He further added that he never receives any kind of challan or receipt of the fine paid by him. Danu Chetia, a home guard personnel deployed near the Marwari Hospital at Athgaon said that they cannot take fines as they do not have the receipt book. Only when the Assam Police officials are there then they charge fines. But the rickshaw pullers informed that the guard there does take fines. The amount can be

anything from Rs 5 to Rs 50. It can be mentioned here that taking fines without providing any receipt do not generate any revenue for the government. All the fines collected goes into the pockets of the guards and some might also land up in the pockets of a few senior officials if they are aware of the racket.

Trucks

The city also faces traffic congestion majorly because of the trucks. The six wheeler trucks are allowed to enter the city limits after only 11pm up to 6.30 am only. The trucks having challans for places like Fancy Bazaar, Bharalumukh, Athgaon are allowed to enter via the Jalukbari Rotary, trucks having challans to Fatasil Ambari area are allowed to enter through Lokhara and Garchuk Road and the trucks having challans to Dispur and Bhangagarh area can enter through the Tripura road in Six miles. While going out, the trucks can follow the same route. During the no entry period for six wheelers, the restriction is imposed at the following points:-

Jalukbari Sixmile Lakhara Garchuk Narengi BG Yard and FCI depot approach towards Geetanagar, Noonmati However, for six wheelers plying from BG Yard and FCI Depot moving outside the city via the Express Highway, Sixmile and Tripura road and vice versa, the no entry timing is 7.30am to 10.30am and 1.30pm to 3.30pm shall only be applicable as all the goods exported to the entire northeast region gets loaded at BG Yard. These trucks are also checked at entry points fined, with and without receipts. There are no restrictions on the movement of four wheelers and mini trucks for all 24 hours, however restrictions are there on some roads in the peak hours from 7.30am to 10.30am and 1.30pm to 3.30pm. Because of the court’s concern, the Governor might have constituted a committee, which will deliberate on better traffic management, but before anything, the authorities should try and concentrate on how to solve the grass root level graft which goes unreported. It neither helps the general public nor the government.

rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

City

Women bus service to continue

Despite the low turnout, ten more city buses, customised exclusively for women are likely to be added, with the authorities determined to make the service a success.

mrinmoyee hazarika

fter stalling the much anticipated city bus service started exclusively for women last month for two days in a row, the government has vowed to ensure the smooth continuation of the same in the future. Following the hitch, the regional transport authority, Kamrup (M) has resumed the all women city bus service again announcing to add ten more customised city buses to the existing lot which will be imported from outside the state. “One of the reasons for discontinuation of the women city bus service for a brief period was the lack of adequate passengers. Therefore, now the transport department has introduced one new route where there is more possibility of getting more number of women passengers and the department promises to continue the service in the city,” Dwijen Das, secretary of the Kamrup regional transport authority who retired from active service last Thursday (31st July, 2014) said. Das also cited that another reason for the unfortunate incident of cessation of the service though for a short period was the festival of Eid. Most of the drivers and other staffs had taken off days because of the festival and the women bus service got affected. “But, now we hope that this type of situation will not be created again and another ten buses exclusively for women will likely be added by 15th August. These new customised buses will be painted with blue and white coloured stripes for easy identification,” Das mentioned. Currently, 10 all-women city buses, which include six privately owned and four government run ASTC buses, are plying in two different routes of the city. The four ASTC buses are running on the existing route from Khanapara to Kachari via Ganeshguri, Bhangagarh, Paltan Bazaar, Panbazar Pani tanky and back via Md Tayabulla Road, District Library, Reserve Bank, Panbazar over bridge and Paltan Bazaar. The remaining six private buses are running on the new route from Basistha Chariali to Gauhati University via Zoo road, Chandmari, Handique college and Maligaon. Besides, the timing of the buses have also been changed. The buses are now plying between 8am and 8pm within a gap of half an hour, instead of the pervious timing of between 7am and 11am and 3pm and 8pm. The buses are equipped with CCTV cameras and each one has

a three-member staff that includes a driver and two conductors, all of them are women. “It is very hard to get skilled drivers, be it male or female. To solve this problem, we have come up with some new suggestions and request the unemployed youths to come forward and cooperate with us,” Gautam Das, DTO, (Registration and Licensing), Kamrup (M) said. Regarding the initiatives taken up by the transport department to engage skilled drivers into the profession of driving commercial vehicles, Gautam Das stated that the department is asking primarily for four categories of people to come forward. They are – persons holding a driving license for a year, persons with the educational qualification up to eighth class, people who have completed the age of 20 and educated unemployed persons. “We will provide training to those people and after completion of the training they will be provided with a certificate. The certificate holders will be eligible to drive commercial vehicles,” Gautam Das said.

“It is very hard to get skilled drivers, be it male or female. To solve this problem, we have come up with some new suggestions and request the unemployed youths to come forward and cooperate with us,”

Zerifa Wahid (Actor)

The brand ambassador of the initiative as well as noted Assamese actor Zerifa Wahid has urged the womenfolk of the city to use the all women bus service. Appealing the women of all walks of life, Wahid said, “The buses may not attract passengers initially, but things will improve. We have to applaud district transport officials for providing safe transportation for women. They are doing it on an experimental basis and we need to provide support” She further stated, “It is illogical to ask all the women to board on the all-women city buses only. They have to get on the first bus they see whenever they are in hurry. But, I am requesting them to avail the service when they get the chance to”

Deepali Rajkhowa, Women Bus driver Appealing the women of the city to avail the all-women city bus service, Deepali Rajkhowa, the first female city bus driver of Guwahati remembered, “I have started driving my first city bus in the year 1989, when I was just 21 years old. It was a government project for the educated unemployed and I owned a Swaraj majda and started plying it on the roads of Guwahati. Later, I bought another three buses.” Mentioning about driving vehicles like Mitsubishi Canter, she also stated, “In my experience of more than twenty years in the field of city bus service, I have never felt insecure. I can still remember driving the bus at 11 0 clock in the night, but never confronted any untoward incidences. Now, the government has taken a good initiative by starting all women city bus service in the city and the women should take the benefit of it” Though Rajkhowa, who is now a contractor by profession, had discontinued driving city buses in a year or two after she started it in the year 1989, she used to drive her own city buses whenever there was need till 2011.

Meghali Bora, Entrepreneur Meghali Bora, proprietor of Meghna’s Driving Training Institute which is exclusively for women also lauded the government’s initiative of introducing all-women city bus service in Guwahati. “I have been involved with the initiative from the very beginning. I have come across several clients who prefer for a lady driver especially the situation getting worst day by day as far as safety and security for the women is concerned. Besides, it will also provide a decent way to earn money for many young and courageous girls,” Meghali Bora stated.

She also stated that apart from driving, the students in her institute are being trained in martial arts and technical knowledge related to the vehicle also. “We have also trained some girls who cannot bear the expenses of training for free. After completion of training, we help them getting job opportunities,” encouraging the girls to take up the profession with pride, Bora, who acquired a professional driving license 24 years ago said. She is also planning to launch ‘Megha Cabs’ soon, which will cater only the female passengers from different parts of city locations including the air port and railway platform. rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

City

12-Year Old Brutally Murdered G Plus bureau

he successors of our generation, mostly tagged as ‘gennext’ are supposed to get the very best from all corners of the society. However, reality has something very contrasting in store to reveal before us. At least, the figures of cases registered by the police, of crimes against children in the country clearly describe it. Child abuse has no place in the world we weave for our children here and now. Yet, child abuse, including murdering them, is gut-wrenchingly real, leaving thousands of children scarred and bewildered, and their parents distraught and furious. Sharing the same trend like other parts of the country, Assam is no different. Another such shocking incident occurred in the state’s Kamrup (rural) district when a 12-year boy was killed after he was abducted at the Changsari area on August 4. The victim, Nipon Nath was a student of class VII and was living with his family in the Bakultala area, some 30 kms away from the city. On that evil day, a 23-year-old youth Dipjyoti Kalita, a carpenter living near Nipon’s house, lured Nipon

with some candies and asked Nipon to come along with him. Since then, Nipon went missing. A huge hue and cry occurred after Nipon’s parents realised that their son had not returned home in the evening. Soon after, the whole area came to know about him going missing. Police was informed after the parents received a ransom call of Rs 10 lakh.

In Assam alone at least 14 minors were killed, 80 others were abducted and 230 others were raped in 2013.

“Then some of the local told police that Nipon was seen with Dipjyoti on Sunday. We immediately detained the accused and started quizzing him. Though initially he refused but soon he told police that he had killed Nipon,” Changsari police said. Immediately, police searched Dipjyoti’s house and found Nipon’s dead body squeezed inside a wooden box. With no cut marks found, police believed that he was strangulated. Dipjyoti was arrested. What came next was more shocking! It was not the first time that Dipjyoti had killed anyone. Interrogation revealed that Dipjyoti had previously killed his seven-yearold cousin Bitopan Mali and threw his body in the Brahmaputra. A huge public outcry followed. People pressed the police to hand over the culprit to them for public justice. Police had no other way but to resort to scuffle to control the mob. Locals suspected that it was not a case of simple murder but of a human organ smuggling racket. “Dipjyoti was living in a rented house of a medical practitioner Dr. Abed Ali. We believe Ali too was in-

volved in the racket,” alleged Simanta Das, a local. Police in suspect too arrested Ali and currently interrogation is on. Dipjyoti was sent for three days of police remand by a lower court. But this is just an instance of the brutality that is even occurring in our neighbourhood. Homes, schools and all the other places where children are meant to nurture have recently become theatres of brutalization of children. In Assam alone at least 14 minors were killed, 80 others were abducted and 230 others were raped in 2013. “The stories pile up: teachers raping six-year-olds, tutors kicking three-year-olds, principals caning visually-challenged wards. It’s unspeakable brutality against the most tender and defenseless amongst us. When a particularly brutal case of abuse hits the headlines, there’s frenzied demand for instant vigilante justice but it does not address the systemic changes sorely needed to prevent child abuse. Clearly, the door has to be pushed open even more,” said Shilpi Hazarika, a student of human behaviour under the Delhi University.

Live life one more time

Syeda Ambia Zahan

“W

e don’t want to die. There is a way to avoid death and that is by letting your organs live in someone else’s body after you and live life one more time” says Zublee Baruah, the singing sensation of Assam. In an effort to dedicate her service towards the needy section of the society, she founded the Zublee Foundation. It is aimed to be an endeavour to serve the local community with special focus on senior citizens and children and most importantly to the cause of organ donation. Around 400,000 people across the country await organ transplant

every year but only 2 per cent of them get lucky. Around 10 lakh Indians suffer from corneal blindness and are awaiting corneal transplantation but only 38,000 corneas can be collected every year. Around 150,000 people are diagnosed with kidney failure in India every year but only around 5,000 get donors. As a result, every five minutes, one person dies of kidney failure in India. The Zublee Foundation for the first time organised an ‘Organ Donation Day’ on the 6th of August in the Assam Engineering Institute Playground with an objective of creating mass awareness on the need of donat-

ing organs. “Take a pledge to donate organs and the Zublee Foundation will help you in this noble gesture” said Zublee. On the event day, riders were seen wearing T-shirts and caps featuring organ donation during a motorbike rally within the city covering a radius of 25 km. Members of the foundation and more than three hundred voluntary donors came forward to donate blood in a blood donation camp organised as a part of the programme. A public awareness meeting was also held with invited doctors wherein the different aspects of organ donation including confusion of

“We will very soon install a help desk for assistance and queries where organ donor forms and membership forms will be available for joining the foundation”

donors, superstitions, difficulties in acquiring organs from the donor, role of the family of the donor were discussed. Noted doctors from the city took part and delivered their lectures in this context. Noted singers like JP Das, Zubeen Garg, Dr. Mousumi Saharia and others mesmerised the audience with their encouraging songs and thus took the prospect donors a step forward to the noble cause of organ donation. “We will very soon install a help desk for assistance and queries where organ donor forms and membership forms will be available for joining the foundation” said the songstress. The Zublee foundation has not only taken initiative regarding organ donation, but it has taken up different projects to help out the senior citizens and people with disabilities. Zubee says “India has twelve million children with disabilities and only one percent of them have access to school and 80 percent of them do not live beyond the age of 40. The foundation is considering identifying such people and helping them out to live a better life.”

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

In The News

AEC teachers Expectations for a upset over ASTU people friendly budget affiliation

Popular support for tax increase on tobacco, liquor BUDGET 2014-15

gplus feature

head of the State Budget, 2014-15 to be tabled next week, economist, academicians, trade bodies and the cross section of the society has put emphasis for a people friendly budget as a whole, while advocating for tax raise in commodities that have adverse affect on public health. Economist and former principal of the Cotton College Prof. Dilip Kumar Baruah stressed on the need of tax raise in tobacco products, liquor and other intoxicating substances for the betterment of public health in the State. “Regulating the use of such substances is an utmost necessity. I support tax raise in tobacco, liquor and other such substances. In the budget, the government should include funds to take up strong measures to stop the sale of tobacco and liquor near educational institutions. While measures should also be taken to eradicate the traditional, cultural and religious practice of tobacco and liquor use in the State,” Prof. Baruah said Disclosing his expectation from the State Budget, 2014-15, Prof. Baruah said the budget must have a plan to control the ever increasing price of the essential commodities in the State.“The budget must have a plan for proper implementation of the sections of the Essential Commodities Act to arrest the price rise in the State,” he said. He also advocated for the inclusion of a time bound action plan in the State Budget for the proper utilisation of the central fund in the State. The State budget is to be tabled in the Assam Assembly on Monday. “The State Budget should also lay emphasis on developing public private partnership models to develop the infrastructures of the government educational institutions and

“

The State Budget should also lay emphasis on developing public private partnership models to develop the infrastructures of the government educational institutions and sports facilities in the State” Prof. Dilip Kumar Baruah

(Economist and former principal of the Cotton College)

sports facilities in the State,” Prof. Baruah said. Federation of Industry & Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) Chairman RS Joshi on the other hand put stress on rationalising the tax rate in the State Budget as the industries are yet to evolve from the recessive trend. He also supported the formula of increasing tax to decrease the consumption of commodities, which have adverse affect on public health, however, he feels high tax rates on tobacco products encourages smuggling of such products from neighbouring countries like Myanmar. Joshi said the State Budget should be prepared in such a way that the every section of the society feels that this budget is for them.

He also emphasised on the need of developing the e-governance in the State to a greater height and widening of the tax net to encourage more and more people to pay tax. Academician and former principal of the B. Barooah College Dinesh Baishya is off the opinion that now-days both the governments at the State as well as at centre are not welfare governments and the budget these days are prepared following the diktats of the corporate world. “Budgets are now-day-days designed by the corporate world and international bodies like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). On one hand the budget will raise taxes on commodities like tobacco and liquor while on the other hand right under the nose of the administration, illegal trade of these commodities will continue,” he said. Baishya also said that the government has no control over price rise and illegal trade. “Prices of medicine has increased manifold but no measures have been initiated to control the price of the life saving drugs.” Meanwhile, this correspondent gathered responses from across the society on their expectations from the State Budget, 2014-15. “Budget should have something to control the price of essential commodities. To compensate the loss in controlling the price of the essential commodities government should hike taxes in luxury items and commodities which have adverse affect on public health like tobacco, liquor and others,” said PK Saikia a retired Assam government employee. For a college going student like Kaustab Talukdar, the State Budget should lower the prices of electronic gazettes like laptops, tabs, smartphones and others so that the youths have more access to the IT world.

n a statement, Engineering College Teachers’ Association (ECTA) general secretary Dr Utpal Nath said that an advertisement was published in a daily on June 26 regarding affiliation of AEC and Jorhat Engineering College (JEC) to ASTU. The advertisement was published by the Academic Registrar of Assam Science and Technology University (ASTU) informing that all government engineering colleges of Assam, including AEC and JEC, are affiliated to ASTU and the syllabus of ASTU will be taught in these colleges. “Without any full-fledged and standard syllabi and without the creation of a requisite standard educational and research environment, it is trying to bring the two colleges under its control, which are about 60 years old and has a well-known glorious heritage. The forceful co-called affiliation was done by the ASTU authority by misinterpreting and misusing a government letter (letter No. ATE.154/2012/58 dated July 23, 2014). They went a step further to publish the advertisement to legalize their illegal action. The ECTA has strongly condemned such an illegal act of the university and has emphasized on withdrawing of the advertisement immediately,” the statement said. Expressing its resentment, the ECTA said that a meeting was held at NEDFi House on April 30, 2013, in the presence of the vice chancellor (VC) of Gauhati University, VC of ASTU, Education Commissioner of the Government of Assam,

Director of Technical Education, and representatives of teachers and students from all government engineering colleges. “In that meeting, various anomalies of the ASTU Act and rules and regulations were pointed out and the ASTU authority had assured to remove these anomalies within a stipulated time. But the ASTU authority remained silent and inactive and did not take any step in this regard till today. In the meeting, a verbal assurance was given to the teachers’ association that in future if AEC and JEC were to be taken under ASTU, the same will be done only after prior discussion with their respective stakeholders,” said the statement. Moreover, the affiliation will be considered only if ASTU becomes a full-fledged university with all necessary infrastructures and only when it attains the equal status as that of Gauhati University, Dibrugarh University or any other Central university. It may be mentioned here that postgraduate (PG) courses in engineering subjects are also taught in these two colleges for a long time. But ASTU has not been able to prepare UG syllabi for all the semesters yet. The teachers’ body said that students have already taken admission under Gauhati University and Dibrugarh University for the 2014-15 academic year. Moreover, classes have already started. Such an advertisement by the ASTU authority has created a negative impact not only in the minds of the students but also in the minds of the parents.

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

In The News

THE VICIOUS CYCLE Why Assam is on the verge of a vicious Japanese Encephalitis death cycle.

Syeda Ambia Zahan

or the Assam Health department, if a person is above seventy, the government does not have to take care of his health as he is approaching the end of his life. In a state where an eighty year old man is the head as the CM, in his full capacity and strength, such notions of some officers heading the various health programs in the state simply sound ridiculous. “Actually most of the JE deaths have occurred among the people aged above 65. This is because these people were not vaccinated.” One highly placed official of the NRHM said to this correspondent when being asked about the scenario regarding the Japanese Encephalitis deaths. When asked about why were those senior people not vaccinated, he said “Actually, there are some national guidelines. Those people above the age of 65 are to be vaccinated under medical supervision. Now who will take so much care for these aged people who are anyway going to die soon.” The Monsoon in Assam seldom brings happiness. Floods, Malaria, and Japanese Encephalitis are the factors why we cannot have cheerful days. In 1978, the first case of JE was identified in Lakhimpur district and since then, for the last 35 years, it has become a household name. The pilot project of child vaccination of JE started in 1987-88 and then it stopped. Again the project, this time adult vaccination, started in 2011. The pilot project covered nine districts of upper Assam. But

for some unknown reasons, the health authorities felt that there was no need to vaccinate the people from the lower part of Assam. As a result of which no vaccination drive was carried out in later years and now everyone can see the results. This time the outbreak that occurred in the first week of June and the maximum fatalities are from lower Assam districts of Barpeta and Nalbari. To utter surprise, the districts covered under the pilot project in 2011, also have been seeing JE deaths. “The vaccine that is being supplied is not enough to cover the entire population. The pilot project covered 70% of it. We need to import the vaccine from China and the number of vaccines that is to be procured have to be submitted much earlier. This was what happened last time.” Says Biren Boruah, Director, Vector borne disease cell. It seems that the state government did not take the vaccination drive seriously. And the shocking part is two deaths of JE were reported from upper Assam districts of people who were recorded as being vaccinated. In the last three years, the central government has granted a sum of `41.50 crore to deal with JE and acute encephalitis syndrome diseases. Still the district hospitals lack special care units, medicines and laboratories. “We are not setting up laboratories where cases are rare. At present we have 13 labs to take care of all the 27 districts.” Says Boruah. Out of the 41.50 crore, the state

“

The vaccine that is being supplied is not enough to cover the entire population. The pilot project covered 70% of it. We need to import the vaccine from China and the number of vaccines that is to be procured have to be submitted much earlier. This was what happened last time” Biren Boruah, Director, Vector borne disease cell

government has been able to spent only 1.68 crore. “The Chief Minister has recently ordered us to set up laboratories and special care units in all the districts of Assam and we can make the expenditures now,” said a higher official. Call it the short sightedness of the health authorities or the two year long dissidence of Assam Congress which gave the health minister less time to concentrate on the real issues,

the state suffered despite the Centre’s interest. Most of the highly affected districts do not have a laboratory to keep a check of JE. Next September, another drive of adult vaccination will be carried out in the 14 districts of Assam. But if the department does not learn from its mistakes soon, then the next monsoon will only be followed by another spell of death. It’s time for the real things to pick up pace. The promises and funds will do anyway.

SMS ‘‘GPLUS APP’’ to 56677

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

In The News

400 TECH ADVISORS TO AID COPS

The Home Department recently announced that several technical advisors would be inducted into Assam Police to help the department to clear out pending cases and to train new recruits.

RAHUL CHANDA

tate Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi recently approved the state Home department’s proposal to create 400 posts of Technical Advisors on contractual basis in the state police. According to police officials the posts would be created to reduce pendency of cases in all police stations to 50 per cent within a year. But will it really do so? Who will be these advisors and how will they help reduce the pendency? Slow disposal rates of cases in the city and state is a long pending issue and with this new move of recruiting technical advisors, it seems like the authorities really want to work to reduce crimes and punish the culprits, but will this new strategy help or will it turn out to be just a waste of public money?

The advisors

According to senior police officials the technical advisors will be retired police officers. IGP (Law and order) SN Singh said, “All the district SPs are instructed to identify and submit the details of retired police officers who have a good history of career and have solved tough cases. The advisors have to be the best of the officers who have completed all their responsibilities with honesty and sincerity.” So, the technical advisors will be retired police officers, but the question is no matter how sincere or responsible they were, with police’s history of graft, will they add up to the reputation?

The contract

After receiving the details and the names of the compiled retired police officers, the present police officers will decide on who will be hired and who will not. But, group-ism is something which cannot be left out from a huge department like Assam Police. According to highly placed sources in the police, each and every officer has a group of people working under him and are his or her close lieutenants. Apparently, these tentative advisors who are retired are already aware of the information that 400 technical advisers would be hired across Assam and they have already started pulling the strings. Of course, everything will depend on the names submitted by the district SPs but who is to know if the names will not have group-ism? The officers deployed in all the police stations are known to the SPs and when biasness prevails in all sectors, how can a government body like the Assam Police be able to rid

of it. All the technical advisors will be hired on a contractual basis for a one year time period, and then may be the service will be extended or a new process of hiring will be carried forwards. For this year the police is planning to hire all the advisors till the end of the financial year which is March 2015.

The work

Again this is an analysis by the police department that the young officers deployed in various police stations in the state do not understand the place and find it difficult to solve cases. They have less experience and do not understand how to deal with the cases efficiently for which they require guidance. According to the authorities, the retired police officers who will join as technical advisors will help these young officers solve the cases in a speedy manner. As claimed by the authorities, the

“

All the district SPs are instructed to identify and submit the details of retired police officers who have a good history of career and have solved tough cases”

advisors would be inducted from the financial sector to deal with banking/ non-banking frauds as well as from judicial sector to tackle cybercrime cases. The advisors also will have great law and order maintenance record as they will be expected to help the young officers solve all cases relating to law and order. Interestingly, the advisors will be deployed in the police stations located near their homes as they will have to know the area well. As cops are usually known to have some understanding with the criminals, will not the advisors be helping the young officers to establish new relations with the local criminals? No matter the advisors will provide better knowledge about the area and local criminals which will help maintaining the law and order scenario, but they can also teach the tricks of the trade to enter the graft world.

The perk

The advisors would receive a fixed salary of `20,000 per month and `6.4 crore has been proposed for this purpose in the budget. The process of hiring is also on and according to the police officials, the job history details of all the eligible retired officers have not yet been submitted by all the district SPs, which is delaying the process. The technical advisors will be officers who have served as subinspectors and inspectors in various police stations. The move sounds ambitious and efficient but the officers, if selected without any bias and if they guide the young breed well, then there might be a hope of change, which can be expected. All in all, it is a positive move and if everything works well, the society should reap the benefits soon.

rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

Politicking

Daya Nath Singh

ssam, which has been problem-torn for several years is now passing through a critical situation in which the Congress Party-led state government seems to have turned a deaf ear and blind eye, despite the efforts of the local people, NGOs and media covering the news from each and every corner of the state. The party in power for the last thirteen years is now divided among several factions contesting to gain maximum benefit out of the prevailing situation. The entire state has witnessed serious violence like murder, theft, communal hatred, abduction, abuse against womenfolk and aged persons, but the administration remains in a standstill. Criminals are active and enjoy the patronage of some influential leaders. Under such circumstances, the people of the state want to bring in a ‘dynamic leader’ to tackle the situation and ensure peace in the state. The dilly-dallying of the state government by transferring certain

ASSAM CONGRESS NEEDS DYNAMIC LEADERSHIP The entire state has witnessed serious violence like murder, theft, communal hatred, abduction, abuse against womenfolk and aged persons, but the administration remains in a standstill.

police officials and constables from one place to another cannot improve the situation. The chief minister of the state provides assurances to the people of removing their problems ‘shortly,’ which has not happened for years together. He is very fond of laying foundation stones, releasing new schemes but seldom completes any. The situation would have not have been as it is now if the Central leadership of the Congress Party had

taken steps to realise and understand the situation by themselves instead of being guided by the Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi alone, who always tried to portray a one-sided picture of the situation and never allowed the Central leadership to have the opinion of other sections of the people. The failure of the Congress Party in the recent Lok Sabha polls is the result of the ignorance of the actual picture of the political situation of the state by

the Congress high command, Sonia Gandhi, party vice president Rahul Gandhi and the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Central leaders of the party were kept in dark about the frustration growing among the party cadres, who decided to play the game in absence of a clear-cut guideline from their leaders. The people of state believe that the party failed to select the right candidates for the last parliamentary polls as the entire selection of the candidates were cleared by the party vice president Rahul Gandhi. The Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD) is under the shadow of serious violence at present. Abduction of businessmen

and murder of innocent people has continued and the state government is busy in transferring policemen from the places of violence and sending in new personnel, which cannot be taken as a foolproof security measure. No senior member of the state government has so far visited the affected areas to console the people who have lost their kith, kin and properties as well. Under the leadership of the CM, the people of the state feel neglected. The Barak valley people feel ignored by the party rulers and the Lower Assam people think themselves sidelined by the heavy weights of upper Assam. They feel that the situation cannot improve under present regime.

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G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

The Week That Was

Street plays staged on ragging

City News

Plea to name Ghy railway station after Bhupen Hazarika

ll Assam Students Union has conveyed an appeal to the Home Minister Rajnath Singh to name Guwahati railway station after legendary singer-composer Bhupen Hazarika. The students’ body took forward the plea when an AASU delegation met Union railway minister DV Sadananda Gowda and apprised him about the constraint the state had been facing due to lack of broad gauge double line. They also asked him to

City to get 14 public toilets

expedite broad gauge double line construction in the state. The students’ body also urged Gowda to restructure the boundary of the NF Railway by covering only the north-eastern state in order to give more emphasis for expansion of the rail connectivity to all the north-eastern states. The AASU delegation raised their long pending demand of establishing an integral coach factory in Bongaigaon district.

34 cases of illegal parking detected

I K

amrup (Metro) district administration has finally selected locations across the city to set up public toilets. Altogether 14 locations have been selected in three revenue circles in the city and neighbouring areas. Accordingly, toilets will be installed at Jalukbari Charilai, Adabari, Maligaon, Bharalu (Guwahati circle), Khanapara, Beltola Bazaar, Basistha Charilai, GMCH (Dispur circles), Garal Bazaar, Bhattapara Chowk and Bhattapara PHE (Azara circle) besides three other places. “The GMC has been given the responsibility to construct and maintain the toilets. The process will take an approximate six months” said Kamrup (Metro) deputy commissioner M Angamuthu. Earlier, Gauhati High Court had issued notices to the state government, Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) to respond to a PIL that had prayed for adequate arrangements for separate public lavatories for women in the city. The GMC in another development move, has decided to install toilets and develop parking lots under the flyovers in the city to utilize the open spaces for public use.

n a massive drive against the illegal parking on the city roads on August 2nd, 34 cases with other issues under the Motor Vehicle Act were detected by the newly formed mobile squad of the Kamrup Metro District Administration, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the DTO at the National Highway 37 in the Khanapara to Jalukbari stretch in the city. The squad collected penalty amounting to a total of `19,500 from the violators and also detained five trucks.

n a bid to highlight the malevolence of ragging and to voice against this stigma of the education institutes, members of the All Guwahati Students’ Union (AGSU) and the Cotton College unit of AASU and student-artistes of Cotton College staged street-plays on August 1st

in several colleges of the city. The student-artistes staged the street-plays in the campuses of Handique Girls’ College, Cotton College, Guwahati Commerce College and B Borooah College, drawing attention and applause of the students. The activity continued for the next day in other colleges of the

Administration asks GMC to clear drains

uwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has been directed to clear the drains from Christian Basti to Bharalu River in an order by the Kamrup Metro district administration to undertake a massive drain clearing exercise in the city. Kamrup Metro Deputy Commissioner Dr Angamuthu, after visiting the Bhangagarh Chariali area found that the drains of that area are congested and get frequently inundated during rains, therefore decided to

clear the drainage system is blocked at many places. The cleaning drive was also taken out in Anil Nagar, Nabin Nagar and other nearby localities. On the other hand, the anti-encroachment drive in the city has completed one month on August 1st with the eviction carried out at bye-lane number 2 and 3 at Anil Nagar. A total of 12 concrete slabs were demolished during the drive to clear obstruction to the outflow of rainwater.

GU turns against ex-students in hostels

he authority of Gauhati University is all set to take strong action against the university passed out students who are still staying in the varsity hostels. Sources in the university said around 30 to 40 ex-students are staying in the GU hostels although they work somewhere or study in other institutions, but

to save money stay at the varsity hostels. According to the reports, the university authority is going to stop the age old practice of university by monitoring activities in the hostels and pay surprise visits to search ex-students still occupying hostel seats. Officials of the university will have the keys of the hostel rooms with them as well so

that surprise visits can be paid to nab the errant students. A senior official of GU said that from August itself, monitoring of the hostels will be made strict. HK Nath, secretary of the university classes said, “Unauthorized stay is not an issue in the girls’ hostels. We have noticed this illegal practice only in the boys’ hostels”.

city. The students’ body also urged the college authorities to be watchful and strict in bringing down the incidents of ragging. AGSU stated that ragging breaks down a student both mentally and morally and nothing but strict vigilance and awareness can only combat ragging.

Teachers, workers demand job regularisation

eeking the job security and solution to many other problems, members of at least seven organizations of teachers and health workers staged a protest demonstration against the government at Dispur Last Gate on August 5th. The state government had 384 multi-purpose health workers in 2009. They were asked to work on a contractual basis at the rate of `6,000 per month for six months. Now, they are appealing for regularization of their jobs. Organizations of teachers of lower primary schools and secondary schools, among others, also voiced to regularize jobs. Siddique Ali, secretary of All Assam Contractual MPW (M) Employees Union said that they have been requesting the state government to fulfil their demands but the government is not showing any concern towards them, which has forced the protest for rights. Lack of proper vaccination and required steps to tackle the Japanese Encephalitis was among the reasons to protest.

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

GMC collects `23 lakh online property tax

total of Rs 23 lakh as property tax have been collected by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) through its online property tax system. Around 558 online payments have been done since its introduction on January 6, this year. Earlier, the property tax used to be collect in individual zonal office of GMC as well as by the tax collectors going house to house for collection. The online property tax system is a vital municipal e-

City magician plans new feat

fter creating a buzz by the accurate prediction on the Lok Sabha result for the State, Young magician ‘Jadu Samrat’ Vikram is going for another heart-stopping performance during the current month. On the occasion of Magic Day, the magician will stay in an ice box for 24 hours at a stretch. Like all his previous performances, this attempt too is aimed at popularising the art of magic in the State and drawing the attention of the government. The ensuing performance is scheduled to be held at the Ambikagiri Bihutoli.“The government has to come forward to promote this art as it has immense scope for creating employment opportunities. Magic can be an interesting career option for the interested,” said Vikram. He regretted that the art of magic has not received much patronage in the State despite Assam being famous for its rich occult heritage.

governance reform and citizens can log onto www.gmcportal.in to view their property tax bill and make online payment of property tax. Online payment can be made through different banks using three modes – credit card, debit card and net banking.“The transaction charges for using this online payment facility is borne by GMC and so citizens need not have to pay any extra charges for making online payment of property tax,” said a GMC official.

GMC holds camps on revenue collection

or the renewal of trade licence, collection of property tax and mitigation of public complaints relating to taxation matters, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has started a series of camps in all the wards in the city. The camps will be conducted in various wards till August 11 and will start at 10 am every day. On August 6, the camps were held at Gandhibasti Kali Mandir for Ward No. 13, at the GMC Mayor’s residence for Ward No. 18, Kalangpar Bazar for Ward No. 22, Hatigaon High School for Ward No. 29, Lalganesh, Udalbakra, Beharbari and Lokhara for Ward No. 27 and Durga Mandap, Bora Bazar for Ward No. 4. On Tuesday, the camps were held at Chandmari Colony for residents of Ward No. 12, Chitala Mandir at Kalapahar for Ward No. 15, KFC Building at Zoo Tiniali for Ward No. 21, Beltola Tiniali for Ward No. 28, Birubari Colony Bazar for Ward No. 17 and Adabari Tiniali for Ward No. 3.

The Week That Was City News

Raghubir Yadav performs in Ghy

ollywood actor Raghubir Yadav staged a play Piano at the Rabindra Bhawan on the concluding day of Nataxurjya Phani Sarma Drama Festival on August 7. The play is a Hindi adaptation of a Hungarian drama penned by Ferenc Karinthy. Yadav, who worked in films like Lagaan and Dil Se, who has directed the play besides playing one of

the three characters in it, hoped that the play would be able to give answer to the people of this modern age on how to encounter loneliness. The play is about a person who works whole day in a library and returns empty to an empty home in the evening. His wife has deserted him and he has no friends. One day he comes across an advertisement where a piano is on

he decision of the Income Tax (IT) Department to not supply free-of-cost return forms to the tax payers has left the salaried income tax payers in the city depressed. As to attract the income tax payers towards online submission of their returns, the IT Department has taken the initia-

tive of online filing of the returns. This is why the Department has stopped issuing forms to the tax payers. The income tax payers alleged that contrary to the existing practice of supplying the return forms free-of-cost to them; the IT Department has this year asked them to download the forms from

7 bags of plastic in the Glass Factory of Fatashil Ambari and 12 bags in Bamunimaidam have been sealed by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) in its intensive drive against plastics on August 5. GMC has also collected a fine of `10000 during the drive at Fatashil. A senior GMC official said that on July 5 godowns used for storage of polythene were sealed and huge consignments of polythene of below 40 microns were confiscated. The administration is all set to intensify the drive for month long in collaboration with the Kamrup Metro district administration and the Pollution Control Board, Assam. As the use of items made by polythene and their unscientific disposal is among the major reasons for the blockage of drains and other water-bodies in the city resulting in incidents of artificial flooding, the GMC has called upon the public in the city to cooperate with it in the drive against polythene.

rime Bakes, the retail bakery brand of Guwahati, announced the launch of a limited edition Rakhi inspired confectionery to mark the festive occasion of Raksha Bandhan. Inspired by the sacred thread, the confectionery range adorned with traditional floral motifs will be made available starting at Rs

sale. He dials the number given in the advertisement and is answered by a lady and the story begins from there. The festival completed 18 successful years and has presented a handful of selected plays in its 19th edition this year. Last year, the organisers of Nataxurjya Phani Sarma Drama Festival celebrated golden jubilee of mobile theatre in Assam.

IT Dept stops issuing forms to tax payers

Prime Bakes launches Rakhi inspired confectionery

Intensive drive against polythene

50. The fresh range comprising of cakes, brownies, cupcakes, decorated chocolates etc. will be made available in traditional flavors like rich dry fruit, kesar almond etc. apart from the regular flavors. This one of a kind confectionery can also be customized making it a novel gifting option. Available from 8th April onwards

the special confectionery can be preordered at any prime bakes outlet in the city. “Through our offering we seek to celebrate the sweetness of the brother-sister bond. The interesting fusion of western style confectionery with traditional motifs shall surely catch the fancy of city dwellers,” said Nirupam Muklania of Prime Bakes.

the Department’s website. As the forms are three-page coloured ones, a tax payer is to spend Rs 30 to get his or her set of forms downloaded. IT Department has requested those tax payers, who are still clinging on to the old habits, to download their sets of forms for filing their respective returns.

SFI holds protest at GU

ctivists of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) held a protest programme at the Gauhati University on August 5 to press for fulfilment of various demands, including increasing the number of seats in the post-graduate courses and commensurate rise in the number of faculties, building of new hostels for girl students and allowing BA-LLB students to take ‘Honours’ course. The SFI members took out a rally from the GU main gate to the office of the university Vice Chancellor.They later held a discussion with the GU authorities, following which the latter conceded to some of the demands of the agitating students. The university authorities agreed to open a hostel for accommodation of 110 girl students. They also promised to raise the issues of increasing the number of PG seats and infrastructure development and the BA-LLB ‘Honours’ matter at a special meeting of the university council. The GU authorities also agreed to extend the deadline for admission into the BA-LLB course.

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

Society

THE GUWAHATI DAIRY Being one of the most prominent landmarks in the city, the place has made a name for its own as one of the oldest hangout joints in Guwahati.

SHUBHOJIT ROY

stablished in the year 1928 at Panbazar, the Guwahati Dairy is one of the oldest sweet shops in Guwahati city. The shop is currently being run by its third generation owners and is hopeful about continuing its legacy for the many years to come. G Plus visits the shop; share its history while enjoying an early morning cup of tea.

The history

In the year 1928, while fighting for India’s independence, Late Dhirendra Kumar Deb started the Guwahati Dairy. Deb was raised in the Sylhet district (in Bangladesh now) and after completion of his education in Dhaka, he came to Guwahati. While in Guwahati, he participated in the non-cooperation movement against the British raj from 1920s. In 1923, he first started a business of selling umbrellas and five years later, he took a shop on rent and named it Guwahati Dairy. While running his business, he fought side by side with Gopinath Bordoloi and Subhash Chandra Bose and was also an active member of the Congress. After India’s independence, Deb bought the shop and during the same time, the Guwahati Dairy also got extended as a sweet shop cum departmental store. In the year 1950, the Guwahati Dairy was expanded further as a

newspaper agency and got associated with the ‘Times of India.’ Later in the year 1957, Deb left for Brindaban and stayed there until 1963 in search of tranquility. He was brought back to Guwahati as his health deteriorated in 1963, and a year later he left for his heavenly abode leaving Guwahati Dairy in the hands of his son.

Current years

Since 1964, Late Dhirendra Kumar Deb’s son Ujjal Kumar Deb is in charge of Guwahati Dairy. Rajnish Deb, son of Ujjal Kumar later joined in his grandfather’s business and now, both Ujjal and his son are looking after the shop. While talking to G Plus, Ujjal says, “The business has gone down in the recent years by around 50%. Many new outlets have replaced the old ones and we too have been pushed back somehow over time. We will also have to renovate the shop and modernise it at some point or the other pretty soon. Moreover, price rise has also affected our sales to a great extent.” Interestingly, Ujjal informed us that the shop still enjoys the support of loyal customers who have been coming in since the 1960s and are octogenarians. “The locals who have been coming here since a long time have a great trust in our products and service. It is a great feeling when

The business has gone down in the recent years by around 50%. Many new outlets have replaced the old ones and we too have been pushed back somehow over time. We will also have to renovate the shop and modernise it at some point or the other pretty soon. Moreover, price rise has also affected our sales to a great extent Ujjal Kumar Deb In charge, Guwahati Dairy people of different generations appreciate your service. We have also been covered by the news channel NDTV on one occasion some few years back for the history that is associated with this place,” reveals a proud Ujjal.

Products and prices

Guwahai Dairy is not only known for being the oldest shop in the city, but its ‘Rasmalai’ has been

its USP since its beginning. “We have other products as well, but the ‘Rasmalai’ has been our single major unique selling product throughout,” says Ujjal Kumar Deb. Speaking of the price differences; Ujjal says that when he joined the shop, the price for a cup of tea was 25p while now it’s priced at `10. “Milk was available during those days at `4 - `5 per litre but now the price has risen to `45 per

litre,” says Ujjal. The Guwahati Dairy has come a long way since its birth and It is a hang out place for many Guwahatians, especially for the office goers and the local businessmen in the area, from 1 pm to 3 pm. It is not just a sweet shop in the city, Guwahati Dairy has become one of the landmarks of the city.

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

Business

ASSAM GOVT TO TAX ONLINE SHOPPING

Mr. Arijit Basu takes over as Managing Director & CEO of SBI Life Insurance

In a seemingly discouraging move against a fledgling industry, the government is planning to charge a premium to the customers indulging in online shopping. GPLUS BUREAU

he Assam government has found a cash cow in the booming e-commerce trade. The government has readied a legislation for taxing the online purchase and e commerce goods in the state as Assam proposed to bring online shopping under the tax net. To tax the online shopping through the entry tax route, the government has proposed amendment in the Assam entry tax (amendment) bill 2014. The size of online shopping industry of the Northeast India is between `75 Crore to `100 Crore. The e-commerce trade of India is US$2 billion while size of this business in China is $190 billion. The bill stated, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The commissioner of taxes, with the prior approval of the state government, may by notification in the official gazette formulate simple procedure for the collection of entry tax on entry of specified goods into any local area made through online purchase or ecommerce and such procedure may also provide for collection of entry tax from a person other than an im-

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Those who are purchasing online are affluent people so they should not mind paying VAT on the items purchased. Huge online purchase is going onâ&#x20AC;? Chief minister, Tarun Gogoi

porter but on behalf of the importer.â&#x20AC;? The bill seeks to insert a residuary entry for levy of entry tax on goods not specified in any of the entry of the schedule. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi in budget last year said , â&#x20AC;&#x153;Those who are purchasing online are affluent people so they should not mind paying VAT on the items purchased. Huge online purchase is going on.â&#x20AC;? Myntra.com conducted a study last year, which highlighted the growing prominence of online shopping among the youth in Guwahati. This study ranked Guwahati 11th among the top 15 cities in India for online shopping. In the top bracket were Delhi NCR, Bangalore and Mumbai. The industry feels that this will be counterproductive and will unnecessary burden the consumer. The online sector is growing and it is not desirable at this juncture to tax the sector. The biggest user of this sector is the youth. Even the Myntra study revealed that Myntra.com receives around 350 - 400 orders per day from Assam only.

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r. Arijit Basu has taken over as Managing Director & CEO of SBI Life Insurance, the largest private life insurer in the country, from Mr. Atanu Sen, who retired on 31st July, 2014. On assuming his post as Managing Director & CEO, Mr. Basu said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The key focus for SBI Life Insurance would be to further tap the immense potential in the market and reach out to millions of Indians who do not have a risk cover. For us it is important to build on the trust that the Group and the Company enjoys. Our endeavour will be to grow significantly but ethically and with prudence.â&#x20AC;?

Honda Amaze crosses 1 lakh sales

onda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL), leading manufacturer of premium cars in India, today announced that its family sedan Honda Amaze has crossed the 1 lakh sales milestone.The compact family sedan clocked phenomenal sales since its launch in April 2013 thus crossing this milestone in just 16 months and fastest in HCIL history since its inception in the Indian market.

Bank complaints decrease

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he number of complaints pertaining to banking services has come down. Complaints to banking ombudsmen, which was 64 in 200304, had increased to 807 in 2012-13. However, in 2013-14 the number of complaints plummeted to 770. Among the Northeastern states though, a large number of complaints are still emanating from Assam. Across the country the banking ombudsmen gets around 75,000 complaints annually. The RBI Banking Ombudsman (North East) Anand Prakash said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;One of the probable reasons for the decrease in the complaints is may be that people are somewhat satisfied.â&#x20AC;? Among the banks, around 384 complaints were against the SBI Group banks while other nationalised banks accounted for 234 complaints. Prakash added that most of the complaints were related to ATM cards and credit card.

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

Ward Watch

“AUTHORITIES DO NOT HEED THE MAYOR” WARD NO 27 -COUNCILOR

RAHUL CHANDA

aking a drive from Paltan Bazaar towards Lokhra, just after crossing Lal Ganesh, there is a place named Jyotickuchi Tiniali, more popularly known as Shankar Hotel. Taking a right from Shankar Hotel, the road will lead you to Budh Bazaar near Lokhra. The weekly survey that G Plus undertakes in the various wards and roads, this time, takes us to check out the living conditions of people in that area. Considering the fact that this is on the outskirts of the city, the road is not expected to be so congested. But when we reached there, we noticed that it was crammed.

Sub Division 27A/ 27B/ 27C

Ward population 32,000 (approx)

Population 10000 (approx)

Concentrated region Jyotikuchi Dhupolia

Area’s population 2000 (approx)

Falls under 27 A

Major Issues Alcoholism, theft, congested roads

The congestion There are garages selling vehicle scraps located in the road and these work in a very unorganised manner. They usually have a huge garage area, but the scraps are loaded and unloaded right on the road. The heavy vehicles carrying the goods are usually parked near the garages and not inside the garage in spite of a big area being covered by the garages. The heavy vehicles parked outside the garages, take up all the road space and blocks entire traffic which makes the road very chaotic. Local people of the area are fed up of complaining about the problem and according to them, the road gets damaged every now and then only because of these heavy vehicles plying through the road because of the garages. The drainage system is also pathetic, which leads to the problem of water logging in the area. Jona Rabha, the councillor of the area said that the garages or the scrapyards in the area have been creating a problem since a long time and I have been working against the garages ever since, but still the heavy vehicles are parked on the roads creating problems for the commuters. He said, “I think there is an understanding between the garage owners and the police as the police do not do anything against the chaotic environment created by the garages. I do not want to go to the police, as they will just ask for money. I am planning to complain about the situation to the Deputy Commissioner.” The councillor further added that there are many other problems in the area.

Other problems He said that because the streetlights in the area are not working properly, at night it is very dark, and some guys who are mostly drunk during the nights makes it

I think there is an understanding between the garage owners and the police as the police do not do anything against the chaotic environment created by the garages. I do not want to go to the police, as they will just ask for money. I am planning to complain about the situation to the Deputy Commissioner.”

Councilor’s Name

Jona Rabha

Address Bank of India lane, Udalbakhra Phone number 09864144400 difficult for the common people to reach home. The drunkards pass comments and sometimes even harass innocent people. There are also thieves in the area which have good relations with the cops and so roam around openly. There have also been cases of murders reported in the area in the past. As a councillor Rabha has just completed one year, and he is upset with the speed at which the authorities work to develop the city areas. He said, “There is a lot of problem in my area like drainage system, street lights, garbage management, theft and many more, but the authorities do not respect our views and do not give importance to our complains. The authorities do not even respect the Mayor.” He further added that he often fights with the GMC engineers for their slow work rate. He feels that he is not a government employee and so he cannot be sacked, the people will not elect him as their representative if he doesn’t work, so

he doesn’t care.

Garbage management After Ramky’s exit, the newly hired NGOs are expected to manage the garbage on a daily basis but it has not yet started in the area. The councillor said that GMC did not provide the cycle rickshaws and the auto vans yet and hence the NGOs did not start the work yet. He said, “We have talked to the GMC regarding the issue, and they informed us that the work will anyhow start before 15th August. I will make sure that the NGOs work efficiently once they receive all the required essentials from the GMC.” So, if the councillor and the city Mayor himself is not respected by the authorities, who will make the city liveable? Who will represent the people and fight for the rights?

rahul.chanda@g-plus.in

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

In Conversation

You should not overexpose yourself

Bobbeeta sharma

Mrinmoyee Hazarika

obbeeta Sharma needs no further introduction. The actress, who rose to fame with various popular TV series including ‘Bidexot Apun Manuh’ and ‘Geetimalika’ has now made her debut into writing with ‘The Moving Image and Assamese Culture - Joymoti, Jyotiprasad Agarwala, and Assamese Cinema’. The book, launched last Saturday, has been published by Oxford. In an exclusive interview with G Plus, Sharma opens up about her maiden venture into the field of literature, the present Assamese film scenario and her political ambitions.

About the book.

their experiences working with the then film industry. I have also talked with the likes of Jahnu Baruah, Nipon Goswami, Moloya Goswami and Gyanada Kakoti, all of which have been included in the book. The book is mostly about the history of Assamese cinema in relation to the cultural history of Assam. I am trying to trace it from the folk elements like Bihu and Satriya dance. It is a history of performing arts into the technical art called cinema and chapters of the book are being divided in that way. While I was going through various writings of J P Agarwala and other people, it was evident that he did not make ‘Joymoti’ just as a piece of entertainment. He wanted to make it as a symbol of cultural identity of Assam and also a protest against injustice (of Lora Roja). The film was made during the freedom movement and infiltration of other cultures into the Assamese culture and it was very unfashionable to sing Bihu songs and the trend was to cherish other’s culture and looked down upon our own culture. I have included all these things in my book including the making of ‘Joymoti’. I have translated whatever materials I found on ‘Joymoti’ and included them in my book, so that it reaches to the wider audience. Fortunately, I have a friend in Oxford and he was after me and kept insisting me to come up with a book of the research I have done on the Assamese film industry. That really motivated me to give a proposal to Oxford and they went through a lot of changes with my script. I am very happy that my debut book has been published by Oxford. It took me 18 years to do the entire research, which I started way back in 1995.

When I was gathering materials for my research, there was nothing to be found on the subject. I was very fortunate to find lots of first hand materials including original newspaper clippings, interviewed veterans like Aideu Handique, Lakshyadhar Choudhury and Ishwar Prasad Choudhury who are now no more. I have also interviewed other senior people who are still around,

There is a chapter on the 75 years of Assamese cinema in my book. We have seen very good movies in the seventies and eighties. After the introduction of television, it went down and people did not want to go out to watch movies.

The inspiration to write In 1993, when I was working as a lecturer of history at the Pandu College, I enrolled myself as a fellow in the film studies department of Jadavpur University. At that time, it was the only film studies department in the country and since I was from the industry, I was interested in conducting research in the Assamese film industry. I met Professor Mihir Bhattacharyya there who was my supervisor and also the founder professor of the film studies department of Jadavpur University. I had gathered a lot of materials for my research, but, somehow, in between I got busy with ‘Geetimalika’. The year was 1998 and after Geetimalika, I got busy with ‘Bidexot apun manuh’ in 2001. Therefore, my research got relegated to the background and in the meantime, I left my job too. I could not manage time to carry out my job and my heart was more in ‘Bidexot apun manuh’ than teaching. I got fully involved with television but in the back of my mind, I always had the itch that I did not complete my Ph D. Since I had gathered so much material related to the Assamese film industry and had kept it locked in a cupboard, I thought of giving something back to the industry which has given so much to me. Professor Mihir Bhattacharyya has been one of the guiding forces behind the entire initiative of publishing my book. He has been encouraging me all the time and also helped me with different chapters as well as the naming of the book. which was the topic of my research.

Present scenario of Assamese cinema

Today people want to watch movies because of the effects used. But, I think people have so many choices and they just do not want to go out just because it is an Assamese movie. The sense of patriotism is not there in the minds of the people. I have been looking after the Assam State Film (Finance And Development) Corporation for the last ten years and from the government side, we have tried to create an environment of making Assamese films by providing grants, subsidies and public private partnership (PPP), mini cinema halls. Earlier, people did not show any interest to invest in Assamese films, but now that is changing. We made ‘Bandhon’ on our own and under PPP, three films are in the pipe line. We hope that this way, the gov-

ernment will be able to help making films on good and new ideas. The quality of the movies will have to go up, but, within a limited budget. We have to think of new ways of marketing Assamese films and shave to attract the younger crowd.

How do you see yourself – as a politician, an actress or a writer?

(Laughs). As of now, whatever responsibility, the party (Congress) has given, I tried to do my best in it. Of course, I have not given responsibility in electoral politics, but, I do not mind. Because, in other ways, I have been

able to contribute in a positive way. Writing is one thing I would continue. My ‘sir’ has already given me ideas on what I should do in my next project. It is still early but, yes, I will come up with another one, most probably about my series ‘Bidexot apun manuh’ and then I will do a political one. For long, I have not been associated with television. I think you should not overexpose yourself. ‘Bidexot apun manuh’ went on for eight years and after that I did not want it to continue. I think it should be left at that stage. If something is worth taking up, I will surely do it, maybe a talk show.

mrinmoyee.hazarika@g-plus.in

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

Reviews Director: Sajid, Farhad Cast: Akshay Kumar, Tamana Bhatia, Sonu Sood, Prakash Raj

A Director: James Gunn Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Batista, Bradley Cooper (voice of Rocket Rackoon, Vin Diesel (voice of Groot)

f ever a film could be described as a risky proposition, Guardians of the Galaxy would be it. Despite being handled by Marvel — who have made it their mission to spin every summer into a lucrative box office revenue stream — a film about Andy Dwyer teaming up with a tree and a raccoon to fight evil in space is certainly something rather left-of-field for an industry all too comfortable with playing it safe. Indeed, the majority of the film is spent establishing the main characters, led by the eminently likeable — and newly rugged – Chris Pratt as Peter Quill. Quill, taken from Earth as a child, roams the galaxy, bedding women and stealing artifacts to sell to the highest bidder. It helps that his supporting cast are perfectly balanced. Gamora (Zoe Saldana) offers a powerful, righteous counterbalance to Quill’s tomfoolery. Drax the Destroyer (wrestler Dave Bautista) is a Hulk-esque mountain of muscle, who seeks revenge for the death of his family. Bradley Cooper lends his voice to Rocket, a raccoon bounty hunter, skilled in both wise-cracking and weaponry. Rounding out the group is a humanoid tree (Vin Diesel) who offers more emotional depth than the entire Twilight saga with just the words “I am Groot.” The characterization and dialogue sparkles in a way only the dazzling special effects can match. The whole film feels alive, buoyant on the energy of its main cast and an excellent soundtrack that plays like a greatest hits compilation of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Guardians of the Galaxy’s unconventional premise may not sound like a recipe for success, but it ultimately revels in its ridiculousness. Even if the plot can occasionally get away ,it remains an utterly joyful experience, devoid of the slightly cheesy, soapbox nature of some of Marvel’s more pompous leading characters.

re you recovering from a lobotomy? Do you have the Ghajini-variety amnesia that makes you lose your memory every few minutes? Or do you perhaps have the attention span of a flea and a five-year-old’s humour? If the answer to any of these is yes, then SajidFarhad’s Entertainment is perfect for you. Starring Akshay Kumar and Junior, the “wonder dog” whose wonders are limited to walking, sitting, barking and pressing a switch, Entertainment is the story of a canine Paris Hilton. He’s pretty, vacuous, wears bling and has inherited a lot of money which makes him the target of fortune hunters. That’s Junior, not Kumar, by the way. Watching Entertainment is an education in some ways. It gives you a visceral appreciation of the saying, “it’s a dog’s life”. In the age of pet spas and animal psychologists, it doesn’t seem like much of a hardship to be a dog. Junior, for instance, seems to be a pampered pooch both on and off screen. Yet, throughout Entertainment, the dog looks into the camera with a stunned expression on his adorable face that seems to ask, “What did I do to deserve this?” “This” refers to an idiotic film that is full of overused gags, overacting humans and perhaps the worst CGI Bollywood has coughed up till date. At least Junior holds on to his dignity. Other dogs in the film aren’t so lucky. One little critter was cast only to latch on to Sonu Sood’s crotch and dangle from it. In another scene, an enormous pack of dogs lumbers towards Kumar, Raj and Sood, who seem to have somehow gone from Bangkok into a Windows XP wallpaper. First, Kumar talks to the dogs, as though he has turned into a dog whisperer. Then they attack him and finally, he bursts out of the pile of dogs like a stripper coming out of a cake. It’s quite obvious that the flying dogs are (terribly done) CGI, but one can only imagine the psychological impact of these dogs knowing they were the cake to Kumar’s stripper.

u LD o Y SHOU read

Author: Veronica Roth

hen read together, these long narrative pieces illuminate the defining moments in Tobias Eaton’s life. The first three pieces in this volume – “The Transfer,” “The Initiate,” and “The Son” – follow Tobias’s transfer from Abnegation to Dauntless, his Dauntless initiation, and the first clues that a foul plan is brewing in the leadership of two factions. The fourth story, “The Traitor,” runs parallel with the events of Divergent, giving readers a glimpse into the decisions of loyalty – and love – that Tobias makes in the weeks after he meets Tris Prior.

Director: Steven Quale Cast: Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh Into the Storm” is not just the latest disaster movie, though it embraces all of those tropes. It is a disaster movie presented as a partial foundfootage affair, complete with herkyjerky shots and lots of breathy asides into the camera. No doubt director Steven Quale (“Final Destination 5”) wanted his cast to employ a natural style, something akin to subjects in a documentary. But someone should have told him there is a difference between realism and somnambulance. And the producers didn’t even include sharks for them to be eaten by, or bother to shoot it in 3-D to juice the visuals. “Into the Storm” may not set box office records, but it may represent a movie milestone (or future trivia question). Apparently, excessively wooden dialogue has its rewards.

In the course of Entertainment’s 140-minute running time, there are a few amusing instances, mostly before interval. Depending on your mental age and how repressed you are, there will probably be a reaction to Kumar pulling out a (small) bone from his shorts. “It’s a haddi in his chaddi!” squealed someone in the theatre during the press screening, and so it is. On paper, Entertainment probably sounds like a funny spoof that plays on Bollywood stereotypes and is by temperament like the Carry On series. But the film is tacky, terribly lazy and the same jokes are regurgitated again and again. It says a lot about how starved for real entertainment this country is when Entertainment, with its stale jokes and stupidity, gets a laugh.

They Want My Soul

You SHOULD LISTEN

Author: Spoon

poon have spent the past two decades proving that minimalism doesn’t need to mean thinking small. Throughout their eight albums, the Austin band has stuck with a bedrock sound built on chugging guitar, crisp hooks and frontman Britt Daniel’s wryly incisive vocals. It’s what Spoon have done with that sound that’s interesting – adding studio craft and classic-pop dynamics to songwriting that

NOW Entertainment SHOWING

Guardians of the Galaxy

often cuts deeper than it lets on. The tensely coiled anxiety of their 2002 watershed album, Kill the Moonlight, was perfect for kids feeling burned by the Bush years; 2007’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga snuck into the Top 10 thanks to a bona fide pop jewel, “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb.” No failed electronic experiment or breakup drama has sullied their run. It’s just been one long stretch of slow-build greatness.

Kick

Apsara Cinema

Daily at 11AM, 2, 5 & 8 PM

Anuradha Cineplex

Daily at 11.30 AM , 5.15 & 8.15 PM

Daily at 9 AM (3D-H) & 2.30 PM (3D-E)

Fun Cinemas

Daily at 9.45 AM, 12.25, 5.30, 8.45 PM

Daily at 12.10 & 8.30 PM

Gold Cinema (Fancy Bazar)

Daily at 11AM, 2, 2.30, 5, 5.30 & 8 PM

Daily at 11.30 AM & 8.30 PM

Gold Cinema (Paltan Bazaar)

Daily at 11, 11.30 AM, 2, 5, 5.30 & 8 PM

Daily at 2.30 & 8.30 PM

Gold Cinema (Narengi)

Daily at 11 AM, 2, 5 PM

Daily at 8 PM

Hercules

Daily at 3.10 PM (3D-E)

Daily at 2.30 PM

Telebooking numbers: Anuradha Cineplex; 03612656968, 9954544738, Fun Cinemas: 9864800100, 9864800200, Gold Cinema (Fancy Bazaar): 03612735367, 9854077177, Gold Cinema (Paltan Bazaar): 9854066166, Gold Cinema (Narengi): 8811001898

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

Cigarette butts to power gadgets

Google Maps now lets you explore Moon and Mars

Web Watch

Download Torrent Files Directly To Your DropBox Account

G A

group of scientists from South Korea have converted usedcigarette butts into a highperforming material that could be integrated into computers, handheld devices, electrical vehicles and wind turbines to store energy. The researchers have demonstrated the material’s superior performance compared to commercially available carbon, graphene and carbon nanotubes. It is hoped the material can be used to coat the electrodes of super capacitors — electrochemical components that can store extremely large amounts of electrical energy — whilst also offering a solution to the growing environmental problem caused by

used-cigarette filters. It is estimated that as many as 5.6 trillion used-cigarettes or 766,571 metric tonnes are deposited into the environment worldwide every year. In their study , the researchers demonstrated that the cellulose acetate fibres that cigarette filters are mostly composed of could be transformed into a carbon-based material using a simple, one-step burning technique called pyrolysis. As a result of this burning process, the resulting carbon-based material contained a number of tiny pores, increasing its performance as a super capacitive material. “A high-performing super capacitor material should

ASUS launches Chromebox in India, a mini-desktop PC that runs Chrome OS

n a bid to attract consumers who are looking for space-saving desktop solutions, ASUS launched its own iteration of the Google Chromebox – a compact home or office computer that runs on Chrome OS. On the hardware front ASUS has gone with Intel’s Haswell processors on all three variants, starting from the Celeron 2955U SKU priced at `21,000 right upto the Core i7-4600U priced at an eyebrow-raising `58,000. Of the three SKUs the base model does not support 4K but the other two do. To get an idea of how small the

have a large surface area, which can be achieved by incorporating a large number of small pores into the material,” said Professor Jongheop Yi from Seoul National University . “Our study has shown that usedcigarette filters can be transformed into a high-performing carbon-based material using a simple one-step process, which simultaneously offers a green solution to meeting the energy demands of society. Numerous countries are developing strict regulations to avoid the trillions of toxic and nonbiodegradable used-cigarette filters that are disposed of into the environment each year — our method is just one way of achieving this,” he added.

oogle has added 3D, explorable versions of Mars and the Moon right into Maps. Google added the heavenly bodies to commemorate the Curiosity rover’s second year cruising the Martian surface. To view Mars and the Moon on the maps, users have to go into the ‘Earth’ view and keep zooming out till you see a little blue dot framed by stars, tap on the ‘Explore’ button will show images of moon and Mars. You can click and drag both Mars and the Moon and rotate them. To explore users can zoom in and out, similar to how it works with Google Earth. Google has crediting NASA, USGS, JAXA and SELENE for moon’s imagery and for Mars, Google has given credit to NASA and USGS on the list. To see the new additions on Google Maps users have to download the latest version unveiled earlier this year.

Gmail now recognises email ids with non Latin characters

G device is consider its dimensions – 12 cm x 12 cm. This makes it small enough to be tucked away effortlessly behind any VESA-mountable monitor or HDTV. With an HDMI and DisplayPort thrown in, the ASUS Chromebook allows users to connect to multiple displays at once.

oogle has now announced that Gmail now recognizes email addresses with nonLatin and accented characters. This new feature is already available for Gmail, and Google says it will coming for Calendar in the near future. Google is adopting an email standard introduced by Internet Engineering Task Force in 2012 and says this will encourage broad adoption of the new standard across other email providers in the future. Gmail users will now be able to send and

receive emails from others with email addresses containing nonLatin characters, though they wont be able to create emails using those characters yet. Google plans to roll out the support for account creation in accented characters soon.

Microsoft Xbox One to be sold exclusively on Amazon in India

icrosoft has announced the entire range of its Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB) portfolio, including Xbox One gaming console, would be available in India exclusively on Amazon. in beginning September 1. The range also includes Xbox 360, Kinect, Xbox Live, Xbox Accessories and all Microsoft-published Xbox game titles. Amazon.in also announced exclusive pre-orders for Xbox One beginning August 6. Chakrapani Gollapali, country general manager, consumer channels group, Microsoft India, said, “We believe this collaboration with Amazon gives us the platform to build scale at an unprecedented level for the gaming and entertainment category in India.”

He said this was the first time that they would be focusing on retailing their products through an online-only channel. Earlier the company had said that it is bringing the gaming console to India at a price of `39,990 without Kinect and `45,990 with the Kinect sensor. Xbox One bundles will include the Xbox One console — which features a 500GB hard drive, Blu-ray player and built-in Wi-Fi, one Xbox One Wireless Controller and a free 14-day trial of Xbox Live Gold for new members. With the Kinect sensor, the console offers features like gesture controls, biometric sign-in, controller paring, Skype video calls, personalization, instant scanning of QR codes, and enhanced features available with games such as ‘Kinect Sports Rivals,’ ‘Dead Rising 3,’ and ‘Project Spark.’

orrent is the popular way of downloading stuffs from the Internet. We all use some torrent client and then start downloading files from Internet. There are some web based clients are also available that allow us download torrent files. But in schools, colleges and office, torrents clients are blocked but those places have high speed Internet. If torrent clients are blocked then we can not use that high speed Internet to download our favorite files from the web. For this kind of situation,there is a nice web based torrent client called BoxoPus. BoxoPus works in different way. It downloads file from torrent and then upload it directly to your Dropbox account. It does not have any limit and offers unlimited traffic. Boxopus is very simple and work fast. Just visit Boxopus and register for a new account. You can use your Facebook, Twitter or Dropbox account to login on Boxopus. Then you well see a big text box with browser button. Now pick a torrent file from your system and click on “Put IN My DropBox” button. Then it will show you the detail of the torrent with a “Start Download” Button. Click on the button to start download. You also need to authorize the app to access your dropbox account to put the file in it. After that it will start downloading the file and it will directly saved in the DropBox account inside a folder Boxopus.This app is really helpful for those who want to download movies from the high speed Internet in office or schools. Indrajeet Bhuyan is a 16 year old tech blogger and security researcher. He is passionate about computers and believes in sharing knowledge and information . He uses his spare time helping people and companies secure themselves. fb.me/indrajeet.bhuyan

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

Health

Do it at home

Combating skin monsoon threat

g plus feature

e’ve all been there—the 5 o’clock after-work rush to the gym. It’s loud, crowded, and you’re waiting forever for equipment or free weights. But why deal with that mess when you can get a workout from home? Well, here are some routines we’re confident you’ll approve of.

Pulling

Pulling exercises like rows and pull-ups use your body weight against you, and allow you to control the degree of difficulty by manipulating leverage. They also happen to be two of the most primal, most functional exercises you can do, creating a larger anabolic response than isolation exercises, leading to greater gains in size and strength.

onsoon is indeed a beautiful season. Splattering rain and cool zephyrs captivate your heart, and you find yourself falling in love with the dark sky above. Yet, with cold rain drops comes humidity. Despite its beautiful disposition, this season is not a friend to your skin. Your skin might have to endure a number of irritants and problems during Monsoons. Here’s how you can take care of your skin during the rainy season.

Lunges

No home workout routine would be complete without a good lower-body exercise. Enter the walking lunge. You don’t need barbells, dumbbells or kettle bells to make this exercise challenging; you just need strict form and persistence. But if you are looking to make this harder for yourself, you can hold dumbbells by your side or a plate above your head. The key to the exercise is to forcibly contract your gluts rather than relying on your quad muscles to get you out of the hole. This will emphasise the proper motor pathways, correcting the bad habits you learn by spending all day sitting at a desk.

Pushups

One of the oldest exercises is still one of the best. From primary school to the Marines, pushups are a great test of upper body strength. Add intensity either by doing more reps or by giving yourself a time limit and seeing how many pushups you can do within a given time. Whichever variation you choose, make sure your form is good: legs and back in line (do not arch your back or allow your pelvis to drop), hands underneath your chest. Control your descent and be explosive.

Planks

are one of the most basic ab exercises available, but don’t be fooled: They may look easy, but they will have you sweating and shaking in seconds. The main benefit is to your

For dry skin

core, which is forced to brace itself against the weight of your body. Standard planks work your upper and lower abs, and side planks target the oblique. As with all body-weight exercises, you can manipulate your body position to increase the degree of difficulty, try, for example, doing a side plank with your upper leg raised off your body.

Agility and anaerobic conditioning

Few people do agility work or anaerobic conditioning. And there’s a good reason for that: It’s hard. It’s not as glamorous as working on your bench press, it’s not as fun as running outdoors, and it won’t stroke your ego like doing bicep curls in front of the mirror. In fact, agility work and anaerobic conditioning will kick your ass. It will humble you. And that’s exactly why you have to do it. You don’t need much: some open space and a pair of good shoes will do. The goal is to push yourself to your limits for

short periods of time and to take long rests between sets to give your body time to recover. This is not something to do when you’re already tired -- you want to force your nervous system to adapt by working at maximum intensity at all times.

Keeping the skin hydrated all the time is very important. Cleansing is important during the monsoons. The high humidity causes sweat, build-up dirt, and dust along with other toxins on the surface of skin, keeps skin nourished. Loss of moisture from skin makes it appear dry and lifeless. Use a good moisturizer at least 2 to 3 times a day.

Finish with Cardio

For oily skin

By the time you’ve finished the preceding exercises; your body will be in a state of glycogen depletion. The advantage to being in such a state is that any further exercise forces your body to draw on your fat stores for energy, making this an ideal window to do some running, swimming or other form of cardio. It’s not enough to train hard; sometimes you have to train smart. And taking advantage of the natural changes in your body chemistry is a great way to see improvement and make the most of your workout.

Use a very mild cleanser to get the dead skin and dirt off from skin. Use pure oatmeal scrub to cleanse oily skin or use ripe papaya pulp as a mild exfoliate.

Skin Care

Apart from cleansing, toning is a necessity at night. During monsoon, a lot of airborne and waterborne germs are let free. So a good anti-bacterial toner will go a long way to prevent skin infections and breakouts. It is a good idea to get anti-bacterial face wash too.

Moisturizing

Moisturizing in the rains is as important as it is in summer. Monsoons can mean a de-hydrating effect on dry skin and an excessive-hydrating effect on oily skin. The skin gets wet often and with the constant wetting and drying, a lot of dehydration takes place. That explains the itchy feeling one gets during monsoons. Use a non-water based moisturizer, if you happen to get wet often. Otherwise a water- based moisturizer will do just fine. Though

its monsoon, still don’t avoid the usage of SPF, minimum is SPF 15 as UV A rays are all the time around us hence do follow the use of sunscreen on daily basis.

Fungal problem

Major issue during rainy season is the fungal infection. So never keep your skin and body wet for long time. Lukewarm water for bath, antifungal soap, cream and talc will be beneficial.

Ayurveda and monsoon skincare

During rainy season our body is weak and susceptible. Ayurveda experts say, “According to Ayurveda, rainy season is the most unfavourable time for health. Dosha imbalances will have their manifestation on feet, nails and skin too.”

Some simple tips:

Eat a warm, unctuous diet (ghee and olive oil are best). Avoid drying foods like crackers. Drink plenty of warm water throughout the day and eat sweet, juicy fruits. Avoid alcohol-based skin cleansers. Increase intake of nuts, (almonds, walnuts and their oils), seeds (sesame, sunflower and their oils), grape seed oil, soybean oil, whole grains, and legumes. Wash your face two to three times a day with a mixture of green gram powder and channa powder (equal proportion) made into a paste with water.

Make a paste of papaya, honey, milk. Apply on face, and leave for 15 minutes and then wash off. A paste of neem leaves mixed with honey can be used as a face pack. Remove the pack before it dries up on your skin. Use a mixture of honey and curd for body massage before shower. Keep your feet dry and clean at all times and moisturise them daily. Cut your toe nails regularly and keep them free from dirt.

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

Events

‘Hero Pleasure-5th Miss India North East’ Venue- GMC Auditorium Date- 3rd August, 2014

Former Mr. Universe-Mahadeb Deka as the show stopper

Winner- Sangeeta Baishya,1st Runner-up- Daisy Deuri, 2nd Runner-up- Papari Kalita

‘Rhythmix-the International Dance Studio’

DATE

7days

EVENT

VENUE

9 Aug

Bollywood meets EDM party

Club Ozone

9 Aug

No sleep for the Wicked 1.1 - A roof top party

Hotel Bhargav Grand

9th Aug

Eclipse Live

Cafe Hendrix Crest, 8th floor

th th

10 Aug

S.W.A.G feat DJ KAN-i

10th Aug

Sunday Madness 2

Club Ozone

10th Aug

John Phukans’ Project Live

Cafe Hendrix

11th Aug

September 20, 1920 - Assam’s Ultimate Sacrifice for Independence

Pragjyotish ITA Centre

15th Aug

Independence Day Celebration

Shradhanjali Kanan

Want your event to be featured on this page? Just mail us at info@g-plus.in

THE JUDGES, Garima Saikia Garg, Anjum Hazarika, Papori Dutta, Urvashi Lahiri, Shyam Kanu Mahanta

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

G-Talk

SEX EDUCATION SHOULD BE INTRODUCED IN SCHOOLS N Manoj Kumar Singh

Chirojyoti Bhattacharjee Artist

Doctor

POINT

exuality is an important aspect of the life of a human being and almost all people, including children, want to know about it. Hence, if the information on the physiological and sociological aspects of sexual response and reproduction is not provided to a child in its formative stages, he/she will look for other sources to learn from. Today, it is a well known fact that students are exposed to a lot of information from various sources like internet and television. In such a scenario students need to have this information made available to them through a classroom environment. I feel many parents are unwilling or unable to do so because of the insecurity they face in exposing their kids to this fundamental aspect of life. But parents should remember that it is not just okay to teach our children about maths, science and history only. If they are not informed by means such as a classroom environment, they will try to learn it from other sources, such as television and pornography, which will somehow put some kind of negativity into the process of learning. The problem of using these sources is that they provide a distorted image of sex and also do not provide information on the serious, consequences that come from using it improperly. Various statistics show the impact of not having sex educations in schools. The highest STDs and teen pregnancy is observed in schools with no sex education. Parents say that abstinence is definitely the safest of all safer-sex measures and hence children should follow only abstinence but there also comes a point at which we have to accept reality. Children today engage regularly in sexual

COUNTERPOINT Providing a healthy sex education program, that responds when children begin to ask about bodies and babies and develops as they do, is our responsibility

practices without having any knowledge of the consequences. Hence sex needs to be dealt with in a smart, productive and educational setting by professionals. On the other hand, some parents feel their children are given details that are too explicit of sexual nature. It should be borne in mind that a good sex education program, delivered by confident adults only increases children’s knowledge about their health, equips them with communication and relationship skills. It supports them to develop positive attitudes to themselves and others. Failing to provide good sex education leaves children and young people vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, fear, misinformation and ill health. Children have the right to education, protection and healthcare. Hence providing, a healthy sex education program, that responds when children begin to ask about bodies and babies and develops as they do, is our responsibility.

ex is too sensitive a subject to be taught to school going children. Sex education cannot be taken as normal education as it involves a peculiar aspect in which children try to explore more and more .Even if schools teach the children about sex they will still watch pornography if the same is made available to them. Sex education will only make

The Indian government has rejected westernstyle sex education programs, saying they do nothing to solve the problem of teenage pregnancy but only exacerbate the problem by promoting sexual promiscuity

them more conscious and curious to experiment. Many surveys, which have questioned thousands of parents, found that majority do not agree with the fact that sex education should be taught to children in schools, even from a young age. Sex is a sensitive subject and parents have their own way to approach it and want to control what their children know, even more so at a young age. Sex education might encourage girls to carry condoms and boys to use them, rather than pointing out to them to stay away from sex till marriage or attaining legal age. Under age sex is illegal, so why should schools increase the desire. Giving sex education to underage children is like teaching drug addicts the safe way of having drugs. If a thing is illegal it has to be abstained from totally and the safe way of having it should not be preached at all. The Indian government has rejected western-style sex education programs, saying they do nothing to solve the problem of teenage pregnancy but only exacerbate the problem by promoting sexual promiscuity. It should be noted that sex education should be in line with the societal ethos. In India we do not preach sex before legal age and marriage which is in sharp contrast to western culture. Hence the Indian school course curriculum cannot have a sex education course in line with western culture. As found in a government report sex education in schools would strike at the root of the cultural fabric of our society that had been nourished over the millennia. If implemented it would corrupt Indian youth and lead to collapse of the education system.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor: Through your newspaper, I would like to draw the attention of the concerned authorities towards frequent power failures in our area. There are repeated power cuts in my area. The load shedding is happens at night around 1:00 AM which lasts for an hour to hour and a half. It has become a regular feature. As a result we have to face a lot of trouble. At night the whole area plunges into total darkness and our communication system goes for a toss. We don’t get any news, information and entertainment. Students and patients really suffer due to the lack of electricity. Electrical appliances are badly damaged. I had to suffer a lot during my shortly finished semester and all the students of my area are facing the same problem. My power supply company is APDCL and Division is Garbhanga. I made a call to the complaint number to lodge complaints but nothing has been done. We have been facing this problem since the last two months. The concerned authorities are requested to please restore regular electric supply to our locality as soon as possible. Dear Editor, Being a resident of Beltola Tinali, I do not feel any communication problem basically as the distance between my home and the bus stoppage is just a one minute walk. But the whole situation gets worse when the city goes through the assembly sessions. The Bashistha-Paltanbazar city buses changes their routes from the regular ones. The buses take the Six Mile road as the Survey-Supermarket route completely gets shut during every assembly session. I am not against the session but the concerned authorities should think about the commuters too. The Six Mile route takes too much time compared to the Survey- Supermarket and therefore the passengers especially, the students and office goers has to deal with a great trouble. And this has been happening since a long time, so I request to the authorities to find a permanent solution to this problem.

H. Kalita, Student, Bhetapara

Moushmi Dey, Beltola Tinali

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

LIVE, LOVE AND KEEP GOING

ritu gupta gritu21@yahoo.com

here is a difference between living a life and loving to live this life. The choice is yours. To love this life, we as individuals have to create happiness. Happiness comes from within so stop looking for it here and there. Happiness is the only ingredient needed to make you love your life. If you really want to be happy then manifest more in your world to be happy. Keep giving instructions to your sub conscious mind that you are a happy person. The moment your subconscious mind accepts your instruction, it programs your mind to stay happy. Rather than focussing on all the unhappiness, put your entire focus on things, which make you feel happy. Your intentions play a very important role. If you intend to stay happy and compassionate then nothing can affect your happiness. Change negative vision about yourself and it will help you

achieve whatever you want in life. Positive things happen with positive people. Always stay positive. It’s hard to feel happy if you feel powerless and hopeless and some people have good reason to feel this way and perhaps happiness eludes them. You’re not one of them. Empower yourself. Most people have no control over their emotional well-being. They feel ecstatic when good stuff happens and depressed when things go wrong. Their lives are roller coaster rides: sometimes up, sometimes way down. But what if you could be happy no matter what happens? Some people run after the

vague meaning of happiness which makes them fall apart. More money. more power, more friends more importance... Will this make me feel happy? Is this happiness? Do reconsider... If you are just running after these things then you really need to work more. Wanting more in life is okay, but don’t forget to relax and enjoy life for what it is – in the present. Instead of blaming others for what’s wrong in your life, focus on what you can do to make things better. Never sulk and try not to feel sorry for yourself too often. It’s your responsibility to make yourself happy: nobody else’s.

Gaddafis’ Harem I

wish for my little boy Tirus to grow up to love his girl, companion, wife, lover and treat her like a princess. I know he will ‘cause I see the care he takes of me when I am ill and distraught. He sits next to me and strokes my hair, pulls the blanket over me and barely whispers while entering the bedroom. So, when I tell him that I want him to grow up to be a wonderful man, who has to protect all the women he knows and even those who would be strangers, the only thing Tirus does is to listen intently. I know for sure he is recording everything I am saying to him, which is really good ‘cause the World will need a lot of good people, especially men to protect the women. So, what I felt when I completed reading Gaddafi’s Harem was that we would probably need more good parents, especially mothers to love their sons. Gaddafi grew up in a Bedouin family and never got much love and attention while he was growing up. So, at 27, when he took over Libya, it was not so much as to liberate it but to set up his own kingdom; a kingdom which bled inside a veil of innocence. Gaddafi gave this impression to the rest of the world that he believed in equality of women and to make it more authentic, he even had an army of women as his guards. He traveled with them to diplomatic tours abroad, making him the cynosure of most leaders. However, Libya was crying under the cover of Gaddafi’s pseudo prophetism to ‘enhance the position of women’; and all beautiful women from the age of 12 onwards, who probably had dreams of becoming a doctor, a nurse, a beautician some day and serve their country well had their dreams snuffed out at the verge of their flight. Gaddafi’s Harem is a chronicle of Soraya, a girl born of a Libyan father and Tunisian mother, kidnapped by Gaddafi’s clique when she was barely 14 years old and repeatedly raped by him for more than a decade. Even after Gaddafi was overthrown by the rebels after 42 years of his excruciatingly torturous regime and murdered in public, Soraya was never accepted by society and is now living a life of utter remorse, repeatedly asking the question, “Why me?” It is not only Soraya but 1000s of others just like her, who were either kidnapped or trapped into prostitution. So many women have perpetually gone into hiding, some fleeing the country after Libya was temporarily taken over by the rebels, more so from the fear of being shammed by society. A riveting novel, which has more goose bump effects when Soraya narrates her story in the raw, making it somewhat unreal in parts of the nightmare she faces in the hands of the dictator.

Annick Cojean, the French writer however, did get death threats for trying to reach out to most of the people involved in Gaddafi’s Harem, Bab-Al-Azizia and get the pieces of the story together. Closer home, there isn’t a single day when we don’t hear of rape of women, starting from as young as 2 years. 2,3,6, right upto 60! These are no longer numbers but ages of women who have been raped gruesomely and then most often killed. When we ask this most literal question, “What made that man rape a woman?”, we have thoughts of nothing but the most monstrous punishment for the rapist! But have we ever thought of talking to this criminal; about why he had come to such a psychological impasse that led him to tear apart ‘the delicate woman’? Probably not! But on a personal level, I thinking talking about a problem, which we as individuals don’t give much importance, should be done more often. Today, we have less time to talk or listen to a problem when it comes to our child. Listening to our child, getting him/her to talk about the inherent fears, insecurities, disturbing thoughts should be done on a daily basis. Rest I think Love will do the magic to create some fantastic people for the future! So just spread the love and feel the thrill!

tinat ATIFA MASOOD

Life

Wisdom Catches Wisdom

n India, there is a famous story of Eklavya (a character from the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata). Eklavya is considered the epitome of a disciple. As the story goes, Eklavya wanted to learn archery to save the deer in the forest that were being hunted by the leopards. He was the son of a poor hunter. So he went to Dronacharya(a master of advanced military arts) and requested him to teach him archery, butDronacharya rejected him because he was the teacher of the Royal family, he was a Raj Guru. He was teaching the royal princes of Bharat (India). Wisdom is a quality of consciousness. It can be developed through sadhana, or grace, not through information. Wisdom can directly be instilled in two ways: 1. Through spiritual practices (sadhana). 2. By putting your attention on it. In those days, if you are a teacher of the royal princes then you cannot take someone else and teach them archery and make them equal to the prince. It was not considered ethical. You are teaching archery to the prince so that you make him a great archer, to protect the nation. So you cannot teach someone from the street the same knowledge. It was forbidden to make anyone as powerful as the prince. His duty is to make the prince very powerful, so he cannot create a competitor. Otherwise the nation would not be safe and secure. So, Eklavya wanted to take Dronacharya as his Guru, but Dronacharya could not accept him. This was the law of the land, that you have to exclusively train the princes. Nevertheless Eklavya accepted Dronacharya as his Guru, and he went home and made a statue of his Guru. He learnt archery and became even better than the prince. He became an expert. He would just hear the sound of the animal and shoot an arrow at it. One day, Arjuna, the prince found out about this. He saw that Eklavya was far better than him. So he went to Eklavya and asked him, ‘Who is your Guru?’ Eklavya said, ‘Dronacharya is my Guru’. Arjuna then goes to Dronacharya and shouts at him. ‘What is this? This is cheating. You are supposed to teach only me, but you taught this man and made him more skilful than me’, he questions Dronacharya. Dronacharya was baffled as to who was this student of his, whom he had not taught, and who has become a competitor of the prince. Then they both go and meet this boy. Eklavyaleads them to the statue that he made of Dronacharya which he considered as his Guru. Dronacharya then says, ‘You have to give me some Dakshina (a gift as fees for learning)’. He asks Eklavya to give him the thumb of his right hand as a gift (without the thumb there is no archery). Eklavya without a second thought gives the thumb of his right hand to the Guru. This story is viewed as the Guru to have a very cruel attitude. The boy has learnt on his own, while Dronacharya goes and asks for his thumb taking away his skill. How bad this Guru was! This is one way to see: the Guru robbed the student of his skill. But from the other side, if you see, if it were not for this incident, nobody would have ever known Eklavya. Though on the outer level it seemed as if Dronacharya had done injustice to Eklavya, but actually Dronacharya uplifted Eklavya because this one act made him immortal. So when people think of devotion, they think of Eklavya, and not Arjuna. When you wake up in the morning, think of the Guru, or any wise person, or any saint, so that your consciousness becomes like that. Then the whole day passes by like that because you have incorporated wisdom (by remembering the Guru), and the quality of consciousness has changed to that level. This is called Pratah Smaraniya. See the greatness of Dronacharya, he took the blame on him and uplifted his student.That is why, even if the Guru is wrong, if your devotion is there you can never go wrong. But the Guru is not wrong, it appears he was partial but he uplifted Eklavya and preserved his Dharma (duty) also. His duty was to maintain the law of the land: You cannot have anyone much better than the prince. This is a beautiful story. There is a full dialogue on this which people say is very good. Yoga Vashishtha is another very nice story of how Vashishtha gives knowledge to Sri Rama. You should read Yoga Vashishtha, it is a very beautiful way in which Vashishtha gives knowledge to Sri Rama and uplifts him from depression; makes him realize that he is an incarnate of the Divine and the light of the world. So again, wisdom is a quality of consciousness. It can be developed through sadhana, or grace, not through information. Wisdom can directly be instilled in two ways: 1. Through spiritual practises (sadhana). Through

sadhana that quality of consciousness develops in you, or 2. By putting your attention on it. See, whatever you put your attention on, that quality comes into your consciousness. You become that. If you keep thinking about monkeys all your life, then... (laugher). Or if you keep thinking of someone who is angry all the time, you will also get into that state of anger. Haven’t you experienced this? (Many raise their hands) So wherever the mind goes it absorbs those qualities. So when you put your attention on wisdom, then your consciousness becomes like that. That is someone who is enlightened or very wise is called Pratah Smaraniya. It’s a very common word used in India. It means, that which is worth remembering first thing in the morning. As soon as you wake up whom do you think of? Whomever or whatever you think of, your mind assumes that quality. That is why it is said, when you wake up in the morning, think of the Guru, or any wise person, or any saint, so that your consciousness becomes like that. Then the whole day passes by like that because you have incorporated wisdom (by remembering the Guru), and the quality of consciousness has changed to that level. This is called Pratah Smaraniya. Wisdom catches wisdom. In the company of wise people, your quality of consciousness also shifts. A man of great achievement and a saintly person is called Pratah Smaraniya. Pratahmeans Morning, and Smaraniya meansWorth Remembering. That which is worth remembering first thing in the morning. Usually people say a prayer before going to bed, and as soon as they wake up, they say a prayer. Like that, in the morning it is worth remembering those with wisdom so that you become wise. That is a practice, and it makes a lot of sense. We are in a world where emotion catches emotion. If some people have an emotion, others catch that emotion. Similarly, wisdom catches wisdom. In the company of wise people, your quality of consciousness also shifts. If it doesn’t, then you have to think why not? Maybe Time could be a factor, because it is impossible not to change when there is wisdom in somebody around you. Remember this: Wisdom is not information. It is a quality of consciousness. When you walk around today, or any day from today, think that you have a diamond inside of you, a gem inside. You have acquired some gems, some wisdom. Walk in life with the feeling that you’ve been given something very precious. A lady saint called Meera, a devotee of Lord Krishna, could not make progress without a Guru. So she went to a cobbler (a person who makes shoes), and he became her Guru, and then she sang the song, ‘Payoji Maine Ram Ratan Dhan Payo’ (meaning: today I got the most precious wealth). Though she was a devotee of Krishna, the Guru gave her the mantra ‘Ram’ (laughter), and Ram and Krishna are completely opposite. Whatever Ram did, Krishna undid it all. Have you heard the comparison between Ram and Krishna? (Audience says, ‘No’) Ram was born at 12 noon and Krishna was born at midnight. When Ram was born there was a big celebration, but when Krishna was born there was fear all around. Ram was born in a palace, Krishna was born in prison. Ram will not cross the line and would obey what his father said, and Krishna never listened to his father. Many such things, completely opposite. That’s why people say, you should follow Ram and not Krishna. You should listen to what Krishna said but you should act like Ram. It is easier for the parents and the spouse. Remember this: Wisdom is not information. It is a quality of consciousness. So she used to sing the name of Krishna all the time, and her Guru gave her the mantra ‘Ram’, and so she sings, ‘Payoji Maine Ram Ratan Dhan Payo’. What I am saying is that, even though her Guru gave her the mantra ‘Ram’, it did not cause any conflict in her. If someone is Christian, a Sikh, a Budhist or a Hindu, it doesn’t matter. Whatever religion you are born into, or whatever religion you practise, it doesn’t matter. The spiritual wisdom carries you forward, so honour the knowledge. That is why Meera sings, ‘Payoji Maine Ram Ratan Dhan Payo’. It is a very famous song in India; most Indians have heard this. So Meera says that this is a wealth I received, a blessing I received. It is a great wealth.

His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

Fun

TIMEPASS

Your weekly dose of Aries

You’re a remarkable positive force as the week begins, with the gumption to get stuff going and all the necessary follow-through, too. Which areas of your life need some advancing? Tackle them now, because around Wednesday, your energy changes a bit — you’re dreamier, thinking in more abstract terms. You may even be indecisive about a certain situation or someone. Allow your feelings to evolve and don’t get frustrated, because on Friday or over the weekend, a sweet new possibility’s there for you. All you have to do is seek it out — and you’ll love the process of looking.

Leo Save the power plays for an appropriate arena as the week begins — like (maybe) work. It’s not so much about getting ahead now; concentrate more on exploring the unknown and finding a fresh perspective. A certain someone may be a little touchy-feely or wishy-washy for your taste around Wednesday, but be gentle — there’s likely more to this situation than meets the eye. Finesse it rather than forcing it. Then, from Friday through the weekend, fun’s absolutely in your stars. The more oddball things you try and weird people you meet, the happier you’ll be. Let the weird, good times roll!

Sagittarius You’re all revved up as the week begins if the stars have their say, and if you’re open-minded, you just might find a surprising (and surprisingly great) route to take. Feel free to go off the map! Your energy’s downshifted around Wednesday; to get anything done, you may need a jumpstart. Think exercise instead of more coffee — it’ll center your thoughts, too. From Friday through the weekend, it’s happy-go-lucky fun and games — life’s more like bumper cars than rush-hour traffic now, and you might bump right into some romance!

SUDOKU

Taurus

HOROSCOPE

Gemini

Something truly different may come your way as the week begins, whether in the form of a person, an idea or maybe an opportunity. Don’t let the oddity throw you; take a look, and you may see something amazing. Around Wednesday, the company of family and friends feels just right. You might find that a collection of people comes up with a great idea — or just has a fun celebration! From Friday through the weekend, do the opposite of clamming up. Try confiding a feeling, giving your two cents, making a wish. Somebody’s got something to add that might just rock your world.

Virgo

Your stellar ability to set preconceptions aside really comes in handy as the week begins. Your curiosity — about a situation, another person, yourself — can be richly rewarded now. Work or another commitment may be driving you nuts around Wednesday, but you’ll want to think things through and determine the real issue prior to speaking your mind. A mentor, a partner or a friend can help alter your perspective. Seeking out multiple points of view is favored from Friday through the weekend. The more you know, the more your own vision grows.

Cancer Dang, a certain someone seems cold as the week begins! But before you get miffed and tell them so, consider that maybe they’re just not as expressive as you. Looking into interpersonal matters like this is favored around Wednesday, and you’re also much more likely to be in the same groove as others now. Listen for your best instincts to chime in. From Friday through the weekend, what seems like an instinct could be more of a knee-jerk, and perhaps oversensitive, reaction. Avoid assumptions — they could cause problems, while clarity could be a question or two away.

Libra

Renovations and innovations are favored in all aspects of your life as the week begins, so make some changes, major or minor. (However, don’t forget to spend some downtime right in your comfort zone, too.) Around Wednesday, you may want to put the brakes on and reevaluate existing projects, relationships and so forth. The cosmic light’s yellow now, if not blinking red. Money counts from Friday through the weekend, and you may be counting yours — or counting on someone else to do their financial part. Give these matters due consideration in a timely fashion.

Capricorn

Scorpio

Balance getting back to work with a little fun as the week begins. You’ve got great intellectual power and some extra oomph in the love department now — wow! There’s plenty of time to buckle down and work on ongoing projects and responsibilities around Wednesday, but note that this may not be the time to kick off something new or make a major decision. From Friday through the weekend, though, confronting an interpersonal angle — good, bad or to be determined — is best done right away and head-on. You’ll feel way better once you do.

If life’s less than harmonious as the week begins, well, the drama makes all the world a stage. Don’t forget that you’re the author of your own part, though; make this production lead to growth. A love scene just might be in the cosmic script around Wednesday, with an intimate heart-to-heart a distinct possibility. If you’re coupled up, make it happen with your costar; if you’re single, how about some auditions? More behind-the-scenes stuff is important from Friday through the weekend. A supporting role can be very satisfying now.

Aquarius

How about starting a new tradition or trying on another style as the week begins? Whether it’s at work or at home, thinking differently should be much appreciated (and even fun). Then, around Wednesday, you just might find yourself engrossed in a creative enterprise or an interpersonal one (or both!). There are all kinds of delights and satisfaction to be found; give big ambition a rest. From Friday through the weekend, your challenge may be to balance some opposites — work and play, maybe, or responsibility and daring. Later on in the day Sunday, romance is in the stars!

If the stars have their say, you’re all passion and courage as the week begins, intent on making the world turn your way. Let those around you in on your plan — they’ll love it (and they’ll very likely love you!). Around Wednesday, some more mundane duties require attention; it may be financial matters or miscellaneous numbers. You may not want to change your focus, but you’ll have major issues later if you don’t. And never fear, because from Friday through the weekend, the stars send big, amazing stuff to you, along with a heightened sense of your interconnectedness to others. (That’s hot!)

Pisces Certain expectations put on you on Monday or Tuesday might mean you already feel like you need a break (and the week’s just started!). Set some limits; don’t push yourself to the point of stress. Around Wednesday, life looks much easier (and love may, too). It’s a gorgeous time to commence or continue something creative, something that’ll really change your world. You might be entirely absorbed in something or someone from Friday through the weekend — but don’t miss an element that’s not immediately apparent!

Quick recipe

JUST FOR LAUGHs

5 Minute Cake/ Instant Cake in a Mug All purpose flour (Maida) - 4 tblsp Sugar - 4 tblsp Cocoa Powder - 2 tblsp Egg - 1

Method

Milk - 3 tblsp Oil - 3 tblsp Vanilla extract - 2 drops Microwavable safe mug - 1

1. Apply cooking spray in the coffee mug so that the cake wont stick. 2. Add flour(maida), sugar and cocoa to the mug and mix well. 3. Add the egg and mix nicely. 4. Pour in milk and oil and mix well. Be careful to mix properly till the bottom. 5. Add vanilla extract and mix again nicely till all lumps are removed and you get a smooth batter. 6. Put mug into the microwave and cook for 3-5 minutes at high power (1000 watts). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed. 7. Allow to cool. Tip out onto a plate and enjoy.

After a very busy day, a commuter settled down in her seat and closed her eyes as the train departed Montreal for Hudson. As the train rolled out of the station, the guy sitting next to her pulled out his cell phone and started talking in a loud voice... “Hi sweetheart it’s Eric, I’m on the train - yes, I know its the six thirty and not the four thirty but I had a long meeting - no, honey, not with that floozie from the accounts office, with the boss. No sweetheart, you’re the only one in my life - yes, I’m sure, cross my heart etc. etc....” Fifteen minutes later, he was still talking loudly, when the young woman sitting next to him, who was obviously angered by his continuous diatribe, yelled at the top of her voice, “Hey, Eric, turn that stupid phone off and come back to bed!” Eric doesn’t use his cell phone in public any longer.

Solution (Last Issue)

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

COLOR PHOTO LAB G Plus will keep on publishing such relevant and useful information in this page in the coming issues.

Compiled by Mautapa Dhar

AARKE PHOTO LAB Address: AC Market, Fancybazar, Ghy-1 Contact: 0361- 2513436

PHOTOVISUAL Address: AT Rad, Bharalumukh, Ghy-9, Contact: 0361- 2514077

ANUPAM COLOR LAB Address: TRP Rod, Fancybazar, Ghy-1 Contact: 0381- 2516369

PHOTOKINA Address: MC Road, Ghy Club, Ghy-3 Contact: 9207047690

BLUE STAR COLOUR LAB Address: GS Road, Lachit Nagar, Ghy-7 Contact: 0361- 2521695

SUBHAM COLOUR LAB Address: New Field, Paltan Bazar, Ghy-8 Contact: 0361- 2541970, 2634530

CHHOBIGHAR Address: SS Road, Lakhtokia, Ghy- 1 Contact: 0361-2603125

STYLO COLOUR LAB Address: Opp DDK, RGB Road, Ghy-24, Contact: 9864050999

COLLEGE STUDIO & COLOR LAB Address: MLN Road, Panbazar, Ghy-1 Contact: 0361- 2544512

UTSAV LAB Address: Syed Market, Bhangagarh, Ghy-5, Contact: 9864036418

COLOUR MUSINGS PVT LTD Address: Ganesh Market Complex, Silpukhuri, Ghy-3 Contact: 0361- 2661273, 9854045169

XPRESSION IMAGING LAB Address: GS Road Ulubari, Ghy-7 Contact: 0361- 2454980

DM CORPORATION Address: SS Road, Lakhtokia, Ghy-1 Guwahati, Contact: 9864055587 DIGI WORLD Address: Brahmosamj Complex, lakhtokia, Ghy-1, Contact: 9864022967 DIGITAL FOTOFAST Address: Krishna Market, Fancybazar, Ghy-1, Contact: 0361- 2548253

ZOOM Address: SS Road, Lakhtokia, Ghy-1, Contact: 0361-2730769 PHOTO POINT Address: S S Road, Lakhtokia, Ghy -1 , Contact: 0361-2510029 ACCS COLOUR FILM PVT LTD Address: M C Road, Chenikuthi, Ghy- 3 Contact: 0361- 2665132

EVES PHOTO LAB Address: GS Road, ChristianBasti, Ghy-5 Contact: 0361-2599020

BENEDICTON PHOTO GRAPHIC STUDIO Address: Kabita Mansion 5th Floor, Opp Commerce College, Ghy- 3 Contact: 9864120739

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FOTO FAIR Address: Kamal Complex, Maligaon, ghy-11, Contact: 0361-2670904

QUICK PHOTO SERVICE Address: Habib Market, S S. Road, Lakhtokia, Ghy- 1 Contact: 0361-2515737

FOTO WORLD Address: Zoo Tiniali, Ghy-21 Guwahati Contact: 9207043894 IMAGES COLOR LAB Address: Near Assam Tribune, Chanmari, Ghy-3, Contact: 03612663792 IMPRESSION LAB(P) LTD Address: GS Road, Ganeshguri, Ghy-5 Contact: 0361- 2342709 JP CORPORATION Address: SS Road, Lakhtokia, Ghy-1 Contact: 9435100100 KAMAKHYA PHOTO LAB PVT LTD Address: Purabi Complex, AT Road, Ghy-1, Contact: 0361- 2602136 NEW PHOTO DEALS COLOUR LAB Address: Dayam Arcade, Lakhtokia, Ghy-1, Contact: 0361- 2608537 PHOTO HOUSE Address: SS Road, Lakhtokia, Ghy-1 Contact: 0361- 2544203

TRUE VERSION Address: Lakhtokia, Guwahati, S S Road, Panbazar, Ghy- 1 Contact: 9954724817 STUDIO JULIE Address: Lakhtokia, Guwahati, S S Road, Lakhtokia, Ghy- 1 Contact: 9435017901 STUDIO APSARA Address: Panbazar,M.l.Road, Near Ombridge, Panbazar, Ghy- 1 Contact: 03612634035 RAINBOW PHOTO LAB Address: Ananda Plaza, Ganeshguri, Guwahati GPO, Ghy- 1 Contact: 0361-2221788 PRINCE STUDIO DIGITAL Address: 2nd Floor, Akram Business, Opp.Hotel Kuber International, H B Road, Fancy Bazar, Ghy – 1 Contact: 9435555034, 9864063124

EMERGENCY NUMBERS

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AMBULANCE

Ambulance 102 Arya Hospital, Ulubari 2606888, 2606665 Downtown Hospital 9864101111, 9435012669 GLP Social Circle 2737373 GGUMTA (Mirza) 03623-227109 Marowari Yuva Manch 2542074, 2547251

BLOOD BANK

Arya Hospital, Ulubari 2606888, 2606665 Ganga Blood Bank 2454742, 2455029 Lion’s Club of Ghy Central 2546611 Marwari Yuva Manch 2546470, 2547251 Saharia’s Path Lab (24 hours) 2458594

HOSPITALS Arya Hospital, Ulubari (2606888, 2606665) B Baruah Cancer Institute (2472364/66) Brahmaputra Hospital Ltd (2451634/678) Chatribari Christian Hospital 0361-2600051, 9207044374 Downtown Hospital 2331003, 9864079366, 9435012669 Guwahati Medical College (2529457, 2529561) Guwahati Medical College Emergency (2263444)

International Hospital 0361-7135005 Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital (2541477, 2543998) Marwari Hospital & Research Centre 0361-2602738/39 Marwari Maternity Hospital 0361-2541202/01 Nemcare Hospital 0361-2528587, 2455906, 2457344

Pratiksha Hospital 0361-2337260, 2337183/84 Basistha Military Hospital (2304617/0351) Railway Central Hospital Casuality (2671025) Redcross Hospital (2665114) Sri Sankardeva Netralaya 0361-2233444, 2228879, 2228921 TB Hospital (2540193) Wintrobe Hospital 0361-2519860, 98647-77986 GNRC Hospital 0361 2227702 GNRC Life First Ambulance 9401194011

24-HOUR PHARMACIES Arya Hospital, Ulubari (2606888, 2606665) DEAD BODY CARRYING VAN GLP Social Circle 2737373, 9435047046 Marowari Yuva Manch 2542074, 2547251 GGUMTA 98640-16740 ELECTRICITY SUPPLY Call Centre – 9678005171

OTHERS Fire Emergency 101 State Zoo 2201363 GMC Carcass Pickup 9435190720, 9864047222 LPG Emergency/Leakage 2385209, 2541118

RADIO TAXI SERVICES Prime Cabs 0361- 2222233 Green Cabs 0361-7151515 My Taxi 0361-2228888 Cherry Cabs 8876222288

Cinema Hall Anuradha Cineplex – 0361-2656968, 99545-44738 Fun Cinema (HUB)- 98648-00100, 98648-00200 Gold Cinema (Paltan Bazaar) – 98540-66166 Gold Cinema (Salasar) – 0361-2735367, 98540-77177 Gold Cinema (Narengi) – 88110-01898

police station SP, Kamrup District: Ph- 2540278 DGP Control Room: Ph- 2540242 SB Control Room: Ph-2261511 Police Control Room: Ph-2540138, 2540113 Azara PS: Ph2840287 Basista PS: Ph-2302158 Bharalumukh PS: Ph- 2540137, 2731199 Borjhar PS: Ph-2840351 Chandmari PS: Ph- 2660204 Chandrapur PS: Ph-2788237, 2785237 Dispur PS: Ph-2261510 Fancybazar PS: Ph- 2540285

Fatasil Ambari PS: Ph-2471412 Geetanagar PS: Ph-2417323 Hatigaon: Ph-2562383 Jalukbari PS: Ph-2570587 Jalukbari Out Post: Ph-2570522 Jorabat: Ph-2896853 Khanapara: Ph- 2281501 Khetri PS: Ph-2787699, 2787220 Latasil PS: Ph-2540136 Noonmati PS: Ph- 2550281 North Guwahati PS: Ph-2690255 Paltanbazar PS: Ph-2540126 Panbazar PS: Ph-2540106 Pragjyotishpur Ps: Ph-2785237 Women PS Panbazar: Ph-2524627

G PLUS AUG 09 - AUG 15, 2014

Catching Up

Time Warner to go it alone as Fox exits stage

Amrit Maghera Who’s she? Amrit Maghera is an Indian - English model, actor, singer and a dancer from the United Kingdom. She has had formal acting training in London and has a first class degree in drama and dance.

So what?

She is trained professionally in many different styles of dance from a very young age such as

ime Warner Inc will not have to worry about any overtures from Twenty-First Century Fox for the foreseeable future. “As you know, we walked away. This is our resolute decision,” Fox Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch said in a rare appearance on the company’s conference call late. Murdoch, conceding defeat, was further explaining the company’s rational for pulling its bid. Earlier, Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes, speaking on the company’s

own earnings conference call, also weighed in on the scuttled Fox bid, which the CNN and Warner Brothers studios owner had aggressively resisted, as well as the merits of megadeals in general. Bewkes said he feels that Time Warner is already at scale, especially for its studio business Warner Bros which he described as the “biggest producer of content in the world” to its collection of cable networks which also dominate. “We are not lacking something we need,” he said.

TV actor Sreejita De attacked in Mumbai

ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, Bollywood and hip hop.

Now what?

Shraddha Kapoor was replaced by Amrit Maghera in upcoming Bollywood film ‘Mad About Dance’, for having better dancing skills. Amrit Maghera, reports say, was preferred over Shraddha Kapoor and Isha Sharvani who couldn’t match Maghera’s dancing skills at the auditions.

EU may ban import of paan

Pic of the week

fter imposing an import ban on five agriculture commodities from India in the past six months, the European Union (EU) is gearing up to extend the ban to Indian paan (betel leaves) as well. Frequent bans on Indian food products by the EU have prompted the Indian government to invite the officials of the EU Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) to let them assess the food safety standards followed by India. An EU delegation is expected to visit India in the first week of September, said an official with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda).

ctor Sreejita De and her cousin were robbed on the Western Express Highway, near Dahisar, on Friday night. The two had met for dinner at a dhaba close to the highway and were returning to Sreejita’s Mira Road home when the attackers struck. She said, “It was around 12.30 am and we were travelling in an autorickshaw. Suddenly, a car stopped right in front of us and three men stepped out. They slapped our driver and attacked my cousin. While one man snatched her phone, the other two attacked me. I tried to push them away and even slapped one of them, but they took away my phone as well.”

A large flock of geese, on the road near the Latasil field, forces vehicular traffic for a few moments. Printed & Published by Sunit Jain on behalf of Insight Brandcom Pvt. Ltd. and Printed at Arkashish Publications (P) Ltd., Katahbari, Garchuk, Guwahati and Published at H/No. 34, K. C. Choudhury Road, Chatribari, Guwahati - 781008, Editor: Koushik Hazarika. Phone: 0361 2737737, Email: info@g-plus.in, RNI No: ASSENG/2013/52641