GPlus Vol 6 Issue 24

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Volume 06 | Issue 24 Apr 06 - Apr 12, 2019 Price `10

Queen Ojha comes clean in education qualification row, faces fresh hurdle from opponent PG 03

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It is neck to neck between Congress and BJP in Assam G Plus Bureau @guwahatiplus

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lection fever is on. And promises from the politicians are flying thick and thin in the midst of rain and thunderstorms across Assam.

Paani, Bijli & Makaan: The status of Modi’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana

Amendment Bill, 2016 (CAB), alleged tacit understanding between Congress and BJP, unemployment, floods amongst others. Congress has been using their opposition to CAB as the primary plank of campaign and since the announcement of the NYAY scheme, the party

Gaurav Gogoi(Congress)

MGVK Bhanu (Congress)

Pallab Lochan Das (BJP)

Pradan Baruah (BJP)

But are the voters of Assam biting into these promises?

It is a million dollar question.

This 2019 Parliamentary election in Assam has been fairly sedate so far and in the melee of opinions and counter opinions, one aspect is absolutely certain that there is no Modi wave in these elections. By far, though he remains the biggest crowd puller and front runner to the post of Prime Minister and with BJP trying to cash in on his popularity weaving their election strategy around the central theme of Modi, surprisingly, in many constituencies, local issues will decide the voting pattern - a worrisome factor for BJP. There are a few issues that will hog the limelight this election season in Assam.

These issues are: Opposition and support to Constitution

campaigners are trying to impress the rural voters with the benefits of the scheme.

Barring the three constituencies of Barpeta, Karimganj and Dhubri where there will be triangular fights amongst Congress, BJP and AIUDF and thereafter Kokrajhar with multi corner fights, in the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in rest of Assam, there shall be straight fights between the Congress and the BJP-AGP-BPF alliance.

While it is too early to assess the moods of the voters in all 14 constituencies since the election has been staggered into three phases, a fairly clear pattern is emerging in the five constituencies of upper Assam which go to polls on 11th April, 2019.

Continued on Page 02

The decade that transformed a 400- year-old admin system PG 15

2 Lead Story

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

It is neck to neck between Congress and BJP in Assam fROM Page 01 In Dibruagarh, it seems to be an uphill task for Paban Singh

Analysis: 1st Phase 11th April Dibrugarh Lakhimpur Tezpur Kaliabor Jorhat Ghatowar, the Congress candidate against Rameswar Teli, the current MP from this tea garden community seat. Teli, a quiet unassuming politician, has the advantage of the well-oiled BJP election machinery and is firmly in the saddle to continue with his victory March. Ghatowar has been struggling on the tea belt and in the absence of a clear cut Congress strategy to wean away the tea voters from BJP, Teli is the front runner at this moment. Amongst the non tea tribe voters, opposition to CAB by Congress is helping the veteran Congress candidate but it would not be enough to cause an upset. So, G Plus at this point

tea tribes and STs is near complete and though the Gorkhas are unhappy with the alleged shabby treatment meted out to the lone Gorkha MP of the last parliament, Pradan Baruah of BJP has emerged as the front runner to win this seat. Anil Borgohain of Congress is putting up a spirited fight and the Ahom community seems to be backing him to the hilt. However, Congress’s erosion of faith in the tea tribes will be the primary reason for him lagging behind in this race.

Tezpur as a parliamentary constituency has always been interesting and this will be the first time in the last two decades, Tezpur voters will send a nonGorkha MP to Delhi. The main fight is between Pallab Lochan Das of BJP and MGVK Bhanu of Congress. BJP state star campaigners are toiling day and night, whether through public rallies or padyatras (foot marches) and given the attention provided by the two main campaigners of BJP, CM Sarbananda Sonowal and FM, Himanta Biswa Sarma in this constituency, it is understandable that BJP has a tough fight on hand here. BJP has been pushed to a corner, which otherwise was a fairly easy seat for the party primarily for two reasons: one, resentment amongst the Gorkhas and two, the seemingly

Paban Singh Ghatowar (Congress)

Anil Borgohain (Congress) believes that Rameswar Teli is the favourite to win this seat.

At Lakhimpur, a similar scenario emerges albeit in a different demographic backdrop.

This constituency is fairly equally dominated by the Scheduled Tribe communities, Ahoms, tea tribes, caste Hindu Assamese and a sizeable number of Gorkha voters.

BJP’s stranglehold amongst the

Sushanta Borgohain (Congress)

Topon Kumar Gogoi (BJP)

Gaurav Gogoi with his supporters at Kaliabor

Moni Madhab Mahanta (AGP)

of Bodo votes, which otherwise have overwhelmingly voted in favour of BJP in 2014 and in 2016. The caste Hindu Assamese community, who consider

Rameswar Teli (BJP)

Pradan Baruah (BJP) at an election meeting

uncivilised statement of the BJP candidate terming the Congress candidate as an old bull not fit to be in the race. This nullified the outsider tag attached to the Congress candidate allowing him back into the game with renewed vigour. Another deciding factor would be which way the Bodo community would vote in Tezpur.

Ground reports suggest a division

themselves educated and erudite in this constituency is also divided at this moment. Absence of an AIUDF candidate would ensure the majority of the minority votes for the Congress candidate but will that be enough to make Bhanu smile at the end? G Plus believes that despite the indecisive nature of a sizeable number of voters cutting across all communities in

this constituency at this moment, the BJP candidate, Pallab Lochan Das is the front runner to win this seat and this would be made easier due to BJP’s dominance amongst the tea tribe and Adivasi voters.

Now Koliabor – a high profile seat and made more prestigious due to the candidature of two primary candidates – Gaurav Gogoi of Congress, the sitting MP and son of former chief minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi and Moni Madhav Mahanta of AGP/BJP alliance who is the brother of irrigation minister, Keshab Mahanta. Mr Mahanta is a late entrant into electoral politics and being a greenhorn has not deterred him from putting up a strong fight against a formidable Congress candidate in a constituency considered to be Tarun Gogoi’s family turf.

In this constituency, one single factor – absence of an AIUDF candidate has tilted the scale in favour of the Congress candidate and Gaurav Gogoi is likely to romp home with a comfortable margin despite a spirited fight from the AGP candidate and support from its alliance partner, BJP. G Plus believes the Congress shall retain this seat in 2019.

This brings us to the last constituency to go the polls in the first phase on 11th April – Jorhat. It is considered a Congress citadel, represented by Late BK Handique six times in a row till the Congress juggernaut was halted in 2014 by the Modi wave. Locked in a direct contest between Congress and BJP, Topon Gogoi of BJP and current minister in BJP government and Sushanta Borgohain, an ex MLA from Thaowra and ex parliamentary secretary in the erstwhile Congress government in the state, this seat probably will

go the wire. Interestingly, under Jorhat, BJP and Congress have four MLAs each and the rest two are held by AGP and under these circumstances, amongst all Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam, the Congress candidate would have started from an advantageous position in this constituency. But once BJP decided to pitch a current minister and another Ahom, Topon Gogoi against Sushanta Borgohain, the electoral battle scenario changed drastically.

This constituency is dominated by three communities - Ahoms with about 4.5 lakh voters are the largest closely followed by caste Hindu Assamese and tea tribes.

BJP has a head start amongst the tea tribe, though unlike in other constituencies, Congress has been able to make inroads into the BJP stronghold making the contest interesting. Opposition to CAB is a major issue amongst the voters of Jorhat and the personal image of the Congress candidate, Sushanta Borgohain has made him a favourite to wrest this seat from BJP. Interestingly, the caste Hindu Assamese voters of this constituency, which otherwise have voted for BJP in the last two central and state elections, seem to be favouring the Congress candidate in these elections and if the Muslim voters numbering about 94,000 vote overwhelmingly for the Congress candidate, the BJP candidate will face an uphill task. The margin of victory or defeat in Jorhat will be probably the lowest in Assam and G Plus believes that the Congress candidate has his nose ahead of the BJP candidate in this prestigious seat.

So, on the basis of this analysis, G Plus would give a 3-2 score to BJP in the first phase.

General Election 2019

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

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Queen Ojha comes clean in education qualification row, faces fresh hurdle from opponent Mrinmoyee Hazarika @guwahatiplus

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eace is proving to be elusive to BJP’s Gauhati LS seat candidate Queen Ojha even after she came clean in the recent controversy surrounding her educational qualification.

The candidate drew flak from her opponents for “falsifying” documents on her educational qualification which she had submitted along with her nomination to the returning officer of the LS polls in Amingaon, Guwahati.

However, the documents were declared to be true by the concerned presiding officer following a scrutiny that was carried out in the presence of the candidate and other party members.

For the scrutiny, Ojha submitted a fresh affidavit providing a new set of information on her education qualification.

This was objected by Ojha’s opponent and another contender of the Gauhati LS seat, Upamanyu Hazarika, who raised a complaint

to the Election Commission demanding cancellation of Ojha’s nomination.

Hazarika, an independent candidate for the seat, said, “Mrs Ojha has

Queen Ojha (BJP) falsified her educational qualification as stated in the nomination form by Mrs Ojha on her own admission. She has filed two affidavits notarized on the same day.

“In one she has stated that in the year 2011 she has passed out her HS from Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University (KKHSOU) and in the other affidavit she

outcome of the examination of her documents.

Ojha said before the media, “From today onwards, I have to ride on a horse to meet each and every person. People are waiting to meet me.

“As a candidate of the party, now my only goal is to gift my constituency (Gauhati) to Modiji. I never hid anything.

The problem in the affidavit occurred because I did not check it Upamanyu Hazarika properly.

“There was some (Independent) technical error that we had rectified after qualification? following proper rules and Either one of the regulations.” two has to be correct After the controversy regarding and not both.

Ojha’s educational qualification “And this is a false statement emerged following the submission under Sec 125 A of Representation of her nomination on 30th March, of People’s Act 1951. It is an the Election Commission, on 4th election offence for which the April, decided to seek a report on Returning Officer must reject her Ojha from concerned authorities. candidature nomination and this In the affidavit filed before the is a demand registered by me.” returning officer of the LS polls, Meanwhile, Queen Ojha she said that she had done higher expressed her content over the has passed her BPP in 2012 from KKHSOU.” Hazarika further added, “Same day two affidavits and on the same subject how can there be two different versions of education

Lakhimpur: No cakewalk for BJP’s incumbent Pradan Baruah VS Cong’s Anil Borgohain Nehal Jain @NehalJain96

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or the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has fielded its sitting MP Pradan Baruah who will be going against Congress’s Anil Borgohain in Lakhimpur parliamentary constituency (constituency number 14), which is one of the most politically active and vibrant Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam.

The other candidates running for the Lakhimpur seat are Amiya Kumar Handique from Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist and Dilip Moran from the regional Assam Dristi Party (ADP).

The multicultural and multi-ethnic constituency has historically been a Congress citadel since 1967 when the elections were first fought there and Biswanarayan Shastri was the first MP from the constituency. The monopoly of the Congress was first broken by Gokul Saikia of the AGP, but the Congress took over the reins of control yet again.

It was only in 2014 that BJP managed to halt the Congress in the region with Sarbananda Sonowal coming to power.

This time around, the election will be a bilateral contest between the Congress candidate Anil Borgohain and the incumbent Pradan Baruah. However, antiincumbency, as well as the controversy over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill will play a

big role in the voting pattern of the region.

The campaigning for Lakhimpur has been going on in full swing with BJP and Congress addressing the CAB issue in contrasting ways. While the ruling party is refraining from talking much about it, the Congress campaign is centred on the law proposed by the Narendra Modi government.

The BJP is hoping to get total support from the Hindi-Bengali voters and the tea labourers in the area due to various schemes which have been implemented in the region to woo the tea community. Moreover, it hopes to retain the Lakhimpur seat with its allies Gana Shakti having a strong presence in the region.

On the other hand Anil Borgohain, who is an established businessman, is not a known face in the area. But the Congress is trying to woo the voters with its firm stand against the CAB. According to the party, because of its efforts, the Bill was not introduced in the Rajya Sabha despite it being passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8.

The Lakhimpur seat was vacated by BJP’s Sarbananda Sonowal in 2016 after he was chosen to lead the state government.

Pradan Baruah replaced Sonowal as the BJP’s candidate to win the by-poll in 2016.

Sonowal had swept the seat with 612,543 votes (55.05%) out of the total 1,111,975 votes.

Similarly, during the by-poll elections, Pradan Baruah won with 5,51,663 votes (54.87%) while the runner up was Congress’ Hema Hari Prasanna Pegu with 3,61,444 votes.

secondary (HS) from Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University (KKHSOU) in the year 2011.

The column under which she gave that information is marked for the candidate to provide details of his/her highest school/ university education with full name of the certificate/diploma/ degree course and the year of completion of the course.

However, according to KKHSOU vice-chancellor, Dr Hitesh Deka, the university never offered a “higher secondary” (HS) course or any course that is equivalent to HS. Deka told this correspondent, “The university previously offered a course called “Bachelor Preparatory Programme” (BPP) for the candidates who had failed in their HSLC or HS but wanted to enroll for a degree course.

“Maybe, other universities are still providing it, but we suspended the BPP course two years back.”

The Congress candidate for the Guwahati LS seat, Bobbeeta Sharma, also criticized Ojha for providing “false” documents before the Election Commission.

4 General Election 2019

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

Candidate watch: Gaurav Gogoi

Gaurav Gogoi one of the better parliamentarians in the country Nehal Jain @NehalJain96

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aurav Gogoi, a member of the All India Congress Committee and the son of former chief minister and Congress heavyweight Tarun Gogoi, is the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) from Assam’s Kaliabor constituency.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Gogoi received 4,43,315 votes while his nearest rival from BJP, Mrinal Kumar Saikia polled 3,49,441 votes.

Born to a family of politicians, Gogoi graduated from St Columba’s School in Delhi. He then completed BTech in Electronics and Communication Engineering in 2004 from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi and joined the marketing team of Airtel. He later went to the United States of America to study Masters in Public Administration.

Upon his return to India, he joined politics and said that he would do whatever the party wanted him to do. In March 2014 Con-

This time too, the Congress has fielded Gogoi from Kaliabor constituency where he is pitched against Moni Madhab Mahanta, member of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and younger brother of state cabinet minister Keshab Mahanta.

The Kaliabor Lok Sabha constituency has been a Congress party stronghold. Former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, his son Gaurav, and brother Dip Gogoi have been representing this constituency since 1998.

6 Private Member’s Bill introduced by Gogoi, all remain pending

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hile Gogoi’s attendance stands at merely 77%, he has fared very well in terms of questions asked and private member’s bills raised.

Among the fourteen MPs representing the state of Assam, Gaurav Gogoi introduced the maximum number (six) of private member’s bill in the parliament, followed by Silchar MP Sushmita Dev (three) and Autonomous District MP Biren Singh Engti (one).

The bills introduced by Gogoi are - The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Bill, 2018; The National Commission for Immigration Reform Bill, 2018;

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018 (Amendment of Article 85); The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of Section 2); The Reorganization of Time Zones Bill, 2017; and The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2017 (Insertion of Chapter IVD).

But all the six bills are still pending before the Lok Sabha.

The last time a private member’s Bill was passed by both Houses was in 1970.

This was the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Bill, 1968.

Fourteen private member’s bills — five of which were introduced in Rajya Sabha — have become

law so far.

Among the number of questions raised by an MP, Gogoi surpassed both the national as well as state average. While the national average is at 293 questions and state average is at 164, Gogoi raised a whopping 307 questions pertaining to various issues.

The Kaliabor MP has asked a slew of questions pertaining to matters of state and national importance.

His queries have been about a range of issues including the misuse of social media, combating human trafficking, water crisis, pollution, child marriages, infant deaths, suicides and accidental deaths in the country. n

gress Party announced Gogoi as its candidate from Kaliabor Lok Sabha constituency, which he won.

For the Lok Sabha polls 2019, Kaliabor has been one of the most talked about constituencies of Assam. The constituency comprises 10 assembly segments, namely Golaghat, Dergaon (SC), Bokakhat, Dhing, Batadroba, Rupohihat, Samaguri, Kaliabor, Sarupathar and Khumtai. With Gogoi gearing up for the polls, he is sure to be judged on his performance in the past five year performance. n

Kaliabor MP records 77% Lok Sabha attendance

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ccording to the data published by PRS Legislative Research, Kaliabor MP Gaurav Gogoi recorded 77% attendance in his five-year tenure in the Lok Sabha. It is to be noted that the national average attendance of MPs in the Lok Sabha stands at 80% while the state average stands at 74%.

Gogoi, who started his tenure with 100% attendance in the first session, slipped to 89% and 73% in the Budget Session and Winter Session 2014 respectively. In the last Lok Sabha session - Budget Session 2019 - he recorded a mere 50% attendance.

Interestingly, only six Members of Parliament (MP) in the 16th Lok Sabha managed 100 per cent attendance, four of whom are from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and none from the main opposition party, the Congress.

However, Gogoi fared well in terms of the total number of debates attended. While the national average number of debates attended by an MP has been calculated at 67.1 debates per MP and the state average is

calculated at 46.6 debates per MP, Gogoi has been present at 83 debates.

He has attended debates pertaining to issues relevant to Assam like the NRC, eviction of people from

Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary and their rehabilitation with adequate compensation and adequate provisions for their education and shelter in Assam, problems being faced by the tea workers and demand for rhino conservation and rhino corridors as well as other issues of national importance like The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2017, request to support armed forces with higher budget and technology upgradation and the flood and drought situation in the country. n

General Election 2019

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

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Moni Madhab Mahanta – one-time BJP critic now contesting LS polls in its support Mrinmoyee Hazarika @guwahatiplus

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oni Madhab Mahanta, former All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) leader, is BJP’s choice for the Kaliabor Lok Sabha (LS) seat as part of the party’s coalition with Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) for the ensuing LS polls.

This time, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not fielded any candidate from Kaliabor just to make a smooth road for Mahanta to win.

Mahanta, once a stern critic of BJP’s policies, especially the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 (CAB), is currently campaigning in full swing to garner support for his party’s alliance and help BJP regain control at the Centre.

Kaliabor constituency.

A Masters of Arts (MA) degree holder from Gauhati University, Mahanta is fighting against Congress’ sitting MP from the Kaliabor constituency and former chief minister Tarun Gogoi’s son, Gourav Gogoi.

The first time MP contender from AGP is the younger brother of State cabinet minister Keshab

support to a number of rallies and demonstrations staged in favour of scrapping the controversial bill.

In one such protest, which was organised in Kaliabor, Mahanta, along with representatives from Asom Sahitya Sabha, Asom Jatiyatabadi Juba Chatra Parishad and All Tai Ahom Students’Union (ATASU), submitted a memorandum before the district

Background

Before joining AGP, Moni Madhab Mahanta was holding the position of vice-president (VP) of AASU; he left the AGP just before the LS polls.

The 44-year old student leaderturned-politician became the talk of the town when he sidelined many party veterans from both AGP and BJP to contest from

Moni Madhab Mahanta with CM Sarbananda Sonowal at an election rally Mahanta.

Last year, when the state-wide protest against CAB was at its peak, Moni Madhab Mahanta, in his capacity as VP of AASU, lent

administration demanding withdrawal of the bill.

Present status

After filing his nomination, Moni Madhab Mahanta has

been making appearances and delivering speeches at rallies and meetings in Kaliabor to woo the voters.

Mahanta reportedly said that CAB would hardly bring any differences to the minds and lives of the voters, as people only want a leader who can talk on their behalf, not against them.

He believes that the Modi-led government in the Centre will not take any decision that will hurt the sentiments of the people of Assam.

In an affidavit filed along with his nomination, Mahanta revealed that he has movable assets worth Rs 18,75,757 and has Rs 5,18,728 cash in hand.

He inherits Rs 8,75,000 worth of assets and 7.19 acres of land that falls under Kaliabor circle office in Nagaon.

In addition, the new entrant to electoral politics has Rs 1,25,000 worth of jewellery and ornaments and a house in Kaliabor with around 6,000 sq ft of built-up area.

Mahanta has no criminal cases pending against him.

Kaliabor constituency at a glance

The constituency comprises ten assembly segments including Golaghat, Dergaon (SC), Bokakhat,

Dhing, Batadroba, Rupohihat, Samaguri, Kaliabor, Sarupathar and Khumtai.

It has remained a stronghold for the Congress Party since Bedabrata Barua first won from the constituency on the party’s ticket in 1967.

Congress had lost the Kaliabor LS seat only twice in 1984 and 1996 to AGP’s Bhadreswar Tanti and Keshab Mahanta, Moni Madhab Mahanta’s brother, respectively.

Former chief minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi, also served twice as an MP from Kaliabor LS seat in 1991 and 1998. Tarun Gogoi’s brother Dip Gogoi also represented the constituency between 2002 and 2009.

In the last LS election of 2014, Tarun Gogoi’s son Gourav Gogoi won the Kaliabor LS seat by polling 443,315 votes and defeating BJP’s Mrinal Kumar Saikia and AIUDF’s Bijoy Kumar Tiru.

As per data available with Chief Electoral Officer, Assam, Kaliabor constituency has a total of 17,10,939 voters comprising 8,74,319 male, 8,36,575 female and 45 third gender voters.

6 Governance Snippets BSF Jawan from Assam martyred in encounter with Naxals in Chhattisgarh

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

Paani, Bijli & Makaan: The status of Modi’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Harshita Himatsingka @HHimatsingka

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he ambitious scheme that seeks to provide ‘pucca’ houses to 2 crore people by 2022 overlooks smaller areas in the state and the northeastern region as a whole The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana or PMAY is a scheme that was launched by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra

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our Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were killed, while two others were injured in an encounter with Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district on April 4.

One of the martyred jawans hailed from Assam and has been identified as Assistant subinspector Bipul Bora of Gaurisagar, Dimow Mukh in Sivasagar district.

“Four BSF troopers were killed and two injured in the incident,” Deputy Inspector General (antiNaxal operations) Sundarraj P told PTI. As per reports, when the security men were advancing through a forest patch, a group of Naxals fired at them, leading to a gun battle.

The deceased were identified as BSF’s assistant sub-inspector Boro, and constables Ramkrishnan, Someshwar and Ishrar Khan.

Unhappy AGP workers to form new party on April 7

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he grassroots workers of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), expressing their unhappiness over the regional party’s alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said they will form a new party on April 7.

The AGP workers broke down during a press conference in Guwahati on Thursday, April 4.

“The decision to form an alliance with BJP was taken by some of the leaders in personal interest. These leaders are using the party as their personal company,” said AGP leader Dr Aswini Kumar Mahanta.

The grass-root workers of the party further alleged that the decision to form a new party was taken to revive the AGP from the hands of the party leaders.

In Assam, the government had enlisted approximately 2.7 lakh beneficiaries for this scheme in 32 districts of the state since 2015. However, approximately 42 percent of the project remains incomplete to date, according to data obtained from the Ministry of Rural Development.”

Modi on June 25, 2015. Under the scheme, Modi had promised the construction of 2 crore houses in the country starting from 2015 until 2022.

This scheme is supposed to benefit homeless citizens, poor urban people and citizens who belong to Economically Weaker

Sections (EWS) and Lower Income Group (LIG) categories.

The mission is ambitious where Narendra Modi had envisioned “Housing for All” as the country completes 75 years of its independence in 2022.

In his address to the joint session of Parliament on June 9, 2014, the then President of India, Pranab Mukherjee had said, “By the time the nation completes 75 years of independence, every family in India will have a pucca house with water connection, toilet facilities, 24x7 electricity supply and access.”

The scheme seeks to address the housing requirement of the urban poor including slum dwellers by implementing four main components.

Firstly, the government wants to rehabilitate slum dwellers with the participation of private developers using land as a resource. Secondly, it wants to promote affordable housing for the weaker sections of society with the help of credit linked subsidies.

Thirdly, the government wants to implement this affordable housing idea in partnership with public and private sectors and fourthly, it will provide subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction and enhancement, according to the scheme’s official state government website.

According to a physical progress report by the Ministry of Rural Development, the ministry had set a total target for the construction of 99,94,963 houses, and in an overwhelming number, about 1,16,70,247 beneficiary households across the country were registered as part of this scheme.

Out of that, the construction

of 76,62,411 houses has been completed since 2015, according to the physical progress report. Thus, approximately 34 percent of the work, i.e. providing pucca houses to 40,07,836 beneficiaries with working water and electricity connection is yet to be completed before 2022.

In India, the three states that have the highest number of household beneficiaries registered are Madhya Pradesh (13,99,084), West Bengal (13,97,474) and Uttar Pradesh (12,82,616) which saw the completion of the construction and houses by almost 85 to 90 percent.

For ease of managing this yojana, the government has set up multilevel functions. The departmental structure for the scheme is headed by the Principal Secretary of Urban

Development, Department of Assam who guides the Mission Director of the PMAY HFA, Urban.

The State Level Nodal Agency (SLNA), State Level Technical Cell (SLTC), District Level Technical Cell (DLTC) and City Level Technical Cell (CLTC), are all supposed to work under the aforementioned in tandem to carry out the provisions of the scheme.

The demand survey for the preparation of the HFAPoA (Housing for All Plan of Action) for Guwahati city was done by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and a total of 56,656 beneficiaries were identified in the GMC area. This demand survey was carried out by the NGOs enlisted to GMC for solid waste management in association with the councilors and the sabha members.

In-state calibre of PMAY Yojana: Smaller areas overlooked

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n Assam, the yojana has been applicable in 32 districts of Assam. The most number of household beneficiaries - 17,661 - have been registered in Dhemaji district and the construction and inspection of 14,817 houses have been completed, which leaves 14 percent of the work yet to be completed before 2022.

The least number of household beneficiaries were registered from Charaideo - 1,223. Out of these, 897 houses have been constructed and inspected, which leaves the remaining 326 houses (26 percent of the work) yet to be

constructed and inspected before giving them to the beneficiaries.

Kamrup (Rural) has 12,557 registered beneficiaries and the work has been complete for 9,822 of them. While in Kamrup (Metro), 1,991 household beneficiaries have registered, out of which, 1,525 homes have been constructed and inspected.

In an interesting finding, while bigger areas of the state such as Dhemaji, Kamrup(R), Kamrup (M), Barpeta and Dhubri have seen significant effort and indulgence from the government, smaller areas of the state have been somewhat left out.

Areas such as Cachar, Goalpara,

Hailakandi, Hojai, Karbi Anglong, North Cachar Hills and Sonitpur are lagging.

Even though the areas have registered beneficiaries, the progress on the completion and inspection of the houses remains to be less than 50 percent.

For example, in Cachar, 14,659 household beneficiaries are registered, but only 5,518 houses have been completed and inspected, which leaves the

construction and inspection of 9,141 houses to be completed before 2022. Similarly, in Hojai, 8,218 household beneficiaries have been registered but till now, the construction and inspection of only 2,535 houses has been done.

Governance

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

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PMAY: Northeastern states left behind again

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n terms of the whole northeastern region, Assam has the highest number of household beneficiaries registered at 2,59,814 with 1,57,302 of those houses being constructed and inspected.

Arunachal Pradesh, on the other hand, has the least number of beneficiaries at 3,226 with only 79 houses completed, leaving the completion of 3,147 houses, which means that the construction of over 95 percent of the project in the state is undone.

In a general consensus, northeastern states except Assam and Meghalaya have not seen much contribution from the government in this yojana.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in the Northeast (2015-19) States

No. of household beneficiaries registered

No. of houses completed and inspected

Assam

2,59,814

1,57,302

Tripura

24,989

23,231

Meghalaya

21,291

6,415

Manipur

15,259

5,476

Mizoram

9,754

2,206

Nagaland

9,128

0

Arunachal Pradesh

3,226

79

For example, while Meghalaya has 21,291 household beneficiaries registered, only 6,415 houses have been completed and inspected.

Similarly, while Manipur has 15,259 registered beneficiaries, only 5,476 houses have been fully constructed and inspected.

In Nagaland, no houses have

been constructed so far since 2015 even though the state has 9,128 registered household beneficiaries.

38 nominations filed in Assam for third phase of Lok Sabha elections

A

total of 20 nominations were filed on April 3, Wednesday for the third phase of elections in the state.

So far, a total of 38 applications have been filed in four constituencies going to polls in the third phase of the general elections on April 23, according to a report by PTI. Out of these, seven nominations were filed for Gauhati, five for Barpeta, four each for Kokrajhar and Dhubri Lok Sabha

Sabda Ram Rabha files his nomination as Congress candidate from Kokrajhar

constituencies.

In Gauhati, Samajwadi Party’s Ratul Kumar Choudhury, Hindustan Nirman Dal’s Rajib Kakati, Voter’s Party International’s Partha Pratim Baruah and four Independents submitted their papers.

For the Barpeta constituency, Congress MLA Abdul Khaleque, former AGP parliamentarian Kumar Deepak Das, former AIUDF MLA Rafiqul Islam, Bhadreswar Barman of National Republican Congress (NRC) and Rejaul Karim

of Republican Party of India (A) filed their papers.

In Kokrajhar, Congress’ Sabda Ram Rabha, former Rajya Sabha member Urkhao Gwra Brahma of United People’s Party (Liberal), Charan Iswary of Purvanchal Janata Party (Secular) and Kamala Kanta Daimary of Trinamool Congress.

Former Independent MLA Zabed Islam filed his nomination as AGP candidate for the Dhubri seat, in which former Congress MLA Abu Taher Bepari, Hindustan

Nirman Dal’s Alakesh Roy and Independent Anamika Sarkar too submitted their papers.

April 4 has been fixed as the last date of nominations, April 5 for scrutiny and April 8 for the last date of withdrawal for the third phase by the Election Commission of India.

The three-phase voting in Assam will take place on April 11, 18 and 23, while the counting of votes will be on May 23 after the completion of the entire sevenphase voting across the country.

8 General Election 2019 Snippets Skye- A poolbar with a difference

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

Congress promises jobs, tax reforms in election manifesto Mrinmoyee Hazarika @guwahatiplus

T S

kye a rooftop poolbar destination located on l the 10th floor of Novote Guwahati, GS Road is the first ope n air poolside bar in Guwahati. An infinity pool by the bar, under the open sky, this exotic open air poolside ambience promises a refreshing experience to our guests.

Located right in the heart of the city, Skye can host up to a maximum number of 35 guests and is now open to indulge in refreshing beverages, twisted cocktails and exotic bites. The rooftop bar has been designed as a modern and tranquil oasis with the pool bar offering a full menu of services. The bar also offers an open and airy space for guests to enjoy amid the beautiful view of Guwahati.

The grand launch was witnessed on February 18, 2019 and has ever since been the most talked about evening, attended by a host of celebrities and who’s who of the city.

Novotel Guwahati is located three kilometres from Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra cultural centre and 8 kilometres from Guwahati Railway station.

Unending Cricket Fever at ‘The SQUARE’!

W

ith the IPL fervour gripping the nation, ‘The SQUARE’ at Novotel Guwahati, GS Road is currently offering ‘Buy 3 Pay Only For 2’ on select brands of beverage to pump up the spirit of all crickets fans in the city. This steal deal offer is available from evening 8 pm until midnight. So, celebrate your love for cricket with the best of offerings until May 5, 2019.

he Congress party has released its manifesto for the upcoming LS poll that is set to begin on 11th April.

The manifesto, titled “Congress will deliver,” includes a host of promises in the form of creating new jobs and filling up the current vacancies, initiate a new industrial policy, improve infrastructure, initiatives for the NE region, new schemes for the farmers, NYAY scheme, tax reform, among others.

Highlights of Congress’ 52-point manifesto:

Jobs:

yy Filling up all 4 lakh central and institutional vacancies before March 2020

From (L)-(R) AK Antony, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh releasing the Congress manifesto in New Delhi

yy Create new Ministry of Industry, Services and Employment

el of governance for towns and cities

industrial policy for the region

yy Around 10 lakh new Seva Mitra positions in panchayats and urban local bodies

yy Right to housing for urban poor and provide safeguard from arbitrary eviction

yy Immediate withdrawal of Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB)

yy Expand gramme

ASHA

pro-

Industry: yy Increase share of the country’s manufacturing sector from 16% of GDP to 25% in five years yy Establish new industrial towns yy “Make for the world” policy for Indian and foreign companies to invest in India

Minimum Income Support Programme (MISP) or Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY): yy Rs 72,000 a year is promised to be transferred to the bank accounts of the poorest 20% of the families (5 crore families) under NYAY

New Planning ComLighter and faster mission:

Scan the QR code

Urban policy:

yy Scrap NITI Aayog and install a new Planning Commission

Get the G North Plus Easternapp

yy Develop a comprehensive policy on urbanization

yy Build new towns, cities and satellite towns as well as new mod-

States (NES):

yy Restore special category status to the NES and a new

yy More financial assistance to Autonomous District Councils of NES yy Employ modern technology to harness the waters of Brahmaputra and help solve the problem of flood and erosion permanently

LGBTQIA+ rights: yy Withdraw the Transgender Bill, 2018 yy Effective implementation of the judgment in Navtej Singh Johar case Agriculture, farmers:

yy Promise to waive outstanding farm loans yy Separate budget for the farmers called

Have a story to tell? Be a Citizen Journalist Get in touch with us, Contact/WhatsApp

8486002318/8486002320

‘Kishan Budget’

Initiatives for Non-Resident Indians: yy Re-establishment of the Ministry of Overseas Indians to address the issues including safety, conditions of work, children education of NRIs yy Develop and promote an NRI Investment Scheme to help NRIs invest in India

Women empowerment and gender equality: yy Pass the Constitution (Amendment) Bill to provide women with 33% reservation in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha yy Amend Service Rules to reserve 33% of the Central government jobs for women

General Election 2019

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

9

Candidate watch: Sushanta Borgohain

Sushanta Borgohain eyes Jorhat seat amidst antiincumbency against BJP Saumya Mishra @saumyamishra03

from City College in Dibrugarh.

He also held the post of the president of Sivasagar District

immovable assets are worth Rs 1.60 cores. On the other hand, he has shown a total liability

BJP’s Topon Kumar Gogoi from the Jorhat seat this time. He filed his nomination paper from

S

ushanta Borgohain is a Congress leader and has been given the ticket to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Jorhat constituency.

The 44-yearold leader has been a former MLA (member of legislative assembly) who won the state assembly elections in 2011 from Thowra assembly constituency.

Borgohain had contested the 2016 assembly elections from Thowra seat again and had received 40,334 votes.

As per his affidavit, Borgohain is a graduate who completed his Bachelor of Arts degree

Congress committee.

According to the web portal myneta, the former MLA has declared total movable assets worth Rs 1.38 crores while his

BJP, Cong youth wings carrying out extensive ground work ahead of elections Srijit Banerjee @SrijitBanerjee

W

ith the elections just around the corner, political parties are making last minutes efforts to woo the voters over to their respective sides. Youth wings of these parties are carrying out extensive ground work to ensure that their party secure the maximum votes in the upcoming general elections. BJP’s youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), is carrying out various activities throughout the state to gain maximum support from the people.

The Yuva Morcha of the BJP is carrying extensive out door-todoor campaigns, informing people about works done by them both at national and state levels. It is also carrying out an activity named Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot where Yuva Morcha members have been given the charge to look after each booth to ensure strong presence for their party. Speaking to G Plus, Ishan Bharali, who is a state executive member of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha said, “Each booth will have 30 Yuva Morcha members looking after it to ensure maximum support for the party

at booth level. Further, we are also carrying out door-to-door campaigns informing the people about the work carried out by government both at national and state levels.”

He also said that Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha is doing extensive ground work to attract young and new voters. Slogan campaigns like “Phir Ekbar Modi Sarkar” are being raised to bring in their support.

On the other hand Indian Youth Congress, which the youth wing of the Indian National Congress, is also carrying out similar exercises.

Speaking to G Plus, Parag Kr Das, who is the vice president of the Kamrup Metro Youth Congress and convenor of Youth Congress Gauhati Lok Sabha said, “We are carrying out door-to-door campaigns in all the districts in the state spreading awareness among the people especially among new voters. We are also enlightening the people about the developmental works and the achievement of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance).”

He also informed that they are distributing leaflets carrying information about the latest scheme, ‘NYAY’ (Nyuntam Aay Yojana), presented by Rahul Gandhi in which Rs 72,000 would be deposited in bank accounts of the women belonging to poor families, annually.

of Rs 6.54 lakhs in his affidavit. Further, Borgohain has no criminal cases against him.

Borgohain is being touted as the main contender against

the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat on March 22 at the Jorhat Deputy Commissioner’s office.

Jorhat has a total of 10 assembly constituencies out of which four each are currently

Sushanta Borgohain Constituency- Jorhat MLA- once (2011) Declared assets- Rs 1.38 crores (movable), Rs 1.60 cores (immovable) Total liability- Rs 6.54 lakhs Educational qualification- BA Criminal record- None Age- 44 years

held by the Congress and the BJP, while two are with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). The Jorhat Lok Sabha seat consists of ten assembly segments namely- Jorhat, Titabar, Mariani, Teok, Amguri, Nazira, Mahmara, Sonari, Thowra and Sibsagar.

The constituency is set to go for polls in the first phase of elections on April 11. A total of eight candidates have been finalised to contest from the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat.

10 General Election 2019

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

Analysis: Tezpur Lok Sabha Constituency

Close fight expected in Tezpur as D-day nears Chetan Bhattarai @chetbha1

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he first phase of Lok Sabha (LS) election in Assam on 11th April will see five constituencies go to poll. Voters from Tezpur, Kaliabor, Lakhimpur, Jorhat and Dibrugarh will get a chance to elect their representatives. It looks like the Tezpur LS constituency will have a two-cornered fight between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress candidate for the Tezpur Lok Sabha constituency is former bureaucrat-turned-politician MGVK Bhanu and the BJP candidate is Rangapara MLA and cabinet minister Pallab Lochan Das. The BJP definitely has an edge in Tezpur but it is not going to be an easy win.

Ugly exchanges have already appeared in the media where some

The decisive factor this time is the Assamese speaking voters who are around 3.5 lakh. For them, neither MGVK Bhanu nor Pallab Lochan Das would matter. This community has been waiting and watching everything starting from issues like NRC to Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to the dirty politics that is being played in the name of their safety and security.

of the BJP leaders have started calling Bhanu names. This gives a sense that there is some amount of surprise element surrounding the former bureaucrat which the BJP either fears or is trying to bring out. Even the full name of MGVK Bhanu has become the talk of the town, thanks to a few BJP leaders.

These comments and statements indicate that the BJP is trying to provoke or get him angry. Bhanu is known for being strict and is also famous for his temper. A small blunder or slip of tongue from him can be used by the BJP to ruin his prospects. He is already being touted as an outsider and a person who can’t speak Assamese well.

But all said and done, the senior bureaucrat does not seem to be biting the bait at the moment.

All he has been replying is that

VS Mgvk Bhanu (Congress) one should not use unparliamentary language against opponents and one should respect the seniors and elderly.

Smart move there! Earlier, the BJP candidate Pallab Lochan Das took a jibe on retired Bhanu by comparing him with an old ox. Das further stated that a person who crosses the age of 60 is entitled to old-age pension. This comment has not been taken well by a section of Tezpur voters. Well,

everything is fair in love and war and by the time this paper goes to print Bhanu fans have already come up with a creative where MGVK has been given a different meaning (check creative below).

Now coming back to numbers, in the last Lok Sabha election in 2014, BJP candidate Ram Prasad Sarmah won the seat by a margin of 86,020 votes over his Congress rival Bhupen Kumar Borah. BJP candidate Sarmah received 4,46,511 votes against Borah’s 3,60,491 votes. There was no alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) during the 2014 general elections. The AGP candidate, Joseph Toppo (winner of 2009), was fourth with 40,489 votes. Also, the Congress vote share got cut by former Congress heavyweight Moni Kumar Subba who, on being denied a party ticket, stood as an independent candidate. Subba received 62,730 votes. This time in 2019, with no Subba in the fray and a coalition with the AGP, things look easy on paper for BJP’s candidate Pallab Lochan Das. Including the lone

Pallab Lochan Das(BJP) AGP MLA from Tezpur, Brindavan Goswami, the BJP-AGP has all the 9 MLAs in the Lok Sabha constituency.

But the road to success is laid with end number of permutations and combinations in this land of Jyoti Prasad Agarwala and Bishnu Rabha. There has been some amount of discontentment brewing among the Gorkha/ Nepali voters who have been sending a representative from their community since 1991. The

the eve of voting by Congress supporters belonging to the community.

There are chances of negative voting in Tezpur from both the Nepali and the tea tribe communities.

The Nepali voters (around 2.4 lakhs) had been the supporters of Congress and then shifted to BJP en masse in 2014 and 2016.

As they don’t have a good community candidate this time, barring a lesser-known Krishna Bahadur Sunar from Nationalist People’s Party (NPP), some of these 2.4 lakh voters might abstain or vote for the Congress just to drive a point home. Sentiments cannot be gauged till the button on the EVM is pressed.

The tea gardens comprise around 2.74 lakh voters in the Tezpur Lok Sabha seat. Pallab Lochan Das won the Behali (2011) and then the Rangapara assembly constituency in (2016). Both these assembly constituencies have a majority of tea garden

voters.

Though the gardens are mostly dominated by the BJP, the Congress and Communist parties still have a sizeable vote share through trade unions.

Bhanu has raised an issue of tea garden labourers’ daily wages and has put the blame on the BJP government and Pallab Lochan Das for stalling the increase. It is

not easy to convince the tea garden workers when it comes to daily wages. There are around one lakh Hindu Bengali voters and around 1.6 lakh Bodo voters in the Tezpur Lok Sabha constituency. Like the Gorkha voters, these voters had mostly voted for the BJP in the last general elections. This year too, the BJP should expect to get a good share of these votes.

The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has not put up any candidate from Tezpur. This leaves the Bengali-speaking Muslims (around 2.36 lakh) who have always been traditional Congress voters to come out and vote for the Congress.

Tezpur has a vibrant political environment and the voters are well-educated in the craft of electoral politics. The decisive factor this time is the Assamese speaking voters who are around 3.5 lakh. With no Modi wave this time, for those without any party affiliation,

neither MGVK Bhanu nor Pallab Lochan Das would matter.

This community has been waiting and watching everything starting from issues like NRC to Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to the dirty politics that is being played in the name of their safety and security. It is these 3.5 lakh indigenous Assamese voters who will at the end decide whether they want an old retired ox or a green-horn to represent this prestigious seat in the north bank.

seat was first won by Congress candidate Swarup Upadhyay (belonging to Nepali community) in 1991 and then by Moni Kumar Subba (Congress) who won the seat three times (1998, 1999 and 2004). The BJP has been successful Tezpur has 1,880 polling stations just once when RP has a total of 14,82,368 voters Sarmah (belonging to Nepali community) won the seat in 2014.

That does not mean that the seat is a designated Gorkha/Nepali seat.

The unceremonious departure of RP Sarmah just sends a message across the community that they don’t have a representation anymore. Assam has around 25 lakh Gorkha/Nepali voters spread across the state and this issue *Figures are approximate might be used against the BJP on

and

Assamese Speaking

3.5 lakh

Bodo

1.6 lakh

Hindu Bengali

1.10 lakh

Muslims

2.36 lakh

Tea garden

3.2 lakh

Nepali

2.40 lakh

Others

60000

In The News

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

11

Rongali Bihu: The seven pinnacle phases of the festival Nehal Jain @NehalJain96

R

ongali Bihu, also known as Bohag Bihu or Xaat Bihu is the chief festival celebrated in Assam and northeastern states of India and it marks the Assamese New Year. Signifying the time of harvest, this Bihu is usually celebrated in the second week of April, seven days after Vishuva Sankranti of the month of Vaisakh or locally Bohag.

Rongali Bihu, the festival of merriment and feasting, is celebrated for seven days by gorging on traditional Assamese food and preparing the fields for cultivation of paddy. It is also a fertility festival, where people, especially women, dance with their signature steps on Bihu geets (songs).

The seven days or pinnacle phases of the festival are: Goru, Manuh, Raati, Chot, Kutum, Mela and Chera.

Goru Bihu Goru Bihu is celebrated on the last day of Chaitra month.

On this day, the cattle of the village are brought to a water source and are bathed and cleaned using turmeric and gram paste. Often, the cattle are

Narayana Superspecialty celebrates World Health Day

N

arayana Superspecialty Hospital Guwahati celebrated World Health day with 50 patients who underwent Joint Replacement and Major Ortho surgery at the institute.

With the theme this year as “Joint Pain and Replacement Surgery,” the hospital organized a free Orthopaedics Consultation and Investigation on the day.

Dr Samarjit Khanikar (Ortho & Joint Replacement Surgeon) and Dr Dickey Richard Marak (Ortho & Joint Replacement Surgeon), Dr Bappaditya Mukhopadhyaya (Medical Superintendent), Mr Ajit Kr Bellamkonda, Mr Santanu Bhattacharjee and Team of Marketing department felicitated the patients with gamocha. The patients shared their gratitude towards the doctors and also their experience from the pain to the relief.

offered vegetables and Bor Pitha (a delicacy made from rice and jaggery) as a gesture to thank them for providing the farmers a good harvest. The day ends with the burning of rice bran.

Manuh Bihu On the occasion of Manuh Bihu, people have a traditional bath using turmeric, clean their households and wear traditional clothes. They also seek blessings from the elders and gift them a Bihuwan or the Gamocha cloth as a symbol of respect.

Many families write Sanskrit mantras on Nahar leaves and hide it behind the roof. This ritual bears a symbolic significance and is done with the intention of seeking protection from all negative elements of nature. Manuh Bihu is also known as Bor Domahi in parts of lower Assam.

Raati Bihu Celebrations involve the gathering of local women of the local women in an open field illuminated by lighting up torches. Men folk participate to play Pepa, an instrument made

from

bamboo.

buffalo

hornpipe, and Bholuka Baahor Toka, a instrument made

musical of split

Chot Bihu Chot Bihu is also known as Bali Husori and it begins on the

second day of Chaitra.

This day is celebrated by organising dance and song events by the young at outdoor locations, fields or a Naamghor Bakori (yard of

community prayer hall) till the occurrence of Uruka, the formal beginning of Rongali Bihu.

Kutum Bihu The second date of Visakh is Kutum Bihu (Kutum symbolizes family). On this day, people visit houses of their relatives and friends to greet and bond over a meal.

Mela Bihu The third day of Bihu is marked by the celebration of Bihu with cultural events and competitions in outdoor locales (Mela symbolises Fair). In the ancient days, the King and his staff used to come out to such fairs or Bihutolis to mingle in the Bihu celebrations. This tradition of events is continued till date with Bihu Melas or Bihu functions. The fairs are attended by people from all over Assam and are aimed at fostering an atmosphere of the communal brotherhood and the inclusion of everyone.

Chera Bihu Also called as Bohagi Bidai, Chera is the last day if Rongali Bihu. It is celebrated differently in different regions but the common theme is to wrap the festival with future resolutions.

On this day, people exchange pithas among their family and friends

12 General Election 2019 Snippets Shankar Jiwal IPS to serve as police observer for Gauhati LS

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

Analysis: Jorhat Lok Sabha Constituency

It’s Ahom Vs Ahom in Jorhat Srijit Banerjee @SrijitBanerjee

J T

he Election Commission has appointed IPS officer Shankar Jiwal as police observer for Guwahati constituency during the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

According to a statement issued by the Kamrup (Metro) district administration, Jiwal will be available at Guwahati Circuit House, Room No 23 from April 4 onwards till the election process is over.

“During this period interested political parties, contesting candidates, the common public may meet him with their queries, objections and complaints between 9 am and 10 am every day,” the statement added.

Number of voters in Kamrup (M) increased to 10,84,142

I

n Kamrup (Metro) district, as per the latest poll rolls dates April 1, 2019, the total electors are 10,84,142 out of which 542466 are male, 541636 are female and 40 belong to the third gender.

Out of the four constituencies in Kamrup (M) namely Jalukbari, Dispur, Gauhati East and Gauhati West, the Dispur constituency has the highest number of total voters enrolled (384964) while Gauhati East constituency has the highest number of third gender voters enrolled (14).

Similarly, the total electors in Assam are 2,17,60,604. Of them, 1,11,32,782 are male voters while 1,06,27,822 number of voters are female.

orhat is the 12th Lok sabha constituency in the state of Assam and it is one of the key constituencies for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the state. Two communities - the Ahoms and the tea tribes - have played the major roles of king-makers from this constituency.

The Congress always had a strong presence in this constituency since independence. The party had won the constituency 12 times. Even former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi won the seat twice in 1971 and 1977. Only in 1984 it lost once to the AGP’s Parag Chaliha and lately in 2014 to BJP’s Kamakhya Prasad Tasa.

During the 2009 Lok Sabha elections veteran Congress leader Late Bijoy Krishna Handique won the seat against Kamakhya Prasad Tasa with a vote margin of 290,406.

But, in 2014 elections the opposite happened; Kamakhya Prasad Tasa defeated Handique with a margin of 102,420 votes.

There was a vacuum in Jorhat parliamentary constituency after the death of Bijoy Krishna Handique in 2015, especially in the Congress. Soon, everyone was curious as to who the party will nominate from the seat for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Last month on 16th March the Congress Central Election Com-

VS Sushanta Borgohain(Congress) mittee announced its first list of candidates for Assam.

Surprising many, on the list was former

Thowra MLA Sushanta Borgohain who was nominated to contest for the Jorhat Lok Sabha Seat.

However, all didn’t go well among senior members in the party. Congress leader and former Assam CM Tarun Gogoi was not in favour of Borgohain as the Lok Sabha candidate from Jorhat. Gogoi

Lok Sabha Election 2014

Topon Kr Gogoi (BJP) had openly protested against the party’s decision to field Sushanta from Jorhat and MGVK Bhanu from Tezpur.

Tarun Gogoi wanted Gayatri Handique as the preferred candidate from Jorhat as she is the daughter of late BK Handique, a close friend and colleague of Gogoi.

On the other hand it was expected that sitting MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa who belongs from the Adivasi community which plays a vital role in electing MPs from the constituency, would be the BJP candidate for the seat. But surpris-

ingly the BJP high command decided to field Assam power minister and Sonari MLA, Topon Kumar Gogoi for the seat.

So, now Jorhat suddenly has a new face as the BJP Lok Sabha candidate.

Both Topon Kumar Gogoi and Sushanta Borgohain belong to the Ahom community. The decision by both the BJP and the Congress to field Ahom faces from the seat is a move to woo the Ahoms of the constituency. However, it would be a very tough call to declare which candidate will have an edge over the other and one can only wait till the results are out. n

CONSTITUENCY DETAILS Day of polling: 11th April Polling stations: 1753 Total voters: 1,433,900 Male voters: 729,239 Female voters: 704,661 Total assemblies: 10 Jorhat, Titabar, Mariani, Teok, Amguri, Nazira, Mahmara, Sonari, Thowra, Sibsagar

ASSEMBLY

PARTY

ASSEMBLY

PARTY

Mahmara

BJP

Mariani

Congress

Sonari

BJP

Nazira

Congress

Thowra

BJP

Sibsagar

Congress

Teok

AGP

Amguri

AGP

Lok Sabha Election 2009

Weather report for the week Guwahati

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

T-Storms

T-Storms

T-Storms

Mostly Sunny

T-Storms

T-Storms

26°20° C

27°21° C

29°21° C

30°22° C

31°23° C

30°22° C

SATURDAY Partly Cloudy

31°22° C

General Election 2019

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

Snippets

Candidate watch: Paban Singh Ghatowar

In Dibrugarh, Ghatowar faces a tough opponent in Rameswar Teli Saumya Mishra @saumyamishra03

constituencies most of which are currently held by the BJP.

to 1993; union Deputy Minister Health and Family Welfare

P

aban Singh Ghatowar is a Congress leader who has been elected as a member of parliament (MP) five times. He contested and won from the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha constituency in Assam during Lok Sabha elections in 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2009.

He became an MP for the first time when he was 41 years old in 1991 from Dibrugarh.

The 68-year-old will face off with Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) sitting MP Rameshwar Teli in Dibrugarh in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. He was runnerup in the last elections and had lost to Teli.

Born in December 1950, Ghatowar completed his graduation as a Bachelor of Arts in 1970 from Gauhati University.

As per the information provided in myneta web portal, Ghatowar has declared moveable assets worth Rs 2.48 crores in total while his immovable assets are worth Rs 3.29 crores. On the other hand, the former MP has declared a total liability of Rs 12.48 lakhs.

Prior to

DAY OF POLLING 11th APRIL

entering mainstream politics, the five-time MP was serving in the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) for a long time where he worked closely with the tea garden workers for their upliftment and development. The INTUC is the trade union wing of the Indian National Congress.

There is a strong presence of members belonging to the tribe communities in Dibrugarh constituency. Out of a total population of around 11 lakhs in the constituency, the population of tea tribe members is close to four lakhs.

As the constituency is surrounded by a number of tea gardens, the community of tea garden workers is set to play a major role during the elections.

Dibrugarh has traditionally been considered a Congress bastion as the party has won the Lok Sabha seat consecutively from 1951 to 1999. The Dibrugarh seat constitutes nine assembly

VS Paban Singh Ghatowar (Congress) After a long spell of the Congress holding the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal while contesting from Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) emerged victorious during the 2004 general elections. However, the seat went back to Congress when Paban Singh Ghatowar won the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 before the sitting MP Rameshwar Teli from BJP was voted as the winner in the last general elections.

Political experts say that it would be interesting to watch the contest between the two major opponents Ghatowar and

Teli, both of whom belong to the tea tribe background.

In terms of educational qualification, Rameswar Teli, has completed his matriculation and belongs to Duliajan in Dibrugarh district.

The 48-year-old MP had lost the 2011 assembly elections by around 3,000 votes to Amiya Gogoi. Subsequently, in 2014 he was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha from Dibrugarh from BJP. In 2014, he became the member of standing committee on industry and further he was also made the member of consultative committee under the ministry of development of north eastern region.

On the other hand, Ghatowar has also held the post of the union Deputy Minister, Labour from 1991

Rameswar Teli (BJP) between 1993 and 1995 and also the union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.

After the 2009 general elections, the former minister was elected as the chief of whip for the Congress parliamentary party, Lok Sabha.

Ghatowar also served as the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Development of North Eastern Region and Parliamentary Affairs from July 2011 to May 2014.

A few months ago, rumours were rife that Ghatowar is planning to quit the Congress and that he was set to join the

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).

However, the contesting candidate put the rumours to rest and announced that

he is not planning to quit the Congress.

“I am and will always be with the Congress. People with vested interests are spreading rumours about me joining another party,” said Ghatowar adding that he is travelling to a number of different places across the state in order to strengthen the party at the grassroots level.

As per his affidavit, Ghatowar has no criminal cases registered against him.

Interestingly, Ghatowar’s wife Jibantara is also a politician and three-time MLA who represented the Moran assembly seat in Dibrugarh. Moran, too, has predominantly been a Congress seat and has seen victories from the party in a majority of assembly elections.

A non-Congress candidate has only won four times from this seat out of the 15 elections till now.

Jibantara was defeated by a narrow margin of 850 votes by chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Moran in 2001.

However, she then made a comeback and emerged victorious in 2004, 2006 and 2001 elections.

Paban Singh Ghatowar was also caught in the middle of a controversy when his name appeared in the Wikileaks list of Indians holding Swiss bank accounts to stash away black money in 2011.

He was then the incumbent Minster of State for Development of North Eastern Region (DONER), and had vehemently denied the allegations. Speaking on the matter after the Wikileaks list had emerged, Ghatowar had said that he would quit politics if anybody could prove if he had any Swiss bank accounts. n

Pawan Singh Ghatowar

Constituency- Dibrugarh

MP- 5 times (1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2009) Declared assets- Rs 2.48 crores (movable), Rs 3.29 crores (immovable) Total liability- Rs 12.48 lakhs Educational qualification- BA Criminal record- None Age- 68 years

13

Kamrup (M) DC issues Show Cause Notice to 71 Government Officers

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he District Election Officer, Kamrup(M) Biswajit Pegu, has issued show cause notices to 71 officers of various departments on April 4.

According to a press release issued by the District Administration, these officers were allotted duties in the ensuing parliamentary elections, 2019 and have failed to attend their urgent election-related training programme without providing any justifications or reason of their absence.

It is to be mentioned that the District Election Officer sought their replies to the show cause notices in writing within the next two days, failing which disciplinary action will be taken under provisions of the aforementioned Act.

Kamrup Metro DTO collects tax over 193.66 crore in 2018-19

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he District Transport Office, Kamrup (M) has collected over Rs. 193.66 crore in re ve nue during the fiscal year 2018-19.

An increase of eight percent has been recorded in revenue colle ction since the last fiscal year, 2017-18.

In 2017-18, the DTO had accumulated revenue worth Rs. 178.44 crore.

According to reports, the maximum amount of revenue was collected from registration fees and road tax.

14 G Talk E

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G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019 T

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Dignity of politics

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hat was the need for Queen Ojha to do what she did! To “falsify” something as stark as your educational qualification, whether deliberately or by oversight, amounts to lying through your nose to your voters. Somehow, the episode has brought on a sense of indignation within the Guwahatian society which otherwise, has always held the lady in the highest esteem as one of its foremost citizens. She has come clean all right, explained her way through and satisfied the election commission, but an unwanted chink in her armoury has needlessly been highlighted and it has made the genuine voters (and not her fanciers) wonder about the credibility of the lady as the prestigious constituency’s representative in parliament.

In the context of such faux pas during election time, candidates do make unintended mistakes/ slips that become points of ridicule. In fact, such faux pas often lose the desirable levels of dignity and decorum from the people that we deem and term as our “leaders.”

Pallav Lochan Das, the BJP’s Tezpur candidate for example, seemed to have crossed the lines of dignity while terming his political rival MGVK Bhanu first as

chalani maas (imported lessthan-fresh fish from Andhra Pradesh that is usually sold in the markets of Guwahati) and then as an old bull who is just not up to the fighting fitness levels required in the political arena.

The Assamese are traditionally a soft-spoken and hospitable lot. Its adage “Apunar byoboharei apunar porichoy” (loosely translated, your behaviour speaks about your character) holds profound meaning about human dignity and respect. It is in these election scenarios when Assam is thrown up as the cynosure of all national media that its beautiful and soft culture can be projected in its truest light and our leaders can actually lead from the front and make it count. But choosing to be crass with undesirable words or deeds only belittles the respect that we have for our leaders.

The campaigns have just started and words will fly from mic to mic and rally to rally. While we are all in concurrence that politics is a dirty game, the time to clean it up is never too late and it starts with our leaders some more dignity in their words and deeds. And in this situation, well-mannered Assam can be a beacon for the rest of the country to follow.

Swapnil Bharali (Editor) @swapnilbharali

Giving value to your vote

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he 17th Lok Sabha election is knocking at the door.

In every election people aspire to see some able people become members of the highest law making body of our country with grace and dignity by redressing the grievances of people in the parliament. But unfortunately, apart from a few session stalwarts, most of the members are just hand raising spectators of the parliament. It is an open secret that political parties give tickets only to powerful candidates who have money and muscle power.

Assam has 14 Lok Sabha seats but we always fail to elect some good orators to the parliament. So far, Assam has elected more than 200 MPs but, out of them, only a few have been able to make their presence felt in the parliament.

Hem Barua, Rohini Choudhury, Dinesh Goswami and Puspalata Das were some of the few names that are mention-worthy in this regard. Recently Biswajit Daimary raised his voice boldly for which he received all round appreciation.

Recently I read a book A Voice for Assam in Parliament - a compilation of speeches of IP Hazarika. On reading the book I sincerely felt that people of Tezpur missed an able MP’s service in the 11th Lok Sabha as it was dissolved after a mere 20 months and Mr Hazarika never got considered for a ticket thereafter by his party.

The people of the northeast always complain that they are neglected. But if we go deep into the matter we will find that this is basically due to our representater who failed to focus or raise our problems in parliament. As a

citizen of this country it is our duty to vote consciously by scrutinizing the capability of a candidate and giving deep thought to our vote. It is also duty of our political parties to issue tickets only to capable and knowledgeable persons of the party rather than monetise the whole issue and then virtually “sell” the tickets.

In the last election of Gauhati Lok Sabha seat, we saw both Bijoya Chakravarty and Biren Baishya pitched against each other; both the candidates are vociferous and capable of raising their voices in parliament. We need such representatives who, irrespective of party politics, can raise issues related to the indigenous people

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he people of the northeast always complain that they are neglected. But if we go deep into the matter we will find that this is basically due to our representater who failed to focus or raise our problems in parliament.

of this state.

For the interest of indigenous people we need a few leaders who believe in regionalism and work for the upliftment of the region. Like our Ranji cricket team, in the political arena also

Wanna be a chowkidar?

Though the BJP claims that the Twitter hashtag campaign #MainBhiChowkidar is a massive online hit, it did not brainstorm enough as to the impact such campaigns might have on the public, especially on children.

The intellectuals feel that though the BJP is targeting the grassroots level with such a campaign, the same is getting popular even amongst children and it might provide a different kind of ambition to the futures of the country.

There is opposition to the campaign but the BJP, training its guns on the Gandhi family, rubbished it saying only people who are born in affluence and are out on bail are opposing the campaign.

Every campaign requires certain planning but what strategy Modi had in place is a mystery when he said that the country doesn’t need kings as the spirit of chowkidar (watchman) is growing.

It is observed that the Main Bhi Chowkidar slogan is used by children while playing games with friends. The BJP is chanting the chowkidar slogan in its election campaign as well.

Now if the Prime Minister of a country is saying that he is a chowkidar to campaign for elections, what benchmark are we setting for our children?

A 6-year-old student of class 1 from a reputed city-based school, when asked about his ambition, replied, “I want to be a watchman.”

Winning elections is a dream for every politico but if the PM and his prominent political followers are setting this profession as the benchmark, what will be the future of this country?

Even a watchman would never want his child to take up his profession. He would dream that his child became a bureaucrat or even a politician but our politicians are miscalculating the effect.

At the close to two-hour ‘Main bhi Chowkidar’ interaction with a packed audience at Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium on 31st March, Modi conveyed that the people of India had already made up their minds to return the chowkidar to power in 2019. So do you want to be a chowkidar?

O pinion Bijaylakshmi Baruah

we hired leaders from outside to represent us in the Rajya Sabha.

This trend soon started even for the Lok Sabha as well. But people from outside cannot serve us well. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh represented us for more than 20 years but we did not get anything memorable to be proud of as he could not do any justice for the people of Assam.

Instead of believing the false and mud-slinging speeches of political parties the voters should vote consciously by monitoring candidates. It is well known that the fourth pillar of democracy, which is supposed to be vigilant – the media – now-a-days play a tricky role through paid news.

Hence, voters should deservingly give their vote its utmost value and preferences should be given to the eligible or qualitatively superior candidates or the party that can give us better governance. Else we have no business to time and again elect mute spectators to the parliament – that too by bearing the burden of the taxes of election.

Letter to the Editor rDividers creating disorder The ongoing construction of dividers along the GS Road in the city has been creating a lot of trouble for the motorists and pedestrians alike. While one can understand the logic behind the move and it is also appreciable to construct these dividers along the main roads of the city to help in better management of overall traffic, the work should be managed better by the authorities. I implore the state government to take necessary steps in order to ensure that the motorists and pedestrians are not at the receiving end of everyday hassle of traffic snarls due to the ongoing constriction work. Also, I would like draw the attention of the government that in a few weeks’ time, Guwahati will be having incessant rainfall. The rainy season will make the situation even worse.

Nilotpal Choudhury, Guwahati

rThe many woes of Chatribari residents The last issue of G Plus highlighted the current situation of Chatribari bio-gas plant and the plight of the residents of the area. I’d like to bring to attention that the Chatribari area faces a lot of problems and one of the most significant is the absence of streetlights. After sun down, the entire KC Road is engulfed in darkness and people have often faced cases of eve teasing and unruly behaviour. Chain snatching and robbery have also become common affairs in the area, owing to the darkness. Not only does it become difficult for people to walk at night, it’s also very tricky to drive through such a dark road. While we have complained to the authorities on multiple occasions regarding the urgent need for streetlights in the area, no steps have been taken so far. We hope that the authorities take necessary action soon and help stop the nuisance happening in the area.

Mahima Jain

In Focus

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

The decade that transformed a 400- year-old admin system

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n a shifting technical landscape, ICT and digitization has brought about tremendous changes in the entire government processes and systems. In May 2006, the Government of India had put forward the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) as an initiative to make all government services available to the citizens of India via electronic media.

This then, was the heralding of the technology age for the government and culminated into the multifarious model of Digital India which has been strongly pursued over the last decade resulting in a paradigm shift in the very working of the government as it was.

By 2018, within 12 years, the success of this initiative is visible across India in the way we perceive and transact our daily lives as citizens of India. What is

perhaps not really understood is the importance of the last decade from a historical perspective.

What is important to consider is the manner in which the last decade has overcome a 400-yearold system of administration.

Government or Administration, in essence is the management of revenue

– or so says Kautilya, the crooked one, in 320 CE. A state is only as strong as its treasury and the essence of governance is truly the management of the State. About 1800 years later, a similar genius understood the

significance of creating an empire resting strongly on the foundation of an effective system of revenue and so Raja Todar Mal, the Finance Minister of the Mughal Court, one of the Navaratnas of Akbar’s court.

Todar Mal served under Sher Shah Suri and moved onto the Mughals with the turning events of his times and succeeded Khwaja Malik I’timad Khan in 1560. Raja Todar Mal introduced standard weights and measures, a land survey and settlement system, revenue districts and officers.

This system of maintenance by Patwari and revenue generation/ calculation by agricultural yield was duly adopted by and improved upon by the British Raj and finally inherited by the government of India. In a country which was majorly agrarian by nature, this was a system which worked and hence was never discarded, only improved upon

and the super-structure of the administration was grown around it.

With the growth of the services sector, the agri-economy started taking a back foot and by the process-outsourcing age of the 1990’s, the service sector as well as the industrial advent was slowly making the revenue generation calculation by agrarian yield unfeasible. The advent of the digital revolution contributed

The advent of the digital revolution contributed the final nail on the coffin with the National e-Governance Plan in 2006. Processes which relied on revenue systems originally constructed around a 400-year-old ideation and foundation are a hard sell. the final nail on the coffin with the National e-Governance Plan in 2006. Processes which relied on revenue systems originally

15

GUEST COLUMN

Debashish Goswami

constructed around a 400-yearold ideation and foundation are a hard sell. Re-engineering systems and processes to create a completely different paradigm of calculation and management takes time and agency.

Therefore, after more than a decade of #digitalIndia, the actual impact for the people on the ground has been varied, considering the heterogenous nature of the nation and the country. Adoption and usage has been patchy and irregular depending upon the region and the local agencies on the ground. In the past decade, a large number of initiatives have been undertaken by various State Governments and Central Ministries to usher in an era of e-Government. Sustained efforts have been made at multiple levels to improve the delivery of public services and simplify the process of accessing them, but much remains to be done. Especially for remote zones and area’s like the North East of India.

The digital story is still unfolding….

Facebook removed 687 pages linked to Congress for “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” Biru Biswas According to my sources Facebook banned all the pages that poses as ‘Indian political awareness page’ by posting content exclusively related to Indian politics, economy, society etc. They were posing as pages that originated and are operated from India, but the truth is that they originated and were being operated from Pakistan. I am not sure how the Congress party’s name got dragged in this so call controversy, but if any rational person tries to scratch the surface the truth is here for everyone to see.

Amit Singh Terrible move by Facebook. Why have they not checked BJP fake accounts which are in the 10’s of millions. Why one sided? Is Facebook also funded by BJP now? Like all those bhakts, Facebook has also become blind as they don’t see the BJP fake accounts on Facebook. We don’t even feel safe on social media because of such people and pages.

If you write one thing against BJP, thousands come fighting with you on social media these days.

Priya Mukherjee Funniest thing I have read on internet today. I mean really? Congress even has a page for such things? All I see is bjp people spreading hatred among the people with these pages and trying to rule by divide and rule policy. Facebook should take action on these BJP pages first and then talk about anything. Anyway so many fake news is being spread and no action is taken and all Facebook see is pro congress pages. Defaming their own brand.

Imran Ahmed MASSIVE crackdown by Facebook on Fake News pages! Hundreds of propaganda pages have been deleted now! Here are the details of deleted pages Pro Congress: - They had 0.2 million followers in total - Spent $39,000 on ads Pro BJP: - They has 2.6 million followers in total - Spent $70,000 on ads Facebook said that these pro-Congress pages were linked to Congress IT Cell and the pro-BJP pages were managed by an IT firm called Silver Touch. Obviously Indian media is only reporting half the story, they are not talking about BJP pages that were removed.

Silver Touch is the firm that also made the NaMo app Ratnakar Gokarn Nothing new here! They have learnt some valuable lessons from US Presidential elections. Luckily FB has started to close down these pages. Though they should have taken this action long back. Already the damage has been done because of these pages.

Jenai Banaji I see more inauthentic posts from bjp sponsored pages than congress sponsored pages. Fb are you going to take action against it? Every other day we see bjp IT cell people commenting everywhere but still no action on it. Why? Because money play a very important role in our country especially when election is near. Facebook shouldn’t be biased in this, action should be taken both side.

16 Feature

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

Exploring Manipur: A hidden gem “Memories are not static, they serve as a means of communication with the ethereal. When many years have passed by, these memories are reminiscent and will develop an inner vision that will obliterate all thoughts that are sad or evil. Memories don’t leave you behind, but people do. I left a part of my memory in Manipur.”

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never thought my heart would pound more until I explored the hidden gems of Manipur. I still yearn for those days which made me feel alive and I cherish them.

“Dear passenger, your flight to Imphal is ready to take off. Please fasten your seat belts.” There was a happiness and smile on my face exhibiting glee as I reached Imphal airport.

Deep inside my soul, there was this voice telling me that this tour would be magical and very different from other places I have been to so far. Imphal, the capital city of Manipur, has many historical places to watch out for and famously known for the “Battle of Imphal” which took place between March and July 1944 during the World War II. Day 1: Imphal I, along with my two friends Angshuman and Cheeranjeeb, headed towards the guest house after our onehour flight from Guwahati Airport to Imphal.

We booked a cab and the driver drove us to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research Centre which housed the guest house where we halted.

Let me first talk about the streets of Imphal.

There wasn’t too much commotion, so the bustling life which you might have witnessed in metropolitan cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore etc can be escaped from. I was welcomed by the beautiful fauna and flora located near the guest house that created a vibrant aura which reminded me of the spring season.

Our next destination was to Ima Keithal also known as Ima Market aka Women’s Market. Probably you won’t find any market in the

world completely run by women.

Sounds fascinating, isn’t it? Its’s a 500-year-old market, blimey!

I was astonished to see these women who are so passionate about their jobs and work diligently to earn their livelihood thereby setting a perfect example of women empowerment.

After exploring Ima Market for a couple of hours, we went to Kangla Fort that was in my bucket list. The distance wasn’t far from Ima market, so I took an auto which cost me 50 bucks to reach the destination. This place has much historical and archaeological significance and also has some holy sacred places inside the fort. Adorned with ruins and stone inscriptions, the palace of Kangla has its own way to charm people. As the sun dropped and the clock struck 5, I spent my late afternoon in Imphal War Cemetery, which is dedicated to those brave hearts

who gave up their lives during the World War II. Needless to say, it was a tranquil evening sitting beside my friends and chitchatting about the philosophies of life.

Day 2: Ukhrul-Shirui Peak I woke up to a beautiful morning, the sun kissed my face and I was ready to hit the road. After having breakfast, I

“Memories are not static, they serve as a means of communication with the ethereal. Memories don’t leave you behind, but people do. I left a part of my memory in Manipur.” and my two friends took an auto ride to Ukrul bus station. This was our next destination. The distance from Imphal to Ukhrul was around 60 kms. The stare at those landscapes and valleys

became relentless. Even though the journey was tiring, my eyes continuously popped out from the car window leaving me in awe. Ukhrul is a land of beautiful mountains, scattered by many indigenous tribes bestowed with rich culture.

Anangsha Alomyan

Being an adventure freak, one of the locals suggested I trek to the Shirui Peak. I started off the trek during sundown. The trail was very steep, rocky and slippery but the view made me fall in love with the Shirui Hills mountain range. The scintillating panorama and jaw dropping sunset was something that will be etched in my heart forever. I couldn’t have asked for a perfect end to the day.

Day 3: Khanghkui Caves-Nillai Tea Garden The next day, I realized that my legs were swollen after the arduous journey to Shirui Peak but I couldn’t wait to explore more. Thereafter, I headed off to Khangkhui Caves, renowned for its limestone. It is a historical cave and has attracted many tourists from across the world. In the evening, I hiked up to the Nillai tea gardens. Amidst the greenery, the scenery there

was this idyllic moment for me.

Spirituality is something that confounded me. Not to forget the chirping of birds, wind sloshing up someone else’s face and tuning into nature’s voice,

are all powerful assets of the environment which can heal the soul.

Day 4: Loktak Lake A dreamy moment for me: Far away from the city life, watching the sunset and stopping time, reminiscing my childhood days, inquisitive about life, the universe and nature, I bid goodbye to Ukhrul and kickstarted my journey to Loktak Lake in Imphal.

Loktak Lake is considered to be one of the largest freshwater lakes in the northeastern region.

It is known as the floating island and grabbed my attention because of its serenity and poise. One of the specialties of this place is that you can camp here. It feels like one is literally camping on a floating island. How does that sound? We usually camp on the ground, but this escapade was a different one. On the moonlit night, I gazed at the stars. They are probably dead, I thought to myself.

Because of the time distortion, we were looking at the past.

The road less travelled is the one Robert Frost took.

We are free to choose but we really do not know what awaits us at the end. Better to be a lone ranger than to join the crowd. It’s only in nature that we discover the language of our senses, the anchor of our purest thoughts.

I found myself in the lap of nature rejuvenated by the warmth of the island and the gushing of the wind.

This trance like state came as a blessing and then I started packing my stuff to head back home. This was a trip to remember.

Best places to see in Manipur: Ima Market, Kangla Fort, Imphal War Cemetery, Loktak Island, Shirui Peak, Khangkhui Caves and Nillai Tea Garden.

Trotter

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

17

Kolkata auto driver plants garden Delhi policewomen, on vehicle to spread important IPS officer dance to message Sapna Choudhary song

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n auto driver from the City of Joy, Kolkata, is currently going viral online and earning a lot of praise for his unique initiative - planting a garden on top of his auto. A post which has been widely shared online, shows him sitting in his yellow and green auto. On top of the vehicle, a miniature garden with green grass and saplings flourishes.

The auto driver, identified as Bijay Pal, hopes to spread an im-

portant message about environment conservation through his “green auto.” The slogan, “Save Trees, Save Lives,” written on the auto, drives home this point. As

an added bonus, the garden also helps cool down the auto in the harsh summer months.

Since being shared online, the post has collected over 600 “upvotes” and a ton of comments praising Pal and his initiative.

“Such a way green way to cool down rickshaw,” wrote one person in the comments section. “Innovative way to protect from heat,” another said.

(Source: HindustanTimes)

5D porn cinema theatre in Amsterdam complete with bouncing chairs opened

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msterdam is famed for its winding canals, numerous museums and of course the red light district.

People travel from far and wide to pay a visit to the Anne Frank House or the Van Gogh Museum, as well as the streets lined with sex shops and brothels. But now there’s a new experience for visitors to enjoy and it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

A 5D porn cinema has just opened in the city, offering porn fans a unique way to watch X-rated movies. The bizarre attraction features bouncing chairs as well as air, wind and water jets to help stimulate all five senses, offering viewers a totally immersive experience.

But despite the smut that will be screened, the owner, Natalie, claims the picture house is a suitable place to spend an evening with your loved ones and she describes it as being a bit like “an amusement park.”

Speaking to a daily she said,

“We are definitely not just going after tourists for our audience.

It’s funny because in Amsterdam even the Dutch people have an interest in breaking free from the norm. Come with your wife, have

a laugh, try something different.”

She goes on to claim that the experience will leave you feeling “energised.”

“Lots of things happen so fast when you’re in the audience that when it’s finally all over you’re left feeling energised,”

she explained. “You want to get back out there, have a beer or a coffee and talk, process what just happened.”

Natalie adds that the films are “quite expensive to make” so they

will only be producing a few at a time, before holding screenings.

A total of 18 people can attend a screening at the cinema and one film will be shown during the experience, with six screenings of that film played per hour.

(Source: mirror.co.uk)

Denim underwear for Rs 21,000?

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eird denim trends are now almost a separate fashion category by themselves, thanks to the eyeball-grabbing

tactics of various brands. Over the years, puzzled shoppers and unsuspecting netizens have been surprised with thong jeans, upside-down shorts and extreme cut-out jeans, among other bizarre items.

Adding to that list is Y/Project’s “Denim Panties” - which is exactly what they sound

like: underwear crafted out of denim.

The denim underwear, which retails for a cool $315 - or approximately Rs 21,800 - took the internet by storm. On Twitter, many asked where they could be worn, while others wondered why they had to exist at all.

And people had a great time mocking the denim underwear.

The underwear is part of a collection called Denim Five Ways.

They even come with a colour option - you can choose between navy and black denim underwear.

(Source: ndtv)

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n a rare light-

hearted moment captured on camera, women police officers in Delhi grooved to a popular Haryanvi song “Teri Aakhya Ka Yo Kajal” during a recent event. On March 30, the event called “Suno Saheli” was organised for the South-West District Police under the aegis of All Women Sampark Sabha.

During the event, as the popular Sapna Choudhary track began to play, some policewomen took to the stage and started dancing.

Soon, what started off with just three to four cops evolved into

a mini dance party. A cop even pulled IPS officer Benita Mary Jaiker to the stage to shake a leg with them, which she sportingly did.

On Twitter, many applauded the video and praised Delhi Police. Actor and dancer Sapna Choudhary shot to fame after her stint in TV programme Big Boss.

In 2018, she was among the mostsearched persons on Google.

(Source: ndtv)

Woman calls police after husband brings home ‘wrong type of chicken’

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Wisconsin woman called police after she got into an argument with her husband when he brought home the “wrong type of chicken,” authorities said.

Cops received a call from a woman, 40, who reported a verbal argument with her 37-year-old husband, Brown Deer police wrote in a release titled, “Noteworthy calls from the weekend.”

Police later found out the couple got into an argument after the husband allegedly purchased the wrong piece of poultry. The man later agreed to stay with his father for the night. It’s unclear what part of the chicken the woman needed, what dish she was cooking and what piece of meat the man ultimately bought. The identities of those involved were not released.

(Source: foxnews)

18 Review

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

Starring: John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff, Sikandar Kher Director: Robbie Grewal

Cinepolis, Christian Basti 09435025808 Romeo Akbar Walter 09:00 AM, 12:10 PM, 02:50 PM, 03:15 PM, 05:55 PM, 09:00 PM Kesari 09:20 AM, 11:55 AM,

05:00 PM, 08:00 PM Junglee 11:15 AM, 08:15 PM Kesari 02:15 PM Kaneen (Assamese) 05:15 PM

03:00 PM, 08:40 PM Junglee 09:25 AM, 06:40 PM

Movie Review

Shazam

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How to Train Your Dragon:

03:30 PM, 09:00 PM

The Hidden World (English, 3D)

Romeo Akbar Walter

11:00 AM

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Shazam

05:00 PM, 08:30 PM

12:00 PM, 03:50 PM,

Kesari

06:20 PM, 09:15 PM

06:00 PM

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Romeo Akbar Walter

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Anuradha Cineplex, Noonmati during the events leading up to the 1971 Indo-Pak war. The music of the film is composed

by Ankit Tiwari, Sohail Sen, Shabbir Ahmed and Raaj Aashoo while the lyrics are penned by Shabbir Ahmed, Murli Agarwal, Prince Dubey and Ashok Punjabi.

The film has enough twists and turns that will keep you engaged throughout the film. It is an interesting film and has its ups and downs. It is not as action-packed as one would expect both from the trailer

and from Abraham. The film follows a slower pace unfolding one event after the other. It is more of a suspense-thriller than an action-drama film. The film had the potential to be so much more, but sadly as it the trend, it takes the route of trumpeting patriotism with a macho hero.

John Abraham fans should go for it, as can the general public. It’s not the best film but it’s also not the worst. It’s an entertainer like any other, so go destress. n

09854017771

Dumbo (English, 3D)

Badla

he film is a 2019 Indian espionage action thriller film written and directed

by Robbie Grewal. It stars John Abraham, Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff and Sikandar Kher in the lead roles. Romeo (John Abraham), a bank cashier is recruited by India’s foreign intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). They believe he’s a master of disguise and can operate as Akbar, India’s undercover agent in Pok (Pakistan occupied Kashmir)

Grande Cines, Paltan Bazar

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PVR Cinemas, Dona Planet 08800900009 Shazam 09:55 AM, 03:25 PM Romeo Akbar Walter 09:00 AM, 02:40 PM, 05:40 PM, 08:40 PM Dumbo (English, 3D) 12:00 PM Junglee 12:50 PM

Gold Cinema, Paltan Bazaar 09854066166

Badla 06:20 PM

Romeo Akbar Walter

Kesari

11:00 AM, 02:00 PM,

09:00 PM

Samsung Galaxy S10

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he smaller Galaxy S10 has managed to gain popularity thanks to its relatively powerful hardware and reasonable price. It claims to offer the best of both worlds in the Galaxy S series. The Samsung Galaxy S10 is a good looking phone available at Rs. 61,775. This phone is available in Prism White, Prism Black and Prism Blue in India, though the higher-end variant with more storage is only available in Prism White.

Design: The phone has been constructed with premium materials. It consists of an aluminium frame that is sandwiched between Corning Gorilla Glass 6 at the front and Gorilla Glass 5 at the back. The Galaxy S10 has a 6.1-inch Super AMOLED display, which sits right between the 5.8-inch display of the Galaxy S10e and the Galaxy S10+.

It has the SIM tray at the top along with a microphone. At the bottom, it has a USB Type-C port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a loudspeaker, along with the primary microphone. The back of the Galaxy S10 is a fingerprint magnet. The phone has holepunch design for its single front camera.

At the back, Samsung has gone with a triple camera setup identical to what the Samsung Galaxy S10+ has. This module also houses the heart rate sensor and a single LED flash.

Specifications and Software: The Galaxy S10 is also available with 512GB of storage.

Connectivity options on the

Galaxy S10 include dual 4G as well as VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, NFC, ANT+ and the USB Type-C port. This phone also gets four satellite systems for positioning. The Galaxy S10 is capable of charging wirelessly as well as reverse charging other devices wirelessly.

Performance, Battery life and Cameras The Galaxy S10 has an excellent display that delivers a crisp output. The speakers on the Galaxy S10 are good, and Samsung uses the bottomfiring speaker along with the earpiece to simulate a stereo effect. There

is Dolby Atmos support for both

headphones as well as the loudspeaker, and this can be enabled easily using a quick toggle.

The Galaxy S10 has camera setups at the back consisting of a 12-megapixel telephoto camera, 12-megapixel wide-angle camera and 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera. The camera app is easy to use and there are quite a few modes to choose from.

Verdict: The Galaxy S10 offers the features and benefits of the Galaxy S10+ in a more compact body and at a more affordable price. The cuttingedge ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner or the powerful Exynos 9820 SoC are exclusive features. If you are looking for a smartphone that does it all and fits comfortably in the palm of your hand, this is the phone you should go for.

Fiction

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

19

The Fearless Joychandra

I

t was a dreary wet December day and I was feeling very frustrated as it was getting on into late evening and the elephant had not yet arrived at the forest camp. I had by then drank quite a few cups of tea and was contemplating calling off the shoot and having a drink of the Brandy that I was carrying for later. Normally my planning was quite thorough in such matters as a lot of advance thought was needed for the success of the hunt. But this time my regular elephant had been sent away to work in a block near Harmuty and I had requested my contact at Gohpur for an able replacement. He assured me that there was an excellent animal nearby which was requisitioned for me.

I thought that the mahout was probably the problem and due to the weather he would have summarily called off the shoot. Then from the darkening road this majestic elephant entered the camp compound and raised its trunk in salutation.

It was much taller than any other elephant I had rode on and it had a lovely matching pair of tusks.

The mahout, Bhojo, looked like a friendly person and explained that as he had got the message late he took some time to bring Joychandra back from grazing inside the forest. However, now that they had arrived I quickly set the team into motion and after deciding to take the route through the narrow river a few hundred feet away to search in the higher banks where the mustard fields were flowering, we set off.

Joychandra had a confident gait and it was responding well to Bhojo’s commands. I realised that this man and beast were a good team and I felt quietly confident of the

night’s expedition. By this time the rains had stopped and the cloud cover was breaking revealing in patches some stars blinking in the sky. It was also a dark night and now the weather conditions became more suitable. Joychandra splashed through the shallow river but the sounds of our journey were fully blended with the sound of the river flowing. At times we silently climbed up to the banks and used the torch to scan for any signs of game with the elephant poised perfectly still. After about an hour or so we took a bend in the river where there was salt lick and my shikari (hunter) companion from the garden indicated to the mahout to slow down; we saw the huge sambar then, full body exposed as it stood licking up the rock salt and did not notice us before it was too late. The light shone on its eyes as I fired and the deer fell down, but it rose again and tried to run off in to the tree cover.

I took the second shot running and this time it fell dead. It was a fairly large male specimen and now we had to ponder on how to take it back to the camp.

We were three men and one elephant. To clean and cut the meat off the carcass would have taken us at least 4 hours. So we decided to try and pull the dead deer by the elephant for as far back as we could and

then go to the camp and return with more men. Accordingly we got down and tied the carcass properly with ropes loosened from the howdah on which we were sitting and Joychandra set off with the deer trailing behind and we walked beside it on the ground. Normally elephants sense the dead animals and give a lot of trouble if it gets annoyed especially if one tries to put the carcass on its back. But our elephant must have been used to shikar (hunt) trips and it gave us no problem.

However the going through the water and the thick undergrowth was difficult and I also sensed the slimy feel of leeches on my legs. It is not recommended to pull off the leeches as then the bites on the skin can become septic and best is to apply salt or tobacco so that the leeches fall off on their own.

But at that time I never expected leeches and was not carrying any of these substances so we plodded on ignoring the bad feeling. At that instance, as we were climbing up a short incline to a point where a small nullah (drain) crossed our trail in front, we were halted in our tracks by a roar of a tiger which must have been startled by us.

Joychandra trumpeted back in defiance. I froze at the blood curling roar and held my gun close slowly unloading the same and put in one bird shot to fire

in the air in case we were charged.

My garden fitter who always accompanied me on my forays into the jungle stood steadfast and put on the powerful spotlight to scare off the tiger, which roared again this time sounding even more frightening and closer. I must say that in a similar situation any elephant would have bolted in fright and the mahout too could not have controlled a scared elephant no matter how cruelly the ankoor (ankus or elephant hook used by mahouts to control the elephant) was used.

After a few nervous seconds more which was like an eternity for me we heard the tiger crashing off through the undergrowth and could hear the way it was going, very gratefully away from our direction. We all stood still for a while and then I felt myself shaking at this very close encounter but I knew that when you entered such jungles you were playing with your life and so one had to be prepared for all eventualities. In the case of a charge I would have had to fire the 2 ball shots which I always carried with me for safety but then we two men were on the ground and I doubt that we could have got the time to react fast enough as the tiger was quite close to us.

Now we were in a dilemma as it was too dangerous to continue like this and we set about freeing the carcass and tied back the rough howdah for us to climb back again. We decided to light a fire near the carcass so as to keep

Ranjan Kumar Choudhury

away any predators and put up some big logs to burn slowly and then set off to the camp which was still some distance away to fetch more men. I had mixed thoughts of losing the deer now but felt lucky that we got away from a very dangerous situation. We collected 5 more men and returned to the place where we had left the sambar. We pulled back the carcass to the camp with all of the men walking and reached safely. The men set about cleaning and cutting up the carcass. It was only then that we informed our group about the tiger incident and also gave them each a shot of brandy to lift up their spirits.

After the above incident, I made it a point to always use Joychandra for my forays into the jungle in this area and for about 4 years I had a lot of memorable experiences. But then a tragedy occurred when Joychandra was mowed down by a train near a place called Rangajan, a small hamlet where his owner lived. He was very badly injured in one of his front legs and could not be used for any further work. I sent money for his medical expenses and also met the veterinarian looking after him to enquire about the treatment and urged him to do his best for the poor animal. However, it was all in vain as Joychandra could not recover and died a few months later. It was a personal loss for me as I had grown very fond of Joychandra with whom I shared many adventures in the wild.

But if I had to recall one incident it would be of the fearless jumbo who stood his ground and scared away the mighty tiger in the dead of the night.

20 Fun Jayashree Bose Certified Feng Shui, Chinese astrology, date selection consultant & author, jbose@jayashreebose.com

Sudoku

10th April will be a great day for you to share ideas with your seniors or simply just connect with them. You could schedule important meetings on this day. On 12th April, you need to be wary of dealing with the opposite gender. Avoid drinking with your work mates, seniors or parents on 6th April.

6th, 9th & 11th April will be great days for you to share ideas with your seniors or simply just connect with them.

You could schedule your important meetings on these dates. Avoid making any promises on 7th April, you will have to live up to them. 10th April will be a slow day for you.

Use 7th, 8th & 10th April to connect with your boss & share ideas. For good results, host your meetings on these dates. You could have Sunday brunch with seniors or your parents. 11th April will be a slow day.

On 6th April, avoid confrontations with your clients or people at work place. 7th & 8th April will be great days for you to connect with seniors & share your ideas with them, you could host your important meetings on these dates. On 9th April, be careful while dealing with the opposite gender.

6th & 9th April will be great days for you to share your ideas with seniors and build a relationship with them. On 7th & 10th April, you could have issues with seniors and parents. Avoid hosting any meetings on these dates. On 12th April, you could be betrayed or emotionally hurt by someone in your work environment.

6th & 10th April will be excellent days for you to schedule important meetings.

Your seniors will be receptive to your ideas. On 11th April, you could feel your seniors and/or your parents are ungrateful, they don’t appreciate you. Avoid hosting any meetings especially with your seniors or important clients on 8th April.

On10th&12thApril,youcouldbebetrayed by someone at work & emotionally hurt by your family. 7th, 8th & 11th April will be great days for you to share your ideas with seniors or simply just connect with them.

You could schedule important meetings on this day. Avoid hosting any meetings especially with seniors & important clients on 9th April.

8th & 12th April will be great days for you to build a rapport with seniors and people at work, host your important meetings on these dates. On 7th & 10th April, avoid making any promises, you will have to live up to them. On 10th April, avoid hosting any meetings as you will have disagreements.

9th & 12th April will be ideal days to share ideas with your boss or connect with people at work & family. Avoid socializing or making any promises on 8th or 11th April. Avoid hosting any meetings on 11th April as you are bound to have disagreements.

10th April will be a great day for you to build your relationship with seniors and people at work. On 7th April, you will be emotionally hurt either by parents or seniors. If you are in a habit of grabbing a drink with your seniors, avoid it on 9th April. On 12th April, you could have a disagreement with seniors or work associates.

Watch yourself on 7th & 10th April. Avoid making any promises or getting into a confrontation. On 7th April, you could have a disagreement with your senior or work associate or your parents. Share your ideas with your seniors or generally build a relationship with people at work on 11th & 12th April, host your important meetings on these dates.

11th & 12th April are ideal days for you to mingle with seniors, people at work & build your work network.

Be careful with your words & actions on 8th April as you will create your own problems.

4 1 6 6 4 1 2 8 5 7 6 8 3 4 3 9 5 5 3 2 6

5 2 7

1 7 4

7 6 4 8 3 5 4 2 2 9 5 2 7 7

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4 2 1 5 7 9 8 1 3 Daily Sudoku: Tue 2-Apr-2019 7 8 6 5 3

very hard

Daily Sudoku: Fri 18-Jan-2019

2.

Who is the founder of the Mumbai-based technology outsourcing firm, Backops Services Private Limited?

3.

Which magazine was created in 1923 by Briton Hadden and Henry Luce, making it the first weekly news magazine in the United States?

4.

Which famous Indian culinary institution is situated at 151, Phoolwaligali Chowk, Lucknow?

5.

His real name is Dilawar Khan Kewal Krishn, but he is popular by what name?

6.

What unique record is held by this person in the history of Indian sports?

Dr. Soubhadra Chakrabarty This quiz has been brought to you by Brain Jam, a property of Priya Communications

Dilbert By Scott Adams

8 4 6 5 3 2 9 1 7

5 2 9 1 6 7 4 3 8

1 7 3 4 9 8 5 2 6

2 6 7 8 5 4 3 9 1

9 5 8 3 1 6 2 7 4

3 1 4 2 7 9 6 8 5

7 9 1 6 2 5 8 4 3

6 8 2 7 4 3 1 5 9

4 3 5 9 8 1 7 6 2 medium

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curio-city

What was first introduced by the Ahom king Supangmung who ruled between 1663 to 1670?

last week solution

Word of the week 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

1.

medium

Daily Sudoku: Fri 18-Jan-2019

He was the first to issue coins with the Assamese Script Rahul Gandhi Time Magazine Tundey Kababi, the famous Kebab shop Dharmendra He is Wilson Jones, who won the World Billiards Championships in 1958, thus becoming the first Indian to become a world champion in any sport.

curio-city

multiverse knackered noun adjective [muhl-ti-vurs] [nak-erd] a hypothetical British collection Slang.of identical or diverse universes, exhausted;including very tiredour own.

Crossword Across

Down

1 Loosely woven cloth from Scotland (6,5) 9 Impromptu (9) 10 Animal (with nine nine tails?) (3) 11 Himalayan country (5) 13 Excellent — shining bright? (7) 14 On ship (6) 15 Purist (6) 18 Arctic deer — a Rio cub (anag) (7) 20 Best possible (5) 21 See 23 22 Fling (9) 24 Fifth book of the Bible

(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2019. All rights reserved. (c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2019. All rights reserved.

These predictions are based on the month of birth and are about an individual’s work environment, parents and extended family.

(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2019. All rights reserved.

Horoscope of the week

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

2 Fit (3) 3 Person whose speech is not well organised (7) 4 Married partner (6) 5 In which position? (5) 6 Acquit — clear (9) 7 Entertainment area with coin-operated machines (5,6) 8 Narrator (11) 12 TV show (9) 16 Issue (7) 17 Male domestic servant (6) 19 Bathroom basin (5) 23, 21 UK resident who the tax man accepts as having their "true" home elsewhere (abbr) (3-3)

Last week’s solution

Lifestyle

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

Vaastu and the chakras

V

Hemanta Kumar Sarmah Engineer, Businessman, Advanced Pranic Healer and Su Jok Acupressure specialist.

aastu deals with cosmic forces, sunlight, gravitational forces and other natural forces like sound and wind which have an impact on us. The bioplasmic life force or “Prana” enters our body through Chakras or energy centers as described in Yoga and Ayurveda.

There are seven major chakras as per yogic theory, but Pranic healers have found four more chakras and several minor chakras on various parts of the body.

The Vastu Purusha Mandala represents the subtle energy body with the Seven Psychic Centers or ‘Chakras’. Healing the corresponding Chakra of the Vastu Purusha Mandala of a structure will give positive results, thereby correcting any Vastu Dosha or defects.

Color is a property of light. Sunlight can be dissipated into 7 different colours which can treat the seven Chakras present in our body. This is known to advanced Pranic healers.

The VIBGYOR flows through our red, corresponding with ‘Mooladhar Chakra’ (Root Chakra), located in the last bone in our spinal cord.

Listed below are the seven major Chakra centers and their representing traits: ‘Muladhara’: The Root Chakra It

controls physical vitality and well being. Its colour is red and it is ruled by the earth element; mental faculties like courage and fear come from this chakra.

‘Swadhisthana’: The Sacral Chakra /Pelvic Chakra It controls relationships and is orange in colour. It belongs to the water element; performance of duties without attachment to get results,

21

Maybe.

letting go VS attachment come from this chakra.

‘Manipura’: The Solar Plexus Chakra It controls internal organs and personal power. It is yellow in colour and is rule d by the fire e le me nt and it has control over mind and body. Lower emotions like enthusiasm, hatred, anger and resentment are influenced by this chakra.

‘Anahata’:The Heart Chakra It controls higher emotions like happiness, peace and love. It is green in color and is ruled by the air element.

‘Vishuddha’: The Throat Chakra It controls communication skills and creativity like arts, music etc and it is blue in colour.

The space/ether element rules the throat chakra.

‘Ajna’: The Brow Chakra It controls wisdom and the pituitary gland. It is indigo in color and balances thoughts and feelings with higher insight and intuition, inspiration and creativity.

‘Sahasrara’: The Crown Chakra

It is violet in colour and receives cosmic/spiritual energy.

It helps experience oneness with the Supreme Being and offers transformational experiences.

Maybe I’ll meet you again someday, When the sky is the right shade of grey, When I won’t stammer when I talk, And when we could take that really long walk.

Maybe we’ll see sunsets together and run around like rabbits, Maybe in our little rendezvous, we’ll pick on each other’s habits.

Maybe we’ll binge watch movies and share a popcorn tub, And maybe I won’t shiver while saying goodbye after we hug.

Maybe we’ll draw pictures on sand with sticks, And maybe get crazy and dance around like lunatics.

Maybe we’ll sit on the roof and talk about life, And maybe you’ll tell about the day I stabbed you with a knife.

Maybe we’ll go to the zoo and see monkeys jump and the lion roar, And maybe later we’ll light a blunt or maybe four.

Maybe we’ll sit under a tree and read a book, And maybe none of us will have this confused look.

Maybe we’ll know someday what’s up with us, And maybe then is won’t seem like this big a fuss.

Maybe someday it won’t feel like a dream, Maybe someday it won’t all be imaginary, Maybe someday my head will stop fantasizing theories, Maybe someday we’ll turn theories into memories.

Maybe someday I’ll get along with my chaos just fine, Maybe that day it’ll all be fine.

Antriksh Somany

Office! Office! The rise of the co-working culture Kastaurika Saikia

L

ong gone are the days of the 6’X6’cubicle with clinical interiors. The open plan office is fast becoming a passé too.

Today, office spaces are dominated by beanbags, couches, coffeemakers and pool tables. The bright colours and modular furniture that define these offices, depict not only a new design philosophy, but also speak of an emerging work culture – one that is founded by millennials and Gen Zs, who are a major chunk of the workforce at present.

Many amongst this newblooded workforce depart from the traditionalist view of jobs; they are either freelancers, remote-workers, consultants, selfemployed, or free-will workers, who come together to form what is being increasingly described as the ‘gig economy.’

For this group, a job is not just a means to making a living, but it is living itself! They no longer associate work with formality or drudgery, and as such all they

seek out in their workplace is flexibility, which the traditional spaces fail to provide.

To support this kind of a ‘play and plug’ lifestyle, co-working

any other new age worker/ organization.

The basic tenets of the co-working culture rely on collaboration and community-

spaces came into being in the mid-2000s and have risen in popularity ever since. Co-working today has achieved cult-status amongst start-ups, entrepreneurs, collaborators, freelancers or

building. It attempts at breaking the organizational hierarchies by democratizing workspaces. As most users of these spaces see themselves as passion-pursuers and not just bread-winners, they

are very open to learning and sharing knowledge and skills with their contemporaries, and co-working spaces provide just the right environment for it.

These open spaces also bring about a sense of community that not only ascribes greater meanings and purpose to a certain someone’s work, but also reaffirms his/her identity and creates a greater pool of support and validation.

Apart from its heightened social significance, co-working becomes more relevant with sky-rocketing real estate prices, high maintenance cost and dearth of space in the prime CBDs. Also, in an age of ground breaking technological advancement, where share-economy is trending in most sectors of the market, co-working becomes the obvious choice for anyone looking for an inspiring work environment.

But, it is not just the startups and entrepreneurs who are

the users of co-working spaces, but even big multi-national companies around the world like KPMG, Merck, General Electronics etc are housing some of their teams out of such spaces as part of the companies’ creative strategy. There have also been cases of reverse-engineering where corporate offices have cleared up their floors to host a bunch of entrepreneurs to learn and unlearn from the crossculture of co-working.

Work, once seen as the catalyst to social isolation (the tilting of the work/life balance), is now being seen in the light of social activation. With new emerging concepts of ‘workation’, ‘digitalnomads’ and more, the spaces of work are undergoing an evolution.

With a start-up heavy environment and a 1.5 crore strong freelance workforce (PayPal records), India is surely headed towards a work-culture revolution which shall put workspaces at the confluence of real estate, hospitality, entertainment, food & beverage, health & fitness and more, thereby taking a 180-degree turn to how offices are being presently imagined.

22 Buzz

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

Charitable city GU organises school goes green symposium on edible during Earth Hour insects in NE India A

A

one-day symposium on “Potential of edible insects in North East India” was organised at the Department of Biotechnology, Gauhati University on March 31. It was organised under the Department of Biotechnology, government of India and was sponsored by Advanced level Institutional Biotech Hub. The symposium was inaugurated by the Director, Institute of Advanced Studies in Science & Technology, Dr NC Talukdar. In his inaugural speech, he emphasized the role of insects as alternative sources of conventional animal protein. The coordinator of the programme, Professor MC Kalita also delivered his welcome speech and pointed to the significant data on nutritional value of edible insects.

Professor AK Handique, Head of Department of Biotechnology of Gauhati University, acted

as chairperson of the session, while Professor PK Saikia, Head of Department of Zoology was present as the guest of honour.

Professor JC Kalita, Director of UGC-Human Resource Development Centre, Gauhati University, also graced the

inaugural occasion of the symposium.

During the programme, various plenary talks were delivered by eminent entomologists of the region.

This academic symposium was witnessed by a good number of researchers and students from different parts of northeast and outside. At the valedictory session, Vice-Chancellor of Cotton University, Professor BC Goswami attended the programme as chief guest and delivered his speech addressing the participants. During the end of the programme, Dr Bulbuli Khanikar of the Department of Zoology offered the vote of thanks.

The programme was moderated

by Dr Shamim Rahman of Cotton University. n

4 selected to represent Assam at 33rd national U-13 chess championship

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he 33rd National U-13 Boys’ and Girls’ Chess Championship is being organised by Andhra Pradesh Chess Association on behalf of the All India Chess Federation from May 4 to May 12 at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

Two girls, Aslesha Talukdar of Guwahati and Winee Thegal of Golaghat have been selected to represent Assam in the girls’

category of the tournament and Mayank Chakraborty of Guwahati and Pran Govinda Parashar Kashyap have been selected to represent Assam in boys’ category for the meet. Pallab Gohain of Golaghat will accompany the team as manager. n

kshar, a city-based charitable school in Pamohi, has entirely switched over to the use of solar energy when the world was celebrating Earth Hour on March 30.

Akshar Foundation is a registered public charitable trust engaged in poverty eradication through operation of schools that supplement formal education with vocational training, business incubation and community development.

Professor Alaka Sarma, founder of Akshar School said, “I am very happy to say that our entire school, including water pump is now running on clean and green solar energy. As the world is celebrating earth hour, it is very symbolic that we switched over to green energy on this day.”

Earth Hour was a global movement that encouraged people to conserve power. People were encouraged to switch off lights for an hour from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm local time.

Parmita Nagen Sarma, cofounder and associate director of Akshar said, “This is a humble contribution by Akshar with a pledge to protect the environment.

The global Earth Hour campaign aims to raise awareness about the impact of climate change.” n

City school distributes school bags to children in Barpeta

N

PS International School distributed 110 school bags to students of Patbausi High School and Patbausi Mozoliya Vidyalaya in Barpeta on March

meritorious students of these two schools.

Around 30 children were gifted with these school bags and students from NPS headed to Barpeta with a few teachers from

28, 2019. This activity was a small attempt to encourage needy and

their school for this occasion.

The two schools in Barpeta are public schools where children from economically backward sections come to study and every effort in improving their school life and education go a long way for the success of these children, the state and the country as a whole. n

IIT-G students to organise campaign on voting awareness

S

tudents from IIT Guwahati have launched a campaign to create voting awareness amongst people of Assam before the upcoming Lok Sabha

elections.

The campaign, “Wake up and Vote” is part of the institute’s annual techno-management festival “Techniche” and the students will carry out the

campaign to enlighten electorates along with the election office in Assam. The students believe that it is important that the electorates are aware of their voting rights in “strengthening the democracy and building a healthier nation.”

As part of the campaign, the students have released multiple campaign videos and photos, blogs online in the past three months. They are also conducting street plays, organizing signature and selfie campaigns in urban areas to reach out to more people to come and vote and thereby be part of the electoral process. n

Entertainment

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

Papon and Nilotpal Bora create music for TVF’s Tripling Season 2

T

VF’s new series, Tripling season 2, is coming out soon and the travel song for the series has been done

by Assam’s own Papon and Nilotpal Bora.

The music for the entire series has been supervised by the latter.

In addition to Papon, Bora is creating an album for the series with popular singers from Assam such as Zubeen

Garg, Arupjyoti Baruah, Swaroop Khan and more. The travel song, Chalpaderaastajahan Le Chale is “one for the roads” as Papon describes it and a trailer for it can be found on his Instagram page.

The songs have been written by Hussain Haidry, music producers are Ishan Das and Manas Borthakur and the sound producer is Pankaj Borah.

Tripling Season 2 is a TVF origi-

nal series about three siblings who connect while on a road trip. The series stars Sumeet Vyas, Maanvi Gagroo, Amol Parashar and Kunal Roy Kapoor.

Hiren Bora’s Seema - the untold story: A review ased on the Chinese aggression of 1962 and its impact particularly on Tezpur town and how people of Tezpur defend it, the movie Seema - The Untold Story is de finite ly a succe ssful movie. In 1962, the Chinese troops easily made their way to Bomdila which is hardly 150 kms from Tezpur town. The fear of war gripped and administration evacuated people from the town.

The national award winning film

the situation it is definitely quite easy for him to depict it correctly.

For the people of northeast, the Chinese aggression is big slice of history which is often discussed by people at home or in social gatherings. I still remember as a child I got tremendous interest when I hear about it from my grandparents and parents.

Produced by Sanjive Narain the movie has well reflected the woes and fear of common people, the failure of administration and, on the other side, the bravery of young volunteers who vigil the town day and night and helped the needy with

maker Hiren Bora, who directed the movie, is successful in depicting the true picture of that situation. Being an eye-witness of

utmost capacity. All this made the movie more interesting.

The veteran actors George Baker, Nipon Goswami, Arun

Bijaylakshmi Baruah

B

Assam girl in reckoning for Miss India 2019

A

ssam’s Jyotishmita Baruah (19) will represent Assam at the Fbb Colors Femina Miss India 2019 contest. Fbb Colors Femina Miss India 2019 has vowed to continue its tradition with an aim to extend whole-hearted support to the new generation of women who have the potential to lead and represent the country in the future.

The winners of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim will go to the East Zonal Crowning ceremony to be held in Kolkata on April 23. The auditions for the northeast states took place at the fbb store at VK Trade Centre, Guwahati.

The most deserving candidate

from each of the 5 states of the East Zone, i.e. Miss India Chhattisgarh, Miss India Bihar, Miss India West Bengal, Miss India Jharkhand and Miss India Odisha along with the state winners of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim will represent their state at the grand finale which is going to be held in Mumbai on June 15, 2019.

Baruah originally hails from Biswath Chariali in Assam and has completed her graduation from B Borooah College in Guwahati.

Rima Das to be ambassador of TIFF’s women empowerment campaign

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ational award-winning filmmaker, Rima Das has joined Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as their official ambassador for “Share Her Journey,” a women empowerment campaign.

TIFF launched the 5-year campaign in 2017 with a view to increase participation, skills and opportunities for women behind and in front of the camera. “TIFF is delighted to welcome Rima on board as an Ambassador for

Nath and Dr Jahanara Begum’s performances are flawless; a special mention to George Baker for his role of a British journalist.

All the actors of the movie acted well but I must mention the name of child artist Rodali Bora, who acted excellently as a blind girl.

In a few scenes her expressions were superb which definitely carry a promise for future.

The sound and picture quality of the movie is good. It really makes me happy that despite all odds and paucity of audiences some, talented film makers are making a few meaningful movies.

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our ‘Share Her Journey’ campaign.

Her remarkable body of work and passion for championing equality makes her an excellent choice to help us support women in films and move the dial towards gender equity throughout the industry,” Cameron Bailey, artistic director and co-head of TIFF told the media.

Rima Das is a self-taught filmmaker and the woman behind Village Rockstars, India’s official entry to Oscars 2019.

She has also directed the internationally celebrated film Bulbul Can Sing (2018) and Man with the Binoculars (2016).

Expressing happiness at the news, Rima said, “It’s a huge honour to be a ‘Share Her Journey’ Ambassador.

Through this platform, I would like to bring together voices of people of all genders and collaborate to champion the cause of equality.”

24 Catching Up

G PLUS | APR 06 - apr 12, 2019

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#VIDEO | Guwahati Traffic Police Officer sets an example for society.

While people rushed for shelter to be safe from the thunderstorm on Sunday afternoon, this officer kept on doing his job.

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Women in the city take out a ‘march for change’ demanding social security | Photo Surajit Sharma