Vol 6 Issue 26 by G Plus

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Volume 06 | Issue 26 Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019 Price `10

INSIDE

Lok Sabha Elections in Assam: Top contenders and constituency profiles in Phase 3

On the campaign trail with BJP candidate Queen Ojha

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Constituency watch: Gauhati

Mrinmoyee Hazarika @guwahatiplus

ith the campaigning for the third phase of elections going on in full swing, the Gauhati Lok Sabha constituency is all set to go to polls on April 23. The battle for the Gauhati seat would be interesting as all eyes are set on the most prominent seat of northeastern India. Gauhati constituency consists of 10 assembly segments including Dudhnai (ST), Boko (SC), Chaygaon,

Palasbari, Jalukbari, Dispur, Gauhati East, Gauhati West, Hajo and Barkhetry. As per the state election commission, a total of 2,592 polling stations have been set up for the elections. Further, Gauhati constituency has a total of 21.78 lakh registered

The constituency saw 78.64% voter turnout in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. In Gauhati, the male voter turnout was 79.50% whereas 77.74% female voters turned out for voting. voters. Out of this, 11 lakh are male whereas 10.78 lakh are female voters. On the other hand, only 157

third gender voters are registered from the constituency. This constituency is partially urban, as Guwahati city is also included in the segment. The SCs and STs constitute one-fifth of the total electorate. Further, Muslim voters constitute around four lakh of the population in the constituency. The Lok Sabha seat is currently represented by Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Bijoya Chakravarty. She emerged victorious with 7,64,985 votes polled in her favour in 2014. Her nearest rival was

Congress’ Manash Borah who bagged 4,49,201 votes. In the history of Lok Sabha elections in Gauhati, the seat has never had a single predominant party sweeping the elections for consecutive years for a long time. Additionally this time, a total of 19 contestants have filed their nominations and are in fray from the Gauhati constituency. Some of the prominent names who are set to contest from the Gauhati seat include Bobbeeta Sarma from Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Queen Ojha and Manoj Sharma from Trinamool Congress (TMC). Additionally, Bharatiya Gana Parishad’s Dr Avijit Chakraborty, independent candidate and lawyer Upamanyu Hazarika and Swarna Bharat Party’s Pankaj Das have also filed their nominations. Continued on Page 04

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‘D’ voters apart, voters’ list in Kamrup (M) is exhaustive, all-inclusive

Stage set for the great T Gauhati fight Saumya Mishra @saumyamishra03

Incumbent MP Report Card: Badruddin Ajmal

he names of all eligible voters, except the ones with the tag “D” are included in the final voters’ list released by the Election Commission ahead of this general election, asserted the Kamrup (M) district administration. However, some people, who are not “D” voters, from the Gauhati LS constituency may not be able to cast their votes in this election, as their names have not figured in the final voters’ list for reasons unknown to them. One such person, who did not wished to be named, said that he has been casting his vote in the same centre under the Gauhati LS constituency for a long time. But, this time he did not find his name in the voters’ list. “I was surprised when I did not find my name in the voters’ list. I am not a ‘D’ voter; I have nev-

er transferred my vote from one place to another. Then, why has

look into the matter only after the election, which means I will not

my name been deleted from the list without any reason? “I have contacted the concerned officials in the district administration. But, they said that they could

be able to vote this time,” said the person. Continued on Page 05

Surge in voter turnout in second phase of LS polls in Assam Mrinmoyee Hazarika @guwahatiplus

ssam has recorded an average of 80.05% voter turnout in four of the five LS constituencies that went to polls in the second phase of the ongoing general election. The result includes data from Karimganj, Autonomous Districts, Mangaldoi, Silchar and Nowgong LS constituencies. In the second phase of polling that took place on 18th April, an average of 73.32% voter turnout was recorded till 5 pm across the five constituencies. However, in contrast to the latest outcome, the state witnessed 78.23% turnout in the

first phase of polling that included five LS constituencies, Kaliabor, Tezpur, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, and Lakhimpur. Among the four constituencies, the result of which has been out, Mangaldoi recorded the highest turnout of voters with 83.60%, followed by Nowgong with 83.24%. Autonomous Districts witnessed 77.47% voter turnout, while Karimganj registered 73.15% voter turnout. For the second phase, a total of 8,992 booths had been set up across the constituencies to decide the fate of 50 candidates. Candidates like BJP’s Kripanath Mallah, Rajdeep Roy had locked horns with Congress heavyweights Sushmita Dev and Bhubaneswar Kalita, among others, in the second phase of the election.

In addition, the polling witnessed a few incidences of EVM malfunctioning and sporadic violence in some parts of the constituencies. Following reports of EVM malfunctioning at some booths, the Election Commission initially replaced around 120 VVPATS. The Commission also reportedly changed 20 sets of control and ballot units during the main polling. Hailakandi district, which comes under Karimganj LS constituency, reportedly recorded an incident where a mob from two rival political parties tried to capture a polling booth. The attempt was then thwarted by the security personnel present at the booth. Continued on Page 05

General Election 2019

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

Lok Sabha Elections in Assam: Top contenders and constituency profiles in Phase 3 Nehal Jain @NehalJain96

ith the completion of first two phases of polling for the Lok Sabha (LS) Elections 2019, the state is gearing up for the third phase of polling with four constituencies (Gauhati, Barpeta, Dhubri and Kokrajhar) set to go to polls on April 23. Among the 14 Lok Sabha seats of Assam, five constituencies (Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur) went to polls in the first phase on April 11 and the next five constituencies (Karimganj, Silchar, Autonomous district, Mangaldoi and Nowgong) went to polls on April 18. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the fight is expected to be between the Indian National Congress (INC) and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won an unprecedented seven seats from Assam in the last Lok Sabha elections. The BJP is contesting the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in Assam in alliance with Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF). The BJP-led alliance would contest 10 Lok Sabha seats while the AGP will contest Kaliabor, Barpeta and Dhubri seats and the BPF would contest the Kokrajhar seat. The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) led by perfume baron Badaruddin Ajmal is another strong player contesting from three constituencies namely Barpeta, Dhubri and Karimganj. The filing of nomination for the third phase of the election

ended on April 4, the scrutiny of nominations ended on April 5 and the withdrawal of nominations after scrutiny ended on April 8. Here’s a list of the top contenders

in Gauhati, Barpeta, Dhubri and Kokrajhar constituencies that are scheduled to go to polls on April 23. of polling for the Lok Sabha Elections 2019, the state is gearing up for the second phase of polling with five constituencies (Karimganj, Silchar, Autonomous district, Mangaldoi and Nowgong) set to go to polls on April 18. Among the 14 Lok Sabha seats of Assam, five constituencies (Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur) went to polls in the first phase on April 11 and the remaining four constituencies (Gauhati, Barpeta, Dhubri and Kokrajhar) will be voting on April 23. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the fight is expected to be between the Indian National Congress (INC) and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which won an unprecedented seven seats in the last Lok Sabha elections. The BJP is contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Assam in alliance with Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF). The BJP will contest in 10 Lok Sabha seats leaving the AGP

three seats (Kaliabor, Barpeta and Dhubri) and one seat to the BPF (Kokrajhar). The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) led by perfume baron Badaruddin Ajmal is another strong contender from three constituencies namely Barpeta, Dhubri and Karimganj. The filing of nomination for the second phase of the election ended on March 26, and the withdrawal of nominations after scrutiny ended on March 29. Here’s a list of the top contenders in Karimganj, Silchar, Autonomous district, Mangaldoi and Nowgong constituencies that are scheduled to go to polls on April 18.

Gauhati

Queen Ojha vs Bobbeeta Sharma

Gauhati is not just the most prestigious among Assam’s 14 Lok Sabha seats, it is also seen as an indicator of which way the rest of the northeast’s 11 other Lok Sabha seats go. The battle for Gauhati is all set and both the BJP and the Congress have fielded women candidates from the constituency. BJP has fielded former Guwahati mayor Queen Ojha who has replaced former union minister Bijoya Chakravarty, to go against

well-known actress and Congress party leader Bobbeeta Sharma. While the main contest for this seat is expected to be between the Congress and BJP, this time, a total of 19 contestants have filed their nominations from this constituency including Manoj Sharma (All India Trinamool Congress), Dr Avijit Chakraborty (Bharatiya Gana Parishad) and Upamanyu Hazarika (Independent). Gauhati Lok Sabha constituency covers 10 assembly segments - Dudhnai (ST), Boko (SC), Chaygaon, Palasbari, Jalukbari, Dispur, Gauhati East, Gauhati West, Hajo and Barkhetry.

Kokrajhar

Pramila Rani Brahma vs Naba Kumar Sarania vs UG Brahma

For the Lok Sabha Elections 2019, the fight for the Kokrajhar Lok Sabha seat is triangular. The fight in the constituency is among the BJP-AGP-backed BPF candidate Pramila Rani Brahma, the ABSU-NDFB(P)-backed UPPL candidate UG Brahma and the independent candidate Naba Sarania. What is glaringly visible in the constituency is the split of Bodo votes between Pramila Rani Brahma and her rival UPPL candidate UG Brahma. With AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal lending his support to UPPL candidate UG Brahma in the constituency,

there is every possibility of a large chunk of Muslim votes being transferred to UG Brahma. If that really happens, it can be a real threat to the ruling alliance candidate, Pramila Rani Brahma. Both the candidates are up for a fight with the incumbent MP Naba Kumar Sarania. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election here, Independent candidate Naba Kumar Sarania defeated another Independent candidate Urkhao Gwra Brahma by a massive margin of 3,55,779 votes. This was the highest margin of win in terms of votes ever in elections in the state of Assam. The constituency, reserved for Scheduled Tribes candidates, covers 10 assembly segments - Gossaigaon, Kokrajhar East (ST), Kokrajhar West (ST), Sidli (ST), Bijni, Sorbhog, Bhabanipur, Tamulpur, Barama (ST) and Chapaguri (ST).

Dhubri

Barpeta

Badruddin Ajmal vs Abu Taher Bepari

Abdul Khaleque vs Hafiz Rafiqul Islam

Sitting Member of Parliament from Dhubri constituency and AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal is contesting for the seat for the third consecutive session. For the Lok Sabha Elections 2019, Ajmal is set to face a tough fight from Congress candidate Abu Taher Bepari who is a prominent leader of the minority community.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election here, Ajmal stamped his dominance by defeating Congress’ Wazed Ali Choudhury by over two lakh votes. However, having lost the Assembly Election in 2016 from Salmara constituency, he may not be on a very strong wicket this time. Muslims, largely immigrants from Bangladesh, form nearly 70 percent of the electorate in this constituency. The immense Muslim influence can be gauged by the fact that all MPs elected from this constituency since 1952 have been Muslims. In the Muslim dominated Dhubri constituency, the AIUDF eroded the Congress base in 2009 prior to which, Dhubri remained a Congress stronghold.

Going by records, the constituency is likely to witness a close fight between the AIUDF and the Congress party. However, the BJP-AGP alliance candidate in Barpeta constituency, Kumar Deepak Das, who is a former Rajya Sabha MP, is likely to give a stiff challenge to Congress candidate Abdul Khaleque, Jania MLA, and AIUDF

nominee Hafiz Rafiqul Islam. Like Dhubri, Barpeta is another Muslim majority constituency in Assam, where the community accounts for nearly 60% of the electorate. The constituency consists of 10 assembly segments Bongaigaon, Abhayapuri North, Abhayapuri South (SC), Patacharkuchi, Barpeta, Jania, Baghbar, Sarukhetri, Chenga and Dharmapur. Of these, four are in possession of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), five are with the Congress and one with the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF).

4 General Election 2019 Snippets Assam BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass’s daughter joins BJP

Face-off between women contenders for Gauhati LS fROM Page 01

ojaskiya Ranjeet, daughter of Assam BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party on April 19. Rojaskiya Ranjeet joined the BJP at Barpeta and was felicitated by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. Rojaskiya completed her schooling from the Assam Valley School, Balipara, Sonitpur and is a graduate from Kamla Nehru College, with Honours in Sociology, under Delhi University. Currently she is preparing for UPSC examination in New Delhi.

ISBT to be Closed for 4 Days

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

s per political analysts, there is set to be a direct fight between the two female candidates from BJP and Congress in Gauhati this time. On March 29, the Congress party announced Bobbeeta Sarma as its candidate to contest the Gauhati Lok Sabha (LS) seat for the Lok Sabha elections 2019 making the contest attentiongrabbing in Guwahati as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had already fielded Queen Ojha who is also a prominent female politician of the city. If money investment is to be taken as the key factor to win Lok Sabha elections, the contest will be exciting as both the candidates are well-known businesswomen of the city. Ojha also contested for the legislative assembly in 2001 from Gauhati East constituency but was defeated by Congress

candidate Capt Robin Bordoloi. Even Siddhartha Bhattacharya was defeated in the same year. Ojha joined BJP in 2014 and has now been fielded by BJP for the Gauhati Lok Sabha seat. Further, Bobbeeta Sarma is General Secretary, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee

Queen Ojha (BJP) (APCC) and had contested the 2016 Assam legislative election unsuccessfully from Gauhati East constituency. Both the candidates have undergone the experience of losing legislative assembly elections from the same constituency (Gauhati East). Queen Ojha has more political experience than Sarma as Ojha has been active as a politician

them in the parliament. During the last Lok Sabha elections, a total of 15,11,729 voters turned up on the day of polling and the voter turnout was 78.64 per cent. On the other hand, as many as 19,22,270 electors were registered in 2014. The constituency saw 78.64% voter turnout in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. In Gauhati, the male voter turnout was 79.50% whereas 77.74% female voters turned out for voting. However, apart from the two female contenders, independent candidate Upamanyu Hazarika is also being Bobbeeta Sarma considered (Congress) a strong contender from the seat. A senior advocate of the led the BJP to field Ojha this Supreme Court of India by time. profession, Hazarika is also Commenting on Bijoya the convener of the Prabajan Chakravarty’s tenure, while some Virodhi Manch. After filing his people in her constituency have nomination papers, Hazarika expressed concern regarding the said that he is contesting perennial issues of the city that, elections to fight for the rights over the years, had not only not of the indigenous people and been resolved but had instead also urged the people to vote aggravated, several also opined for him in order to protect the that the city needs a more identity of Assam. proactive leader to represent since the days of the Assam Agitation. She later joined Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and in 1996 became the mayor of Guwahati after winning Guwahati Municipal Corporation elections. Poor performance of the incumbent MP Bijoya Chakravarty in her constituency

Candidates in news

M K

amrup (M) District Administration stated that the Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT) will remain closed from April 20 to 23. In lieu of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, Maniram Dewan Trade Centre will be the strong room with ISBT to run the election transport services for Kamrup (M) poll. The presiding officers, as well as the polling officers, will be moving to different polling booths from ISBT. According to reports, all buses outbound to upper Assam will move from Khanapara, while all buses outbound to north and lower Assam will move from Jalukbari and Adabari, instead of ISBT.

ore recently, two Gauhati candidates Queen Ojha and Upamanyu Hazarika were in the news for different reasons. While Queen Ojha was caught in the middle of a row on educational qualification, Hazarika caught people’s attention when he used an empty BJP “office” for his own campaigning. Queen Ojha had come under scrutiny with regard to her educational qualifications. The Election Commission, on April 4, had decided to seek a report of the BJP candidate from concerned authorities for allegedly providing “false information” about her educational qualification in the affidavit. Ojha had stated that her highest educational qualification is that of “Higher Secondary

from Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University in 2011.” However, KKHSOU Vice Chancellor, Hitesh Deka said that the institution does not offer any higher secondary or Grade 12 course. Deka said that their university does not have such a course and no open university in the country offers a higher secondary course. However, the VC informed that Ojha had done a Bachelor Preparatory Programme (BPP) in 2011-12 and took admission in the degree course, but did not continue due to some personal reasons. The BJP candidate, however, stood tall and said, “I have faith in myself, the people and the entire electoral process. I have not done anything wrong.” However, Ojha came clean in the controversy after the concerned presiding officer

Gauhati constituency has a total of 21.78 lakh registered voters. Out of this, 11 lakh are male whereas 10.78 lakh are female voters. On the other hand, only 157 third gender voters are registered from the constituency. declared her educational qualification, which was

submitted along with her nomination, to be true. The declaration was made after proper scrutiny carried out by the officer. On the other hand, independent candidate Upamanyu Hazarika recently entered an empty BJP office in Guwahati and started campaigning from there. The video of him campaigning from the BJP office was widely shared on social media. Speaking during the occasion Hazarika said, “Just like this office, the promises made by BJP are also empty.” He also distributed pamphlets and urged people to vote for him in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. After this, the BJP filed a police complaint against Hazarika for trespassing into the party office. They also claimed that certain important documents had gone missing.

General Election 2019

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

‘D’ voters apart, voters’ list in Kamrup Surge in voter turnout in second (M) is exhaustive, all-inclusive fROM Page 01

hile it is still unclear whether the person will be able to exercise his franchise in this election or not, the Kamrup (M) district administration is fully confident of the job they are doing. Speaking to G Plus, Jimlee Saikia Kakoty, election officer, Kamrup (M) said, “The district administration has received very few complaints regarding non-inclusion of names in the voters’ list. “The possibility of excluding the names of eligible and genuine voters from the voters’ list is almost nil. We had organized various camps to help people enlist their names in the list in case their names were left out due to some technical issues. “But, now that process is closed, we can look into such complaints only after the election. Everybody, except the ‘D’ voters, will be able to vote.” The “D” voters or “doubtful”

voters are one of the many outcomes of Assam movement led by All Assam Students’ Union against illegal immigrants mainly in 1979. The process of identifying “D” voters began in 1997 when the Election Commission had ordered the revision of electoral rolls to put the letter “D” against the names of those voters who does not have proper citizenship credentials. Since then, “D” voters have been barred from exercising their franchise until they prove their nationality. Those voters have also failed to make it to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which is currently being updated in Assam under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court of India. The state government published the draft NRC on 30th July last year and is expected to publish the final NRC by 30th June this year. However, reports have come that the names of people who failed to get their names included in the draft NRC were “excluded” from the voters’ list.

Biswajit Pegu, DC, Kamrup (M), who is also the district election officer, told G Plus, “No names were deleted from the voters’ list on the basis of the draft NRC. “NRC and voters’ list are two different issues and right now we cannot comment on NRC, as the matter is still subjudice. “People whose names are already there in the voters’ list and who are not ‘D’ voters can exercise their franchise in the election.” As per the final voters’ list published by the Election Commission on 6th February 2019, there are 4,140 “D” voters in Kamrup (M), who fall under Gauhati LS constituency. Until the time of publishing the draft voters’ list on 18th October 2018, the district had 4,281 “D” voters, of whom 141 voters were able to prove their nationality and were set to vote this election. According to Assam Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Sahu, the state currently has approximately 1.2 lakh “D” voters.

phase of LS polls urthermore, re-polling was carried out at polling station number 165 at Dhemaji Town High School (EW), which falls under 14-Lakhimpur and went to poll in the first

were 35,54,460 male, 33,55,952 women and 180 of the third gender. In the last general election held in 2014, Assam saw 76.45% voter turnout in the second phase of polling that included only three constituencies, Karimganj, Silchar

phase on 11th April, as a result of non-erasing of the mock poll data. Among the total electorate of 69,10,592 who participated in the second phase of polling, there

and Autonomous District. Out of the 22,29,402 voters who took part in the second phase of 2014 LS election, 11,90,374 were male and 10,39,028 were female.

fROM Page 01

6 In Conversation

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

On the campaign trail with Congress candidate Bobbeeta Sharma Editor of G Plus, Swapnil Bharali, caught up with Indian National Congress candidate for Gauhati Lok Sabha seat, Bobbeeta Sharma. She apeaks about her development plans in her contituency, incumbent MP Bijoya Chakravarty’s performance and her learnings from the last elections. Here are some excerpts from the conversation: G Plus News @guwahatiplus Why should people vote for you over the other candidates? I mean, why not? I feel that I can work for the people of my state and represent my state. I have good intensions in my heart to serve the people of Assam. I have some well thought out plans for the development of my constituency. We have ten constituencies and each of these constituencies has its own unique scope for development. Can you give me an example for your development plans for the constituencies, for example Boko? What will be your development plans for Boko in the next five years? I have not yet been to Boko;

Mandir places of this, tourism

and many other such of worship. Because it can be a very good circuit.

So, essentially you’re saying tourism development would mean Hajo development? Not only Hajo development, also the areas around Hajo which are all are interlinked. Such as Hajo, Chayygaon and even Boko. They are all interlinked; it can have a nice tourism route. Apart from that, I have seen in my campaign trail in Hajo that there is a scope for cotton cultivation. Hajo has the bio- diversity and also the climate for the cultivation of Himolu Fula (cotton) cultivation. You have to think out of the box, you have to think what is the specific uniqueness of each constituency and find out how you can generate economic activity in that area.

communication. There are many far-flung tribal areas. I have only been to one part of the constituency and I would like to visit the other one. Most of the constituencies like Palashbari, Chhaygaon and even Hajo have basic problems like flood and erosion. These problems not only affect these constituencies but most of Assam. We had already given a lot of memorandum to the government of India to declare floods as a national problem but the government hasn’t taken any steps. So I would like to take this issue up and it will also be one of my agenda. How about the city constituencies like Jalukbari, Gauhati East, Gauhati West, Dispur? I have started with Gauhati East. The main problem in Gauhati West and East is water

when the Congress government was in power, we had come up with the JICA project. The project was supposed to have been completed by 2017 but we have seen that the project has not been completed by the present government even by 2019. This has created a lot of problems. Wherever I go, the main complaint of people is the water problem and I feel that the government is not doing enough in this regard. The government should have a time bound implementation programme to speed this project up. Something is wrong with the governance here because I feel that maybe there is a water mafia going on, because people are buying water now even though the Brahmaputra is flowing right next door. I think this might be one of the reasons that the implementation of the process has not been completed. How did Bijoya Chakravarty fare as an MP of the constituency for the last 10 years? From what I have gathered by interacting with people, she has been there for the last 10 years but I don’t see any effective changes that she has brought in through her MPLAD funds. I don’t think any strong attempt has been made from her side for all-round development of the constituencies under her.

Lighter and faster

Scan the QR code Bobbeeta Sharma (Left) in converstion with Swapnil Bharali (Right), Editor, G Plus my Boko campaign will start in the next few days. Apart from that, I have visited Hajo, which has scope for tourism as it is the religious seed of communal harmony. It has Pua Mecca DargaSarif, Hayagriv Madhav

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What about Palashbari constituency? I haven’t visited Palashbari either. Other than that, I have visited Dudhnoi. Dudhnoi has lots of local issues such as bad

supply. Drinking water problem is basically a state problem. The state government has to look into it but we can definitely put pressure on the state government to implement the projects as quickly as possible. You know that

This is your first contest as an MP, you lost out last time for the MLA Gauhati East seat. What have you learnt from the losses? I got some experiences on how to fight an election. We had fifteen years of Congress government and I feel that the people wanted a change. This time I feel that the response of the people has been very positive; wherever I went, I was welcomed whole-heartedly. I got better response. I interacted with people and appealed for a chance to show them that I have some definite plans for the

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constituency. If they can give a BJP MP a chance for ten years, I just want them to give me a chance for five years to try and perform before they judge me. Rapid fire round. I’ll give you the names of a few politicians and I want an instant one phrase or one word response to those names: Himanta Biswa Sarma: He needs to channelize his intelligence in a positive way. Sarbananda Sonowal: He has not been able to live up to the expectations of the people. Rahul Gandhi: He is an honest person with good intensions and means what he says. Narendra Modi: Full of drama and false promises. Amit Shah: He is an intelligent person but has a lot of negativity in him. Tarun Gogoi: Lot of stamina, he is still going strong. Queen Ojha: An elderly person whom I respect a lot but... Bobbeeta Sharma: Good at heart, good intentions. I have a lot of will to work. Has there been any discontent within the Congress party with regard to your candidature because there were several other applicants? Well, obviously only one person can be nominated and there will be people who will be disappointed. I have met Bolin Bordoloi, Ramen Borthakur and I have sought their blessings. I think in a family such things happen and they will come around. What do you have to say about the Queen Ojha false documents controversy? Well, it’s very unfortunate that a person who is a candidate for Lok Sabha has given false documents regarding her higher secondary qualifications. People expect better responsibility from such a candidate.

In Conversation

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

On the campaign trail with BJP candidate Queen Ojha

Snippets Prafulla Kr Mahanta skips voting in protest over CAB

Editor of G Plus, Swapnil Bharali, caught up with Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for Gauhati Lok Sabha seat, Queen Ojha. The conversation revolved around her resolve to solve the drinking water problem in Guwahati and her experience as a first time contendor in Lok Sabha elections. Excerpts from the conversation: G Plus News @guwahatiplus Why should the people vote for you? All of us want development, a corruption-free Assam, corruption-free India and I have been working with the people for the past 40 years. A known

with baideo (Bijoya Chakravarty) as she has done some good work. What good work has she has done? Can you elaborate? When I went to Dudhnoi the locals of the area told me to continue the work that Bijoya baideo has done for them. What does that mean? Definitely she has gained popularity among

How many Vidhan Sabha constituencies have you covered till now? I have covered all the 10 constituencies three times each. If I name a constituency, can you tell me what development would you bring to it in the

Our MLA in Borkhetri has done a lot of development; still there is a lot to be done. I have been to some villages in the area as my grandfather belonged from Borbhag and the people have welcomed me with lots love and it should be kept as a secret as Bobbeeta (laughs) may feel scared because I belong from Borbhag and from Palashbari to Dudhnoi to Krishnai are all my maternal side. 90% of the developmental work in Barkhetry has taken place during our time and during Congress regime it was not even 10%. And we will finish the rest 10% to make it 100%. If you get elected, what would you do for Guwahati city within the first year?

Queen Ojha (Right) in converstion with Swapnil Bharali (Left), Editor, G Plus face who has worked with honesty and that is my main mantra so, that’s the reason why people will vote for me. But Bijoya Chakravarty was already the sitting MP. How come the party gave the ticket to you? Time to time changes have taken place and in Assam all of us have seen new faces this time and considering my experience so far, the party has thought about it and made the decision. Also my popularity amongst the people and working with them and the residents of Guwahati know me as I have been the mayor. I was also in the National Commission for women and currently I am the chairperson of a bank. I am associated with 50 to 60 institutions and I have been working with the common people for a long time. If you get elected, how different will you be from the current incumbent MP? I will not compare myself

the people and that is the inspiration I will take from her and try to continue to do more. Prime Minister Modi has called the northeast “Asthalakshmi” and he has allotted many schemes to the region. I would draw his attention to our villages in the state as they have not developed although many roads have been constructed. But still much more has to be done.

next five years that would truly be construed as “development?” Say Boko Legislative Assembly constituency?

This is the first time that you are contesting for MP though you have earlier unsuccessfully contested for the MLA post. Any learnings from the last contest?

Hajo would be for tourism. There are lot of beautiful monuments and temples, Pua Mecca. When I was a child we used to go to Netal Dhubuni Ghat. Near that we saw lot of caves which had inscriptions on them and people need to know about those. Hajo also has a lot of farmers and fish farmers. Our government has provided 90% subsidy to the fish farmers because we import fish from Andhra Pradesh and if we make our selves self-sufficient. And I will prioritize it.

A lot, because I may have not contested for the past 35 years but I have been in touch with the candidates and have worked with them. So today, wherever I go people recognize me and that’s an advantage for me as I am not unknown to them. They knew me as the General Secretary of the National Commission for women.

Boko, I would like to work for the development of local tribes over there, mainly their educational institutions and drinking water… And Hajo?

Barkhetry?

Solve the drinking water problem. It’s a promise I will take up that issue first along with our MLAs and I will try to solve the problem. I had invited you for a face-off with the other candidates. They had agreed but you refused. See, I don’t like to land into any controversy. I have to work and go amongst the people. And we don’t have much time for that before the elections. You have a huge business, car dealerships and petrol pumps. Are you sure you’d have the time to discharge your duties as MP? Business is looked after by my son and my husband. The party has decided to field me as MP candidate. I will do justice to it. I give equal priorities to both, my home and as a MP. Would you clarify your stance about the controversy regarding your educational qualification documents? It was a misunderstanding because the Congress tried to do propaganda to make it an issue. The officials have seen my documents and they found out that it was all rumors which had no logic. I have never been involved in a fraud and neither will I do anything as such in the future. People know that when I was the Mayor I have worked with honesty.

ormer chief minister of Assam, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta along with his wife, Jayashree Mahanta didn’t cast their vote during the second phase of elections on April 18, 2019 in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Mahanta said that he didn’t cast his vote today as a protest against the Citizenship Bill which will bring a disaster in the state. He further said that the Prime Minister is aware of the issues but still, the government is trying to implement the Bill.

Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi quits party, joins Shiv Sena

ongress spokesperson, Priyanka Chaturvedi quit the Congress after 10 years and joined Shiv

Sena. On April 17, Chaturvedi had tweeted: “Deeply saddened that lumpen goons get preference in @incindia over those who have given their sweat & blood. Having faced brickbats & abuse across board for the party but yet those who threatened me within the party getting away with not even a rap on their knuckles is unfortunate.” She was referring to the Congress party’s decision to take back a group of workers who had been dismissed from the party after they had allegedly misbehaved with her in Uttar Pradesh in September 2018, while she was addressing a press conference. Chaturvedi sent her resignation to Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday. In her resignation letter, Chaturvedi wrote, “In the last few weeks, certain things have convinced me that my services are not valued in the organization and I have reached the end of the road. At the same time, I also feel the more time I spend in the organization will be at the cost of my own self respect and dignity.”

8 In Conversation

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

On the campaign trail with Independent candidate Upamanyu Hazarika Editor of G Plus, Swapnil Bharali, caught up with Independent candidate for Gauhati Lok Sabha seat, Upamanyu Hazarika. He spoke about the illegal migrant issue and his reasons behind contesting the Lok Sabha elections. Here are some excerpts from the conversation: G Plus News @guwahatiplus Why should people vote for you over the other candidates from the Congress and the BJP? It is not a question of the candidates; it is a question of our interests. We need to see who is standing with the indigenous today. We are (the indigenous) going to turn into a minority in the next 20 years. That everybody agrees, but nobody is doing anything about it. We have

gotten identified through the NRC, should be deleted. Instead of which, their endeavour is to include more Bangladeshis and more foreigners. They have accepted those 60 lakh foreigners and they want to include more and that is the strategy of both the BJP and Congress. Secondly, we have seen that the main reason for migration and illegal infiltration is that they all come in quest of land, better economic opportunities. If we can deprive them of access to such resources as is prevalent in other northeastern states... We

people of Assam don’t accept because we want no foreigners regardless of their religious affiliations. Deportation is one aspect which I am not focussed on, because deportation is a process which has been made virtually impossible because of the earlier Congress regime. The other way is to disincentivize them. If we can deprive them of jobs, land and economic comforts then they won’t have any reason to stay here. So your prime reason to become an MP is the illegal migrants’ issue?

Upamanyu Hazarika (Left) in converstion with Swapnil Bharali (Right), Editor, G Plus to ensure that the names of all the 60 lakh foreigners, who have

Our indigenous people need protection; there are 115 ethnic communities in Assam needing protection. This is the foremost agendum which I will pursue and nobody has voiced this.”

have less of infiltration in places like Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh since they have local laws which protect and reserve land for the local indigenous people. So if we have a legal regime like that it is the manner in which we should proceed. In an earlier interview, Himanta Biswa Sarma told me that detection is possible but it is impossible to deport illegal migrants. What is your take on that? He also made a distinction between illegal migrants which are the Muslims and refugees who are the Hindu Bangladeshis. He makes a distinction between foreigners on the basis of religion which the indigenous

Absolutely, because this illegal migrants’ issue is the primary concern of the indigenous people of Assam. The six year agitation was on this, three governments have come on this. The 2014 and 2016 elections were fought on this issue. But when they find that they have failed so they are trying to divert the attention to developmental issues and other things. The greatest tragedy for the Assamese people is that the Congress today which has pushed us into becoming a minority by virtue of huge infiltration by encouraging the Bangladeshi vote bank, they try and act as the guardians of indigenous people. This is the greatest farce.

How differently will you work as an MP over the incumbent? The BJP MPs came on the indigenous people’s votes so they should have put forward the issues of the indigenous. But instead of that, they have supported the citizenship amendment bill over that. Our indigenous people need protection; there are 115 ethnic communities in Assam needing protection. This is the foremost agendum which I will pursue and nobody has voiced this. NRC was portrayed by all the national parties and an agenda was propagated that we should look into the human rights of those who have not been included in the draft list but nobody focussed on the human rights of the indigenous people who these foreigners have pushed into a minority. We are a very rich indigenous ethnic diversity which needs to be protected. Talking about the Gauhati LS seat, how did the incumbent MP Bijoya Chakravarty fare according to you? I think she has no record. The main purpose of being an MP is to voice and Gauhati is representative of the intellectual class and entire Assam in a manner of speaking. She should have put forth issues from Assam at large in the parliament which she failed to do. Also, flood is a major issue. Why can’t the people develop a general consensus on what needs to be done and how it needs to be done and what is the costing? The other part is the artificial water scarcity which is ridiculous since you have one of the largest rivers next to you and everybody virtually has to buy water in Guwahati because the water supply is scarce and insufficient. Secondly, our groundwater level is declining at such a sharp rate, and rainwater harvesting is a cheap option and can be done at an individual level. Most importantly, Guwahati is today the economic hub of the northeast but where are the jobs? Even if there are jobs they are very poorly paid. What does the job of an MP entail? Firstly, to speak up in the parliament because the parliament is very serious and makes laws and we can make an effective voice for Assam on all our issues. That will be my

The greatest tragedy for the Assamese people is that the Congress today which has pushed us into becoming a minority by virtue of huge infiltration by encouraging the Bangladeshi vote bank, they try and act as the guardians of indigenous people. This is the greatest farce.” primary concern. Secondly, local issues exist in every constituency and there is a sufficient amount of money which comes in from the MPLADS funds which can be used for addressing concerns of the youth largely. Today, politicians from across the spectrum and political parties rely on money and flattery by various means of pleasing the high command. Tell me one project or requirement in each constituency which would mean its development in the next five years. Boko, Palasbari, Chaygaon: There has to be training of the local youth, all these areas are resource wise very rich, the indigenous communities over there safeguard their interests very well. Barkhetry: It is flood prone, there are many centrallysponsored schemes which can be used for the benefit of the farmers of the area. Hajo: Tourism potential can be developed here. Gauhati East, Gauhati West: Rain water harvesting can be done here to raise the ground water level. Dispur: Here tribal people were displaced due to large government projects. If these small communities are displaced, they will lose their ethnic identity.

City

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

Speaker Series by Ad Club held in Guwahati

he Advertising Club Guwahati organized its signature event “Speaker Series” on April 10, 2019 at Hotel Kiranshree Portico. The event was one-of-its-kind and has been organized for the first time in the northeast.

The eminent speakers for the evening included Pratik Gupta, Founder of FOXYMORON, an independent digital marketing agency; Malavika R Harita, an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, who founded and ran Saatchi & Saatchi Focus in India for 25 years where she worked on brands like Bosch, Coats, Reliance Polymers, Infosys, Microsoft, Astra Zeneca,

Pfizer, Novartis, Mead Johnson, AIS and Novo Nordisk amongst others; Shubhrastha, who has been working as a campaign consultant for the past six years now and heads the Arthashastra Group. As a co-founder of Citizens for Accountable

Governance (CAG), Shubhrastha was part of Narendra Modi’s 2014 Prime Ministerial campaign. Thereafter, she worked on Nitish Kumar’s campaign in Bihar. The “Speaker Series” is a club initiative to invite emerging stories, campaign creators and industry professionals from advertising and media fraternity to Guwahati for interactive

sessions with Ad Club members and their guests. The Guwahati Ad Club works towards the promotion, growth and protection of the advertising industry. In the past, Ad Club Guwahati had organised various events such as the interactive

seminar on ‘Role of Branding’, an interactive session with Mr Rohit Ohri, CEO, FCB ULKA on existing opportunities and potential of northeast India as a developing economy, workshop on digital marketing in association with Calcutta Media Institute. Prominent industrialists of northeast India attended the

take on an age-old concept of transportation by replacing conventional four-wheeler taxis with bikes. Commuters across India face challenges like heavy traffic, crowded public transport and low availability of transport options. Rapido solves these issues through its bike taxis which provide a faster and economical option to navigate traffic snarls and reach one’s destination on time. Rapido, India’s largest bike taxi service, is now operational in 40+ cities across 16 states in India. Rapido’s vision is to provide an economical, costeffective, fuel-efficient and timesaving transportation mode to commuters. With over a million happy customers and 30 million plus rides, Rapido serves a large number of people every day and improves their daily commute experience. Rapido’s customer

base includes a diverse set of people ranging from students and professionals to international tourists. How to be a Rapido user: The user has to download the Rapido mobile app from the Google Play Store (for Android users) or the Apple Store (for iOS users). After a simple registration process,

Snippets Gauhati High Court rules in favour of woman given triple talaq

event which saw a footfall of around 120 guests from diverse backgrounds. The event was supported by TOPCEM, Potential & Concept Education and DynaRoof. The Advertising Club Guwahati was formed on March

28, 2015 and was launched by Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World in the presence of all club members, dignitaries from the advertising industry and members of the press with the operational area of the entire north-eastern region of India with the primary intention for the growth of media and communications industry. n

Rapido offers free ride to voters during elections

apido, India’s largest bike taxi, is offering free rides to voters during the elections. Users will have to book a Rapido bike through the Rapido app. Rapido has introduced this initiative to ensure that every voter can exercise their “right to vote” by helping voters reach the polling stations on time. Users will have to use the coupon code “IVOTE” when booking a ride on the app. The offer will be applicable in Guwahati. Suman Acharjee, City Head, Rapido said, “We are offering this service to each and every voter so that they can reach the polling stations and cast their valuable votes. The offer will be active only during the normal voting hours on polling days in the respective cities.” This Bengaluru-based organization offers a novel

they have to book rides through the app. A Rapido captain will arrive and pick up the customer and drop them off safely at the desired location. Customers can pay online for the ride through the Rapido Wallet, or other popular wallets like PayTM, Mobikwik, and Freecharge or they may choose to pay by cash.

he Gauhati High Court has come to the rescue of a Muslim woman hailing from Assam whose complaint that her husband had pronounced Triple Talaq was ignored by the police. In August 2017, the Supreme Court, in a landmark verdict, had declared the practice of Triple Talaq as unconstitutional by 3:2 majority on the ground that it goes against the Shariat and violates the constitutional rights of Muslim women. On January 13, 2019, Jesmin Begum had lodged an FIR with the Rangia police alleging that her husband had pronounced Triple Talaq in written form (known as talaq-e-biddat), which is a penal offense under Section 4 of the Muslim Women (Protection) of Rights on Marriage Ordinance, 2018. However, the police registered a case under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code which is a case of husband or relative of husband subjecting the woman to cruelty. Subsequently, the husband, Asif Iqbal Hussain, was granted anticipatory bail. Begum then approached the court against the Rangia police station in charge for not invoking the provisions of the Muslim Women (Protection) of Rights on Marriage Ordinance, 2018. On February 14, the state government informed the court of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan that as per the complaint, Begum had alleged that the accused had not only pronounced instant triple talaq and driven her out of his house, but also physically assaulted the informant. The SP has stated that the investigating officer will move the competent court for addition of Section 4 of the aforesaid ordinance.

10 General Election 2019

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

Incumbent MP Report Card: Badruddin Ajmal Nehal Jain @NehalJain96

adruddin Ajmal is the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) from Assam’s Dhubri constituency. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Ajmal received 5,92,569 votes while his nearest rival from the Indian National Congress, Wazed Ali Choudhury polled 3,62,839 votes. Perfume baron Maulana Badruddin Ajmal is one of the richest politicians in India and one of the most influential Muslims in the world. He was featured in the 2015-16 list of

World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims published by Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan. Ajmal first stepped into politics in Assam by forming United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1996 which was later changed to All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). He contested from South Salmara assembly constituency of Dhubri district in 2006 and defeated Congress heavyweight and former Minister Wazed Ali Choudhury by a huge margin of votes. Ajmal then contested from Dhubri Lok Sabha seat in 2009 and 2014 and on both the occasions, he won by a

Ajmal showcases below average performance in terms of debates attended, private member’s bills raised

hile 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 debatesperMP,Ajmalhasbeenpresentat66debatesonly. He has attended debates pertaining to issues relevant to Assam like Discussion on the situation arising out of reported incidents of atrocities and lynching in mob violence in the country, Regarding the issue of preparation of NRC in Assam, Need to start construction of Dhubri-Phulbari Bridge over river Brahmaputra, Need to fix remunerative price of Jute and establish jute mills

in Dhubri district of Assam, and Flood and drought situation in the country. He has also attended debatessurroundingtheMuslimcommunity like The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018, Regarding growing insecurity and fear due to rising incidentsofreligiousintoleranceacross the country, and Regarding several Muslims in Air Force and Army allegedforcetoshavetheirbeards. Additionally, in terms of the number of Private Member’s Bills raisedbyanindividualMP,whilethe national average has been calculated at 2.3, and state average is at 0.8, Ajmal failed to raise a Bill in his twoterm tenure in the Parliament.

thumping margin of votes by defeating Congress candidates. In 2006 election for Assam Legislative Assembly, he was elected simultaneously from two constituencies — South Salmara and Jamunamukh — by a large margin of votes, and was also elected as the leader of the AIUDF Legislative Party. In the last 10 years, ever since it started contesting elections, the AIUDF has held the Dhubri Vidhan Sabha seat as well as most surrounding constituencies. In 2006, it won 10 assembly seats. In 2011, it won 18, making it the most significant opposition party in Assam.

For the Lok Sabha polls 2019, Dhubri has been one of the most talked about constituencies of Assam with 15 candidates contesting for the seat. The constituency comprises 10 assembly segments, namely Mankachar, Salmara South, Dhubri, Gauripur, Golakganj, Bilasipara West, Bilasipara East, Goalpara East, Goalpara West and Jaleswar. With Ajmal gearing up for the polls, he is sure to be judged on his performance in the past five years.

Dhubri MP records low attendance in Lok Sabha

ccording to the data published by PRS Legislative Research, Dhubri MP Badruddin Saikia recorded a mere 58% attendance in his second term 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%. Ajmal, who started his tenure with 83% attendance in the first session, slipped to 67% and 77% in the Budget Session and Winter Session 2014 respectively. However, his attendance fell drastically thereafter. Ajmal recorded 41% attendance in the Monsoon Session 2015 and 40% in Winter Session 2015. The lowest was in Budget Session 2016 (P.1) when Ajmal recorded only 13% attendance.

In the last Lok Sabha session Budget Session 2019 - he recorded a mere 40% attendance. It must be noted that while Ajmal has recorded a low

performance in terms of sessions attended, he has shown improvement from his first term in the Lok Sabha when he recorded 49% attendance only.

Ajmal fared well in terms of the total number of questions raised

mong the number of questions raised by an MP, Ajmal surpassed both the national as well as state average. While the national average is at 293 questions and state average is at 164, Ajmal raised a whopping 404 questions pertaining to various issues. The Dhubri MP has asked a slew of questions pertaining to matters of state and national importance. Among the various issues on which he has raised questions are - Difficulties of Haj Pilgrims, Pending Court Cases against Foreigners, Tea Plantation Workers, Reduction of Poverty, Ethnic Violence in Assam, Welfare Schemes for Disabled, Black Money, Projects in Northeastern States, Shortage of Drinking Water, Environmental

Pollution, Lack of Toilet Facilities, and Crime against Women and Children. The last question raised by Ajmal was on February 13, 2019. The

question, raised to the Statistics and Programme Implementation Ministry, was related to the data on Sustainable Development Goals.

General Election 2019

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

Ajmal has 7 criminal cases registered against him, all remain pending

here are a total of seven criminal cases registered against AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal in the state. While six of the cases have been registered at Dispur, Baghbar, Nagaon, Dhubri, Pulibor and Kokrajhar police stations, a case has also been registered in the court of

Judicial Magistrate of First Class (JMFC) in Nagaon. The first case was registered in 2012 at Kokrajhar police station under sections 120B/153A/109 of the Indian Penal Code. The complainant alleged in the FIR that Badruddin Ajmal delivered provocative speeches in BTAD area instigating Muslims to

retaliate against Bodos. Similarly, the second case filed in 2015 at Pulibor police station under sections 295A/298 of the Indian Penal Code also alleged that Badruddin Ajmal outraged religious feelings of Hindus by making a statement that whether PM Modi eats beef while in Pakistan. In another case registered at

Baghbar police station under sections 120B/153/153A/294/294A of the Indian Penal Code states that Badruddin Ajmal called upon the Muslim community to be united against the Hindus in a meeting at Baghbar. The most recent case filed against Ajmal was in 2018 at the Dispur police station.

The complainant alleged that Badruddin Ajmal indulged in verbal abuse, used foul words and threatened to kill a journalist during a media interaction at Mankachar in Dhubri district. However, all of the cases are still pending and he hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been convicted for any criminal offence.

Constituency Watch: Dhubri, Can the Congress win back its stronghold? Srijit Banerjee @SrijitBanerjee

Dhubri by the numbers:

n 1957 Dhubri was carved out as a separate constituency out from the Goalpara Garo Hill constituency, and in that same year, Amjad Ali from Praja Socialist party, was elected from the seat. He had represented the Goalpara Garo Hill seat in 1951. Dhubri soon got its first Congress Member of Parliament (MP). Ghyauddin Ahmad was elected in 1962 and only in 1967 did the Praja Socialist Party win the seat again. But, since 1971 till 2009 the seat had been dominated by the Congress for almost 40 years that is. Traditionally being a Congress stronghold, the party was almost unbeatable in the

constituency. But, with

Abu Taher Bepari (Congress)

the rise of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and its chief Badruddin Ajmal, the Congress

has fallen by the wayside with the AIUDF managing to win the seat in 2009 general election and thereafter. Ajmal has been the sitting MP ever since. However, perfume baron Ajmal is facing a strong antiincumbency wave as most people are unsatisfied with his performance as MP for the last two terms. The constituency lacks in terms of development and infrastructure, people have

Javed Islam (AGP)

become frustrated. Ajmal has one of the lowest attendance rates in the Lok Sabha and participated in very less number of debates and has not introduced any private memberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bill. On the other hand, Congress has fielded Abu Taher Bepari as their MP candidate. Bepari was the ex MLA of the Golakganj legislative assembly constituency (LAC) for two consecutive terms - 2006 and 2011. Bepari, in 2015, left the Congress to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following the footsteps of Himanta Biswa Sarma. But then again, he returned to the Congress on 30th October 2017 stating displeasure with the BJP after he was not given a ticket to contest from Golakganj LAC. While both the AIUDF and the Congress have selected their candidates for the seat, the BJP this time left the seat for its ally the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). Zabed Islam,

son of former minister Zahirul Islam, was an independent MLA from Mankachar (South Salmara) LAC and won the assembly seat in 2011. He later joined the AGP in April 2018 and on March 27, 2019, the AGP declared him as the candidate from Dhubri Lok Sabha constituency. Zabed Islam was a well known cricketer from Dhubri. A total of 17 candidates have filed their nominations from the seat and they are Badruddin Ajmal from the AIUDF, Abu Taher Bepari (INC), Nurul Islam Choudhury (TMC), Zabed Islam (AGP), Surat Jaman Mondal (Socialist Unity Centre Of India - Communist), Shajahan Sheikh (Voters Party International), Mehbubar Rahman (Republican Party Of India - A), Johirul Islam Khan (Purvanchal Janta Party - Secular), Nripen Das (Bharatiya National Janta Dal) and Alakesh Roy (Hindusthan Nirman Dal). Apart from party candidates, 5 other independent candidates have filed their nominations

Date of Polling: 23rd April 2019 Number of polling stations: 2,450 No of voters: 18,56,168 No of female voters: 9,48,971 No of male voters: 9,07,173 No of third gender voters: 24 for the seat. They are Anamika Sarkar, Rukunur Zaman, Uttam Kumar Ray, Asrof Ali, Selina Sultana, Shukur Ali and Mir Hussain Sarkar. Both the AIUDF and the Congress have four LAC seats out of the 10 and the BJP has only two which will zero down the fight between the AIUDF and the Congress and since the BJP has left the seat for its ally, the AGP, the two by default will act for the AGP. However, there might be a change of face in this election because of the strong anti-incumbency factor of the sitting MP Badruddin Ajmal. The Congress, on the other hand, has stronger chance of coming back to power in the constituency because of the above factors and the AGP will have to work win the trust of people specially after its decision of re-alliance with the BJP. n

12 General Election 2019

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

Candidate watch: Kumar Deepak Das Mrinmoyee Hazarika @guwahatiplus

umar Deepak Das, a former Rajya Sabha MP from Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), has been fielded by the party to fight from the Barpeta Lok Sabha (LS) constituency. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has left this seat for its pre-election ally AGP and has backed Das, who was previously seen vehemently opposing the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, which the BJP has reiterated to implement if it is voted back to power. Das is expected to face a tough

fight

from

Congress’ Abdul Khaleque and AIUDF’s Rafiqul Islam in the third and last phase of the Lok Sabha election to be held in Assam on 23rd April.

While he was serving as a Rajya Sabha MP between the years 2007-2013, Das held the record of the highest standing number of questions of 16 hours and 53 minutes in record among his fellow MPs. Das was also an MLA of Assam Legislative Assembly from 1985 to 1990. Born in 1958 to late Ramoni Mohan Das, Deepak Das completed his LLB from Gauhati University Law College in 1986. He also holds a B Sc degree from M C College, Barpeta. Married to Geetima Lekharu Das, Deepak Das has a daughter. The 66 year old politician is also an eminent writer, singer and an actor.

Financial status

Performance in Rajya Sabha

uring his tenure as a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, Kumar Deepak Das recorded 91% attendance, which was 13% more than the national average of 78% and 9% more than the state average of 82%. The data, which was published by PRS Legislative Research, also revealed that Das took part in 112 debates while serving as Rajya Sabha MP. Among the issues raised by Das in Rajya Sabha, initiatives to control pollution of the Bharalu River, protection of wild life and the one-horned rhino in Assam, demanding bilateral deliberations with

China for equitable utilization of the waters of Brahmaputra River, the issue of infiltration from Bangladesh border, and the flood problem in Assam gained prominence and attracted attention from other members of the House. Das was also vocal about the update of the National Register of Citizens in Assam, deteriorating financial condition of Hindustan Paper Corporation, inclusion of the names of Assam and other northeastern states in the National Anthem and other issues during his tenure as Rajya Sabha MP. As an MP, Das raised a total of 330 questions.

Das further mentioned that he has no immovable assets registered against his name, while his wife Geetima has Rs 85 lakhs worth of immovable assets registered in her name. The AGP candidate took a car loan of Rs 2.32 lakhs from State Bank of India. He also declared that he has one criminal case pending against him.

n the affidavit filed along with his nomination for the 2019 LS polls, Kumar Deepak Das revealed that he owns Rs 91.11 lakh worth of movable property, of which Rs 1.8 lakhs is cash; 60 grams or around Rs 1.50 lakhs worth of jewellery, bullion, and other valuable items. He also owns two cars – one Toyota Innova and one Maruti Ritz.

Barpeta LS constituency at a glance

arpeta LS constituency, one of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam, has remained a stronghold of the Congress Par-

ty. Since 1951, only two parties including CPI (M) and AIUDF have been able to snatch the constituency from the hands of the Congress Party - twice by CPI (M) in 1996 and 1998 and by AIUDF in 2014. AIUDF’s Sirajuddin Ajmal won the Muslim-majority seat in 2014, defeating BJP’s Chandra Mohan Patowary by over 4,000 votes.

Congress’ Ismail Hussain, who represented the Barpeta LS seat in 2009, came third with only 2,77,802 votes. This time, the constituency is set to witnesses a three-cornered fight between the Congress candidate who is also an MLA from Jania constituency, Abdul Khalek, AIUDF’s Hafiz Rafikul Islam and AGP’s Kumar Deepak Das. The Barpeta LS constituency comprises ten assembly segments, Bongaigaon, Abhayapuri North, Abhayapuri South (SC), Patacharkuchi, Barpeta, Jania, Baghbar, So-

rukhetri, Chenga and Dharmapur. The constituency has a total of 2,188 polling stations, and 16,76,854 electors, of whom 8,65,300 are male, 8,11,538 female and 16 belong to the third gender category.

Barpeta by the numbers:

Date of Polling: 23rd April 2019 Number of Polling Stations: 2,188 No of Voters: 16,76,854 No of Female Voters: 8,65,300 No of Male Voters: 8,11,538

Weather report for the week Guwahati

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Mostly Sunny

Partly Cloudy

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32°22° C

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SATURDAY Mostly Sunny

32°21° C

General Election 2019

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

Incumbent MP Report Card: Naba Kumar Sarania Nehal Jain @NehalJain96

aba Kumar Saraniya (alias Hira Saraniya) is an Indian politician who is currently the incumbent Member of Parliament representing the Kokrajhar constituency in Assam. He won as an Independent candidate in the Lok Sabha elections of 2014 with the highest margin ever recorded in polls in Assam and as an independent candidate in the history of Lok Sabha elections. Earlier, Saraniya was the

commander of the 709 battalion of ULFA and was touted as one of the most dreaded militants in Assam. Hailing from Dighalipaar village under Tamulpur police station in Baksa district of Assam, Sarania joined the outfit in 1990. The sitting MP is the first nonBodo to be elected from Kokrajhar and that too by a margin of over 3.55 lakh votes. He received massive support from the 70 per cent non-Bodo voters of the constituency. Sarania is expected to face a tough fight in the third and last phase of the Lok Sabha election to be held in Assam on 23rd April, courtesy his below par

performance in his tenure in the Parliament.

During his tenure as an MP from Assam, Sarania recorded 79% attendance, which was very close to the national average of 78% and 5% more than the state average of 74%. The data, which was published by PRS Legislative Research, also revealed that Das took part in 22 debates while serving as a Lok Sabha MP. Among the issues raised by Sarania in Lok Sabha were regarding Need to ensure peace in BTC areas in Assam, the Issue of preparation of NRC in Assam, Flood situation in Assam, regarding The terrorist attack in Kokrajhar, and regarding Issues

Kokrajhar LS constituency to witness three-cornered fight

or the Lok Sabha elections 2019, the fight for the Kokrajhar Lok Sabha seat is triangular. The fight in the constituency is among the BJP-AGP-backed BPF candidate Pramila Rani Brahma, the ABSU-NDFB (P)-backed UPPL candidate Urkhao Gwra Brahma and the independent candidate Naba Sarania. Altogether nine candidates are in the fray for Kokrajhar ST HPC including Biraj Deka of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Sabda Ram Rabha of Indian National Congress. What is glaringly visible in the constituency is the split of Bodo votes between Pramila Rani Brahma and her rival UPPL

candidate UG Brahma. With AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal lending his support to UPPL candidate UG Brahma in the constituency, there is every possibility of a large chunk of Muslim votes going to UG Brahma. If that really happens, it can be a real threat to the ruling alliance candidate, Pramila Rani Brahma. Both the candidates are up for a fight with the incumbent MP Naba Kumar Sarania. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election here, Independent candidate Naba Kumar Sarania defeated another Independent candidate UG Brahma by a massive margin of 3,55,779 votes. This was the highest margin of win in terms

of votes ever in elections in the state of Assam. Notably, Kokrajhar Lok Sabha constituency in Assam has elected the most number of the independent MPs in the Parliament - eight times since 1971 with breaks in 1980, 1989 and 2009. The constituency, reserved for Scheduled Tribes candidates, covers 10 assembly segments viz Gossaigaon, Kokrajhar East (ST), Kokrajhar West (ST), Sidli (ST), Bijni, Sorbhog, Bhabanipur, Tamulpur, Barama (ST) and Chapaguri (ST). The Kokrajhar parliamentary constituency (constituency number 5) in the state of Assam is reserved for

candidates belonging to the scheduled tribes. Located in the Kokrajhar District in the west of Assam, this parliamentary constituency is one of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in the northeastern state of Assam. Situated on the banks of the Gourang River that houses Kokrajhar, it is one of the most essential urban centres in the state as it is part of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) and the parties are trying their best to woo the Bodo voters who play a decisive role in the constituency. The constituency consists of 17,65,423 number of electorates in total, of which 9,00,318 are males, 8,65,066 are females and 39 belong to the third gender.

related to abduction and killing of people by armed militants in Assam. Additionally, Sarania raised a total of only 78 questions as an MP. The national average of number of questions raised by an MP is 293, while the state average is 164. Among the state MPs, Dhubri MP Badruddin Ajmal has asked the highest number of questions (404), followed by Silchar MP Sushmita Dev (318). Sarania failed to raise a single Private Member’s Bill in his five year tenure as a Parliamentarian while his fellow MP Gourav Gogoi raised as many as 6 such bills in the Parliament.

Kokrajhar by the numbers: Date of Polling: 23rd April 2019 Number of polling stations: 2,347 No of voters: 17,65,423 No of female voters: 8,65,066 No of male voters: 9,00,318 No of third gender voters: 39

People won’t elect ‘Chalani Maas’ this time, the wave is towards NPP: Pranab Jyoti Das Rajbongshi Srijit Banerjee @SrijitBanerjee

arpeta was traditionally a Congress citadel since 1951 to 1982. The Congress was in power in the seat with former President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed representing it twice in 1967 and 1971. Between 1991 and 1996 Uddhab Barman of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) won the elections and again from 1998 till 2014 the Congress retained the seat until they lost it to the AIUDF in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

During the 2014 elections, Sirajuddin Ajmal, who is the brother of Dubri MP and AIUDF chief Baddruddin Ajmal, won the seat by defeating BJP candidate and the current state transport minister Chardra Mohan Patowary by a margin of 42,341 votes. It was for the first time that AIUDF won from the Barpeta seat which has been a Muslim majority area. This time the Nationalist Peoples’ Party or the NPP is eyeing to win the seat. The party has fielded Pranab Jyoti Das Rajbongshi who was a former student union president and also a former vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva

Morcha of the Assam unit and recently joined the NPP to contest from the Barpeta seat. He seems confident. Rajbongshi said that the people have given chance to the Congress for a few decades and in 2014 Sirajuddin Ajmal was elected and none of them have actually worked for the people. People have now realized their fake promises. “This time people will not reelect Chalani Maas (Sirajuddin Ajmal) and people have decided not to go for AGP because of the weak stand of the party. This time the wave is towards the NPP because of the leadership that Conrad Sangma took in opposing the Citi-

zenship (Amendment) Bill. People have supported the stand that we took and we are confident about winning the seat,” said Rajbongshi. He said that his priorities will be the development of the rice farmers and re-establish the rice research centre, developing the education sector, seeking solution for flood problems in the area, safety and security of the indigenous people and demand to provide Schedule Tribe status to the pending tribal communities. “We are carrying out extensive campaigns, visiting people door-to-door and explaining them our policies. We

will give a tough fight to the AIUDF, Congress and the AGP,” said Rajbongshi. Rajbongshi further said that the party’s stand on the citizenship bill is firm and will oppose it. “We will fight to protect the interest of all the communities of Assam and provide them security for their existence and at no cost we will let it down,” he said. Though the party sounds confident, the NPP is a relatively new party that is trying to gain footprint in all the northeastern states. But the party needs to brush up its campaign to offer a tough fight to the big rival parties.

14 G Talk E

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019 T

The final phase

ome 23rd April and Guwahati city will go to polls to elect its Member of Parliament. The first two phases of polls have seen an encouraging turnout with voting percentage touching 80% in some centres. This is a healthy trend and essentially means that the young segment of the population has participated in the world’s largest democratic exercise and so is politically conscious about exercising its right to choose its representative in the Parliament. Guwahati city itself should be no different where voter turnout is concerned. In the last general elections of 2014, Gauhati constituency recorded a high turnout of 73%. With the new faces in fray grabbing the imagination of Guwahatians, animated discussions in cafes, offices and street corners all point to a robust voting day ahead. The point of concern over the final phase of elections in the state is the volatile constituencies of Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Barpeta. If I recall right, voter turnout in Barpeta and Kokrajhar in 2014 was poor to say the least – the latter had a measly 66% people voting and yet it saw some violence with one policeman being killed and two others injured in the

process. The remoteness of the particular area allowed a free-for-all between the supporters of two candidates who tried to snatch away an EVM machine and the victims were caught in the ensuing intervention. Be that as it may, we are witness to a better monitored election this time and while the first two phases saw violence-free voting, the final phase may do well to emulate the rest of Assam. As for Gauhati LS seat, having personally interviewed the three most visible campaigners from the BJP, Congress and an Independent, I am inclined to believe that each of them has come forward with certain personal visions to the ensure that the constituency gets due recognition and notice of the Parliament for its future betterment. Each has been very clear about how to develop the 10 assembly constituencies that fall within the overall ambit of the Gauhati constituency. They have been mutually respectful of each other giving a feeling of being good candidates rather than wily ones and so offering the luxury to the voter of choosing the right candidate over the right party. Here’s hoping for a free, fair and violence-free elections at Guwahati for 2019. Swapnil Bharali (Editor) @swapnilbharali

The most effective political campaign? With the elections set to end in Assam on 23rd April, it calls for political parties to see whether they have spent their money wisely – an ROI assessment if you will. With Guwahati going to polls on 23rd, there are a few things you may have seen across the city that makes you realize that election season is at its peak! Well, the modest skyline of Guwahati was plastered with hoardings of 2 prominent political parties and that one “independent candidate” who seems to be in the race for the Gauhati seat. But the weather had taken a turn for the worse last week and several of these were ripped multiple times. While it is a hefty investment, my understanding is that photos from the storm damage made its way into several WhatsApp groups (mine included) and people had some discussion about “said political campaigns.” Another one is the crass, Poster chipkao system. While it wasn’t overbearing, the poster culture defaces the city in the long run, because no matter who wins, these posters don’t come down – a wasted and an unappreciated campaign strategy. A popular strategy this season has been “taxi gari loi.” With a car, a sound setup and the volume maxed up, some parties have been playing their “poorly written” anthems and some have chosen to lecture the public about the “khilonjiya adhikar” and the problems of the indigenous Assamese. Kind of disturbing, but then again, I think the “lecture” has been working. After all, people enjoy lecture baazi. But the songs are just terrible. And everyone made their “market visit” and ensured photo ops to stake their claim to the most prestigious seat in Assam. As the city gears up for 23rd April and the EC is trying its very best to ensure a healthy voter turnout, it remains to be seen whose strategy pierced Guwahati the deepest and who emerges as the victor on D-Day!

From Assam...

he present times call for a careful reading of the current scenario that pervades Assam with factors that lead us to a question - the question of belongingness, the question of worth, of being a part of the larger whole. History has turned the equation haywire, for history has been ignored with such impunity that no longer are we sure where we stand. What had been by all means Assamese or “from Assam” has been muddied by some forces that be, to an extent wherein we are no longer sure what we mean when we say “from Assam.” To put matters in perspective, let us look at the Assam that all of us grew up with. Words which would bring memories of home, words like Bihu, Bhaona, Naam, Naamghar, tea, oil, paper, vibrant fields of lush agriculture spanning throughout the land, beautifully clad damsels in Saraswati Puja; the words are many, too many to name here, but the general gist of the purpose is that we have a newness, a neo-existence of the changing dynamics of things that were “from Assam.” The most important are the people or the populace of this land. Who is an Assamese? There are varied and differing schools of thought which have attempted answering this question. Many claim that by virtue of being citizens of the state, they are from Assam. We had a long drawn out process of finding “true” citizens by an exercise which by all means is of no importance any longer as almost everyone has the right of citizenship now by virtue of their having been here a few years, not amounting to even decades. Let us look at this equation through another eye; perhaps, the equation is answered by a simple question: “Do you speak Assamese at home?” There is a school of thought which upholds the view that speaking Assamese as your first language is the only factor that qualifies someone to be called so. But then, Assamese has dialects and languages such

O pinion Arunav Barua

as Bodo, Mising etc and all have their firm place in our heartland. So speaking Assamese would have all of these dialects too. Then again, languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, Marwari, and others I have not named, have been a part of our remembered past for as long as we can remember. So there is a definite place all of these languages have in our land. This school does have its adherents and they shall always find a place in the hearts of every Assamese, but their definition lacks totality. Then, we have a group which

e have been a shining example of an inclusive, moderate, allencompassing land. All who venture here, one day, fall in love with all things Assamese. That has been the norm and that shall be the mark of the times. So, let us see where the current fiasco leads us… vociferously supports the idea of being Assamese by virtue of blood, or belonging to a race by virtue of being from a family which has had a history of years of being from Assam; years which could be more than a century. They have a definite claim by all rights, to being called Assamese, but then so do others, the races that have been named, for they too have had a long history in this land. Assam and all things Assamese has a simple cut out task at hand under current circumstances. We have to fight tooth and nail to save not just the Assamese language from possible extinction by virtue of being made a minority, but saving all things that are “from Assam.” The beautiful coherence of all tribes and languages,

with their precious dialects, the understanding and the bond that people from all faiths enjoy here, the innocence that is fostered in the hearts of all who come here, to the land of Sankaradeva. When we are threatened, we fight, but not until the last reason for peace disappears, not until we have no option left but action... Things might change, new equations created, new demographics encouraged. For many, this heralds bad news but let us look at our land once. We have been a shining example of an inclusive, moderate, allencompassing land. All who venture here, one day, fall in love with all things Assamese. That has been the norm and that shall be the mark of the times. Let us see where the current fiasco leads us, let us wait and see the strings being untied, for we are an old land, among the first to have had language and culture in the world, no less. There are definitely forces beyond our understanding or comprehension which will play a role in the assay that history unleashes on our land in the next few years. For those who fear our language disappearing, let us understand that the Brahmaputra will never dry out. For, as long as Luit flows through our veins, there will be this race of people who ask for nothing more than a chance to play Bihu songs and dance to the Rhythm of a Pepa. n

Letter to the Editor

rHoliday under NI Act for birth anniversary of Srimanta Sankaradeva The government of Assam declared the holidays under Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881 for the calendar year 2019. However, it is unfortunate that, once again, the Birth Anniversary (Janmotsav) of Srimanta Sankaradev is missing from the Holiday list under NI Act. Needless to add that Sankaradeva is the most revered person in Assam. The next Birth Anniversary of Srimanta Sankaradeva falls on 8th October 2019. It is requested to the government of Assam to correct this anomaly and modify the Holiday List under NI Act for 2019, at the earliest, so that the Janmotsav of Sankaradeva is included. A Bhuyan Nagaon

Sidharth Bedi Varma @sid_bv

In Focus

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and Lok Sabha Election 2019

he issue of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has become a crucial factor in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Let’s analyse this from the perspective of the indigenous Assamese people. Right at the beginning, we should be very clear about the difference between opposing the bill versus voting against BJP. Opposing the bill is correct, but, voting against BJP (because of the bill) may be wrong. Let’s analyse. Faced with stiff protests from most of the indigenous people including AGP, AASU and other organizations, BJP has put the bill “on hold.” Please note here that BJP “listened” to the people of Assam. So, if BJP comes to power again in 2019 and wants to implement the bill, the people of Assam can again oppose it and stop its implementation in Assam (ditto for the northeast). In short, the people of Assam and northeast have defeated BJP in this battle. (Note that no other

political party won, even though BJP lost!). But, voting against BJP to make them lose the elections implies that Congress will win

(1) Congress is the party which has been encouraging illegal immigration from Bangladesh for the last 70 years. (2)

migration of Bangladeshis, Nehru had scolded him for that and had forced him (and Assam) to accept the Bangladesh-

GUEST COLUMN

Anupal Bharali the last 70 years of Congress rule. (4) In the recent months, Congress has also opposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. But have you noticed what they are really saying about the bill? Congress is saying that not only the Hindu immigrants but all illegal immigrants up to 2016 should be given Indian Citizenship. Now, compare that with BJP’s stand. BJP wants to give citizenship to around 7 lakh Hindu immigrants, whereas, Congress wants to give citizenship to over 40 lakhs of illegal immigrants. Both are harmful to the indigenous people of Assam. But which will be more harmful?

Think about it ……..

the elections! Will the indigenous people of Assam benefit under Congress rule? Let’s see:

Congress party does not “listen” to the people of Assam. For example, When in the 1950s, Gopinath Bordoloi had objected to the im-

is. Again, the 1983 elections were forcefully held against the will of the Assamese people. (3) There has been very little development in Assam during

(Anupal Bharali is an alumnus of BITS, Pilani, is based in Nagaon and is an educationist) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the author’s own. G Plus may not subscribe to the same.

Footwear brand Bata was fined Rs 9,000 for charging customer Rs 3 on carry bag. The incident and the news carried thereafter brought in a plethora of comments from G Plus followers. Himakshi Sarma Not only Bata but almost all the shopping malls and branded showrooms charge for the carry bags. And the most irritating part is that they provide chocolates for changes. I mean, what’s wrong? Is the RBI not making coins? We the customers should protest and speak against this system. I don’t understand why they don’t have even 5 or 10 rupee change. The money these malls are earning is huge in the name of 1 rupee from each customer and on top of that they charge for carry bag. Wow! So, basically we the people of our country are fools as we never opposed this.

Chowkidar Ravi Sharma The most interesting part is that when you ask them why they are charging for carry bags they give a beautiful answer that if they charge money for carry bags then people will start carrying their own bags from home. Really? I never saw anyone in a mall carrying their own bags to be honest till date and if it is true whatever they said then I think this is a very bad way of making people realize the importance of not using plastic bags. They should come up with something else rather than a way which act as a profit making business for them.

Bipasha Bhattacharjee It’s being done by all marts and shops. Why not pass a blanket judgement? I just paid 12 rupees for a cloth bag from Vishal. Why not send a notification to all stores? Another opinion: these bags are made by local small time shopkeepers who get an earning out of it. What is the way now? So indirectly, it is helping to build employment for a particular section of people.

Gaurav Gupta But why is it illegal to charge for carry bag if the company is paying taxes against it? I think it should be fine because the company has also purchased it from somewhere. Nothing is free in this world. I don’t feel there is anything wrong with the concept. End of the day it’s for our use only and there is no wrong in branding their own brand. It’s just basic marketing tactic.

Ashim Mazumder Good decision by the consumer forum. Now all traders who are cheating the consumers by forcibly selling paper bags with unfair trade practices will think twice about doing such a thing again. It was very important. It should have happened earlier but never too late for a good move. Looting the customers in the name of plastic bags, these malls should be inspected by the respective authorities as soon as possible so that they can see which shop or malls are charging for bags in Guwahati.

16 Feature

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

The Sarthebari Bell-Metal Industry of Assam

he bell-metal industry of Assam is the second largest handicraft sector after bamboo crafts. Bell-metal is an alloy of copper and tin and the craftsmen of this industry are referred to as ‘Kahar’ or ‘Orja.’ The objects made are mostly used for domestic and religious purposes. The tradition is believed to have started ages back and the craftsmen still prepare the objects manually, adhering to the age-old technique by implementing the old tools required for burning and shaping the metal. Historically, this craft form dates back to the 7th century AD. Various written records reveal that the bell-metal industry of Assam existed from the time of Kumar Bhaskar Varman, the king of the Varman Dynasty, when the Kumar of eastern India gifted drinking vessels to Harshavardhana of Kannauj. The existence of the skilled bell-metal masters can also be traced through scriptures, where it’s written that a pair of ‘Bhortal’ or cymbals, a musical instrument, was gifted to Hieuen Tsang, an eminent Chinese scholar during his visit to India and Kamrup. However, scholars believe that it was only during the period of Ahoms that the industry got highlighted, as special interest was taken by various Ahom kings among whom Swargadeo Siva Singha was the most notable. During the Ahom regime, the bell-metal industry in Assam achieved the golden period. Everyone including the king, nobles and the subjects had been accustomed to the use of bell-metal utensils and as such the bell-metal production of Sarthebari flourished. The Ahom king gave incentives to the artisans engaged in Sarthebari bell-metal industry and encouraged by royal patronage, the artisans enabled themselves to mould lovely looking Sarai (a platter or tray), Gudgudi or hookah, Temi-bata (small lime container), Pikdani (spittoon), Bhog-jara (water vessel with a spout) etc. The artisans have also made bell-metal cannons for use in the battlefield. The Ahom king and nobles were complacent in u s i n g Ma i h a n g ka h i (m e t a l l i c

plate) and Maihangbati (metallic cup) produced under special care by artisans of Sarthebari bellmetal industry. King Siva Singha is known to have showered laurels upon bellmetal artisan, Jieu Dhan Kahar at the beginning of the 7th century. Jieu Dhan Kahar was highly interested in pure art. As a token of recognition for his talent in art, he was endowed with the title ‘Chaudhary’ along with a grant of 100 bighas (measure of land) of nispikheraj land. Jieu Dhan Kahar made a wooden tiger and it has been placed inside a pair of ‘Bhortals’ (large cymbals) made out of bell-metal, which produces roaring sounds while moving. This tiger was presented to his majesty Siva Singha, the Ahom king. The descendants of Jieu Dhan Kahar use the Chaudhary title till date.

place in the life and economy of

for its bell-metal and brassmetal industry. If one takes a stroll around the village of Sarthebari, they can hear the sound of hammering metals at the furnace from every passing household. The common objects made by the artisans in Sarthebari are kalah (water pot), sarai (a platter or tray mounted on a base), kahi (dish), bati (bowl) and tal (cymbals). It is also believed that utensils manufactured using bellmetal have certain medicinal properties and consuming food in these utensils keeps intestinal problems at bay. Also, drinking water from bell-metal glasses aids in cleaning your body due to certain minerals present in these glasses. These were considered to be the prime reasons for serving food

In Assamese society, bell-metal utensils occupy an important

the people. Sarthebari in Barpeta district is a place well known

in such utensils to the royal family of Ahom kings of the

King Siva Singha is known to have showered laurels upon bell-metal artisan, Jieu Dhan Kahar at the beginning of the 7th century. Jieu Dhan Kahar was highly interested in pure art. As a token of recognition for his talent in art, he was endowed with the title ‘Chaudhary’ along with a grant of 100 bighas (measure of land) of nispikheraj land.

Hriskikesh Sarma great Ahom dynasty of Assam. The technology involved in making the objects is traditional and simple. The main tools are anvils of different sizes locally known as balmuri, chatuli and akue, hammers, pincers, pliers, chisels and some minor equipment. Locally, they are called they are Dulari, Gasha, Sarai, Piri, Khanta (an iron instrument use for polishing the bell metal products), and Pocker etc. The other raw materials used are polishing materials, clay, jute fibre, rice bran, mustard oil, charcoal, borax, zinc, shalpatra etc. No machinery is used in the process and the entire product, from creating the mould to the final polishing, everything is done manually. The objects made from bell-metal are heavier and bulkier in weight because of the extensive use of metal. These craftsmen inherit the knowledge about the craft from their elders and thus, the industry runs on hereditary system. Modern tools and technology have not yet touched the lives of these artisans and they still adhere to primitive tools and equipments in bellmetal products. However, one major problem faced by the industry is the supply of raw materials which is usually purchased from the middlemen. Also, abundantly available cheaper objects made from aluminium, plastic, etc that are slowly engulfing the entire cottage industry market is another threat faced by the craftsmen of Sarthebari. In my opinion, our government should give full importance to preserve this industry and they should take active steps for promoting these products worldwide. And as customers, we should take care of these products so that future generations can use it and marvel at its creation and craftsmanship.

Trotter

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

Man reveals plan to marry robot

man in love with a robot has revealed they are planning on getting married. Joey Morris fell head over heels with RoboTroll almost two years ago after being drawn to his “satisfied smile” and “popping” pink hair. The 29-year-old’s previous lovers include a lamp, a transformer truck and even a Halloween figurine. But the relationships didn’t last as Joey’s attention waned. He began dating RoboTroll in December 2017 after feeling “nostalgic” and rekindled his love for the BattleTrollz collection online. Smitten Joey, from Taneytown, Maryland, US, was aged 10 when he realised he was objectum - meaning attracted to objects. Now, the performer is looking forward to the future with his beau - including a trip to Florida and potentially a wedding one day. Joey said, “I realised I was drawn to objects when I was 10 years old, as I wanted to become

friends with a lamp at school. But the teacher found out about our relationship and took the lamp away, and I was distraught.

“Over the next few years I fell in love with an animatronic called ‘Donna the Dead’ and also with the transformer Optimus Prime when he was in truck form. I ordered him from eBay for $20 and received him in December 2017 and that’s when our relationship truly began.

“Now I’m looking forward to my future with RoboTroll. I’m going to take him with me on holiday to Orlando, Florida and a wedding could be on the cards one day.” Joey found RoboTroll while doing research into the line of BattleTrollz to satisfy his interest in 90s nostalgia. He added, “I am very lucky as my friends and some members of my family accept my sexuality - and even though they make joke comments about it, they support me. My mother doesn’t really understand my feelings, but she accepts it all the time. However some people haven’t agreed with it - I have been told that my preference is a mental illness and some have even likened it to bestiality. “I try to ignore these people and distance myself from them, as I’m happy in my relationship with RoboTroll. I find it easier to form romantic bonds with objects rather than people, so I’m happy with my sexuality.” (Source: mirror.co)

99 year old grandma goes back to school

woman from Argentina is winning hearts online for her decision to go back to school at the age of 99. Eusebia Leonor Cordal had to drop out of school at a young age. After the loss of her mother and other family problems, a young Eusebia had to give up her books. Now, years after she dropped out of school, Eusebia has decided to attend the Primary School for Adults of Laprida and continue her education. She made the decision to

resume her education at the age

of 98 and hasn’t missed a day of school since then. Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, one of

her teachers, Patricia, picks her up and takes her to school. “When you get older you lose a lot of your memory. I knew the schedules very well, but when I came here I had forgotten everything, including how to write and read,” Eusebia said. She can now read and write again, and hopes to learn how to use computers. Her inspirational story has touched many on the internet, with netizens praising her as an example of strength and resilience. (Source: ndtv)

Man pays flatmate £170 to cut off his penis in drunken bid to go viral

British man allegedly paid his flatmate €200 (£170) to cut his penis off and promised him more if footage of the amputation went viral. The 33-year-old English teacher was seen bleeding heavily in the northern Spanish city of Zaragoza last month, sparking a bizarre police investigation. His mutilated penis was discovered in a bag at his home after officers reportedly followed a trail of his blood to his flat. According to local reports, an operation to reattach the man’s penis had been successful. His flatmate was detained by police but the expat reportedly did not want to press charges and waived his right to compensation before flying back to Britain. It emerged this week that he offered the Spaniard money to carry out the stunt. The unnamed Brit planned to film the amputation and share it online and would pay his flatmate more money if it proved a hit online. It’s believed he promised him between €2,500 (£2,165) and €5,000 (£4,325) depending on the number of hits. The footage is said to have been

saying it plans to “thoroughly” inspect the busted review units. “A limited number of early Galaxy Fold samples were provided to media for review. We have received a few reports regarding the main display on the samples provided,” the company said. “Separately, a few reviewers reported having removed the top layer of the display causing damage to the screen. The main display on the Galaxy Fold features a top protective layer, which is part of the display structure designed to protect the screen from unintended scratches,” Samsung continued adding, “Removing the protective layer or adding adhesives to the main display may

cause damage. We will ensure this information is clearly delivered to our customers.” Aside from its broken screens the Galaxy Fold contains features common in most flagship smartphones – including a fingerprint scanner on the side of the device. (Source: metro.co.uk)

erased, although it was not made clear if was done before or after it went online. The pair reportedly drank four bottles of wine and took valium to muster up the courage before going through with the amputation. Police initially said the expat had harmed himself and were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident. But the case took a dramatic twist with the arrest of his flatmate on March 14, after a local paper claimed he had used a social networking app to search for someone to film him amputating his penis. The 29-year-old Spaniard is being held in custody on suspicion of “serious assault.” He is expected to be formally charged following an ongoing probe despite his alleged victim refusing to press charges. (Source: metro.co.uk)

Woman files for divorce from stinking, non-bathing husband

23-year-old woman from Madhya Pradesh has filed for divorce claiming that her husband shuns shaving and bathing for almost a week at a stretch. The court has asked the couple to live separately for six months

Samsung’s £1,800 folding phone breaks immediately on use by buyers amsung dazzled the gadget world with the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy Fold smartphone a few months ago. The £1,800 gadget looks like a regular phone until it unfolds, butterfly-like, into a beautiful unblemished 7.3-inch tablet. But sadly for Samsung’s advertising department, the Galaxy Fold started breaking as soon as anyone actually began using it. Select reviewers have been given early access to the device before it launches on May 3 here in the UK. It took less than 24 hours with the futuristic device for it to start breaking. Samsung has responded to the issues with a curt statement

following which they will be granted divorce. The husband who is two years older to the woman filed a mutual consent plea for divorce. The couple had got married last year in an arranged ceremony. In her complaint, the woman alleged that her husband didn’t take a bath for 7 to 8 consecutive days and didn’t even shave his beard. Court Counsellor Shail Awasthi said that these days, couples were separating on very petty issues. This woman, who hails from Barigarh near Bhopal, complained that her husband

stinks and when she asks him to bathe, he wears perfume to beat the odour,” Awasthi said. While the woman is a Brahmin, the man belongs to the Sindhi community. Awasthi added that the couple doesn’t have a child and the woman’s family requested her not to break the marriage, but she didn’t agree. The boy’s family opted for an intercommunity marriage once they couldn’t find a suitable match within the community. In 2016, a 36-six-year-old cleric from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh had claimed that his wife demanded that he should shave or else she would commit suicide. Recently, a couple ended their lives over a petty cooking argument. A man living in Rajepur village in the Kheri district insisted on eating chicken for dinner. However, her wife refused owing to the Hindu festival of Navratri which is sacred and auspicious for Hindus. Once the wife refused to cook, the man entered the kitchen and started cooking himself. Enraged by this act, she consumed poison and ended her life. The husband then realised his fault and consumed poison himself. (Source: indiatimes)

18 Review

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

Starring: Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt Director: Abhishek Varman

Cinepolis, Christian Basti 09435025808

Gold Cinema, Paltan Bazaar 09854066166

The Curse of the Weeping

Kalank

Woman (English)

11:00 AM, 01:30 PM, 02:15

09:05 AM, 11:20 AM,

PM, 04:45 PM, 05:30 PM,

04:25 PM, 06:35 PM

08:00 PM, 08:45 PM

Kalank 08:45 AM, 09:10 AM, 10:05

Movie Review

AM, 12:00 PM, 01:35 PM, 03:40 PM, 04:30 PM, 05:05 PM, 07:20 PM, 08:35 PM Shazam (English) 01:35 PM, 08:10 PM Romeo Akbar Walter 08:50 PM

Kalank

he film is a period drama film directed by Abhishek Varman and produced by Karan Johar, Sajid Nadiadwala and Fox Star Studios. It stars Madhuri Dixit, Sonakshi Sinha, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sanjay Dutt. It is a period drama set in 1945 in the pre-independence British era. Hindustan Times’ Raja Sen called it a ‘stunning but soulless film’. He wrote in his review, “Directed by Abhishek Varman and shot by the masterful Binod Pradhan, the makers of Kalank not only want every frame to be a painting, but every dialogue a proverb, every scene a portent. The result is beau-

tiful but tedious, an opera that needed a stout songstress to warble through it midway.” While Times of India’s Rachit Gupta said that even though the film makes a strong case for the universal nature of love, the film’s screenplay at times, becomes a little too indulgent and keeps oscillating between the deft nuances as well as theatrical drama. While ‘Kalank’ scales up the production in every aspect, at times, the world that it recreates looks a little too plush and away from reality. Hindustan Times’ Namrata Joshi wrote, From the first scene, to the last the idea is to make a proscenium out of the screen; the film is de-

liberately staged like an exhausting opera. Despite coming together on screen after years Madhuri Dixit and Sanjay Dutt don’t quite make one go nostalgic. Dutt seems disinterested and, despite her natural affectations, Dixit doesn’t dance or emote like a dream as she has. Varun Dhawan and Aditya Roy Kapur manage to hold their own, Sonakshi Sinha barely has much to do other than looking perfectly made-up even when mortallyill. In fact, it’s the youngest of them, Alia Bhatt, who makes you care for her. But the one to steal the thunder is the odd man out, Kunal Khemu in a villainous turn on the margins of the narrative.

Anuradha Cineplex, Noonmati

Grande Cines, Paltan Bazar 09854017771 The Curse of the Weeping Woman (English) 09:30 AM, 02:30 PM Kalank 10:15 AM, 11:15 AM, 01:30 PM, 04:30 PM, 05:15 PM, 08:15 PM, 09:00 PM

0361 2656968 The Curse of the Weeping Woman (English)

PVR Cinemas, Dona Planet 08800900009

03:15 PM

The Curse of the Weeping

The Curse of the

Woman (English)

Weeping Woman (Hindi)

01:00 PM, 08:15 PM

10:15 AM

Kalank

09:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 01:35 PM,

12:00 PM, 05:15 PM, 08:30 PM

04:15 PM, 05:10 PM, 08:45 PM

Huawei P30 Pro

uawei P30 Pro is the latest flagship from the Chinese telecommunications giant. Huawei’s P-series is all about photography. The defining feature of this phone is its 5X optical zoom capability, which beats everything else on the market by a huge margin. The phone has an asking price of Rs. 71, 990. Design: From its external appearance to the selection of notification sounds, all features of this phone are supposed to have been inspired by nature. It has a ninelayer “nano-optical” coating and the glass rear panel of the Huawei P30 Pro exhibits swirling and shifting colours. depending on how you look at it. There are supposed to be three colour finishes with subtle colour gradients representing different times of the day, plus a neutral black, however, only two

are available in India, Breathing Crystal and Aurora. It measures 158mm tall, 73.4mm wide, and 8.41mm thick. Its weight at 192g. The front and back of the P30 Pro are made of glass. Both glass panels are rounded at the sides, and they sandwich the phone’s metal frame between them in nearly perfect sweeping curves. The top and bottom of the phone are completely flat, in contrast. It has a 6.47-inch OLED panel. Rather than having a visible speaker, the entire upper half of the screen vibrates to produce sound. The P30 Pro screen also has an integrated fingerprint sensor. The phone measures 6.47 inches

diagonally and has a resolution of 1080x2340. The power and volume buttons are on the right, there’s a USB Type-C port and a single speaker on the bottom. Specifications and Software: Huawei has launched the P30 Pro in India with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. There’s a 4200mAh battery, and the Huawei P30 Pro supports charging at up to 40W using the included charger and cable. Wireless

fast charging is supported at up to 15W. For connectivity, the Huawei P30 Pro has Wi-Fi 802.11ac on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, Bluetooth 5, dual-band GPS plus five other global satellite location services, NFC, and of course LTE with VoLTE on both SIMs. The USB Type-C port works at USB 3.1 Gen1 speed (5Gbps) but only if you use your own cable – the included one works at USB 2.0 speed. Verdict: Huawei has delivered a set of cameras that far surpasses any other phone brand. The 5X optical zoom is a game-changer, and low-light shots are a class apart. You’ll get a great-looking phone with good battery life and top-notch build quality no matter which way you decide to go. The P30 Pro’s display isn’t as crisp as other phones at this price level.

Fiction

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

The Sporting Deputy Commissioner

t was a cold December day and we had just reached our camp site next to the river near Ronrengiri in the Garo Hills. I was glad to be home for the holidays as I could participate in the annual hunt where my late brother-in-law was also present. He was a keen hunter but insisted in doing all his shooting near villages for birds, wild pigs and the occasional barker. But that evening we were going to go on a long round through a jungle road which would take us at least a good 6 hours if not more. Furthermore it was our unwritten code of conduct that no alcohol could be consumed before the hunt and that is why we politely refused the kind offer of our Deputy Commissioner friend, Mr Niloy Das, in the district town near our camp. We had to visit him and deliver some articles sent by his family at Guwahati and we in turn asked him to join us which he declined as he had to play a friendly cricket match the next day amongst the staff in his office. My brother-in-law was, however, happy to stay behind with him - the lure of the whisky up in the hills on a cold wintry night must have been too enticing. The rest of the hunting group set off around 8 pm on our foray. The cold air hit our exposed faces in the jeep and we tightened our caps and woollen mufflers while the light man started searching the road sides with the torches. There were a few hamlets as we drove deeper into the forest and quite a lot of Jhum cultivation high up in the hills. Actually the local hunters used to hide and sit up on machans near fruit trees and salt licks while the jhums were also good for game as the animals loved to eat the pumpkins and gourds along with various types of potatoes grown in the wild. We sighted some deer very high up but the distance being far we never tried. It would waste the chances of getting a kill as the sound of a gunshot would alert other potential game. In the light beam one gets to see a lot of animals like civet cats, rabbits and various types of night birds. The Garo hills are also full of elephants but they generally do not attack unless it is a lone bull in musth. What one had to be extra careful about were the night birds like the night jar and even owls whose eyes reflect so one has to be sure that it is a deer. That night, for the first two hours, we did not see any game and decided to take a coffee break; all we had to do was light a small fire to heat up some water; the hot coffee lifts up your spirit and helps you to concentrate better. The fire has to be kept low to prevent the wild animals from getting alarmed and also a big fire will only slow us down as our

bodies heat up temporarily only to freeze again when we resume our search. Anyway after a few minutes of our break suddenly we saw a barking deer hiding inside a bamboo grove with only the eyes showing; a well aimed shot by my elder brother felled the animal and as we had time we continued the hunt. From the hills the road comes down to a plain area where there was a small village with some cultivation of rice and bananas and a few ponds for rearing fish. After this the road again starts climbing back with thicker jungle and taller tree plantations of sal and segun in between. After a short while and very close to the road there was a mid-size sambar deer which was hemmed in by a steep incline which it could not climb to safety. I was prepared for the next shot and aimed both my LG shots into the neck portion of the deer and it slowly cantered off into the trees below; I knew it was mortally wounded so we got down and within around 50 feet found it lying down dead. Getting a sambar is always great as the meat quantum is huge and we were quite happy with the results of the night. So for the

rest of the journey we went at a faster speed as in any case there

The DC he took us to a semul tree plantation where a lot of imperial pigeons were sunning themselves on the top branches before going out on their routine forage for berry trees to feed on; these pigeons are quite big and almost as large as small chickens with a very delicious taste. We had to be careful as we would only be able to fire at most two shots each as the birds would fly away after that. was no more place in the jeep for another carcass. We reached the

Ranjan Kumar Choudhury ranjanchou@hotmail.com

DC’s bungalow around 1 am. We managed to wake up the sleeping chowkidar to open the gate and entered the sitting room where we had said our goodbyes earlier in the evening. Only this time, both of them were knocked out with the whisky bottle almost empty but we woke them up from their slumber. The DC did not believe our success at first. As luck would have it, he had asked some of his junior officers to arrange some venison which they had failed to do and was happy that now he would be able to have some deer meat for the cricket lunch after the game. He also insisted that we must be present on the field by 9.30 am positively. My brother-in-law had to agree as he had kept him awake and was responsible that the DC could at least enter the ground. So, next morning, we cancelled our wild fowl shoot and all of us, with a DC nursing a massive hangover, went to the ground where the match was going to be played. Of course we were all dressed in our normal clothes while the teams including the DC at least looked like cricketers. As two players were short we were asked to volunteer and my brother-in-

law and myself, in our coloured clothes, took the field for fielding. Needless to state after a couple of overs the drinking party of last night had to retire and the opposing team very kindly sent in two of their fielders to help the DC’s team. Finally they declared their innings at a score of 120 runs and it was our turn to bat. The DC was an opening batsman and they sent him very slow balls to hit but even then he got out scoring only 2 runs; thankfully we got out on a total score of 60 odd runs and I had made 11 of those. The lunch was a big success with a lot of beer, rum and gin flowing and after bidding our friend, the DC, farewell we returned to our camp to rest for our return journey the next morning. It was a great shoot and the best part was that Niloy promised to have us over for providing the deer meat for the next year’s cricket match. By the time we got back to the IB where we were camping it was late afternoon and after a frugal dinner to offset the heavy lunch of the afternoon we retired early. Next morning around 6 am when we were loading our vehicles we got a pleasant surprise as the DC landed up and wanted to take us for a wild fowl and imperial pigeon shoot to compensate for our missing the excursion the previous day. Of course my late brother-in-law took up the offer at once and we sped off with our host to the outskirts of the village where the paddy fields were covered with mist. The conditions were ideal to approach the wild fowl that were out in the open scratching around for insects and grains and soon there was a flurry of shots and a number of birds dropped down in flight and we collected around a dozen of them. After that he took us to a semul tree plantation where a lot of imperial pigeons were sunning themselves on the top branches before going out on their routine forage for berry trees to feed on; these pigeons are quite big and almost as large as small chickens with a very delicious taste. This time we had to be careful as we would only be able to fire at most two shots each as then the birds would fly away. So we all with the guns selected different trees and at a given low command we planned to fire together. I took carful aim and in my first shot felled 3 birds and took the second shot flying when another 2 birds fell down. All together we got fourteen pigeons and after sharing the bag with Niloy in the IB we finally said our goodbyes and started back for Guwahati. Indeed it was a very memorable outing and great memories which I still share with Niloy to this day.

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

Sudoku

22nd & 25th April will be great days for you to share ideas with your seniors or simply just connect with them. You could schedule important meetings on these dates. On 24th April, you need to be wary of dealing with the opposite gender.

21st April will be a great day for you to connect with seniors. You could schedule a Sunday brunch or coffee. You could be emotionally betrayed by someone at work or your parents on 25th April. 22nd April will be a slow day for you. On 26th April, just go with the flow and avoid over planning.

You will have a better than average week. Use 20th & 22nd April to connect with your boss & share ideas. For good results, host your meetings on these dates. 23rd April will be a slow day. On 26th April, just go with the flow & don’t over plan.

20th April will be a great day for you to connect with seniors & share your ideas with him/her, you could host your important meetings on this day. You could have issues with seniors or your extended family on 21st & 25th April. On 25th April, avoid trusting anyone with your secrets.

21st April will be a great day for you to share ideas with seniors & build a relationship with them, invite them over for Sunday brunch or coffee. On 22nd, 24th & 25th April you could have issues with seniors & parents. On 24th April, you could be betrayed or emotionally hurt by someone in your work environment. On 25th April, be careful of your words and actions as you will create your own problems.

This week take it slow. 22nd April will be an excellent day for you to schedule important meetings. Your seniors will be receptive to your ideas. On 23rd April, you could feel your seniors or parents are ungrateful, they don’t appreciate you. Avoid hosting any meetings especially with your seniors on 20th April as you are bound to have disagreements.

A mixed week for you. On 22nd & 24th April you could be betrayed by someone at work & emotionally hurt by your family. 20th & 23rd April will be great days for you to share ideas with seniors or simply just connect with them. You could schedule important meetings on this day. Avoid connecting with your parents, workmates or seniors on 21st April.

20th & 24th April will be great days for you to build a rapport with seniors & people at work, host your important meetings on this day. On 22nd April, avoid making any promises, as you will have to live up to them. Also, avoid hosting any meetings as you will have disagreements.

A better than average week for you. 21st, 24th & 25th 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 20th or 23rd April. Avoid hosting any meetings on 23rd April as you are bound to have disagreements.

22nd & 25th April will be great days for you to build your relationship with seniors & people at work. If you are in a habit of grabbing a drink with seniors, avoid doing so on 21st April. On 24th April, you could have a disagreement with your senior or work associate, not a day to schedule important meetings.

Watch yourself on 22nd & 25th April, and avoid making any promises or getting into a confrontation. On 25th April, you could have a disagreement with seniors or work associates. Share your ideas with seniors or generally build a relationship with people at work on 23rd & 24th April, host your important meetings on these dates.

23rd & 24th April are ideal days for you to mingle with seniors, people at work & to build your work network. Be careful with your words & actions on 20th April as you will create your own problems. On 26th April, avoid pre-planning, and just go with the flow.

In the world of movies, what is the ambition of Dhunu?

What is the difference between Creme Caramel and Creme Brulee, two very popular and similar desserts?

The recording artist DRE RUSS is also known by what name?

Identify this famous Indian painter from her selfportrait. Dr. Soubhadra Chakrabarty This quiz has been brought to you by Brain Jam, a property of Priya Communications

Dilbert By Scott Adams

Daily Sudoku: Thu 11-Apr-2019

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8 last 2 1week 4 7solution 5 9 3 6 9 7 3 8 6 1 4 2 5 7 4 9 8 2 5 6 3 1 5 4 6 3 9 2 1 8 7 8 2 1 3 6 7 5 9 4 4 9 7 5 2 3 6 1 8 6 5 3 4 9 1 7 8 2 1 6 2 9 8 7 3 5 4 1 3 7 6 4 2 9 5 8 3 8 5 1 4 6 7 9 2 9 6 2 7 5 8 1 4 3 6 5 9 2 3 4 8 7 1 5 8 4 1 3 9 2 6 7 7 1 8 6 5 9 2 4 3 2 7 5 9 8 3 4 1 6 2 3 4 7 1 8 5 6 9 4 Sudoku: 1 Thu 8 18-Apr-2019 5 7 6 3 2 very9hard Daily

3 9 6 2 1 4 8 7 5 Daily Sudoku: Thu 11-Apr-2019

medium

http://www.dailysudoku.com/

multiverse knackered

curio-city

The Romans referred to them by the Greek name ‘margarita,’ the largest and most beautiful were called ‘unios,’ pear-shaped ones were called ‘elenchi.’ What are we talking about?

3 8 7 8 9 7 8 6 5 9 3 7 9 8 3 1 6 5 9 4 5 3 Daily Sudoku: Thu 18-Apr-2019 very hard 9 2

Word of the week

1. 2. 3.

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

Which iconic landmark was built in 1160 AD under the aegis of Archbishop Maurice de Sully?

Notre Dame cathedral of Paris Pearls To form a rock band. She is the lead protagonist of the Assamese sensation, Village Rockstars Creme Caramel has a layer of thin caramel sauce over it while Creme Brulee has a hard caramel layer over it Andre Russel, the T20 sensation from West Indies. Amrita Sher Gill

5. 6.

curio-city

8 9

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

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

Horoscope of the week

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 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 20 - Apr 26, 2019

Vaastu: Defective directions and their effects on health and wealth Hemanta Kumar Sarmah Engineer, Businessman, Advanced Pranic Healer and Su Jok Acupressure specialist.

A Projected Northwest in North will spell financial loss,divorce and litigation. The wind element affects stability.

bservation and studies have revealed that certain Vaastu defects can have adverse effects on your health depending on the ruling element, the ruler of a direction and the portion of the Vaastu Purush where the defect arises. However, medical science should not be ignored and a proper investigation and check-up must be done in case of any doubt. Listed below are some defective directions that may cause some ill-effects on your health, wealth and general life, so watch out for these. A projected Southeast in a building towards East may indicate fire accidents or surgery as the southeast is ruled by the fire element.

A cut in the Northeast means block in progress, loss or no

progeny. A projected Southwest towards West causes premature death of the husband. A projected South of Southwest causes death of the wife. A toilet in Northeast direction creates perennial financial problems. This is the area of the gods and a toilet blocks all good luck and spiritual blessings. A toilet in the Southwest direction also creates loss of finances. If the North is higher, desired results are not achieved despite tireless efforts. The North is ruled by Lord Kuber who controls

Recipe: Komal Chawal Shimu Dutta

ummer is here and what better way to cool off than to eat a cold refreshing cup of Komal Chawal? This also makes for a healthy snack and is a great way to reenergize yourself in this hot weather.

Ingredients: yy Komal Chawal (soft rice): 1 cup yy Sugar (as required) yy Yogurt: 1 cup yy Fresh cream: 1 cup

yoghurt, sugar, cream and dry fruits. yy Pour in a bowl and sprinkle Mihi Dana.

yy Refrigerate it for a while or serve immediately.

wealth and if upset, he may cause monetary distress.

The Vaastu Prayer: Vedic scriptures recommend this Vaastu prayer for the well-being of residents before constructing a new house. It is somewhat like the Gayatri mantra which is chanted in praise of mother earth. It goes like this- “Vastshpart Prati Jati Hachasman, Tvavesho Atbhivo Bhavatah Yat Tvameh Prati Natro Jushsvshan, No Bhabv Dvipad Sha Chatushpade.” It says- “Our God of building architectures and structures, we are your followers. Please accept and listen to our prayer and thus make us free of any illness and bestow upon us prosperity and happiness and peace to those who live and work in this house or premises.” Here are two tips you can follow for good fortune: If there is a Vaastu defect,

recite, “Om Namoh Bhagvati VaastuDevtay Namah” mantra 108 times every Tuesday morning. ‘North’ is the direction of Lord Kuber. A blockage in this direction will create problems of wealth and prosperity in the house. If it is not possible to remove this blockage, then place an aquarium or a small fountain towards the north direction of the house.

Oh love! Oh! Are you leaving so soon? I thought you’d stay a while. We’d sit on the roof and stare at the moon, And I thought maybe I’d grow a wider smile. But I guess, you’ve decided, haven’t you? You’ve rehearsed your goodbyes and packed your luggage too. And just like last time, I believe you have your reasons to leave, Reasons stacked in bundles, you hide up your sleeve. But I don’t really get you, you know, Why did you even knock, when you just want to turn around and go? Why do you bother lighting up the streets to my home? Why do you come and clear out the snow? Why do you care about the flowers in my lawn? And why do you use my home as a coloring book for your crayons? Because you’ll vanish in thin air, And I’ll be left wondering where to stare. My lungs trying hard to get one last breath of the perfume you wore,

yy Raisins: 2 tbsp

As my eyes still wander as I stand holding the door.

yy Cashew nuts: 2 tbsp

if I should bolt the door or not.

yy Mihi dana: 1 /2 cup

Method: yy Soak the komal chawal overnight or for atleast 5-6 hours. yy Take soft rice in a bowl and mix

My brain struggling to decide, Because with the door, there goes the light, Then there’ll be snow and everything will again turn white. The flowers will die and the sun won’t shine, And I’ll be in my room, wishing you and I never meet next time. Because when you visit it’s beautiful and calm, But you never plan on staying with me for long, Oh! Love when this time you return, please stay and keep me warm, Just like last time, don’t leave me blinded in the storm. Antriksh Somany

22 Buzz

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

City school wins grand finale at Techfest National Level Junior Championship

tudents from Sanskriti the Gurukul won the grand finale of TechFest National Level Junior Championship (Software) held at IIT Bombay on 13th and 14th of April 2019. Nine students from

One group comprising Rehaan Mazid, Harshita Patwary, Pratham Agarwal and Parth Pathak won the National Level Junior Championship - Software. There were around 200+ participants in the software

Ethical Hacking and Web Page Designing. The students participated in the Android App development domain. The other team comprising Vaasu Bhartia, Harsh Raj Patwary, Ryan Pathak,

class X and XII had participated in the grand finale. They were divided into two groups.

category which included different domains such as Android App development, Cyber Security,

Shubhangini Sarathy and Anwesha Sikder made it to the final practical round. n

New Executive Committee formed by FICCI FLO Northeast

new executive committee of FICCI FLO Northeast was formed on April 17 with Dr Srutimala Duara as the Chairperson. The executive body comprises Juhie Saboo as the senior vice

Medallions were passed from the members of the 201819 Committee to the 2019-20. Anand Pillai, Managing Director of Leadership Matters, Inc, a company focusing on building an intrapreneural culture in

chairperson, Suruchi Agarwal as the vice chairperson, Shweta Jindal as the secretary, Rashmi Manchanda as the treasurer, Meghali Das as the joint secretary and Geetika Jain as the joint treasurer.

organizations, gave a motivational talk on “Dare Dream Do – Build the Brand You.” The event, held at Novotel, Guwahati, was attended by more than a hundred members and guests. n

Fairyland Cricket Academy wins City Inter-Coaching Cricket Gauhati University tournament

uring the 4th Dr Padma Saikia and Sandhan Saikia All Guwahati Inter Coaching Centre Limited Over Prize money (U-14) Cricket tournament, Fairyland Cricket Academy won by one wicket against City Cricket Coaching Centre (Green) on April 17.

The match was played at Janata Bhawan playground, and the host team, City Cricket Coaching Centre (Green) batted first and scored 126 for the loss of nine wickets in the allotted 25 overs. The Fairyland team reached their winning target with five balls to spare, losing nine wickets. Rohan Chetry scored the most with 42

runs, while Agrim Bharadwaj for City CCC got 39 runs. Here are some brief scores from the match- City CCC (Green): 126/9 (Agrim Bharadwaj 39, Tutumoni Medhi 29, Roshan Sharma 3/13). Fairyland CA: 127/9 (Rohan Chetry 42, Aditya Kumar 3/22, Tutumoni Medhi 2/5 and Paul Kr Kashyap 2/31).

to organise intercollege sports meet

auhati University Sports Board is getting ready to organise the GU inter-college basketball, athletics

will be held elsewhere. The basketball meet will be held on May 2-May 3 while the badminton tournament will be organised from April 28

and badminton tournaments for both men and women. The GU campus will be host to the basketball and badminton tournaments, while the athletics meet

to April 30. The athletics championship and the meet will be held at the District Sports Complex, Sariahtali, Nalbari from April 28 to April 30.

Entertainment

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

Not the Endgame Sumit Das

still vividly remember my feelings while I was penning down an article just before the release of “Avengers: Infinity War.” The magnitude of the occasion was still growing on me. The nervous wait of what the most powerful villain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) so far might bring on board the franchise was the only thing lingering on my superhero saturated mind for the weeks leading up to the release of the movie. To me, that was the biggest any movie can get and I have lived through the Harry Potter wave as well. But now, as I write this, I can’t help but marvel at how the studios have successfully brought upon an even bigger tide of emotions with “Avengers: Endgame.” As Endgame hits theatres, if we just pause and drink in the fact that what we are about to see is a culmination of stories of separate franchises that have been interwoven through 21 movies and that too in a time frame of just about 11 years, we can only gasp in amazement! Add to it the fact that it wasn’t always rosy for Marvel. The debt-ridden company had licensed out the movie rights of a number of their superheroes to other production houses just so it could sustain itself. The 5 Spiderman movies before Tom Holland put on the suit added to the coffers of Sony but not so much to Marvel. That’s why “Homecoming” was such a justified name for the 2017 summer flick. Even the globally successful “X-Men” series did wonders for Fox but Marvel received only a handful of the moolah. But Marvel still had the rights of some major characters like Captain America, Thor and the Avengers with them. The mass hysteria that the initial solo movies of these characters created culminating in the 2012 blockbuster “The Avengers” was enough to convince giants Walt Disney to acquire Marvel Studios. Disney has since bought 20th Century Fox too which makes the next few phases of the MCU even more exciting with the possibility of seeing the Fantastic Four and X-Men among others under the same umbrella. But that’s for later times. The thing which worked most for the studios might be the unflinching faith in their content. If not for that, Marvel wouldn’t have taken the risk of starting the franchise with a character which was not as popular as some of their other heroes. Yes, Iron Man in 2008 was a big risk. With a director with no prior experience of helming superhero flicks and a lead actor whose career wasn’t in the best

shape by any means, Iron Man was a fight against big odds. Had Iron Man failed, Marvel would have lost rights to almost all of their other popular superheroes and that would have been the deathknell to any plans they had regarding the creation of their cinematic universe. But when Robert Downey Jr. said, “I’m Iron Man”, the sleeper hit not only resurrected his career and catapulted him to a now legendary status in modern cinema but that also kick-started a franchise the likes of which, I dare say, may never by matched by any production house. The “content is king” mantra was also seen in last year’s magnum opus, “Infinity War.” Audiences were left shell shocked as some of the most loved (both commercially and critically) characters were turned to dust in the cataclysmic climax. That takes big balls and Marvel’s got it. From last April to this, the wait for the concluding page of this modern day saga has been mammoth. New superheroes introduced in this waiting period along with the mid and post credit scenes which are now such an integral part of Marvel folklore that if you leave the theatre before the final credits have rolled on the screen, your loyalty is questioned(!), have added their

bits to set the stage up for the final showdown. Marvel introduced Captain Marvel in its 21st release, just one film shy of the conclusion but even then it fits perfectly in the jigsaw and fans are pinning their hopes on her character to take the fight to the rival camp. Such dedication from fans stems from only one factor: consistency. This has been another feather in the hat of Marvel. Almost none of their 21 movies so far can be called boring or sub-par. Every release had something to offer. Every release made its own fan-base. This kind of consistency doesn’t come easy. Not even Star Wars can boast of it! Cinematically, Endgame will

Zubeen Garg performs in Bengaluru on Bihu

Z provide the perfect termination to phase three of the MCU. The avengers have been beaten and pushed to a corner by a foe who is as of now invincible. Collateral damage has been extremely high for our heroes. With a team half the size and some new entrants thrown in, it’s a battle where the scales are heavily tilted against them. The perfect situation to script that grand “David versus Goliath” battle where the underdogs come from behind to win the war for those they have lost. An emotional crescendo is de finite ly on the cards as Endgame will reportedly mark the swansong of many a household names in the superhero genre. Chris Evan’s Captain America, Downey’s Iron Man and maybe even Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk may bid their final goodbye to the franchise that shaped their careers in a whole new direction. With the introduction of new heroes, the time is also ripe for them to ride out on a high. Whatever happens, we can be rest assured that the biggest cinematic event of the decade will certainly set a lot of records straight at the box office and to think of the fact that it all started with a comic book company really blows you apart! Personally, these movies have been an experience difficult to pen-down. When you have grown up reading these characters, you can’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia seeing the books unfold once again, only this time on the big screen. But then again, now you no longer are the exclusive know-it-all about these characters which you were as a school kid as now even the non-comic book fans are well acquainted with them. It hurts (in a good way!) but this again speaks volumes about Marvel’s success in penetrating through every barrier in creating a fanbase whose loyalty is a marvel in itself. Endgame will bring the curtains down on a decade old story but as far as Marvel Studios are concerned, this is far from being their endgame as they will surely keep adding to the legacy they created. Whatever it takes!

ubeen Garg performed at a cultural festival in Bangaluru on Bohag Bihu or Rongali Bihu on April 13. The event was the 20th edition of the Spring Festival in the city organised by the Assam Society of Bangalore (ASOB). The festival was a one-of-a kind event that featured Bihu dance performances, a showcase of traditional folk instruments, delicacies from Assam, Nagaland,

Manipur, Meghalaya and Sikkim and the live concert by Zubeen. The festival was held at HSR Layout area.

Mumbai-based Assamese couple release song

umbai-based Assamese musician duo, Ambar Das and Sarmistha Chakravorty have recently released their latest song, “Oha Bate.” The music is produced by Mellodye Mafiaa. Ambar Das is a music composer, producer, drummer and guitarist

who hails from Guwahati. He has worked in several music bands and composed background scores for TV serials and documentaries in Hindi as well as other regional language films. He has also composed jingles for the advertisement industry. He studied music and compositions with Late Jiten Baruah, who was a musician of national repute and one of the pioneers in initiating western orchestration into Assamese music.

Nilam Dulakakharia bags Bihu Samragyi 2019 title

ilam Dulakakharia from Lakhimpur won the title of “Bihu Samragyi 2019” on Wednesday, April 18. The Latasil Bihu Sanmilani organises this prominent and prestigious competition. Further, Niharika Saikia from Dibrugarh bagged the title of “Bihu Rani 2019,” and Nibedita Bora from Dibrugarh was adjudged the “Bihu Kunwori.” The title of “Best Dhulia 2019” was bagged by Debojit Chutia and Dhrubajyoti Baishya

won the “Best Pepa Player” award. The Latasil Bihu Sanmilani is one of oldest Bihu functions of the city and is held at the Latasil

playground and is organised by Guwahati Bihu Sanmilani. This year, the Sanmilani was held from April 14 to April 17.

24 Catching Up

G PLUS | Apr 20 - Apr 26, 2019

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