Vol 6 Issue 37 by G Plus

@guwahatiplus | /c/gplusguwahati www.guwahatiplus.com

Volume 06 | Issue 37 July 6 - July 12, 2019 Price `10

INSIDE

GMC dump yard, railway line leaves hapless Deepor Beel at their mercy

Seeking building permission online speeds up process, express Guwahatians

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Budget 2019-20 not populist, Guwahatians underwhelmed G Plus News @guwahatiplus

nion Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, only the second lady union finance minister after Late Indira Gandhi, announced the annual budget 2019-20 – her first ever - in the Lok Sabha on 4th July, 2019. The budget however failed to be of satisfaction generally as people felt that it was not a populist one. Primarily, Sitharaman, on Friday, raised taxes on the fuels which will directly impact all citizens and sectors in the country leading to general price rise.

India imports more than 220 million tonnes of crude oil annually and the new duty will give the government Rs 22 crores additionally. The government claimed that the budget this year is to reform, perform and transform the country, but people were expecting more after the victory of Bharaiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. “After the huge win in the Lok Sabha elections the government has failed to meet people’s expectations,” said city-based social worker and Padma Shri awardee, Ajoy Dutta. A city-based businessman,

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting the Budget 2019-20 Within hours of the union budget announcing a hike in cess on auto fuel prices, petrol prices shot up by Rs 2.50/litre while diesel prices went up by Rs 2.30/litre. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman increased excise duty and road and infrastructure cess on the auto fuels by Rs 2 per litre each to raise over Rs 28,000 crores. Also, the finance minister levied Re 1 per tonne customs or import duty on crude oil.

Guwahati restaurant owners form common platform to boost state food industry

Kedar Nath, said that the concept of tax deduction at source (TDS) of 2 per cent on cash withdrawal of more than Rs 1 crore from a bank account is not justified. “There can be withdrawals for various purposes in the northeast India as the idea of digital India is not yet entirely successful here,” said the irked businessman. n Continued on Page 02

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Ghy-Dhaka air connectivity to open up new vistas for trade & commerce Mukul Ch Gogoi

arag Khanna, the celebrity writer wrote in his book, Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization - “It is time to re-imagine how life is organized on Earth. We’re accelerating into a future shaped less by countries than by connectivity. Mankind has a new

many leading cities of the world. Dhaka of 2019 is as chaotic as Delhi was in the 90s – construction work all over and terrible traffic congestions, where a 4 km stretch would take anywhere between 30 mins to 2 hours and where commuters are vying for space riding their vehicle of choice – from the favoured tri-cycled rikshaws to luxury sedans and of course, not to forget the rickety double decker buses. Amidst this chaos, the sign of an energetic economy is clearly visible – people

and Gulshan. What does an economically resurgent Bangladesh mean to an economically ambitious Assam and by virtue of that the entire northeast India in the medium and long run? To the man on the street, the name Bangladesh might hold a different meaning but from a business perspective it opens a whole new vista – a completely new market. As against a population of 3.4 crores of Assam, whatever Assam produces will have a market five

Consulting Editor of G Plus, Mukul Chandra Gogoi, was on the inaugural SpiceJet flight to Dhaka. According to him, “To the man on the street, the name Bangladesh might hold a different meaning but from a business perspective it opens a whole new vista – a completely new market.” maxim – Connectivity is destiny – and the most connected powers, and people, will win.” This holds true in a world marred by rising geo-political tensions and apt for two friendly neighbours, India and Bangladesh, divided by borders but united by poverty and increasing economic ambitions. In my maiden visit to Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh in the inaugural Spicejet flight between Guwahati and Dhaka, I saw a sight very similar to one I witnessed in India in the late 1990s and early 2000 – sign of a thriving economy. In the 90s, when I was a journalist with The Economic Times based at New Delhi, I had done a story on how Delhi will be transformed into a world class city in two decades once the Delhi Metro and other related infrastructure is built. Well, Delhi still has much improvement to do but if one compares the Delhi of 90s with that of 2019, infrastructure wise, Delhi can now be compared to

Mukul Gogoi (L) with the leader of the Assam delegation Minister Pijush Hazarika (R) and Aimee Baruah, w/o Pijush Hazarika at Guwahati airport prior to departure moving around with a purpose and business meetings at corner cafes on the streets at Gulshan I, Gulshan II and Banani. And once the metro construction is over, likely by 2020, the city of Dhaka will have a complete changeover as far as its looks are concerned. With a population of over 16 crores, Bangladesh, in the last few years has been clocking an impressive GDP growth of over 7%, projected to increase to 8% by 2020 (Source – ADB), highest in South Asia, even surpassing India. The size of the economy is around $687 billion USD and its unemployment is a manageable 4.4%. What ails the country is inequitable distribution of wealth – a fact well depicted by the condition of infrastructure and living amenities at a distance of 10 kms – between say, Green Road

times bigger, whose consumption spree seems unabated in the last decade or so. It is in this context that the opening of the direct air route to Dhaka from Guwahati opens a new horizon – there is so much to trade. It is in this context that the people-to-people contact initiative will lead to better relations in trade and commerce between Bangladesh and Assam. Culturally, Bangladesh still considers Dr Bhupen Hazarika as an icon and holds him dear to their hearts. In every meeting that we had with Bangladeshi lawmakers, business delegations and other groups, Dr Bhupen Hazarika was mentioned and remembered as someone who understood the similarities between the people – he is remembered as that bridge which now needs to be re-laid and reopened.

Lead Story

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Budget 2019-20 not populist, Guwahatians underwhelmed fROM Page 01

city-based chartered accountant, Manoj Nahata, talking to G Plus said that the government seems a bit confused as all these days it was projected that Aadhar Card would be mandatory but the budget announcement revealed that PAN and Aadhaar cards have been made interchangeable allowing those who do not have PAN cards to file returns. Further, those who don’t have Aadhar can also file returns. Many Guwahatians felt that

the government was a bit too practical for comfort this time. India’s upper middle class has been waiting for a tax break for a long time and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has left them disappointed with her Budget 2019 too. She ignored key demands of the common man as well as industry bodies, be it raising the tax exemption threshold from the current Rs 2.50 lakhs or revising the tax slabs or, for that matter, increasing the maximum deduction limit under Section 80C from Rs 1.5 lakhs. Instead, the higher income groups are staring

at an even higher tax outgo. Saying that those who earn more should also contribute more, Sitharaman announced higher surcharges on individuals with taxable income of over Rs 2 crores. For individuals in the income bracket of Rs 2-5 crores, the applicable surcharge will be 3 per cent while those earning above Rs 5 crores are looking at a surcharge of 7 per cent. For other categories of income payers, the tax rates and slabs remain unchanged. Therefore, Budget 2019 has been perceived as one that is just not populist. n

Senior citizens ignored by govt: Ajoy Dutta

uwahati-based social worker and Padma Shri awardee, Ajoy Dutta, is upset with Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget 2019-20 as, according to him, nothing was announced for the senior citizens. “I have observed that the senior citizens of the country are sufferers these days as they are ignored by their families and thereafter, even by the government,” said Dutta. He said that in all the banks and even post offices, the interest rates on savings are decreasing; there should be some relief given to the senior

Ajoy Dutta citizens at least as far as income tax is concerned.

There is a huge chunk of people in the country who are in the senior citizen bracket and he feels that the government has failed to work for the wellbeing of this bracket of people. “Sitharaman did not announce anything for the senior citizens and that is disappointing,” said Dutta adding that the government is just trying to be over practical which was not expected. He said that after the 2019 Lok Sabha election results, senior citizens expected a lot from the government but the same has fallen very short with this budget. n

Northeast neglected by BJP: Congress

Budget 2019-20 highlights Cess on petrol, diesel raised by Re 1 per litre Every single rural family, except those unwilling to take connection, to have electricity, LPG connection by 2022 PAN and Aadhaar card made interchangeable, allowing those who do not have PAN to file returns Government to streamline multiple labour laws into a set of four labour codes Study in India programme to attract foreign students One woman in every SHG to get loan upto Rs 1 lakh under Mudra Yojana RBI to get regulation authority of housing finance sector Customs duty on certain parts of electric vehicles removed Power at affordable rates to states ensured under ‘One Nation, One Grid’ TDS of 2 per cent on cash withdrawal of more than Rs 1 crore from a bank account Railway station modernisation programme to be launched this year Proposal to setup exclusive TV channel for startups Jal Jeevan Mission to achieve Har Ghar Jal (piped water supply) to all rural households by 2024 Funds raised by startups will not require any scrutiny by tax department Govt to build 17 iconic sites to encourage arrival of tourists in India

he Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the union budget 2019-20 as it seems that no special packages have been announced for Assam or the northeast. Leader of Opposition, Debabrata Saikia, talking to G Plus said, “The union budget neither mentioned anything special for Assam nor for the northeast.” The government even failed to discuss or propose any new investment policy for the state. APCC president, Ripun Bora, said that other than flowery language, the budget did not have anything. Bora said that the government spoke about clean rivers but only mentioned the

CII members discussing the Union Budget 2019-20 at Guwahati on Friday

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana phase 3 to upgrade 1,25,000 km of road length over the next 5 years Package for power sector tariff and structural reforms to be unveiled soon 1.95 crore houses to be constructed under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) from FY20-22 NRI portfolio route to be merged with FPI for seamless investment in stock markets Govt to liberalise FDI in aviation, media, animation and insurance intermediaries

Debabrata Saikia

Ripun Bora

Ganga. “Brahmaputra and Barak are not rivers?” questioned Bora. Describing the union budget as insipid and old wine in a new bottle, the Congress alleged that Sitharaman belied the expectations held of her and gave no meaningful relief to any

section. Bora said that the BJP’s dream to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2024 is good but there is no road map. The government failed to explain how to create jobs for the youths, said Bora.

Basic customs duty on auto parts, optical fibres, digital camera, cashew, certain synthetic rubber, vinyl flooring hiked Aadhaar card for NRIs with Indian passports to be issued after their arrival in India, without waiting for the mandatory 180 days New series of coins of Re 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 easily identifiable for visually challenged to be made available for public use Blueprint for a national gas grid, water grid, i-ways and airports to be unveiled 10,000 new farmer producer organisations to be set up

Health

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Health dept on toes to contain JE cases after outbreak Saumya Mishra @saumyamishra03

he state health and family welfare department as well as the district administration are on their toes to prevent the outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) which has claimed four lives in Kamrup (Metro) district so far. Further, a total of 13 positive cases for JE have been reported in Kamrup (Metro) and officials have stepped up efforts to prevent the disease. On the other hand, the state-wide death toll stood at 48, with more than 100 positive cases being reported across the state. Talking to G Plus, joint director of health services of Kamrup (Metro) district, Ganesh Saikia said, “We are undertaking mass fogging in affected areas and we are also conducting routine fogging in other areas of all the 31 wards in

The cases that are usually reported happen in those areas where pig farming takes place as pigs are carriers of the disease. We have asked the veterinary officer to identify those areas where pig farming takes place on a large scale as they remain vulnerable,” DC Kamrup (M), Biswajit Pegu month of December. “Earlier the vaccination was given only in some of the

According to authorities, a large number of cases were reported from Sonapur and Chandrapur areas. “The cases that are usually reported happen in those areas where pig farming takes place as pigs are carrier of the disease. We have asked the veterinary officer to identify those areas where pig farming takes place on a large scale as they remain vulnerable,” deputy commissioner, Kamrup (Metro) Biswajit Pegu told G Plus. He added that in these areas especially, they have begun awareness programmes to create largescale awareness about the preventive measures needed to tackle the disease. Pegu further said that first round of fogging is already completed

A patient under treatment at GMCH for JE the city.” He added that adult vaccination for the vectorborne disease will be given between December and March, as per the instruction from the government of India. After the outbreak, a team of officials from the central health & family welfare ministry visited the state to take stock of the situation and held meetings with senior health officials. The team reviewed the actions taken by the Assam government and assured of all required help from the centre. Further, they also asked officials to begin the adult JE vaccination from the

districts including Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Golaghat and Tinsukia among others. Now the JE vaccination will be provided to people in all the districts of the state after the central ministry’s orders,” said Saikia. Officials informed that they saw that a rise in the number of cases for the disease was reported from June 20 onwards. Recently, commissioner & secretary of the health department held a video conference with the deputy commissioners of all districts to review preparedness measures and to check on the future course of action.

in Kamrup (Metro) and the second round is ongoing. In the recent round, officials informed that those areas are being targeted from where cases of Japanese Encephalitis have been recorded. Additionally, throwing light on the preventive

measures being taken to curb the number of new cases, authorities are also collecting blood samples from patients who display any symptoms related to the disease. “Around 40,000 blood samples have been collected majorly from government hospitals since January from people who are suspected to have the disease. The sample collection has increased in the past two months,” said Pegu. In the city, the Gauhati Medical College & Hospital (GMCH) has seen the maximum number of patients coming

for treatment with symptoms similar to JE. Officials said that GMCH has been treated as a referral centre by far flung districts of the state, increasing the number of patients there. For this, the authorities are now diverting the JE cases to Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital (MMCH) which is currently underutilised for treatment to ease the burden on GMCH. As per reports, recently the state health department transferred the state officer for National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme.

4 Concern

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

GMC dump yard, railway line leave hapless Deepor Beel at their mercy Srijit Banerjee @SrijitBanerjee

eepor Beel is in danger, and there is no myth about it. The continuous exploitation of the water body has become dangerous for the eco-system in the area especially for the marine and avian life. Deepor Beel was declared as a Ramsar site and wetland as per the Ramsar Convention on 2002 in Iran. The situation has become so bad that fish from the beel, which was once considered to be pricy catches because of its taste and nutritional value, now has far fewer buyers. The Keots, which is a fishing community of the area, has raised concern over the continuous contamination of the water body. The community is completely dependent on the water body for their livelihood and sustenance. While fishing is banned to protect the wetland, no conditions have been created for the wetland to prevent it from getting choked with waste dump and to die slowly because of the deposition of waste

Photo shows the garbage dump (on the left) precariously close to the pristine Deepor Beel | G Plus Photo that is killing the marine life and spoiling the very beel that the government is trying to protect. The waste water is directed through the Bharalu and Kalmoni rivers into the beel. These channels also carry other industrial and

hospital wastes straight into the beel. The water has turned black and smelly. The wetland is home to hundreds of different varieties of birds and fish species and hosts many endangered migratory birds during the winter. The release of

sewage into the water is causing the rampant fall of oxygen levels resulting in the death of fishes. Another victim of the continuous exploitation of the wetland is the Greater Adjutant Stork, an endangered species that

has been facing the brunt of the continuous damage of its territory because of the dump yard that is located near the water body which is slowly destroying their habitat. Many such storks have been found dead near the beel owing to the continuous pollution and also because the birds used to eat trash at the garbage site. Many have even wandered off into the urban areas triggering man-animal conflict. Even after repeated notifications issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the state authorities are not doing enough or in an urgent manner to save the Ramsar site from dying out. With no proper waste segregation done by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation, all the dumped wastes just sink into the water body killing the ecology of the area. The railway line passing through the beel and Rani Reserve Forest is equally responsible for the destruction of the eco-system of the area. Since the railway line has been active, 14 elephants have died after getting hit by passing trains.

Deepor Beel residents organise protest against proposed double railway track

he residents of Deepor Beel, on 2 nd July, carried out a protest near the water body against the construction of the proposed double railway track. The residents near Deepor Beel have pointed out multiple reasons for the slow destruction of the ecology in that area and the danger that the elephants would face as the double railway line will not only pass through the beel but also through the Rani Reserve Forest. The proposed line would pass through four elephant corridors of which the Railways have proposed to build only one underpass tunnel leaving the rest three open which will render the elephants, often passing through these corridors to-

wards deep forest, vulnerable to accidents. Pramod Kalita a resident of Deepor beel area informed that the residents have carried a protest near the water body. “We carried out the protest to make our voices heard. We are taking such a stand to protect the bio-diversity of the area. The construction of the proposed double track needs to stop to protect the elephants in the area from getting killed further after getting hit by the trains. The Railways have proposed to build only one tunnel in the area but there are four such corridors. The Railways have informed that they will not reduce the speed of the trains while they pass through these corridors. What would that mean?

More elephants will die as a result. We want the chief minster to take up the issue and ensure safety and preservation of wetland,” said Pramod Kalita. “Due to the continuous dumping of waste and sewage water into the beel the marine life including the water snakes are almost on the verge of extinction. Last year many fishes have died because of the continuous onslaught. Even the birds who come to the wetland have dipped because they don’t have anything to eat as the population of fish has declined. These birds used to come to the beel to feed on fish as their primary food”, informed Kalita. The government filed an affidavit at the NGT a few months ago stating that they would

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Deepor Beel residents during the protest | G Plus Photo shift the dumping ground to Chandrapur, but no action has been taken by them in this regard yet. The residents will file a Public

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Litigation Interest (PIL) in this regard at the Gauhati High Court and will further move to the NGT to stop the construction of the new tracks at any cost.

Governance

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Net-savvy Assam Police backs tweets with swift on-ground action Nehal Jain @NehalJain96

ssam Police has been steadily winning the hearts of netizens with its witty wordplay. The official social media account of Assam Police has been promoting creative messages that have gained massive popularity across the nation. However, a section of people have also questioned the effectiveness of the approach. “Assam police has been successful in raising a ‘brand image’ for itself but has the outcome in terms of curbing of crimes increased? What’s the on-ground impact?” questioned a citizen of Guwahati. When asked about the same, Salik Khan, the creative consultant of Assam Police’s social media pages told G Plus , “Social media pages are just a medium to reach out to the people. The end goal is to build their trust. From

the engagement we’ve been receiving and the inputs that keep flowing in through these mediums, we’re certainly inching towards that goal.” The social media cell doesn’t confine itself to just being witty on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It also fights crimes in real-time, he added. One fine example of the same was reported on April 12 last when the Assam Police tracked down a car within minutes. A car was stolen from near Baihata, 30 kms from Guwahati. The owner of the vehicle tweeted about the theft asking Assam Police for help. The social media team took action upon the tweet immediately and tracked down the car within 57 minutes. In another instance, Assam Police rescued a minor who had posted her intention to commit suicide on Facebook. Police was alerted by Facebook and they saved the girl within 30 minutes after being apprised of the incident. The alertness of Assam Police was also acknowledged by Antigone Davis, Facebook’s

Global Safety Head, in a recent interview. Assam Police today has over 17,000 followers on Twitter, 77,000+ on Facebook and 4,000+ on Instagram. Plans to register its presence on social media site Reddit and hosting “Ask me Anything” sessions are also in the pipeline. It is a small team of three headed by Harmeet Singh, Additional Director General of Police (Administration, Security, Modernisation and Logistics, Vigilance and AntiCorruption) that is behind the witty, compelling and memorable social media posts of Assam Police that has garnered worldwide attention. “Working with Hardi (Harmeet Singh’s nickname) Sir is like working with an editor who is also a top police officer. He adds to the creativity of our posts. If I send him some ideas, he makes suggestions in terms of change in text, font or colour,” expressed Salik Khan. Additionally, all districts of Assam have their own social media handles and work as part

of the cyberdome. These pages are headed by the respective

Deputy Commissioners Police (Crime).

The latest witty and creative tweet of the Assam Police

Assam to get new Film Policy Work on 10 new within two months: Pabitra mini cinema halls to begin by Oct: Jatin

Mrinmoyee Hazarika @guwahatiplus

onstruction work to open 10 new mini cinema halls across the state is expected to begin in full swing by October this year. Out of those halls, 5 will be new and 5 existing halls will be

ringing a ray of hope to the struggling Assamese film industry, the state government is expected to implement a new Film Policy within a month or two. Once implemented, the policy would help in developing infrastructure and facilitate growth of the Assamese film industry, which has a glorious history of 84 years. Speaking to G Plus, chairman of Jyoti Chitrabon Film Studio, Pabitra Margherita said, “The film fraternity of the state have been demanding a film policy for the last three to four decades. Finally, the government has decided to come up with a policy, which is set to come into force in a month or two. The government is currently reviewing the policy to finalise it soon. Once approved, the policy will support the movies made not only in Assamese language but also other languages and dialects of the state.” In order to prepare the policy, a high-level drafting committee

Pabitra Margherita has been set up, including the members of the film fraternity such as producers, artists and cinema theatre hall owners among others. The policy is expected to support the state government’s strategy on the ease of doing business and the ease of making movies, among other things. In a recent meeting held with the members of the state’s film industry, Chief Minister

Sarbananda Sonowal said that the film policy would help in developing infrastructure and facilitate the growth of cinema in Assam. Sonowal also called upon the members of the film industry to create films that can fetch audiences to the theatres and even surpass boundaries to the entire South East Asia to grab the attention of the film markets there. n

Jatin Bora renovated. The government has already sanctioned Rs 5 crores in the first

phase to set up the halls, which will have a seating capacity of 250 to 300 each. Assam State Film (Finance and Development) Corporation (ASFFDC) Chairman, Jatin Bora told G Plus, “The government has shown interest in reviving the Assamese film industry and has sanctioned Rs 5 crores to set up the new halls across the state. “We have not finalised the locations of the halls yet. But Rs 50 lakhs will be provided to build a new hall and Rs 25 lakhs to renovate an old hall.” The sanctioned money will be equally distrusted among 10 beneficiaries, who will have to bear the additional cost if their budget is more than the cost specified by the government. Bora also informed that proposals for opening of 35 cinema halls across Assam have been received. n

6 Business

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Assam imports 32 lakh eggs everyday, produces 27 lakhs Mrinmoyee Hazarika @guwahatiplus

helling out lakhs of rupees outside the state and making the exchequer bleed, Assam currently imports 32 lakh eggs everyday from other Indian states, mainly Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. At present, the state produces 27 lakh eggs every day, but it is not sufficient to meet the demand, said Dr MK Bujarbaruah, vice chancellor (VC), Assam Agricultural University. Talking to G Plus on the

sidelines of a brainstorming session on Livestock, Poultry, Dairy and Fishery Development in Assam organized here in Guwahati, Bujarbaruah said, “If we can increase the production of eggs here in Assam, we can help generate employment both directly and indirectly. At least 2,000 youths will get direct employment. We are hopeful of the Act East Policy, which will open up the entire corridor and will allow us to sell our products in China.” According to Bujarbaruah, the Livestock and Fishery sector has long been neglected in the country, whereas the sector’s

contribution to the GDP is 1.1% more than the agriculture sector. Currently, there is no separate directorate existing for the livestock sector in Assam. There is also paucity of manpower in the sector, which mainly includes a number of commodities such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather and wool. Compared to the livestock sector, the fishery sector has witnessed growth in Assam. “Now, the difference in the annual production of fish in Assam stands at around 32,000 metric tonnes (MT), which was in lakhs before. The production of

fish in the state has been increasing over the years. But, we still require almost 3 lakh MT of fish

per year, which, we firmly believe, will be produced by the state itself in the next two years.” n

Milk - an important component of livestock sector

roduction of milk in Assam is largely carried out in an unorganized manner, which affects the producers as well as the quality of milk produced in the state. As per a study conducted by International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Assam Agricultural University (AAU),

97% of milk in Assam comes from unorganized sector. Studies have also revealed that raw milk traded by vendors here in Assam contains more added water (20.5%), higher total bacterial plate count (6.1 log), and higher coliform count (4.1) than pasteurized and ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk. It has also been found that 4.5%

of milk samples in Guwahati are tested positive for Aflatoxin. Unlike agriculture, the diary sector does not have any minimum support price (MSP), which the government of India guarantees to pay to farmers. “Absence of a MSP has forced the producers to sell their products at a lesser price than their actual cost of production.

Because of this, the volume of production of milk has gone down in the state. Even, people involved in the business are not willing to increase their production,” an official of Directorate of Dairy Development in Assam said. Last year, 8,72,000 tonnes of milk was produced in Assam, as against the 17,63,00,000 tonnes of milk produced in the country.

The state produced 8,61,000 tonnes of milk in 2017 and 8,43,000 tonnes in 2016

here does Assam stand in meat production? Despite being a largely meatconsuming region, the entire northeastern region including Assam imports more meat than it produces. “Around 1.9 kg of meat per person is available for consumption in Assam, whereas 5.5 kg of meat per head is available for consumption in India. Therefore, the state of Assam has to import the surplus from outside,” said Bujarbaruah. As per data provided by the state Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department, 150 MT of meat was produced in Assam during the period of 2018-19 as

Requirement and availability/deficit of Milk in Assam (Milk in million litrs) Year

Requirement

Availability

Deficit

2011-12

2338

839 (35.89)

15009 (64.16)

2012-13

2395

845 (35.28)

1550 (64.72)

2013-14

2423

857 (35.27)

1566 (64.63)

2014-15

2452

873 (35.60)

1579 (64.40)

2015-16

2480

888 (35.81)

1592 (64.19)

Note: Figures in bracket shows the availability and deficit of milk in percent to total requirement. Source: Economic Survey, Assam, 2016-17

against the market demand of 375 MT of meat during the same period. Similarly, the state produced only 49 MT of meat in 2016-17, whereas the demand during that period was 263 MT. Among the livestock species, pig and goat play an important role in the development of the livestock sector. The state of Assam accounts for 15.89% of the total pig population in India. According to Integrated Sample Survey Report 2016-17, the share of meat production from pig was 18,730 tonnes (39.96%) as against the total meat production of 46,870 tonnes in Assam during the period 2016-17.

New university for veterinary and fishery sector In order to further develop the veterinary and fishery sector, the government of Assam is set to establish a dedicated university for the sector. According to Bujarbaruah, a proposal has already been sent to the government for establishing the university. “The government has agreed to set up the university. The new university will be a separate entity and will be situated near Agricultural University in Khanapara, Guwahati, while the fishery university will be set up within the existing campus of College Of Fisheries in Raha, Nagaon,” said Bujarbaruah.

City

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

50% of Guwahati’s operational PGs are unauthorised

Snippets Hima Das wins gold at Poznan Grand Prix

Saumya Mishra @saumyamishra03

t least half of the paying guest (PG) facilities across Guwahati are unauthorised and are operating without the legitimate permissions. The city has hundreds of PGs and private hostels in residential areas which often operate offering below standard services to residents. Within the last few years, the city has seen a sudden spurt of growth of these residential facilities for students and working professionals in different parts of the city. As at least half of them are running illegally, they are mired in irregularities as there is no regulatory authority to check their flouting of norms. Authorities from the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) told G Plus that only 50 per cent of the PGs and private hostel facilities in Guwahati have obtained due permission from the GMC. Officials say that in such a scenario, there is lack of accountability, no payment of taxes and security concerns. In the wake of many unauthorised PGs being operational in the city, residents have also raised concerns about the quality of food and lodging provided by the owners. Safety, security issues also remain a prime concern of the occupants. In a bid to tighten the noose on unauthorised PGs and other commercial establishments running in residential areas without obtaining due

A paying guest facility for girls in Guwahati city: clearly sub-standard | G Plus Photo permission, GMC has stopped giving them trade license until they have acquired appropriate permission. Deepak Bezbaruah, associate planner at GMC informed G Plus, “Recently we have seen mushrooming of PGs in the city. The GMC has now stopped giving the trade licenses for running such PGs until and unless appropriate permission has been obtained.” He added that the Uzan Bazar area on its own has more than 100 PGs since several educational institutions exist in close proximity. Most outstation students and many working professionals prefer staying in private PGs and hostels as they offer cheaper

rents and also provide some additional facilities - making it a lucrative business for the owners. Maximum number of such hostels exists in studentdominated areas and near educational institutes. “Nowadays we even do not allow permission if occupancy certificate is not obtained by the owners of PGs. We only allow them after proper examination of the building plan. We also check whether the permission was taken by them for running an office, PG or any other business and act accordingly,” added Bezbauah. Elaborating on the procedure, officials of GMC said that in order to obtain building permission, the owners need to first apply

to the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) which verifies the zone and sends the building plan online to the GMC. Officials of the GMC then go to the site to verify and they also take the field measurements, which is again entered online. After this, an auto scrutiny software is run on the plan which checks if the plan is in conformity with the building bylaws. After it is found to be in tune with the bylaws, the permission is given for construction of the building. Once the construction is complete, the occupancy certificate is needed from GMC. Further, trade license is also needed for operating PGs, hostels and coaching centres.

GMC cracks down on 70 commercial establishments

aking action against unauthorised commercial establishments, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) recently issued show cause as well as closure notices to around 70 such establishments. Apart from this, several of them were also sealed. Further, the municipal body also demolished close to 25 illegal buildings of various kinds including commercial and residential buildings and shops which were operating without permission. “Recently we have

demolished eight shops in Lokhra area which were spilling on the footpaths and we also fined a shop owner Rs 50,000 for throwing the unused materials from his shop on the street continually,” informed Deepak Bezbaruah, associate planner at GMC. He added that many more sealings and demolitions are in the pipeline which will be taken up by the GMC in the coming weeks. Additionally, in order to crackdown on illegal PGs and other commercial establishments, the GMC has

formed a team which goes to the field and conducts random checks in different areas. However, their task becomes challenging due to the sheer number of illegal trades which are in existence across the city, mentioned authorities. “We check randomly and at times also act on certain complaints which we receive,” said another senior official. He added that shortage of manpower remains one of the major reasons due to which the checking remains slow and it becomes difficult to check the illegal commercial

establishments. “For PGs, checking becomes especially difficult as many owners do not put up any sign boards and rely on wordof-mouth to get occupants,” a source at GMC told G Plus. Officials also informed that GMC earns 50 per cent of its revenue through penalties. Last year, the building permissions department earned Rs 4 cores from penalty from different unauthorised constructions and establishments. “This year, we have outstanding penalty to be realised to the tune of Rs 1.5 crores,” said Bezbaruah.

ssamese athlete, Hima Das, who is popularly known as “Dhing Express,” proved her mettle again by winning gold at the women’s 200m category at Poznan Athletics Grand Prix on July 2. Hima, who holds a personal best of 23.10 seconds, finished at 23.65 seconds at the event. It should be mentioned that Hima was earlier struggling with a recurring back injury. Hima’s teammate VK Vismaya, who has a personal best of 23.75 seconds, beat Iga Baumgart-Witan of Poland to finish third in the game.

GMC to form flying squads for garbage and sewage cleaning

he Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) is set to launch flying squads for garbage and drain cleaning in different parts of the city. Officials informed that a total of six flying squads will soon be launched to look into the garbage and drainage complaints. One squad will operate in each of the six engineering divisions. The divisions will further be divided into six parts and each vehicle from the squad will visit all parts of a division from Monday to Saturday, said authorities. The squads will be equipped with a vehicle and all necessary equipment to clear out garbage dumped on roadsides and it will be moving around different areas of the city. These flying squads will consist of seven members including six labourers and one supervisor. “The squads will look out for any garbage dumped near the roads which was not cleared in the morning, they will clear it on the spot,” joint commissioner GMC, Siddhartha Goswami told G Plus. He added that they will also attend to any specific complaints of drain blockage while on the drive.

8 City

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Seeking building permission online speeds up process, express Guwahatians Nehal Jain @NehalJain96

esidents of Guwahati were allegedly being subjected to unnecessary harassment in the name of procuring building permission issued by Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) through the offline process. The process of acquiring a building permission offline undergoes an unavoidable lengthy exercise, claim residents. The current building permission is completely online. It starts with the Guwahati GMDA submitting online file with planning permit and ends with the GMC issuing the “No Objection Certificate” as building permission. In every step and in

every process, SMS notifications are sent to the applicants as well as to the concerned architects or engineers informing the progress status of the application. In the earlier process, applicants alleged being subjected to the misery of visiting the offices of the concerned government agencies multiple times in order to get the building permission. However, after the process becoming completely online, applicants are constantly apprised of the status of their file online, saving them the misery. Ranel Das, a city based architect, told G Plus that certain delays continue to take place but they are mostly caused due to small errors in the plan submitted. While in a lot of cases, there are genuine errors in terms of wrong calculation and wrong interpretation of by-laws, in some cases, the architect involved may

An under-construction multi-storey building in Guwahati | G Plus Photo be making mistakes purposefully to delay the process due to internal conflict with the concerned party. “With the online building

Delay caused due to submission of incorrect documents: GMC

hile Guwahatians allege that the authorities delay the process by keeping files pending, officials at GMC informed G Plus that in most cases, the delay is caused due to submission of incorrect or faulty documents by the concerned architect/ planner.

When asked about the stipulated time to obtain permission and reasons for delay, Deepak Bezbaruah, the associate planner of GMC told G Plus, “It usually takes a maximum of 30 days to issue planning permit and 45 days to issue building permit. But the process only starts after submission of proper

documents. In most cases, it takes longer due to submission of faulty documents by the concerned architect/planner.” He added that the onus of delay is neither on GMC nor on the applicant. Rather, it’s on the architect/planner who prepares the plans and submits incorrect/ faulty documents that delay the process.

All pending offline applications disposed by GMC

uwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) inducted the online building permission system in June 2018 to make obtaining of building permission hasslefree and since June 16, 2019,

the organisation is not accepting or entertaining any offline building permission applications. In view of long pendency of building permission files at GMC for want of appropriate documents and certificates, a

public hearing was held in the conference hall of GMC office, Uzan Bazar on June 14-15, 2019. The two-day initiative aimed at fast track disposal of all pending offline building permission files and make the process of receiving building permission completely online. In lieu of this, all applicants whose files had been pending were asked to re-submit proper documents along with building plan by June 10 and were called for the public hearing. The initiative was taken by GMC Commissioner Debeswar Malakar along with Associate Planner Deepak Bezbaruah. In two days, more than 200 files were disposed and whatever files remained pending were permanently cancelled. The applicants were asked to file fresh applications online thereafter.

permission system coming in place, the entire process has become hassle-free,” Das added. “For the process of obtaining

NOC certificate for my building, I consulted a planner who promised to provide me with the same within six months; however, the process took more than a year. Earlier, I thought that GMC was delaying the process but when I took up the matter with the concerned authority, I was informed that my architect had submitted wrong documents (Dag no. and Patta no.). Hence due to a mismatch, my application was rejected four times. After correction of the error, it took just over a month to receive the NOC (submitted on February 21 received NOC on April 5),” informed Atiqul Habib, a resident of Hatigaon. Habib stressed on the need for individuals to become independent instead of completely relying on the architects.

The detailed and systematic online process

he current building permission is completely online – the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) submits online file with planning permit after the approval of the CEO of GMDA to the counter clerk of GMC. The counter clerk of GMC, after receiving the file in his/ her console, generates the file number of GMC for the file after checking the attached documents and verifying the ward number. After that, he/ she submits the file to the concerned zonal engineer’s console. The concerned zonal engineers, after receiving the file in their console, undertake site visit for the concerned file and updates the site visit detailed check list report with their observations. He/she also checks all the attached documents such as deed, land documents, etc and then performs auto scrutiny of the drawing file and comes up with a detailed report regarding all the observations. After that, zonal engineers update the note sheet with their observations found during site visit, document verification and auto scrutiny and finally sends the file to the concerned associate planner for further processing of the file. The associate planner,

after receiving the file in his/her console, checks the note sheet of the concerned file. The associate planner then examines the zonal engineer’s report, documents and auto scrutiny reports and recommends either for approval, rejection or objections to the additional commissioner. The additional commissioner, after receiving the file in his/her console, checks the note sheet of the concerned file and submits it to the commissioner for approval or rejection. The commissioner checks the note sheet of the concerned file for the comments put up by the respective zonal engineer, associate planner as well as additional commissioner. After that, the commissioner decides whether to return the file to the concerned associate planner for any clarifications or to approve the file and send the file to the concerned zonal engineer’s console for further processing of the file. In every step and in every process, SMS notifications are sent to the applicants as well as to the concerned architects or engineers informing the status of the proposal. The whole procedure usually takes 45 days for issuing the final “No Objection Certificate” which is the building permission. It may extend if any objections arise.

In The News

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Pangolin poaching on the rise, Guwahati a major transit hub G Plus News @guwahatiplus

angolins or scaly anteaters are probably the only known mammals with the unique feature of having large, protective keratin scales covering their skin. But the scales which are supposed to be their shield from outside attack have turned out to be their biggest enemy. Despite being protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, pangolin poaching is found to be much higher than poaching of other animals in the state. That includes rhinos. It is only because of the rampant poaching and smuggling of this animal that it has found itself in a critical situation. Though the enforcement agencies and wildlife crime control agencies have been trying their best to ensure safety to the animal, the state has been seeing a constant uprising of smuggling of these animals - dead or alive. And being the capital city, Guwahati has

obviously turned out as the major transit point for the smugglers of wildlife body parts. Recently, on June 20, acting on a tip-off, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and state forest department sleuths, in a joint operation, rescued one adult pangolin and arrested two persons from a hotel in the city’s Lokhra area. The two identified as Micheal Palmar from Rynjah in Meghalaya and Biri Hachi from Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh had brought the pangolin from Naharlagun of Arunachal Pradesh and was taking it to sell in Dimapur in Nagaland. Prior to this, in December too, the WCCB had rescued an adult pangolin from Boko area, located on the outskirts of the city, and arrested three persons in connection to the alleged smuggling racket. A top official in WCCB said, “The entire northeastern region is home to at least two varieties of the pangolin - Indian pangolin and Chinese pangolin. While the Indian species is endangered, the Chinese one is highly endangered. Both of them are listed in the International

Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.” Pangolin scales are smuggled to international markets in Southeast Asian countries and are used in traditional medicines and

decorative items. Pangolin meat is also in demand in several places. They were hunted in the jungles of the state and then sold mostly

to smuggling rackets of Nagaland from where these animals were sent across the borders to reach China and Malaysia where its scales and meat are used as medicine. “Fresh scales are never used, but dried scales are roasted, ashed, cooked in oil, butter, vinegar, or roasted with earth or oystershells, to cure a variety of ills. Used as traditional Chinese medicine, the pangolin scales are believed to have ingredients that cure diseases like excessive nervousness and hysterical crying in

children and women who are possessed by devils and ogres, malarial fever and deafness. The scales are typically

dried and ground up into powder which may be turned into a pill,” added the official informing that around 6,000 pangolins were smuggled from India between 2009 and 2017 alone. Studies have revealed that pangolin scales are made of keratin, the same material that makes up fingernails, hair or animal horns. Though wildlife experts have denied the pangolin scales of having any medicinal value, their demands have gone up. The price of pangolin scales ranged from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 per kg. “While many strategies are being planned for rhino conservation, the same for pangolin is a muchneglected topic.

Besides spreading awareness, there has to be strict enforcement of the law against the offenders,” said Niloy Das, a wildlife conservator from the state. n

10 Guest Column

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Growth & diversification of business

GUEST COLUMN

The author, in this concluding part of his Entrepreneurship Series, throws insights into how a business enterprise can be grown and thereafter diversified into newer correlating ventures for further growth.

s we wind-up this initial series on entrepreneurship, I assume you have benefitted from the same and have taken steps towards actuating entrepreneurship. We need you, as I had stated at the start of this series, and you should be getting started. This brings me to our final agenda– growing your business. So, you have a product/service out in the market. What’s next? Business growth, in its simplest form, is an increase in what you already do. If you’re a writer who writes, you write more, in more places, for more readers. If you’re a manufacturer who produces items, you amp

videos, certifications, training opportunities etc. Whatever your business or background, there are four smart steps to help you diversify.

up your manufacturing capabilities and produce 100 times as many items to sell in more markets and reaching more customers. If you’re a CA or a lawyer or a consultant, you hire juniors/assistants and take up more clients to service. Let’s be clear, business growth is not diversification. Diversifying is a different kind of business growth. To get more business growth through diversification, you don’t do more of the same; you do something different. A writer might branch out into advertising or even print media or venture into a medium showcase like podcasting. The manufacturer might acquire another company which builds a complementary part of his product or aligns with his product or even begin producing accessories for his primary product. The CA or the lawyer might start providing financial/legal planning and investment/risk seminars for individual clients or businesses as a whole, respectively or might even create instructional

Consider the ongoing funds needed to support the expansion, the new employees and so on.

1. Find your limits

Look at what you have to invest, both financially and in terms of resources available to you. What can you afford to invest in an acquisition or a new product line? Consider the initial funds needed to get the expansion up and running.

Consider the people power needed from you, your employees and your contractors. Consider all the resources you use to maintain and build your current business. Look at how much of each you can put into this new growth. What are the limits you’re facing? What are the limits you need to self-impose?

2. Find your possibilities Finding possibilities isn’t usually the problem; finding the right possibility is. Start where you already are and think both vertically and

horizontally. Vertically: yy How can you go deeper into what you’re already doing? yy If you own a particular niche, how can you drill down and provide even more to your customers? yy Or how can you step up to the next level of product or service offering? yy What is the next “step up” in your industry? yy Can you get there with your business?

Horizontally: yy What are your competitors offering that you are not offering? yy What are businesses industry?

the related in your

yy What niche is directly connected to yours? yy What product or service offers a complementary fit?

3. Figure out what fits The above two steps should leave you with a list of options. This should meet two basic requirements: yy They fit within defined limits, and

your

yy They are related to what you currently do.

If you’ve already established yourself as an industry leader, gained expertise, made significant connections, negotiated discounts, established vendor relationships and so on, you want to use those advantages.

4. Don’t start from scratch Diversification means grow in a new direction. It does NOT fragmentation.

mean

As a final test, compare each option with the

company documents you’ve produced. yy Which ones fit best with your USP, your mission statement, your company vision and your business values? yy You might not find a perfect fit. That’s okay. You should, however, insist on correlation—a pretty high degree of it.

5. Balance growth with maintenance New things are both thrilling and demanding. New growth, new directions, new experiences get the entrepreneur’s heart pumping. Enjoy that, but don’t lose sight of the maintenance and ongoing attention that your current

Debashish Goswami business needs.

6. Getting the Right People A good business doesn’t run on autopilot. Get good people in place to help manage both your new growth and your foundational work, so you can oversee both. If you can’t trust yourself to

automatically remember all the duties and checks you should be performing (and you really can’t), then set up systems. Automate these systems as far as possible. And then run system checks. Do whatever you need to do so that you’re not neglecting the old for the sake of the new. Diversifying can take your business into new territory, build a bigger reach, and increase your long-term profits - if you do it right. So make sure it’s done right. Don’t rush into anything until you’ve done your due diligence and know that the new endeavour is indeed the best one for you and your business. And be prepared to fail. Repeatedly and often. Just get up and try again. Smarter and tougher, each time. n

City

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Guwahati restaurant owners form common platform to boost state food industry Srijit Banerjee @SrijitBanerjee

he restaurant owners in Guwahati have come together to form a common platform named “All Assam Restaurant Association” for various outlets of the food industry based in Assam. The members of the newly formed association met for the first time at

The association has planned to create and negotiate a common discount rate for the online food delivery apps so that discount and commission rates don’t vary from restaurant to restaurant. Members of the newly formed restaurant association pose for a photograph after their maiden meeting a meeting held at NEDFi House on 30th June last. In a statement they said that the need of an association was felt in the past few months because of the serious issues faced by the restaurants and fast food outlets in the state related to food safety, statutory requirements, online delivery platforms, waste disposal, water supply, impact of social media and others. With a 21-member core committee and also with the presence of 150 restaurant owners, a resolution was adopted to form an association of the owners. Present at the meeting were Chef Atul Lahkar, owner of Heritage Khorika, actress Nishita Goswami who represented her ethnic Bengali restaurant Icchapuran, Tapan Baruah, owner of Momo Ghar, Rajnish Goswami, food entrepreneur, Samrat Deka, director SRD Group and Bhuban Gam owner of Gam’s Delicacy, among many others. Speaking to G Plus, Dipankar Das, who is associated with Kolkata Rolls and is a member of the newly formed association, said that the motive of the association is to create a strong and common platform for food service industry in the state. “The motive behind forming the association is to have a common strong platform for all the restaurant owners so that we can work with common motives in terms of government related work like applying for license or single window licence and list out rules and regulations for running a restaurant,” said Dipankar Das. The association has also planned to make a list of common suppliers

from where all these restaurants would purchase their raw food supplies. “Right now most of the restaurants are buying supplies from various suppliers in the market which sometimes compromises with the food standards. For that reason we are planning to send a request to the government to check out a list of common suppliers for all the restaurants which will be best in the market to supply us the raw materials and we hope the government soon creates a segregated market for the members of the association where we will have to buy meat from a specific supplier, milk for example from Sitajakhala and others of that kind of mass suppliers. Such a decision will immensely help us and would provide value in terms of price and also provide us good products,” said Das. The association has also planned to conduct regular Corporate Social Responsibility activities (CSR). The other thing that the association has planned to do is create and negotiate a common discount rate for the online food delivery apps so that discount and commission rates don’t vary from restaurant to restaurant. “We have planned to negotiate with the online food delivery apps to form a common discount and commission structure for all the member restaurants because at times, these apps give heavy discounts and provide us with less commission which in terms becomes heavy on us. That is the reason why we are seeking a common structure for it so that it can be a win-win situation for all - be it the food delivery

companies, the restaurant owners and the customers as well,” said Das. The association will follow strict norms for inclusion of restaurants in to the association and adhere to food safety measures for give customers better quality hygienic food. “To ensure that food safety standards are maintained up to the mark we willonlyinclude restaurants with proper and valid trade licences. All members need tohaveaphysical restaurant and a valid Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licence. We will not accept any restaurants as members if one of the above criteria is missing,” said Das. n

12 City Snippets Man arrested for allegedly killing and eating neighbour’s dog

man has been arrested for allegedly stealing a neighbour’s pet dog, killing it and eating its meat. The incident occurred in Hatigaon locality on Wednesday, July 3. The accused, who is from Manipur, was staying at a rented accommodation in the area, according to the dog owner, Simran Kumari, a resident of Brindaban Path. Following the complaint by Kumari, police reached the place of the accused and found that he, along with a few others, were preparing and eating suspected dog meat. Four people were taken to the police station for interrogation. Three men were released and the man from Manipur was arrested. A case has been registered under section 429 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for killing an animal and section 379 for theft. Further investigations are on and the identity of the man is yet to be ascertained.

More than 6000 people affected by flood in Assam

ver 6000 people were affected by floods on Wednesday, July 3 in Assam’s Lakhimpur and Biswanath districts. As per media reports, the situation worsened after the state saw incessant rainfall on Wednesday. According to the state disaster management authority, at least 6,820 people in Lakhimpur and Biswanath districts were affected on Wednesday, with the North Lakhimpur revenue circle being the worst hit. Further, around 750 people were affected by floods in Lakhimpur district alone.

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Single moms in Ghy: Daily struggle, little social acceptance Antarixa Bhardwaj @guwahatiplus

or the kids who grow up without the presence of either their father or their mother, the (single) parent who is around them all the time is a hero. She or he is a hero for the society too. But, society at large is spiteful enough and easily ready to accept this - especially when that parent is the mother. The duties of a single parent are no different from that of the married ones, except for the difference that the single parents have to act both as the mother and father for their children. Controversies sparked recently when a 27-year-old woman alleged that a private school in Mumbai denied admission to her sevenyear-old son since she is a single mother. The issue gained even more prominence with the union minister of women & child development, Smriti Irani, raising the matter with the HRD ministry. However, the condition faced by the woman is not new for thousands of single mothers residing in this part of the country. “It was always I who had to attend my daughter’s parentteacher meets at her school. My husband left me when I was five months pregnant. I never begged him to return. I went back to my parents’ house and have not looked back since then,” told Krishangee (name changed as she did not want to disclose her identity) in a conversation with G Plus. A resident of Zoo Road in Guwahati, Krishangee works at a bank. Her daughter (20) is currently studying in Mumbai University. “At first I was unsure of the finances and got worried as to how I would handle all this alone. But my mother and father had always supported me. They used to take care of my daughter when

A single mother’s plight does not end with the financial worries; rather it’s the beginning of an endless list of social and emotional problems.

single mother. But, I hope that they will be mature enough to understand my situation when they grow up. After my divorce, I didn’t even ask for any alimony; I just wanted to stay away from my husband.” Monimala currently works at an insurance company in Guwahati and has the custody of both her children. She got out of an abusive marital life after either years of her marriage and was determined to raise her children

in Guwahti said, “My husband’s family threw me and my two children out after my husband died. We did not have a place to stay, nor did I have a job. We had seen extreme poverty. It was very difficult for me to convince myself that I was a widow. I had so many responsibilities. I had to find a job, a house and what not. At times, I felt like everything was crashing over me.” Rajashree found herself a job at a supermarket. She now sends both her children to school and

Representative Image I was not around,” reminisces Krishangee. A single mother’s plight does not end with the financial worries; rather it’s the beginning of an endless list of social and emotional problems. While describing the state of affairs a single mother has to go through, Monimala, a mother of two said, “Though I had to fill up my husband’s name in the father’s name section when I admitted my children to school, I felt that he was never responsible enough for my children. It was difficult for me to raise my kids all alone as a

all alone. “Bearing expenses on my own was a problem for me initially, but I knew that I would be able to provide a safe environment to my children. At least, my children will not have to see their father beating their mother for no reason,” said Monimala with tears in her eyes. It’s not always an abusive marriage that ends up for a mother to raise her child alone. Sometimes, it’s the decision of God that nobody can escape. Rajashree, a 35-year old woman from Uzan Bazar area

makes her ends meet with the little amount of money she earns. The list of mothers who have given away everything to bring their kids up does not end here. According to a UN report, an estimated 4.5% of all Indian households are run by a single mother. Parenting as a single mother is a tough job with numerous circumstantial issues that harass the mother every day. Still, the brave ladies have been beating all the odds to raise their kids with whatever help they are getting from the society.

Weather report for the week Guwahati

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

T-Storms

30°25° C

29°25° C

28°25° C

SATURDAY T-Storms

32°26° C

Concern

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Govt hospitals in Guwahati reeling under staff crunch Saumya Mishra @saumyamishra03

ajority of the government hospitals and primary health centres under Kamrup (Metro) district face shortage of staff, which is becoming a major cause of concern for patients. As per the reply to an RTI (Right to Information) request filed by G Plus, the state health and family welfare department revealed that there are 151 vacancies which were yet to

There are currently 243 doctors in Kamrup (Metro) including regular and National Health Mission (NHM) doctors. Out of this, there are 157 regular doctors and 86 doctors from NHM.

Joint director of health services of Kamrup (M) district, Ganesh Saikia, told G Plus that there is a deficit of doctors across the state. “There are some vacancies which the government is now filling up slowly. There are currently around seven regular posts for doctors vacant in Kamrup (M),” informed Saikia. He further added that as the contractual posts of doctors are need based, these are filled as they become vacant. Major government hospitals in the city like Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital (MMCH),

Patients galore with few care-givers and doctors: MMCH in Guwahati | G Plus Photo be filled in Kamrup (Metro) till October 2018. These posts include that of doctors, nurses as well as paramedical and grade IV staff. However, this figure does not include vacancies in Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH). As per Census 2011 report, Kamrup Metro has a population of 12.6 lakh people while the floating population of

the district is much higher. However, the number of doctors and medical professionals is not enough to meet the requirements of the people. As per the data obtained, there are currently 243 doctors in Kamrup (Metro) including regular and National Health Mission (NHM) doctors. Out of this, there are 157 regular doctors and 86 doctors from NHM.

too, face staff shortage. An official at MMCH informed, “A number of paramedical staffs have retired but fresh appointments have not taken place since a long time, resulting in a shortage.” He, however, said that all recruitments for MMCH are conducted by Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) since it is an annexe of the GMCH.

Manpower details as on 9.10.2018 Manpower

Regular

NHM

Others

Total Kamrup(M)

Total Assam

Doctors

157

243

4602

Nurses

280

594

874

16861

Para medical staff

105

185

4915

On the other hand, in order to meet the requirement of doctors and other health officials in Kamrup (Metro) and other districts, the health and family welfare department decided last year to rationalize the number of doctors and paramedical staff in the state. “In a number of hospitals and health sub centres, we find that there is a shortage of doctors and nurses whereas in some places they are in excess. We are taking steps to rationalize their strength and bring in doctors where there is a shortage,” said an official of the health and family welfare department. The state has a total of 22,000 sanctioned posts under NHM, but according to the data there are 18,801 NHM positions filled, leaving a deficit of 3199 staff under NHM in the state. Assam has been reeling under acute shortage of doctors for a long time especially in remote and hilly areas as doctors are reluctant to get posted in such areas. As per the WHO norms, there should be one doctor for every 1,000 population. However, according to reports, the Assam figures are dismal at one doctor for close to2,000 people. “There are several posts available and vacant in BTAD areas and Barak Valley but newcomers are reluctant to take up posts in these areas,” informed Saikia. On the other hand, lack of adequate manpower remains one of the major reasons why Guwahatians remain disappointed with the quality of health services offered by government hospitals. According to a G Plus survey conducted last year, at least 84% Guwahati residents do not have faith in government hospitals and prefer going to private hospitals or clinics for treatment. According to the results of the survey, 73.3% respondents said they preferred to get themselves or their family members treated at private hospitals. Further, 11% of the population said they usually favour going out of the state for medical treatment. On the other hand, merely 15.7% participants said they preferred to go to government hospitals. Experts feel that at a time when the state government is laying a lot of emphasis on improving the overall medical facilities and infrastructure in Assam, it still has a long way to go to gain the trust of a majority of the population in public healthcare. n

Snippets Assam to host first international ranking arm wrestling showdown

rofessional Arm Wrestling (PAL), an American organization based out of Las Vegas, Nevada is teaming up with Purna Bikash Sanstha (PBS), a non-profit organization based out of Dibrugarh and Bulldog Sports, based out of Bengaluru, to host a first-of-its-kind event in the form of an international ranking arm wrestling showdown on 26th and 27th July, 2019 at GMC Auditorium, Guwahati. This event will showcase not only home grown arm wrestling talents but internationally acclaimed players as well. To be chosen by PAL and URPA as a hosting ground for this international event gives Assam an honourable mark of notability and distinction so much so that leaders like chief minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal,

union minister of youth affairs & sports, Kiren Rijiju and MoS of food processing industries, Rameswar Teli have extended their full support to it while Assam’s favourite Zubeen Garg, is the brand ambassador for this event. Speaking on the occasion, Anup Rajkonwar, general secretary of the managing committee said, “Athletes from Assam have always been champions in various arm wrestling competitions. This international exposure will provide the much needed boost in promoting the sport across the state.” This two-day event will be inaugurated by union minister of youth affairs & sports, Kiren Rijiju. Day 1 of the event will witness preliminary round of competitions followed by live performance of Zubeen Garg in the evening. Final competitions and prize distributions will be held on Day 2. For those interested in participating, online registrations are currently open. To register please login to www. bulldogarmwrestling.com

14 G Talk E

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019 T

Seize the opportunity

or once, the Gandhi scion, Rahul, has been right. Or rather has taken the right decision. And a brave decision too by his sister Priyanka’s opinion through a tweet which I quote verbatim: “Few have the courage that you do @rahulgandhi. Deepest respect for your decision.” Indeed there is no doubt that Rahul Gandhi had the courage to stand against the political heavyweight that BJP is – his conduct and utterances during the election campaigns notwithstanding. And in the aftermath of the election debacle, he has seen the writing for the Congress Party on the wall and thereafter has had the courage to do a reality check, starting with himself and his leadership. A strong democracy requires a strong opposition for its own good. Such an opposition is required to keep the checks and balances, to engage in good media debates and to have some healthy verbal brawls in the Parliament. But the Congress Party was truly floundering under the uninspiring leadership of Rahul Gandhi. What perhaps is one of the two moot problems of the Congress Party is the deep-rooted nepotism within it – a culture that starts right from the “high command” of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and percolates through the Pilots, Scindias,

Chidambarams right down to the Gogois and Saikias. The other, that is sycophancy, of course pans across any other party in India. But it is more so within the Congress as is evident from a photograph currently circulating on social media that seems to suggest a 90-year-old Motilal Vohra genuflecting to Rahul Gandhi in an apparent gesture of gratitude at being made the interim president of the Party. Our own Himanta Biswa Sarma minced no words in several interviews to the media when he sought to drive the sycophancy point home – you had to be a “blueblooded” Congressman to catch the attention of the Party president during Sarma’s days in the Congress Party. All said and done, the opportunity to revamp the Indian National Congress has presented itself now. The nation had long followed its ideologies and the Party has remained proud of the same. The degradation started when its individuals placed themselves above the Party and the Nation and Rahul Gandhi stepping down presents the opportunity that needs to be seized. A thorough cleansing and resurrection thereafter and we should be having the most vibrant democracy in the world! Swapnil Bharali (Editor) @swapnilbharali

Assam Police: Online hero, offline zero! Assam Police’s effort to better their social media presence has been impressive. With the right contacts, the men behind the project have been swift to manage the media, grab headlines, handle queries and prevent any PR disasters that could follow. For that, the Assam Police deserves a full 10 on 10! But let’s get down to brass tacks; being on social media is all cool, but what is the status on ground? Has the Police’s social media presence made them more approachable? By using a tweet? Sure. But what of the attitude mismatch on ground and on their persona on social media? The Assam Police may have built a brand online, but the basic requirement like tenant verification and responding to domestic disturbances continue to be ignored. As it is on social media, the Assam Police has successfully created a (false) persona, and continues to do things that make them “better liked.” After all, everything on social media is peachy! Take a look at your friends’ Instagram handle for instance. With a series of tweets which included an SRK and a few popculture references, the Assam Police has gladly grabbed the headlines and recently tweeted about “scoring weed in Guwahati.” Bold! Bhai, digital pe ho, try a Google or Facebook Search for “buying weed in Guwahati.” You will find home-grown entrepreneurs selling weed online, willing to deliver it to you. Let Assam Police be the first respondent to that, and then we will list out 10 different places where you can “score.” Let’s not even talk about treatment of people at police stations. The complainants are most often people not spending time on social media and it is important for them to see that the Assam Police is more approachable. The attitude at a police station is what is going to set you apart. Veiling on-ground inefficiency with digital presence is not going to take you anywhere.

Sidharth Bedi Varma @sid_bv

Guwahati: Why it can’t be a smart city anytime soon

uwahati is the largest urban area in the entire northeast region of India with a population of well over a million people. The Dispur capital complex has facilitated the growth of the southern areas of the city starting from Ganeshguri all the way till the Panjabari area and beyond. There is also massive residential development taking place towards the east from the Zoo Road area till Hengerabari and Narengi. Now that our city is on the list of Smart Cities under the project by the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, we must take steps to first resolve the basic problems faced by the Guwahatians at present. Our roads are still too narrow and congested to support the amount of vehicles in the city leading to severe traffic congestions during peak hours.

The city still has open drains and many localities still face a major problem of frequent power cuts and lack of proper water supply. Some of the “posh” localities in the city are dependent on water tankers to bring in water from time to time. There is also a lack of parking space in all prime localities of the city. Many streetlights on the main roads are also not functional and the city needs a lot of attention to improve its overall infrastructure. Guwahati is also one of the fastest growing cities in India and it is estimated that the Guwahati Metropolitan will house about 2.8 million residents by 2025. The female literacy rate of the state is still lagging behind at 88.5% against a male literacy rate of

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O pinion Rifa Deka

94.4% and an overall literacy rate of 91.5%. The manufacturing and petroleum sector does contribute

The author gives a point-by-point reasoning as to why Guwahati cannot be transformed into a smart city given its myriad problems as a metropolitan entity. The same are also pointers of how and where Guwahati needs to tackle these problems giving each the top priority. a substantial share to the economy

in comparison to the airports of other cities. People from various parts of the state migrate to Guwahati in search of better employment opportunities and education which only adds to the overpopulated city beyond what it is built for. Prices of commodities are increasing rapidly and these keep escalating due to which essentials such as poultry and fish have become unaffordable by some, in a place where fish forms an important part of the cuisine. Even truckers bringing in

of the city but we must also ensure that steps are taken towards a sustainable development. This must be the top most priority of the industrial giants operating here. We have many centralized, private and international banks operating in the city as we move towards digitization and a cashless society but not a large population knows how to deal without cash, either due to digital illiteracy or fear of cashless transactions leading to fraud. The Lokpriya Gopinath International Airport situated in Borjhar, which is also the eleventh busiest airport in India in total passenger traffic, has some of the longest queues. The infrastructure is too poor for it to be called an international airport

vegetables from other states have to pay a lot of money as tax at various check posts on their way to Guwahati in West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and even Meghalaya which adds to the price of the vegetables. We are a city that still has a limited road network, problem of insurgency, limited delivery of basic services, flash floods, so on and so forth. Guwahati, in order to become a smart city in true sense must first battle the unplanned population growth which the city has seen over the past few decades and deal with the socioeconomic problems which may cause hindrance to its growth and transformation. (The author is a student of Royal Global University in Guwahati)

Letter to the Editor

This has reference to your editorial “The other no good Rahul” from the edition dated June 29 – July 5, 2019. You have used data and statistics to assess KL Rahul’s career and from that standpoint, you are right and I cannot fault you there. However, Rahul has shown his ability and class as a cricketer earlier and is perhaps going through a lean phase at the moment. Moreover, he has been pushed to open the innings and has the explosive Rohit Sharma for his partner with whom it is but natural to play second fiddle. I would have liked the piece better had you been more considerate of Rahul’s past performances, more sympathetic to his current form and made the tenor of your editorial less severe than you did. The fact however remains that KL Rahul has to notch up his current game by a fair margin and give his team a faster start and only then can India hope to win the World Cup against the rampaging openers of England and Australia – whoever they meet in the semis and hopefully, finals thereafter. ML Jagannath, Maligaon, Guwahati

In Focus

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Guwahati: Assam govt’s Twitter post questions civic sense of locals Harshita Himatsingka @HHimatsingka

t has been just a few days since the old Saraighat Bridge reopened following repair work which had been going on for almost three months and the bridge is already stained with paan and gutka spits. Noticing this trend, Assam government’s Twitter handle, mygovassam, had posted a picture on the popular social networking site on June 28 with the caption, “Do we really deserve good things in life? #ThinkOnce #CivicSense” The tweet also had a graphic that read, “Months of hard work behind new look of Saraighat bridge, Spoiled in seconds…” While a lot of Twitterati empathized with the government, a number of them wrote that heavy fines should be imposed on such individuals as people here do not consider the value of public property. “If caught, first warning penalty must be community service like cleaning garbage and such ‘peek paintings’ for a month or so. Second level penalty must

be cleaning sewers along with a fine and third level penalty must be making these spitters drink others peek everyday for days, along with a hefty fine,” said Tonmoy Nanda, a resident of Guwahati.

Some others were of the view that the likes of paan and gutka should be banned as a whole so that these things do not happen in the future. “Ban these products. Have been hearing this for a long

time that such products will be banned but then it runs again in full swing. The lobby is strong enough monetarily and hence explains government’s weakness in banning the same. And the consumers who

consume it are the ones with garbage mentality so they consider everything else as garbage, just like them. Seriously, strict laws should be implemented against this now. People from other countries come to clean the city and still these people’s conscience doesn’t wake up. Instead of putting up a clock tower in a place where no one arrives on time, they should have done something better like installing CCTV cameras everywhere and shame the culprit,” said Kaushika Sharma, another resident of Guwahati. Earlier, a similar incident had occurred after the inauguration of Bogibeel Bridge. Just one day after its inauguration, the citizens had put their “stamp” on the new pride of Assam and marked it with a paan-stained strip. The stains appeared to have been sprayed from a fast moving vehicle thereby leaving a modern-day graffiti feel on the white side strip. The 4.94 km long bridge was inaugurated on 22 December of last year by Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. n

The renovated old Saraighat Bridge already sporting spit stains immediately following its reopening G Plus followers offered no-holds-barred comments to strongly criticize the spitting culture of Assam. Pooja Bora

Hemanta Kumar Sarmah

Bublu Bhuyan

Amitabh Sarma

I had slapped a man who did this in front of an ATM machine once. Rather than putting it on government, learn to tackle such people yourself. We have right to cleanliness and we pay tax for the public amenities so we should be also responsible for everything.

That’s because we lack basic human decency. Would those people do the same inside their homes? No, they won’t. How hard is it to realize that this city is our home town? I guess some people are too dense to understand it.

Tushar Ranjan Das

One most important thing: it’s very sad to see the road over the bridge damaged at many stretches. How come the bridge, after a long three-month repair, gets damaged just after few days? I have seen with my own eyes potholes have already formed throughout the full length of the bridge. And regarding gutkha why doesn’t the government ban all these things? People don’t want to get matured fine, ban all those products as soon as possible. Citizens of this country don’t fear law because till date it’s not been strictly imposed. If strict action is taken and if these tobacco products are banned, we will surely see a better India in the coming times.

People travelling in public transport should be banned from having gutkha and paan. The government should authorize designated notary persons in all areas to report such incidents to cops for strict penalty as there are not enough cops to tackle this and the littering.

Frankly speaking a lot of us do not deserve to be in a civilized world. I am sure a lot of us noticed, but if you are waiting in front of the departure and arrival gates at Guwahati airport, a ridiculous smell of ghutka and dust awaits you. Forget a smart city, we don’t even deserve to be in a city or for that matter any place on earth. Might as well paint all our civil structures red, at least it won’t be an eyesore.

Deep J Baruah

Not sure what the major problem is with our people but this is something which we have to change. There are some morons who really don’t give a f*** on what’s developing around them. The only thing they know is to make the country dirty. It seems like littering and spitting in their blood.

16 Buzz

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Guwahati woman wins ‘Miss India’ title at National Arm Wrestling Championship

hetna Sharma (27), a resident of Guwahati, has won the ‘Miss India’ title at the 43rd National Arm Wrestling Championship held in Bilai, Chhattisgarh from June 19 to June 23, 2019.

Sharma has become the first woman from the state to ever win this coveted title. She won a gold medal for both left hand and right hand arm wrestling in the 65 kg senior women’s category, following which she went on to play for

the deciding over-the-top title winner category, “Miss India.” Sharma, who has been participating in the championship for several years now, has also been selected for the World Championships to be held in October of this year in Romania.

Himanta Biswa Sarma visits city school for interactive session

n Thursday, June 27, state finance & health minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma visited Sanskriti the Gurukul for an interactive session with senior secondary students of the school to discuss Bay of Bengal Initiative for MultiSectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and the Look East policy that will affect Assam.

The students and NEDA convenor spoke about Advantage Assam and the Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) signed with foreign nations and how effective it is in keeping with the Citizenship Bill.

Laurels in Lawn Bowls Asia Pacific Championship 2019 by Guwahati girl

ania Choudhury from Guwahati has won a bronze in the women’s singles lawn bowls championship held in Gold Coast, Australia. She defeated Japan’s

Anderson, America’s Alexis Van Den Bos and Brunei’s Dayang Muntol to make her place. 19 bowling nations from Asia and Oceania took part in the championship which was held across three host clubs in Gold

Keiko Kurohara, world and Commonwealth Games champion Jo Edwards, winner of world singles titles in 1996 and 2016 Norfolk Islander Carmen

Coast. She hails from Uzanbazar area of Guwahati and is the daughter of Anup Kr Choudhury and Pankaja Baruah.

Guwahati team wins Nuruddin Ahmed Trophy

he Guwahati Sports Association (GSA) team won the Nuruddin Ahmed Senior Inter District cricket tournament by beating the Northeast Frontier Railway Sports Association (NFRSA) team at Judges Field on Monday, July 1. Rahul Hazarika was the top scorer for GSA with 57 runs in 77 balls, while Riyan Parag scored 41 runs in 74 balls. The GSA

bowlers outshined the NFRSA batsmen and restricted them to 147 in their first innings. Riyan Parag was awarded the “Player of the Tournament,” while NFRSA’s Sib Sankar Roy received the “Best Batsman” award and Barpeta’s Amlanjyoti Das received the “Best Bowler” of the tournament award. GSA’s Rahul Hazarika won the “Man of the Match” award for the final.

Feature

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

An inconvenient truth: Adapt or perish The author offers a chilling scenario that awaits humanity at large should it fail to address the impending water shortage that is set to hit the world sooner than later.

t is reported that India receives about 4000 billion cubic meters (bcm) of rainfall annually. Unfortunately, it is not evenly distributed across the year nor is the precipitation uniformly received across the country. While Meghalaya receives about 11,400 mm of rainfall annually, the western belt receives about 310 mm. Moreover, 85% of the rainfall is received across 4-5 months. It is reported that of the 4000 bcm of rainfall received annually, only about 1100 bcm is utilized viz. about 25 percent only and the rest is lost as surface runoff. A colossal loss indeed! Hence, unless action is taken to develop adequate storage capacity, a large portion of the rain water will always be lost as surface run-off into the sea and large parts of the country will continue to remain water-stressed. Unfortunately, the reverse seems to be the order of the day with existing wetlands being encroached upon and ponds being filled up for construction purposes.

Barun Barpujari

but stressed for water during the dry season may be identified to create irrigation facilities and linked to perennial water sources. The overarching objective would have to be to make Assam the food basket of the northeast region and even beyond while climate proofing the agriculture sector. Gram panchayats and farmers are to be

would be essential considering the normally poor record on quality of execution and adhering to timelines on implementation of projects. It is astounding to see the pathetic manner that the rain water harvesting projects have been implemented in various schools by the government. The tanks assigned to receive the channeled roof top rain water do not have any outlet holes/water withdrawal facility! Large number of dry, incomplete minor irrigation canals with no linkage to perennial sources of water to cater to the requirements of water of agriculture fields during the dry season bear testimony to the poor planning and execution of schemes in which money has been spent but outcomes nowhere near the stated objectives. These are just examples to emphasize the need for close monitoring to ensure proper planning, design and implementation and the need for creating a system of holding departments/ individual accountable.

sight in the city. However, there are complaints against the quality of water being supplied. While completion of the water supply network projects need to be expedited, it is also important to explore the possibility of recharging the aquifers to improve the underground water levels in the city for ensuring water security. With increased concreting and paving, the surface area available for water to seep into the earth is shrinking. This is bound to happen. Guwahati city is, however, blessed with hills within its limits and also flanking it. These hills provide an opportunity for our climate change adaptation strategy. We need to preserve the hills in their pristine condition and prevent further human encroachment and occupation. The rain water precipitation on these hills could be largely arrested from flowing down through certain proven strategies/actions and thereby facilitate the water

made stakeholders and need to participate in the endeavor and its success. As the adage goes – what is given free has little or no value! As things are panning out, we can ourselves see how true this is! These water storage ponds may also be provided with floating solar panels that would provide power to irrigate fields and also supply to neighboring villages. This expedient would also help reduce loss of water from the ponds through evaporation. The cost of installing floating solar power installations is dropping fairly rapidly and very soon is expected to fall below that of land based solar power installations. In November last, Shapoorji Pallonji Group bagged a 50 megawatts in the floating solar auction on the Rihand reservoir in Uttar Pradesh by the state-run Solar Energy Corp of India at a tariff of Rs 3.29 per unit. These efforts, coupled with time bound implementation of approved projects would need to be monitored very closely. This

The other aspect that is of equal importance is proper operations and maintenance of facilities. Sights of decrepit, abandoned government installations abound across the state, begging the question as to who is accountable for this pathetic state of affairs. After all, the tax payers’ hard earned money is involved. Guwahati city is already getting a flavor of climate change and its manifestations of increasing temperature profile, an almost non-existent winter season during the past few years and bouts of very intense rainfall during the monsoon months with resultant flooding in parts of the city. With dwindling water bodies, growing concretization and increased water extraction for consumption, the water table is falling in large parts of the city leading to failure of bore wells. Consequently, people have to resort to buying water to quench their thirst. Three/four wheelers ferrying and supplying water has become a common

to permeate in to the soil and recharge the aquifer. While the water table would thus be raised, the collateral benefit of this expedient would be the partial mitigation of the flooding of the city following heavy showers. Sikkim has been able to rejuvenate is springs (source of its drinking water) and its lakes through such an expedient. Assam could learn and benefit from the experience of its neighbour. As the monsoon season fades away, the hills present a truly sorry picture. With the withering away of the dense undergrowth during the long dry season, what becomes flagrantly evident is that very few trees still adorn these hills. Through the expedient mentioned above, the moisture retention capacity of the soil will improve and if a tree plantation drive is undertaken, the survival rate of the saplings would improve. The benefits of increased tree coverage are, of course, widely known and cannot be over emphasized.

through micro-irrigation projects. Thankfully, this had been recognized and factored in the Union Budget 2018. However, how much has been achieved on the ground is debatable! Modi Government 2.0, through constitution of the new Jal Shakti ministry, seems to be serious about tackling the water issue and on delivering on Pradhan Mantri’s poll promise of “Nal se Jal” for every household by 2024. Poor quality of drinking water is the root cause of behind many stomach and other ailments resulting in loss of productivity. On a more serious side, arsenic and fluoride contaminated drinking water is also causing distress to a progressively greater section of the populace. Hence the quality aspect of drinking water is equally important as is its availability. Assam and the other northeastern states of the country are fortunate to receive a fairly good distribution of rainfall. Water availability from rainfall is sup-

storage capacities and micro-irrigation facilities linked to water sources. Areas away from rivers and perennial streams that have potential for a second/third crop

plemented by a large number of rivers and rivulets. However, the scepter of climate change is already upon us. India, including the northeastern region, is predicted to be among the worst affected. Already, reports are received of several areas in Assam facing drought like situation while other parts of the state reel under floods each year. Farmers often complain of non-availability of water for growing the Rabi crop during the long dry months. We can ignore the impact of climate change only at our own peril. We therefore need to work on our climate change adaptation strategy or perish! Assam’s largely agrarian economy needs to be climate proofed to secure its future. The government’s Planning & Development Department needs to get the Agriculture Department, the Irrigation Department and the Water/ Soil Conservation Department to sit together and draw up a master plan for creating rain water

It is reported that by 2020, India is likely to be categorized as a “water-stressed” country. The choice is ours – adapt or perish!

The average per capita availability of water has been progressively falling, Year 1901 it was 2309 cubic metres (cum) Year 2010 it dropped to 1700 cum – considered stressed-level Year 2050 it is projected at 1140 cum under the business as usual scenario (estimated) – uncomfortably close to the scarcity level of 1000 cum!

It is, however, reported that by 2020, India is likely to be categorized as a “water-stressed” country. The choice is ours – adapt or perish! We are gradually witnessing the impact of climate change – rising temperatures, short bursts of intense rainfall resulting in floods occurring in places unheard of earlier like Rajasthan, Gujarat etc. This is followed by long periods of dry spells resulting in droughts. Increased incidences of storms, cyclones and hurricanes are also becoming the order of the day. Such phenomenon is expected to become progressively more intense and frequent. The Economic Survey 2018 had recognized that climate change with increasing ambient temperature is adversely impacting agricultural production. It has called for increased focus and spends on creation of water storage capacity and irrigation facilities to climate proof agriculture, especially

18 Review

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Starring: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal, Samuel L. Jackson Director: Jon Watts

Movie Review

Spiderman: Far from Home Rana Pratap Saikia

piderman: Far from Home’ is the latest saga in the world’s highest grossing movie franchise, the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’, and it continues the storyline after the cataclysmic events of Marvel’s magnum-opus, ‘Avengers: Endgame’. The story begins with Peter Parker (Tom Holland) setting off on a Europe trip with his high school mates with romantic aspirations in his heart, but he is woken from his romantic slumber when the trip takes a turn for the worse after the appearance of giant ‘elemental’ monsters, and the emergence of a new caped crusader called ‘Myste-

rio’ (Jake Gyllenhaal) on the scene. This leaves the webslinger in a conundrum as he has to choose between saving the world and spending time with his ladylove, MJ (played evocatively by a thoroughly convincing Zendaya). The situation is further complicated by the involvement of a depleted S.H.I.E.L.D in this umpteenth ‘save the world’ scenario, including Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). This movie truly shines through in character development and the sharp and witty banter they exchange. Moreover, the character evolution is truly commendable, as you feel that the characters have truly been affected after the events of ‘Homecoming’ and ‘Endgame’. This superhero sequel

is interspersed with many comedic moments (an MCU trademark), but the humour takes a backdrop in the second half, as the movie shifts it’s focus towards the struggle of Peter amid the weight of expectations to become the next ‘Iron Man’ after (spoiler alert) Tony Stark’s death. ‘Far from Home’ is a comingof-age rom-com with a few ‘hero’ bits thrown in here in there, and some intrigue and suspense added for good measure, although the ‘suspense’ suffers a great deal due to a copious amount of foreshadowing. All the actors have inhabited their characters’ skin in this movie, and Jake Gyllenhaal plays the antagonist with a fierce determination that truly stands out. Josh Brolin’s Thanos is a tough act to follow, but Gyllenhaal projects the right amount of manic malice to be convincing enough as the villain and carve a unique place among the pantheon of Marvel baddies. Although this film is a worthy addition to the MCU and ‘Spiderman’ movie canon, it will perhaps be best remembered for a truly explosive mid-credits scene, which is sure to leave many dropped jaws on the floor, especially due to the unexpected introduction of an iconic ‘Spiderman’ character. This movie is feel good romantic comedy with just the right sprinkling of webslinging action to keep action movie buffs from nodding off during this film that mostly features the ‘B-team’ of any ‘Iron Man’ movie. However, those suffering from ‘Marvel fatigue’ will be well advised to stay away. It is the perfect kid-pleasing summer popcorn release that will keep buzzing for a while until the next superhero adventure.

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Annabelle Comes

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Honor 20i

onor 20i is the latest mid-range warrior from Honor. Priced at Rs. 14,999, the Honor 20i promises capable cameras and feature-rich software experience, all bundled in a flashy body. Design: The Honor 20i has a polycarbonate rear panel which flaunts a gradient design. Honor claims that the finish has been achieved through a 3D photolithography process. The Honor 20i also comes in Phantom Red and Midnight Black colour options, but the latter lacks a dual-tone finish and looks more understated. The rim keeping the rear and front panels together is also made out of thick plastic and has a glossy finish. The curved edges ensure a comfortable grip, but this phone

is slippery, and the glossy surface of the rear panel attracts smudges and scuff marks rather quickly. The power button and volume rocker are comfortably positioned on the right side and provide a good tactile response when pressed. The hybrid dual-SIM card tray is located at the top and can house either two Nano-SIMs, or a single SIM accompanied by a microSD card. The speaker, 3.5mm headphone jack, and Micro-USB port are located at the bottom. The vertically oriented triple rear camera module protrudes a little, but not enough to cause the phone to wobble when lying

on a flat surface. The fingerprint sensor is slightly recessed and we could reach it easily with an index finger without stretching. One-handed usage is also not an issue. The tapering edges make the phone look thinner than it actually is. Save for the flex in the rear panel, the Honor 20i feels pretty solid. As far as aesthetics go, this phone will appeal to folks who like gradient designs with punchy colours. Specifications and Software: The Honor 20i comes equipped with a 6.21-inch full-HD+ (1080x2340 pixels) display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and a screento-body ratio of over 90 percent. The panel has a pixel density of 415ppi and is certified by TUV Rheinland for cutting down blue light emission. The Honor phone is powered by Huawei’s in-house octa-core Kirin

710 SoC clocked at 2.2GHz, paired with 4GB of RAM. The Honor 20i comes in a single configuration with 128GB of internal storage, which can be expanded by up to 512GB. In the imaging department, the Honor 20i packs three rear cameras: a 24-megapixel primary sensor with an f/1.8 aperture; a 2-megapixel depth sensor

with an f/2.4 aperture; and an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera with a 120-degree field of view. On the front is a 32-megapixel camera with an f/2.0 aperture. The lights are kept on by a 3,400mAh battery, which can be topped up by the bundled 10W charger. The box contents include the phone itself, a charger, a Micro-USB cable, a SIM eject pin, a transparent TPU cover, and some paperwork. Verdict: The Honor 20i appears to be a capable phone, even if it isn’t as capable as some other lowerpriced options. Performance-wise, the phone manages to handle productivity tasks with ease and can also hold its own when it comes to gaming. EMUI is loaded with features, which offers some value over stock Android. Review from NDTV Gadget. n

Trotter

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Anand Mahindra offers to sponsor tickets for Charulata Patel

nand Mahindra has offered to sponsor World Cup tickets for an elderly Indian fan who stole the limelight with her enthusiasm during the India VS Bangladesh match on Tuesday. Charulata Patel, 87, won the internet as she cheered for Team India from the stands, complete with a tricolour scarf and a trumpet. Her pics soon went viral and even caught the eye of business tycoon Anand Mahindra, who tweeted that he was going to switch on his TV and watch the match just for her. “As per my tradition, I wasn’t watching the match. But I’m going to switch it on now just to see this lady. She looks like a match winner....” wrote Mahindra on Twitter.

A few hours later, after India beat Bangladesh by 28 runs, Mahindra again took to Twitter with an update. This time, he praised the “match-winning lady” again and asked that she be given free tickets to all India matches in World Cup 2019. “Shabash, India & make sure this match-winning lady is present at the semi-finals& finals...give her a free ticket!” wrote Mahindra.

Following this, when a Twitter user asked if Mahindra could sponsor the octogenarian fan himself, he readily agreed. “Find out who she is & I promise I will reimburse her ticket costs for the rest of the India matches!” he said in a tweet that has gone viral. Mahindra’s offer to sponsor Patel’s ticket has been “liked” by 10,000 Twitter users and has won him a lot of goodwill and praise on the microblogging website. Meanwhile, he wasn’t the only one impressed by Charulata Patel and her enthusiasm. Virat Kohli, India’s captain, was seen having a conversation with her after India’s victory. He shared pictures of their interaction on Twitter, praising her dedication. (Source: ndtv)

Bareilly wife sets husband on fire because of his dark complexion

woman has set her husband on fire, killing him, for not having a fair complexion, in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly. The incident happened when the accused Prem Shri set the victim Satyaveer Singh on fire while he was sleeping, reported a national daily. The victim Satyaveer’s brother, Harveer Singh, said that his sister-in-law didn’t like his brother because of his dark complexion. Harveer said, as quoted by the national daily, she

always commented on my brother’s dark complexion but we never thought that she would take such a step. Married for over two years, the couple has a five-monthold girl child. Inspector Sehdev Singh, station house officer (SHO) of Kurh Fatehgarh, said that initially, an FIR was registered under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code but later it was converted to section 302 (murder) after the death of

TikTok, in which she recognised a man looking very similar to Suresh, along with a transwoman. The relative immediately alerted Jayapradha and on seeing

the video she confirmed that the man was indeed her husband. Jayapradha rushed to the Villupuram police station and

Restaurant adds quirky ‘My Girlfriend is Not Hungry’ option to menu for couples

ave you ever gone out on a date, only to find when you get to the restaurant for dinner that you’re not very hungry? You could probably go as far as to steal a few chips off of your dining companion’s plate, but you certainly couldn’t manage a whole portion by yourself? If the answer to either of those questions is yes, one establishment might have come up with the perfect solution for you. That’s because Mama D’s diner in North Little Rock, Arkansas, has added a very special and unusual offering to their menu - and they call it the “My Girlfriend is Not Hungry” option. The hilarious promotion is listed under the side dishes on the menu and it allows a person to add a few extra items of food to their order for their friend or partner to steal/enjoy. For an additional $4.25, you can choose to add extra French fries to your main dish as well as two fried chicken wings or

three fried cheese sticks. A Facebook user named Nick Chisler was among the first to spot the offering at the restaurant and quickly snapped a photo, which has since gone viral on social media. Thousands have liked and shared the picture, with many tagging their significant others and praising the diner for the quirky deal. One person commented: “Best menu I’ve ever seen!” Another wrote: “Finally someone got it right.” However not everyone was quite so impressed with the idea, as others branded it “sexist” and one-sided. (Source: mirror.co.uk)

‘Breatharian’ claims she lives on oxygen and fasts for 97 days Satyaveer Singh. The accused also suffered burn injuries on her legs. (Source: indiatoday)

Woman finds missing husband on TikTok after three years

ocial media apps have, in recent years, faced a lot of flak for promoting everything from mental health issues to killer games. However, it turns out that one social media app actually helped someone out in her time of need. In 2016, Suresh, a native of Krishnagiri, in Tamil Nadu left home for work and did not return. His wife Jayapradha inquired with Suresh’s friends and relatives and when she did not get any leads, filed a police complaint. However, despite registering a FIR as a “missing person,” the case brought no developments, until now. Recently, one of Jayapradha’s relatives stumbled upon a video on

alerted officials who traced Suresh to Hosur with the help of trans person’s association in Villupuram. On being interrogated, Suresh revealed he left home, unhappy with some developments and fled to Hosur where he settled down as a mechanic in a tractor company and got into a relationship with a trans-woman. The police counselled the couple and sent them home. Interestingly, the Madras High Court had ordered a ban on TikTok, citing concerns of child safety a few months back and had only recently lifted the ban, which soon came to the aid of this woman who could reunite with her husband. (Source: news18)

woman has revealed that she is on a diet that consists of taking energy from nature and not eating any solids. Audra Bear identifies as a “breatharian” and claims she fasts for up to 97 days because food gets in the way of her enjoyment of life. Despite the dangers and lack of any scientific backing whatsoever that it works, Audra, 25, insists that it is good for her. She has tried various diets over the years including being a vegan, then a raw vegan, for four years before taking on so-called pranic living and breatharianism. Pranic living is said to involve living through the energy that you breathe in and absorb from the nature around you. Some have suggested the diet is a dangerous hoax. The NHS would class Audra’s eating habits as a very low calorie diet but would recommend it be clinically supervised by a medical professional. It is usually adopted by people who are obese – those with a BMI of over 30 – and is not the first option people should turn to when it comes to losing weight. They also recommend that the maximum time on the diet should be 12 weeks or intermittently – two to four days a week. Audra, from Minneapolis, Minnesota,

spends up to three hours a day focusing on her breath work and mostly lives on teas, juices and smoothies. Nevertheless, Audra believes that she is breathing in “prana” when she inhales. She said, “There is something magical about conscious, controlled breathing that brings you with a face to face meeting with yourself, it brings you back to the core of your being. “Breathwork helps you to realise who you are and what you need or don’t need. I never intended to ‘quit food.’ I just started practising for 40 minutes a day and after about five days I no longer had a hunger for dense foods. My first fast lasted 97 days. My favourite way of receiving pranic energy is through conscious breathing. Breathwork is the base of healing and detoxification for the physical and emotional body. 70 per cent of toxins in the body are released through respiration.” (Source: metro.co.uk)

20 Fun Jayashree Bose

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

On 6th & 10th July, spend time connecting with seniors or your business network, host important meetings on these dates. On 8th July, avoid scheduling any meetings as you are bound to have disagreements. On 9th July, you will be emotionally hurt either by your parents or seniors. On 11th July, your views might not be accepted by others.

Just avoid dealing with your seniors on 6th, 9th & 12th July. On 8th July, you will be emotionally hurt by your senior’s or parent’s words & actions. On 9th July, you could have disagreements with your boss. 11th July will be an ideal day to mingle with your seniors, people at work & build your work network.

8th & 12th July will be great days to connect with your boss, share ideas & host all your important meetings. 7th July will be an unpredictable day, you could feel your parents or boss don’t appreciate your efforts at all. On 10th July, avoid hosting any important meetings as you will face obstacles.

9th, 10th & 12th July will be great days to connect with seniors & share ideas with them, you could host important meetings on these dates. Avoid scheduling any important meetings on 11th July. You could have issues with seniors or extended family on 6th, 8th & 11th July. On 6th July, avoid trusting anyone with your secrets.

10th & 11th July will be great days to share ideas with seniors & build a relationship with them. On 12th July, you could have issues with your seniors and parents, avoid hosting any meetings. On 6th July, be careful of your words & actions as you will create your own problems.

On 8th July, be careful of your words & actions as you will create your own problems. 9th & 12th July will be great days to share your ideas with seniors or simply just connect with them. On 7th July, avoid hosting any event as there will be last minute changes or plans could get cancelled. You could schedule your important meetings on these dates.

8th July will be a great day to build a rapport with seniors & people at work, host your important meetings on this day. Unless you are willing to uphold your promises, avoid making any on 12th July. 7th & 9th July will be slow days for you.

6th July will be an ideal day to share ideas with your boss or connect with people at work & family, probably host a Saturday dinner with your business network. 7th July will be unpredictable, avoid over planning. 10th July will be a slow day for you.

6th July will be a great day for you to build your relationship with seniors & people at work. Put your best foot forward. Be careful of your words & actions on 11th July, as you will create your own problems. On 12th July, avoid trusting anyone with your secrets as others could betray your trust.

Watch yourself on 6th, 9th & 12th July, avoid making any promises or getting into a confrontation. Share your ideas with seniors or generally build a relationship with people at work on 8th July, host your important meetings on this day. You could feel emotionally betrayed by your seniors or parents on 11th July.

8th & 9th July are ideal days to mingle with your seniors, people at work & to build your work network. Avoid hosting any event on 7th July, as there will be last minute changes or cancellations. On 17th July, you could get into an argument with your seniors or extended family.

10th & 11th July will be excellent days to schedule important meetings. Your seniors will be receptive to your ideas. On 10th July, you could feel seniors and/or parents are ungrateful, they don’t appreciate you. 7th July will be a slow day for you.

curio-city

Dilbert By Scott Adams

Doppleganger

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

curio-city

This is the self portrait of which famous American painter of the 20th Century?

Wiki

Which legendary basketball player, nicknamed Mr Clutch, had his silhouette inspire the famous NBA logo?

Dibrugarh, as it is called Ti-Pao in Ahom language

Which rock musical based on La Boheme released in the 90s did more to raise awareness about AIDS than any other public campaign?

Rent

Which famous city of Assam literally means “place of heaven” in Ahom Buranji language?

Jerry West

Literally meaning “quick,” what name is given to a knowledgebased website on which users collaboratively modify content and structure directly from the web browser?

Edward Hopper

German for “double -goer,” this word was first used in the novel “Siebankas” by Jean Paul. Which word is it generally used with an evil meaning?

Sudoku 3 5 4 4

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

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Daily Sudoku: Fri 28-Jun-2019

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http://www.dailysudoku.com/

Word of the week thalassic knackered adjective adjective[thuh-las-ik] [nak-erd]

British Slang. of or relating to seas oceans. exhausted; veryand tired

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 | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

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

Last week’s solution

Fiction

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

The bichaar of the garden manager

ack in the 1960’s at the tea gardens, the manager had full authority and responsibility in the running of his garden. Besides knowing about the technicalities about tea planting and manufacture, he also had to know accounts and book keeping, drafting of letters, be a building expert with knowledge of making of drains, roads, bridges, houses; at times he also had to be a magistrate to settle differences by holding “Bichaars,” where all types of matters like theft of chicken and goats, elopements between workers of different castes, divorces and fights of grievous injuries etc were dealt with. When called upon, he also had to know some basic medical procedures to understand emergencies so that the patients were shifted to the district medical hospitals for better care. But most of all the manager had to have a sound and mature intellect to listen patiently to complaints and once a decision was taken he had to ensure that it was carried out or followed by all the parties. Generally, certain days for Bichaars were fixed and the manager listened to the complaints with his assistant manager or the senior most garden field staff called the Jamadar Babu. The systems had been laid by the orderly English

planters with great efficiency and it just had to be carried out by those who followed them. They all had a great zeal to improve their gardens and the colonizing spirit was imbued in them. They never thought that they would have to leave all their hard work behind one day and return to their own country. However, all these facts I learnt from my interactions with my neighbouring tea garden managers and assistants whom I had befriended to understand how they managed their big tea gardens with this corporate system. They could not fathom why I wanted to study and learn all this as ours was a proprietor garden but I realised that to achieve growth a sound managerial system was essential. It took me about three years to master these customs and methods and I was happy that our workers were also responding to the newer concepts. I remember how many times a chicken thief had to be fined with the price of two chickens for one that he had stolen as a deterrent; how a young couple of two different communities could get married by the groom throwing the communal feast as a fine. A drunken husband not giving his wife a sufficient part of the wages to maintain his house and family’s needs was resolved by deducting that amount at the pay table itself. Of course, very serious offences like an attempt to murder or cut someone with a dao

Around 11 am I was informed that he was seen inside the thatch bari but he was in a violent mood as he had a big dao and was threatening to kill anyone who would try to capture him. I had to decide whether to call the police or try and see if I could get him out safely. (machete) and serious thefts were all handed over to the police, but generally most workers did not like to deal with the police. At times, when the party fined could not pay up, we sanctioned an advance in their name and the amount was recovered from their wages so that the law was enforced in a fair manner. I never faced any big problem except once regarding the theft case of a man called Domboru Bhumiz. I remember his name and the incident very clearly as it entailed a lot of effort on my part to solve the case. One morning when I had come back to my bungalow for breakfast some people came to

Ranjan Kumar Choudhury ranjanchou@hotmail.com

inform me of a big theft case that had occurred the night before in one of our garden lines. Domboru was accused of this case as he had been seen by a woman from the next house where the crime was committed. It appeared that one old woman had been saving all her money in a bamboo pole inside her house by inserting her savings inside a cut made to hold the cash and coins. The amount purported to be stolen was almost close to a thousand rupees which was a fortune then for the poor woman. Somehow Domboru came to know of this and he decided to steal the amount by entering her house by digging under a wall to enter and exit from the scene of the crime. He had rubbed his entire body with oil so that in case there was an alarm he could not be held due to the oil slime on his bare body. I came to know later that this was the manner used by all village thieves and Domboru who had committed minor thefts before must have picked up this trick from them. Anyway the cash was missing and the distraught woman was left crying besides also being berated by her family as to why she had kept the money away from their knowledge. I was also informed that Domboru was seen running off towards the thatch bari on one side of the garden. I sent off some chowkidars to search for him and also told them not to harm him physically but let him know that I would help him if he surrendered. All this they shouted near the thatch bari but there was no response from the missing man. That day he could not be found and everyone thought that he had gone away

somewhere far with the loot. However his aged mother was convinced that her son was nearby as he was a young man who just couldn’t do without food. Her prediction was true as towards late evening he had come out discreetly in the dusk when no one could see him and he managed to forage for some food stolen from a house again. That entire night he must have spent out in the thatch bari and next morning again the search continued for him. Then around 11 am I was informed that he was seen inside the thatch bari but he was in a violent mood as he had a big dao and was threatening to kill anyone who would try to capture him. I had to decide whether to call the police or try and see if I could get him out safely. The men were gathering around curiously to see my action and I knew that it was going to be big test for me. I drove off to the scene where also a lot of people were waiting and taking only two men with me I walked ahead slowly with no weapon and all the while I kept on shouting to him coolly not to make any more mistake and to surrender to me quietly; I kept on assuring him that I will see that he is not harmed here but for the theft he would have to go the police station to serve his sentence. I also asked him to return the money which would greatly weigh in his favour to get a lower punishment. By that time I had seen him clearly and he looked very frightened; in the midday sun his eyes in the dark cover of the thatch bari were shining white and he looked devilish with the weapon in his blackened arms. I inched closer to him and held out my hand to hold him and said, “Do not worry I will help you as much as I can,” - all the while very scared that he may strike my arm off with the dao. I held my nerve and slowly saw him drop the weapon to the ground and at that instant took his hand firmly and walked off with him to my jeep. There was pin drop silence as I spoke to the crowd not to try and take things into their hands as I would deal with him lawfully. On the way we took a detour to one tea section where he had hidden the money inside a tin buried in the ground which he recovered and gave to me. Back in the garden office we ascertained that the money was all intact and I first sent him to his house under security to have a meal with his mother and then sent him off to the police outpost nearby with two policemen who had come by then. Domboru served his sentence for almost a year and a half and returned to his work in the garden and became a reformed person. I remember this incident as one of the high points of my life in tea as I was able to reform a thief. n

22 Lifestyle

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Effect of Vaastu on Music Hemanta Kumar Sarmah Engineer, Businessman, Advanced Pranic Healer and Su Jok Acupressure specialist.

usic has the ability to remove negative energy and bring positive vibes. It has been a part of Indian culture since the vedic era. Earlier, the main form of music that was practiced was devotional songs sung in temples or at religious gatherings. Many religious scriptures are written in the form of poetry which is sung by pundits. Music soothes the mind and it has healing power also. Music therapy is being used all over the world now to treat patients. The monarchs and rulers of earlier times had a special place for musicians in their courts to comfort them from time to time. Tansen, Homer, Swami Haridas and Olympus are some of the most famous ancient musicians. Tibetan monks use a bell to produce soothing music that can energise the temple and surrounding areas. Wind chimes are popular gadgets which

produce a beautiful sound with their rods hitting each other with the help of wind and are used for Vaastu rectification. Vaastu has recommended that every household must have a puja room with music sung or played in the morning and evening. It has been a custom for girls to learn

music because they are the ones mostly engaged in religious activities. The tradition

for girls to learn music is very prominent in south India and West Bengal. Earlier, girls remained unmarried if they could not sing well! The sages and

ladies used to practice music facing east, near rivers to get the maximum benefit. It can still be seen

places like Haridwar and Benaras. The music room should be located in the east as east is the direction of the Goddess Saraswati. Musical instruments should be kept in the northwest. Today, many electrical instruments are available and so they should be kept in the southeast corner keeping the principle of the fire element in mind. It is best to practice music by facing the east direction. The musicians will perform better when the music stage is constructed in the west, facing east. This is in line with the principles of Vaastu. The Saraswati Yantra is very

powerful for musicians. Since Saraswati is the Goddess of music, regular worship of this yantra can provide the extra fillip to musicians. This yantra can also be done on a Thursday. The mantra for this is “Om Sri Vidya Dayeni Sariswatiya Namaha.” The Veena is the instrument played by Goddess Saraswati which is portrayed in all her statues and pictures. It is good to keep it in the east direction but it is also important that this instrument be played regularly by someone instead of letting it gather dust. It is believed to be auspicious to present children with a musical instrument on Basant Panchami.

The many benefits of Cumin seeds Nisha Manikanthan

or millennia, India has been currying flavour with cumin seeds. Seeds excavated in India have been dated to the second millennium BC. The ancient Egyptians used it for both spicing their food as well as preserving their “mummies,” the non-maternal types! Some alternate names of these seeds include, “Cuminum Cyminum,” its botanical name, “Cumin,” its English name, “Jeeraka,” its Sanskrit name and Jeera, its Hindi name.

Benefits:

The medicinal qualities of cumin find mention even in the Bible. Cumin is an excellent source of iron, has anti-carcinogenic properties and is a good source of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese and vitamin B1. It has not just culinary but also therapeutic as well as cosmetic properties. It facilitates digestion, aids in diarrhea and prevents nausea (including nausea during pregnancy). As it has a cooling effect, it should ideally be used in large quantities during our country’s taxing summers.

Practical Applications: Flatulence: Powder ginger, black pepper and cumin in

equal quantities and boil in water. Add milk. Drink twice daily. Skin eruptions due to heat: Prepare coconut milk and add powdered cumin. Apply this paste on the eruptions. Insomnia: Mash a banana and add 1 spoon of powdered cumin seeds.

Consume this at night and get your quota of beautysleep. Constipation: Powder cumin seeds, pepper, ginger. Add a handful of curry leaves and some salt. Have this daily, mixed with cooked rice and some ghee. Excess heat and nausea

due to acidity: Grind equal quantities of black pepper, ginger, cumin seeds and pomegranate skin. Add some ghee to this mixture and consume every day with cooked rice. Burning sensation on passing urine: Consume cumin seeds with jaggery.

Good complexion: Wash face with a decoction of cumin seeds. Fades any scar marks quickly. Indigestion: A powder of black pepper and cumin, combined with buttermilk can be had three times a day. (The author is a Senior Ayurveda Consultant of the Art of Living, www.artofliving.org)

Entertainment

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

Documentary highlights age-old riverine community’s identity threat

Mumbai-based Assamese filmmaker, Parasher Baruah, has made a 17-minute documentary on the riverine community of Assam and how their identity is now under threat because of the updation of

(NRC) process in the state. His documentary is titled, “Nodir Kul Nai” literally translates to “The river has no shore.” Baruah’s film talks

the National Register of Citizens

about how these people, who are mostly Bengaliorigin Muslims that reside in districts bordering Bangladesh, have been living in fear of being labelled illegal even though migrations

Guwahati girl selected for popular dance show, Dance India Dance

ichika Sinha, a 10-yearold from Guwahati, has been selected to perform in the popular reality dance show, Dance India Dance: Battle of Champions, which airs on Zee

TV every Saturday and Sunday at 8 pm. Sinha is in the team “East Ke Tigers” in the show. She is the daughter of Raju Sinha and Laxmi Sinha, and a class III student of

Classical dance recital to Bhupen Hazarika’s songs in Russia by Assam artist enowned Bharatnatyam dancer from Assam, Elora Bora, will perform Sattriya and Bharatnatyam at “Servas,” an international cultural exchange programme organised by the South Asian

took place over hundreds of years. The film also delves into how these people are only examined through the prism of demographic changes, Islamic terror threat and language. The documentary does not feature any long interviews, only songs sung by the riverine community, which are subtitled in English. The film was made as part of the ArtEast 2019 festival in Delhi and was also screened at the 12th Documentary & Short Film Festival of Kerala.

Borbari Prathomik Bidyalaya, Hengrabari. She has been pursuing dance training for four years in acro-contemporary form under Guru Dilip Mahato in Six Mile area of the city.

Fraternity in Russia, starting from July 14. Bora will dance to Sanskrit versions of Bhupen Hazarika’s songs that have been translated and sung by Nagaon resident Ranjan Bezbarauh.

Bulbul Can Sing sparks wellintentioned conversations at LIFF 2019

ima Das’s internationally acclaimed film “Bulbul Can Sing” was wellappreciated in the recently held Bagri London Indian Film Festival 2019 and it also sparked a range of well-intentioned conversations. The movie, which had a special screening for deaf audiences, was attended by representatives from Stratford East Picturehouse and 888 Film Club, a club that presents signed, silent and subtitled films. Following the

screening, an all-female panel discussion on topics such as deafness, LGBTQ+ and identity

was also held. Rima Das expressed her gratitude on Twitter. She tweeted, “It gives me immense joy to see #BulbulCanSing reaching such a diverse audience and igniting conversations about inclusivity.” The Bagri London Indian Film Festival 2019 is the United Kingdom and Europe’s largest South Asian Film Festival. It showcases a rich assortment of entertaining and thought-provoking independent films each year.

24 Catching Up

G PLUS | July 06 - July 12 , 2019

PIC OF THE