G Plus Vol 7 Issue 17

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

INSIDE

Volume 07 | Issue 17 Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020 Price `10 Dighalipukhuri apart, other city ponds facing total negligence

Slew of new policies to be implemented to hem in wayward city buses

Centre Spread Pages 12-13

PG 09

PG 02

Indigenous Muslim

Supported by

survey, NRC data offline

Govt’s intentions questioned G Plus News @guwahatiplus

A

fter the success achieved by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in getting the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 passed and now mulling to create a countrywide national register of citizenship (NRC) before 2024 (when the next Lok Sabha elections are slated), the saffron party is now planning to segregate the indigenous Muslim population of Assam from the Bangladeshi Muslims.

The final draft list of NRC conducted in Assam meanwhile, has created another controversy as the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), on Wednesday, said that the NRC data of Assam went offline due to a technical issue on the cloud. Official sources at the MHA clarified that the all Assam NRC data list was deliberated made offline from its website due to nonrenewal of contract with the IT firm, Wipro.

With the new development arising over the citizenship identification process in Assam, the opposition and other activists are questioning the government’s intention and are casting doubts that these strategies might be a game for further polarizing

the vote banks and reimplementing the national NRC once again in Assam.

Leader of opposition, Debabrata Saikia, talking to G Plus said, “It is another game of the BJP government to polarize the vote banks in Assam. The NRC offline issue raises questions about the government’s intention. Else how can such important data can go missing?”

Senior journalist and social activist, Manjit Mahanta said, “This government will not last long. How will they identify the indigenous Muslims in Assam? What are the criteria? It is just they will waste our money - the tax payers’ money for increasing their vote banks.”

Recently, state minister Ranjit Kumar Dutta said that in the state budget 2019-20, Rs 100 crores was earmarked for an Indigenous Muslim Development Corporation.

He also said that a survey will be conducted to identify the Goria, Moria, Desi and Jhula of the tea tribe community of the state, who are considered to be indigenous. He claimed that this is a serious issue and there will be no entry of people of Bangladeshi origin in this survey. “We will come to know the indigenous Muslims in the survey,” Dutta said.

Read full story on Page: 03

VOTE FOR

YOUR FAVOURITE

FOOD OUTLET

Vote at

BECAUSE

GOOD FOOD NEVER LETS YOU DOWN

Supported by

guwahatiplus.com/gfa or the

Mobile App

2

Lead Story

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

City buses a major concern for authorities

Slew of new policies to be implemented to hem in wayward city buses Barasha Das @Barasha_mi2

F

or Guwahatians, traffic snarls have become a daily phenomenon.

Commuters face a harrowing experience not only on the major roads but also on the smaller roads networking the city.

G Plus spoke to commuters regarding the strain caused by daily traffic and the reasons behind it. As all modes of transport jostle for space, a major chunk of public transport in the city is borne by the city buses. Their haphazard parking, halting to pick up customers at random places and competitive driving often leads to blockages in road traffic.

A PIL (72/2016) was filed

by Rita Das Mozumdar in the Gauhati High Court to ease traffic congestion in the city arising out of haphazard parking, ill-management of traffic, unscientific traffic control, etc.

In this regard, the court has been issuing directives to the concerned authorities for the installation of GPS system, to set proper bus routes as per scientific study of roads, to not allow any bus to ply without doors, installation of CCTV cameras at every traffic light point and outside shops and others.

In this regard the Regional Transport Authority, Kamrup has launched operations across the city against the violation of rules by the buses.

According to reports around 40 buses which had violated the newly imposed rules were fined and approximately Rs 32,000 was imposed for route violation, non-issue of tickets to passengers and keeping the doors open while plying.

No proper registration of city bus staff Although the Regional Transport Authority (RTA), Kamrup has been repeatedly issuing guidelines to provide proper identification of the

bus drivers and asked the concerned authorities to paste the drivers' photos on the front of the vehicle ensuring it is visible from a distance of at least 50 meters, none of these have been strictly followed.

Talking to the bus owners and the various city bus associations of Guwahati, it was found that none have any proper identity verification of the bus staff which includes the driver, handyman and conductor.

R Talukdar, the owner of a city bus said, “I don’t have identification papers of my staff, but that is not required as I know them personally. Even when my staff changes, the people working in this field keep on rotating amongst themselves, so we don’t have to worry about their identities.”

Similar responses were given by other owners. What’s shocking is that the city bus association and even the RTA authorities could not provide any proper data of the same.

It is to be mentioned that many a time a vehicle changes hands even during the duration of a single day. Although owners and authorities claim this happens only when a particular staff member has fallen ill or due to personal emergencies, it has come to notice that there is third party involvement in some cases. The driver, after taking the bus from the owner at a certain price rate that he is to pay at the end of the day, gives the bus to be driven by another party at a higher rate. He thus enjoys the extra amount as a brokerage. In such instances, there is no way of knowing the actual identity of the driver/ handyman as their IDs and photos are not displayed.

This also becomes a factor of insecurity for commuters, mostly for the ones travelling at late hours and females as the staff may not be identified in

G Plus file photo of city buses double parking consuming huge road space and blocking traffic the instance of any untoward event.

Nitul Gogoi, DIG (MPC) has also expressed concern regarding the matter when informed and said that although the matter is cognisable as an offence, neither the RTA has taken up any initiative for registration nor have the private agencies. He said, “We have asked the owners to keep their staff on salary basis rather than on contract so that proper documentation can be maintained.”

Pradip Das, President of Guwahati Transport Association (GTA) said, “We have pasted the photos of some drivers as ordered but the order is actually a violation of human rights as nobody would want their photo being displayed publicly.”

However, Kulendra Nath Khatoniar, DGM of Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) said that ASTC has maintained proper records of each of its employees.

Installation of GPS in all buses

Guwahati has more than 1,200 buses for public usage. Of this, around 300 are registered under ASTC while around 900 to 1,000 others are with different private associations.

The ASTC buses have proper

GPS (Global Positioning System) navigation and a private agency is given the contract of monitoring the buses, so that the routes and timing of each bus is maintained. Also the ticketing devices are controlled from this agency center set up at ISBT. However, no such thing is done by the private agencies.

Earlier there used to be timekeeper booths at different bus stoppages and any bus that does not reach on time was fined.

Pradip Das said, “These booths were removed long back by GMC in the name of beautification. Although we have been asking them to set up these booths again, they have not complied as of yet.”

GMC Commissioner, Debeswar Malakar has cited ignorance in this matter.

It has to be mentioned that although every private agency has provided certain timekeepers at certain locations of the city like Jalukbari, Khanapara, Beltola, Panbazar etc, these do not serve the purpose as they claim due to severe traffic congestion, the buses cannot be expected to commute on time.

In January 2020, the Gauhati High Court had directed the State Transport Commissioner to install GPS in all buses

within six weeks so as to enable tracking of their movement.

When asked about its implementation in private buses, Nitul Gogoi said, “The buses already have GPS devices installed in them. But the complete process is yet to be integrated, mostly due to lack of funds. A private agency has already been contracted and probably the private buses would be monitored alongside the ASTC buses by the same agency although things have not yet been finalized.”

Adil Khan, commissioner of transport said, “We have asked the central government for funds to set up an Integrated Command and Control System to monitor the buses, and such a trial center has already been set up at ISBT, and monitoring is being done.”

New bus routes to be set up

A division bench of the Gauhati High Court comprising Chief Justice Ajai Lamba and Justice Soumitra Saikia issued this directive that new bus routes be set up to control traffic in Guwahati.

For a proposal, there will be 32 bus routes within Guwahati

continued on Page 03

Lead Story

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

City, instead of the existing 39 routes.

However, city bus associations like GTA, Guwahati Motor Transport Association (GMTA), and Greater Guwahati Mini Bus Owners’ Association (GGMBOA) have raised concern regarding the constant changing of routes

by RTA. Nitul Gogoi said, “We have directed the Transport Department to rationalize the route permits so as to ensure avoidance of traffic congestion on the arterial routes of the city. Further, directions have been given to every bus to carry a ‘Display Plate’ clearly indicating the ‘Route Permit Number’ and the route on which it is plying, on the front, back, and left side of the body, so that passengers conveniently know the route and buses violating the conditions can be proceeded against.”

Insufficient bus bays major reason behind traffic congestion

The Gauhati High Court has also asked the government to identify bus bays, preferably on the MG Road from Bharalumukh to Jalukbari, within three weeks.

The concerned authorities like the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) are to set up bays wherever possible so that parking of buses does not necessarily block the ongoing traffic.

“Works are to be undertaken very soon of setting up bays wherever possible and new bus stops are also to be constructed where required. The process has been initiated but is moving at slow pace due to lack of funds,” said Debeswar Malakar.

Nitul Gogoi added, “The court has directed to set up bus stops at every 750 meters, so there are possibilities of certain bus stops being shifted from their current location.” However, even he has mentioned cash crunch to be a reason behind the slow pace of work.

It is to be mentioned that around 30 percent of the buses have been removed from the road to prevent traffic as per the directives of the court. Also, the long body buses under ASTC have been taken off the road as it was pointed out that the city roads were not viable for them.

Although existing buses are removed stating that they are in the excess, the Government have propose to launch 200 new buses under the Uberisation Scheme. Although authorities have said the buses would be given only in routes that do not have enough given the number of passengers, bus agencies have raised concern, claiming it to be contradictory to the High Court’s directives.

Khatoniar said that “RTA usually fines from the buses that are stopped or parked along the road. When I raised the issue and asked them to mention the allotted parking areas and marked them accordingly, they

said PWD is the responsible authority.”

However, the demarcations have not yet been made.

Lack of proper awareness among passengers

Although various steps had been taken by the authorities to prevent traffic blockage in Guwahati and also for the convenience of the passengers and other commuters, most passengers are not aware of the same.

It is seen that many passengers stand at random places along the road for buses and also ask to be dropped as per their convenience. Many are also seen misbehaving with bus staff when their requests are not complied with.

Concerned citizens have said that the government should put up proper guidelines in all the bus stop for passengers alongside the rules that are to be followed by the buses.

Moreover route maps are also to be put up and fines introduced for passengers not following rules.

Lack of basic facilities for bus operators

Presidents of GTA, GMTA and GGMBOA have all pointed out that the city does not have provision for the basic necessities of the operators such as toilets and shelters to take rest. As such, in such circumstances, they have to be

Govt’s intentions questioned FROM Page 01

E

ven the NRC data going offline is being looked at as a political gimmick. Manjit Mahanta said, “We had said long back that the data should be submitted to the Supreme Court and the apex court would take care of it. The government could play any game for its vested interest.” He added that if the contract was not renewed with the IT company (Wipro), it could have been done after the new NRC coordinator had taken over the charge.

Leader of the opposition, Debabrata Saikia, wrote to NRC state coordinator on Tuesday last (11th February) and said, “It is a mystery as to why the online data should vanish all of a sudden, especially as the appeals process has not even started.”

“There is ample scope to suspect that the disappearance of online data is an act with mala fide intentions. (It) is prima facie deliberate violation of the directive issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” his letter read.

The BJP leaders, time and again, have always opposed the NRC final list as names of many Hindus did not find place in the list.

Meanwhile, an FIR was lodged against Prateek Hajela, the former state coordinator of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, for allegedly tampering with data and records associated with final list of NRC which was published on August 31 last year.

The FIR was lodged with the CID of Assam Police on Tuesday by Assam Public Works

Debabrata Saikia (APW), the original petitioner in the Supreme Court leading to the NRC updation process.

Sources close to Hajela, talking to G Plus, said that the APW had already alleged all these before the Supreme Court. The court is monitoring the entire process. Therefore, if anything has to be answered it will be answered to the Court by Hajela.

The sources also said that the data cannot go missing. The link is suspended because the contract is not renewed. Once it is renewed, the data will be visible. “The new coordinator can easily renew the contract if he wants,” the source expressed.

Whatever be the game or politics, the citizens of Assam who applied for NRC and after a lengthy process and got the results about their citizenship status are now confused about the discretion of the entire NRC process.

substituted.

They have also mentioned the lack of proper toilets and shelters in the parking areas at Adabari, Khanapara, Beltola and others.

Pradip Das said, “These basic facilities are mentioned in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1989. Yet the government has not given any thought to it as of yet.”

GMC Commissioner, Debeswar Malakar said, “I don’t remember the exact provisions available for them.

But we have already asked for the construction of 10 toilets in Adabari for ladies, gents as well as handicapped people. Also, toilets are to be constructed at Khanapara and work would soon start.” He also mentioned that many toilets have already been set up in the city if not specifically for the bus operators.

Apart from the abovementioned steps that have already been undertaken a few more are added to the list.

Creation of two Facebook accounts and two WhatsApp numbers where passengers or any other public could complain if a bus violates rules. In this regard, two WhatsApp numbers have been provided by the traffic police – 6901269006 and 6026176755 - so that public complaints could be raised if the buses stop for over two minutes.

Banners

3

have also been put up behind the buses for public awareness.

Officers not below the rank of DIG are to be deputed for monitoring these accounts.

The Court has informed that most buses do not have doors.

In such circumstances, when a passenger makes an attempt to alight or board a bus, the driver has to stop the bus, which causes hindrances in the traffic flow. The traffic police and the RTA have taken up this matter and police personnel are deployed at many bus stops so that buses plying without closed doors are fined up to Rs 10,000.

“The Government has taken up the issue of traffic very seriously and regular meetings are held with top officials of the concerned authorities. Issues relating to the city buses are also taken up and work on every directive of the High Court would be undertaken. However, we are short of sufficient funds, so more time would be needed.”

Guwahatians are of the opinion that although such initiatives have been taken up earlier and guidelines issued to city bus authorities, the same have not been implemented properly. They raised concern as to how long the steps taken at the present would continue.

4 City

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

Guwahati water supply project: Partial commissioning begins in a few areas Even though the JICA-assisted water supply project has been partially commissioned, it will still be a long time before entire Guwahati gets 24X7 water supply.

Saumya Mishra @saumyamishra03

T

he long-pending water supply project in Guwahati assisted by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has finally been partially commissioned after several delays.

Under the first phase of the commissioning, around 100 households have received house service connections in the Uzan Bazar and Chenikuthi areas, as per the Guwahati Jal Board officials.

JICA is assisting a water supply project in the North Guwahati region as well as in South-Central Guwahati. The project was initiated to ensure uninterrupted 24X7 water supply to the respective regions of the city.

“Currently the partial commissioning of the JICA project is underway and 100 households have been provided with the house service connections till now. The trial is ongoing in these households and they are currently receiving 24X7 water supply,” informed Rupjyoti Talukdar, executive engineer of Guwahati Jal Board.

He added that more households will be connected soon as part of the process.

However, the billing is yet to be put in place for these connections, said authorities as it is still in the trial period.

Officials informed that the JICA-assisted project has been completed 60 per cent till now and they have further received 700 more applications for house service connections in the relevant areas.

Further, construction of the water treatment plant (WTP) for the JICA-assisted project is also ongoing for which the work is 55 per cent complete. So currently, the authorities are taking water from the JNNURM project, for which the WTP is complete, via a grid line to supply to JICA-assisted project areas.

“The work of the distribution network is also in progress simultaneously and we hope to finish it by March 2021,” Talukdar told G Plus.

Additionally, under the partial commissioning, the project will cover areas including Uzan Bazar, Fancy Bazar, Pan Bazar, Dighalipukhuri, Chenikuthi and Chandmari.

The Northern Guwahati Water Supply Project is slated to provide 37 million litres per day (MLD) of water to North Guwahati, once

completed, whereas the South Central Water Supply Project will provide 191 million litres per day (MLD) water to the South Central region.

The total project cost is estimated to be around Rs 1,450 crores. Out of this, Rs 1,426 crores is coming as a loan from JICA and the rest from the state government.

The Assam government had taken up four major water supply projects for Guwahati and the implementation work for all the four projects is ongoing simultaneously in the city with a view to provide uninterrupted 24X7 water supply to Guwahati residents. The Guwahati Jal Board will then be given the responsibility for operation and maintenance of all the four water supply projects upon their completion.

JICA is assisting the North Guwahati Water Supply Project as well as the South-Central Guwahati Water Supply Project.

Further, the West Guwahati Water Supply Project is being funded by JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) while the ADB (Asian Development Bank) is funding the South East Guwahati Water Supply Project.

Sluggish pace of work

The JICA-assisted project has missed several deadlines due to the sluggish pace of work over the past few years since it began.

The officials have cited reasons like delay in land acquisition and contractor issues for this.

As per authorities, the project began in 2010 but the execution work could only begin from 201213 owing to the logjam over land acquisition and permission issues.

It was supposed to be completed in 28 months, but had been missing deadlines ever since - in 2015 and then, December 2017.

G Plus had previously reported that the project was slated to begin by the end of January 2019 which again got deferred to February and this too, never materialised within the previously set timeframe.

Jal Board authorities further mentioned that the other reasons for the delay in completion of work included monsoon season and lack of availability of labourers.

“From April onwards, it becomes difficult to carry on the work of pipe laying and as the monsoon season sets in and it becomes the off season for us.

Also the festival season proves to be challenging as we are unable to find labourers during that time.

Representative Image Sometimes the labourers go on leave for two days and return after 15 days,” said Talukdar.

Land acquisition and getting permission is another major impediment which is very time consuming and defers the completion of the project.

The loan period from JICA was earlier valid till 2019, which was later extended up to July 2022.

Authorities said that they are now targeting to complete the entire project by July 2022 before the completion of the loan period.

Prior to this, Hyderabad-based contractor IVRCL Pvt Ltd, which was undertaking the pipeline laying work for the distribution network for the project, went bankrupt and abandoned the work halfway. Now fresh tenders have been floated for prospective contractors to take up the work for laying the remaining portion of the distribution network.

This further pushed the completion date for the South Central Guwahati Water Supply Project.

During this year, the authorities have targeted to provide 10,000 household connections under the JICA-assisted project.

Recently, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced that 55,000 households will receive clean drinking water in December 2020.

According to reports, the chief minister will launch the first phase of the scheme on March 15 next.

Water crisis, a continual trouble for Guwahatians

Even though the city is located right next to the mighty

Brahmaputra River, several parts of the city reel under water crisis year after year. So much so, that the residents have to depend on private water tankers to fulfil their daily water requirements - especially during the summer months.

The situation has become worse over the past few years owing to groundwater depletion.

Some of the major areas affected by water scarcity include RG Baruah Road commonly known as the Zoo Road, Christian Basti area, Hatigaon, Kahilipara and Lakhtokia among others.

Many apartment complexes have become dependent on water tankers for their everyday consumption in the wake of perennial water problems for the past several years now.

Shambhavi Mukherjee, a resident of Hatigaon, said that her apartment complex was dependent on groundwater via a well bore for the past 12 years since the apartment was constructed.

“But the level of water started declining slowly over the years and now we have almost run out of water for the 20 flats in the apartment building,” she informed adding that the residents of the building complex are finding it very difficult to arrange for water and have to now buy water from private suppliers since the past few months.

Further, the residents of Christian Basti also complained of heavy water bills as a result of depleting ground water. A resident of Christian Basti said that locals living higher on the hills still use water from the natural waterfalls to meet their daily water needs.

According to locals, housing complexes situated on the Zoo Road charge around Rs 5,000 per month towards maintenance including the water bill.

However, without the water bill the maintenance cost ranges anywhere between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000.

Further, more buildings and apartment complexes are being constructed in the area, raising concern about the sustainability of these apartments and the residents’ potable water needs.

As per a report of the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) published in 2013, the groundwater resources in greater Kamrup – Kamrup (Metro) and Kamrup (Rural) districts - are still under the “Safe” category.

The annual dynamic groundwater resources as in 2009 are estimated to be 1,847.29 million cubic metres while the net annual ground water consumption is 715.97 million cubic metres of which, 43 per cent is renewed every year. But when the rise in water consumption concentrated in the urban areas is considered, the scenario seems worrisome, said an expert.

According to another CGWB report, the total “annual replenishable ground water resource” in Assam, as on March 2013, was 32.11 billion cubic meters (bcm). Out of this, the natural discharge during nonmonsoon season stood at 3.21 bcm making the net annual ground water availability at 28.90 bcm.

Further, the projected demand for domestic and industrial uses up to 2015 was 0.84 bcm.

Poll

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

5

BJP losing popularity, needs introspection; feel Guwahatians With BJP losing another state election (Delhi), do you think BJP's popularity is lessening?

Yes: 76% No: 24% Total votes: 5.1K Saumya Mishra @saumyamishra03

T

he Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) recorded a landslide victory in the recently-held Delhi assembly elections with the party bagging 62 seats out of the total 70. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to win eight seats while the Congress Party drew a blank.

The Delhi election was primarily a direct fight between the BJP and the AAP as both the parties left no stones unturned in their campaigns to woo voters prior to the voting.

During the campaigning phase, the AAP leaders focussed primarily on the issues of development including education, health and others.

However, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act

total of five states since December 2018. These include Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

G Plus recently conducted a poll asking Guwahatians if they feel that with its loss in Delhi assembly elections, the BJP is losing its popularity. As many as 5,100 participants took part in the poll.

Further, a majority of the respondents (76 per cent) voted for the affirmative saying that the BJP indeed has failed to maintain its stronghold among the masses.

On the other hand, 24 per cent respondents said that the BJP is still going strong in the Centre despite its recent losses.

Several people mentioned that the BJP needs to introspect and analyse the reasons as to what went wrong in the Delhi polls.

A city resident, Partha Pratim Adhikary said, “Congratulations to Mr. A Kejriwal and it was indeed a very tough battle for BJP. In recent times BJP has lost the trust and faith of the people.

Hope Mr. Narendra Modi and his

A representation of BJP’s sagging popularity by Guwahatians (CAA) also found a place in the AAP’s campaign.

On the other hand, the main issue for the BJP during campaigning was the ongoing protests at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi.

Many see these results as a loss of popularity for the BJP among the masses especially after their resounding victory in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. Prior to this, the party had lost the elections in a

big team will retrospect on their recent failures. I also think that in coming years Mr. Kejriwal emerges as a big leader and a big contender for the PM post clearly, after Modi it’s him undoubtedly.”

Further, some stressed on the need to have good politicians who work honestly for the development of society.

Dhanakumar Wahengbam mentioned, “We don’t need party, we need good politician, we

need good governance that’s all whether it may be any party. We should give votes to the eligible persons who can fulfil people’s needs.”

Another respondent, Rumi Baruah, said along the same lines that the need of the hour is to elect educated politicians, and it doesn’t matter from which political party they belong.

On the other hand, Tridip Saloi expressed his apprehensions about this victory setting the

tone for the future too.

“Remember one thing. This same Delhi people who give thumping majority to AAP in assembly election also give thumping majority to BJP in Lok Sabha elections.”

Further, another participant mentioned that regional parties are challenging both the BJP and the Congress and it is mostly the erstwhile Congress voters who have shifted to voting for other parties.

A city resident, Bhrigu Kumar Kalita mentioned, “State elections and national elections are very different, BJP mixed it.

Shaheen Bagh, CAA, NRC, NPR everything comes under union and the state has no role in it. BJP fought a wrong battle against the wrong person. The army chief fighting for BJP in the battle was Manoj Tiwari, a spoilt brat who thought he could win war in the name of Papa. BJP really needs to straighten its game.”

6 Governance

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

Religion teachers to sit at home and earn salary until retirement age

HBS stops state funding of religious education; Madrassas, Sanskrit Tols to close down Rangman Das @RangmanDas

I

n a significant decision, the Assam government has decided to shut all state-run Madrassas and Sanskrit Tols in the state. The religious schools running in the state will be converted to regular high schools and higher secondary schools within the next 4-5 months.

Announcing the decision, Assam education minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said that it is not the job of the government to teach religion, religious scriptures and Arabic and other languages for religious purposes.

It is clarified that only government-run religious schools are being shut down, which means Madrassas run by mosques or private parties and Sanskrit schools run by non-government organisations, individuals etc will not be affected by this decision.

On the fate of the Madrassa and Sanskrit Tol teachers, the education minister said, “We’re going to send them into voluntary retirement under which they’ll continue to get their salaries till their respective dates of retirement. And we’re going to complete this exercise within three/four months.”

Salary is safe, job is not

The teachers working in the Madrassas and Sanskrit Tols will not lose their jobs. Teachers teaching religious subjects will get salaries till their retirement while sitting at home, as they will not be needed to teach anything in the schools although teachers of other subjects will continue to teach their subjects in the converted general schools.

Himanta Biswa Sarma says

“If someone is teaching religion using his or her own money that is not a problem. But if state funding is used to teach Quran, then we have to teach the Bhagavad Gita and Bible also. Therefore, the government-run Madrassas, High Madrassas and Sanskrit Tols (schools) operating in the state will be converted to regular schools very soon.”

"These (govt-run Madrassas and Sanskrit Tols) issue certificates which are equivalent

to matriculation (Class 10) and higher secondary (Class 12). Since there is no regulatory board to govern them, a lot of wrongdoings take place in issuing these certificates," the minister said.

22-month-old Assam Madrassa Education Bill

After just 22 months of the Bill being passed in Assam to bring Madrassas under norms, the government of Assam has decided to close down all state-funded Madrassas in Assam. On 2nd April 2018, the BJP government in the state passed The Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialization of Services of Employees and Re-Organization of Madrassa Educational Institutions) Bill to monitor the activities of the unregulated Madrassas.

In his statement of objects and reasons, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma had said then that the Bill was brought so that the Madrassa schools conform to the prevailing statutory norms and standards, and it also has "a further objective to restrict any further growth of such venture Madrassa educational institutions in the state."

BJP govt announced Sanskrit as compulsory subject in 2017

The Assam cabinet’s decision to introduce Sanskrit as a compulsory subject till Class 8 had evoked sharp criticism from students’ organizations and opposition political parties in the state.

Most of the organizations including AASU and AJYCP had criticized the decision to make Sanskrit compulsory instead of promoting Assamese in the schools under the state board as declared by the Assam cabinet on February 28, 2017.

Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal said that Sanskrit as a subject will be made mandatory for students up to 7th standard. Sanskrit should be learned by the young generation as Sanskrit has led to the evolution of other languages in the country, he added.

What is Madrassa education as per the Bill

The Assam Madrassa Education

G Plus file photo of education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at a media briefing (Provincialization of Services of Employees and Re-Organization of Madrasa Educational Institutions) Bill describes “The Madrassa Education" in its Para 3(L) as a system of special education in which instruction is imparted in Arabic, Urdu, Persian, Quran, Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh, Usul, Aquaid, Mantique, Hiqmat, Balagat, Islamic History along with same or all general subjects like Modem Indian Language, English, Hindi, Mathematics, General Science, Social Science, Computer, Technical and Vocational education up to secondary school level; the syllabus, curriculum and examination for which are regulated by the Madrassa Education Board, Assam, up to the level of Fadilul-Ma'rif (FM) and Mumtaz-ul-Muhaddithin (MM);

What AAMSU says

Reacting sharply to the decision All Assam Minority Students' Union (AAMSU) said it was one of the moves of the BJP-led Assam government to harass the Muslims. AAMSU president, Rejaul Karim Sarkar, in an elaborate interview to G Plus said, "They are trying to create a divide amongst us. As Shaheen Bagh was used by the BJP in Delhi, here they are trying to use the Muslim community to fulfill their political agenda in the 2021 elections. Himanta Biswa Sarma's main target is the Muslims, both economically, politically and socially. He has been repeatedly trying to harass the Muslims in

Assam - be it through the NRC or by denying education, jobs or employment. In his tenure as the education minister, he had contributed towards the Madrassas and conducted meetings. It is his conspiracy.

Madrassas don't teach only religion. There is a single subject of Arabic but all other subjects are also taught, like in any other educational institution.

“He is misusing his power to deprive the Muslims from proper education. We demanded that the Madrassas be modernized and provided with more qualified staff, as many backward villages do not have any other school apart from the Madrassa. We were promised of the same. However, the BJP is now conspiring against us so that they can get the Hindu votes.

“The people who were evicted from Kaziranga have not been sent back to Bangladesh. For these are local Assamese people.

“The CAA protests have greatly affected BJP's popularity as the Assamese intelligentsia has gone against them. So now they have taken up this agenda as vote bank politics.

“This shows that Himanta Biswa can go to any extent to fulfill his political interest. I appeal that the chief minister rethinks on this issue and drops the decision of closing down Madrassas. Instead, he must modernize them for the benefit of the students of the state.

“We will never accept this decision and if required AAMSU will also take legal action. Sarma

has been holding the post of education minister for quite some time. Yet there is no development in the infrastructure of schools and there is not enough qualified teaching staff. In order to cover their failures BJP is targeting the Muslims to gain Hindu votes."

Lokbhasha Prachar Samity says

Kaushal Kalita, Executive President of Lokbhasha Prachar Samity, Assam said, “Swami Vivekananda had said that Sanskrit and ‘Sanskriti’ (culture) are the backbones of India’s foundation. NASA has proven that Sanskrit is the most suitable language for use in computers.

Most of the eminent personalities of Assam as well as India have passed out from the Sanskrit schools called ‘Tol’. The decision of the government to shut down these Tols is very unfortunate. It is an insult for the Hindu religion.

“Although the Arabic taught in the madrassas is a foreign language, Sanskrit is the soul of India. That they have conspired to remove Sanskrit from the education curriculum is a matter of remorse.”

He further said, “The Madrassas give only religious education. If anti-nationals are borne by the Madrassas, then the government should take strict action against them. These should be shut down. But in doing so if they close down the tols or remove this cultural language from the academics, it would not be tolerated.”

City

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

7

Queer parade makes a bold statement on Ghy streets, shouts slogans of pride Chayanika Das @cdchayanika95

T

he queer community of Guwahati proudly hosted the seventh Queer parade on February 9, 2020 which witnessed participation of more than 300 people. It was organised by the youth under the Queer Pride Guwahati Collective. The walk started from Dighalipukhuri

added.

He is now hoping to organise such events in the interior places of Assam like Nalbari, Lakhimpur in Cachar to connect all the people of the LGBTQ community.

Harassments faced by the queer community

Queer people face a lot of harassments in their day-to-day lives. People at their workplace judge them for their identity and ask unwelcoming questions

A shot from the latest pride parade in Guwahati park entry opposite the Assam State Museum. Celebrating their identity, the queer community took to the streets of Guwahati shouting slogans.

Firstly, the aim of the pride walk is to come out on the streets and show the society, government and various stakeholders that such a vibrant community exists. Secondly, it is to ask the administration to turn their heads towards the welfare of the community and lastly it is to assure the fellow members of the community that it is alright to be who they are.

It is to be mentioned that even after the decriminalisation of homosexuality by the Supreme Court on September 6, 2018, the condition of the queer community has not improved.

Milind Dutta, a trans man organised the first pride walk seven years ago when he was a female. In a conversation with G Plus, he talked about the changes in the pride walks over the years and said, “I was a female body when I organised the first parade. I am a trans man now.

Seven years ago there were only 50 participants and look at the crowd today.”

“I am so happy to see so many people coming out. If someone asks me what I have done in my life, I’ll proudly say that I have organised the pride parade. In the first pride parade people were afraid of coming out. They either covered their faces or said that they are here to support,” he

about their sex life. Afraid of losing their jobs, they do not report such instances to their employer.

“We get to hear all types of prude comments every day.

People even harass us and try to take out money from us and if we do not give them they beat us,” said Juli, a transgender activist from Guwahati.Juli went on to say that all they want from the society is to accept them the way they are.

In society the acceptance of the community has not really come up. Rubina, a transgender activist from Shillong highlighted on the same and said that the third gender is not being accepted by the society even through the judgement has come from the Supreme Court.

“I feel it is still a long way for us to go. People know that they exist but still the acceptance is very low. Especially in the northeast, apart from Manipur the other states are far behind,” said Rubina.

“Despite doing so many sensitisation and awareness programmes the gap still exists in the society. I don’t know when is it actually going to work,” she added.

The charters of demands of this year’s pride walk are

To make NRC process inclusive of transgender people Make LGBTQ+ issues a part of school and college curriculum Make amends to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 as per the demands of the transgender community

Setup a transgender welfare board in Assam Provide financial aid for the sex reaffirmation surgery of the trans community Provide economic and social welfare schemes to uplift the transgender community Follow the instruction of the Supreme Court and promote the 2018 Section 377 judgement by advertising it

and help in bringing a positive outlook towards the queer community Recognise the groups working on LGBTQ+ issues in the state and engage with them to conduct sensitisation workshop in government setups like healthcare, document making offices, educational institutions, police etc.

8 In The News

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

Assam govt approves historic transgender policy; welfare schemes on the cards Barasha Das @Barasha_mi2

A

fter years of struggle the transgender (TG) community found some solace as the Assam government approved the much needed welfare policy for transgenders. The policy that was drafted by the social welfare department was finally approved in the cabinet on 12th February 2020.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines transgender as “an umbrella term for people whose gender identity and expression does not conform to the norms and expectations traditionally associated with the sex assigned to them at birth; it includes people who are transsexual, transgender or otherwise considered gender non-conforming.”

However, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018 that was passed in the Lok Sabha on 17th December, 2018 defines transgenders through a more sensitive and dignified approach: “transgender person" means a person whose gender does not match with the gender assigned to that person at birth and includes trans-man or trans-woman (whether or not such person has undergone Sex Reassignment Surgery or hormone therapy or laser therapy or such other therapy), person with intersex variations, gender queer and person having such socio-cultural identities as kinner, hijra, aravani and jogta.

As per census data of 2011, the transgender community of Assam has 11,374 members including 1,348 children (in the age group of 0-6 years) and has a literacy rate of 53.69%. However, the policy states that this data could not be accepted as authentic due to various reasons.

Individuals of this community in Assam, like the other parts of the country, have been deprived of basic necessities of a dignified life.

Transgenders have been deprived of proper education on account of negligence, discrimination and humiliation by classmates and teachers.

Those willing to pursue academics lack support from family and the society as a whole. As neighbourhoods do not support transgenders living

amongst them, they are often constrained to establish their own settlements outside of regular communities and are forced to live in conditions that are often not conducive to their growth and personality development.

They face abusive treatment and confront regular human rights violations from law enforcement personnel, government offices, hospitals, schools railway stations and in other public places.

The requirement of a policy for the welfare and upliftment of the transgender community was brought to focus in 2012 when the division bench of the Bombay High Court made a landmark judgment on Sex Reassignment Surgery (WP (L)1092 of 2012, BHC) supporting and protecting the right to undergo such surgery of Swati Bidhan Baruah, lawyer and transgender activist.

Objectives of the draft policy The said policy aims to ameliorate the suffering of transgender persons in multiple dimensions of life.

To provide access to educational facilities and incentivise learning through reservation of seats in institutions, making provision for separate boarding and lodging arrangements and through provision of scholarships to transgender students etc.

To protect transgenders against destitution by ensuring a minimum standard of living and access to existing basic services like shelter and sanitation or by creating infrastructure to cater to them To insure transgenders against the negative consequences of shocks and risks along the lifecycle, such as health shocks through transgender specific health schemes To promote human capital accumulation and access to productive assets and income generating activities alongside other genders To raise awareness in order to empower transgender persons and provide them opportunities to exercise gender equality To mainstream transgender

G Plus file photo of a rally taken out by transgenders in Guwahati persons, who are typically excluded from public services and programs, through enforcement of rights, providing means of livelihood and inculcating mutual respect among all genders.

To ensure nondiscrimination of transgenders in any form in all spheres by public authorities and to support positive discrimination to address inequities in areas of education, health and employment.

To raise public awareness and sensitization of transgender rights and to develop capacity of relevant stakeholders to enforce rights. Large scale sensitization needs to happen starting from the school level to see transgenders not as an aberration, but as an integral and productive component of societal life.

As such the policy makes allowance for self-certification of one’s gender identity, through an affidavit, for the purposes of registration as a transgender and for issue of an identity card.

Shelters are to be opened up for the community and nonformal basic education programs are to be provided in informal

settings. Steps will also be taken to enhance mainstreaming of transgender children in the regular stream of school. Besides regular or customized health screening, free medical treatment and free medicine will be made available for transgender persons in government health facilities.

Employment exchanges will register transgenders without any discrimination and vocational training will be provided to transgenders free of cost, based on their field of interest, through existing government schemes.

Self-employment grants up to a maximum of Rs 25,000 will be made available for small business entrepreneurs from the transgender communities who have undergone vocational training and monthly pension will be provided to the destitute or elderly. Further, emergency centres will be established for providing emergency relief and services.

Apart from setting up a helpdesk in the office of all District Police Superintendents, Transgender Support Units (TSU) will be established in the Directorate of Social Welfare which is the nodal department for implementation of this policy.

Support units are also to be set up at the district and state level for their welfare. Moreover, a Transgender Welfare Board will be constituted, chaired by the Minister of Social Welfare

Department that will monitor and oversee the implementation of the Transgender Policy and review the work of the TSU. Sensitization initiative will be taken and awareness spread in the form of study materials and counseling to all sections of society including schools, offices and families of the transgenders to prevent shaming and humiliation of transgenders and to change the prejudiced mindset and attitude of people towards them.

Speaking to GPlus, Swati Bidhan Baruah said, “It was a very long fight, more than 10 years.

We fought many social and legal fights against the government.

The community trusted and supported me all along. The outcome is a historic moment for Assam as the transgender community has got its own policy now. We are very happy and believe it is time to remove discrimination and establish transgenders as part of the society.”

It is to be mentioned that the transgender policy came into existence when Baruah filed a PIL in the Gauhati High Court in 2017, seeking its intervention for the welfare of the transgender community. The division bench directed the state government to formulate the policy in context to the NALSA (National Legal Services Authority) Judgment (2014) 5 SCC 438) of the Supreme Court.

Concern

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

9

Dighalipukhuri apart, other city ponds facing total negligence Chayanika Das @cdchayanika95

Dighalipukhuri – the only well maintained pond of Guwahati out of the four great ones Other three ponds – Nagkota, Jorpukhuri and Silpukhuri - have turned into dumping yards These ponds which once saved the city from sinking are now choking Rapid urbanization, degrading traditional water bodies and lack of proper waste management system are the major reasons for the ongoing vulnerabilities Mountains of garbage outside Silpukhuri shoo away visitors Guwahati needs to take serious measures to revitalize its ponds

G

uwahati, gateway to the northeast, received many tourists every year. Over the years, the city has witnessed rapid industrial growth and attracted tourists from around the world.

Outsiders travelling to different north-eastern states often stop in Guwahati to explore the city and take along a little culture of Assam with them. While their stay, they visit famous tourist spots like the Assam State Zoo, the historical Kamakhya temple, one of the oldest ponds (pukhuri) of Assam, Dighalipukhuri among other big spots.

Guwahati has four lovely ponds – Dighalipukhuri, Jorpukhuri (twin ponds that are adjacent to each other), Nagkota Pukhuri and Silpukhuri which were built by the Ahoms during their reign. Out of these four ponds, Dighalipukhuri is the only well maintained pond while the others have turned into dumping yards.

“Guwahati which once had around 60-100 ponds is now left with only a few. Dighalipukhuri is the only pukhuri which is wellmaintained while the others are

being completely ignored,” Moloy Baruah, president of Early Bird, an environmental NGO told G Plus.

“It should be a huge concern since these ponds help in controlling floods by holding excess water during the rainy season and protect the neighbourhood,” he added.

He said that earlier, people would gather around these ponds and socialise but now that is no more the case. “The government should take over the administrative right to administer these ponds,” Baruah expressed.

Baruah went on to highlight another important factor that is polluting the ponds. He said, “The people who stay near these ponds have connected their sewage line to them. This practise has been going on since a long time now and is still continuing. GMC should take over these pukhuris and cut all the sewage connection.”

History of the great ponds of Guwahati

The Ahoms were known for their great urban planning and took interest in water bodies as well as harvesting of water. It is because of their keen eye for harvesting water that the four great ponds were created.

These ponds which once played a huge role in keeping the city from sinking are now in dire conditions.

Assam has faced massive floods in the past few years. Rapid urbanization, degrading traditional water bodies and lack of proper waste management system are the major reasons for the ongoing vulnerabilities.

Renowned city historian Late Kumudeswar Hazarika had written that when the British colonialists occupied Assam, there were around 300 tanks in Guwahati and North Guwahati, which were a single entity till 1893.

Out of them Dighalipukhuri, Jorpukhuri, Silpukhuri, Nagkota Pukhuri, Paltan Pukhuri, Kamarpatty Pukhuri, Padum Pukhuri at Karnachal, Majinder Pukhuri (also known as Panbazar Padum Pukhuri) located in front of the present SP Bungalow and the Padum Pukhuri at the Uzanbazar Oriya Basti have survived.

Dighalipukhuri – epic tank of Guwahati

The history of the Dighalipukhuri dates back to the Ahom rule.

It was once connected with the Brahmaputra River on the north and Solabeel on the south.

The channel that linked it with Brahmaputra was filled up to make room for the Circuit House and the European Club (now the old campus of the Gauhati High Court) while in the south channel, now stands the Guwahati Railway Station, Rail Colony etc.

Legend has it that Bhagadutta, who led the Kauravas in the

Mahabharata, dug the pond during the swayamvar of his daughter Bhanumati.

Considered to be one of the tourist spots of Guwahati, Dighalipukhuri receives many visitors every year. The numbers increases during July and December. The flora and fauna which surrounds the pond adds to its charm.

One of the twin pukhuris covered with weed

The twin ponds lie in the heart of Guwahati. The name Jorpukhuri means ‘twin ponds.’ It was derived after he British divided the tank into two parts by laying a road in its middle.

One of them is now being maintained by Ugratara temple committee while the other lies totally neglected. It is surrounded with garbage and covered by weed.

Ironically, the water of the pond connected to the temple is considered holy while the other twin pond chokes in weed.

Religious practices take place in the temple premises which leads to dumping of litter in the ‘holy’ water.

The ponds are believed to have been dug during the reign of Swargadeo Siva Singha in 1720 AD for the benefit of the priests and pilgrims of the temple.

This tank was also said to be connected with the Brahmaputra through the Naojan canal, which has now turned into a sewage canal.

The forgotten Nagkota Pukhuri

Nagkota Pukhuri is located in Panbazar.

It is believed that on the inaugural day of Sukreshwar temple, between 1744 and 1751 AD, a huge snake was sacrificed at the altar of the temple.

A regular snake worshipping and sacrificing ceremony would take place a few feet away from the temple which is now called Nagkota Pukhuri.

The pukhuri has turned into a sewage dump where residents and eateries dispose their garbage.

“This pond is right in the heart of the city but is still ignored.

Hundreds of people cross by this pond everyday but no one even knows that it exists anymore.

Aerial shot of Jorpukhuri: the difference between the twin ponds is stark Restaurants and residents dump their garbage in this pond and have polluted it to another extent,” said a resident of Panbazar.

Mountains of garbage outside Silpukhuri shoo away visitors

While the pond is in a fairly good state, two mountains of garbage right outside the gate of the pond are enough to shoo away visitors and tourists.

Silpukhuri is the only pond out of the four in Guwahati where a rock cut inscription of the Ahom

era has been found.

Guwahati needs to revitalize its ponds

Threatened by rapid encroachment of human habitats these ponds today remain in terrible condition.

While the city’s forbears had put in a lot of effort in controlling floods, the current generation of residents and administration have only been taking these ponds for granted. It is high time for Guwahati has to come up with initiatives to revitalize these ponds.

10 In The News Snippets Rajasthan Royals to play two matches in Guwahati

I

n good news for cricket enthusiasts, Guwahati is set to host two Indian Premier League (IPL) matches in its 2020 edition at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.

The decision was taken at a meeting held between IMGReliance (IMG-R), the parent body of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Rajasthan Royals and Assam Cricket Association (ACA).

Taking to his Twitter handle, Assam finance minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote, "It is a moment of joy for us as @ rajasthanroyals will play 2 matches in #IPL's next season in #Guwahati.

I appreciate Sri @JayShah for this great initiative for the people of #NorthEastIndia. May the spirit of sports keep us united forever."

Earlier, Rajasthan Royals requested a change of their second home from Ahmedabad to Guwahati. Meanwhile, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by three petitioners at the Jaipur bench of Rajasthan High Court, claiming that shifting of matches outside Jaipur “would be disrespectful to the state.”

People would definitely enjoy the IPL matches of Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati because local boy Riyan Parag is a star middleorder batsman of the team.

Have a story to tell?

Be a Citizen Journalist Get in touch with us, Contact/WhatsApp

8486002318/8486002320

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

GTP makes special traffic arrangements for Filmfare Awards Nehal Jain @NehalJain96

T

he Guwahati Traffic Police has made special arrangements in regard to traffic management and security for the Filmfare Awards 2020 which is going to be held in the city later today.

For the first time in the history of Filmfare Awards, the mega function is being held outside of Mumbai. Sarusajai Stadium of Guwahati has been selected as the venue for the same and it’s a matter of pride for the state that it has gotten to host a function which will be telecast worldwide,” exclaimed Munna Prasad Gupta, Commissioner of Police, Guwahati.

He added that the city police have made all necessary traffic arrangements so that the audience do not face trouble being stuck in traffic jams or finding a spot to park their vehicles.

The traffic police have issued car passes which have been provided to the organisers. Only those vehicles that have valid car passes shall be allowed entry inside the stadium. All other spectators will have to get down from their vehicles at Rongmon Point and proceed on foot inside the stadium. All spectators will enter via gate 1A, 1B and 1C. A total of 27 private parking places have also been earmarked.

All of the parking lots will be under CCTC surveillance and police personnel shall also be deployed.

Cars coming from Lokhra

The Filmfare Awards stage in all its readiness side will drop the passengers on the service road and proceed towards Beharbari for parking. The cars coming from Khanapara side will similarly proceed towards Lokhra side for parking. Traffic personnel will assist in the parking.

The road from Sawkuchi up to Hockey Stadium and from Hockey Stadium up to Sawkuchi will be “No Entry” points.

However, local residents, police/ administration vehicles and emergency service vehicles are exempted.

“The Filmfare Award 2020 is scheduled to start at 5 PM on February 15. However,

spectators are requested to reach the venue ahead of time so as to get a parking space close to the venue. The entry to the stadium will begin at 3:45 PM,” informed Ranjan Bhuyan, DCP Traffic.

Further, he added that there will be restrictions imposed on the entry of heavily loaded trucks at National Highway 31 from 3 PM on Saturday till 4 AM on Sunday. Restrictions have also been imposed on trucks entering from other districts and approximately 30% of private city buses have been taken off the roads for the day.

To make sure that the mega

award show is conducted smoothly as well as so that the general public do not suffer any hindrance due to it, Assam Police has arranged for extra forces to be deployed during the award ceremony. Forces have specially been deployed at the LGBI Airport and the hotels where the celebrities are staying.

The organisers have issued various instructions in the tickets for the viewers to follow.

While the audience is allowed to carry their phones, restrictions have been imposed on carrying bags and purses inside the venue.

Weather report for the week Guwahati

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

Sunny

Mostly Sunny

Sunny

Partly Cloudy

Partly Cloudy

Partly Cloudy

28°17° C

28°17° C

28°16° C

27°15° C

27°16° C

26°16° C

SATURDAY

Partly Cloudy

26°17°C

News This Week

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

A quick round up of the news that mattered during the past week

1

Infosys co-founder Murthy’s son-in-law Rishi Sunak appointed UK finance minister

Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy’s son-in-law, Rishi Sunak has been appointed as the finance minister of United Kingdom (UK) after Sajid Javid resigned as chancellor of exchequer. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson named the 39 year old Sunak as finance minister on February 13. Sunak had studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University and has done his MBA from Stanford University.

He became the second-youngest chancellor after George Osborne in modern British history. George Osborne was 38 when he took the role in 2010. Sunak had co-founded a 1-billion pound global investment firm and specialised in investing in small British businesses before his entry into politics.

2

No new engineering colleges for 2 yrs; 50% seats remain vacant: AICTE

All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has decided to put a halt on setting up of new engineering colleges till 2022. Only six lakh graduates fetched jobs this year out of a total of 14 lakh seats. As per the AICTE data, around 518 colleges were shut down during the period 20152019. The new AICTE handbook defines the guidelines for the coming academic year. It stated, “In view of the large number of vacant seats in various programmes during the last few years and the likely future demand, the council shall not grant approval to new institutions at the diploma/ undergraduate/postgraduate level in engineering and technology.

3

Ace fashion designer Wendell Rodricks passes away

Fashion designer and activist Wendell Rodricks breathed his last on February 12 at his Goa residence. He was 59 years old. Rodrick was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2014. Rodricks who was known for his minimalism in his fashion, was born in 1960. He was a vocal activist of gay rights and environmental issues. Rodricks, due to health issues, had handed over his designing label to Schulen Fernandes a few years ago. He chose to focus more on his private projects including his museum and writing books. His funeral was held on February 13.

4

President Trump to inaugurate the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad

President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, will inaugurate the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad during his visit to India. Trump will be visiting India on February 24 for his two-day trip. During his trip he will visit the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad and inaugurate the new Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium which is also the world’s largest cricket stadium. According to reports Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also hold a huge public meet up at the stadium which will be witnessed by approximately 1.25 lakh people. Reportedly the event will be called “Kem Chho, Trump.” It is reported that the event will include a number of cultural performances. Trump is expected to be accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump.

5

LPG price hiked, non-subsidised cylinders to cost more

LPG cylinder prices hiked sharply and the new rates would be applicable from February 12 across metro cities.

According to a report with ANI, in Delhi, the price rose by Rs 144.50 to Rs 858.50, a sharp hike from its last revision on January 01, 2020. In Kolkata, the LPG cylinder price is now at Rs 896.00, up by Rs Rs 149. The price of the 14 kg Indane gas in Mumbai is at Rs 829.50, up by Rs 145.

6

11

SC asks political parties to upload candidates’ criminal record on social media

The Supreme Court has ordered all political parties to ensure that they publish details of candidates with criminal records who are contesting for Parliament or Assembly polls. It is to be mentioned that in the course of hearing a petition by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay who had asked the court to ban the fielding of candidates with criminal cases against them, the Apex Court passed this order. These are to include what crime the candidate has been accused of, and what stage the criminal case has reached – FIR, investigation, charge sheet, or trial.

7

Bomb explodes at Lucknow court, several lawyers injured

A bomb explosion took place in the Lucknow collectorate in Hazratganj, near the district magistrate’s office on February 13. According to locals, the bomb blast is believed to be an attempt to attack a lawyer present in the court. Post the incident the court erupted into chaos with angry lawyers crowding the area. Wazirganj police visited the spot and recovered 3 more live bombs from the scene. Bar Association joint secretary Sanjiv Kumar Lodhi claimed he was the target of the ‘attack’.

8

Arvind Kejriwal to take oath as Delhi CM for third time

After winning with a full majority Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal is set to take oath as chief minister of Delhi for the third time. AAP won 62 seats out of 70 in the Delhi Assembly, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged the remaining eight seats and Congress got no seats for the second consecutive time in the Delhi elections. Arvind Kejriwal’s swearing-in ceremony will be held on February 16. Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal wrote in Hindi: “Delhiites, your son is going to take oath of Delhi chief minister for the third time. You must come to bless your son. Sunday, February 16, 10 am, Ramlila Maidan.”

9

Govt of India to launch new one rupee currency notes

The government of India is all set to introduce new currency notes in one rupee denomination. “The One Rupee notes shall be printed at the note printing presses for issue under the authority of Government of India for circulation,” the notification said. The notification also stated that these notes will be printed by the ministry of finance and not by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The one rupee currency will have words ‘Government of India’ below the word ‘Bharat Sarkar’.

It will have the replica of new rupee one coin with ‘ ₹’ symbol of 2020 issued with ‘Satyamev Jayate’ and capital inset letter ‘L’ in numbering panel.

10

Bangladesh creates history, beats India to clinch ICC U-19 World Cup

In a historic feat, Bangladesh beat India by three wickets to clinch the ICC U-19 World Cup title on February 9.

After a short spell of rain, the Bangladesh team won the match under Duckworth Lewis method. The target was revised after the rain spell to 170. The Indian team crumbled under pressure as they could only manage to score 177 runs in 47.2 overs. Yasashvi Jaiswal scored 88 in 121 balls. Two bowlers from Bangldesh gave a great performance: Shoriful Islam (2/31 in 10 overs) and Tanzim Hasan Shakib (2/28 in 8.2 overs). Further, from Bangladesh, Parvez Hossain Emon became the top scorer by scoring 47 off 79 balls.

12 Centre Spread

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

Bollywood actors who will attend

Filmfare Awards in Guwahati

Varun Dhawan

The award ceremony will be hosted by Karan Johar and Vicky Kaushal.

Further, the audience is supposed to take their seats by 4:30 PM and the show will begin at 5:00 PM on February 15.

The A-list actors who will come to Guwahati for this mega event include Akshay Kumar, Ranveer Singh, Varun Dhawan, Karan Johar, Madhuri Dixit, Disha Patani, Radhika Apte, Kartik Aaryan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Rajkummar Rao, Ali Faizal, Manish Paul, Sooraj Pancholi, Bhumi Pednekar, Pooja Hedgre and Parineeti Chopra.

Other actors who are tentatively scheduled to come to Guwahati include Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif, Sonam Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Hrithik Roshan, Hema Malini, Alia Bhatt and Aditya Roy Kapur.

Bollywood’s crème

Guwahati st

Ayushmann Khurrana with Tahira Kashyap

Assam artists

to perform at Filmfare Awards 2020 150 Assamese artists and dancers including Aimee Baruah, Gayatri Mahanta, Seuz Priya and Sita Moni Lakhar will perform in this mega event.

There will be three performances focusing on Assamese culture namely Bihu, Sattriya and one tribal dance performance.

Ranveer Singh

The Filmfare Awards ceremony is one of the most prestigious film events in India. The awards were first introduced by The Times Group in 1954.

The Filmfare Awards have been often referred to as the Hindi film industry’s equivalent to the Academy Awards in the United States.

During several years in the 1990s, a live ceremony was broadcast to television audiences but was later discontinued due to unknown reasons. Since 2000, a recorded and edited version of the awards ceremony was televised on Sony Television a week or two after the ceremony has been held already.

From 2018 the ceremony has been televised on Colors.

Centre Spread

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

13

Seating arrangements and

tickets sold Going by the online ticket portal ‘Bookmyshow’ tickets worth over Rs 30 crores have been sold out.

Here is the likely breakup according to our reading and calculations.

In this regard, there has been no official statement and the breakup is subject to official confirmation.

Titanium Plus tickets (Rs 3,00,000 each) worth Rs 5,40,00,000 have been sold. The other categories: Titanium (Rs 2,00,000 each) - Rs 3,60,00,000; Diamond (Rs 1,00,000 each) - Rs 18,00,00,000; Platinum tickets worth Rs 1,60,00,000, Gold tickets worth Rs 54,00,000 and Silver tickets worth Rs 36,00,000 have been sold.

Bronze Premium, which has the maximum seats (1,344) and is priced at the rate of Rs 2,500 each saw sale worth Rs 33,60,000.

(Note: The sale figures exclude tickets for Bronze Plus which were sold exclusively to students at Rs 1000 each as no seating arrangement is shown on the portal) Times of India group will contribute 50% of the revenues earned from the Filmfare ticket sales to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, said ATDC chairman.

It is to be mentioned that Assam government has sanctioned Rs 23 crores for the 65th Filmfare Awards.

e de la crème to set

tage on fire This is for the first time ever that the Filmfare Awards will be held in Guwahati, Assam. This is also the first time that such a gala event will be held out of Mumbai. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in this regard between the Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) and the Times Group, the organisers of the event.

This event is organised in this part of the country to promote Assam tourism at both national and international levels.

The glamorous Bollywood affair of the year will be held on February 15. Bollywood stars will be gracing the event, and are also gearing up with performances to celebrate the magical night.

kartik aryaan

Madhuri Dixit Nene Karan Johar

Vicky Kaushal

All photographs of celebrities on this page are G Plus exclusive and have been taken on their arrival at LGBI Airport, Guwahati

14 G Talk E

W

D

I

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020 T

O

R

I

A

L

SEBA gaffes

hat is it with the premier education board of Assam that it finds itself being part of some embarrassingly wrong kind of news virtually every year? I am talking of the Board of Secondary Education, Assam popularly (or even affectionately) referred to as SEBA.

In 2017, SEBA had to make some major changes in the Social Science and Assamese question papers following reports of question paper leak. As per news reports, the question papers of both the subjects were leaked in Hojai and Baksa districts.

While the examinations of the two subjects were scheduled to be held on 23rd February and 7th March of that year, SEBA had to print new sets of question papers for the subjects and also had to set a new exam date for the Social Science paper. And how did the question papers get leaked? Well, in the two above mentioned districts, Social Science and Assamese papers were distributed to students instead of General Mathematics.

In 2018, the Board was again mired in controversy over the leakage of the English question paper. 28 candidates were expelled despite the exams being held under CCTV surveillance and two exam invigilators were caught by exam authorities for using mobile phones in prohibited exam zones.

In 2019, the question paper for the English exam went viral on WhatsApp minutes after the commencement of the examination on February 14. As per media reports, copies of the English question paper were allegedly circulated at Nagaon’s Jajori centre over WhatsApp after just a few minutes of commencement of the examination.

Prior to all these was the hilarious story of answer sheets being chewed by cows in 2012.

And this year, I am reproducing verbatim Question No 30 (a) from the English question paper that was laden with grammatical and factual mistakes: Suppose you are the General Secretary of the Students’.

Union of your school.

Write an application to the Principal requesting him to grant a half holiday on the occasion of the Kali Bihu Festival.

To what can this regular incompetency be attributed is difficult to pinpoint indeed.

And who needs to hauled up and made accountable is the other question that never gets an answer. At this rate, the credibility of the Board becomes a big question against the professionalism shown by other boards like CBSE. SEBA needs to be really careful hereafter.

Swapnil Bharali (Editor) @swapnilbharali

Government relations VS Cricketing relations

I

f reports are to be believed, the Indo-Bangladesh relations are currently at their historical best. While the governments in both countries continually work their way towards strengthening ties for mutual benefits, the same does not seem to be the situation between the cricketers of the two countries.

The case in point is the recent India VS Bangladesh under 19 World Cup final which turned ugly after players from both sides got physical as soon as Bangladesh hit the winning runs to claim their maiden ICC tournament. The combativeness clearly started from the Bangladesh side which took the celebrations a little too far.

But this has not been the first time that cricket fans witnessed undue hostility from Bangladesh cricketers. In 2016, Mushfiqur Rahim, the then captain of Bangladesh cricket team took to Twitter to express his happiness over India’s defeat against West Indies in the T20 World Cup Semi Final. But, he soon deleted that tweet after facing the wrath of the Indian fans.

In contrast, and in spite of diplomatic hostilities spanning decades, India and Pakistan have shown great sporting spirit on many cricketing occasions despite being arch rivals on the field. India actually rejoiced and savoured Pakistan’s world cup triumph in Australia and Gavaskar’s open backing (as a commentator) of Pakistan winning remains fresh in memory.

The most reminisced match was the 1999 India VS Pakistan Test Match held at Chennai. Although it was Pakistan that came out triumphant, the crowd at Chennai stayed at the ground and cheered the winning Pakistani team as they took a lap of honour with a standing ovation.

From Parvez Musharraf praising Dhoni’s hairstyle to and Virat Kohli gifting a bat to Mohammad Amir, there have been many an instance of great sportsmanship showcased by the players of India and Pakistan.

This is quite a paradox so to say where the governments are on good Nehal Jain terms and cricketers are hostile and @NehalJain96 vice versa. Strange, isn’t it?

Feasibility of the water project timeline

W

ater, water everywhere but not a drop to drink!

This idiom applies to Guwahati very well. I am glad to hear that finally, the Greater Guwahati Drinking Water Supply Project is expected to supply potable water to households in Guwahati partially by December, 2020 and substantially by March, 2021.

In the absence of credible data in the public domain (as to how many households have been connected with the last mile connectivity and water metres amongst the 3 lakh odd household units and establishments or may be more), it is very difficult to say

O pinion Mukul Gogoi

time line can be reduced if the firms engaged are sufficiently large and the firms engage a larger number of surveyors. Let’s not talk about the installation time required for laying of those pipes into your household inlet points and we know how efficient the project administration has been so far. The procurement of those pipes and selection of contractors to lay the pipes is to be added as well. By the way, I haven’t yet added the time required to select such survey firms through tendering and file movement in their engagement.

So, let’s say, procurement of these survey firms take a minimum

(that have been slated to get such water connections as reported in the news item), such surveys have already been done and the authority is ready with the details.

But then it doesn’t make sense to partially target the city in such matters; it only adds to overall

of 2 months (something no government agency whether in the past or at present has been able to achieve) and another 150 days for the ground survey work, we will require 7 months to get off the planning board. After that comes the issue of procurement of pipes and their installation.

Even if it is done through a single step process to reduce time (meaning giving the supply and installation to a single agency – cannot be considered efficient as a single agency will require huge manpower to lay those pipes), another 12 months to 18 months would be required at a minimum to complete the process. Another aspect that needs attention is that most digging work in Guwahati would not be possible between April/May till about Sept/Oct due to the rainy season. Well, at this rate, I don’t see the possibility of water flowing through the pipes into my household at Silpukhuri in another 2 years to say the least.

Next comes the issue of water metres and their installation. This would be a similar exercise in terms of days for the installation part but importantly, here the procurement of water metres would be critical. Have the authority officials decided on what type of water metres to install? Analogue or digital?

Let’s say, this matter has been settled. Thereafter the issue of procurement and installation through tendering etc will come.

Well, when I read the news on Wednesday morning, I was wondering how it would be possible for Guwahati to get potable water by March, 2021 let alone December, 2020. May be for those 55,000 household units

costs and there are no economies of scale.

I am aware that the authorities decided many years ago to divert some amount of excess water from the West Guwahati project into parts of Central Guwahati areas but the promise to make the project substantially operational

by March, 2021 would actually be a pipe dream for the reasons cited above.

So, my next assumption was that the technical experts have misled the authorities - especially the ministers and the chief minister. The promise made by an honourable chief minister is a solemn one and I just hope GMDA/ GMC/Jal Board etc do not let him down.

11 years is a pretty long time in the life of a city. Actual planning for the project started earlier in 2007 when Tahal Engineering from Israel was appointed to prepare the DPRs. I have seen how Delhi Metro has been built since 1996 when it was planned with the first loan from OECF (JICA now) and which has now gone onto probably 12odd routes and here in Guwahati we are still waiting for that drop of potable water from that elusive pipe. In the meantime much water has flown down the Brahmaputra River, which incidentally would be the source of this water that we will drink (technically, the water below the river bed).

In conclusion, I might add that this post is primarily to initiate a debate into the timeline feasibility aspect of the project with the hope that Guwahati benefits.

This water supply project is the lifeline of the city and it needs to be implemented ASAP.

The author offers a practical and structured viewpoint about the nonfeasibility of Guwahati’s water supply project that is to be commissioned

by December 2020 as promised by the chief minister of Assam.

right now whether the promise made by the honourable chief minister will be kept by the inept Guwahati Development Department because technically, it would be a Herculean task if not impossible.

For example, for my household, the technical survey with respect to the length of the pipe connectivity to the inlet point has not been done and neither has there been any activity regarding supply of water metres, which is basically the domain of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (as I knew last). If such a technical survey is to be done for the entire city of more than 3 lakh household units that include apartments, individual houses and commercial establishments, it would take substantial time.

Let me do a calculation: Total units: say 3 lakhs Coverage by technical survey per day - 100 (not possible for any single firm) Total days required - 3000 days Say 10 firms are engaged Days required - minimum 300 days (The number of days can be reduced by increasing the number of survey firms and giving them a specific time limit though) So effectively, even after engaging 10 firms and taking a high of 100 household/commercial units a day, a total of 300 days would be needed to complete the survey so as to determine the length of the water pipes required to be connected to the inlet points.

This is provided the firms work super efficiently. Of course, the

In Focus

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

15

Commuters can now lodge complaints via WhatsApp against bus operators N ow commuters will be able to register their complaints against the city bus drivers as well as the handymen and ticket collectors via WhatsApp. The WhatsApp complaint numbers will be displayed on all the city buses, as per reports.

According to reports, the transport department has said that the rear door would be used as the entry while the front door will be used as the exit for the passengers.

Further, the department has provided two numbers6901269006/ 6026176755. These WhatsApp numbers will be pasted on all city buses that ply on Guwahati’s roads.

Instructions have also been issued to keep both the doors of the bus shut while it is moving.

They will be allowed to be opened only when the bus halts at any bus stop.

Additionally, the department is also planning to change the

previously set routes of the buses.

It is to be mentioned that the transport department launched an operation against city buses at MG Road on February 13. A team comprising Commissioner and Secretary, Transport Department Dr KK Dwivedi, Commissioner Adil Khan and other department officials, took a city bus ride in order to get a first-hand experience of the problems being faced by daily commuters.

According to reports around 40 buses which had violated the newly imposed rules were seized.

Meanwhile, on-the-spot fine of approximately Rs 32,000 was also imposed for route violation, for not issuing tickets to passengers and keeping the doors open while plying.

Guwahatians took to the social media handles of G Plus and expressed their view on the decision.

Nilanjan Das said, “So much has been said and done in the transportation department but

almost nothing has been implemented.

The bus operators don't care about the welfare of the commuters and the authority does nothing to monitor the nuisance caused by the operators.”

Sourav Roy said, “This is a good move, I always wanted to complain about the reckless driving of the buses and They stop anywhere, everywhere flouting all rules... the wayward city buses of Guwahati they don't seem to even care. I hear all the stuff mentioned. But terrible and pathetic drivers who tend to ride my bike quite a lot first ask the drivers to stop the don't have any road sense. These and have experiences where they buses at the designated stops only buses are also the main reason for have almost got me into fatal and not at in the midst of the road the traffic jams in Guwahati.” accidents.” to pick/drop passengers.”

Sahil Patodia said, “Great to Manas Das said, “They have

The news about Assam likely to conduct a survey to identify indigenous Muslim population in the state to segregate them from Bangladeshi origin people attracted a number of reactions on the digital channels of G Plus.

Subham Singhania

I really cannot understand why this current government is into all such activities! These will do no benefit but will definitely disturb the social harmony prevailing in the state from last so many years. They are continuously coming up with such ideas but not with a proper method to do so and ultimately all lead to failure like the NRC. In all these, we the common public are harassed physically, mentally and financially.

Dimpy Moran

Dimpy Moran I feel this to be really necessary. We really need to find out the indigenous Muslims. Now as the Clause 6 committee has submitted its final report, it should be very clear about who needs to receive safeguards.

I hope many Assamese would not like to give the safeguards to the illegal Bangladeshi Muslims who are also in large numbers. For the sake of implementation of Clause 6, this survey is a real necessity. Assam has limited resources and we cannot give away these resources to illegals. Assam is for indigenous Assamese - be they of any religion.

Parthapratim Deka

Good step, those who are barking against it do not know the differences between indigenous Assamese Muslim and Bangladeshi miyas and this is why sometimes the indigenous Muslims face unnecessary insults and blames and harassment. This is really a need. Good step!

Dipul Das

Identify the industries which required immediate intervention from the government like BVFCL Namrup, paper mills, NH 37 to upper Assam, small scale industries around Guwahati, Majuli erosion, border sealing with Bangladesh. Flood and proper drainage system is another issue. Giving SC/ ST Status to 6 communities and moreover the respected NDFB and other militants who came over ground for their job responsibilities etc. These things should be taken into consideration first by the government.

Arshad Basit

Decades have passed by but the heart of the city AT Road, Athgaon and Paltanbazar areas still do not have streetlights in Guwahati. And you talk about survey to identity indigenous Muslims. These things are nothing but just show off before elections to make people feel that they are doing something for the people.

Ronnie Adriel

It’s so easy to identify Bangladeshi and Indian but you people are not on that in real. This BJP government just wants to play dirty games again with these types of activities. They simply don’t care about people and development.

All they need is vote in the name of religion. I hope people understand this before it’s too late.

16 Buzz

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

Assam's Lovlina Assam team runner-up at National University Film Making Borgohain ascends to No 3 in world Competition rankings

A

filmmaker from Assam won at the National University Film Making Competition. The short film 'Rohan' won in the theme of anti-ragging. More than 160 films were registered in the competition from all over India.

The short film was awarded 2nd runner-up position.

Kripasindhu Bordoloi, the director of the film along with the team from Assam Science and Technology University, Assam won the prize of Rs one Lakh in the competition which was organized by University Grants Commission under Ministry of Human Resource Development.

The cast of the film includes Rohan Dutta, Pranjal Dutta, Divyanshu, Bahniman, Sharang and Apurba Dolomoni among others.

The competition was organised under the National Programme on Prevention of Ragging in HEIs. The prize distribution was held on February 11 in New Delhi.

J

Bidyut Chakravarty, Sher Choudhury Creative Awards 2020 conferred in Guwahati

B

idyut Chakravarty Creative Award 2020 was conferred on filmmaker Bhaskar Hazarika and the Sher Choudhury Creative Award 2020 was conferred on playwright Saponjyoti Thakur.

The awards are given as a joint initiative by Oil India Limited and cultural organization Surjya in association with the Bidyut Chakravarty Creative Trust. The ceremony was held in Rabindra Bhawan, Guwahati on February 10.

Bhaskar Hazarika who hails from Assam has more than 18 years of experience working in the film, television and digital industry.

He is also the writer and director of the critically acclaimed Assamese film ‘Aamis’. Hazarika is also a recipient of the National Film Award for Best Assamese film ‘Kothanodi’ in 2016.

Saponjyoti Thakur has been associated with serious theatre as a playwright, director and producer since his school days.

More than 30 radio plays written

by Thakur have been broadcast

by All India Radio in Guwahati, Jorhat and Dibrugarh stations.

Both the awards comprised a trophy, a citation and a cash emolument of Rs 50,000.

Renowned Assamese actor Nipon Goswami was the chief guest for the event along with Samir Kumar Das, Executive Director (Pipeline Services) Oil India Ltd. The tribute speech was delivered by writer and journalist Chandan Sarmah.

ust ahead of Tokyo Olympics 2020, Assam pugilist Lovlina Borgohain has ascended to World’s Third rank in the 69 kg category.

The ranking was handed over to Borgohain by the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Boxing Task Force.

It may be mentioned that the 23-year-old also is a two-time world bronze medallist.

Meanwhile, Amit Panghal has been ranked No. 1 in the light flyweight (Men's 49 kg) category.

On the other hand, MC Mary Kom is ranked 5th in the 51 kg category.

Congratulating Amit Panghal and Lovlina Borgohain, the official account union sports minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted, “A big day for boxing in India.

@boxerpanghal is World #1 in men’s 52 kg in latest world rankings released by @iocmedia Task Force. @lovlinaborgohai at World #3 in 69 kg is the highest ranked women’s boxer. @ RijijuOffice congratulates them on this achivement.”

Annual India Club Sports Meet 2020 concludes

T

he Annual India Club Sports Meet 2020 was held at the India club premises from 7-9 February.

Members of the club participated in various sports like Tennis (Junior & American Doubles), Table

Tennis (Junior & American Doubles), Badminton (Junior & American Doubles), Snooker, Arm Wrestling and Darts.

There was an all round participation by the members of the club which resulted in a fun-filled weekend.

Trotter

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

Man dresses up as Spider-Man to clean trash

I

ndonesian cafe worker Rudi Hartono struggled to persuade residents of his small coastal community of Parepare to follow his example and pick up rubbish strewn on the streets and beaches - until he dressed up as Spider-Man. "At first, I did the same activity without wearing this costume and it did not attract the public's attention in order for them to join and help pick up trash," said the 36-yearold Hartono, wearing his red and blue SpiderMan costume. "After wearing this costume, it turns out the public's response was extraordinary," he added.

Many parts of Indonesia suffer from having little in the way of organised public services to deal with trash, plastic waste in particular often ending in rivers or in the oceans.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, generates 3.2 million tonnes of waste a year, with nearly half ending up in the sea, a 2015 study in the journal Science showed. Hartono usually collects waste as Spider-Man before his cafe work begins at 7 pm and his efforts have helped put a spotlight on the waste issue nationally.

He has been interviewed by newspapers

and has appeared on television chat shows dressed in his Marvel Comics super hero costume to explain his motivation. Initially, he admits, he bought the Spider-Man outfit simply to amuse his nephew, before others in his town took notice. "We need a creative role model to foster society's active engagement in protecting the environment," said Saiful Bahri, a resident of Parepare in southwest Sulawesi With a population of around 1,42,000, Parepare produces around 2.7 tonnes of unmanaged waste per day, according to data released in 2018 by the ministry of environment and forestry. Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is estimated to be the world's second-largest producer of plastic pollutants in the oceans after China, the study added.

Hartono said he hoped the government would throw more weight behind efforts to clean up trash and tighten rules on waste management including on single-use plastic bags. "Minimising plastic waste is the most important thing to do, because plastic is difficult to decompose," he said.

(Source: ndtv)

Zoo to let psychopaths name a cockroach after their ex and watch an animal eat it

F

or Valentine’s Day, the staff of the San Antonio Zoo is allowing anyone hurting from a particularly ugly breakup to name a living thing after their ex and watch it die a violent death at the hands of a predator.

A dark metaphor for lost love maybe? For $5, the lonely and slightly disturbed can name a cockroach that’ll be fed to an animal on a live stream.

For $25, they can name a rat and watch a reptile devour it. Or you could just drink wine and watch “27 Dresses” like a normal single person.

(Source: nydailynews)

17

Internet applauds 8-yearold student for paying off lunch debt for school

T

he inspiring story of an 8-year-old boy from Washington who paid off the lunch debt of his school is doing the rounds of the internet. Keoni Ching sold key chains to pay off $4,015 (Rs 2.87 lakhs) of his school district lunch debt after he was inspired by former Seattle Seahawk cornerback Richard Sherman.

The boy drew inspiration for his plan after hearing about how Richard Sherman paid off lunch debts for schools in Tacoma, Washington and California. Keoni Ching decided to sell key chains for $5 each to celebrate 'Kindness Week' at Franklin Elementary in Vancouver, where he is a student, a daily reported. Once this news

came out in the public domain, social media was abuzz with reactions.

A user wrote, "This kid has more brains and compassion in his pinky than our glorious President." Another wrote, "This is a nice story about a nice kid doing a nice thing that wouldn't need to be a story if we didn't saddle hungry children with 'lunch debt'."

"Why does this kid even have to pay off lunch debt? Let's do the math: public schools are nonprofits, so they're getting the 'food' (& I use that loosely) at a nonprofit discount from a wholesaler, say Costco. Most of the prep for the food is not intensive," said a user.

(Source: ndtv)

Son locks up father at home to prevent him from voting for BJP during Delhi elections

T

he Delhi elections which concluded recently witnessed aggressive campaigning by the BJP and AAP laced with objectionable speeches by ministers. While the election results, which were scheduled to be out on February 11, was largely set to favour Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, BJP looked at increasing their vote share and form the government in the state.

The Delhi election was mostly driven by ideology.

In Delhi’s Munirka area, a man locked up his father in the house to prevent him from going to the polling booth and voting for BJP. The man in his 20s locked up his father in a room while the polling was on February 8, to prevent him from casting his vote. He was certain that his father would vote for BJP. He said he was inspired

from his friend who lives in Delhi’s Palam area, who pulled off the same stunt with his parents. Delhi recorded a voter turnout of over 61 per cent in the hard-fought Assembly election with the polling having picked up pace in the evening.

(Source: indiatimes)

18 Review

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

Starring: Kartik Aaryan, Sara Ali Khan, Arushi Sharma Director: Imtiaz Ali

Love Aaj Kal

W

riter-director Imtiaz Ali narrates the 2020 ‘Love Aaj Kal’ in the same format as his hugely successful directorial in 2009 by the same name. However, the love stories are fresh with different set of conflicts that vary with time. Ali makes it relevant by showing us the contrast between traditional small town-love that was simple yet difficult versus the contemporary urban love that is

complex and messed-up.

Ali’s protagonist Zoe is the embodiment of the latter. A complicated character, who has a five-year plan to make merry and launch her own event management company, before she ‘settles down’ in a committed relationship. While Sara Ali Khan is the right age to play Zoe, she falls short of convincingly pulling off the complexity of her firebrand and fiercely independent character. Sara has

an imposing screen presence and looks gorgeous, but her performance doesn’t quite make you root for Zoe. Kartik Aaryan is good as the boyish Raghu, whose transformation from a timid lovelorn smalltowner to a big-city Casanova is believable. As Veer, however, even Kartik doesn’t get to do more than meekly follow around the love of his life and be at her beck and call. But it’s Randeep Hooda, who leaves a lasting impression even with lesser screen time. Sporting a handlebar moustache and crisp linen shirts, the underrated actor looks quite dapper. He is aptly cast for the role that is quite like Rishi Kapoor’s character in the original. In fact, it is his story that is far more interesting, relatable and entertaining. Ali uses vivid tones and beautiful backdrops to recreate Raghu’s love story with Leena played by debutante Arushi Sharma, who delivers quite effectively.

However, the flashback story is interrupted way too many times to accommodate the film’s non-linear narrative.

While the film’s emotionally charged narrative is casual in its approach, there are barely any light moments.

The film’s soundtrack is rich in melody that adds value to the storytelling. The short runtime is another plus with an intriguing first-half, but a predictable second-half.

‘Love Aaj Kal’ sets off to celebrate complex characters and dysfunctional relationships, with the universal emotion of love at its core. It creates some emotional moments along the way, but doesn’t quite leave you spellbound.

(Review by timesofindia)

Cinepolis, Christian Basti 09435025808

PVR Cinemas, Dona Planet 08800900009

Love Aaj Kal

Love Aaj Kal

2:40 PM, 4:20 PM, 5:50

3:20 PM, 6:25 PM, 9:30 PM

PM, 7:30 PM, 9:00 PM

Malang

Malang

6:50 PM

6:15 PM, 9:10 PM

World Famous Lover

Parasite

3:35 PM

6:45 PM

Fantasy Island

Shikara

9:45 PM

4:05 PM Fantasy Island 9:40 PM Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (3D) 3:20 PM

Anuradha Cineplex, Noonmati 0361 2656968

PVR Cinemas, CITY CENTRE 0124 470 8100 Love Aaj Kal 3:10 PM, 5:15 PM, 6:15 PM, 8:20 PM, 9:20 PM Malang 3:50 PM, 9:30 PM Birds Of Prey 4:00 PM

Love Aaj Kal

Fantasy Island

3:00 PM, 5:45 PM, 8:30 PM

3:50 PM, 9:10 PM Jawaani Jaaneman

Grande Cines,

1:10 PM

Paltan Bazar

1917

09854017771

10:30 AM, 6:30 PM

Love Aaj Kal

Parasite

3:20 PM, 6:10 PM, 8:00

9:45 PM

PM, 9:00 PM

Panga

Malang

6:20 PM

5:30 PM

Joker Re- Release 6:30 PM, 6:45 PM

Huawei Nova 7i Huawei has launched a rebranded version of its Nova 6 SE smartphone in Malaysia which it’s calling the Nova 7i. It has an octa-core Kirin 810 SoC, 8GB RAM, and 128GB storage.

Huawei Nova 7i also feature quad rear camera setup with a 48-megapixel main shooter. The front camera is a 16-megapixel shooter with f/2.0 aperture.

It has a 6.4-inch LCD with a resolution of 2310 x 1080 pixels. It is available in three colours namely, Sakura Pink, Midnight Black, and Crush Green.

Huawei Nova 7i price, availability According to Malaysian blog Soya Cincau, the Huawei Nova 7i is priced at MYR 1,099 (roughly Rs. 18,900) and is now up for pre-orders today, and will start shipping from February 22. It is only available in Malaysia as of now with no information on availability in other markets.

Huawei Nova 7i specifications

The dual-SIM (Nano) Huawei Nova 7i features a 6.4-inch full-HD+ (1,080x2,310 pixels) display with a pixel density of 398ppi. It runs on EMUI 10.0.1, based on Android 10. The Nova 7i comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage that can be expanded up to 256GB using a microSD card.

Huawei Nova 7i is powered by an octa-core Kirin 810 processor and backed by a 4200mAh battery that supports Huawei's 40W SuperCharge technology.

Talking about the optics, the

Huawei Nova 7i has four cameras on the back with the main camera being a 48-megapixel shooter with a wide-angle-lens and f/1.8 aperture. Additionally, there is a 8-megapixel ultrawide-angle camera with 120° viewing angle, a 2-megapixel macro camera, and a 2 megapixel depth sensor. The front camera includes a 16-megapixel sensor with f/2.0 lens.

For connectivity, the Huawei Nova 7i has 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/a/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C port, and a

3.5mm headphone jack. Further, there is a side-mounted

fingerprint sensor.

(Gadgets 360)

Feature

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

19

The great significance of Valentine’s Day T

he all-engulfing euphoria, craze and passion witnessed, of late, with the celebrations of Valentine’s Day by youngsters obliterating all earthly differences like caste, creed, social standing, nationalities etc had compelled me to run to Google - the mother of all search engines – to comprehend its connotation and significance. Among many mythological explanations about the origin of Valentine’s Day celebrations, the most acceptable explanation is the one that states that during the days of Roman Kingdom, the Roman emperor, Claudius II, was trying to bolster his army and he forbade young men to marry. The Roman emperor believed that single men made better soldiers. In the spirit of love, St. Valentine defied the ban and performed secret marriages. Valentine was executed on February 14th .

History of civilization is replete with endless instances of celebrities from different walks of life being ardent devotees of the Roman God, Cupid, and even succumbing to committing delightfully comical “Freudian slips or

Hollywood celebrities, had met on the sets of Hollywood classic movie, “Cleopatra,” heralding the beginning of one of the most publicized and turbulent love stories of all time, captivating millions of their admirers by their relationship. However, while Burton remained loyal to his lady-love, Elizabeth’s relentless quest for new love partners was fierce and all-pervasive.

Ironically, despite Elizabeth’s immensely successful film career, all of her eight marriages had calamitous endings!

In the midst of growing euphoria of the “Casanovas” across the world to celebrate Valentine’s Day, one comes across an abundance of interesting and hilarious stories. In a classic story of “high- tech” romance, the boy and girl had continued dating online for over a year. They met each other finally on a Valentine’s Day. The girl’s father had asked the boy humorously to spell out which line he had used to win over his bright daughter. The boy sheepishly replied, “I had used a regular 56 k modem,” much to the amusement of everyone around.

lapses” enabling teeming millions to get glimpses of amorous facets of their worshipped icons. Even a cursory glance familiarises us with interesting anecdotes involving luminaries and distinguished personalities of different decades and countries who had hogged the limelight as much by their spectacular public performance as by their off-field romantic activities.

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, two of the immortal

Vindicating the immortal saying that “love defies all boundaries and lines of control,” Indian tennis heartthrob, the charismatic Sania Mirza had fallen in love with former Pakistani cricket captain, Shoaib Malik, brushing aside the concept of borders and acute national hostilities. While the SaniaShoaib conjugal relation continues blissfully, another cross-border love affair between Mohsin Khan, a

Gautam Ganguly

Communist China, that had closed all ties with the rest of the world from 1949 and restored relations in 1978, celebrate Valentine’s Day as many as six times in a year. The most significant is the observance of “Lantern Festival” that is celebrated on 7th July.

Pakistani cricketer, and Reena Roy, a successful Bollywood heroine of the 1980s had crash landed immediately after taking off! The separation, the heart-broken plight of Reena Roy’s real-life tragedy in a way, synchronizes and resembles with her reel-life’s immensely popular song: “Sheesha ho ya dil ho/Aakhir toot jaata hain.”

Interestingly, Communist China, that had closed all ties

with the rest of the world from 1949 and restored relations in 1978, celebrate Valentine’s Day as many as six times in a year. The most significant is the observance of “Lantern Festival” that is celebrated on 7th July. In the olden days, ladies were generally confined to homes. This quintessential festival provided the opportunities to the ladies to go out with lanterns for dating and look for life partners breaking away from the conservative social shackles.

However, with the growing popularity of internet, February 14 is now celebrated with euphoria and chocolates like the rest of the world especially by the young Chinese generation.

Closer home, the story of an escapade of a magistrate to meet his fiancée on Valentine’s Day is rollicking.

Time was when the magistrates were entrusted with the responsibility of escorting trains in view of the prevailing law and order situation. A

to explain to the magistrate that he had no hand in the aberration as it was too small a station for controlling of a mail train.

The outraged magistrate ordered the stationmaster to kneel down on the platform!

When the train finally left the station amidst cheers and fun of the passengers leaving the station master in his kneeling position, the ego of the Casanova magistrate was immensely satisfied that he would be able meet his beloved on the Valentine’s Day as prefixed!

Although, the celebration of Valentine’s Day is a comparatively new phenomenon in the Indian context, Indian romanticism dates back to the days of Shahjahan, the great Mughal emperor.

The most fantastic gift of love in the annals of mankind is the Taj Mahal.

very high profile magistrate was once assigned the task of escorting a train from a certain station in upper Assam to Guwahati. On the appointed day, before the train had started, he had told the driver to stop only in the scheduled stations.

However, when the train stopped at a small station, the angry magistrate ran towards the station master with the posse of policemen following him. The shaken station master politely tried

Love as a passion has remained inextricably linked with the human psyche since the dawn of civilisation. Both Ramayana and Mahabharata, two of our epics, throw illuminating lights on this eternal human passion. Even Adolf Hitler, arguably one of the most hated men in contemporary history with his known misanthropic attitude, could not escape from this emotion and had a tumultuous love affair with Eva Braun.

20 Fun Horoscope of the week

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020 These predictions are based on the month of birth, and are about an individual’s work environment, parents and extended family.

Jayashree Bose Certified Feng Shui, Chinese astrology, date selection consultant & author, www.facebook.com/geoprinciples

16th and 19th February will be great days for you to connect with your boss and your business associates. Host a Sunday get together for your workmates and/or extended family, people will love it. 18th February avoid dealing with the opposite gender. Be careful with your words and actions on 21st February, you could get into a confrontation.

16th February will be a slow day for you. 15th, 17th and 20th February will be ideal days for you to build your relationship with your seniors and share your ideas. Avoid hosting important meetings and presentations on 19th February. You could get into a disagreement with someone at work, probably your seniors.

On 21st February you will be emotionally betrayed by a sibling or a colleague.

16th February will be a great day for you to connect with your boss and business associates. Host a Sunday get-together for your workmates and/ or extended family, it’s bound to be a hit. 17th February will be a slow day for you. 20th February you could feel your parents or your boss don’t appreciate your efforts at all.

Not a great week ahead, however it will be an eventful week. On 15th February be careful while dealing with the opposite gender. 18th February will be a slow day.

19th February, someone from work or your extended family could betray you; also avoid trusting anyone with your secrets. 21st February you could have issues with your seniors or your extended family.

An eventful week for you. 15th February will be a great day for you to connect with your boss and your business associates. 16th February you could have issues with your seniors and/or parents. 18th February you could be betrayed or emotionally by someone from work and/or extended family. On 19th February be careful of your words and action as you will create your own problems.

16th February will be a great day when you should meet up with your colleagues or share your ideas with your seniors. 16th February host a get together for your workmates and/or extended family. 17th February you will feel your seniors or colleagues don’t appreciate your efforts. Other days will be average to good.

Avoid sharing your ideas with your seniors on 15th February; you could get into a disagreement with them. 17th February will be a great day for you to share your ideas with your seniors or simply just connect with them. On 16th February you could be betrayed by someone at work and/or family. 21st February be careful of what you say, you could create problems for yourself.

This week you will have a bad start but your luck will generally pick up by the end of the week. Avoid planning any event with your work buddies or seniors on 15th and 16th February. You might have disagreements with them. On 18th February your boss 3 will be more receptive to your ideas. Avoid making any plans for 21st February.

You will have an amazing week compared to last week.

Use 15th, 18th, 19th and 20th February to host all your important meetings or just connect with your business associates. You need to avoid all kinds of interaction with your seniors on 17th February. Avoid making any plans on 21st February; you will have to do last minute adjustments.

16th, 19th and 20th February will be great days for you to build your relationship with your seniors and people at work. 16th is a perfect day for you to have a get together with your extended family or your workmates. Host all your meetings and presentations on 19th and 20th February. 18th February you could have a disagreement with your senior or work associate or parents.

You will have a good week ahead. Don’t make any promises on 16th and 19th February. You will have to live up to the promises you make, so be extremely cautious. Avoid getting into a confrontation. Share your ideas with your seniors or generally build a relationship with people at work on 17th and 18th February.

Avoid scheduling important meetings on 19th February.

You have an amazing week ahead of you. 17th and 18th February are ideal days for you to mingle with your seniors and people at work and build your work network. Avoid everyone and anyone on 20th February, you are bound to get into a disagreement.

Avoid hosting any meetings on the 20th; you will get into a confrontation. Other days will be average for you.

5.

6.

Who remains the only footballer to be knighted while he was still playing actively?

This is the poster of the first feature film of which director who was in news recently?

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

Dilbert By Scott Adams

Scot. beloved one; darling; sweetheart.

Sudoku 1 54 7 6 4 5 88 91 3 5 5 46 2 3 9 7 4 2 6 5 8 8 5 2 3 6 24 1 4 8

3 97 8

5 3 8 7 2

4 11 7

26 9

Daily DailySudoku: Sudoku:Fri Fri14-Feb-2020 7-Feb-2020

(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2020. All rights reserved. (c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2020. All rights reserved.

Name the legend from northeast who was voted

by MSN in 2014 as the Most Influential Indian Female and bears the nickname, Mengoubi or ‘the fair one’.

noun

hard hard

last week solution 42 17 54 76 35 93 21 44 88 66 79 91 57 85 46 12 19 72 93 37 24 31 68 59 93 49 87 68 66 24 12 85 71 58 35 23

68 9 2 13 38 52 7 8 61 97 35 3 1 45 74 23 8 7 9 16 41 4 6 8 52

59 86 22 43

65 86 5 9 7 21 34 74 2 5 52 63 11 9 1 3 34 85 77 17 6 4 26 49 98

Daily DailySudoku: Sudoku:Fri Fri14-Feb-2020 7-Feb-2020

(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2020. All rights reserved. (c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2020. All rights reserved.

4.

British Slang. exhausted; very tired

curio-city

Which popular dessert gets its name from a French word which literally means ‘crust of a tart’?

[ joh ]

1. Borthal Dance of Barpeta

3.

adjective [nak-erd]

2. Dadasaheb Phalke

Gangavataran in 1937 was the last directorial venture of which Indian film legend?

jo

3. Custard

2.

Word of the week Word knackered of the week

4. Irom Sharmila Chanu

Which popular Assamese folk dance has the dancers dancing to a very fast beat, the Zhiya Nom beat?

5. Sir Stanley Matthews

1.

6. Bong Joon Ho

curio-city

hard hard

http://www.dailysudoku.com/ http://www.dailysudoku.com/

Fiction

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

21

Midnight cricket

commentary in the jungle T he interstate border of Arunachal Pradesh was a mere twenty minutes drive from my workplace, a family tea garden in the Sonitpur district of Assam. The small border town of Balijan welcomed all and sundry to the land of the dawnlit mountains but also had an inner line permit gate installed right after the signage which led to a paradoxical situation for an Assamese outdoorsman.

I went around this problem by befriending an influential official of the area who after satisfying himself that I posed no threat to his state allowed me the benefit of traversing up and down the restricted gate at my leisure. From thereon I would enter the forest logging roads inside the jungles and hills all around.

My favourite place was a forest out division called Diphu (after a small river) which had a

beautiful grassland plateau before the road crept up into the steep mountain above.

These forest roads were mostly made by the forest contractors who worked in the logging operations by buying the blocks offered by tender and which they were allowed to work for about 2-3 years as they could access these places only 6 months in a year. So my next step was to make good friends with these resolute people who loved the forests and spent a good amount of their lives in remote jungles under the canopy of trees in skimpy huts together with their workmen, trained elephants and 4-wheeled trucks to take out the logs to the saw mills in the plains of Assam. A lot of this timber was sized and cut into planks and battens and despatched to the big markets in then Calcutta, Delhi and even up to Gujarat. At that time wood was essential for building the window frames, doors and furniture and it was a thriving business.

Suban

Nearing the camp I picked up some sounds of a radio. It was past midnight and I was wondering what Suban was listening to so late. Then I heard the unmistakable sound of a cricket match commentary.

Hazarika was a local forest contractor from the town of Gohpur and we got along quite well as I was also genuinely interested in timber work and had by that time also engaged some skilled carpenters to make quality wooden furniture as a business venture. Using Teak and Gamari wood as well as other varieties like Hollock, I was able to make some nice sofa sets, dining tables and chairs designed on magazines from other countries; with good polish work the timber gave a very good glaze and the whorls gave the sets character.

Later on, we made

cabinets and almirahs which fetched many repeat orders. I made it a point to obtain brass fittings for the locks, hinges and handles which augmented the wood colours a lot. Of course my timber supplier was Suban and hence it became routine for me to visit his forest camps for overnight trips a couple of times a month.

On one such occasion I had gone to try my luck firstly in the Diphu grassland area but there was already another hunting party there from Itanagar and after exchanging pleasantries I agreed to leave that area for them. I decided to try and go up to Suban’s camp and if we did not get any game by then I would request him to let me use his elephant and try to go on a round deeper into the jungle.

As luck would have it, just as we were climbing up hill a huge sambar deer galloped up the steep hill with strong strides not allowing me to get in a shot. It was a good chance but the trees gave the animal enough cover to get away. Therefore it had to be the elephant ride after all. By the time I reached his camp and the welcome warmth of his bonfire it must have been around 10 pm.

Suban was relaxing with a drink but I declined his offer and said I would take up his offer later upon return. His elephant had to be brought back from grazing and after tying up the seats and ropes securely we set off. The mahout in front was controlling the animal with his feet pressed behind his ears and the iron ankoor to nudge it along. I positioned myself behind him with my shotgun and my trusted staff from the garden sat behind me with a torch. Some mahouts are also good hunters and can use the torch well and that night we had an experienced man who was also using the main torch as we went along.

Elephant rides are not very comfortable and as the mighty beast trudges along one has to be careful to swing with the motion from left to right. It has an uncanny but safe step avoiding holes or fallen trees and can smell big cats from afar to avoid any sudden onslaught.

Climbing uphill one has to hold on to the ropes tightly but climbing down the animal, at times, had to literally sit on his rump so as not to lose balance and those times we were perching forward. Also there is a constant gurgling sound from his stomach which is a

Ranjan Kumar Choudhury ranjanchou@hotmail.com

result of gastric juices aiding the digestion process. In fact one can hear this sound from far and it has helped me many times not to surprise one in the thick forests. On that particular night we headed for a small salt lick and were near the spot when a big sized barking deer ran out in front and stood looking at us.

It gave me ample time to drop it with my gun. Having got the kill I decided to head back to camp which was about half an hour away and got back without any more sightings as the shot had alarmed the animals in the vicinity.

I was happy as the hunt was successful and was looking forward to a drink and some hot food by the fireplace.

Nearing the camp I picked up some sounds of a radio. It was past midnight and I was wondering what Suban was listening to so late. Then I heard the unmistakeable sound of a cricket match commentary. It was of a test match being played far away in England where the commentators were analyzing the day’s play. The visitors, India, were shot out for 42 and our spinners could not grip the bowl well in the cold. Suban was engrossed listening to the commentary. Indeed he was a man of many parts and this love for cricket he had picked up from his college days at Tezpur when he was an aspiring fast bowler. It just goes to show how ingrained this game of cricket had become with us Indians even back then. When I asked him he told me that he always had his transistor radio with him and rarely missed listening to a test match. As I fell asleep in the tent I thought of this strange concoction of cricket, hunting, camping and timber logging work and felt very happy at the great life I was so lucky to enjoy as a young man and have made such good friends like Suban Hazarika. At that point in my life all I wanted was for this life style to continue forever when I could roam free in the wild mountains.

Nowadays one has to pay a premium to be an outdoorsman and a mall/ cinema is just around the corner to entertain us. In my youth, wildlife was always around the corner and the nearest cinema hall a good hundred plus miles away. But those were indeed the good old days!

22 Lifestyle

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

Shivratri and certain taboos

H

indus celebrate Shivratri as they believe that Lord Shiva married Goddess Parvati on this auspicious night.

This year Shivratri is on the 21st of this month i.e. February.

The devotees of Lord Shiva try to appease him by offering him his favourite things. Unmarried girls worship Shiva so that they get a suitable groom.

It is a custom to offer white items like milk, Dhatura flower and its seed, bhang (cannabis), white flowers etc on this day. Vaastu has advocated several ways to worship Shiva and Parvati. But it has also warned not to do certain things during Shivratri which may invoke the wrath of Lord Shiva.

turn, killed Shankhchuda.

Shankhchuda was a devotee of Lord Vishnu who loves Shankha (Conch Shell). So this Shankh is regarded as the symbol of the demon.

Hence

the puja of Lord Shiva should never be done with the Shankh. For example, it is a custom to blow the Shankh during religious occasions but never in Shivratri.

Certain flowers are forbidden while worshipping Lord Shiva.

They are Chameli, Kesar, Malati, Champa, Kund, Juhee and Doodh Harika.

Kartals or cymbals should never be played while worshipping Lord Shiva.

As said before there has been always a conflict between Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. The Tulsi plant has taken its birth from the body of demoness Vrinda who was the wife of a demon named Jallandhar.

Lord Vishnu married Tulsi.

So Tulsi

Shankh (conch shell) water: There was a demon named Shankchuda who attacked the Devas and defeated them. The Devas went to Lord Shiva for help, who in

leaves should not be used during the puja of Lord Shiva.

Til (black sesame seeds): In Hindu rituals, Til or black sesame seeds are offered during Yajna or Havan along with maize or wheat grains and ghee. It is said that Til was produced from the dirt of Lord Vishnu.

So it should not be offered to Lord Shiva.

Anyway, black is not the favourite colour of Lord Shiva.

Hemanta Kumar Sarmah

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

Kumkum.

It is good to offer white rice to Lord Shiva.

Broken rice is considered an incomplete item.

Hence it (broken rice) should not be offered to Lord Shiva.

Kumkum is a symbol of good luck for ladies.

Though Lord Shiva married Parvati, he was more of a recluse. So he despises

Seeds and its Benefits As we all know, in nature, life starts from seeds. So seeds are the potential sources of vitality. In fact, nutritional researchers have also found some evidence to support this. So here we discuss some of the nutritious seeds and their benefits.

1. Flaxseeds or Linseeds It has the following benefits: It contains Omega 3 fatty acid especially alpha linoleic acid, thus reducing bad cholesterol or LDL level.

It contains polyphenol thus providing antioxidant activity and reducing inflammation.

It contains lignans, which has both antioxidant and hormonal property, thus decreases tumour growth and cancer risk.

It reduces blood sugar level.

It is very helpful in proper cardiac functioning.

2. Chia Seeds

These contain most of the essential nutrients like all types of vitamins and minerals.

It is rich in soluble fibre.

It contains good quality protein.

As it is rich in good quality protein and fibre it has both high satiety value and capacity to decrease weight.

As it contains bone nutrients like calcium, phosphorus etc it is helpful for bone functioning.

It has got antioxidant property to combat free radical damage in the body.

As it also contains Omega 3 fatty

acid, thus it is also helpful for heart health.

3. Pumpkin Seeds

This contains a lot of minerals with a lot of benefits, like it contains iron which is crucial for oxygen carrying in blood. It contains magnesium thus improving our sleep and bone health.

It also contains zinc thus improving enzyme functioning of our body and improving hair quality.

As it is rich in Vitamin E, sterols thus it has potent antioxidant property thus reducing ageing effect and prevent cancer risk.

It regulates blood sugar level.

As it contains both Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids it is beneficial for both heart and liver.

Traditionally, it improves bladder health and reduces urinary organ dysfunction.

It contains squalene, a compound similar to beta carotene, thus it improves eye functions.

As it contains serotonin, it is good for regulating sleep too.

4. Hemp Seeds

It has got as much as protein like soya bean, containing 9 essential amino acids thus making it an alternative choice of protein for

gamma linoleic acid, thus reducing inflammation.

It is full of fibre and many other micronutrients like selenium, zinc, potassium, magnesium, thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, folate etc.

5. Sunflower Seeds

vegetarians.

It contains right proportion of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids, and cannabidiol, a beneficial compound, thus it is beneficial for heart health and nervous system.

It is found to reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease etc.

Along with proper Omega 3 Omega 6 ratio, it is also rich in

As it contains chorogenic acid, it has the capacity to reduce blood sugar level.

It contains both magnesium and linoleic acid; both are important for blood vessels relaxation and maintenance of proper blood flow through heart.

Flavoinoids present in it reduces inflammation.

It is exceptionally rich source of vitamin E and Selenium, thus possess antioxidant activities.

It is one of the easily available sources of copper.

6. Seasome Seeds

As it contains antioxidant components like seasemol and seaseminol, it has both cardio

Sohini Chakraborty Chatterjee

protective and antioxidant property.

As it is full of B vitamins like riboflavin, niacin, folate, thiamine it is beneficial for hair and skin.

As it contains copper it is helpful for rheumatoid arthritis patients and as it contains magnesium it prevents respiratory problems too.

This is rich in calcium and zinc, thus is associated with strong bone health.

The good quality protein and fibre present in it makes it beneficial for digestive system.

Apart from all these fenugreek seed soaked in water is believed to reduce blood sugar level.

These seeds are sometimes termed as "super foods" due to their all-round health benefits.

They are usually taken after being soaked in water, but these can be used in salads, soups, yoghurts, muffins and many other recipes too.

Excess consumption of seeds, even in unripe conditions may lead to dizziness, allergy, diarrhoea, respiratory tract problems etc.

Entertainment

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

23

Rima Das's ‘Village Rockstars’ 12th International now in Assam school syllabus Guwahati Film

R

ima Das’s national award winning film ‘Village Rockstars’ has now been included in the state board syllabus.

According to reports, the village girl, Bhanita Das, who played the role of Dhunu and wanted to have a real guitar in the much acclaimed film, will now be a subject of study by school children.

‘Dhunu’s guitar’ has been featured in ‘Sunbeam English Reader-II' textbook for Class VII students affiliated to the Assam state board.

"I was overwhelmed when I learned that the character of Dhunu and her guitar have become a part of the Class VII school syllabus.

Festival held in Guwahati

My little guitar designed from thermocol and paperwork, is now a subject of studies. It's a great feeling!" Bhanita told media.

T

he 12th International Guwahati Film Festival was held in Guwahati from 7th-10th February 2020.

The festival was organised

by Gauhati Cine Club. Films of various genres were screened at the Kanaklal Barua Auditorium of the Assam State Museum in Guwahati.

Apart from screening films the festival also conducted a short film competition.

Initially, the film festival was planned to take place on 10th December 2019 but it was postponed.

‘Nongphadok Lakpa Atithi (The Guest)’, a Manipuri film directed

by Aribam Syam Sharma was the opening film of the festival.

Films like ‘Porto Farina’, ‘Pokhilar Pakhi’, ‘Ji Golpor Ses Nai’, ‘Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara’, ‘Afterlife’, ‘Three Brother’, ‘Mustafa Z’, Iti, Tomarei Dhaka’, ‘Talan’ and ‘Pains of Autumn’, were screened during the festival.

Zubeen, Cosmic Horizon release Adil Hussain starrer music video ‘Motherland Assam’ ‘Meal’ to release digitally

Z

ubeen Garg has lent his voice to a new music video in English called ‘Motherland Assam’.

‘Motherland Assam’ is a creation of the Cosmic Horizon band. The video was released on YouTube recently.

It is to be mentioned that Cosmic Horizon is a western rock musical band from Guwahati.

Apart from Zubeen, the other

vocalists of the song include Anupam D Moran, Simanta Basumatary, Raaj J Konwar, Ambar Das, John Phukan, Prerona Dutta, Disha Dutta and Alok.

A band member Anupam Das Moran said, “It’s time we unite across all ethnicity, religions and races to make a resounding noise outside the state and the region.

People outside, especially

national and international leaders, need to hear us out so that the central government feels compelled to take up the matter seriously. This way we can get a permanent and final justice on the ever-persisting immigrant influx issue.”

The song is composed by Arup Dutta and the lyrics are penned

by Arup Dutta, Anupam D Moran and Rajib Dutta.

A

dil Hussain starrer ‘Meal’ is set to release on February 16 on MUBI India. MUBI is an online movie theatre where you watch, discover and discuss cinema.

Written and directed by Abhiroop Basu, ‘Meal’ portrays a dysfunctional family who sits together for their customary

morning meal amidst communal tension outside.

Apart from Hussain, the cast of the film includes Ratnabali Bhattacharjee and Arun Mukhopadhyay.

It is to be mentioned that the 2018 short film ‘Meal’ had won the Best Short Film award at the Ottawa Indian Film Festival Awards in July 2019.

24 Catching Up

| Feb 15 - Feb 21, 2020

The 92nd Annual Academy Awards: A Ready Reckoner The 92nd Academy Awards commonly referred to as the Oscar Awards was presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

The awards honoured the best films of 2019. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented the Academy Awards in 24 categories.

Joker received the highest number of nominations - 11. 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and The Irishman got 10 each.

Jojo Rabbit, Little Women, Marriage Story and Parasite got nominated in 6 categories each.

Ford v Ferrari got nominated in 4 categories while Bombshell, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and The Two Popes got nominated in 3 categories.

Harriet, Honeyland, Judy, Pain and Glory and Toy Story 4 got nominated in 2 categories each.

Here is the list of all the winners from 2020 Academy Awards: Best Picture: Parasite Best Actress: Renée Zellweger, Judy Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker Best Director: Bong JoonHo, Parasite Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern, Marriage Story Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 4 Best Animated Short: Hair Love Best Original Screenplay: Parasite

Best Adapted Screenplay: Jojo Rabbit Best Live Action Short: The Neighbors’ Window Best Production Design: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Best Costume Design: Little Women Documentary Feature: American Factory Documentary Short: Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl) Sound Editing: Ford v Ferrari Sound Mixing: 1917 Best Cinematography: 1917 Best Film Editing: Ford v Ferrari Best Visual Effects: 1917 Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Bombshell Best International Feature Film: Parasite Best Original Score: Joker Best Original Song: “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” Rocketman

PIC OF THE

WEEK

The joys of Democracy | Photo: Surajit Sharma

It is to be mentioned that Parasite became the film that won the highest number of awards i.e. four. 1917 won three awards while Ford v Ferrari, Joker an Once Upon a Time in Hollywood won 2 awards each.

Printed & Published by Sunit Jain on behalf of Insight Brandcom Pvt. Ltd. and Printed at Janambhumi Press (P) Ltd., Kalapahar, Guwahati and Published at 4A, Royale Arcade, Ulubari, Guwahati - 781007, Editor: Swapnil Bharali.

Phone: 0361 2522444, Email: info@g-plus.in, RNI No: ASSENG/2013/52641