G Plus Vol 7 Issue 31

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

INSIDE

Volume 07 | Issue 31 May 23 - May 29, 2020 Price `10 Sarusajai quarantine centre turning into hotbed of COVID-19, state tally at 319

Results in massive sales dip in Guwahati hile the Assam government had claimed that it hoped to earn additional revenues to the tune of Rs 1,000 crores generated after increasing the tax on liquor, the city’s liquor shop owners and distributors are of the view that the government may well end up on the losing side. This is because the initial sale trends after the tax increase shows around 50% to 60% dip in sales of liquor all over Assam.

A prominent city-based liquor shop owner talking to G Plus under condition of anonymity said, “It is not a 25% tax increase for all liquor segments; the new prices in the upper segments make them around 50% to 65% costlier.” As an example he said that Red Label whisky used to cost Rs 1,800 per bottle. After adding the 25% tax it should have been Rs 2,300 per bottle. However, the actual price is over Rs 3,000 now.

Similarly, many upper segment brands are now priced very high and work out to more than 25% on the previous MRP. Assam excise department had imposed 25% tax on the MRP across all segments of IMFL, beer, wine and overseas products recently. The entire tax increment over the original MRP will be added to the state exchequer.

The government’s decision of increasing the tax on liquor is also alleged to be unplanned and has jeopardised the government’s target of collecting more revenue.

Another wine shop owner said that 70% of IMFL market depends on the sale of 180 ml size liquor bottles (popularly called the quarter) which comprise the smallest bottles. The 750 ml

Lockdown: Guwahati beauty parlours in a huge quandary

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Additional

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Concerns prevail over impact of online education on children’s health

(popularly the full bottles) bottles are not sold in large quantities.

Therefore, the owner said, “The government could have levied more tax on the 180 ml size bottles and kept the 750 ml bottles with minimum tax increase.” But the price was increased segmentwise, the lower segments were increased by 25% on the MRP whereas the upper segment brands were increased with 50% to 65% tax, said the wine shop owners.

Because of the lockdown people are already facing financial crisis and the added tax increase on liquor has impacted the sales, said another wine shop owner.

The excise department senior officials have a different calculation. According to them, as soon as the lockdown on liquor shops was withdrawn, people started stocking liquor in huge quantities. Therefore there is a dip seen in the sales currently. It has been just a few days, so the exact scenario cannot be understood and conclusions drawn, said a senior excise department official. Only by next month can it be concluded exactly whether the sales have dipped or not, expressed the official.

There might be a dip in the sales which is affecting the liquor industry but many people are happy that a move like this will help in reduction of alcohol addiction.

The excise department generates Rs 150 crores as revenue from liquor sale every month in Assam.

G Plus will report next month what the revenue generation was this month to study how liquor sales have been affected in actuality.

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The Unsavoury truth behind the

#SaveDehingPatkai social media campaign Rangman Das @RangmanDas

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early 50 coal blocks will be offered immediately for auctions and any party could bid for the blocks and sell in the open market,” Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said on the 16th of May while announcing the fourth tranche of the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Scheme.

Ever since, an online campaign ostensibly to save and protect the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary from legally sanctioned coal mining in the vicinity has gone viral. Such mining would reportedly destroy the sanctuary comprising the last great rain forest of India which has earned the sobriquet, “Amazon of the East” despite National Board for Wild Life’s (NBWL) move of permitting Coal India Limited to carry out extraction on 98.59 hectares of the “forest’s land.”

Many students’ unions of universities with an environmentalist connected to the NGO Nature’s Beckon (an independent environmental activist group of the North East India) at the forefront, had begun an aggressive online campaign for the cause. With banners, creatives, videos etc social networking platforms have been agog with trending hashtag campaigns like #SaveDehingPatkai, #IamDehingPatkai, #I_Am_ Dehing_Patkai, #AmazonOfEast and other such.

So what is Dehing Patkai?

Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the

Barasha Das @Barasha_mi2 Dibrugarh and Tinsukia Districts of Assam and covers an area of 111.19 sq km of rainforest. The tropical wet evergreen forest consists of three parts: Jeypore, upper Dihing River and Dirok rainforest. It was declared a sanctuary on 13th June 2004. This sanctuary is also a part of the Dehing-Patkai Elephant Reserve.

The rain forest stretches out to more than 575 sq km in the districts of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Sivasagar of which the area of 111.19 sq km has been given the status of Wildlife Sanctuary.

Apart from elephants, the rainforest is home to a variety of flora and fauna; amongst them some are endangered species. It is the last

remaining largest rainforest in India.

stretch

of

It is reported that the people of Assam initially demanded the rainforest to be declared as a wildlife sanctuary that would be called the ‘Joi Dehing Wildlife Sanctuary’, and would encompass the entire area of 575 sq kms.

Soumyadeep Datta, Director of Nature’s Beckon, also gave his voice to the cause and wrote an article that was published in August 2003 in the International Primal Protection League (IPPl) where Upper Dehing has been mentioned as a prime habitat for hoolock gibbon conversation.

The demand was left unheard due to political prejudices and supposedly due to the personal agenda of a powerful Congress leader.

Finally in 2004, after about 12 long years of struggle only 111.19 sq km of the rainforest was declared a wildlife sanctuary. It was however named ‘Dehing Patkai’ instead of the ‘Joi Dehing’ as was the original demand.

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Lead Story

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

The unsavoury truth behind the #SaveDehingPatkai social media campaign History and up to date information of coal mining in the area Coal mining in the area dates back to 1826 when the British government first started it in Ledo.

Since then, coal mining has been going on in the Margherita-Ledo region. Even after independence, the central government followed the footsteps of the British and allowed coal mining.

Eastern Coalfields, which is a subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under government of India, was given a lease for mining at the Saleki Proposed Reserve Forest (PRF) of Lekhapani Range in 1973.

It was called the Tikok Open Cast Mine.

The lease was over an area of 4 sq miles and the duration of the lease was from 1973 to 2003 (30 years). This area falls under the current proposal area of 98.59 hectares where mining has been permitted by the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).

Till the expiry of the lease in 2003 CIL had broken up an area of 12.93 hectares by mining coal.

From 2003 to 2012 however, a further 44.27 hectares of land was broken up as mining continued with the renewal of the lease.

As per the Forest Department guidelines, CIL should have renewed the lease to continue mining activities in the area after its lease had expired in 2003.

“On expiry of the lease it was necessary on the part of the User agency (CIL) to apply for renewal of lease/diversion of the forests land but it has done so with due earnest only in the year 2012,” wrote the Regional Forest Office, Shillong.

The Assam Forest Department has, as such, slapped a penalty of Rs. 43.25 crores on CIL for carrying out illegal mining.

In the latest instance, Coal India Limited has been permitted to break another 41.39 hectares of land for mining with prior approval. This brings the total area of coal mining to 98.59 hectares.

In its meeting in April 2020, the Standing Committee of the National Board of Wild Life, under the leadership of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, recommended approval of the CIL’s proposal for legalising the mining provided it fulfilled 28 special conditions. Sources in the state forest department said that CIL has not been able to fulfil the conditions.

Illegal mining in Saleki and Ledo

Reportedly, there is a nexus of illegal entities that has been conducting illegal mining in the area since decades. Most of these were earlier unorganised entities.

Allegedly, Bhaskar Sarma, the current MLA of Margherita, had organised all these unorganised, individual entities under his umbrella. Sarma was among the first top ULFA cadres to surrender and was among the rehabilitated Surrendered ULFA (or SULFA).

The illegal mining was done under the rat-hole mining system.

CIL has also been reported to have conducted illegal rat-hole mining and had even been permitting the other illegal entities to do so – all entities benefitting by crores of rupees in the process.

Sources in the area, talking to G Plus, said that many political leaders were also involved in the illegal coal mining business and the illegal mining has been going on since years. The source said, “No government ever did anything against the politicos involved in the illegal mining.”

Allegedly, Coal India’s rat-hole coal mining had even resulted in a whole hill collapsing into the mine bringing down an entire village with it.

The current confusion and the campaign thereof

The current campaign revolves around the fact that coal mining activities in Saleki PRF will bring doom to the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary and destroy the Elephant Reserve.

Many organisations including the Opposition-in-Assembly are vehemently opposing the Centre’s decision to allow coal mining in Dehing Patkai. The students of Gauhati University were running various campaigns over social media opposing the Centre’s decision. The general secretary of the Post Graduate Students’ Union of Gauhati University, Moon Talukdar, despite being a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) – the student wing of the ruling BJP - talking to G Plus said that he will back the project only if it is legally done and does not hamper the wildlife.

However, people having a clear idea of the geography of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts are of the opinion that the mining areas of Coal India Limited and even the other illegal collieries are hundreds of kilometres away from the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary. The mining activities do not even touch upon the 575 sq km of rainforest, let alone the 111.19 sq km of the defined wildlife sanctuary itself.

Reportedly, even the transportation routes from the mining areas do not touch the forest land.

A recent video posted by Soumyadeep Datta of Nature’s beckon also speaks on similar lines. Datta was seen claiming that none of the coal mining activities fall on the wildlife reserve as well as the entire rainforest area.

However, it cannot be denied that although the coal mines are situated far away from the actual boundary of the rainforest, mining activities in the area do impact the larger eco-sensitive zone.

Nevertheless, the issue reared its head and became a mega social media campaign ostensibly due to a ripple effect perhaps because of an NGO’s precarious stand.

The volte-face of Nature’s Beckon

Soumyadeep Datta, an environmentalist and director of Nature’s Beckon has been demanding for the wildlife sanctuary status for Dehing Patkai since 1995. He’s was one of the leading voices that finally forced the government to declare 111 sq km, if not the entire rainforest into a wildlife sanctuary.

Datta has stood strong against coal mining in the area ever since its inception. He, at first, had lent support to the online campaign against the latest permission given by NBWL to continue the mining activities.

In the Facebook page of Nature’s Beckon, Northeast India, a post was made on 6th May where Datta had stated that the organisation would be standing in strong opposition to any kind of coal mining activities in Dehing Patkai.

However, in a volte-face on 19th May, he released a video saying that campaigners were confused about the area and that the area of mining is not located in the rainforest area.

This was not the first time that Datta was found to be inconsistent in his stance. Nature’s Beckon was charged by the Assam Forest Department for giving wrong and misleading information in a newsletter published in International Primal Protection League (IPPL) in 2003. Datta was even paid $1,000 by IPPL for his work on conservation by way of training forest guards and other village volunteers. However, the forest department questioned the NGO’s work as claimed in the newsletter as no physical proof of the same was found.

Given the environmentalist’s

An aerial view of the Dehing-Patkai region track record, questions are now being raised on Datta backing out of the ongoing campaign.

Allegedly, the campaign was started by stakeholders like Bhaskar Sarma, whose illegal activities will be affected given the new announcement by the finance ministry on open bidding of coal fields. After this announcement even Oil India Limited has reportedly bid for the coal mines in Saleki.

of 2021. Allegedly, Bhaskar Sarma is the one to launch and fund this campaign. Further, Pradyut Bodoloi who was himself associated in the coal mining sector during his tenure as MLA is also allegedly actively backing the campaign for his own benefit.

The Dehing Patkai preservation issue is now being regarded as a diversion that was created to wean the focus away from the actual agenda. A political blame game is going on between the Congress and the ruling BJP. The major reason for the diversion of everyone’s attention from all other matters to the Dehing Patkai controversy can be connected to the upcoming general elections and the fight for the Margherita seat.

Coal mining has been going on in the region with due permission from the central government since decades and the Centre has never raised concern on the environmental degradation of the region. Both Centre and the state government have been earning from these mines through a syndicate-commission system.

Former Congress MLA of Margherita, Pradyut Bordoloi and the present BJP MLA, Bhaskar Sarma’s names are often linked to this syndicate. As mentioned earlier, Sarma had taken all unorganised mines under his umbrella. However, the recent announcement by finance ministry might just fold up this umbrella.

As such, it looks like the much trending online campaign was launched to win over the citizens in the upcoming general elections

The Assam government has hinted that it will back the Centre’s decision claiming that coal mining in the Dehing-Patkai reserve will be allowed only if it is sanctioned to be legal.

The state forest and environment minister, Parimal Suklabaidya, talking to G Plus exclusively said, “It is during our BJP government that we identified the illegal mining going on in Dehing-Patkai and accordingly action was taken.” He further added that this government is only trying to make things legal, and it is the illegal nexus which had benefitted all this while that is creating the controversy now. Explaining further he said that illegal mining has been continuing in the area since 2003.

Moreover, it has never been reported that a single elephant has fallen victim to the illegal coal mining or its transportation in the area. “Is it really an elephant corridor where mining is taking place?” questioned the minister indicating that the “Amazon of the East,” i.e. the rain forest and the elephant reserve contained within it are far off from the actual area where mining of coal takes place. The forest minister further said that the state government has not yet given the approval, and it can happen only after proper scrutiny of the area.

The Political game:

Latest Development: Dispur claims coal mining is possible if done legally

In The News

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

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Sarusajai quarantine centre turning into hotbed of COVID-19, state tally at 329 Nehal Jain @NehalJain96

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ith a large number of cases being reported from the Sarusajai quarantine centre, it seems to be turning into a hotbed of coronavirus.

Earlier, Tablighi Jamaat and Fancy Bazar were termed as coronavirus hotbeds.

After Tablighi Jamaat and Fancy Bazaar Aloo Godaam, Sarusajai Quarantine Centre has emerged as a hotbed of coronavirus. A majority of the latest cases of coronavirus in Assam have been reported from the quarantine centre. The spike in cases was witnessed after Assam allowed for inter-state movement of citizens.

Assam recorded the highest one-time spike in cases of coronavirus on May 23 after 63 persons were reported Covid-19 positive.

Out of the 63 new cases confirmed in Assam, 44 have been identified to be from the Sarusajai Quarantine Centre; 7 of these cases are from Dima Hasao District whereas 2 others are from Cachar, 4 from Morigaon, 2 from Nalbari and 1 each from Nagaon, Hojai, Golaghat and Jorhat.

State Health Minister Himanta

Biswa Sarma took to Twitter to inform about the massive rise. This is the highest spike of coronavirus positive cases witnessed in Assam so far in one day.

With this the total number of cases in Assam has gone up to 319 with 268 active cases; 4 deaths have been recorded till date in the state. Further, 3 persons have migrated to other states.

Assam reported the first case of coronavirus on March 31, more than a month after the deadly virus made its way to India. It took Assam close to 50 days to reach the 100 mark, with the 100th case being reported on May 18. However, it only took three days for Assam’s Covid-19 tally to double and it reached 200 on May 21. In less than 48 hours, the state of Assam reported crossing the 300 mark.

Appraising the citizens of the situation, health and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “In view of the rising number, I earnestly request you to stay at home and follow social distancing and hygiene norms.”

As authorities have just begun easing the lockdown measures in the state, many opine that lockdown relaxation may have contributed to the increase in coronavirus cases.

“The situation is getting grim.

People wait in queue to get registered at the Sarusajai Quarantine Centre | G Plus Photo Rethinking on new strategy from the government is the need of the hour,” opined Biswapriya Syam, a resident of Assam.

Similarly, another citizen said, “It’s high time to implement a strict lockdown. When there were 4/5 case then strict lockdown and when there is increase in cases lockdown is only for name. No idea what the government’s ideas and plans are.”

It should be mentioned that with the increasing number of cases of coronavirus in the state capital Guwahati, new areas are being declared containment zones. On May 19, the district administration declared parts of Fatasil and Bhootnath as containment zones. On May 22, a part of Tarun Nagar on GS Road was declared containment zone.

Earlier, some localities of

Rukminigaon, Fancy Bazar, Fatasil Ambari, Shantipur, Kumarpara and Railway Colony were declared containment zones.

The staff quarters of Dr B Barooah Cancer Hospital (BBCI), two hostels (no. 1 and 5) of GMCH, Spanish Garden and Amiyo Nagar in Guwahati too had been declared as containment zones earlier but the orders have been withdrawn.

Assam begins ‘ruthless quarantine’: Govt to spend Rs 20,000 per person under quarantine The Assam government has adopted a new policy - ‘Ruthless quarantine with a human heart’ - to ensure people stay in quarantine for 14 days without fail.

“The government will not compromise on the mandatory 14-day quarantine and we are saying ruthless because any person, however influential or powerful he may be, has to stay in quarantine. We will take care of them with a human heart and provide them with food and bed to the best of our capabilities.

Criminal cases will be initiated against anyone found jumping quarantine,” state health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, announcing the policy of May 21.

As such, the government has decided to finance all expenses of people under quarantine be it home quarantine, facility quarantine or hotel quarantine.

It has been mandated for people coming from outside the state to spend seven days in institutional quarantine, either in temporary facilities or in hotels, depending upon vacancies. They will be allowed to go home after seven days, provided the person tests negative. From the institutional facility, the person has to spend another seven days in home quarantine along with his family members at home.

For people staying in hotels for quarantine purpose, the government has decided to pay

Rs 2,000 per day as room rent and Rs 500 per day as food cost for 7 days.

After 7 nights in facility, people will have to go for home quarantine, and the whole family will be quarantined. For this period of 7 days, the government will give additional Rs 2,000.

Further, Rs 500 will be given for necessities like soap.

“After being provided with so much support, nobody is allowed to break quarantine rules,” said Himanta Biswa Sarma.

He added that the respective deputy commissioners of each district have been ordered to implement the policy and nonbailable criminal cases will be filed against people who refuse to follow the instructions.

New and additional quarantine facility being created at Sarusajai | G Plus Photo

4 Impact

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

G Plus Impact: Guwahati schools roll back fee hike, transportation charges Nehal Jain @NehalJain96

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n view of the prevailing outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions across the country have remained shut since mid-March.

While the government of Assam had directed all educational institutes to waive 50% of their monthly school/college fees for the month of April, many schools have failed to inform students/ parents of the same. Further, schools are continuing to charge miscellaneous fees like meal charges and transportation charges.

G Plus had earlier published an article highlighting the plights of students and their parents about fee hike in certain schools and non-waiver of miscellaneous fees such as transportation and laboratory charges in other schools.

The article had highlighted that Axel Public School was earlier charging full amount for transportation fees in spite of the children not availing

transportation due to lockdown.

The school issued a fresh notice on May 15 stating, “Parents will now only pay 50% of the transport fees for the month of April and 75% of the transport fees from May 2020 onwards until school reopens.”

Further, the article published on G Plus highlighted that Delhi Public School Khanapara had hiked its tuition fees by Rs 1,800 per quarter despite clear instruction from the state government that there cannot be any increase in school fees due to the ongoing pandemic.

On May 16, DPS Khanapara announced it was rolling back the increased tuition fees. “The increased tuition fees have been rolled back to that of last year’s i.e., 2019-20 for the pandemic period,” stated the announcement.

The nationwide lockdown has impacted all citizens immensely; students have been thrust into a state of dilemma. For students who were appearing for their 10th and 12th board examinations, things came to an abrupt halt.

Many are yet to finish with all their papers.

To cope with the circumstances and with an aim to keep students

File photo of students in a Guwahati school during normal times connected to academics, schools are conducting online classes. However, a majority of Guwahatians feel that these

classes are not proving beneficial for the students. There are fears among people that online teaching and learning process is giving

a free pass to the educational institutes for charging higher fees by showing off their e-learning systems.

GMC probes into disposal of biomedical wastes across city

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n view of the prevailing outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, safe disposal of biomedical waste remains a major issue of concern.

There have been reports of biomedical waste being disposed off in Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) dustbins which are meant for garbage disposal.

G Plus had earlier reported an incident where a welfare worker from Guwahati, Ittisha Sarah, who runs an initiative called the Northeast Waste Collective, found a bag labelled “Clinical Infectious Wastes” in the dumpster on the RG Baruah Road.

The report highlighted the dangers caused by mismanagement and improper disposal of biomedical wastes especially at a time like this, posing a threat to lives of sanitation workers.

To examine the matter, a team of GMC officials was formed under the guidance of Commissioner Devajyoti Hazarika and led

by Joint Commissioner Pulak

Mahanta.

On May 18, the team inspected four hospitals located in Lokhra, NH37 and Gotanagar to check their biomedical waste management system. The hospitals inspected are Critical Care Hospital, Excel Care Hospital, Ayursundra Hospital and Akansha Hospital.

Critical Care Hospital was penalized an amount of Rs 50,000 while Akansha Hospital was penalized an amount of Rs 30,000 for non-compliance of biomedical waste management rules.

At both the hospitals, anomalies were found as disposal of biomedical waste and general waste was not segregated.

Logbook of waste management was also not being maintained.

Additionally, Critical Care Hospital also had its license renewal pending.

In another drive conducted by the GMC, five hospitals situated at Narengi and RGB Road were inspected namely EG Nursing Home, Dental Clinic in Forest Gate, KGMT Hospital, Gate Hospital and Midland Hospital.

Dental Clinic, Forest Gate was penalized an amount of Rs 50,000 for having no trade license, no BMW agreement, no NGO agreement for garbage disposal, and disposing biomedical waste with general garbage.

EG Nursing Home and Midland Hospital were penalized with a sum of Rs 10,000 each for various irregularities found by the team.

It should be mentioned that to ensure safe disposal of biomedical waste generated during treatment, diagnosis and quarantine of patients with the novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had come out with special guidelines.

The guidelines provide a series of steps for safe disposal of waste generated in hospital isolation wards for COVID-19 patients, testing centres and laboratories, quarantine facilities and homes of suspected patients.

State health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, during a press

The Dr B Borooah Cancer Institute and its front entrance | G Plus photo

A vagabon donning a PPE suit that he found discarded in a garbage bin meet on May 7, had said that all biomedical waste being generated

in the state are getting disposed as per ICMR guidelines.

Concern

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

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Concerns prevail over impact of online education on children’s health

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nline lessons are helping educational institutions around India beat the Covid-19 lockdown to push ahead with the academic calendar. But the trend has raised many concerns among parents, educational experts and health experts.

While some have expressed alarm about the potential dangers of internet exposure for young children, others say they are scared the digital shift may alienate economically disadvantaged students who do not have access to the technology required to access digital lessons.

“Online education is doing more harm to the kids than good.

I feel that educational institutes have started taking online classes just so that they can continue to charge fees from the students,” expressed Vijay Bajaj, a resident of Guwahati.

Another parent, Raja Sarma, raised concerns in the same vein.

“We should start thinking about the problems that students are facing today. Online teaching is not enough,” he said.

On 15th April, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which is engaged in humanitarian aid for young ones around the world, said, “Millions of children are at increased risk of harm as their lives move increasingly online during lockdown in the Covid-19 pandemic.”

“Under the shadow of Covid-19, the lives of millions of children have temporarily shrunk to just their homes and their screens.

We must help them navigate this new reality,” the statement quoted UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore as saying.

Speaking to G Plus about the impacts of online education on children’s health, Dr Navanil Barua, a neurosurgeon based in Guwahati said, “Children need to indulge in a lot of physical activities in order to stay healthy.

The recent trend of online education and online gaming has been paving way for many diseases like obesity and heart diseases. If things continue this way for long, we can expect to see a spurt in occurrence of such diseases at an early age.”

He added that the current situation is also having an impact on the eyes of the children.

“Kids these days are only exposing their eyes to unnatural lights, depriving them of natural lights. Spending maximum time in front of computer/phone also means using the eyes for near visions only which leads to less

exercise of the eye muscles. If it continues this way, eye muscles may lose their functions,” he said.

However, with coronavirus causing a threat to the entire world and no vaccine having been found, many opine that online education is the only way forward.

“We are adapting to online education out of compulsion, not out of choice. Online education is the way forward and we need to learn how to deal with it.

Parents can choose devices that have minimum glare or print out the study materials for their kids, going forward,” Dr Rakesh Periwal, general physician, told G Plus.

The issues related to online education are echoed by teachers as well who state that this process of learning has proved rather disadvantageous for students from underprivileged backgrounds.

Uttam Teron, the owner of Parijat Academy in Pamohi Village of Assam, imparts education to over 500 students for free. Speaking to G Plus about the trend of online education, he said, “Most of our students live in remote areas without good telephone connection.

Laptops and internet connections are a distant dream for these children.”

Teron added, “These are the real challenges that hinder the process of online learning.”

However, he informed G Plus that the teachers of Parijat Academy have been sending notes to students over Whatsapp so that those who have access to smartphones can continue their studies. Students have also been urged to help their classmates who stay close by, by way of sharing notes.

Schools and colleges across India have been shut since mid-

March in order to enforce social distancing, which is considered the best bet for Covid-19 prevention in the absence of a vaccine or medicine.

With a nationwide lockdown in place, physical classes are unlikely to resume in the coming days. To ensure the academic calendar doesn’t suffer much disruption on account of the lockdown, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has been constantly asking schools and colleges to teach students through online classes while making several platforms available to aid the exercise.

Owing to the prevailing circumstances, many health and educational institutes in the country have been studying the increased dependency on gadgets among adults and children amid the lockdown and monitoring its impact on mental health.

Representative image of a child attending an online class from home

Janasanyog No. 591/20

Nehal Jain @NehalJain96

6 City

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

Lockdown: Guwahati beauty parlours in a huge quandary Rifa Deka @dekarifa

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ith women everywhere cribbing about their eyebrows falling out of shape, split ends in their hair and several other problems that only their particular favourite parlour lady can solve, that beauty parlours in Guwahati continue to stay out of bounds for customers has become a major problem.

A grooming space, a place to get pampered or just a place to relax while eavesdropping on the latest gossip in town, women miss all the ‘selfcare’ sessions. There’s nothing that a good haircut, perfectly arched eyebrows or the freshly manicured nails can’t cure.

Although a trip to the parlour cannot help one get through the entire COVID situation, it sure can prevent the nation’s 5 billion dollar industry from completely bailing out.

On one hand, the internet is flooding with videos on ‘how to cut your own hair at home’ and on the other there are people who would want their hair to be trimmed by experts only.

Whatever may be the case, COVID-19 and the lockdown to curb its spread, has taken a toll on the beauty parlour business across the city.

Threading, waxing, facial cleansing, a self haircut or any

other grooming procedure is way beyond the skill sets most people possess. The lockdown has forced people to either do all this by themselves, stay messy, or risk having a beautician walk right into their homes and provide the service to them, at the cost of getting affected by the virus. The fear has grown among women especially after the barber from Kumarpara tested positive for the virus at Fancy Bazar.

Despite the businesses being impacted, beauty parlour owners still have to pay rent for the property where their shops are located. They also have to pay salaries to the employees who work in their parlour and some parlours are facing an additional loss as they are unable to sell the beauty products that they had invested in as extension of their business.

“I am currently unable to pay the staff employed in my parlour.

We usually pay them out of the money we make throughout the month but now everything is shut. Moreover, my husband just went through a heart surgery and I am facing a financial crunch,” said Indrani who runs her own beauty parlour in Kumarpara area of the city. “My girls (staff) have also understood my problems during this period and they know that their ‘Madam’ is going through a tough time. I do not have money to pay them right now, but I will, once my parlour opens and the situation normalizes,” she added.

Representative image of an empty beauty parlour Another beauty parlour owner, Jula Baruah who owns a beauty parlour called City Lady on RG Baruah Road said, “From the 19th of March my parlour has been shut and it’s very very difficult right now since the rent is due and even if I don’t give my staff full pay, I have to give them something to run their own households also.” For the first month of the lockdown, Baruah said that she had paid them the full salary but after that it has become tough for her to make

payments. “I’m still managing to pay them whatever is in my capacity, because I have to as it is my responsibility,” Baruah added. On being asked whether her beauty parlour is providing services to customers at home, she denied doing so.

The lockdown has hit not just the beauty parlours in Guwahati, but also big chains across the country with some major hair and beauty chains contemplating on borrowing crores of rupees to stay in business.

COVID-19 has struck a huge blow to the income of beauticians and beauty parlour owners. In a post pandemic world, beauty parlours will be expected to maintain a high level of hygiene as they fall in a high-touch and contact industry.

Even if these businesses find a way to operate safely, they will have a hard time returning to normalcy due to their nature, which is such, that beauticians and hair stylists ought to be in close proximity with people.

Assam’s GNRC Hospital shines amidst COVID gloom in West Bengal G Plus News @guwahatiplus

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ith 190 deaths and 1374 active cases, West Bengal is sitting in the eighth position among all Indian states with regards to the COVID scenario. As more tests are being carried out every day, the number of affected persons has been increasing exponentially.

During this COVID gloom, the state health department has done well by taking on board private healthcare institutions in the state. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, West Bengal has already signed MoUs with many private hospitals to share the load of Coronavirus pandemic.

In North 24 Parganas district, along with other private hospitals, the state health ministry has tied up with

GNRC Medical located in Taki Road, Kadambagachi, Barasat.

The hospital has its origins in Guwahati, Assam. It is the fourth unit of GNRC group of Hospitals and first outside Assam. The unit in Barasat was made operational in July 2018 to provide affordable and quality treatment under a unique scheme called Affordable Health Mission. It is noteworthy to mention here that GNRC is the first super speciality healthcare centre in North East India and presently operates three hospitals in Assam with combined bed strength of over 500 beds. It was founded in the year 1987 by Dr. Nomal Chandra Borah, an eminent neurologist of the country and founder of Affordable Health Mission.

A total of 93 Covid-19 patients have been already admitted to GNRC Medical, Barasat among which 42 have been successfully discharged. Currently, 44 active

cases are being treated in the facility while five patients have succumbed to the disease and another two patients were successfully discharged from the quarantine wards.

The doctors in the hospital supported by other clinical and paramedical staff have done well in managing the COVID patients even though the facility has been in operation just for two years.

GNRC Medical, Barasat is a hospital for the masses as it aims to provide quality healthcare at affordable rates under Affordable Health Mission. The main objective of the mission is to ensure “Health for all, smiles for all.”

Free OPD consultation,

free ambulance service, free treatment to accident and emergency patients for 24 hours, low cost surgical procedures and diagnostics along with ICU beds,

use of generic medicines are some of the means which have been adopted by the hospital to serve each and all in and around Barasat and West Bengal.

File photo of GNRC Barasat in Kolkata

Poll

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

Yes: 48%

Guwahatians divided in opinion over reopening of malls

No: 52% Total votes: 4.8K Rifa Deka @dekarifa

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ow that shops in market complexes and large sized standalone stores have been allowed to open as part of the relaxation in Lockdown 4.0, Guwahatians seem to have mixed opinions about reopening of the city’s malls.

While some people express fear of cases multiplying exponentially with the new relaxations in place, others believe that if almost everything else is open, why not malls? After all, malls are far more spacious and much less crowded.

G Plus conducted a poll on its social media channels and asked Guwahatians whether it make sense for malls to remain closed with shops in market complexes now open.

More than 4,800 people participated in the poll. On the one hand, the results showed 48 percent of the people being in favour of malls reopening, a conflicting 52 percent of voters said that it was better if malls remained shut.

Netizens actively commented on G Plus’s Facebook post after casting their votes in the poll conducted on May 20.

Opening the malls could, to an extent, reduce stress on mallowners and provide them an opportunity to try and make up for the massive losses caused during the period of this lockdown.

With shops in market complexes allowed to open, does it make sense for malls to remain closed?

Reopening of malls could also reboot the economy if safe shopping is promoted simultaneously, following all COVID-19 safety and prevention measures. A well thought-out action plan in collaboration with governments could also help accelerate the economy of states and help those employed in these malls can get back to work.

In response to the question asked in the poll, one Facebook user, Raja Gohain, expressed his views, “I feel that malls will have much better sanitisation facilities and take more care to check the customers that are coming in.

It makes no sense to keep malls closed when the market complexes are open.”

Another Facebook user, Mandira Ghosh, opined, “Unlike market complexes, malls have better control on movement of people and crowds, wherein with the help of technology they can monitor footfall and restrict them from time to time and case to case.

Similarly for temperature and hygiene control as well.”

“Malls, eateries, schools and colleges, cinema halls and gyms are the last thing that will open in this pandemic. Big Bazaar and Vishal are providing home delivery of essential goods which the other malls can adopt for the time being,” said Simon Baishya suggesting that malls could opt for a similar home delivery service.

“As far as revenue goes it is equally important those who are arguing

A near empty mall of Guwahati just before the lockdown was announced | G Plus photo about wine shops being open, let me tell you, liquor is the most taxable commodity and most of the revenue of our government comes from excise duty tax,” the cybercitizen said, in defence of liquor shops being open when some people on the internet began to take a dig at reopening of wine shops. He went on to explain that revenue is equally important for businesses to survive.

On the need to act responsibly while stirring outside one’s house, a netizen Monali Longmailai took to Twitter saying, “People go to hang out in malls more than

Student NGO extends hand to support needy during COVID-19

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n the time of Coronavirus pandemic ‘Altruists of Society’ has taken the initiative to provide basic necessities for the needy.

During this crisis they have been providing essential commodities to various people who are in need.

Recently, they provided essential commodities to 130 families of the Debanagar village near Khanapara area of the city which consisted of around 500 residents. Earlier, they have also helped 50 families consisting of around 200 people with essential commodities in Lalganesh area of the city. The group has been collecting money through crowd-funding. The relief material provided to the

people is sufficient for 9-10 days.

Altruists of Society is a group of four undergraduate students from Guwahati (Tapobrat Narayan Deb, Anusha Doley, Joydeep Narayan Deb and

Nishant Das) who have earlier undertaken various social activities like blood donation camps and providing support to the needy.

Speaking to G Plus, one of the members of the group said, “Our next plan is to provide essential commodities to the people and pandits living near the Navagraha temple. We also want to help the animals nearby by providing them food.”

Speaking about the crowd funding process she said, “It has been difficult to gather the fund but we are trying our best.

Our process is transparent enough for people to know how the money is being spent. We hope more and more people come and support our cause.”

shop. They just want to see the crowd inside the building. Small shops are more open and have limited space for customers. What encourages unnecessary crowding must be avoided now. Shoppers need to be responsible toward each other.”

Rajib Choudhary, on Twitter, highlighted the plight of overcrowding in urban areas and emphasised on the need to maintain social distancing.

“No way is it justified. We need to understand if whether we really are able to maintain social distancing in overcrowded

shanties or slums which can be a big source of spread of infection.

So what is the point of not allowing malls to open now?” he asked.

Based on the responses from the poll, about half the population would prefer not going to malls as they suggest that a visit to the mall could be life threatening. With people still anxious about stepping outside their homes for leisure activities, with shopping and watching a movie at the bottom in that list, even if malls were to reopen, there is much uncertainty over the amount of business that they would get.

8 G Talk E

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| May 23 - May 29, 2020 T

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The Quarantine Ordeal

ith airlines resuming operations and airports reopening across the country, it is expected that the LGBI airport of Guwahati will also be operational sooner than later. It is obvious that the stranded incoming passengers would be the first to get precedence and any business or leisure travel currently does not look likely at all.

The major confusion that has cropped up is from the conflicting statements by the union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri and the Assam state government’s stance. Puri tweeted that it would not be practical to provide institutional quarantine for every passenger on a flight after they land at their respective destinations. Perhaps he based this opinion of his after being convinced that asymptomatic passengers would be given a thoroughly medically safe and fully sanitized passage – airport to airport; so such passengers can be deemed to be “safe” from getting the infection. However, this does not discount the fact that the passenger could have reached his departure airport by any means of transport and could be a carrier and yet remain asymptomatic enough to board his flight. Thereafter, he could pass the contamination

to others inside the aircraft.

The state government is firm in its resolve to quarantine every entrant to the state – be it by air, road or rail. 14 days of mandatory quarantine is the order of the day for such entrants.

The state government has augmented its quarantine facilities by adding hotels – big and small, expensive and inexpensive - to its list and none can hope to be spared from this. The consolation of course is that after having chosen a comfortable quarantine at a hotel, one can go for home quarantine after a week should doctors find such a traveller fit for the same. This would be against a written voucher that the person will not step out of home quarantine for the defined period.

But it is those travellers from Guwahati who have been stuck abroad that face the toughest quarantine ordeal. As things stand now, international flights are not landing in Guwahati because of insufficient travellers.

And so, the first entry point into India could be any of its other international airports at the metros. This would necessitate 14 days’ quarantine at the metro and thereafter a flight or train to Guwahati for a further 14 days’ quarantine here.

Well, the big question is: To travel or not to travel?

The Dehing Patkai damp squid

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hat started off as a matter of great concern for Assamese society that caught the imagination of many towards protecting the fragile ecology of the Dehing Patkai rain forests and thereby starting a massive online campaign turned out to be a damp squib in the end. Clearly, the coal mining activities that had been going on illegally over the last several years to the great benefit of a handful of powerful people with the country losing out on its rightful share of the revenues caught the attention of the current vigilant regime and its attempt to legalize operations did not go down well with the profiteering racket that was stuffing up the moolah for themselves.

The point of concern is the tendency of people who mindlessly joined the massive social campaign on Facebook and other social media without a proper or basic understanding of the issue at hand. Hashtag campaigns like #SaveDehingPatkai, #IamDehingPatkai, #I_Am_Dehing_Patkai, #AmazonOfEast among others were simply swarming all over social media with parents getting their children to pose for photos holding placards with similar messages and sharing these photos by the bulk over WhatsApp. Well, we need to understand that powerful as social media is these days, it takes no time to make us look like fools as well – that too, in front of the world community. The blind support that we all extended to a well-crafted campaign released by a few persons who had the simple mala fide intention to deprive the government its dues so that an illegal activity could continue for their own greed and selfishness made our whole Assamese society look rather ignorant of the issue at hand. We simply joined the bandwagon giving in to sentiments rather than exercise our rationality to understand the truth of the matter.

Swapnil Bharali (Editor) @swapnilbharali

Lessons from the 1918 Spanish Flu

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espite science and technology having developed by leaps and bound, 2020 is looking more like 1918. We are again socially distanced and facemasked. The Spanish Flu ravaged the world like wildfire, killing more than 50 million people globally. Today, as the world has come to a standstill due to the novel corona virus, we should turn the pages of history to study the influenza pandemic 1918 for clues and lessons. In September

The lesson we can learn from the great influenza pandemic to flatten the curve until a vaccine is discovered, is social distancing. It saved many lives in 1918, and it will save even in 2020.

1918, Philadelphia detected its first case of a deadly influenza.

They did take steps to contain the virus by campaigning against coughing, spitting and sneezing, but very surprisingly 10 days later, the city hosted a parade that was attended by 200,000 people. From its first detected case at a Kansas military base in March 1918, the flu spread across the country.

The flu cases continued to rise until schools, colleges, churches, theatres and places of public gathering were shut down. In 1918, the studies found that the key to flattening the curve of infection was social distancing. And that remains true even a century later, in the battle against corona virus.

After implementing strict social distancing rules and control of public gatherings St. Louis, San Francisco, Milwaukee and Kansas City showed better results by cutting transmission rates by 30 to 50 percent. New York City reacted earlier to the crisis with

mandatory quarantine rules and thus experienced the lowest death rate on the eastern coast.

The novel corona virus is also spreading with shocking speed. At present, there are 87,350 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in India and a total death of 2,771 persons (Figures are of the time when this article was being written). During the Spanish Flu pandemic social distancing was given up way too early leading to a second wave of infections that was deadlier than the first.

Although schools, colleges, religious institutions, theatres, restaurants are shut and social gatherings are restricted during the corona virus outbreak but examples are not wanting on how people defy social distancing norms as if they are immune to the virus.

For instance, the protests in US against lockdown and insistence on reopening the states, the large gathering on Peel Street, Hong Kong after bars were opened for the first time, the gathering of huge crowds outside liquor shops in India are worth mentioning.

Undoubtedly there have been major scientific advancements in the past 102 years, but COVID-19 and Spanish Flu share two major similarities, i.e. the lack of vaccine.

There is a lot of speculation going on around Hydroxychloroquine - a drug used to treat malaria but there is no study yet which proves that this particular drug is a cure for corona virus. There was another reason that made the 1918 flu more deadly. The outbreak started during World War I, when many soldiers were in barracks and in close proximity with each other. Although there’s no World War now but the important lesson that remain is that young, healthy people are not immune to the virus.

So, as history repeated, the lesson we can learn from the great influenza pandemic to flatten the curve until a vaccine is discovered, is social distancing.

It saved many lives in 1918, and it will save even in 2020. The 1918

rBreaking the Hippocratic Oath

O pinion Shilpa Roy

flu proved that cities that ordered social distancing measures sooner and for longer periods usually slowed infections and lowered overall death rates. The demographic rates have shifted

dramatically in this span of 100 years and it thus made containing a virus difficult. The only cure against a pandemic in the absence of a vaccine is strict “stay at home” rules although getting citizens to comply with such orders is another story. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association and another two studies published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed that death rates during influenza pandemic, 1918 were around 50 percent lower in cities that implemented preventive measures early on. Thus the lessons of 1918, if well heeded will surely help us to combat the pandemic situation. It is said that storms don’t last forever; therefore together we can withstand the storm of corona virus and see the sun rising again. All adversities come to an end and this too shall pass.

(The author is a lawyer and an amateur writer. The views expressed are her own.)

Letter to the Editor

I decided to share an incident which happened with my family a few days back because I think that it should not happen with any other family and so they should know it. As my mother found that a skin infection is developing on her right hand. So thinking that all doctors are performing their duties she called up a doctor and requested him for an appointment. But the answer she got was really unexpected. The doctor replied very rudely. He said “I can’t give you a check up. I am a diabetes patient. I can’t risk my life.

What if I get a Corona infection because of you?” He said sorry and ended the call. I want to ask, if doctors start responding to their patients like this, who will take the responsibility of the patient’s health? When all the doctors are contributing their entire day and night looking after their patients, why are these doctors acting so irresponsibly? It is my humble request to the government to please ensure that all doctors are performing their duties because a single doctor saves many lives. And my salute to all those doctors who are looking after their patients.

Shweta Singh, Guwahati

In Focus

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

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200 active cases to determine Red/Orange Zone status: HBS A lthough there has been a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in Assam, the state government has decided to not follow zone demarcation as specified by the central government.

So far in Assam, positive cases have resulted in the government marking the particular areas as a containment zone.

Speaking to the media regarding the same, health and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “No district will be categorised as red, orange or green until 200 cases are found in one district.”

He added that the state is adopting a containment policy wherein after a case is found, district authorities visit the place and the area in the proximity is marked as a containment zone.

Additionally, the surrounding areas are marked as buffer zone.

No activities are allowed to take place in the containment

zone, while only limited activities are permitted in buffer zones.

In simpler terms, the containment zones can be seen as red zones while the buffer zones can be seen as orange zones.

Guwahatians took to the social media handles of G Plus and shared their views on the decision taken by the government.

Wasim Akram said, “This is a good decision because most of the new coronavirus cases are from quarantine zones.”

Reacting to Himanta Biswa Sarma’s comment, Ranveer Sonar said, “Sir may be you’re a genius at handling such a havoc situation, but at the same time we can’t deny the on-going scenario and its consequences. The quarantine centres except for Guwahati are under worst condition. We all have viewed the visuals, this is the time to impose curfew and neutralise the lives of people in Assam.”

Kamal Sharma said, “It is not

an achievement to wait for a particular number. If the pattern shows that the virus is spreading at a faster rate in a particular region, that area should be contained for stopping further widespread.”

Questioning the decision Muhammad Samim said, “Is this an ODI cricket match going on that we are waiting for the numbers to increase?”

Rasmi sarcastically added, “Great news. In this situation Assam will touch 1000 coronavirus cases within a week.”

Suraj Das said, “Demarcation of zones will bring no results

A containment zone being implemented in Guwahati | G Plus photo if there is no random rapid testing. People still don’t get it.

During the time of lockdown the government should have conducted rapid tests. But we all know the Chinese ‘maal’ didn’t work.”

Given the current situation, the government does find itself in an unenviable predicament while it attempts to find a balance between combating the disease and get the economy going.

Assam youths make the most of their time in the quarantine centre at Sarusajai Stadium by dancing and singing. Guwahatians React!

Hariom Khemka

Xiao Buragohain

Diganta Duarah

Hemanta Deka

They are very talented. But I see less social distancing among them. Such things are dangerous if it takes a high trend. Our quarantine system may fail. Please don’t encourage such things. Tell them to be more conscious.

Instead of performing now they should have patience, rest and maintain social distancing. Because there is a maximum chance that most positive cases of Assam are inside those very centres.

Good work, it’s the must do activity for all be it at home or centre. Moral courage & positive vibes are remedies of every problem. Doing it by maintaining social distance. Don’t know how a few people try to find negativity on every positive work. Whatever they have done should be encouraged. There is too much negativity anyway. People should adapt to sharing of good things and living a good and happy life. People who are in the quarantine centres are anyway depressed as the environment is such.

No one knows who will survive and who will not. So, better live every second of your life.

You guys have some talent and we appreciate it.

But this is not the right platform to perform all this. I’ve seen many videos of the quarantine centre, gossiping together, dancing, and playing. They are kept in isolation due to Covid-19 and they should follow the rules regulations of the doctors. Instead of isolating themselves they are gathering for group chats making tiktok etc and it’s like community spread. It seems like this is the main reason why there is more positive case in Sarusajai quarantine centre. We should follow the rules and regulations to get rid of this virus.

This is the difference between humans. One video that is viral on social media shows youths having a good time at a quarantine centre. On the other hand, there are people who are always complaining about the food and arrangements. One can never be satisfied. Spreading positivity and staying strong especially in this time of crisis is in our hands. We should keep ourselves safe and maintain social distance. Good to see this kids coming up with such energetic video.

10 News This Week

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

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

1

India now second largest producer of PPE body coveralls

India is now the world’s second-largest manufacturer of Personal Protective Equipment in the world after China.

The country stepped up to the spot within a short span of time, in about two months. China is currently the world’s largest producer of PPE body coveralls which play a vital role in protection of frontline workers from the novel coronavirus. The Ministry of Textiles announced having taken up the challenge of non-availability of domestic manufacturers of PPE and flipped the situation over; making India second largest producer of PPE body coveralls.

2

India to recommence flights, Aviation Ministry sets limits on air fares

India is set to recommence flights with effect from May 25, 2020 in a calibrated manner. To ensure that the airlines do not charge excessive fare and that journeys are performed only for necessary purposes, the civil aviation ministry has set fixed bandwidth for fare charges. Limits on air fares for flights have been set in seven bands. Each band has its specific lower and upper limits of air fare. The first band consists of flights that are of less than 40 minutes’ duration.

The subsequent bands from the second to the seventh will be of flights with durations of 40-60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes respectively.

3

Indian Railways to start 200 new trains from June 1

Passenger train service will expand from the existing 15 trains to more than 200 starting June 1, 2020. The service will involve non-air conditioned trains which had not been allowed so far. The 15 trains that have been running since May 12 are air-conditioned trains and the passengers are required to maintain rules of social distancing and use masks and sanitizers before boarding. In a tweet, the Railways said, “200 additional timetable trains daily from June 1, which will be non-air conditioned second class trains and booking of these trains will be available online.” Later the Indian Railways released a list of the 200 trains which will be operated from 1st June. Booking for seats in all these trains commenced from May 21.

4

China: Wuhan bans eating and hunting of wild animals

China’s Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected has implemented a five-year ban on the trade of illegal wildlife and the consumption of wild animals. According to reports on May 20 local officials in Wuhan announced that the eating of all wild animals is officially banned. The ban is intended to protect people’s health and safety, said a statement issued by the Wuhan government. Wuhan has also banned all hunting of wild animals within its limits, declaring Wuhan “a wildlife sanctuary,” with the exception of government sanctioned hunting for “scientific research, population regulation, monitoring of epidemic diseases and other special circumstances.”

5

Modi announces Rs 1,000 Cr relief package for Amphan hit West Bengal

PM Narendra Modi on May 22 announced a relief package of Rs 1,000 crore for West Bengal for the destruction caused by cyclone Amphan. Further, he also announced Rs 2 lakhs each for the kin of deceased and Rs 50,000 for the ones injured in the destruction caused by the cyclone. “We all want West Bengal to move ahead. Centre will always stand with West Bengal in these testing times,” said Modi. The PM also said that all aspects relating to rehabilitation, reconstruction will be addressed and the Centre will always stand with West Bengal in these testing times.

6

Global investment firm to invest Rs 11,367 Cr for 2.32% equity stake in Jio

Reliance Industries Limited and Jio Platforms on May 22 announced that the global investment firm KKR will invest Rs 11,367 crore for a 2.32% equity stake in Jio on a fully diluted basis. This transaction values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore. “I am delighted to welcome KKR, one of the world’s most respected financial investors, as a valued partner in our onward march to growing and transforming the Indian digital ecosystem for the benefit of all Indians. KKR shares our ambitious goal of building a premier Digital Society in India...,” said Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries.

7

Italy has left the worst part of COVID-19 emergency: PM Conte

Italy has left the worst part of the COVID-19 emergency behind and as lockdown restrictions are slowly lifted the country must now enter the new phase with confidence and responsibility, said Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on May 21. Further outlining the government’s recent stimulus package he said, “We can say that the worst is behind us... we cannot stop to wait for a vaccine, otherwise we would find ourselves with an irreparably compromised society and production system.” He also said that banks “can and must do more, especially to accelerate the procedures to grant state-backed loans.”

8

Cycling federation offers trial to girl who cycled 1200 km carrying father

A 15-year-old girl whose story went viral over social media a few days ago has been offered a trial by the Cycling Federation of India. The girl, Jyoti Kumari had cycled 1200 km from Gurugram to Bihar over eight days with her ailing father in tow. Chairman of Cycling Federation of India, Onkar Singh, speaking to media said on May 21 said that if Jyoti passes the trial, she will be selected as a trainee at the state-ofthe-art National Cycling Academy at the IGI Stadium complex in New Delhi. Adding he said, “She must have something in her. I think cycling down more than 1200 km is not a mean job. She must be having the strength and physical endurance. We want to test it.”

9

No staff to lose job at Big Bazaar: CEO Sadashiv Nayak

While many companies and institutions are laying off employees, the retail chain Big Bazaar has decided to not have any job cuts. Speaking at a webinar Big Bazaar, CEO, Sadashiv Nayak said, “We made an internal call that no staff will lose his or her job. So, we decided to give everyone whatever little we had.” Further he added, “If consumption grows, we don’t see jobs in the sector getting affected. We will not see a long-standing dent in employment in this sector.”

10

CBSE: Students to appear for board exams from their respective schools

The Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE)’s Class X and Class XII Board Examinations will be conducted in the respective schools of students where they are enrolled to ensure minimum travel, said Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Nishank Pokhriyal on May 20. He informed that the evaluation process for these exams has already begun and will continue to be held simultaneously with pending exams and CBSE will try to declare results by July-end this year despite the last date of exam being July 15. The Ministry has earmarked 3000 evaluation centres from where answer sheets will be distributed to teachers at their homes for evaluation and then collected.

Trotter

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

Dad pushes child on 8th floor balcony swing

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man was filmed pushing a child on a swing hanging nearly 80 feet off the ground in a viral video that is being widely panned online.

The heart-stopping footage shows the father on his eighth floor balcony in Puerto Rico, repeatedly pushing the child’s swing high into the air. Since being posted on Reddit three days ago, the video has collected nearly 70,000 ‘up votes’ along with hundreds of comments criticising the man’s “irresponsible behaviour”.

According to a daily, the video was originally captured and shared by Jonathan Padilla, a journalist for the Mexican Herald. While sharing the video, he wrote: “A man swung his underage

daughter on the balcony of his apartment during this coronavirus quarantine.”

The child, believed to be the man’s daughter, does not appear to be secured with any safety equipment.”Just because you cannot go to the park does not mean you can risk your child’s life...” wrote the Reddit user who shared the video on the content rating and discussion platform.

Viewers on Reddit branded the video “terrifying” while condemning the man’s actions. “I am terrified watching it,” wrote one person in the comments section.

“Just watching this gives me that dropping feeling in my stomach like when going down a hill on a roller coaster,” another said.

(Source: ndtv)

Man dresses up in ridiculous costumes to embarrass his wife on Zoom calls

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ike many others, Cara Fields and her husband Matt from Indiana have been adapting to their new worklife balance - home-schooling their children and staying on top of their 9 to 5 jobs.

But, Cara explained to Bored Panda that in order to give her - and her colleagues - a much needed laugh in these tough times, Matt started appearing in her Zoom conference calls dressed up in silly costumes. She says he’s always loved embarrassing her in public, so this was the obvious next step.

She said, “When I converted our dining room into an office where my camera faced the dining room table, he saw a virtual opportunity to embarrass me during the pandemic.” At first, Cara’s husband’s started accessorising with items from his wardrobe. A cowboy hat here, hunting gear and Hawaiian shirts there - pretty subtle overall. But it wasn’t long before things started to escalate.

She explained that their friends started sending him extravagant Halloween outfits in the post to keep up appearances - and he didn’t disappoint. One day he wore a Batman outfit and the next he was Where’s Wally.

Cara started posting pictures of his outfits on LinkedIn and everyone thought it was hilarious. One person said, “This is

the best” and then suggested they “dress up as one another and change seats.”

Another added, “This is wonderful and what a nice distraction right now.” But, it’s not just her LinkedIn connections that adored what he was doing, her colleagues are also enjoying his regular appearances.

She said, “My colleagues love this. It’s so strange to see a team of people laughing while you’re presenting, and then realizing something ridiculous is going on behind you. They almost always see him before I do.

It has definitely helped people remember to stop and laugh during these times.”

And it doesn’t seem like he’ll be stopping any time soon, since Cara revealed that there are more outfits in the post.

(Source: mirror.co.uk)

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Woman sends a tonne of onions to ex as revenge

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heartbroken woman in China took revenge on her ex-boyfriend by dumping a tonne of onions at his doorstep, apparently in a bid to make him cry as much as she did.

The woman - identified only by her surname Zhao - was devastated after her boyfriend broke up with her. They had been together for over a year but the man reportedly cheated on her. Furious at this, Zhao decided to get 1,000 kgs of onions delivered to his doorstep. She also sent instructions that the veggies were to be dumped on the offending ex’s doorstep without contacting him. Photos and videos that have gone massively viral on Chinese social media platforms like Weibo show sacks of red onions being delivered to the

ex’s home in Zibo, eastern China.

According to a daily, along with the onions, Zhao also sent a note that read: “I’ve cried for three days, now it’s your turn.”

Zhao’s ex-boyfriend, who was photographed looking at the onions in confusion, later said that he had broken up with her due to her “over the top” behaviour. “My ex-girlfriend was very dramatic. She is telling everyone that I haven’t shed one tear since our breakup,” he said. “Am I a bad person for simply not crying?”

While it is not clear if the ex-boyfriend cried on receiving the onions, his neighbours certainly did. One of them told reporters that the whole compound stank of onions because of Zhao’s stunt.

(Source: ndtv)

Nurse reprimanded for wearing bikini under transparent PPE

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nurse in Russia has been given a telling off for “non-compliance with the requirements of medical clothing.” The unnamed nurse, who is in her 20s, was pictured on a coronavirus ward for male patients in Tula, 120 miles south of Moscow, and the picture was spotted online by her bosses. She was called in for a meeting where she said that she was too hot wearing her normal uniform underneath the see-through plastic PPE she had been given.

She also said that she didn’t realise how transparent the PPE was. The regional health ministry said that “a disciplinary sanction was applied to the nurse of the infectious diseases department who violated (uniform) requirements.”

A patient said that there was

no objection to her attire but there had been “some embarrassment.” Responding to local newspaper reports, readers said that she had shown she had a sense of humour while another woman said she had raised the patients’ moods.

The exact nature of her reprimand is unknown.

(Source: metro.co.uk)

12 Guest Column

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

Work From Home: Is This The New Normal?

The future of work in a post-COVID world is a seamless blend of work, life, video calls and Netflix in your living room.

O

rganizations all over the world are going through a major shift in their way of working, wherein most of the employees are working remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic. This enforced work from home experience is proof that the present arrangements

The situation we’re in is fast changing the way we operate, work and communicate with one another.

The coronavirus pandemic has been the driving factor for giving companies and employees a big shove to switch to remote work, and that could have the effect of transforming our society. are a feasible option for many businesses. So much so, companies such as Google, Facebook and Tata Consultancy Services have asked most of their employees to continue working from home, for as long as till the end of the year. Others are working towards identifying job roles that absolutely require a physical presence in the office and those that can be fulfilled remotely.

And it isn’t just the businesses that have warmed up to the idea of remote working. Employees too, after being given the luxury to work from the comfort of their homes, are not too keen about being back in the office. And businesses, to stay competitive, need to offer the option of remote working to their new recruits. Along with the higher levels of productivity, organizations can benefit from the reduced costs.

Although the benefits of remote working have been discussed for many years now, many of you must have been working from home for the first time. Before the coronavirus

pandemic, most companies had been hesitant in implementing work from home, mostly due to apathy and anarchaic thought processes. But as the realities of the financial challenges set in, the remote working trend might speed up. With employees working from their homes, companies may try to get rid of the extra real estate to get some liquidity to meet the expenses.

Commercial real estate is already in a free fall.

The situation we’re in is fast changing the way we operate, work and communicate with one another. The coronavirus pandemic has been the driving factor for giving companies and employees a big shove to switch to remote work, and that could have the effect of transforming our society.

Despite all of the distractions at home, working remotely might be equally beneficial for employers and employees. There have been experiments where it was found that mixing work life and home life can actually boost employee morale and in turn, their productivity.

Many however, especially parents, are coming to realize that working from home can lead to a very hectic mix of work and family life. Speaking to friends and colleagues I’ve learnt people now are working longer days. And although the homeschooling and online classes of children won’t keep happening forever, team leaders and managers may grow accustomed to having the employees always available to them, at their beck and call.

Some are continuing to work through the weekends too and may forget to hit the stop button on that when the kids are back in their schools and the ‘regular’ work schedule resumes. It looks like the days of signing out at the end of the day and doing other things are gone, maybe even for good.

Of course, not all employees will have the option to keep working from home permanently. In fact, in India there are numerous jobs that cannot be fulfilled from home.

For such workers, who cannot enjoy the luxury of remote work, a more challenging reality lies ahead in the immediate future.

And with all the lockdown and travel restrictions, the job market scenario is going to be very tight. This could also

mean while companies could choose to offer their employees an option to work remotely, they may not necessarily feel the need to. Even if employees feel much safer and satisfied working from home, not having to risk themselves by traveling in public transportation and

launch a contact tracing app for organizations. Employees can install these on their phones and notify the user if they’d come in contact with someone at the office who has tested positive for coronavirus.

Maybe the most difficult thing about this transition to remote

GUEST COLUMN

Prassenjit Lahiri a networking space to move up the corporate ladder.

Organizations are already realizing the excesses of their former ways of working, with too much emphasis on in-person interactions. Many of those meetings and client visits could really have been just a phone

Representative Image sharing an office space, as a result of fewer job openings, companies may instead go with recruits who wouldn’t mind coming into the office.

The lines between our professional and personal lives are bound to stay blurred even after employees have to start emerging out of their homes and coming into offices. They will most likely be asked to be present on alternate days and in staggered shifts, to ensure proper social-distancing protocols. Human resources will have to take on more responsibilities to monitor the health lives of the workforce.

To reduce the risk of infections, temperature checks at entry points, enforcing wearing of masks and sanitization of touch points. Companies may even want to step up the monitoring of interactions among employees.

Much like the AarogyaSetu app developed by NIC to track the spread of infections among the Indian population, PWC plans to

working is not going to be micromanaging bosses, but the physical absence of colleagues.

For job roles that need a lot of collaboration and real-time feedback, video calls won’t be able to provide the same sort of motivation. There are many I know of, who are working from home for the very first time and they do not want to keep working this way. Many of them have started to feel lonely, never having to leave the house and that is something that is scary for them. But for the introverts, this sounds like a dream come true. There is a chance the future of work could mean limited commuting, no small talk and very scarce in-person communication and interaction – a perfect scenario for those who are more than happy to stay in their pyjamas and work on their laptops, with a dog on their lap. But it is certainly going to be challenging for those from whom the office is a place for social interaction, or

call or email. The conference you last went to could have been a PDF document or a slide deck that you just went through on your computer. As companies start to see their workforce can achieve so much with just a laptop and good internet, the travel industry is sure to stay crimped.

The future of work will have much fewer corporate offsites, parties and conferences. The people most likely to succeed in such a situation are going to be the ones who can deliver value without much in-person interaction with colleagues.

So, if you are someone whose primary job skill is being charismatic and networking, you need to figure out a way to be equally charismatic in a virtual setting or actually start working.

(Prassenjit Lahiri is the Director of Social Friendly, a consulting firm working out of Southeast Asia. Views expressed in the article are his own) @prassenjit

Guest Column

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

Decoding the Pandemic Stress

F

eeling stressed out during the current pandemic scenario is prevalent across generations and cultures. As the news keeps pouring in new information every hour, it can be overwhelming and turn into a possible source of stress, anxiety and fear for many. The stressors can be in the form of social, emotional, physical, academic or financial issues, or all of these together. However, prolonged exposure to stress can exhaust us emotionally while having physical repercussions too. It does carry the potential to weaken our immune system gradually. Since these challenging times are shaped by uncertainty, learning skills to manage stress, inevitably, becomes the need of the hour. Before understanding ways to manage stress, let us first

The author writes on stress during these pandemic times, busts some myths surrounding the phenomenon and offers solutions to overcome it. burst the myths surrounding it.

Myth: Stress is caused by external events, like the lockdown.

Fact: Stress is an individual’s subjective reaction; the possible role of external factors is limited.

In my personal opinion, stress lies in the mind of the beholder.

For instance, while some get overly anxious to work under pressure, others thrive on it.

Myth: Stress is ALWAYS bad.

Fact: Not all types of stress are bad. Yes you heard me right; in fact, we also a name for ‘good stress’ which is labeled as ‘Eustress.’ Research points out too that we all require some level of stress to push us towards our goal. Imagine having zero exam stress, perhaps most of us would have not studied!

Myth: Stress is just a

psychological phenomenon, and not physical one.

Fact: Yes stress does involve emotional distress and shift in moods, but headaches, acidity, lack of sleep, fatigue are some of the physical signs of stress.

Moreover, physiological symptoms are a reflection of those emotional signs which we keep ignoring for long.

Myth: Stress affects only the weaker ones.

Fact: Stress can be experienced by all. In the current situation, the source of stress might be different, but irrespective of how mentally and/or physically strong you have been so far, the possibility of getting in grip of distress cannot be denied.

In the light of these myths and facts let us further explore ways to manage stress especially during the pandemic.

15 minutes a day can prove to be beneficial.

3. Quick breaks

However busy our day looks, doing daily chores or work from home, studying or watching Netflix, taking quick breaks on short intervals helps our brain and body rejuvenate. It breaks the monotony, gives time to relax and replenish. Taking breaks from overdose of media and news can also safeguard us against burnouts. Avoid multitasking as it can add up to the existing stress and anxiety.

4. Emotional expression

Communicating feelings becomes of utmost importance

13

GUEST COLUMN

thought that surfaces can bring out a lot of buried emotions which aren’t healthy. Moreover, the inanimate character of a journal offers a safe platform to express and vent out as well.

5. Petting animals

A plethora of studies indicate that petting animals release oxytocin, a stress-reducing hormone, which reduces the cortisol levels in our body, making us feel happy; it is the same hormone secreted during a mother-baby interaction. This indicates that interacting with animals in our close vicinity can act as a stress buster. Moreover, during the pandemic, animals are the safest of all living beings to indulge in social interaction with.

Dr. Shambhavi Samir Alve healthy boundaries - physical, emotional, financial and spiritual, will not only help us during these challenging times, but also in days to follow.

These are some of the easiest ways to bring in a sense of normalcy amidst the pandemic outbreak. While there isn’t much that we can do to change the situation or the uncertainty surrounding it, following the

1. Physical workout

Physical exercises release endorphins, the ‘feel good’ hormone, which can elicit a positive mood making us feel calm and relaxed. Aerobics, stretching exercises at home, or walking/jogging in your building premise, climbing stairs are few of the activities one can indulge in. Practicing Yoga also comes handy not just for physical wellness but for relaxing us mentally as well. A daily chore like cleaning the house or cooking doesn’t exactly fit into physical exercise. For more workout ideas at home, Internet can be resourceful.

2. Exposure to sunlight

As compared to the prelockdown period, stepping out of our houses have reduced drastically. This also indicates lesser exposure to sunlight which affects serotonin levels in our brain. Serotonin is a hormone responsible for enhancing our mood, helping us stay calm and focused. Research also shows that reduced or no exposure to sunlight has a role to play in developing depressive symptoms. Thus, walking up to the terrace or taking a walk within the residential premise, exposing to daylight sun for 10-

Representative Image moreover during the current challenging times. Bottling up our feelings and thoughts can be emotionally draining and can affect our overall wellness.

Connecting with a family member or a friend or a mental health professional can facilitate the process of catharsis. As a selfhelp tool, journaling becomes helpful; writing down every

6. Setting boundaries

Being quarantined with family or friends or colleagues or roommates can get overwhelming at times as we aren’t used to being with them at a stretch for this long. It is absolutely fine to mark a boundary and letting others know what makes us feel uncomfortable. Setting up

above mentioned tips can help us relieve stress at our personal level for sure.

(The author is a Ph.D. Psychology, MBA-HR and Developmental Psychologist, Clinical hypnotherapist, and Arts Based Therapy Practitioner. Views expressed in the article are her own. dr.shambhavisamir@gmail. com)

Weather report for the week Guwahati

SUN

MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

T-Storms

T-Storms

T-Storms

T-Storms

T-Storms

T-Storms

28°24° C

28°24° C

28°23° C

26°22° C

27°23° C

28°23° C

SATURDAY

T-Storms

29°-24° C

14 Feature

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - Under Threat

V

asudhaiva Kutumbakam‘The World Is One Family’, a concept given by the Indian subcontinent to the world is under assault in its very birthplace. We as a nation are failing to reach our potential due to the numerous inequalities breathing in our society- be it religious,

It is evident from countries such as Norway, Bhutan, Sweden, that when a country offers its citizens all its basic rights, peace and tolerance prevails in the society. caste or gender. It is a painful experience to go through the newspapers in the morning, as nearly all headlines talk about inequalities, hatred, and anger.

A society such as us that taught the world to be tolerant, forgiving and most importantly accepting people that are different from us is now regularly in the headlines for all the wrong reasons- intolerance, violence, violations of basic human rights to name a few.

The culture of India is founded on the principle of freedom of thought and expressionno matter how unpleasant a differing opinion might sound.

These disagreements, no matter how cruel it might be, must assist our great nation in arriving at the truth. 21st century India tends to decide the merits of a person’s opinion or views based on his affiliations to various groups. A yardstick to verify the degree to which a country is a liberal democracy can be determined by the extent of dissent allowed in societywithout the fear of any legal or social implications. India’s attitude towards opposing views is so malevolent that anyone with contradictory views is branded a villain or a knave.

The people of our country

Representative Image deserve basic human rightsbasic education, housing and for that matter the right to practice any religion. It is evident from countries such as Norway, Bhutan, Sweden, that when a country offers its citizens all its basic rights, peace and tolerance prevails in the society.

Citizens are noticeably more content and tolerant where the leaders of the country guarantee them their personal rights- right to a private life, freedom of religion, freedom

of speech and expression and so on. We can see that despite not being major economies, people in these countries tend to be happier due to an existing climate of peace.

Legal remedies cannot be a cure for intolerance and its manifestations which results in basic human rights violations.

To put it in another way, in my opinion, tolerance must not be a subject of legislation. No laws or commandments can make a person tolerant. Discriminations

Gaurav Prakash Pathak

and prejudices against various communities, classes must be shunned by the society at large.

To ensure this, educational institutions must educate every student to be tolerant and impart the significance of accepting opposing opinions of other people. Article 51A of the Constitution of India specifies the fundamental duties of the people of the country. From my standpoint, it must also be a fundamental duty of all citizens of our country to help in fostering a society where people are accepted for who they are, and not impose views on anyone.

In 2019, addressing a Rally, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi rightfully claimed when he said that “Unity in diversity is India’s speciality”; it is therefore doubly crucial, in these tiring times, to safeguard this speciality of India that makes us stand out from the rest of the world.

(The author is pursuing his Master of Law from Queen Mary University of London. The views expressed are his own.)

Knowledge may be finite and wisdom has no boundaries

T

he world today, is in a rat race. People are crazily hankering after knowledge, opportunities, accumulation of wealth, and so on. The entire value system in our society has undergone visible changes. There is not much of space in society for finer things in life. The wave prevalent in the western world has gradually started eroding cultures in the Asian countries as well. The whole world is united today in its quest for knowledge.

Knowledge can be defined as a function of mind, whereas wisdom is spiritual.

Unlike wisdom, knowledge has boundaries.

Countries are investing enormous amount of wealth and human resources in research and developments, resulting in numerous innovations in various fields.

Artificial intelligence and software devices are being made fully use of for faster delivery. Such desperate craze and hankering for knowledge and wealth is forcing the human

race to move at a speed much faster than our imagination. The passage of time is counted in nano seconds.

In this fast changing world knowledge has become the most powerful tool. Knowledge can be defined as a function of mind, whereas wisdom is spiritual.

Unlike wisdom, knowledge has boundaries.

Now the question that remains is whether knowledge alone is good enough to rule this world.

Knowledge without wisdom is like a directionless empty vessel in the ocean. On the other hand, there can be no wisdom without knowledge. Wisdom is the collection of certain selected thoughts for proper use through our judgement and experience. A voracious reader can be a source of huge information and knowledge but there is no guarantee that he has the gift of wisdom.

Knowledge is the plethora of information and experience.

On the contrary, wisdom is the proper application of this information in the practical field, at the right moment and right place. Knowledge of nuclear energy is an asset in the present day world. It can be utilised in the nuclear power generation, nuclear medicines for treatment of many serious illness, etc.

However, inappropriate

Jayanta Madhav Barua

Representative Image application of nuclear energy can invite destruction to the entire universe.

Many people wrongly juxtapose knowledge for wisdom.

There is a difference between the two. Francis Bacon says “knowledge is power“. While Gautam Buddha says, “wisdom is the highest of all five virtues“.

The approach to knowledge is theoretical, whereas wisdom has a spiritual approach. India is looked upon by the rest of the world as a country of wisdom since ancient days. The stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata are still revered as the wealth of

practical wisdom. Bhagavat Gita, written more than five thousand years ago is not considered a book of religion. It is about universal wisdom which is still relevant in the modern world.

In the Corporate world today knowledge and professional management is the most vital requirement. On the contrary we have seen many professional organisations headed by well qualified knowledgeable people closing down the shutters due to lack of vision and proper wisdom on the part of the top leadership. The cause of subprime crisis in US impacting

many developing countries in the world during the year 2007 to 2009 can be attributed to the human greed and failed wisdom. The prime players affected during the crisis were banks, hedge funds, investment houses, rating agencies, homeowners, investors and insurance companies.

In short, wisdom is a journey and one can acquire it along the way. Albert Einstein famously said “wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”

(The author is a widely travelled freelance writer, motivational speaker and a mechanical engineer) Email: jayanta.barua09@ gmail.com

Fiction

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

The Biscuit Deal I t was on the 18th day of the Lockdown when I received this phone call from a very old hunting friend which took me some time to recollect.

After the usual banter about old times in the jungles he disclosed his actual reason for the call. A mason who was engaged in some construction work in Tezpur was left by the contractor to fend for himself while he himself left overnight to his family home in Golaghat. The poor mason, called Nazrul, had very less money and at such short notice he and the others could not leave for their home in Siliguri and had to stay on in Tezpur only. There were five of them and had measured out their money to eat two rotis each twice daily with some salt and dal, or vegetables whenever they could find the same. Their gas cylinder had run out and they were using chopped wood from nearby trees to light a fire for their meals. Their money was running out and now with the news of the lockdown being extended they were at their

The jeweller in Silpukhuri declared that it was a gold biscuit all right and roughly valued the item at around Rs 20 lakhs, estimating that it weighed around 450 gms. wit’s end. Nazrul knew my friend who stayed on the road across their worksite and had met him a couple of times when they went to his house to do some odd jobs.

But now with the fear of no work and the silent virus threat hanging over all mankind it was impossible to find any work anywhere in the town; also no one ventured out for fear of the police beating them up. In sheer desperation, Nazrul approached Babul, my old friend to divulge a secret and offer a deal.

While digging in the construction site one of Nazrul’s co-workers had found two shiny gold-like substances in the mud and had kept the find a secret.

Nazrul quietly took these to show Babul who was amazed to see the two items. After washing them clean they were gleaming with markings of BIS 999 and looked like two gold biscuits. Babul explained the matter to me and shared the photo with me through the phone and I took a good hard look at it. He then asked me to send some money for the five migrant workers but there was no way I could do so in the prevailing situation. Also over the years I had many times been approached by people with strange things like a million dollar bill,

foreign money from abroad and loans being arranged from banks easily. However, nothing ever materialised from such pursuits and this time too I was not going to pursue a pipe dream. So on humanitarian grounds I advised Babul to give them five ration packets to tide over the lockdown period, which was also due to be extended by another fortnight.

But I was always a sucker for such matters and I did tell Babul that I could see the items after the lockdown period to verify if they were genuine.

Then on the morning of the end of the twenty one day first phase lockdown period the Prime Minister declared the second phase of the same for another nineteen odd days. Now the five migrant workers became quite desperate and approached Babul again to go to Guwahati urgently in order to try and sell the gold biscuits, which they were confident they had with them.

Again Babul contacted me over the phone and said that they would be coming down by boat from Tezpur to Guwahati and he would ring me up when they reached Kuruwa.

Many years ago, when we were operating a poultry farm on the outskirts of the city, we had sent our poultry litter to be composted and used as organic fertilizer in our tea garden near Gohpur. The carriage contract of this bulky material was given to Babul as a favour for our past relationship and he did complete the task quite efficiently. He had engaged a big motorised boat called a “Bhotbhoti” to carry the material by making five trips up and down the river. He told me that this time he would be using a mid-sized country boat and float/paddle down the river, pretending to be a fishing boat to escape detection.

This matter was now becoming serious for which I was worried and told Babul to at least wait till May to make this move. Nazrul and the others however insisted upon Babul who finally agreed to start the journey after arranging things at his home and also buying the provisions for their boat trip.

He informed me that they would be starting from there on the 20th of April and estimated to arrive in Guwahati after five or six nights.

However, much I was advising Babul not to travel and take such risks he was convinced otherwise.

I kept this matter to myself without informing anyone else and deleted the photos and the call details with Babul from my phone.

With each passing day I grew nervous and worried that they would be caught and I pored over the newspapers and the TV for any boats being impounded. Even if the gold biscuits were genuine I had no plan as to how to proceed and in this Corona virus problem was very doubtful about anyone investing in a suspicious deal.

Then, on the afternoon of the 26th

day of the month, the dreaded call came from Babul that they had arrived at Kuruwa and asked me to meet them somewhere on the banks of the river near the refinery water intake point. By then parts of the country were allowed to resume certain activities to bring about normalcy and make the economy run again. Assam and the northeast in general being relatively free from large scale spread of the virus was allowed to open up all farming and agrobased works, maintaining the social distancing, which is bound to remain with us in future as the normal norm. I knew the river quite well in the area as I walk every morning and know the ghats and places where boats could be berthed. The problem was that as the rains had not yet come the river was shallow and there were sandbanks everywhere. The only places were near the Uzan Bazar area and I advised Babul to meet me in the Kachari ghat area. They were there around twilight, just the right time to show me the two gold biscuits; the

items were gleaming and quite heavy. Babul wanted me to take one to show to a jeweller and though Nazrul looked on anxiously, he had no option and told his men not to worry. I advised Babul to make their camp in some sandbank nearby and wait for my call. I also advised them to move upstream and go to the other bank the next morning and put out their nets and pretend to fish at least.

Finding a jeweller was easier than I thought as my brotherin-law knew one in Silpukhuri whom I visited at his home the next morning. He checked the biscuit carefully and taking out an instrument to file the metal declared that it was gold all right, but he could not confirm its purity and whether it was 24 carat or much lower i.e. 18 carat.

He roughly valued the item at around Rs 20 lakhs, estimating that it weighed around 450 gms.

I told him that my party had two such items when he stated that selling it in the grey market would probably fetch fifty per cent of the value. He also disclosed the name of a probable buyer called Gokuldas Sethji who dealt in such deals. He gave me his number and I telephoned him immediately

and got the jeweller to verify my claim of possessing the gold.

Sethji noted my phone number and assured me that he would call me later in the day. Thanking the jeweller I left and informed Babul about the developments. The dealer called me about an hour later and told me to meet someone in the Amchang area beyond the Army camp there and to contact a person he code named as VIP. He had told this person about my matter and I was to contact a shop which details he gave me and asked me to meet the contact next day at eleven in the morning. I was not perturbed by this cloak and dagger activity as it was a bit like hunting. Together with Babul and the person in Nazrul’s group who actually found the items we were there on time in the shop to meet this VIP. I had purposely kept Nazrul behind to handle the boat and the others safely in the boat.

Babul and the gold digger had also brought the two gold biscuits hidden underneath their clothes to try and close the deal

without any delay.

The first time I set eyes on VIP, I felt he was a winner. He turned out to be a tribal politician who had been a MLA for three terms and appeared to be very fit and trim for his age. I later found out that he was actually an overground cadre of a militant group and his house was on a hill where he was living life in a rural atmosphere. In fact his place was about a fifteen minute drive from the shop and he was working on his kitchen garden when we arrived. He came straight to the point and rang up Sethji and after a while passed his phone to speak to him. In a very assured voice Sethji told me that he would be able to pay us only Rs 6 lakhs now due to the prevailing conditions and we were to hand over the gold biscuits to VIP who would pay us this amount. The total deal would be for Rs 12 lakhs and the balance amount would be paid after the virus problems abated and he could send the gold to Mumbai.

Babul agreed and explained the terms to the person who was only too happy to get some money to be able to go home. So the matter being settled we took the cash and Babul divided the amount by giving Rs 2 lakhs to Nazrul and his team, keeping two for himself and gave me Rs 2 lakhs for my

15

Ranjan Kumar Choudhury ranjanchou@hotmail.com

services.

After about three months in mid-August, Babul came to Guwahati and contacted me to enquire about the balance payment. Together we made the call to Gopaldas Sethji but what he narrated to us put an end to all our expectations. After a fortnight of our clinching the deal with Sethji and the subsequent first instalment payment received from VIP, there was a tragic death in VIP’s family when his old mother expired and the family was preparing for her last rites. The neighbours raised an alarm that the cause of death could have been the Virus and alerted the authorities to make an enquiry. This happened when the funeral party, with about ten members were proceeding to the new Catholic cemetery opened recently in a place off the main Amchang road. In the commotion the health department and police stopped the party and told VIP that they would have to cremate the body in the coffin as per the standard procedure of disposal of dead bodies dying of the virus or suspected to have died of the dreaded scourge. The family members had no option but they had to take out the body and place it in the special dead body bag to fully incinerate the mortal remains of the dead person. He did not realise it then, but when the flames were rising high he felt in his pocket and found that the small pouch with the gold biscuits were missing. He had kept the same on his body all the time as his house was fairly open to visitors due to his political and social contacts and he must have dropped it inside the bag or the coffin when the body was being handled. The deep pit of about ten feet depth made by the JCB was also ready to throw and seal the pit tight with the burnt pyre remains to prevent any contamination. For the first time in his life VIP was at a loss as he could not do anything now. The whole family was also put in quarantine and when VIP informed Sethji, he too was powerless to do anything. They were old partners in doing such deals and had trusted one another fully so both of them took this to be a business loss. As for Babul and me, both stunned to hear all this, had to remain satisfied with the amount made by us. I was indeed quite thankful at recovering part of my lockdown expenses but I do pray and hope that such a pandemic never comes again.

16 Fun Horoscope of the week

| May 23 - May 29, 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

An average week for you. 25th and 29th May will be great days for you to schedule your important meetings and share your ideas with your seniors. 28th May you will be emotionally hurt by your colleagues or superiors. 27th May you could have a fall out with a superior or someone at work. Be careful while dealing with the opposite gender on 24th May.

Ideal time to just take a break from work. 23rd May and 26th May will great days for you to build a rapport with your seniors and people at work, host your important meetings on these dates. Lay low on 25th and 28th May, you are bound to have disagreement with people at work or there could be changes in your work place.

It will be a slow week for you. If you have been wanting a personal week off then this will be the week to go for it. However, your week will be eventful. Avoid hosting any meetings 29th May; you are bound to have disagreements. On 26th May you will feel others are ungrateful especially your senior or your parents. 23rd May will be a slow day for you.

It will be an average week for you. May 28th and 29th will be great days for you to connect with your senior and share your ideas with him/her; you could host your important meetings on these dates. You will feel betrayed by someone at work or your senior on 25th May. It’s not a day to trust others with your secrets.

This will be a slow week for you. 29th May will be a great day for you to share your ideas with your seniors and build a relationship with them. Host your important meetings on this day. 25th May be careful of your words and actions, you will create your own problems. 24th May you will be betrayed by someone close to you.

This week will be average for you. 28th and 29th May will be excellent days for you to schedule your important meetings. Your seniors will be receptive to your ideas. 26th May will be a slow day for you. Avoid hosting any meetings especially with your seniors on 27th May; you might not get the outcome you desire.

You have a better than average week ahead of you.

23rd, 26th and 28th May will be great days for you to share your ideas with your seniors or simply just connect with them. You could schedule your important meetings on these dates. Watch your words and actions on 27th May; you could create your own problems.

You could have a fall out with your workmates or seniors on 24th May.

An extremely slow week ahead. This will be an ideal week to take a break from work. Utilize the time catching up with your chores at home. If you can’t take a break then avoid scheduling important meetings the entire week. 28th May will be a slow day for you. Avoid scheduling important work for 27th May; you will not get the desired outcome. Other days will be average for you.

A great week for you. 24th, 25th and 26th May will be great days for you to build a rapport with your seniors and people at work, host your important meetings on 25th and 26th May. Get in touch or just connect with your extended family or business associates on 24th May. Avoid hosting any meetings on 23rd May; you will get into a confrontation.

A slow week for you. Avoid meeting up with your seniors or extended family on 24th May, things will not go according to plan. 25th and 26th May will be great days for you to build a rapport with your seniors and people at work, host your important meetings on these dates. Avoid scheduling important work for 27th May; you will not get the desired outcome.

You have a slow week ahead. 24th May will be a great day for you to share your ideas with your seniors or simply just connect with them. Watch yourself on 25th and 28th May, avoid making any promises or getting into a confrontation.

You are going to have an amazing week. 23rd, 24th and 28th May are ideal days for you to mingle with your seniors and people at work and build your work network. You could be betrayed by someone close on 29th May. Avoid hosting any meetings on 26th May, things will not go according to plan.

6. The Holy Trinity statue of George Best, Dennis Law and Bobby Charlton. Where can you find them?

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

Dilbert By Scott Adams

Sudoku 6 4 31 6 7 6 9 12 21 3 2 1 6 8 9 3 63 1 4 3 55

12

8

8 6 9 7 7 9 5 6 8 2 3 94 58 7 4 6 4 8 2 4 3 Daily 23-May-2020 DailySudoku: Sudoku:Sat Fri 15-May-2020

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

5. What is the Thai word for sky, very much in news now?

verb (used with object) British Slang. exhausted; very tiredto place (the accents) on beats that are normally unaccented.

hard very hard

last week solution 12 93 88 44 77 45 56 99 64 21 39 72 28 19 63 51 55 32 77 83 91 86 44 65 86 74 91 28 33 58 25 17 49 67 12 36

31 5 2 65 77 63 8 21 12 17 6 5 8 59 76 7 4 59 43 98 4 1 94 66

96 43 34 28

12 2 9 3 7 31 85 5 2 6 3 94 71 49 1 7 46 28 69 84 3 9 12 85 57

Daily 23-May-2020 DailySudoku: Sudoku:Sat Fri 15-May-2020

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

4. Which famous type of Sari’s history is said to have started in the 13th century when about 1,300 Muslim weavers from Koshti in Jhansi migrated to this place and started weaving the saris?

[ sing-kuh-peyt, sin- ]

adjective [nak-erd]

curio-city

3. What was introduced by the cooks of Nawab Wajed Ali Shah, when he lived in Metiabruz in Kolkata, post his deposition from the throne of Awadh to compensate for the lack of adequate amount of meat in the Biryani being prepared at the royal household?

syncopate

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

2. Which Dutch football star of the 1970s was nicknamed “El Salvador” or the saviour?

Word of the week Word knackered of the week

6.

1. Husori, Mukoli, Jeng, Rati, Gos Tolor are different types of what?

Bihu dances Johann Cruyff The ubiquitous Potato in the Kolkata Style Biryani Chanderi Sarees Amphan, the extremely severe cyclone which struck Bengal this week, causing widespread destruction The Holy Trinity of Manchester United football club can be found in front of the Theatre of Dreams, the Old Trafford football stadium of the club

curio-city

hard very hard

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

Lifestyle

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

17

Vaastu and the role of the Camel

T

he Camel, which is called the ship of the desert, has a very important role in the northern and western India in the dry areas. In the middle east and Arab countries, people could not think of life without the camel.

The camel can work tirelessly and stay without drinking water or having food for days. It has storage of fat in its hump which compensates for food. It is known to survive the toughest of times.

So both Vaastu and Feng Shui regard this animal as a symbol of toughness, perseverance and struggle. It must be kept at home for happiness and prosperity.

There are different uses of the

Camel: For business: The Camel is used for profit in business and increase in production as in real life. If you want to succeed in business and get productivity from your workers without getting tired, display the Camel at south.

For career: If someone is facing problems in achieving success in career or obstacles in work, keep the camel in the office or study room of the house to get desired results.

It

helps you come into limelight and focus into career related works.

For financial problems: The Golden statue of a camel can improve the financial position at home. It does not matter whether you got the camel with one hump or two or both. Keeping this statue at home will slowly improve your monetary position.

Guidance to the right path: On several occasions, one is confronted with situations or to make a tough decision.

It becomes hard to decide what is right and what is wrong. The statue or picture of the camel can steady the mind and help in taking

the right decisions.

The proper direction: Most of the animals are kept at south.

When the statue of the camel or a group of camels are kept at northwest of the living or drawing room, it can steady the minds of the residents. Mental worries and tensions go away.

Toilet Tips Having a mirror on the outer side of the

bathroom door, is a great way to get rid of the Vaastu defects.

This effectively makes the bathroom disappear and is generally a great idea if the bathroom is attached to the bedroom or office cabin or room. While placing

Eid special dessert recipes

This Eid try out some mouth-watering desserts which are easy to make and require limited ingredients.

Cardamom powder: 1tsp

Gajar Kheer Ingredients

Carrots: 2

Milk: 1 litre Cardamom powder: 1/2 tsp 2 Tbsp Dry fruits like Raisins, Cashew nuts, Almonds (as per choice) Ghee: 1 tsp Condensed milk: 3 tbsp Sugar: 2 tbsp or as required Method

Peel the carrots, cut them into small pieces and steam them.

When it cools down, grate it.

In a pan, heat the milk, when the milk starts reducing mix in the grated carrots. Slowly add sugar and condensed milk.

When the mixture comes to

semi liquid consistently add the dry fruits of your choice.

Turn off the flame and keep in a bowl for some time.

When it comes to a room temperature,rest in the fridge for 60 to 90 minutes and serve chilled.

Suji Phirni Ingredients

• Semolina or Suji: 1/2 cup • Sugar: 1/2 or as required • Milk: 1 and 1/2 litre • Khoya: 1/4 cup optional • Dry fruit: 2 tbsp • Rose petals: 1 tbsp • Rose water: 1 tsp • Cardamom powder: 1 tsp

Sandeep Das

stirring and later add sugar and khoya.

• When the milk forms a thick consistency then add the cardamom powder and rose water.

Keep stirring and when you see it come to a nice thick consistency switch of the flame.

• Now transfer the dessert into a dessert bowl and garnish with rose petals and nuts of your choice.

Cool it for some time and then keep in the fridge.

Serve chilled.

mirror on the door it is important to ensure that it does reflect the bedroom or the entrance door.

Hanging a solid metallic 5 rod wind chime from the ceiling right above the pot will subdue the negative energies emanating from there. This is particularly useful if the toilet is in the East, South East or South of the building, home or office.

a

Misti Kumra Ras Bora

Shimu Dutta

Hemanta Kumar Sarmah

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

(Sweet Pumpkin Fritters) Ingredients

Pumpkin (misthi kumra): 500gm Suji: 2 cup Flour: 1 cup Milk powder: 10 gm Sugar: 300 gm Water: 150 ml Salt a pinch Oil for deep fry: 200ml Method

In a pressure cooker add cube sized pumpkins with 1 cup of water and cook it for 1 whistle and let it cool.

In a bowl add the pumpkin

and mash it well.

Add suji, flour, milk powder, salt and half tsp cardamom powder and mix it well. Prepare small gulabjamun sized balls from the mixture and keep them aside.

In a pan add sugar and water for sugar syrup.

In a pan heat oil to deep fry the pumpkin balls. Fry them on medium flame till they turn light brown in colour.

Add the fried pumpkin balls into the warm sugar syrup for 5 - 10 minute; sprinkle some cardamom powder for flavour.

Your Misti Kumra Ras Bora is ready to serve.

Method

• Boil the milk for quite some time,and keep stirring in between.

• After ten minutes when the milk starts turning thick, lower the flame and add the suji and keep stirring so that no lumps are formed. Now add some dry fruits.

• Patiently you have to keep

Gajar Kheer

Suji Phirni

Misti Kumra Ras Bora

18 Catching Up

| May 23 - May 29, 2020

PIC OF THE

Most shared story of the week

WEEK

#VIDEO | Keeping their spirits high #Guwahati youths make the most of their time in the quarantine centre at Sarusajai Stadium. Watch video!

2.6 K

505

@guwahatiplus @guwahatiplus

The Amphan Effect | Photo: Surajit Sharma

Panchavati Ashram Barasha Das @Barasha_mi2

W

hile travelling towards Silpukhuri from Gauhati Club, one sees an old gate (‘Toran’) on the left with the word ‘Panchavati’ written on it. It is located just opposite the Lakshmi Service station on Maniram Dewan Road.

Although a common site for regular commuters, many are not acquainted with the history of the place. The gate belonged to the ashram that was there just decades ago called the ‘Panchavati Ashram’.

Looking straight through the gate, one sees an old temple, always with a lit ‘saki’ in the morning and early evening hours.

That is the original Shiva temple of the ashram.

The ‘Panchavati Ashram’ was established by Jogeshwar Kakoti, a well-known follower of Goddess Kali.

He meditated and got enlightenment at this very place and was known as Swami Sureshnanda.

As he took only selected disciples, his followers were limited, but some were all the way from Calcutta.

It is said that Swami Sureshnanda was doing his daily rituals at the temple at the time of his death. Dr Bhubaneshwar Barooah was present at the moment

of Swami’s demise.

Reportedly, even as the soul departed, the body continued to offer flowerbel leafs to the God. As per his wish, Swami’s mortal remains were placed in a wooden coffin with flowers and bel leaves, and the coffin was floated off in the Brahmaputra River.

After Swami Sureshnanda’s death in 1925, the ashram was run by his wife, Hirawati Devi, elder sister of Anandaram Dhekial Phookan. She died in 1964.

Even her body was floated off like her husband’s. The disciples took to run the ashram after that.

‘Panchavati Ashram’ originally had 5 bighas of land. However, some portions had to be sold off later for its maintenance.

The ashram hosted ‘sabhas’ that were attended by Tarunram Phukan, Gopinath Bordoloi, and other well known personalities.

All types of plants needed for religious rituals were present in the premises of the ashram. A few of the old trees are still present if one explores beyond the gate.

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