The Asian Chronicle April 21

The Queen of Bengal

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Creativity Shock: Pandemic Hits the World of Art

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Dear readers,

With this issue of April 2021, the Asian Chronicle has entered into its sixth year. Someone has rightly said - 'Time flies'. We didn’t realize how and when these wonderful five years flew off, till we entered the sixth year of The Asian Chronicle in April 2021. The Asian Chronicle has been coming out in its tabloid format during these past five years.

Meanwhile, The Asian Chronicle tried its best to keep good news and articles available to the readers. We also experimented a lot with our content and added many new topics for our readers. We tried our best to reach new and different categories of readers in these 5 years. During this time we got a lot of love from the readers and all the people associated with us. In the last 5 years, The Asian Chronicle also saw the changing government at the centre and also saw the politics of the Delhi state. In these 5 years, the year 2020 has been the most disappointing. This was the period when the corona epidemic engulfed the whole world. But it is said that the show must go on. The Asian Chronicle also followed and continued on its path of good journalism.

We are happy to say that with this issue your The Asian Chronicle will now be published in the format of the magazine. The readers' desire and demand was that the format of The Asian Chronicle should be such that it can be reached to as many readers as possible and it can be saved for more and more days.

So, dear readers, the first issue of the magazine is presented to you.

Hopefully, this magazine will get as much love from you as its tabloid format.

Thank you

April 2021

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inside

CHIEF EDITOR: Karamvir Kamal PUBLISHER: Virender Dhian SR. DEPUTY EDITOR: Dheeraj Kale SUB EDITOR: Bhoomika Mohan LAYOUT: Yasir Arafat

ASSOCIATE WRITERS: Nishica Chaudhry, Sajeeda Feroz, Bhuvaneswaran P, Akshinta Das, Anmool Madaan, Riya

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In 2011 Mamata Banerjee was elected as the Chief Minister of West Bengal. The win was unforgettable as her party won 184 seats with INC winning 42 seats

The Dark P-18 Reality of Beauty Pageants

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The Queen of Bengal

Creativity Shock: The Pandemic Hit All World Reservation: A ‘Politically Correct’ discourse

Volume VI Number 1 For the fortnight April 1-15, 2021 & 16-30 April, 2021 (Joint Issue) Page 32 (With Cover) Published on 1st & 16th of every Month Printed & Published by Virender for and on behalf of Karamvir Kamal (Owner) from 2569, Street No. 2, Jawahar Colony, N.I.T, Faridabad, Haryana and printed at Joy Printers, 3G-142, N.I.T. Faridabad-121001, Haryana. Editor Karamvir Kamal* (responsible for selection of news under PRB Act 1867).

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Taliban Crisis & India-Afghanistan Relationship

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Creativity Shock: The Pandemic Hit Art World P-15

Pandemic through the eyes of Children with Special Educational Needs P-12 April 2021

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Reservation: A

‘Politically Correct’ discourse It is a truism that public life in Indiais conditioned and controlled bycaste identities. It can be stated un-ambiguously that 'casteisation' of politicshas become a reality because the politicalclass has nurtured and manipulated casteversus caste identities to win an electionon the basis of assured caste-based socialconstituencies.

BY NISHICA CHOUDHARY

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politics

It is a truism that public life in Indiais conditioned and controlled bycaste identities. It can be stated un-ambiguously that 'casteisation' of politicshas become a reality because the politicalclass has nurtured and manipulated casteversus caste identities to win an electionon the basis of assured caste-based socialconstituencies.

Reservation policy is an extremely contentious topic in Indian politics. Proponents claim that a policy of positive discrimination is the only way to rectify the past injustices against India’s poor. Opponents claim that reservation policy creates perverse incentives that strengthen traditional caste boundaries and encourage backwardness.

Enshrined in Articles 15 and 16 of the Indian Constitution, it allows the Indian government to set quotas to ensure any “socially and educationally backward classes of citizens” is properly represented in public life. It is intended to realize the promise of equality enshrined in the Constitution of India.

Reservations are meant to prevent caste supremacists from outright denying the less P-06

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“

The grandson of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Prakash Ambedkar, had stated in an interview,

“Legislation doesn’t change people. That’s why B.R. Ambedkar didn’t believe that reservation of constituencies or jobs for Dalits would change the way Indian society looked at its lower castes. He reluctantly agreed to reservation in the belief that it would be discontinued 10 years after the adoption of the Constitution. But half a century later, reservation remains an issue in India.” privileged their right to learn altogether.

Reservations cannot end caste prejudice, but they can and do prevent denial of rights until someone bothers to do it. They have been doing exactly that. Which is why the upper

castes are pissed.

Reservation in India came in to address a context, much like the caste system itself did. The caste system meant to be an occupational division, took an ugly turn over the ages. Intermingling of classes was restricted and it lead to untouchability and other social evils and built an oppressive environment of animosity. There is no denying that social discrimination based on caste, creed, and religion continues to be one of the most inhuman and evil practices in human society.

HISTORY OF RESERVATIONS

Reservations for the most depressed groups have existed in some form since the days of British rule. After India achieved independence, the composition of these two groups was finalized into lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and their protection was enshrined in the Constitution.

The next major expansion of the reservation system was initiated on the recommendation of the Mandal commission of 1979, which April 2021

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was organized to address the problem of other socially and educationally backwards classes. These groups, while not burdened with the stigma of untouchability, still suffered from a persistent lack of opportunity.

The reservation system proposed by the Mandal commission was not intended to decrease the influence caste, but rather to restore the natural order of the caste system by counteracting the structural inequalities imposed by British rule.

PERSISTENCE OF CASTE

Caste has, however, evaded all predictions and expectations. Despite undergoing significant changes, caste not only remained resilient during the process of industrialisation and modernisation but also has become an indispensable part of the democratic process in India today. For example, no election in India can now be fought without managing caste arithmetic.

The persistence of caste is not only of academic but also of democratic and humanitarian concern. Caste is not simply a social stratification that underlies hierarchy, difference, endogamy and division of labour in Indian society. After independence in 1947, the Indian constitution recognised the disabling effects of caste on historically disadvantaged communities and made provisions of “reservations”, i.e. compensatory protective discrimination, in the form of quotas.

The reservations based on caste membership are now an important feature of contemporary socio-political reality in India.

The upper castes believe that reservations are the root cause of the persistence and politicisation of caste identity; they see reservations as the major reason behind their unemployment and argue that the merit and efficiency in education and administration have declined due to the intake of reserved category candidates.

For lower castes, such arguments are clearly humiliating as they undermine thousands of years of victimisation and feed into the stigmatisation of beneficiaries.

The conceptualization of caste groups as political pressure groups provides no indication that caste identification will fade with time, and has given rise to concerns that the reservation system is actually strengthening caste identification.

Caste has been a contestable and “political” issue throughout Indian history. Castesensitive policies are needed to break the otherwise silent segregation of Indian society. A casteless society can emerge only April 2021

when this segregation is broken.

IS DEMOCRACY AT STAKE?

Caste-reservations have created captive vote banks. In fact, it can and has been argued that by creating captive vote banks caste-based reservations have hijacked democracy, which is – or ought to be – about free and fair choice, a level playing field which allows for equal opportunity and equal competition.

The segregation of Indian society is also a threat to democracy.Universities and institutions of public employment need to bring individuals from all castes together. Only then can they be genuine democratic institutions.

Without reservation, this is not possible.

RESERVATION: A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT?

Reservation is certainly permissible under the Constitution. But the big question is whether there is a fundamental right to reservation.

Firstly, the court ought to have dispensed with the rule that reservations cannot exceed 50% of the available posts. The 50% rule has its basis in Ambedkar’s speech that reservations are an exception to equality of

opportunity and must, therefore, extend only to a minority of seats.

Secondly, if reservations are not an exception to equality of opportunity but a part of it, then it can no longer be said that there is no fundamental right to reservations. The fundamental right to equality of opportunity now includes Article 16(4), i.e., reservations.

The government cannot arbitrarily refuse to have reservations, especially where a state has backward communities who are inadequately represented in public employment.

The Constitution does not mandate the state to provide reservation: it merely states that if the state chooses to make reservation, the parent provision will not prevent it from doing so. This is the first problem with conceiving reservation as a fundamental right— that doing so will blur the distinction between two provisions of the Constitution which are contra-distinctly phrased.

The time has now perhaps come for the Supreme Court to ask itself some difficult questions: Are reservations an exception to the principle of equality of opportunity or not? If not, can the court continue to deny that there is a fundamental right to reservations?

A TOOL FOR POLITICAL AGENDAS

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Reservations are nothing but means to prosper the vote banks of politicians. The reservation instead of creating a sense of unity among different sections of society, resulted in even greater divergence due to some politically coloured agendas. Using the rhetoric representation and projecting false benefits by means of reservation, the politicians have for long fooled the population of this country with their lofty promises which in fact widened the gap among us.

To use castes as vote banks, successive governments played with the reservation law to gain political advantage by nullifying judgments of the Supreme Court and tampered with the Constitution.

Time and again, governments have overturned decisions by the Supreme Court for political purposes in reservation cases. It will not surprise us if the Venkaiah Naidu committee recommends reservation for Jats to attract nine-crore voters from the community.

This form of competitive benefit bestowal with reservations as alibi has now been overtaken by the politics of Hindutva, which seems to have assimilated vote-bank politics into a larger design in which all have their appointed places.

The political project needs to broaden and look at various ways in which caste is reproduced and hierarchy is entrenched. Reservation is one component of this broader project.It is creating disparity and differences amongst the people. By reserving one category against another creates a feeling of division which is now resulting in a chaos with every small section of the society asking for it.

WAY FORWARD

Reservation policy is an extremely contentious topic in Indian pol-

Customs duty on Remdesivir waived off - D. V.Sadananda Gowda

Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilizers Shri D. V. Sadanand Gowda informed via Twitter that considering the immediate requirement on the recommendation of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, the Department of Revenue has waived customs duty on Remdesivir and its API/KSM. This step will further augment domestic availability of Remdesivir injection, he added.

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itics. The affirmative action policies in USA are race sensitive and have led to the development of the minorities and extend even to women unlike in India. The affirmative action in USA essentially aims to achieve targeted goals and not provide blanket reservation to the specific quotas. At present, the racial or gender quotas for college admissions have been declared unconstitutional by the case of Gratz v. Bollinger, 2003.

The plausible solution to the issue of reservation rests on strengthening the educational infrastructure of the nation. Education should be made mandatory till the age of 15 hence, the dissemination of primary education would be fair and universal. A review committee should be set up under a governmental authority which should submit annual reports, reviewing the implementation of allocation of funds at the primary and the secondary education level.

CONCLUSION

The problem is not with the policy but the way in which it was projected. People must understand that the reservation policy is only for temporary timeframe, till equality reigns amongst all bases of discrimination. It is also our duty to monitor the reservation system from being politically misused and wrongly nurtured as a privilege and understand that it is only a supplement medicine for a man to regain his normal health.

If the reservations are intended to equalize opportunity between castes, then they should be expanded to include all caste groups according to their share of the total population. If the goal instead is the eventual elimination of caste boundaries, then the reservation system may have to be phased out or transitioned to a non-caste system of benefit allocation. Without this change, it is likely that the caste system will maintain its highly influential role in Indian society.

2.1K beds provided in Central Govt. Hospitals for COVID patients 2105 beds (1875 oxygen beds and 230 ICU beds) in Central Govt. Hospitals including Safdarjung, RML, LHMC, AIIMS Delhi, AIIMS Jhajjhar, ESIC Okhla and Jhilmil, and All India institute of Ayurveda, Sarita Vihar are available now for care of COVID patients of Delhi. With this, the number of beds for COVID patients in Delhi has increased by more than 4 times, from the 510 beds available on 1st March, 2021.

Union Health Ministry is in the process of continuously increasing COVID beds in Central Govt. hospitals further. Field Hospitals/makeshift facilities are being set up

with the help of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), whereby 46 additional beds at Safdarjung Hospital and 240 beds at Lady Hardinge Medical College are expected to come up over the next two weeks.

In addition, in the DRDO facility in Dhaula Kuan, 250 ICU beds were made operational on 19th April 2021, and another 250 ICU beds arebeing made operational on 21st April 2021.

Indian Railways has also committed to providing 50 coaches with 16 beds each at the Shakur Basti station, amounting to 800 beds, which can be used as isolation beds by Delhi Govt.

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The Queen of Bengal April 2021

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Anmol Madaan

In 2011 Mamata Banerjee was elected as the Chief Minister of West Bengal. The win was unforgettable as her party won 184 seats with INC winning 42 seats and SUCI managed to bag one seat. It marked the longestruling democratically elected Communist party in the world.

Mamata Banerjee is the first female chief minister of West Bengal. She is also the first female, Minister of Coal, and Minister of Human Resource Development, Youth Affairs and Sports, Women and Child Development in the cabinet of the Indian government. She is also the first Minister of Railways, who served twice.

She joined politics in the 1970s as a young woman who managed to seek attention in the press media when she protested against a social activist and politician Jayaprakash Narayan. She also became the general secretary of the Indian Youth Congress in 1984.

She resigned as the sports minister and protested in a rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata as the government had an indifferent attitude towards her proposal to improve sports in the country. In 1996, she alleged that Congress was behaving as a stooge of the CPI-M in West Bengal.

In 1997, she left Congress party after having a clash of opinion with West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Somendra Nath Mitra. She founded the All India Trinamool Congress with Mukul Roy. Soon, they became primary opposition to the Communist Government in the state.

In 1999, she became the Minister of Railways. She joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in 1999. It was in the year 2000, she presented her first Railway Budget.

The budget was promising as she introduced the New Delhi- Sealdah Rajdhani Express train and four express trains connecting various parts of West Bengal. She extended three express train services and added fuel to the speed of work on the Digha-Howrah Express service. She is a lady with a broad mindset.

She didn't confineto train services but also focused on developing tourism, due to which Darjeeling Himalayan Railway section obtained two additional locomotives and proposed the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited.

In early 2001, she left the NDA cabinet and allied with the Congress Party for West Bengal's 2001 elections. She aimed at protesting the corruption charges levelled by the website P-10

against senior ministers of the government.

She joined NDA in September 2003 as a cabinet minister.

In 2004, her party aligned with Bhartiya Janata Party for Indian General Election 2004.

The alliance didn’t manage to win but Mamata Banerjee made it. She became the only Trinamool Congress member to get elected from a parliamentary seat from West Bengal.

Singur, Nandigram and other movements

Mamata Banerjee is also known as Didi by her followers. She is a lady with a strong voice and never tolerated the wrong. In October 2005, she protested against the forceful land acquisition and the atrocities committed against farmers. It was under the shield of the industrial development policy of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government, they wronged the farmers. The primary reason behind the initiation of protests is the transfer of rights of farmland in Howrah to Benny Santoso, CEO of the Indonesia-based Salim Group. He promised heavy investment in West Bengal. She and her followers stood in front of the Taj Hotel where Santoso had arrived and later followed his convoy. A planned “black flag” protest was avoided.

Singur protest

In November 2006, she was stopped on her way to Singur for a rally against a proposed Tata Motors car project. She managed to reach the West Bengal assembly and protested at the venue. The Trinamool Congress MLAs protested by damaging furniture and microphones in the West Bengal Assembly and Banerjee announced a 12-hour shutdown on Friday. The strike was called on 14th December 2006.

Nandigram Protest

This is an incident that occurred in Nandigram, West Bengal in 2007. It was a violent incident that aimed at rescinding protests against the West Bengal government's plan to expropriate 10,000 acres of land for a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to be developed by Salim Group. The battalion police stormed the rural area in the district of Purba Medinipur where 14 villagers were shot dead and 70 were injured. This sparked the mind of intellectuals as well. Didi played a revolutionary role in the incident as she wrote letters to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to stop April 2021

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"state-sponsored violence". She made a commendable contribution to the incident and managed to win in 2011.

Trinamool Congress

Trinamool Congress performed exceptionally well in the 2009 parliamentary election and bagged 19 seats. Its allies in SUCI and congress also displayed a good performance. SUCI managed to one seat while Congress got 6 seats. It was considered the best performance by any opposition party in West Bengal since the beginning of the Left's regime.

Railway Minister (2nd tenure)

Didi has a commendable political career.

Before getting elected as Chief Minister of West Bengal in 2011, she was elected as the Minister of Railways again. During her tenure, she introduced several non-stop Duronto Express trains connecting large cities. She also introduced women-only trains. Her plans and her words are equivocally strong. She gave up the post to become Chief Minister with these words- “The way I am leaving the railways behind, it will run well. Don’t worry, my successor will get my support”. Dinesh Trivedi, from her party, succeeded her as a railway minister.

Chief Minister of West Ben-

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gal- Mamata Banerjee

In 2011, the All India Trinamool Congress won the West Bengal legislative assembly election along with SUCI and the INC against the Left alliance by capturing 227 seats. On the prosperous day of 20th May 2011, Mamata Banerjee was elected as the Chief Minister of West Bengal. She is the first female Chief Minister of West Bengal. After becoming the chief minister, her first appreciable act was to return 400 acres of land to Singur farmers. She said- “I have instructed the department to prepare the papers for this. If Tata-babu wants, he can set up his factory on the remaining 600 acres, otherwise we will see how to go about it”.

She also established Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. She worked day and night to develop her state. She began reforms in the education and health sectors.

The very first reform in the education sector was releasing of salary of teachers on the first of the month and quicker pensions for retiring members.

In health sector plan was a bit longer. She started with opening a Defecation free district in the country. This happened on 30th April 2015. In October 2012, she touched on the issue of augmenting rape cases in the country. She attributed it to the more interaction between men and women. She said"Earlier if men and women would hold

hands, they would get caught by parents and reprimanded but now everything is so open.

It is like an open market with open options”.

She is a big fan of culture and wants others to get apprised with it. For those purposes, she named several stations of Kolkata Metro after freedom fighters and plans on naming upcoming stations after religious poets, singers, leaders and more.

Another milestone- On 16th February 2012, she received a letter from Bill gates, of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, appreciating Mamata Banerjee and her administration for achieving a full year without any reported cases of polio.

Her second tenure started in 2016. In the 2016 assembly elections, the All India Trinamool Congress won with a two-thirds majority under Banerjee. They got 211 seats out of 293. All India Trinamool Congress became the first ruling party in West Bengal to win without an ally since 1962.

Banerjee identifies herself as Hindu and is a self-taught painter. She sold 300 paintings for Rs. 9 crores. A movie named Baghini was released on 24th May 2019 in her biography. In 2012, Tie magazine had her name in the list of 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2018, she has conferred the Skoch Chief Minister of the Year Award.

Currently, she is serving as the 8th Chief Minister of West Bengal and never forgets to raise her voice in relevant matters.

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Pandemic through the eyes of Children with Special Educational Needs In view of April being The International Autism Awareness Month, highlighting the awareness on autism and celebrating autistic people;understanding their world of education, especially, education for children with special needs is our prime responsibility, yet often over – looked.

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By Sajeeda Feroz A formal education for children, is to develop knowledge and skills on a myriad of subjects, whereas an education for a child with special needs is about learning to adapt to a normal lifestyle, coping with speech, recreational and motor skills, lifestyle adaptation, cognitive developments, etc which are all possible only with in-person learning. Students receiving special education are not part of a one size fits all group. They are between the age groups of 3 to 22 years, attending preschool and progressing tohigher – secondary grades. They include students with a wide variety of mild to severe cognitive, physical, social, emotional, and behavioural disabilities.

Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEN/SEND) have beenhit hardand are especially vulnerable to the changes. The closure of schools April 2021

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and cutbacks on additional support services during the lockdown has marginalized special children and their curriculum is not on par to helpthem with distance learning.They share a need for special services, accommodations, or both, in order to fully access the school curriculum, and to make meaningful progress appropriate to their ability.

“Lockdowns and the closure of schools, have imposed specific tasks for children with SEN, in terms of their learning support, structure, routine and behaviour. Special Children have always been side-tracked in the normal world even before the pandemic, but now the situation has only worsened”, says Jasmine Fathima, a mathematics educator from Chennai.

Most special educators reported that the coronavirus pandemic made it difficult to meet the needs of students with disabilities and provide appropriate instructional accommodationswhileothers found it hard to provide hands-on services. It has become increasingly toughto engage families as well, for help adhering to the requirements of a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP), which outlines the goals for students with disabilities, and the supportand accommodations they should receive to meet those goals.

Mr. Jabbar Ali, former principal and counsellor of a reputed school in Sharjah, UAE, voiced that, “The admission rates have fallen to an all-time low as parents feel it’s no longer feasible for their wards to pursue online special education. Some families have opted out of the special education school system altogether, at least for now,rethinking school education and continue home schooling instead”.

Unless there is ample room for the re – opening of schools, sticking to yesteryear processes, there is no way a school can win a parent’s confidence in getting their children back to school. It’s been more than a year, but the education industry has been hugely thrashed, lagging behind immensely since the pandemic and this is a grave cause of concern for educationists everywhere.

It’s not unusual for parents of students with disabilities to adopt a massive role in their children’s education as special education can be a confusing and impenetrable system. Parents often need to become experts in special education to ensure their kids receive necessary support.As schools and special service institutions have closed, additional support and rehabilitation services have been withdrawn as well, giving them a gruelling time.

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“Parents have been pushed to fit into different roles such as, the school, teachers, lunch monitors, nurses, recess monitors, and now researchers as well, as they try out different strategies to help their children”, Ms. Jasmine Fathima added.

Wearing so many hats has become incredibly stressful for parents, while immense psychological and financial pressures have been put on them as well, not to forget the physical and psychological impacts on the children themselves.

Parents of autistic children have highlighted that supplementary support and activities provided outside school, which promote children’s wellbeing, social engagement and routine, and act as an additional resource for parents, were also affected by lockdowns.

Mrs. Sofia Fernandes, a mother of an autistic child said, she has been juggling work and her child’s education. “Sure, the pandemic has made things difficult, but I will in no way compromise my son’s education. With the help of his teacher, I have personalised his activities and tabulated them, for him to practice each day. I am constantly monitoring everything he does so that I have an account of his progress.”

The deeper trouble is that not all parents are qualified like Mrs. Sofia to handle the crisis. Most of them are solely dependent on the school for routine instructions and when

that is lost, the children are at a loss, unless the parent learns to transfer learning assuming the teachers role.

Families of children with SEN are more likely to experience socio-economic disadvantages, leading to less intensive home learning. Many families of disabled children have less access to the internet and other technology. While most parents face challenges, real time differences have been felt in the rural and urban areas.

“Parents of SEN children don’t usually possess the means to provide them with an inclusive education. Therefore, they get them admitted in schools which provide inclusive education. Before the pandemic this used to work,because, “something is better than nothing”, but unfortunately, after the pandemic, this education, has been reduced to “nothing”, simply because there is a lack of staff for inclusive education,” said, Mrs. N. Najmunnissa, Principal - in - Charge of a government school in Chennai.

N.Srividhya, a special educator said, “The disruption of structured routines has given rise to negative results for children with SEN increasing behavioural problems, which will be a challenge for parents. The social and emotional development of disabled children has been hindered, heightening mental health problems. Also theloss of social contact due to school closure on children with autism is obstructing their cognitive develP-13

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opment”.

Seconding Miss. Srividhya’s opinions, Mrs. N. Sujatha, who is also a special educator added, “The schooling gapis also expected to make thereturn to school and gradual social interaction more challenging, especially for children with anxiety problems. Given their need for additional educational support, difficulties in catching up are likely to be intensified. On an average, SEN children are said to have fallen behind by a year due to the pandemic when compared to an average of three months for normal children”.

Another issue that always concerns families is the need for face masks. Although imperative to limit the spread of the virus, masks do not cater to students with specific SEN (e.g., students with hearing impairments), non-native speakers and young children who learn by observing mouth movements. Few children with disabilities simply cannot tolerate wearing a mask, due to physical limitations, sensory intolerance, or behavioural concerns, thus affecting everyday learning. Therefore, schools can consider alternate methods of protection such as face shields, plexiglass dividers, increased distancing between students and staff within a room, smaller class sizes, etc.

On the other hand, teachers have been facing mental exhaustion to the point of burn outs, while experiencing salary cuts as well.

Instructions to a group of students through online mediums have proved to be difficult, more often than not. Special children don’t necessarily welcome changes and their sensory disabilities have made it seem more difficult to enable learning. Considering less P-14

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admissions, many have been laid off, making conditions seemingly worse.

Examining the difficulty to provide specially designed instructions for each student, accommodations and supports, the special educators shared some of the steps they took to meet the needs of students such as: Teletherapy to remotely provide counselling and speech therapy. Physical, occupational and speech therapists made videos for therapy, showing kids (and parents) the way to do certain activities and movements.

Teachers used phone calls, text messages and video calls to provide necessary support to students.

Direct instructions were also implemented through in – person classes where staff visited homes of children. Putting in work beyond school hours to teach, teachers made sure individual student needs were met despite the significant challenges and have done all in their power to overcome these obstacles.

While acknowledging the cost and logistical challenges of hybrid models, special educators suggest the following solutions: m Students could attend school only for selected core subjects where they learn to adapt to a certain lifestyle. m Student groups with special education needs could be prioritised for live school attendance with in – house social distancing. m Remote, in - person and in-class teaching could be combined using best practices and takeaways from distance learning experiences during school closures. m Highlighting the Importance of commu-

nication, school leaders and teachers need to agree on communication protocols with families of children with SEN, and publish guidelines in order to protect and ensure that the tone of the messages is supportive and comprehend the exceptional situation families find themselves in. m Continuing limited physical educational services for SEN students such as: Keeping classrooms and quiet spaces to study, open for students with visual impairment. Allowing travel of educational staff to remote areas to ensure the continuatuin of educational provisions when distance learning isn’t possible. m Parental engagement: Encouraging parents to ensure support and comfortable learning environments for students such as counselling services (e.g., virtual meetings, hotlines) to support the psychological and socio-emotional well-being ofstudents at home. m Tools to promote learning among SEN students and their families: Providing child-friendly videos and comics, organising video broadcasts adapted for specific needs to ensure children and adolescents have access to appropriate information and are equipped to take care of themselves and their surroundings.

While several hybrid schedule options are possible, these should be flexible enough, so that they can be adapted at the school level according to the resources available and the composition of the student population which will greatly vary across schools.

Times have been tough and it is going to be a long time before everything returns back to normal. These are times where educators, students and their families need to wrestle through the challenges with hope.

Schools need to outdo themselves to collaborate with families, think outside the box, consider individual preferences and do their best to meet those needs in this challenging environment. And when best efforts don’t work, they need to circle back and fill in the gaps, making learning a rich experience How SEN children might be supported in the coming academic year is of vital importance, as UNICEF (2020) puts it, “newly collected information on the burden and impacts of Covid-19 does not leave children living with disabilities behind”.

At a time when schools are scrambling to deliver regular education in a novel and frightening new context, parents and educators must work together to design appropriate programs for students with special needs.

Each child deserves learning!

Every child needs education!

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Creativity Shock: Pandemic Hits the World of Art There’s art, and there’s the Art World– the institutions, organisations, economies and systems that makes all of the art business possible. This year shows what happens when the complex economy of the artworld – from art galleries turning over millions, to artists working other jobs to pay the rent – comes radically unstuck. At first it was the venues that feared for their future; just a few months into the pandemic, large art spaces were raising the alarm that without footfall, ticket sales and other revenues, they would not survive.

Along with the tourism industry,the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) has identified arts, entertainment and recreation as among the sectors most at risk due to the impact of containment measures. Other sectors most at risk include manufacturing of transport equipment, construction, wholesale and retail trade, air transport, accommodation and food services, and real estate services.

The risk exposure associated with cultural April 2021

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and creative sectors (CCS) is uneven across regions. While employment in CCS represented on average 1.5% of employment in OECD countries in 2017, the weight of those industries in the labour market varies a lot from one region to another.In 230 (63%) out of 367 regions in OECD countries with data , the regional employment share in CCS is less than 2%.

For artists, the transition to web has been a bit more bumpy. Displaying frame-ready paintings or photographs translates OK to the internet, but not everyone uses those mediums.

In a year of recurring lockdowns, the intri-

cate interdependence of private and public money in supporting art and artists has been starkly revealed, and it has meant an explosion of activity to try to keep places and people afloat. Where the state hasn’t been able to keep up, artists have stepped in.

And with the public face of the artworld shuttered, the pandemic has also seen those usually in the background step forward; private patrons and public foundations, those who the public usually sees only as a list of names on the ‘thanks to’ credits outside an exhibition, have suddenly assumed a key role.

With the Black Lives Matter protests driving the agenda on diversity, art collectors and philanthropists have made change a priority.

Building on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on both the education and the cultural and creative sectors, strategic complementarities can be developed. Both sectors experienced accelerated digitalisation, which brings new opportunities for local and regional development but also risks of exacerbating inP-15

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they employ. The need to shift artworld structures that have been reequalities without accompanying measures.

It’s not just art viewing; art selling has gone digital too. Massive dig- producing these more profound and long-standing inequalities is now italisation coupled with emerging technologies, such as virtual and aug- a key issue, which is why the question of museum restitution has immented realities, can create new forms of cultural experience, plications beyond returning historical artefacts to the countries once dissemination and new business models with market potential. With colonised by European powers.

There should be some effort made from the end of centre to give the lockdown, many public and private providers moved content online for free to keep audiences engaged and satisfy the sharply increased artists the access to income support (self-employment or business support measures) is a challenge, as programmes are ill-adapted to these demand for cultural content.

While the provision of free and digitally mediated cultural content hybrid forms of employment. The self-employed in general often do is not sustainable over time, it has opened the door to many future in- not have access to income replacement benefits. novations. To capitalise on them, there is a need to address the digital skills shortages within the sector and imWho Will Benefit? prove digital access beyond large metropolitan areas, with the additional m Artists who continue to shape their creA more ambitious goal occonsideration that digital access does not ative responses to the COVID-19 crisis replace a live cultural experience or all the m Those looking to understand how curred to me: look at this jobs that go with it. artists have reacted to past pandemics moment of crisis as a porthrough their work tal to the future,” McCulPolicy recommendations: m Creatives searching for economic soluloh, a US based awarded tions within museums and galleries “A more ambitious goal occurred to me: m Ensure that public support for artist said. “History tells us look at this moment of crisis as a portal to COVID-19 relief does not exclude CCS pandemics trigger periods the future,” McCulloh, a US based firms and workers due to their non-tradiof change; They are awarded artist said. “History tells us pantional business models and employment demics trigger periods of change; They are contracts seeds of new futures. seeds of new futures. Consequently, we m Include non-profit institutions (e.g.

Consequently, we should should seek art as sharp as the world. Art museums) in support programmes deseek art as sharp as the that surveys — even tries to define — the signed to help small businesses retain emterritory beyond the hills of this particular ployees world. Art that surveys — virus. Artists are keen observers and virtum Ensure that the support to cultural oreven tries to define — the osic dreamers. Therefore, they help ganisations reaches artists and other creterritory beyond the hills of mankind navigate into the unknown.” ative professionals this particular virus. Artists This year has been about improvising, m In parallel with income and business and inevitably digital platforms have partly support measures, invest in cultural proare keen observers and stepped in where physical ones failed. Cuduction to help the sector rebound after virtuosic dreamers. Thererators have had to rethink the organisation the crisis fore, they help mankind of largescale exhibitions from the ground m Consider tax incentives for corporate up. and individual donations to promote innavigate into the unDigital networks, previously seen as disvestments in the sector known. tinct from or sometimes even antagonistic m Encourage private and non-profit secto the interests of the in situ artworld, have tor mobilisation in support of CCS firms become the locus for reorganising and susand workers taining relationships between artists, organisations and audiences. m Invest in digital infrastructure that can amplify advances in culEven blue-chip galleries, usually the most exclusive and privileged tural and creative sectors Cultural employment is often underestimated in official statistics for actors in the artworld, and those weathering the pandemic best, found a number of reasons. When estimating cultural employment, it is dif- that they needed to respond differently, seeing the point of supporting ficult to determine what proportion of some economic activities and their less secure peers by sharing their own digital platforms, or by supoccupations is genuinely cultural. For this reason, activities and occu- porting the precarious infrastructures of emerging, early-career art that pations which are only partially cultural are often excluded from official is a crucial part of the culture they inhabit. But reorganising networks cultural employment statistics. In addition, labour force surveys include isn’t simply to do with hybridising online-offline structures. only a respondent’s main paid job and do not capture the secondary For some, it is changing the way things work. Many artists organised employment or volunteer employment, which is present in CCS. quickly to support their peers, for whom a lack of exhibitions and comSowhile philanthropic organisations might have once focused on missions had led to a loss of revenue, instituting DIY fundraisers and supporting artists through funding their work, they now feel compelled no-strings grants to support artists where governments had failed to. not only to support artists, but to research and advocate for the profesThe combination of investment and demand shocks as well as an sional and institutional issues that artists face. And of course, many are anticipated reduction of public and private funding, may cause the disno longer prepared to wait for incremental, maybe-later change. appearance or significant reduction in activity of otherwise viable and So, in a few short months, galleries and museums have moved at valuable firms that support the sector. The result would be the loss of breakneck speed to affirm that they need to deal seriously with the his- skills of those creative professionals who would have to abandon their torical lack of diversity among the artists they show and the people creative activities and seek other jobs to make a living.

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By Akash Pharande Do you know one of the most important facets of housing choices today? Size, budget, location and developers' brand are obviously important. But there is another facet that explains why more and more homebuyers are choosing to live in projects which are NOT in the city centre but in emerging areas close to the city.

Across the world, we are seeing one of the worst side-effects of unfettered urbanization the deterioration of air quality. In India, cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Pune are notable examples of this. However, it is happening everywhere across the world, including China, the United States, South America and Europe. Everywhere we look, rapidly increased urban development is resulting in tremendous air contamination.

The odd-even vehicle number system now being applied in Delhi is not new. It has already been extensively used in cities like Paris, Manila and Beijing. In the most highly-congested cities of Vietnam, the authorities are desperately trying to find ways to increase metro rail coverage and use. In the near future, the use of personal vehicles may become completely illegal in cities like Oslo and Madrid. In the Danish capital of Copenhagen, over half of the population only uses bicycles.

In India, we have not yet woken up to the full evils of air pollution. However, it takes very little imagination to predict that the problem will grow over our heads eventually.

Air Pollution and COVID-19

In recent times, air pollution has become even more worrisome because of the ongoing pandemic. According to a recent research study by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, breathing more polluted air over many years can by itself exacerbate the impact of a pandemic like COVID-19.

This study established a clear correlation between chronic air pollution (which has built up over years) and a staggering 11% increase in deaths by COVID-19 infection.

Awareness Is Everything

I recently met a young American couple both digital nomads - who lived in the almost defunct hill station of Lavasa near Pune for alApril 2021

Air Quality From Fundamental Right to Privilege

most eight months during the first lockdown.

They had work visas and could have worked from anywhere in India. Though they had to work with slow cellular Internet and had very little access to the many resources available in Pune city, they chose Lavasa for this single reason - its air quality.

"We obviously also have the problem of air pollution in America - but the air quality in most Indian cities is so horrible that we simply could not stay there," the husband told me.

"We tried Mumbai and Pune but they were intolerable. Apparently, very few people here realize that air pollution is not just about what you can see and smell. Thankfully, we have a friend in Mumbai who loaned us the use of his second home in Lavasa."

Be it Delhi, Beijing, Brazil or New York, clean air is one resource that everyone needs - and very few people get anymore. Industries, automobiles - and, in the case of India, also stubble burning - pollute the air to such an extent that people who breathe it tend to live shorter and more miserable lives.

In Pune, there are almost no unpolluted

national areas left. The once green environs of village areas like Undri-Pisoli, Panshet, Kamshet and Katraj have already been over-run by real estate development and industrialization. HNIs who could afford to live in areas like Koregaon Park and Boat Club Road have realized that despite relatively more trees and vegetation, they cannot escape air pollution there any longer.

Clean air is a dire necessity. However, like privacy, it is also a luxury that most Indians no longer have access to. Even our most advanced filtration technologies are unable to deliver this vital resource.

What Is The Way Out?

The only real solution is to live in areas where pollution has not yet caught up.

To some extent, integrated townships present a solution. The latest townships are scientifically planned and offer more open green spaces - also known as 'lung spaces' in urban planning verbiage.

Internal roads are planned in a manner that prevents traffic congestion.

Also, integrated townships have everything from shops and restaurants to hospitals and even office buildings. A new luxury township in Urse near Pune goes an extra mile by offering exclusive low-rise housing formats as well as a dedicated golf course.

Residents can reach these facilities easily without getting caught in traffic jams. Even more importantly, integrated townships are generally too large to be built within the city.

The kind of land parcels that are needed for their development are only available in the peripheral areas. This means that the air around them is less polluted.

In cities like Pune, township developers are constantly seeking out newer, cleaner and greener areas to cater to customers who want to regain a fundamental right - simple, good quality air for their families to breathe.

According to a leading property consultant commenting on the effect that Delhi's air pollution is having one homebuyer preferences, integrated townships in well-connected outlying areas will now start drawing increasing demand. They also confirm that the demand for second homes in these less polluted areas is also growing, since city-dwellers want to have at least an occasional respite from the pollution of the inner city.

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The Dark Reality of Beauty Pageants The glamour of the beauty industry is just like a camera filter. It looks all perfect and shining when you see through it but once you remove that and see it in natural mode, you will see how many imperfections it contains. As the world is trying to become more progressive, these beauty pageants have refrained from taking any step forward. Let’s dig deeper into the problematic nature of this industry.

By Ritika

The structure of the competition itself is questionable.

The main concern of beauty pageants is physical beauty. The way your physical features look and how well you carry those are the parameters on which you win the title. To hide this superficial nature of these competitions, the organizers compensate it by adding one or two rounds of questions and answers.

The guidelines of Femina Miss India states that the participant should be between 18 to 25 years of age because of course only the young girls are considered beautiful. Another guideline states that the girl should be at least 5’3 in height. This title is made for the women of India, where the average height of women is 5 feet.

It was earlier 5’5 that the organisers reduced, to make this competition “inclusive”. Another questionable requirement is, the girl P-18

should be unmarried. This literally put a question mark against the beauty of married women. These specific rules differentiate some girls from others and create an ideal standard of beauty that is clearly not normal.

This enforcement of beauty standards puts people in boxes.

Those who fit in this are labeled as beautiful and those who do not as the contrary. Young girls grow up being conscious about their physical attributes and doubting their self-worth.

Even the ones who fit these categories go through so much of mental stress that they feel bad about themselves too. The ideal body shape and size are not easy to get. Only the people who can afford to go to the gym regularly and consult dieticians are able to get that zero-size figure. The make-up and the dresses, everything requires a good investment. In one way, these beauty pageants promote classism. This is the reason Manya Singh, VLCC Femina Miss India 2020 runner-up, got so much appreciation for her victory. She is the daughter of an auto-driver and therefore it came out as such heartwarming news. It was so unexpected for a girl like her because these competitions are not accessible to everyone.

What goes behind all the glam and glitz?

Some participants later confess in their interviews how girls surApril 2021

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involved a strict regime of physical exercises.

Every pose, walk, and gaze went through scrutiny. They were prepared for the questions and answers round but the shallow structure of the beauty pageant was revealed in the first round only. The girls were adorning swimsuits and walked showing their bodies from every angle. Of course, it helps in building discipline and confidence in the participants but it also makes the people watching them conscious about their own skin. The name of the titles like Miss sparkling eyes fixes only the certain type of eyes that are beautiful and anything else apart from them is not.

Even after they win the title, these beauty queens are under a state of constant surveillance. Alicia Machado, who was crowned Miss Universe 1996, got threatened to be replaced because of her increasing weight. As if, her worth was directly proportional to her weight. This controversy itself depicts how problematic these competitions are.

The legitimacy of Beauty Pageants

vive on water pills to showcase a great swimsuit body on the stage. Eating disorders like bulimia are not rare diseases among the participants who starve themselves quite often to fit a certain body shape. Few of them also confessed of being asked for sexual favours from their organisers and sponsors.

An article on Channel News Asia featured Janina San Miguel's, the winner of Miss Philippines 2008, interview with the programme Undercover Asia, specifically targets this point. Last year she confessed about the reality she had to face behind all the glitz. She was offered several sexual advances in return of money. During her training for the crown of miss world, she was isolated from her family and even the death of her grandfather was hidden from her. It was torture on a different level. The journey of getting the tiara and the sachet is not simple and definitely not smooth.

A youtube documentary by Real Stories titled “Backstabbers and Beauty Queens” showed what goes in the training of these individuals. Their training was no less than a military one. Their mornings began early and April 2021

These competitions surely give young girls an opportunity to come out of their comfort zones. From fame and popularity to a chance to level up their career and gain monetary rewards, they help in giving a platform to do something for the society. Manushi Chillar, the crown holder of Miss World 2017, initiated Project Shakti to help in spreading awareness about menstruation in rural areas.

But this is the aftermath of Beauty pageants.

The selection process, the rounds, and the judgement process still consist of multiple faults.

Gradually, they are trying to be more inclu-

sive. In 2014, Miss World Organisation removed the bikini round but it was replaced by a “beachwear” round which did not really make much of a difference. To create a society where every person feels valued, we need to do better than this.

Need of reforms in the age of body positivity

If you will look closely at all the crown winners, one thing that would strike you is how all of them look similar in terms of their body type. Tall and slim-waisted girls get to win the title almost all the time. What message does it give back to the society? Clearly, it implies that only this body type should be called beautiful.

The unreal benchmark that these beauty pageants set for the ideal society are not achievable for everybody. Due to that, people have to go through body shaming that leaves a scar on them and makes them hate themselves. Bodyweight is one of the sensitive issues to deal with for some of us. There are so many factors affecting our weight and putting a certain body type on the pedestal surely makes the other body type inferior.

One thing that you will see trending on every social media is #loveyourself. How do these competitions help in spreading this most important message? Some of the models seem to be indulging in plastic surgeries and getting botox to win the competition. But what about the rest of us who cannot afford this amount of money? And what about those who just don’t want to? Are not those girls beautiful?

In 2018, a Netflix original movie “Dumplin’” came out. The plot of the movie revolved around the shallow nature of beauty pageants. The protagonist, Willowdean who was not stereotypically beautiful, participated in the pageant to challenge their authority.

This movie surely questions the whole existence and judgement of such competitions lightheartedly. We have a long way to reach that stage where each and every body would be considered beautiful in their own way but it can be done. The pageant organisers should put physical attributes at the back and listen to what the other person has to say. There is a huge need to remove this superficiality and become more accepting towards people. If these pageants are judging girls on the basis of their personality then we need to start respecting their intellects too. The title winners represent their homeland and become a goodwill ambassador for the same. There are so many things we should look at apart from their physical attributes.

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Taliban Crises & IndiaAfghanistan Relationship

By Bhuvaneswaran P

“The relationship between India and Afghanistan is not just between two countries or government, it is a timeless link of human hearts”, said PM Modi back in 2015 during a joint press conference with the Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani.

The Taliban crisis in Afghanistan is getting severe day by day and India has extended its support for peace talks between the Taliban and Afghanistan. There was a time in the 1990s and 2000s when India was strictly not interested in any dialogue with the Taliban.

But things have changed when Russia hosted talks between the Taliban and Afghans, and a diplomat delegate represented India.

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When Afghan External Affairs Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar met his counterpart S. Jaishankar during a 3-day visit in India, it was mainly about sustaining peace in Afghanistan. Other than this, the focus was to strengthen trade relations, regional connectivity and improving security cooperation.

The Century-Old Relationship Between India and Afghanistan

Before we dig deeper into the Taliban issue, let’s talk about India-Afghanistan relation over the years. The relationship between the two countries dates back to the Indus Valley Civilisation. After Alexander, the Great’s short occupation, the successor state of the Seleucid Empire controlled the region known today as

Afghanistan. As part of an alliance treaty in 305 BCE, they gave up most of it to the Indian Maurya Empire.

The Mauryans brought Buddhism from India and the Afghan was influenced by Hindu and Zoroastrian culture, and in the 7th century, Islamism came in to practice. Although many Afghans converted to Islam, the Muslims and Hindu were living together in harmony.

The Afghanistan-India ties is a special and powerful relation sharing common interests in economic trades, social and cultural growth.

In the current scenario, if India can rely on a friendly neighbour, it is Afghanistan. In 2015, President Ashraf Ghani said “India and Afghanistan are bound my million ties through a millennia” when he visited India.

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On 15 August 2019, on Indian Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his greetings to Afghanistan who was about to also celebrate Afghan Independence Day, the 100th year, four days later. Modi said: "Afghanistan is a good neighbour of India, and I wish the country for celebrating 100 years of independence this year". President Ashraf Ghani replied with the comment "May our friendship last forever."

Presently, the Joe Biden administration has decided to keep the American Troops in Afghanistan while they are working on a new peace treaty. This is bad for India as India cannot afford to be out of the picture in the Afghan war. With the Taliban controlling half of Afghanistan, swift actions need to be taken soon. India cannot stand out and watch how the Taliban regime turns out to be because of New Delhi’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.

Taliban’s History and its influence in Afghanistan

Russia interfered and occupied Afghanistan in 1979, this led to a fight between Islamic mujahideen fighters and the Russians. After years of conflict, the Soviet withdrew its forces in 1989 and the Peshawar Accord was signed, which paved the way for the creation of the Islamic State of Afghanistan and an interim government was appointed for a transitional period, but that Islamic State and its government never got along from the beginning, due to rivalling groups contending for power over Kabul and Afghanistan.

Civil war persisted in Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996 which led to the rise of the Sunni Islamic fundamentalist political movement, this is how the Taliban came into existence in 1994. Taliban were initially a group of students from the Pashtun areas of Eastern and Southern Afghanistan who studied in traditional Islamic schools.

Their main goal to liberate Afghanistan from its present corrupt leadership of warlords, and establish a pure Islamic society.

Elected in 2016, MawlawiHibatullah Akhundzada is the present leader of the Taliban.

What’s Life Like in Afghanistan?

The Taliban conflict in Afghanistan is not only fought through guns and ammunition but also through politics as to what type of authority should rule the government.

Now, the Afghanistan government wants a political system based on electoral democracy which emerged during the aftermath of the 2001 U.S. invasion. Basically, the government April 2021

and its associates look to maintain the balance of power through this electoral system, postconflict Afghanistan.

The government is based on the constitution and proclaims itself as a sovereign authority in the country that is it is directly elected by the people and it henceforth represents the nation. But, contrastingly, it is the Taliban who present the Islamic Emirate brand, which is ruled by Islamic laws, and they say it the “the Islamic solution” to the country’s problems.

For example, “Schools in Taliban areas are technically state schools. They are funded by the government and people who work in them are technically government workers. It’s simply that the areas around them and the communities that these kids come from dominated by the Taliban” says a journalist from the grounds of Afghanistan.

A teacher in Afghanistan says, “Sometimes the boys join the Taliban because of what they go through in the situation here, it affects them inside, when their relatives are killed”. Such situations take a terrible toll on the life of a children A recent survey conducted by the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies shows the people’s views on regime type in the country. Based on the survey, which was conducted in 34 provinces of Afghanistan, it was found that over 68 percent of people prefer the post-2001 political system compared to the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate.

Over 80 percent of these respondents agree with the legitimacy of a political regime where the state head and the country’s leaders are directly elected by the people in a fair election.

More than 80 percent of these respondents are in favour of other democratic elements such as women’s rights and liberties, social equality, and freedom of expression.

On February 29, 2020, The US and Afghanistan have signed a second peace treaty that called for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. After which, there was a sudden increase in insurgent attacks against Afghan security forces.

Peace talks between the Afghan state officials and the Taliban started in September 2020 in Doha, Qatar, but there has been a rise in civilian casualties in Afghanistan since then.

In November 2020, the number of civilian casualties was the highest of any year that month ever since the United Nations began documenting Afghan casualties in 2009.

Currently, the war in Afghanistan has become the deadliest conflict in the world, causing more casualties than the fighting in Syria, Libya or Yemen. It needs to end soon Nearly 50% of the population in Afghanistan is less than 15 years of age. If the war doesn’t come to an end soon, then these children will be the next-generation fighters.

Peace in Afghanistan would mean a lot to these children after spending their entire childhood in a war-ravaged country.

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Healthy Living

By Akshinta Das What is Healthy Living?

According to WHO “health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity. Healthy living is also about functioning well in both physical and mental health as well as spiritual.

Healthy Eating (Diet and Nutrition)

Every human needs food for growth and maintenance of a well maintained body. But each human being have different meal requirements in every phases of life.

For example: Infants need to be fed every four hours till they gradually age to take in solid foods. Then they develop a normal pattern of three meals a day.

Tips for Healthy Eating

m Eat three healthy meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Dinner needs to be light, and not heavy. m The bulk of food consumption should consists 0f fruits and vegetables as well as low fat or fat-free milk products. m Avoid sodas and sugar-enhances drinks due to the excessive calories present. Diet Drinks may not be the best choice as they make some people hungrier and increase the consumption of food. m Avoid eating a heavy meal before sleeping to decrease weight gain. m Do not reward children with sugary snacks: this habit will prolong as adults m Avoid eating raw or uncooked meats.

Physical Activity and exercise

Physical Activity and exercise is a major contributor to a healthy lifestyle.

7 Major effective exercises m Walking P-22

Walking is one of the most convenient and easy exercises. If you are just starting walking for exercise, began with 5 o 10 minutes. Add a few minutes till it gradually adds up to 30 to 45 minutes.

m Lunges Lunges work all the major muscles of your lower body. They also improve your balance.

m Running and Jogging Regular jogging or running may help to build strong bones, strengthen muscles, improve cardiovascular fitness , burn calories and help maintain a healthy weight.

m Swimming Swimming is a great workout exercise because it keeps your heart rate up and takes your stress out, builds endurance and muscle strength, tones muscles and build strength and provides an overall body workout.

m Yoga Yoga improves flexibility, increases muscle strength and tone, balances muscular strength, improves posture, improves positive coordination and balance.

m Tennis Tennis increases aerobic capacities, lowers resting heart rate and blood pressure, improves metabolism, lowers body fat, improves metabolism, lowers body fat, improves muscle tone strength and flexibility.

m Golf Golf helps you to stay fit, improve muscle tone and lose body fat.

Mental health

Healthy living involves more than physical health, it also includes emotional or mental health. The following are some ways people can support their mental health and well-being.

Tips

m Get enough sleep daily; the CDC recommends the following by age group (naps inclusive); 12-18 hours from birth to 2 months, 14-15 hours from 3-11 months of age, 12-18 hours for 1-3 years of age, 11-13 hours for 35 years of age, 10-11 hours for 5-10 years of age, 8.5-9.5 hours for 10-17 years of age and those 18 and above need 7-9 hours of sleep.

Elderly people need about 7-9 hours but do not sleep as deeply and may awaken at night or wake early, so naps (like kids need) allow them to accumulate the total of 7-9 hours of sleep. m Take a walk and reflect on what you see and hear at least several times per week. m Try something new and often (eat a new food, try a different route to work, go to a new museum display). m Do some mind exercises (read, do a puzzle occasionally during the week). m Try to focus on a process intensely and complete a segment of it over 1 to several hours, then take a break and do something relaxing (walk, exercise, short nap). m Plan to spend some time talking with other people about different subjects. m Try to make some leisure time to do some things that interest you every week (hobby, sport).

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The Realm of India’s Employment Law and The Indian Constitution

Book Review

of retirement. The 29 chapters have relevant detail that a person in employment may or may not be aware of. Even people who may not have the basic idea of employment law and the importance of it can understand it by reading the book. Through his extensive research, the author brings content that is both useful and helpful for the readers in long-term understanding.

Ghosh uses a language that is free of jargon and makes the reading of the book a good experience. While the readers find Author the book approachable and easy to read, at the same Dr. Amitava Ghosh time, they get to know and learn a lot of things they would otherwise be unaware of. The author avoids unnecessarily digressing or Author: Dr. Amitava Ghosh wavering into different topics and keeps Reviewed By: Akhila Saroha the content focused and specific. The Publisher: Evincepub Publishing specific nature of the work makes things easier for the readers to understand and have a grip on the minute points that would otherwise escape their notice. “The Realm of India’s Employment Law and The Indian Constitution,” being true to its title, makes sure that no aspect remains untouched for the readers and they have an in-depth understanding.

The book talks about all forms of employment, whether it is permanent or contractual. It also talks about the leaves system, work culture and conditions, the facilities entitled to all, and the legal technicalities which may be difficult to understand for a layman. Ghosh keeps the manner of writing systematic, sequential, and precise. This manner of writing invites every kind of reader to lay their hands on the book, and in this manner, it also becomes open for younger readers to have their experience in reading and planning their future.

“The Realm of India’s Employment Law and The Indian Constitution” is recommended to all the readers irrespective of their reading fiction or non-fiction as the content and knowledge the book shares is far more significant for not just this generation but also the coming generations. Whether employed readers or readers who are looking forward to getting employed in the future, the book is a recommended one for all.

In light of this, raising the book to the level of being universally relevant would not be wrong. The readers can read the book Money is the factor that runs and governs everyone’s life. more than once whenever since the book shares many imporAs times have changed, the present is more turbutant points which may not be retained in one reading. lent when it comes to employment and the laws asWhile on the one hand, the law of the country would sociated with it. The awareness of this would be remain more or less the same, at the same time, the helpful for all people. Dr. Amitava Ghosh, in his labour force would only grow, and awareness of the book, “The Realm of India’s Employment Law and employment law is more of an essential than anything The Indian Constitution,” focuses on this aspect, minor which can be overlooked. As labour force inand in his work of non-fiction, he talks about this creases and as the times in present are changing, the at length. With this detailed explanation, the readers exploitation of employees can happen in front of their would get to know a lot of new things and aspects eyes, and they may not be aware of it, let alone do anyrelated to employment and the mechanics that opthing about it. An awareness of this would ensure that Akhila Saroha erate through the law. they are not exploited and take the necessary action as As the title suggests, Ghosh talks about the employment law, and when times call for it. This would also ensure that employwhich is something every person should know, whether em- ers do not take undue advantage of their position and harass or ployed or soon to be employed. This makes the book of utmost exploit their employees in any manner. Keeping in mind the significance for everyone. “The Realm of India’s Employment fact that the culture of employment is more prevalent in comLaw and The Indian Constitution” is divided into 29 chapters parison to the culture of being self-employed, Ghosh’s work with a separate preface and introduction. Herein, the author would be a pioneer in the field of raising awareness as it is perbegins with the very moment a person is employed to the time haps the first in its field of writing.

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Business Strategies Post Pandemic Review By: Akhila Saroha

The pandemic of coronavirus not only the crucial time of more than a year from people’s lives but also put a dent at different levels of the economy. In the wake of the new normal, people have been thinking out of the box to make their lives a little better than what they are and adapt to the new world that will most likely be the future. “Business Strategies Post Pandemic: Gearing for a New World” by Swati SaksenaJha is a work which is written keeping in mind the new normal and the post-covid-19 situation. Jha talks about life in the new normal and shares ways to cope with the new conditions that human beings would face. In this manner, the book can be a guide for all those who may be trying to think of new strategies to be followed in the coming time.

Jha divides “Business Strategies Post Pandemic” into 14 chapters where she talks about a variety of commercial aspects that would be affected in one way or the other in the world, which would be adapting to the new normal.

She begins with the burning question of perhaps every industry, sales. The author talks about various aspects that surround sales and how vital it is to take care of them as sales would be affected in the present time than anything else. The fact that she devotes 3 chapters alone to this particular topic highlights the importance of this aspect. This is one factor that is affecting and will continue to affect all industries, which include automobile, real estate, travel, hospitality, avia-

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emerging new business models and intion, etc. She mentions in the prefvolving more closely with consumers.” ace, And in the introduction, “It is very important and vital to “The next 24 months are going to get new customers on-board, no be full of opportunities, ups-down matter how small the business ticket and tests-trials to the best laid plans. size is on Sales.”

All organization must have people As the chapters progress, the author shares her vision of the future Swati Saksena Jha, who are engaged and energized, Author who will meet those tasks and turn of how things could be and how people can handle them. Jha talks about the e- them into prospect of opportunities.”

Jha keeps the language simple for all readers commerce industry, how things have been in the pandemic times, and the trends that have been to understand the ideas she has to share and also developing. Through the chapter based on retail ensures that they reach the readers comprehenpartners, the author talks about how every sector sive and clear. As a result, she can reach out to of the economy will have its share of contribu- maximum readers, and they would be benefitted tion in making the coming time better than ear- from her ideas too. She attaches a bibliography lier. In “Business Strategies Post Pandemic,” she in the end, which also implies how well-retalks about how consumers have been impacted searched the book and the author wrote the book and how their attitudes will be shaped up in the after careful thought to everything. This book future. At the same time, she also highlights the could even fill the readers with the spirit of reimportance of women as emerging new leaders silience and rising like a phoenix from these troubled times. in the times ahead in the evolving new world.

In the later chapters of “Business Strategies Post Pandemic”, Jha talks about the importance of technology and how instrumental it will be in shaping the lives of people and helpful in adapting to the changes that await them. She also talks about the idea of resetting things.

Starting over and not giving up. She clearly states that one needs to stay motivated and positive that things will change for the better sooner or later and talks in terms of Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest. “Business Strategies Post Pandemic” is one of the few books written that can serve as a guide and lifesaver for many who are grappling with the changed situations and yet not giving up in their attempts to make both ends meet. She mentions in the preface, “Out of every crisis come opportunities for competitive reinvention and differentiation.

Today’s strategic reconsideration provides a Publisher: Evincepub Publishing substance for fast-tracking operating change,

Love. Feel.

Pain. Heal.

Repeat

Author: Shilpa Publisher: Evincepub Publishing Review: Akhila Saroha Love as an emotion is the most powerful thing a human being experiences in their lifetime. In any form, love is the most potent feeling, and everyone experiences all the other emotions that P-24

are by-products of this emotion at one point in time or the other in life. Dealing with those emotions is a challenge for many as some are too emotional while some are a little lesser. In her collection of poetry, “Love. Feel. Pain. Heal. Repeat,” Shilpa attempts to give words to those unspoken emotions that trouble the lives of many and those who feel they are the only ones going through those circumstances.

The readers would feel an instant connection with her work from the cover itself. The manner in which the author titles the book and the cover she takes are worth observing. The frequent usage of full stops somewhere implies how all the acts of love, feeling, pain, healing are all part of life and how these things happen with everyone.

Keeping the background as black implies the neutrality and the universality of these emotions, April 2021

which is more or less the same, and the way everyone feels is the same. This also suggests the work to be neutral to all genders and is not about being restricted to any particular group.

As the readers begin with the book, they understand that the work is not any ordinary collection of love poems or anything of that sort. It is far beyond which has the touch of love with the objectivity of reality. This gives the book a modern outlook, and it is not a far-fetched set of poems that are just an idealistic set. The poet declares that it may be about love, but it is also about being proud of a person’s ability to feel that way because not everyone is able to. This gives a message of positivity, and the readers are in tune with the author from the beginning.

It is interesting to note how the author keeps here poems of varying lengths and without any titles. The different lengths keep the poems away from the artificiality of the present day and also show the emotions in their raw form without any mixing or blending with anything else. The absence of titles may be suggestive of the manner of randomness in which emotions work or show up. They do not have any time or place or title or length; the author records them just the way they crop up. This raw display shows the courage of the poet to be vocal through her pen about the things which would otherwise remain unsaid. This pure showcase

could be another point due to which the readers would enjoy the work.

The purpose of “Love. Feel. Pain. Heal. Repeat,” is not to inspire the readers to rise like a phoenix from the ashes, nor is it to make them feel sad about all they have been through. It simply is to accept things the way they are and how one person is. It is about appreciating one’s uniqueness because that is what differentiates one person from another instead of comparing with others and feeling sad or any other negative emotion. The most courageous act is to appreciate oneself for the things one faces silently, and this forms the central focus of the poet in her collection.

“Love. Feel. Pain. Heal. Repeat,” is all about who has been through all these emotions at one point of time in their life or the other. No one is untouched by these emotions at different junctures, which makes the work relevant and universal to all age groups. For the younger ones, it is about understanding that they are not alone in the ship they sail, and for elder readers, it is about looking back to their experiences not with anger but with an appreciation for themselves for having the ability to feel that way.

The conciseness and crispness of the poems can also be one factor that attracts the readers as they would find an objective representation of reality instead of an idealistic projection of all that is felt by a human being.

Author Kavita Sarraf, an advocate by profession, has done an applaudable work writing this book called 'From Knowing to Glowing.' She has divided it into two parts - the first one describing some noticeable experiences of her life, and the second one conveying her message to the readers.

Kavita was merely 10 days old when she lost her mother to the destiny. She could never see her in own senses. Kavita had only heard stories about her from family and relatives. Her first major experience occurred around the completion of 19 years of her mother's demise. She had measured herself to have lost 40 kg in the planned and executed to preceding 4-5 months. It achieve this milestone. was not less than a mileKavita's second major stone as she was obese as experience involved the a kid, someone who loss of two more loved weighed 55 kg in 7 years ones. She had become a of age itself. Kavita was mother herself by now. teased by the kids Not to one but two kids.

Reviewed By around. Wantedly or un- Neha Sharma In the present times, one wantedly, she had also of them is a teenager and developed and obsession about the other is a pre-teen. Both are into food and was thinking about it all sports and doing well in the field. the time. I leave it as untold how With all these events occurring in she discovered her strong will and her life, she discovered many realdetermination to lose those extra ities about life and death. The most kilograms. Also so, what she convincing one for her being

Haruki Murakami's words which go as follows "Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it. An inevitable conclusion of the drama called life."

The deaths of Kavita's near ones, which she encountered, had become a life-lesson for her, enabling to reflect upon the inevitable fact of death as a painful truth of life! She realised the importance of love, harmony, strength and unconditional acceptance of each other's disparities in life as mortals.

These deaths turned Kavita into a farsighted person. Now that she had come across the truth of existence, the end of physicality of life and the price one has to pay for it; she felt calm and relaxed.

The description of her third major life experience explains to the readers how she found her calling. It took her to cross numerous threatening hurdles to let this happen and follow the path ahead. She felt the most motivated and liberated at this point of life. It was then that she started feeling debted to the person who was the most responsible for creating these hurdles but had rather led her to her calling anyway. She believed that if he would have not done this, she would not have come to know herself. The author was now showered with compliments about balancing time between family, litigations

Published by: Evincepub Publishing

From Knowing to Glowing

April 2021

Author: Kavita Saraff

and studies. Now she knew that she had conquered her fears.

While throwing light upon the plus points of strengthening one's knowledge of self and surroundings, Kavita hasn't forgotten to discuss the dangers of knowing little as well.

The author has given out some really valuable messages about life in a really simple and friendly language. At some places, reading this book even creates a breezy feeling go through the inner self of the readers. For instance, when she talks about calmness, harmony, Buddha's quotes and soothing sayings. There's a lot more to be explored though.

Conclusively, I find it to be a promising work and recommend it to readers who are on a quest to discover the hidden realities of life.

Needless to say, the publishing team - Evincepub - has done a commendable job bringing it out too.

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literature

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Day Turns Dark: dazzles the readers with its sensational ending

ideals. It's no wonder that he is surrounded by fiercely faithful friends and manages to win the heart of the prettiest girl in school, Harleen.

Innocent love blooms through dusty summers, fragrant rains and frigid, frosty winters till a tragic loss spirals Nitin into depths of selfloathing that destroys everything he holds dear in his path. When he finally recovers from his mental trauma, he realizes much to his horror that he has not only lost the girl he loved but also wronged his loyal friend and put an innocent soul through the torturous scrutiny of societal morality.

Adamant of doing right by Mansi, the girl he unknowingly wounded, Nitin tries his best to turn both their lives around. When Harleen re-enters his life, he is torn between his past and his need to right a wrong.

Day Turns Dark leaves you with a vital question; hearts are meant to be broken but can they forge new relationships? Sunil Sihag'GORA' makes the novel memorable with its dazzling ending that gives the readers spinetingling scream of broken hearts.

Sunil Sihag Gora is also a fellow member of Screen Writers Association Mumbai. He started "Gora Foundation Trust" an NGO that creates awareness on organ donation. He has set up five community libraries in rural areas to make books accessible to the readers.

"I would like to share my resolution with readers that the entire revenue generated by the book will be spent in the public library project, organ donation awareness campaign and Shiksha Abhiyan of GORA FOUNDATION" says Sunil Sihag Gora If you are an avid reader and are in search of a romantic fiction book, Day Turns Dark is a must pick. It will emotionally connect you and leave you with optimistic thoughts about love and life.

Must Read

Writing is a way to discover self and gather deeper moments in life. All of us have stories and these stories when shared with the world add meaning to life. A good writer aims at keeping his readers glued to the story till the end. The author makes the readers connect with the storyline and triggers their emotions to leave a long-lasting impact. We got to thank such authors who use their imaginative and creative skills for the readers to have a good experience. One such renowned personality is Sunil Sihag Gora. He believes in the power of words and is keen on bringing a change through his words and actions. He has authored “Day Turns Dark” a novella that revolves around love, friendship, and career. The book is a sweet romance between two young souls who plan their future together on the pillars of whimsical ambitions. The story is meant for every individual (irrespective of the age bar) who has fallen in love or had a crush or wanted to propose to someone back in the school days. So, hold on to your emotions while the author takes you through the rollercoaster ride of love, career and friendship.

Sunil Sihag Gora is a social activist and emerging novelist cum screenplay writer. He is the author of “Day Turns Dark”. The novel ranked first in Amazon's movers and shakers category & ranked second in the hot new release category on launching day. It is a story about young love, stolen dreams, moralities and sacrifices. Anyone who comes across Nitin with his curly hair and winning smile is bowled over by his simplistic charm and lofty

Book: ABYSS Author: Sabarna Roy Publisher: Leadstart Publishing Prize: INR 95 Pages: 120 P-26

Book: Random Subterranean Mosaic

2012 – 2018 Author: Sabarna Roy

Publisher: Leadstart Publishing Prize: INR 352, Pages: 270

Book: Rang Bhara Tohfa Author: Neelam Saxena Chandra Publisher: AKS Publishing House Prize: INR 199 Pages : 166 April 2021

in the city

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Gouri Sharma & Zeeshan

Manya Pathak’s Success Party Manya Pathak

“GABRU”

Manoj Verma & Aanchal Thappar

It was a buzzing and jam packed event that Manya Pathak, Actress Zee TV Dilli Darling Fame hosted a Success Party for her recent Punjabi Music Video GABRU at Moonshine 2.0. The evening was fun filled with great energies around where all the guests were spotted having a gala time enjoying the cocktails and dancing on bollywood numbers. The party was well attended by renowned names from the social circuit to name a few were Nishi Singh, Sagar Anand, Preeti Jain, Pavan Suri, Yotsana Attree, Means Malhothra, Jasleen Kaur, Gunjan Gaur, Rochika Aggarwal, Rajiv Gupta, Richa Sharma.

On the 3rd anniversary of Park Holidays International, they have launched their New app for Android and iOS users.

It is a user - friendly app in which you can plan your holidays in advance, upload your pictures and checkout various holiday destinations and do all the bookings at economical prices.The Park Holidays International deals Membership Programs, bookings of Hotels and resorts and provide Holiday Packages.The launch was held at ITC Welcome, New Delhi.

Actress Gauhar Khan launched the app along with the directors of The Park Holi-

days International - Mohd Javed, Ankur Chauhan and Nakul Khandelwal. During the pandemic, Gauhar came to Delhi for the first time and she was constantly requesting media to follow social distancing. While talking to media Gauhar congratulated the Owners and shared, " I will soon be planning a honeymoon with The Park Holidays International, it is an unique app in which I can choose from so many destinations and do all the bookings at one go. I just got my membershipa and I'll soon do all my bookings through their app."

Richa Sharma

Gauhar Khan launches Mobile App

April 2021

Manuj Sharma & Lavanya Madaan

Sagar Anand & Bhavika Verma

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haryana

Haryana Imposes Corona Curfew

Amid fear of rampant spread of COVID-19 Pandemic in the State, Haryana Government has imposed corona curfew from 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM, thereby prohibiting the movement of individuals for all nonessential activities between 09:00 PM to 05:00 AM in the state. This Curfew order will come into force with effect from April 12, 2021 and shall remain in force till further orders.

During the Curfew timings no person will leave their homes or will move on foot or by vehicle or travel or stand or roam around on any road or public places during the above said hours.

Giving information on this, spokesperson of Haryana State Disaster Management Authority said that in exercise of powers vested under Disaster Management Act, 2005, there will be complete prohibition on the movement of individuals for all non-essential activities between 09:00 PM to 05:00 AM in the state.

However, the movement of persons and services that will be exempt include those tasked with law and order emergencies and municipal services/duties including Executive Magistrates, Police personnel, Military/ CA.P.F, Personnel in uniform, health, electricity, fire, media persons with accreditation and Government machinery tasked with COVID-19 related duties (All on production of Identity Card). Besides this, those who have been specially issued a restricted movement CURFEW pass by the officers authorized in this behalf are also exempted.

The spokesperson said that there shall be no curbs on inter-state and Intra-State movement of essential and non-essential goods. All Vehicles/persons in bonafide transit (inter- State/intra-State) shall be allowed to pass, but only after verification of point of origin and destination.

Apart from this, hospitals, chemist shops and A.T.M. shall be allowed to remain open 24 X 7. Pregnant women and patients are also exempted from the corona curfew for getting medical/health services said the spokesperson.

He said that passengers going to or returning from the airport or railway station or I.S.B.T shall be exempted. Any person violating these measures will be liable to be proceeded against as per the provisions of Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, besides legal action under Section 188 of the IPC, and other legal provisions as applicable.

He said that as the country is at a critical juncture in its fight against COVID-19 and the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India as well as the Government of Haryana has issued various guidelines from time to time to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Faridabad will be directly linked to the KGP

Chief Minister Manohar Lal said that few major projects will be started soon to connect Faridabad city, which is currently divided in three parts, to Greater Faridabad. The city of Faridabad will be directly linked to the KGP, for this, a detailed action plan will be prepared and submitted soon to NHAI. He said that the area of Faridabad across the canal will now be known as Greater Faridabad. Along with this, the entire border of Faridabad district which is 741 square kilometers long, which includes all P-28

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rural and urban areas have been included in the FMDA. Special attention will be given to developing this area. He said that earlier many institutions like HSVP, Municipal Corporation, PWD, and Smart City used to do development work in Faridabad. Now all development works will come under FMDA and an Integrated Command and Control Center will also be created to coordinate the work.

Manohar Lal said that Faridabad district is highly populated and vast in area in which 179 sectors have been developed. He said that due to some geographical reasons, Faridabad district has remained backward in development but now we will ensure that the pace of development is enhanced by handing over the main projects to FMDA. After the formation of FMDA, new systems will be generated to curb corruption.

He informed that the road network systems of the entire district will be included in FMDA and construction of new road projects will be taken up by FMDA in the future.

He said that FMDA will also operate Rainwell, Drinking Water Pipeline, STP and CTP. For this, Rs. 105 crore will be required in the initial year. If necessary, the government will provide more funds. Apart from this, 2% stamp duty received by Urban Local Body out of which 1% will now go to FMDA.

Vertical farming may prove to be profitable

Vertical farming may prove to be a profitable deal for the farmers of Haryana. Giving information about this, an official spokesperson said that vertical farming is very beneficial in the case of vegetables. He said that a provision has been made to provide grants under a special scheme by the government to the farmers adopting this method.

He said that farmers can earn more profits from this farming, and water can also be saved by adopting this method. He appealed to the farmers that during the upcoming Kharif season, instead of paddy, they should contribute towards saving water by opting for vertical farming instead of sowing paddy.

While giving detailed information about vertical farming, the spokesperson said that most vine vegetables can be grown with the bamboo-wire method. This is a highly beneficial technique. By adopting this method, the farmer can increase his income by producing vine vegetables like gourd, zucchini, bitter gourd, cucumber, melon, watermelon, and tomato etc. He said that these vegetables are usually planted directly in the field, and their production decreases over time. Along with this the risk of diseases and pest infestation also increases raising production costs.

The farmer spends about Rs. 60,000 on bamboo-wire vertical farming for which a grant of Rs. 31,200 per acre is provided to the farmer.

He said that in addition to bamboo-wire, iron stacking is another method in which the structure is made by replacing the bamboo-wire with an angle of iron and vegetables are planted on it. He said that about Rs.1.42 lakh per acre is spent on adopting this method, for which the Horticulture Department provides a grant of Rs. 70,500 per acre to the farmers. He said that in district Rohtak alone, the bamboo-wire method of farming has become very popular and farmers are producing vine vegetables in an area of about 250 hectares using this method.

A "front office" will be set up in Gurugram to solve power related problems

Haryana Power Minister, Ranjit Singh said that a "front office" will be set up in Gurugram itself to solve the power related problems of the April 2021

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entrepreneurs of Gurugram and complaints should not be sent to Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam headquarters in Hisar.

Ranjit Singh took this decision during a meeting with various industrial associations of Gurugram district at Gurugram. He said that Gurugram, Faridabad and Dharuhera are industrial hubs from where the power companies generate revenue, hence the power corporation will also try to solve all possible problems of the entrepreneurs. He said that once a week, the Managing Director or his representative of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and in every 15 days, he himself will review the power supply to industries in Gurugram. He assured the entrepreneurs that he has understood their issues related to power and now work will be done to resolve them. He also said that in the next three months, the grievance redressal system in Gurugram will be improved. More than half of the problems will be resolved within the next one month, which the entrepreneurs themselves will realize.

Electricity bills will be delivered through email

He said that the electricity bills of the industries would be sent through e-mail after which they will be given seven working days to make the payment. These would not include bank holidays. On the demand of entrepreneurs, the Minister said that data related to how much electricity was consumed in the industry, how much bill was paid, etc. would be made available online. For this, a commercial lockbook will be created online from where entrepreneurs will be able to see electricity data related to their industry. This will solve the problem of exorbitant bills due to previous pending dues. He also said that circulars issued from time to time by the Power Corporation or Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) would also be sent to the industrial associations so that they would have full knowledge of the rules.

On the complaint of not taking meter readings, Additional Chief Secretary, Power Department, PK Das, said that photographs of meter readings will be taken and sent along with the bill to prevent any discrepancies. He said that there is a system of sending bills only by downloading from the High Transmission (HT) reading system. Das said that within a month, the electricity bill will be ensured on the basis of actual meter reading and if the meter of the consumer is defective then it will also be replaced immediately. Das also said that every month the Chief Engineer will review the power related problems of the industries and if any problem is pending for more than 15 days, the reasons for it will be ascertained and resolved.

Citing difficulties being faced during COVID-19 entrepreneurs said that during such times a time limit should be fixed for increasing or reducing the electricity load. To this, Das said that the load can be reduced but depends on the capacity of the substation to increase. He said that we will notify the substation-wise capacity, after which load can be increased on 'first come first serve' basis. Das also said that whenever entrepreneurs want to upgrade their units, at the same time they should apply for increasing the load so that the power companies also get enough time to increase the capacity of the substation. Regarding the complaint about the meter fare being levied for years, Das said that the age of the electricity meter will be determined, after that it will not be charged. On the demand of the industries, Das also said that a provision would be made to either give a Non Encumbrance Certificate (no arrears) of a billing cycle or to download it from the system of the electricity company.

On the demand for setting up 66 KV sub-station at Sector-37, Gurugram, Ranjit Singh said that a decision will be made in a week and the Industrial Associations will be informed regarding the same. Similarly, in Kadipur and Basai Industrial areas, taking immediate notice April 2021

haryana of the complaint of the transformer being installed very low, the Power Minister directed to have them installed on a platform.

On this occasion, Managing Director, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, Balkar Singh was also present.

Wanted criminal and two gangsters were arrested

After the arrest of two gangsters, Haryana Police has arrested a wanted criminal and parole jumper, who carries a bounty of Rs 25,000 from Jharkhand.

Giving this information here, a Haryana Police spokesperson informed that arrested accused, identified as Dharmender alias Rajesh, hailing from Sonipat, was wanted in loot and other cases of crime. He along with his associates committed loot at gun-point in the year 2000 in Sonipat district. The crackdown was made by Special Task Force (STF) unit.

In this case, the court has sentenced him to a 20 year jail term. He jumped parole after coming out of jail in 2004 and absconding since then. To evade arrest, he was changing his hideouts.

The STF unit started to work on him in December last year and collected secret information to nab him. After getting a hint about his location, a team was dispatched to Jharkhand to confirm the development in which it was found that arrested criminal had been living there with a changed identity. He started a dhaba, famous for Murthal parantha, in Seraikela Kharsawan district in Jharkhand. Based on the information, the team managed to arrest him.

Special initiative taken to promote Sanskrit language

Haryana Government is taking special initiative to promote Sanskrit language in the State. Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal, who is also the President of Haryana Sanskrit Academy, has made a provision of Rs. 51.11 lakh as scholarship for the students who have passed the examination of Pratham, Purvamadhyama, Uttarmadhyama, Visharad, Prakshastri, Shastri and Acharya in the year 2018 and 2019 in Sanskrit language courses. `The State Government is giving an annual scholarship of Rs 3,000 for every student scoring above than 60% marks in classes up to Shastri and Rs 5,000 for Acharya Class.

Giving information in this regard, Director of Haryana Sanskrit Academy, Dr. Dinesh Shastri said that the State Government is honouring those who preach and propagate Sanskrit-culture and those who study and teach Sanskrit from the ancient tradition. The government also honours writers and littérateur who are contributing remarkably in the field of Sanskrit every year.

He informed that under the guidance of Haryana Chief Minister and President of Haryana Sanskrit Academy, Manohar Lal, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister and Vice President of Haryana Sanskrit, V. Umashankar, the State Government has made several efforts for promotion and propagation of Sanskrit language through Haryana Sanskrit Academy.

200-bed hospital will be built in Rewari city

Haryana Co-operation Minister, Dr. Banwari Lal said that a 200-bed P-29

haryana hospital will be built in Rewari city and space is being sought for the same. He said that there is a delay in bringing patients to the Civil Hospital in Rewari as it is located in a heavily populated and crowded area.

Dr. Banwari Lal was inspecting the COVID-19 Vaccination Centre at the Civil Hospital in Rewari. On this occasion, the media persons and staff of the Minister were vaccinated as well. Dr. Banwari Lal said that 93,178 people have been vaccinated in Rewari so far and that more citizens will be vaccinated under "Teeka Utsav". He said that there is no shortage of COVID-19 vaccine at any vaccination centre in the state.

The Minister said that a target has been set to vaccinate five lakh people during the "Teeka Utsav". This vaccination will be done in Primary Health Centres, Community Health Centres, and Civil Hospitals.

He said, both, Covishield and Covaxin are safe and good vaccines.

While responding to the queries by media persons, Dr. Banwari Lal said that so far the situation does not call for a lockdown in Haryana.

People here are aware, and are following sanitization-mask-social distancing (SMS), he added.

Wheat procurement has started at 396 mandi

Wheat procurement has started at 396 mandi and procurement centres from April 1, 2021 in the state of Haryana. As on April 13, 2021, a total of 33.36 lakh tonne of wheat has been received in the mandis and on April 13, 2021 itself, 3.44 lakh tonne of wheat has been procured by the State procurement agencies at the Minimum Support Price and a total of 26.95 lakh tonne of wheat has been procured so far.

So far, 255588 J-Forms of 116013 farmers have been created, out of which payment of Rs 274.71 crore has been made directly to the farmers’ accounts till today. Directions have been given to all concerned that lifting of wheat purchased in mandis should be ensured on a daily basis so that wheat does not get stored in the mandis and farmers have no difficulty in selling their produce. Apart from this, the State Government has appointed senior officers for the inspection of mandis, so that there are no obstacles in the procurement work.

Task force constituted to look after Mukhyamantri Antyodaya Privar Utthan Yojana

Haryana Government has constituted State Level and District Level Task Force to look after the implementation of Mukhyamantri Antyodaya Parivar Utthan Yojana.

Sharing more details in this regard an official spokesperson said that the State Level Task Force would be headed by the Chief Secretary and Additional Chief Secretaries of Labour Department, Employment Department, Rural Development Department, Urban Development Department, Haryana, Skill Development and Industrial Training Department has been appointed as the committee members. Besides this, Principal Secretaries of Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Department, Citizen Resources Information Department, Industries and Commerce Department and Director, Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak have also been appointed as the members of the Committee. Director-General, Employment Department has been appointed as Member-Secretary of P-30

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the Committee.

The spokesperson further informed that the District Level Task Force constituted in each district of the State to look after the implementation of the Mukhyamantri Antyodaya Parivar Utthan Yojana would be headed by Deputy Commissioners of the respective districts and Divisional/District Employment Officer of the District would be the Convener of the Committee.

He said that Representatives of Labour Department, Rural Development Department, Urban Development Department, Skill Development and Industrial Training Department, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Department, Citizen Resources Information Department, Industries and Commerce Department are appointed as the members of the Committee.

Daughters of Haryana made a mark in the field of sports

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, Dushyant Chautala said that the daughters of Haryana have made a mark in the field of sports at the national and international level. The daughters of the State have already shown their talent in the field of education, and for the last few years they have established their presence in the field of sports as well.

Dushyant Chautala today met with Kick-Boxing player Ms. Anmol Kamboj, resident of village Nathwana, Tehsil Ratia of Fatehabad district and gave her his blessings. Ms. Anmol Kamboj had recently won the gold medal in Kick-Boxing at state level games. She is also a Taekwondo national level player and she managed to bag the silver medal in the National Games 2019. On this occasion, the Deputy Chief Minister congratulated her and said that he hoped that Ms. Anmol Kamboj would make the state and country proud at national and international level in the future in Kick-Boxing and Taekwondo.

Dushyant Chautala said that Haryana Government is providing best facilities for the players of its state. The players who win medals at the international level are being given reservation in jobs and they are being given cash rewards as a form of encouragement.

200 acres of land approved for the AIIMS and other seven projects

Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal has approved the purchase of 200 acres of land for the AIIMS to be constructed in Rewari, as well as the purchase of land for seven projects. The Chief Minister was presiding over the meeting of the High Power Land Purchase Committee to buy the land available on e-Bhoomi portal for 9 projects here.

This approval was given after the landowners agreed on the price.

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, Dushyant Chautala was also present on the occasion. The Deputy Commissioners and landowners of the respective districts also joined the meeting through video conferencing.

For the AIIMS to be built in Rewari, the committee approved the purchase of 200 acres of land at the rate of Rs. 40 lakh per acre. For identifying the land for this project, the concerned Deputy Commissioner was asked to prepare a detailed report of the available land.

The approval for the purchase of land for these seven projects cleared the way for the bypass in Hathin. This will help Hathin to get rid of traffic congestion. Not only this, it will also speed up the development of Hathin. Apart from this, the landowners also agreed on the price for the construction of a Water Treatment Plant at Rajound in Kaithal district, after which the land was approved to be purchased for the plant.

April 2021

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