The Observer Volume 20 Issue 06

The Observer An IIJNM publication

Graduate students in Meghalaya, worried about their future, are looking for employment | P 3

Vol 20, Issue 6

Thursday, December 17, 2020

To protect elderly members, some churches won’t open on Dec. 25

By Viransh Shah

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SNIPPETS Schools in Bihar get low student turnout: Parents’ apprehensions and fear of Covid-19 keep student attendance low in government schools. Classes meant for doubt clearing, following reopening of schools, are attended by only 15% of the students. P2 Covid­19 hits silk industry: A fall in demand for silk sarees due to the Coronavirus pandemic has impacted silk farmers and weavers in the city of Ramanagara. With little help from the government, the industry now waits for the pandemic to subside. P2 Haphazard parking troubles Panchkula: Improper demarcation for two-wheelers and fourwheelers has led to a lack of space for parking. The citizens want the Municipal Corporation to establish paid parking systems in busy markets of the city. P5

St. Sebastian Church, Kochi, has completely gone online. The daily mass is live streamed on Facebook at 5 pm | Roushni Nair guidelines – maintaining social distancing and wearing masks – must be followed. People above 60 should avoid attending church.”Some churches have decided not to open on Christmas Day as many of their members are senior citizens. Father John Roland of All Saints Church at Malabar Hill, Mumbai, said: “Although the government has allowed religious places to open, we

@theweeklyobserver Epaper: https://issuu.com/ theweeklyobserver Website: http://www.theweeklyobserver.in

Kolkatans are opting for bicycles to keep themselves safe and active amid pandemic | P4

With Covid still raging, it’ll be a low-key Xmas across India ith just a week left for Christmas, it is expected that India will observe low-key celebrations and activities due to the fear of Covid-19.

Neither the Centre nor any state government has issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Christmas celebrations.

Therefore, many churches have come up with basic social distancing norms on their own, like introduction of live streaming, to avoid gatherings.

Dr Pradeep Awate, Maharashtra State Surveillance Officer, informed The Observer: “Though, at present the (curve) is declining, we should not let our guard down. Any kind of gathering can lead to a surge in cases. The pandemic is not over. We are receiving daily 24,000 cases.”

“At present we have not issued any guideline, but it will be similar to the one released for Dussehra and Diwali. The basic

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still haven’t opened because most of our members are aged. To ensure their safety, we are having prayers online. Out of 22 regular members, only four are below 50.

So this year the church won’t open on Christmas day.”

Father Michael Pinto, a priest at Orlem Church in Malad, said: “We have prepared SOPs for Christmas celebrations and will get them approved by the Bishop.

This year, we will observe a lowkey midnight mass keeping social distancing in mind.”

“Instead of four regular masses, we have doubled them to eight masses. One for each community. People above 65 are advised not to come, but we cannot restrict anyone from attending.

One person will sit on each bench. After every mass, an UV machine will be taken to each table to sanitize it within 30 seconds. The Holy Communion will be distributed outside the church,” Fr Pinto explained.

The Orlem church has planned a special prayer service for interfaith couples, along with hampers for those who lost their loved ones, or their livelihood, due to Covid-19.

Michael George, a priest at St Pius X Convent School in Kerala’s Kottayam district, said: “This is not a parish, but a monastery church where people come for celebrations. We had 100 people coming in every Sunday for daily mass. We used to have around 500 people on Christmas night; but this year, I expect only 50-70 visitors.live streaming their activities on their YouTube channels.”

Continued on page 3

News briefs SC to govt: See if you can put farm Acts on hold The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to explore the possibility of putting the three contentious farm laws on hold. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde asked Attorney General KK Venugopal if the government can assure the court it will not take any executive action on implementation of the laws till the court hears the matter.

SC rejects plea against Kafeel’s detention

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the Uttar Pradesh government’s appeal against the Allahabad High Court’s decision to set aside detention of Dr Kafeel Khan under the National Security Act.

Yogasana to become a competitive sport

The Sports Ministry on Thursday formally recognised Yogasana as a competitive sport. Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju and Minister of AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik formally promoted Yogasana as a competitive sport during an event in New Delhi.

Sputnik vaccine over 95% effective:

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine is 95% effective. MFA tweeted Putin statement: "We have a good vaccine, specialist say its protection level reaches 96-97%"

Resale value dips, raddiwalas 4.3k villages get tap water stop collecting glass bottles 73 yrs after independence Use reduced after govt imposed 18 per cent GST

By Padmini Dhruvaraj Bengaluru: Scrap collectors and raddiwalas in the city have stopped collecting glass bottles because their resale value has plummeted.

P. Hari, the owner of Sathya Old Paper Mart, Kumaraswamy Layout, informed The Observer: “The market value of glass bottles has decreased a lot in two years. Previously, we used to get around Rs 1-2 per bottle; now a kilo is worth the same money. It’s been around a year since we

stopped collecting glass bottles.”

Selvie Shivan, owner of Shri Vinayaka Scrap Store, ISRO Layout, shared: “Even if we collect the glass bottles, many break when we load them on trucks.

That further reduces the market value.”

Glass bottles are an alternative to plastic bottles. Their recycling rate is 100%. But the use of glass bottles has reduced significantly after the Centre imposed a GST of 18% on glass products.

“A majority of the alcoholic drinks we get are in tetra packs.

Still, we stock up to 250 glass bottles a week, and the company delivery boys collect them,” said Chandru, an employee at SRR Bar and Restaurant, Kumaraswamy Layout.

Continued on page 4

By Nishant Kumar Sitamarhi: About 4,300 villages of Bihar have got tap water af­ ter 73 years of India’s indepen­ dence.

Mani Raushan Kumar, one of the beneficiaries of the state gov­ ernment’s Nal Jal Yojana, in­ formed The Observer: “I have been using tap water for the past six months. Before, we villagers used a common hand pump.

The prescribed 70 litres of wa­ ter per person is enough for do­ mestic use.”

According to a government press release, many villages of Sitamarhi district have been get­ ting tap water, while the Yojana is close to completion in other vil­ lages.

Sobha Kumari, another benefi­

ciary,said: “Now we women save a lot of time and even get leisure time as the distance we carry wa­ ter has reduced.” Men don’t have to step out to fetch water for use in toilets.

The government has granted one tap for every home. People have to pay if they want more connections.

A survey conducted by the Bi­ har government has indicated that open defecation has reduced after the Nal Jal Yojna was im­ plemented.

Continued on page 3

Lockdown ruins Ramanagara's silk biz Farmers selling cocoons at low price | Reelers, weavers, sellers in trouble as sari sales plummet

By Padmini Dhruvaraj Bengaluru: A downturn in busi­ ness due to the lockdown has robbed the smiles of Raman­ agara’s sericulture farmers, silk reelers, weavers and vendors.

Silk from Ramanagara is used to make the famous Mysore, Ilkal, Kanchi, and Banaras saris.

Yengerappa, a sericulture farmer in Ramanagara, informed The Observer: “We rear Tasar silk (Bivoltine). Earlier, cocoons would sell for Rs 400­450 a kg.

Now we get only Rs 200­250 a kg. The government has provided only little subsidy since August.”

Prema B, a sericulture farmer near Kanakapura, said: “During the lockdown, the market was shut. We had to sell cocoons for the price reelers dictated. There were times last year where we had sold for Rs 700­750 a kg. Due to excessive rain this year, a large number of mulberry leaves was destroyed.”

After purchasing raw silk, reel­ ers draw fibre from the cocoons.

In and around Ramanagara, there are around 1,200 reelers.

The reeling factories have cut working days and their employ­ ees’ wages.

“We have one month’s stock and no payment. Earlier, we used to stock up cocoons for one month; now we are buying only for four days,” said Sunil Kumar, owner of Savandurga Narasimha Swamy Silk Reeling Factory, Ramanagara.

Labours unloading silkcocoons for reeling at Savandurga Narasimha Swamy Silk Factory, Ramanagara | Padmini Dhruvaraja Reelers are selling at a low price due to the lack of a good marketplace.

“I used to get Rs 3,000­3,500 a kg before; now only Rs 1,500­ 2,000. My family is solely de­ pendent on the silk business.

First, GST hit us, and now it’s corona. The government does not provide us any security as it does with farmers,” said Ismail Pasha,

a silk reeler.

Hundreds of saris remain in stock, creating a grim situation for weavers.

Manjunath Gowda, a designer at KG Kiran Weavers, Cubbon­ pet, Bengaluru, thousands of small weavers sold their looms as they could not feed their families, and migrated to Tamil Nadu.

“Business is picking up slowly,

Attendance is 15% amonthafter classes started

By Nishant Kumar Sitamarhi:

Bihar’ schools reopened a month ago to clear the doubts of students from classes 9 to 12, but the attendance is still below 15%.

Prakash Kumar, a student of Hellen’s Public School, Sitamar­ hi, informed The Observer: “I am a class 12 student and have a lot of doubts but still can’t visit the school to clear my doubts.” Reas­ on: His parents are not allowing him.

Attendance is not compulsory but parents’ consent is essential for students to attend school to get their doubts cleared.

Ravi Bhushan, another stu­ dent of class 12, said: “…it’s too hectic to visit the school just for clearing my doubts.” He finds on­ line classes for biology and math­ ematics class difficult.

Mani Raushan Kumar, whose ward studies in class 10, said: “I

Schools in Sitamarhi are closed since the pandemic| Nishant Kumar am not even considering sending my child to school and put him at risk even if that creates a gap year. I understand problems in online learning and it’s inad­ equate, but there is no substitute during the pandemic.”

Many private schools have said they are ready to reopen for all students if the government al­ lows. They are of the opinion they have better equipped than government schools to reopen.

Sanjay Singh director of Hel­ len’s Public School, said: “We are better equipped in following the Covid­19 guidelines than many government schools. We are forced to conduct both online and offsite classes simultaneously, and it requires much effort from teachers, administration, and others.”

The school administration has put out a notice saying the mid­ term exam will be conducted on­

but compared to last year, it’s al­ most 70% down. We still have hundreds of unsold saris.”

In September, the Karnataka government promised to pur­ chase six lakh silk saris worth Rs 35 crore.

The demand for saris and oth­ er silk garments has plummeted.

Dasara and Deepavali did not brighten up business either. Be­

line and will consist of multiple choice questions.

Many schools lack the infra­ structure required for online education. In Sitamarhi, two private schools have shut down so far. Private schools have, in a memorandum to the Bihar edu­ cation secretary, pleaded that schools which are capable of maintaining all guidelines should be allowed to reopen.

Braj Kishore Sadanand, dis­ trict education officer, said the government decided to reopen schools on a trial basis to clear students’ doubts. It hoped stu­ dents of higher classes would at­ tend.

They require permission from parents and the students should be willing as well An attendance below 15% in­ dicates that parents are still not willing to send their wards to school, he added.

Asked about students attend­ ing coaching institutes but not schools, he said: “Most such stu­ dents belong to government schools or are flying candidates (students who enrolled but did not attend classes).”

nishant.k@iijnm.org

cause of the restriction on big ce­ remonies, not many customers visited sari shops during ‘Karthi­ ka Masam’, considered auspi­ cious for Hindu marriages.

Chethan N, a salesperson at Kancheepuram Silks, said: “September to December is usu­ ally our peak season. But the festival season was dull. We did not get big crowds during the marriage season either. Our salaries have been cut by 30%.”

JM Bassiah, Deputy Director of Sericulture, Government Co­ coon Market, Ramanagara, said: “Summer is the peak season for cocoon­rearing. On average, Rs 420 per kg for Bivoltine, and Rs 350 per kg for the crossbreed will be fixed. Around 75 tonnes of silk is sold every day during Febru­ ary­April. Now hardly 30­35 tonnes of silk is sold.”

Conceding that the demand for raw silk is low, he said: “To help reelers, the Karnataka Silk Mar­ keting Board released Rs 20 crore in May to purchase raw silk with short­time pledging.”

In north Karnataka, heavy rain and floods destroyed weavers’ raw material and power looms. In September, Karnataka government promised to purchase 6 Lakh saris,which is still a pie in the sky for the weavers.

With a Covid vaccine in devel­ opment, the silk industry is hop­ ing for decent growth in 2021.

padmini.d@iijnm.org

1) Which TMC MLA recently resigned from the party?

2) Who is leading the Kerala local body elections?

3) In how many languages JEE Main will be conducted in 2021?

4) What is India’s recent position in UN Human Development Index?

5) Which ball is being used for the Adelaide Test between India and Australia?

For answers see page 5

Date- Friday 18th to Sunday 20th Registration link: https://b2btradeshows.net/printfair Date-19th December Registration Link: tps://bit.ly/37pXFrZ Date: 19th December https://bit.ly/37pyZA6 Date-21st January Registration https://bit.ly/3r35bRr

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Shillong grads face grim job scenario Unsure whether to seek employment or study further

By Queeneerich Kharmawlong Shillong With unemployment rising in the time of Covid, new graduates are searching for jobs.

Deepkala Ghale, a student of mass media at St Anthony’s Col­ lege, Shillong, informed The Ob­ server: “The pandemic has provided me with ample time to do online courses and build my portfolio. But there are no intern­ ships, fewer options for further studies, and unavailability of quality jobs. Especially in the private sector, I saw people face a lot of problems. I prefer a govern­ ment job because it has more job security.”

Thousands of Meghalaya’s young boys and girls have returned to the state from different parts of the country and outside India where they were working. However, a few are permanently unemployed. Some people from Meghalaya have

been temporarily laid off by their employers.

D. Kharbithai, an MSc student at Pondicherry University, said: “With the uncertainty around, the assurance of payment every month is comforting. Having a job also lets me pursue other in­ terests, like further studies. It has been challenging to apply for jobs with an online exam because I did not meet the deadline for job interviews.”

Students in Meghalaya are worried about their future. They

are not sure whether they should look for a job or obtain a degree.

After paying high fees, students expect to get employed to pay off their student loans and not be­ come a burden on their families.

Cacillia G. Thangkhiew, an HR recruiter at the Meghalaya Basin Development Authority, Shillong, said: “There is a restriction on re­ cruiting graduate students…. Job Security is not a problem, but per­ formance is a priority as business is limited because of the pandem­ ic. From my understanding, we

are hiring (rather) than laying off employees.”

Most colleges have found initi­ ating the placement process chal­ lenging.

Even though the placement rate is not 100%, they are shouldering the responsibil­ ity of arranging job interviews for their students.

In view of the poor economic conditions, many firms are not hiring as their capital growth is zero.

R. Rapthap, Additional Secret­ ary of the Labour Department, said unemployment is a complex issue. The department works on different levels to monitor the employment scenario in the state. Students should register at employment exchanges to in­ crease chances of their getting hired. The government cannot provide all youth jobs.

When local youths lack specific skill sets, outsiders fill in the gap, he said. Graduates only seek white­collar jobs and do not venture out to be self­employed.

The government provides specific schemes, and different banks of­ fer individual loans to business startups. The government can only create jobs depending on the performance of the economy, Rapthap added.

B. Hajong, MCS, Director of Employment and Craftsmen Training, Meghalaya, said: “The future generation should be ready to adapt to the very fast­ changing demands of industries.

The government has brought out flagship programs like Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana.

There is ample opportunity for placement after skill training.”

The Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojana is a skilling and placement initiative of the Ministry of Rural Development which is meant to address unemployment.

Many Meghalaya government departments have schemes and programmes aimed at skilling youths. The scope of creating jobs in the government sector is not an easy task. “The directorate has had 2,574 registrations.

These applicants will receive short­term skills. Private indus­ tries and employers are also en­ couraged to hire local youth.”

According to the Periodic La­ bour Force Survey report (July 2017­June 2018) published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in May 2019, Meghalaya’s unem­ ployment rate is 1.6%.

Water contamination remains a challenge in Bihar Continued from page 1

M

Continued from page 1

S

antosh Salwe, a resident of Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi area, said: “Usually, we book a hall to pray together, but due to Covid, no one is willing to do it this year. During the pro­ gramme, 30­35 families of our locality meet, praise and worship each other, sing songs, and spread the message.”

Abhishek Kumar, a member of Seventh­Day Adventist Church, Patna, said: “Since the state gov­ ernment has restricted large gatherings, we haven’t opened our church for public.

Only the 5­10 villagers who regularly visit are allowed in while maintaining physical dis­ tancing protocols.

As Adventists, we don’t celeb­ rate Christmas. On Christmas

day, we used to go to homes to spread the message of Yeshu.”

Gifty Chelladurai, a member of Mount Caramel Church, Porb­ andar, said: “Normally, we or­ ganize Christmas carols, go to our churchmates’ houses and sing songs.

That might be cancelled. We are maintaining social distancing and arranging choirs with optim­ um distance.

Hand sanitizer and temperat­ ure machines are used before en­ tering. All outdoor activities, like going to villages, distributing snacks and preaching, will be cancelled.”

With Covid cases spiking after Diwali celebrations, it is unlikely that state governments will give more relaxations for Christmas celebrations.

any people have com­ plained about the incon­ sistency of water quality and its delivery.

The state government recently issued circular asking the benefi­ ciaries of the Yojana to pay Rs 30 a month but many beneficiaries are refusing to comply.

Divakar Lal, whose area is yet to be covered under the Yojana, said: “Many times our hand pump gives dirty water. It hap­ pens a lot during the monsoon season.” The reason for this is a depleting water table.

A report published in Annual Communicable Disease Surveil­ lance Report in 2015 said Bihar is witnessing a spur in water­ borne diseases and warned of a further decline in groundwater.

Deepmala Devi, sarpanch of Baistha village, maintained: “Complaints are few, and main­ tenance is done at regular inter­ vals.” About providing additional tap connections, she said “Due to the pandemic, the work has stopped but will resume soon as very few homes are left without tap connections.”

The Bihar government re­ cently launched a scheme to monitor the quality of water in every panchayat. The Skada scheme is implemented by the panchayati raj department.

Prabhat Kumar, District De­ velopment Officer, said: “The government’s aim of providing tap a connection for every home will be completed before 2021.

We have shifted our focus to min­ imizing the misuse of water.”

Bihar faces several water prob­ lems, one of them being contam­ ination. A study done by the University of Manchester and Mahavir Cancer Research Insti­ tute, Patna, mentioned that uranium contamination is wide­ spread in more than 10 districts of Bihar. Besides, arsenic, lead and iron found in Bihar’s ground­ water are above the WHO­pre­ scribed level.

The National Water Commision in 2012 has flagged Bihar and other states for

detoriating ground water and suggested many remedies.

The Nal Jal Yojana scheme was launched under the Mukhyamantri Gramin Peyjal Nishchay Yojana on September 27, 2016. It envisaged providing quality drinking water through pipelines to all households in 4,291 gram panchayats.

The Nal Jal Yojana could well help Bihar achieve one of the UNDP’s 17 Sustainable Develop­ ment Goals.

Bicycle sales perk up during pandemic People of Kolkata switch to cycling as distancing is not possible in public transport

By Upasana Banerjee Kolkata: Bicycle sales in Kolk­ ata have witnessed a boom dur­ ing the pandemic with commuters searching for an al­ ternative mode of transport.

Demand has increased three­ fold and sales have soared by 80­ 100 per cent compared to pre­ Covid times. Dealers are now selling 300 cycles per week.

Siddhartha Sharma of Decath­ lon, Kolkata, a premium sporting goods store, informed The Ob­ server: “Demand has outgrown the supply of bicycles. People prefer cycles due to their afford­ ability and safety keeping in mind the norms of social distan­ cing which is difficult to main­ tain in public transport.”

Earlier, only the standard models were sold, but now the demand for fancy and hi­tech models has increased.

Ashok Kumar Gupta of the Firefox Cycle Shop said: “We are getting orders from teenagers who are now using bicycles to go to tuition classes or their friends’ houses; they always want sporty and advanced models.”

Some dealers are worried that this growth might not continue for long. An employee of Santi Cycle Mart in Bentinck Street

Kolkata's cycle dealers sell 300 cycles every week since the lockdown has been lifted up in West Bengal.| Upasana Banerjee said: “Though the demand is high now, we are concerned that

sales might go down again as the Bengal government provides free

cycles to schoolchildren from se­ lected dealers around election time, which is soon.”

Reduced public transport across the city during the lock­ down has encouraged more cyc­ lists to come on the main roads, earlier it was strictly prohibited.

Santanjib Gupta of Bicycle Mayor, an Amsterdam­based or­ ganization that promotes cycling as an eco­friendly and sustain­ able mode of transport, said: “Kolkatans have a car­centric mindset that needs to change.

Cycling can bring social change.”

Sellers indicate health benefits as another reason for higher sales. Fitness enthusiasts have adopted the habit of cycling to stay fit. Sporting cycles that cost Rs 5,000­7,000 are in huge de­ mand.

Sanjana Ghosh, a student, shared: “Since gyms were closed during the lockdown, I bought a new bicycle to continue my workout. We can cover long dis­ tances without traffic.”

Cycling has positively im­ pacted the environment in these few months, reducing carbon emissions. But with more vehicles back on the streets, en­ vironmentalists seem to be wor­ ried.

Samrat Sengupta, Programme

3 R's is the best mantra for a clean city Continued from page 1

R

ajashekar K, General Manager, Materials, Am­ rut Distilleries, said: “We have gradually decreased the use of glass bottles. We don’t use re­ used or recycled bottles.”

Once glass is collected at a re­ cycling facility, it is crushed, and the contaminants are removed.

Then it is mixed with raw mater­ ials to colour it or enhance its physical properties. Later, it’s melted in a furnace and moulded into new bottles or jars. The flex­ ural strength – the maximum stress in a material just before it yields in a bending test – of re­ cycled glass is much lower than that of new glass. Owing to its relatively low value and high processing cost, much of this glass ends up in dumping yards.

Kalam Ali, manager at Stories Bar and Kitchen, Channasandra, said: “Our sales have reduced since the pandemic. Right now, we collect only 5­6 bottles a week. BBMP waste collectors col­ lect them every week.”

Bengalurean Chandan D.N. said: “I have more than 20 beer bottles at my place. Rag pickers take only the tin cans, and plastic bottles. Sometimes even the BBMP waste collectors re­ fuse to collect such a huge num­ ber of bottles. I have to pay them extra money to take the bottles away.”

According to the BBMP’s Solid Waste Management Policy, glass

Even after vandalising a uni­ versity campus, firing tear shells and thrashing students at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, none of the police officers involved has been found guilty.

No CCTV footage could do justice to the students who were baton­charged or lost their eyes during the clash. After a year, the answer still is: Police defended themselves.

Sathya Old Paper Mart, Kumaraswamy Layout |Padmini Dhruvaraj bottles are to be segregated as dry waste. The BBMP collects dry waste twice a week. “Dry waste does not decompose, and hence it is possible for the gener­ ators and residents to store it for a longer period. Hence, it will be collected twice in a week,” the policy says.

The website of Daily Dump, a company that offers composting solutions, says: “The recycling in­ dustry grows where the largest volumes of glass are used. For example, in Bengaluru, beer bottles are used more than other

types of glass. So clear glass and beer bottles tend to be the most valuable in the city. Once glass is coloured it cannot be changed back to clear or another colour, so it becomes less valuable.

Broken crockery, broken glass and broken mirrors cannot be re­ cycled.”

Bengaluru produces almost 6,000 tonnes of waste every day.

To prevent the city from turning into a dumping yard, it is neces­ sary to adhere to the “reduce, re­ use, recycle” mantra.

padmini.d@iijnm.org

Hardik Pandya has been not re­ tained by Team India for the Tests against Australia. He could have been an X­factor in the red­ball leg with the bat alone, especially in skipper Kohli's absence. The aggressive batsman could have been used at No. 6 or 7 against tired Aus­ sie bowlers. Aggression is al­ ways a strong weapon to ransack game plans.

Abhisek Dutta

When the farmer starves in protest, it’s drama. When the farmer eats a pizza, it’s luxury.

When the farmer marches, it’s

Director, Centre for Science and Environment, said: “India is see­ ing a substantial rise in e­mobil­ ity, but our urban planning doesn’t support cycling.” Cycles can be considered as a mode of transport if a person does not travel more than 10 km. An in­ crease in the distance to be trav­ elled will force people to take a vehicular mode that is not sus­ tainable.

Bicycles remained the most preferred option throughout the lockdown, where public transport was limited. Post­unlock, com­ muters are reluctant to go back to traditional modes of transport.

Pratap Singh, an employee of an IT company who travels through cycle while going to work, said: “We have to be alert while cycling, but still I would want to continue at least thrice a week.” Earlier, he would wait long hours for a bus. Cycling to work is far more convenient.

Cycle­repair shops are getting more business due to an increase in sales. To avoid crowding, they have gone digital to book service slots.

The government accepts the benefits of cycling but is yet to make any long­term plan to in­ clude it in the daily life of people. upasana.b@iijnm.org

incitement. When the farmer sits silently in protest, it's a nuisance. A farmer asking for rights is anti­national. A farm­ er's tears are an ulterior motive. We must introspect why we treat the foundation of our country like this.

Belgium and Australia are known for the best milk products, like chocolates and cheese, despite the fact that In­ dia is the world’s largest produ­ cer of milk. India should focus on exporting more milk products rather than milk.

India contributes 22% of the global milk production. It can then create more employment opportunities and bring in for­ eign exchange.

The recent incident in the Karnataka assembly where a physical tussle broke out was not the first one. Certainly, won't it be the last. Such incid­ ents make one think if this was the best that we could do. Was there a time when we did better than this?

Jaskiran Singh

Parking in Panchkula markets is a pain 2-wheelers pose main problem; shops owners seek paid parking

By Abhishek Saini

Haphazard parking is proving to be a major challenge for the citizens of Padnchkula.

Lack of paid parking and im­ proper demarcation for four­ wheelers and two­wheeler in markets causes haphazard park­ ing.

“The two­wheeler parking sys­ tem is really bad. Around eight years ago, there was a proper system in this market, but now people quarrel when told to park their vehicles properly,” said Sachin Chhabra, a shop owner from the Sector 11 market.

“We are fed up. We lose pro­ spective customers if they don’t find parking space. Loading and unloading goods has also become a major challenge,” said Jeetendra Garg, another shop owner in the market.

Garg believes two­wheeler parking is the root of the prob­ lem. “Making two footpaths was a waste of money. One of these should be converted into a bike and scooter parking lane. The as­ sociation should solve this mat­ ter, but they’ve always been inactive,” he said.

Satish Gulati, a shop owner and president of the Sector 11 Market Association, had a differ­ ent take. “We have raised this is­ sue with the Municipal Corporation many times, but no

With nobody managing parking spaces in markets, 2-wheelers are parked in spaces demarcated for 4wheelers, thereby creating a problem for shoppers. | Abhishek Saini action has been taken. We even hired guards to organize our parking. The previous traffic DCP used to help, but now nobody does,” Gulati informed The Observer.

Shoppers at these markets are also irked by the lack of proper parking spaces.

“This shows that people do not have common sense,” said Jeetendra Sharma.

Another shopper, Lakhwinder Singh, said, “Only paid parking can bring proper system."

Even shop owners are in favour of implementing a paid parking system. “I don’t think people will mind paying Rs 10. Proper park­ ing will reduce this chaos,” said Chhabra.

Similar problems are faced in markets located in residential Sectors such as 15 and 20. Resid­ ents of these sectors face prob­ lems during rush hours when there is a heavy inflow of vehicles into the sector.

“Bring in paid parking might encourage people to walk, in­

stead of using cars,” said Anish Sharma, a resident of Sector 15.

“The main problem is lack of space. The Municipal Corpora­ tion needs to find more parking space for our market.”

Earlier, paid parking was in­ troduced in the markets of Sec­ tors 8, 9 and 10.

“People don’t like to pay for parking. Even small shopkeepers feel it discourages shoppers. So paid parking was introduced on a trial basis and tenders were re­ leased later for three markets

only. Now we’re thinking of ex­ panding the project to Sector 20 as well,” said Jarnail Singh, Ex­ ecutive Officer of Municipal Cor­ poration Panchkula (MCP).

Asked why paid parking was not being implemented in Sector 11, one of the busiest markets of the city, Singh said: “There is not enough space to implement the project.”

Lalchand Chaudhary, the con­ tractor who handles the parking systems of the three markets, does not agree with Singh’s claim.

“Paid parking is the need of the hour in Sector 11, along with Sectors 7 and 20. Space can be created by making proper de­ marcations. One can see how or­ ganized these three markets are.

The same can be done with other sectors also,” Chaudhary said.

Paid parking helps the Red Cross Society. Half of the park­ ing revenue of Sectors 8, 9 and 10 goes to the NGO, which runs an old­age home and organizes blood­donation camps.

“We struggled to pay salaries to our workers. We shared this problem with the MC, and they agreed to give us a share of pro­ ceeds from the parking lots,” said Savita Agarwal, Secretary of Red Cross Society, Panchkula.

Panchkula, just like its neigh­ bour city Chandigarh, has seen an increase in the number of vehicles. With the parking space available remaining the same, this increase has contributed to the problem of haphazard park­ ing. Citizens hope paid parking can be introduced in the busy markets of Panchkula.

abhishek.s@iijnm.org

THE SHARMAS HAVE A VISITOR 1. Suvendu Adhikari 2. Left Democratic Front 3. 13 4. 131 5. Pink I have witnessed the plight of the farmers, who are on the streets, struggling for their rights. I am hurt to see that the govt is not giving them justice.

It is a crime. It is a sin to oppress and it is a sin suffer.

Doyen: A person considered knowledgeable Mangle: To injure Austere: Extremely plain

For Modi Govt: Dissenting students are anti­ nationals. Concerned citizens are urban naxals. Migrant labourers are Covid carriers.

Rape victim are nobody.

Protesting farmers are Khalistani and Crony capitalists are best friends.

Modi govt convenes a parliament session in peak pandemic situation to bulldoze the anti­ farmer farm bills. Now when farmers are demanding withdrawal of the acts, the govt cancels the winter session of Parliament. Nothing could be a bigger insult to India’s farmers and democracy

Max Temp: 23 degree Celsius Min Temp: 17 degree Celsius Precipitation: 2% Humidity: 69% Wind: 8kmph

Panchkula has seen a rise in the number of stray cattle over the last few years. Apart from disrupting the flow of traffic, these stray animals also trouble residential localities. Nirmal, a resident of Sector 25, said: "Stray cattle litter the roads, which causes foul smell. The RWA of sector 25 complained to the Municipal Corporation but no action was taken." | Abhishek Saini

Editor: Padmini Dhruvaraj Copy Editor: Abhishek.S, Queeneerich.K, Upasana.B, Viransh.S, Nishant.K Page Editor: Abhishek Saini Photo Editor: Upasana .B Reporters: Padmini D, Nishant.K, Upasana.B, Abhishek.S, Viransh.S and Queenerich.K. Supplements: Abhishek Saini

Our reckless destruction of the marine ecosystem will cost humanity a major food source, writes

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f overfishing weren’t problem enough for the health of the Earth’s marine life, human thoughtlessness has created another, potentially more lethal one: ‘ghost fishing’. Discarded fishing nets and tackle, which take decades to degrade, continue to trap and kill fish and other marine creatures for years.

“It is estimated that over 100,000 marine animals such as turtles, dolphins, seals and whales, die each year from ingesting or becoming entangled in plastic debris,” says Planet Love Life, an environmental group working to clean our oceans. Countless millions of fish, crustaceans and seabirds also fall victim to the 6,40,000 tonnes of derelict fishing gear such as gillnets and crab pots/traps, longlines and trawls that are dumped each year.

According to environment watchdog Greenpeace, ‘ghost gearing’ contributes to 10% of the plastic that has accumulated in the oceans and cite an incident where 300 turtles died in Mexican waters in a single fishing net.

These nets, says marine biologist Ravi Ranjan Kumar, “take hundreds of years to degrade and in that span, hundreds and thousands of animals entangle in them and starve to death. The dead animals attract scavengers, who also fall prey to the net.”

Fishermen should take responsibility to discard these nets properly, he says. “Even though fishermen abandon used nets by the seashore, they end up into the oceans.”

Says Venkatesh Charloo,

founder and trustee of NGO Coastal Impact, “They are two types of nets, one is cotton which is degradable and the other being plastic is non­degradable.

Fishermen use plastic nets as they are durable.” But the problem is that fishermen go into deep waters to catch fish and discard their nets there.

“If it is somewhere near the shore we try to clean up after them, but going into the sea isn’t easy for us,” explains Charloo.

“We cannot blame the fishermen as this is their livelihood and

nets do break and drift away, but we need to educate them.”

The problem is made worse by the fact that the plastic in the oceans break down into tiny particles called microplastics or plastic beads. These plastic particles when mixed with algae are mistaken for food and are ingested by fish. “My teammates and I, when working on a project cut open fish and found plastic inside them,” says Kumar.

Humans when consuming fish are inadvertently consuming a certain amount of toxic plastic.

It is estimated by the World Economic Forum that by 2050, the oceans will have more plastic than fish if the present situation continues.

However, ghost fishing can be controlled by adopting a few changes. The first and foremost is that fishermen should not throw their broken or disused nets into the ocean but bring it them to shore for recycling.

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lso, fishermen should be encouraged to use biodegradable nets. A study published in Animal

Conservation Journal shows that biodegradable nets are as efficient as nylon nets.

Biodegradable nets are made of 82% polybutylene succinate and 18% polybutylene adipate co­ terephthalate. These nets if discarded in the ocean biodegrade in 24 months, unlike plastic nets which can take hundreds of years.

It is difficult to regulate the disposal of waste fishing gear though multilateral agreements and conventions. After all, 64% of the world’s oceans do not lie within any national jurisdiction.

However, the United Nations is working towards such a protocol under the prevailing United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The UN is committed to safeguarding the health of our oceans and marine life. As one of its Sustainable Development Goal states, “By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land­based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution.” It wouldn’t come a day too soon.

Using traditional materials and methods could help India construct sustainable cities, says

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he construction industry takes a deadly toll on the environment and human health. The way we build consumes huge amounts of energy, which significantly contributes to carbon dioxide emissions, and pollutes our air and water. As the United Nation’s Global Status Report 2017 observes, “Buildings and construction together account for 36% of global final energy use and 39% of energy­related carbon dioxide emissions when upstream power generation is included.”

But alternative ways of building that are less damaging to the environment have long existed and are today being rediscovered under the umbrella concept of ‘vernacular architecture’. Madhuri Sharma, an architect who worked at sustainable­design firm Hunnarshala, defines modern vernacular architecture as, “readapting the old vernacular wisdom of building to modern necessities”.

She explains that the essence of vernacular architecture is to use locally sourced materials and to build according to given geographical conditions, while incorporating the prevailing construction practices of a particular region, that drastically

reduces the carbon footprint from transportation and using materials like concrete, while it also preserves the ecological balance of the region. Better still, it provides employment to local artisans and craftsmen, since their traditional knowledge is the key to construction.

The word “vernacular” is derived from the Latin word vernaculus, meaning domestic, indigenous or native. American architectural legend Frank Lloyd Wright described the tradition as, “folk building growing in response to actual needs, fitted into environment by people who knew no better than to fit them with native feeling.” Its origins lie even before architecture, when humankind was compelled to build shelter using naturally available resources around them.

During the 1920s wave of industrialisation, a global movement in architecture called modernism considered to be universally adaptable, swept across the world. This new architecture utilized the new, emerging technologies of the day and materials like concrete to build structures that were considered both functional and practical. With the advent of the new aesthetic, vernacular architecture faded into oblivion.

In 1946, Egyptian architect

Hassan Fathy, incorporated mud­brick vaults inspired by Nubian settlements into his designs for a new town in Luxor.

That year an exhibition by Bernard Rudofsky opened in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, called Architecture Without Architects which displayed indigenous architectural styles from across the world. He coined the term vernacular architecture

and thus it became known to the mainstram.

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n her research at Harvard University, Swathy Puthucode Sivaraman found that in India modern houses built using local materials like rammed earth, lime, clay plaster and red oxide reduced average energy consumption by 36%. For Indian metropolises and towns

which are largely populated by middle class households, this could hold value as they’re cost effective while also being eco­ friendly.

With a growing population and increasing demand for housing, incorporating traditional materials in modern architecture can provide a cheaper, more sustainable solution to the housing shortage.

As Shruthi Ramakrishna, co­ founder of Bengaluru­based sustainable firm Made in Earth, told website Better India, “If we agree that we are headed towards a future that is in trouble, we need to figure out alternatives. But these need not be perceived or lived as a compromise. It has to become a way of life, rather than being thrust upon people.”

Contemporary vernacular architecture could be a solution to the ecological and economic woes being caused by the modern world. It can also become a way of preserving and propagating the traditional knowledge of construction and provide employment to local artisans.

NGOs like Hunnarshala, Auroville Earth Institute and firms like Biome and Made in Earth have been working with indigenous methods to help in building a sustainable India.

Indian women’s cricket will come of age when we produce a world beating side, says

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he International Cricket Council has announced the schedule for the next edition of the ICC Women’s World Cup. The Indian team plays its first game against New Zealand team. India historically hasn’t fared well against the White Ferns and NZ holds a 27 wins to 17 wins lead against India in ODIs. The competition for the World Cup will be intense. Defending champions England beat India in the final of the 2017 edition. But Australia will be the favourites, having won the World Cup six times and are on a 21­match winning streak. India has been consistently improving their game. Having reached the 2017 World Cup and 2020 T20 World Cup finals, they are seen as a serious contender for the title.

Over the past few years, women’s cricket has been increasingly attracting attention.

Since the introduction of T20 cricket, more people have started tuning into the women’s game.

But, the women’s game still lacks viewership and sponsorships on the scale of men’s cricket.

currently getting, as media and sponsors play an essential role in increasing people’s interest in a sport.

According to FIFA, footballs global governing body, 1.12 billion people tuned into the women’s football World Cup held in 2019.

By comparison, more than 180 million people worldwide are estimated to have watched the women’s cricket World Cup, which is impressive considering that fewer countries play cricket than they do soccer.

A key difference is that while even relatively minor men’s cricket games are televised, it’s only the major women’s championships that get coverage.

There is also a considerable gap when it comes to prize money.

The winners of the women’s World cup in 2017 took home a total of $2 million whereas the prize money for the winners of the Men’s world cup was almost $4 million. Viewership drives prize money.

As Indian pacer Shikha Pandey expressed on Twitter,“The product needs to be marketed well to ensure the growth and fan following.” The grassroots programmes in women’s cricket are also small as compared to men’s cricket. From a very young age, boys start getting exposure and proper training, but the same can’t be said for girls.

Women’s cricket needs promotion a lot more than it is

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ricket boards around the world need to start building a proper system for the women’s game, provision of more quality coaches and facilities is required, and the game needs to be pushed like for the men. It needs to be promoted at the grassroots. For that to happen, the quality at the lower levels in women’s game also needs to be considered.

With Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League gaining momentum and viewership, signs are good for the future of the women’s game. According to Cricket

Australia, last season’s WBBL final was the most­watched game with a combined average audience of 479,000.

Former Indian captain Mithali Raj, in an interview with Yahoo!

Cricket, said that it’s crucial to cash in on the momentum women’s cricket has gained and conduct an IPL for women, even if it involved a few competing teams.

The Board for Control of Cricket in India responded and started the Women’s T20 Challenge in 2018. Its third season took place this year, in Sharjah. It was a mini­ tournament played amongst three teams, and the matches were telecast live. After being away from the limelight for a long time, India’s women cricketers needed the attention.

More such leagues are required to push the game to another level. If world­class talent is promoted and given the right platform, people will watch and, in turn, will generate even more buzz around the game.

Indian women’s cricket is still awaiting its Sachin Tendulkar.

Indian tennis needs investment on the scale of cricket to break into the big league, says

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ndia faces a shortage of quality tennis coaches, says Prakash Pawar, tennis coach at the D.Y Patil sports academy in Navi Mumbai. Pawar has been a coach for 27 years, during which he has come across some brilliant players. “Some of these players had the capability of winning us not one but many Grand Slams,” he says.

But the reality has been far from this. “Where are the tennis coaches?” he asks. “In cricket, you can find ten physiotherapists in every corner, but in tennis, you won’t even find coaches.”

Tennis coaching in India has always been a problem. Parents who are keen help their child pursue a career in tennis find it hard to get suitable coaching.

“My son wanted to play tennis.

But after trying for months, I still haven’t found a good coach,” laments Shalini Roy. Dhruv Sunish, a young professional tennis player says that coaches are the key to players success. “Tennis is a technical game that needs strategies, tactics and proper training,” he says. “It is an individual game. Without a coach one might as well leave tennis.”

The problem is more acute in small towns. It isn’t surprising that the handful of tennis players who have reached the

international level are from the bigger towns. Pawar says that even Mumbai, with a population of some 20 million has hardly 20 tennis coaches, of whom only about 10 are well versed with the game. “It’s not that small towns have less potential. There is no one to mentor them. Players have to move to the bigger towns, pay high (club) membership fees and maybe then they will get a coach,” Pawar sighs.

Lack of coaches isn’t the only hurdle, there’s also a lack of accessibility. One has to buy rackets and , find coaches and avail membership in an academy to access courts.

“The membership fees for these academies, including Sania Mirza’s is quite expensive. And if you do not avail membership you will have no court to play on ” says Pawar.

He says the All India Tennis Association (AITA) needs to do more to make the sport accessible.

“AITA only backs people who are already well known. They need to focus on the grassroots level if they want tennis to become big in India. They need to make more courts that are accessible to not just the upper classes.”

To get some idea of what it costs, one has to spend Rs. 5

lakhs a year to get the best practice facilities.

Niki Poonacha, who plays on the World Tennis Tour, spends around Rs.40­50 lakh annually.

India’s No. 1, Sumit Nagal, shells out around Rs.1.25 crore which includes training, coaches and travel while playing for 20­25 weeks in a year.

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unil Senani, a tennis coach at Don Bosco School, Navi Mumbai suggests creating more awareness of the game at

the local level. “Awareness is pathetic. If you see cricket, everyone knows about out it.

Every kid has played it, but not tennis.” He believes that AITA should arrange for more U­16 tennis matches along with setting up tennis leagues.

“The only way to get to international standards is through practice. That can only happen if players play more competitive tennis leagues,” Senani adds. He says conducting more tennis tournaments for

children will help and suggests that AITA can tie up the US Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) to conduct international­level matches.

Despite fielding world class players from Ramanathan Krishnan to Leander Paes, Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupatti and Rohan Bopanna, Indian tennis seems stuck in a rut today.

There’s a deep pool of talent with potential to win big, almost everyone agrees, but we seem unable to tap it.

Do we really need a Sherlock Holmes cinematic universe, asks

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he new wave of cinematic adaptations is also taking new liberties, it would seem. Sherlock Holmes detective stories get adapted with depressing regularity but the extended sub­genre of the crime mystery created in his name is cause for concern.

The consulting detective, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887, has inspired innumerable adaptations for films, stage plays and television.

The Guinness Book of World Record says Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed literary character in film and television history. Now, the character’s superhuman deduction skills have incubated a sub­genre.

“When it comes to Sherlock, I remember when three to four iterations of the character were going on at the same time (during early 2010s). You had the film series with Robert Downey Jr., the BBC TV series with Benedict Cumberbatch, and Elementary ­­ a modern American enactment of the same,” says Shubang Gautam, a media student from Guru Gobind

estate argued that without full copyright protection, there would be “multiple personalities” of the character.

C Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, who has several short films to his name.

The latest arrival in the Sherlock pool of brand extensions is the mystery film Enola Holmes (2020). Distributed by Netflix, the film is based on the detective series The Enola Holmes Mysteries by Nancy Springer.

Enola is the sister and a younger version of Sherlock Holmes. The film attempts an adaptation of an indirect extension.

Here, the mystery of Sherlock’s character is extended to the creation of his fictional siblings.

They are not part of the Conan Doyle canon and have been created by the imagination of other writers. Eurus Holmes, Enola Holmes, and Sherrinford Holmes are random additions to Sherlock’s family tree that, seemingly innocent, question the idea of originality.

Do these extensions allow the creative freedom to alter even the original characterization? The estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle argues that they don't. They sued Netflix and Springer over the movie’s depiction of Sherlock Holmes. In previous cases, the

ertainly, profiteering is inspiration enough and the laws of copyright offer some protection of intellectual property. But the question Enola poses goes deeper. How far can classic works of literature, even after the expiration of copyright, be used (or abused) without destroying the worth of the original?

“These extensions seem like a cash grab, to be honest,” says Shubang. “It’s the result of a successful creation of a brand name, like say Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even if it is the same story with slightly different points of views, it works because it’s connected to the world it resides in. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing either. If anything, the continuous addition to the brand name opens many doors for representation.”

Mansi Draboo, an MA student at Department of English, DU,

agrees. “The literary world has always been male­dominated, and that includes gender representation in mainstream narratives,” she says. “I see stories like Enola as a sort of writing back to the canon, a feminist rewriting.”

But then, what of artistic integrity and the value of the original idea? Can Sherlock next be cast as an inquisitive dog?

"Artistic integrity and ethics come into play when somebody compromises the source material in any form," says Vaibhav Gupta, a Delhi­based independent filmmaker. "Being inspired and exploring an already established work is acceptable but changing the integrity of the work is not.”

“Moreover, when there are big established names being used for adaptations like Sherlock Holmes, the point moves from just an adaptation or extension to using the well­established formula and brand name to generate safe success. One can always choose to not compromise the integrity of the source material,” he adds.

Mira Nair tells a predictable story about India for a non­Indian audience, says,

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Suitable Boy, released on Netflix, is an adaptation of the eponymous book by Vikram Seth, a 1,000­page door stopper that was published in 1993. The cinematic adaptation

by Mira Nair, takes you back to the 1950s when India had just gained independence. The six­ episode series is a visual treat. It explores the era and tries to capture the sights, sounds & feel of 1950s India, but doesn’t really succeed. The problem isn’t that it tries too hard but that it’s designed for a non­Indian audience, specifically a Western one.

The star cast includes Tabu, Tanya Maniktala, Ishaan Khatter, Ram Kapoor, Shubham Saraf, Vijay Varma and Rasika Dugal. They dazzle but don’t do justice to the characters or really lend conviction to the story. Tabu does a brilliant job, she brings to life to the character of Saeeda Bai. Tanya Maniktala as Lata is the joyous, philosophical, poetry lover who has a bumpy ride in finding a suitable boy.

Lata’s ideas about who she wants to marry don’t really count in her mother’s search for a good suitor. Lata reminds one of Jo March from Little Women, who is also strong­headed and loves literature. The parallel stories of

Lata and Maan Kapoor (Ishaan Khatter) seem contrived and needlessly chaotic. The multiple plotlines work in a novel, where the reader decides the pace of the telling. When thrust upon the viewer, they are confusing, seem muddled and, over a six­episode series, can be overwhelming.

The political background involving the struggles of Congress party seem like an afterthought. Though set in the period immediately after partition, the India it depicts doesn’t feel right. The sensibility is too detached. India is portrayed through a particular lens. It is a story about the elites of the time, but it presents them as in a bubble. The epoch, and the immediate context are treated in the most perfunctory manner. The dialogue sounds fake and doesn’t cohere to the storyline. The lack of realism suggests it wasn’t made for an Indian audience. It feels like colonial perspective on India and all things Indian and the screenplay clearly wasn’t written with an Indian audience in mind.

The show accurately shows the wide disparity between upper and lower class India but is too simplistic, and the formulaic rich versus poor is designed for a non­ Indian sensibility. The man from

a lower strata or social class, Haresh Khanna (played by Namit Das), being unsuitable for Lata is trite and predictable. It’s all very colourful and aesthetically pleasing but it overlooks the social realities of the time, the many shades of grey that Indians know too well.

The plotline is designed for Western certitudes.

The Hindu­Muslim divide is well­portrayed and seems quite convincing.

The friendship between Maan Kapoor and his

best friend Firoz Khan (played by Shubham Saraf) is refreshing and breaks the stereotype of a Hindu and Muslim being friends.

The storyline tries to capture the politics of the time by showing the first elections, the struggles involving the passing of the Zamindar bill and the tensions between the Hindu and Muslim communities.

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he story relies on all the tropes that have now become pillars of the

‘partition film’. Communal riots punctuate festivities; privilege and power destroy lives; inter­ caste marriage spells a fall from grace; and the list goes on. The story contains multitudes of cliches. It has drama in plenty.

It’s entertaining but comes out as hollow in the end. Director Mira Nair is justifiably acclaimed for her previous work like, Monsoon Wedding and Mississippi Masala. However, her Indian masala does not manage to do the trick.