Thursday, 7 March 2019
Shikhar Dhawan drops to Grade A, gain for Shami
acer Mohammed Shami's consistency in both Tests and ODIs has propelled him to the A category from Grade B, while Ishant Sharma too has moved up from B to A. Central contractsGrade A+ (Rs 7 crore)Virat KohliRohit SharmaJasprit BumrahGrade A (Rs 5 crore)Ravichandran AshwinRavindra JadejaBhuvneshwar KumarCheteshwar PujaraAjinkya RahaneMS DhoniShikhar DhawanMohammed ShamiIshant SharmaKuldeep YadavRishabh PantGrade B (Rs 3 crore)KL RahulUmesh YadavYuzvendra ChahalHardik PandyaGrade C (Rs 1 crore)Kedar JadhavDinesh KarthikAmbati RayuduManish PandeyHanuma VihariKhaleel AhmedWriddhiman Saha Dailyhunthttps://www.30boxes.com/user/8559551/SidTarak
Making the world a meaningful place
She is with PGIMR for about five years now and is earning above Rs 60,000 per month. Most of the girls from her village could not study beyond primary school as the middle level school was in the next village, about 3 km away. And a college was further away, in the town. She was travelling from Chandigarh to Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh to attend the wedding of a senior resident doctor. It was her first air travel and she admitted the same very confidently, with an excited smile. She was not at all hesitant or apologetic. Chirpily, she confided that she is currently appearing for the Punjab and Haryana State Public Service Commission exams, and would later appear for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam too. She had already joined coaching classes for the same and negotiated good rates for herself, though she was finding it difficult to juggle between her nursing duties and coaching classes. She has to request the senior nurses and colleagues to 'adjust' her shifts but is persisting in her endeavour nevertheless. The young girl has no pretence and is proud of her achievements. At the same time, she comes across as curious and adventurous, determined to go ever further. This is the story that we need in India today and we need an abundance of such stories. Where girls not from privileged urban backgrounds, but from rural average households dare to dream and achieve. This needs an enabling environment: Schools in villages, colleges nearby, access to libraries, and, parents who are willing to send their daughters out to study, in case schools and colleges are not within the proximate area. Some time back I had visited 'Women Help Line' in Lucknow and was told that a large number of distress calls were about harassment — in buses, on roads, in streets, practically everywhere. The police department that is running the helpline was encouraging girls to report such incidents, however, and had adopted various means to trace the errant boys: They are warned, initially, followed by criminal cases if they do not pay heed. This issue is rampant in most of India. No wonder parents have apprehensions about sending their daughters out to study, though enrolment and retention of girls in schools and colleges has improved considerably in the last decade. Providing safe travel and a secure atmosphere to girls for pursuing their education and career is the missing link that the community and government have to work on together. Or, families would continue to deny that very vital permission to their girls. In the meanwhile, the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) has been successful in bridging the gap between the rural community and the health system in India. They have reduced infant mortality, child malnutrition and provided pre-school education. A similar bridge specifically for safe girls' education needs to be built. The gram panchayat, especially the village police patil, known by different names and titles across the country, should be made responsible for coordinating the safety of girls' movements. The beat officer of each police station and police outpost can supervise it — his uniform carries tremendous weight and can deter roadside romeos and molesters. Though the police don't always have enough resources, they seem, at least, willing to chip in. Recently, during a gender sensitisation training programme of the Goa police, I visited the women's helpline, where the counselors received about 2,500 distress calls in the last six months. Most of them are about domestic violence, though some cases of harassment too are reported. It was a pleasant surprise to see that all the call takers are post graduates in counselling. Goa 181 is managed by GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute), a not-for-profit professional organisation operating in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. Such helplines definitely create an enabling environment and so do the gender sensitisation programmes being undertaken by each state police. If we want girls and women to achieve their full potential, we have to double our efforts to reach out to the families. Efforts of the government alone, and even those of NGOs, will not be enough. Gram panchayats, police patils and beat police officers must coordinate with villagers so that girls can move around safely for their education and careers. Schools and libraries in rural areas, encouraging girls to cycle and move freely for their education and the sharing of success stories of educated young girls can be game-changers. Most states have already made girls' education free, but the 'permission to travel' out of the village is most often denied by the parents. Girls from Bihar cycling to school had made headlines some years back. We need to replicate the same all over the country through wide publicity in print and electronic media. I met a young, freshly recruited (woman) police constable in the police lines of Pune city recently. I asked her what prompted her to join the police. She said it was her father, and then added proudly that two of her female cousins too had joined the police force thereafter. These fathers and families have to be on board with us if we want girls to enjoy the fruits of a good education and meaningful careers. Is it expecting too much, this Women's Day? The writer is a retired IPS officer and has served as Inspector General (Prisons), Maharashtra Dailyhunthttp://jprsworld.pen.io/
Molasses ban faces hurdle in Assam
Molasses is not listed in Section 3(1)(j) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which includes consumable food items. So, its sale, purchase, storage or consumption as a food item, directly or indirectly, is an illegal activity. There is no question of banning something that is already illegal," an official at the laboratory told The Telegraph on condition of anonymity.The act consolidates laws relating to food. Under it, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was established for laying down science-based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import, to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.Anupam Gogoi, a food analyst in FSSAI, said molasses and liquid jaggery, both called laligur in Assam, are different."While liquid jaggery is the initial extract from sugarcane or dates (the two primary sources of jaggery in India), molasses is a byproduct, a waste left after the refined solid jaggery is extracted. The first is fit for human consumption but the other is mostly used for veterinary or industrial purposes," Anupam said.Molasses is distilled to produce ethanol, which is used in medical wipes and antibacterial hand sanitisers.Akhil Gogoi, adviser to Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), said molasses used to enter Assam from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as veterinary supplies but the state government had recently allowed its procurement for industrial purposes with magisterial permission."In north India, cows are fed molasses during pregnancy but Assamese farmers generally use jaggery instead of the cheap substitute. After the government granted the magisterial permission, a few warehouses stored it as industrial ingredient but sold it illegally to small shops and those who made Sulai (hooch) from it," Akhil said.Jorhat-based trader Mahesh Beria was arrested from Jonai in Upper Assam's Dhemaji district on Monday and two godown owners in Golaghat were detained on February 23 on charges of selling molasses. Dailyhunthttp://jprsworld.eklablog.com/
From the familiar to the weird
That is up until the time a phone call brings his world crashing down. Sam finds that Marisa, his wife of more than 15 years and his son William, who would have turned 13 the day after the fateful accident, are gone. "Memory of that night continued gushing like blood from a fresh wound." In the early days, Sam feels that he can cope with this loss, but as he wrestles with himself, he turns for help to a therapist, Cynthia. He hopes to get back some semblance of the balance in his life. The problem is that he is not aware that Cynthia herself is struggling under the yoke of a disastrous divorce. No matter which way she turns, her ex-husband's dark shadow looms large over her daughter, Lily. When the winds fill up their sails, both Cynthia and Sam find themselves buffeted through choppy seas. They are at cross purposes: one is anchored in the past which has gone and can never come back whilst the other cannot get away. At this crossroad, also stands Lily, Cynthia's daughter, whose dark secret could easily set aflame the lives of those who surrounds her. The novel explores the hidden-from-view kind of world. A place where beneath the still surface one finds perfectly normal people. As we are told: "Everyone is weird except you and I. And even you look a bit strange!" This is no palette gone berserk; or where characters fall in through the roof; here are folks who live next door, in situations drawn from real life. But that is where the similarity ends. Dark Blossom has been divided into a list of contents or chapters that read like a grocery list: White Noise; Surreal; In the Same Boat; Longing for Lily; Grief and Alone to end with Only Not. Much as I tried, for the life of me, I admit defeat. Perhaps these 40 rungs on the ladder have been inserted to make the book slicker. At the end of an incredible climax, there is again the telephone directory-like listing of chapters. Foxed, I can only conclude-they could have been better used elsewhere. Dailyhunthttps://en.gravatar.com/jprsworld
Sharad Pawar slams Modi: 'Why did govt hide this from Parliament'
asked Pawar. Casting aspersions on the government, he also questioned why it had hidden this fact from the Parliament. 'Definitely, the papers had some vital information.' Pawar, a former Union defence minister, alleged that it was clear now that the (Rafale) deal was done to benefit 'certain' people. On Wednesday, the Centre had informed the Supreme Court that the documents related to the deal were 'stolen' from the Defence Ministry, and that an investigation over the alleged theft was in progress. It had further threatened to invoke the Official Secrets Act and initiate 'criminal action' against two publications, which ran reports on the basis of these 'stolen' documents. Accusing the ruling BJP of double standards, Pawar said, 'These very people (BJP) had demanded a probe into the Bofors arms deal case. At that time, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had ordered a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe. The same people are now refusing an inquiry into allegations being levelled in the Rafale case.' The NCP chief also accused the Modi government of inflating the price of the fighter jets. 'The contract was snatched from a public sector undertaking (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), and given to Anil Ambani's company, which does not have any experience in aircraft manufacturing. It does not even have a manufacturing plant.' Pawar took a dig at Modi for 'politicising' the killings of CRPF personnel in Pulwama and Air Force's subsequent air strike in Pakistan. 'With the exception of the BJP, all the other parties have refrained from politicising the issue. After the Pulwama attack, the Opposition met and took a conscious decision of not making political capital out of it. But the PM attacked the Opposition in public rallies.' Dailyhunthttps://8tracks.com/jprsinner
Missing Rafale papers would be pure comedy if it weren't dangerous
While the BJP's minions seize 'anti-nationals' and mobs kill people from minority groups in the name of cow protection while beating up Kashmiris on the side, a targeted little burglary is executed in the building that houses the defence and foreign ministries and the Prime Minister's Office. This argues incompetence of such gigantic proportions that comedy vanishes. It must have been this incompetence that allowed a private vehicle loaded with explosives to destroy a truck full of jawans amid a military convoy on a highly protected route. It is the same incompetence, this time in propaganda, that has ministers and officials scrambling to reach an agreement on the number of dead militants in Balakot.There is, shamefully enough, another side to the government's declaration. The allegedly stolen papers were used by a newspaper to expose dubious aspects of the Rafale deal. The government appears unable to conceal its anxiety that these documents might be used as evidence in court. Perhaps it hopes that if they have been stolen - a charge not made when the newspaper used them - their 'unclean' source may discredit them as evidence. To distract attention from a mess that is obviously far from simple, the government, through its mouthpiece in court, is talking of the newspaper's supposed violation of the Official Secrets Act. Wielding laws is the easy way out. More dangerous, however, is the Narendra Modi-led government's attitude towards journalism. Independent thinking, analysis, criticism and pursuit of truth for public interest are simply impermissible. But it may become a bit awkward if the media now begin concentrating on finding out how the Rafale papers were stolen. 1686332 1686331 Dailyhunthttps://www.itsmyurls.com/jprsinner
Tragedies waiting to happen
aikat Sinha, Calcutta Message of peaceSir - A heartfelt welcome to Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman ("Pilot back after suspense & tape", March 2). Although Pakistan's foreign office referred to Varthaman as a prisoner of war, it was astonishing that he was apparently treated with dignity and in line with international laws. Varthaman's release has been claimed as a victory of sorts by both countries. While Islamabad has projected itself as the side which has done the right thing, New Delhi seems keen to convey that its tough stance compelled Pakistan to take this step. However, this is the perfect opportunity for both India and Pakistan to de-escalate tensions. Let this be the beginning of a new era of peace and harmony. People should realize that the coming together of the two nations can generate unprecedented benefits for both countries. It is time that the Narendra Modi-led government took the first step of friendship towards its neighbouring country. Imran Khan has promised to take two steps for every step that India takes. The prime minister of India should not try to gain political mileage from this episode and instead put in efforts to maintain peace in the region.Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee,Faridabad Sir - Hats off to Abhinandan Varthaman for his valour. Further, India's air strike in Balakot has sent a strong message to Pakistan. It has been made clear that terrorism will not be tolerated in New India. This is what seems to have prompted the talk about peace and de-escalation of tensions. Significantly, even the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation did not bend to Pakistan's threat of boycotting a meeting if the Indian minister of external affairs, Sushma Swaraj, was present. Pakistan has thus understood India's diplomatic prowess. Mihir Kanungo,CalcuttaSir - Indians were relieved to see Abhinandan Varthaman return to the country. Varthaman has made us proud with his fortitude. While India is said to have put pressure on Pakistan to facilitate Varthaman's release, it cannot be denied that this is a diplomatic win for Pakistan. It knew that anything else would have led already aggravated tempers to flare and made reconciliation difficult. Varthaman's release, therefore, came at a crucial time, ensuring that the two nations find common ground to open dialogue.Ranganathan Sivakumar,ChennaiSir - The spirit of patriotism shown by Abhinandan Varthaman must be lauded. He is even said to have tried to swallow some documents to prevent sensitive information from getting into the wrong hands. His release is heartening. Prabir Kumar Naskar,BaruipurUnhelpful handSir - A survey by a non-governmental organization has found that 84 per cent people do not know about the Good Samaritan laws that protect passers-by who help victims of road accidents. The government's casual attitude is partly to blame for this lack of awareness. It is important to raise awareness about this law through campaigns, which will motivate people to help victims of road accidents to the best of their abilities. Unfortunately, people still fear the consequences of taking accident victims to the hospital such as harassment by the police. Further, most accidents in India occur because of the carelessness of drivers or pedestrians. One way of preventing them is by bringing more stringent laws and instituting harsher penalties. Another reason behind accidents is the inadequacy of street lights. The authorities must remedy this at once.Kiran Agarwal,CalcuttaSir - The existence of Good Samaritan laws notwithstanding, bystanders who help accident victims still have to face a barrage of questions from doctors and the police. These professionals should be educated about the laws as well.Raunak Mallick,Calcutta Dailyhunthttps://mix.com/jprsworld
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