ISSUE 34 Nov15, 2015

News In Brief Grand Alliance clinches majority in Bihar

Avijit DasThe magic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which gave him a sweeping victory in last year’s Lok Sabha Polls seems to have lost its power with the Lalu-Nitish alliance clinching 178 seats out of 243 in Bihar Assembly. The NDA with BJP as the leading force could manage only 58 seats in the Vidhan Sabha. The parivartan rallies of the BJP, overflowed with supporters and voters didn’t seem to have its effect with the common mass putting their faith in Nitish Kumar and the developments undertaken by him. The NDA seems to be reduced to nearly half with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD and Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) coming together against the common enemy BJP. The caste factor which plays an important factor in the Bihar polls seemed to have a massive effect in the elections with Lalu being able to retain its votes among the Yadav community. The attempts of PM Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah with special packages for Bihar didn’t seem to go on well with the voters. One of the most interesting factor of the results is RJD winning more seats than Nitish

Kumar’s JD(U) who was the projected CM. BJP’s scheme of polarizing the Hindu votes in the state by playing the Hindutva card also didn’t seem to work. Moreover the rising religious intolerance initiated by the various Hindutva groups and provocative speeches by RSS and VHP leaders were rejected by the mass as BJP failed to accumulate the Hindu votes. Also the Dalit card played by the NDA keeping Jitan Ram Manjhi, former Chief Minister and once close aide of Nitish Kumar in the forefront didn’t seem to get through. The Mahagatbandhan which swept the Bihar elections may be joined by the communists in the future but with RJD winning more number

of seats than JD(U), Lalu may become the de facto ruler of Bihar and try to exercise his control over Nitish’s cabinet leading to an unstable government in the coming days. The Modi-Amit Shah duo will be having a tough time ahead in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in 2017 and the upcoming West Bengal assembly polls in 2016 and may face criticism from its own party although the state and the central BJP leadership are blaming each other for the debacle. The saffron culture pushed by BJP lately has not been welcomed by the majority of the people in the country which voted Modi into power in 2014. BJP which won 22 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 has drastically decimated. Although the unity among the once arch rivals Lalu and Nitish is being termed as a factor, the pro Hindutva techniques and the rising religious intolerance in the country seems to be the other. It is high time for BJP to shed its saffron culture and concentrate on the developments promised in the manifesto rather than poking nose into the kitchens of the common people.

Segregation shakes the nation yet againLahari Basu

On one hand the country’s intellectuals are reacting to the intolerance in India openly and returning back their awards from different fields to the government, and on the other hand another group of intellectuals are against the ‘Award Wapsi Fad’.As it is believed by all for the need of the tolerance in India, there has been a contradictory view in implementing the process, that returning awards is not the right approach to the support the cause. Intolerance has been prevailing in India since the early ages, but a sudden act of ‘Award Wapsi’ is not going to be a remedy for the situation or enhance the country’s tolerance capability. Bollywood celebrities, directors, scientists and writers have joined hands to criticize the Modi

government for the rise in extreme intolerance in the country and not condemning violence. Recently, Arundhati Roy, author of “God of Small Things” returned her 1989 national award for best screenplay in a protest against violence and the growing culture of fear and censorship encouraged by the government. Actor Anupam Kher, Madhur Bhandarkar and several others led a rally to Rashtrpati Bhavan to counter the ‘Award Wapsi’ campaign as they viewed it to be an act of defamation against the country. This section of intellectuals feels that returning awards is not a solution to the growing intolerance that they are gesturing to; rather one should use the power of knowledge. India’s top scientist P M Bhargava and filmmakers like

Dibakar Banerjee, Saeed Mirza, Rakesh Shukla and Kundan Shah returned their awards as a protest to intolerance in the country. Also supporting the ‘Award Wapsi’ campaign was RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, and historian Romila Thapar among many other eminent personalities.Vidya Balan, Kamal Hassan and Hema Malini have refused to give away their awards, as it is believed to be an honour given to an individual by the country and not by any political party, returning the honour will mean disrespecting the people of the country. Many actors like Zoya Akhtar, Ravina Tandon, Supriya Pathak, Rishi Kapoor and Raima Sen supported the cause led by Anupam Kher. Chetan Bhagat, famous author and columnist

reminded the people that awards are given by a panel of jury and not a government, hence returning that award as a protest is futile, he also had claimed that since Narendra Modi does not come from a privileged class he is being attacked by this group of intelligentsia even more!There are views which also claim that the ‘Award Wapsi’ and talks about growing intolerance is on the hike due to the crucial phase of Bihar elections, where the political parties are fighting for authority and control. The results of the Bihar election proved to be extremely costly for BJP, and political analysts further believe that intolerance and “Award Wapsi” proved to be a catalyst in Modi’s debacle in Bihar.

Ghulam Ali programs cancelled in India

Can we or can we not grab a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council is a major area of concern for India at a global stage. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s repeated foreign visits clearly shows that the permanent seat is crucial to New Delhi. India already has a host of countries like Israel, Norway, Bahrain, Portugal, Syria, Sweden and the whole of African Union supporting it in its bid for the permanent seat. India, who joined the U.N. in 1945, has been elected seven times to the UNSC as a non permanent member. India’s large democracy along with the ever growing population are some of the factors that might help it take a seat among the permanent members.

Also the fact that, India has the seventh largest economy in the world by GDP, third largest by PPP (purchasing power parity) and maintains the third largest army after china and USA can also play a good role in getting the coveted seat. Although there are factors which make our case favorable, the road to UNSC is tough for us. We are part of the G4 (BRAZIL, GERMANY, JAPAN, and INDIA) which mutually supports each other’s aspirations

for a permanent seat. China has already expressed their desire to support India if it stops supporting Japan. Pakistan will be a stubborn opponent. Also India’s rank in

per capita income compared to the other G4 countries might also play spoilsport for winning the seat. If we take a look at figures between the G4 countries, India ranked 106th, whereas Germany, Brazil and Japan are ranked 20th, 77 and 29th respectively. In terms of GDP also India is behind the other G4 countries, India is ranked 9th globally whereas Japan is ranked 3rd, Germany is 4th and Brazil is 7th. Last but not the least the ‘veto’ power still remains a concern for the Indian democrats.A permanent seat for India will the best thing to happen in Narendra Modi’s reign, but the road to it is a path of petals and thorns.

Saptarshi Chowdhury

Famous Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali was cancelled his concert in India after political group Shiv Sena threatened to disrupt it. All future shows of the renowned singer were cancelled thereafter.

Rail cancellation charges increased

From 12th November cancellation fee of train tickets will be charged double. For Non AC it will be Rs. 60 and for AC ticket it will be Rs. 180. Tax relief on LPG will also be not given.

Cricket All-Star Series inaugurated

Global cricket czars Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne headlined in a star-studded lineup of renowned cricket players from around the world in the inaugural “Cricket All-Star Series,” a three-game series in New York City. The historic tour marks the first time these legends have played in the U.S., and also renews the famous rivalry between “Master Blaster” Tendulkar and “King of Spin” Warne.

India goes down in FIFA ranking

Indian ranking goes down to 172 in the FIFA rankings. The worst ranking ever for India was 173. How this decline will effect ISL is being questioned

1300 years old tree found in China

Modi fails to understand Bihar’s ‘Maan ki Baat’

A 1300 year old Texas type Chinese tree was found in Hunan in middle of China.These trees are in China for 25 lakh years. Numbers of seeds are less which is a problem for these trees to last long.

India’s push for United Nations Security Council

ISSUE 34 Nov15, 2015

The Team: Avijit Das, Indrajit Bhattacharjee, Koustabh Das, Lahari Basu, Sananya Datta, Santanu Ghosh, Saptarshi Chowdhury, Sreetama Karmakar, Subhasish Mitra, Sohini Majumdar Design Team: Banhishikha Ghorai,Rishin Bose

Chief Mentor: Dr Buroshiva Dasgupta Mentors: Debanjan Banerjee, Reshmi Naskar, Bhaswar Bhattacharyya, Sourav Basu, Barnali Ray,Ankita Ash

Deepavali: Lighting lamp in everybody’s life

Lights, diwali and pollution!

Sreetama Karmakar

When the illuminating lights on the road, promise to take the homeless to a nearby shelter and the women of the house, flaunt shimmers of vibrance with twinkles of joy on the arrival of their loved ones, you know it is Diwali. A festival where the clones of barrier in the society shred off the falsehood to bring happiness in all the rooms of our home with a new aura of hope and luxury to reign over the financials in the upcoming year has got an intriguing game of mythology being played in the nodules of its evolution.

Mythology is like puzzle made us available through ancient writings, if we can unravel and decipher it, our paths will be illuminated. On this very Diwali day, the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi is said to have been incarnated from the depth of the bottomless ocean as the ‘devas’ and the ‘asuras’ were seeking the nectar of immortality. She was subsequently married to Lord Vishnu on the same darkest night of the year and brilliant lamps were lit and placed in rows to mark this holy occasion. The darkest night marks the triumph of good

over evil as the Pandavas returned to their homeland after 12 long years of banishment, promoting the words of honesty and care among all their subjects. As the prominence of new rays garner the maximum identity through darkness, the homecoming of their beloved king, Lord Rama, witnessed the crackers and the earthen lamps decorating the entire city in the grandest manner. The tales also narrate the importance of rage in safeguarding the security of the society as Devi Kal Boi Nashini, a personification of women power was born to save humanity from the clutches of the demons. As the festive season begins to pull down its shutter for the year with the passing of every tradition, the benevolent creator showers the blessings of fortune and wealth, two days prior to the celebration of lights in the form of ‘Dhanteras’ or ‘Bhoot Chaturdashi.’ On this auspicious day, the Dhan-Lakshmi is welcomed in the house, where pathways are beautified with Alpana and Rangoli, including the Goddess’s footprints. Lord Kuber as the treasurer of wealth and bestower of riches accompanies Goddess Lakshmi and are together worshipped in prospect of doubling the action of the prayers. People flock to the jewellers and buy gold or silver utensils to venerate the occasion of Dhanteras. Whatever reasons there are, moot point is celebration and emphasizing the power of righteousness it carries.

Campus Buzz!With the Festival of Lights round the corner there is promise of fun and laughter. But in the midst of all that, there is a fragile state of the earth. A heavy smog hangs low in the air on Diwali night and a few days after that. The levels of sulphur nitatres, magnesium, Nitrogen dioxide increse, and these chemicals are injurious to our respiratory passages. One Diwali night cause as much damage to the ecology as regular pollution does over the span of a year. The festival of lights also turns into a festival of noise with the colourful rockets and flower pots, sparklers and bombs. Campus buzz of this issue discusses and collects opinion of the campus (through proper surveys conducted) on the hazardous effect of the festival of lights.

1.Do you buy crackers?

2. Do you think diwali crackers cause pollution ?

3. Would you buy a diwali cracker knowing that it causes pollution but at the same time it is a great firework?

4. Do you think crackers should be banned?

Koustabh Das

This diwali the night did not only get colder and colorful with time but also polluted. Air and noise pollution levels in Kolkata shoots up drastically during diwali as the quantity of pollutants and crackers in Kolkata reach d a n g e r o u s l y high levels. The respirable p a r t i c u l a t e matter increases to 168.26 micro grams per cubic metre which according to heath experts is more than three times higher than the p e r m i s s i b l e limit of 50 micro grams per cubic metre. The figures released by the West Bengal Pollution Control Board last year pointed out that the respirable particulate matter significantly increased a day after Diwali and stood at 248.37 micro grams. According to the officials of the pollution control board, it is a routine affair of pollution level increasing post Diwali, but what is alarming is the sudden rise and its intensity. It takes a long time for air pollution to climb

down to normal levels since the onset of winter changes air density and that causes increase in harmful dust particles. This results in significant health problems for residents of Kolkata and the suburbs. During

the Diwali festivities last year, 12 people were admitted within three hours to the city’s Fortis Hospital with severe breathing problems. Among those admitted during diwali 80 percent were asthma patients, but the rest had no history of breathing complications. Besides, more than 100 instances of fire were reported across the State on diwali.Under the standards fixed by the Central Pollution Control Board, about 12 parameters including sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide,

SPM, RSP, ozone and lead need to be measured to determine air quality. Noted environmental activist Subhash Dutta claimed that the figures shown by the West Bengal Pollution Control Board are far the

from the ground reality.” He stated that even light crackers releases high quantity of pollutants that pose severe and long term health hazards.This year, the Board has taken some innovative measures like o r g a n i z i n g a w a r e n e s s

campaigns with the help of NGOs. The law enforcers have ordered cracker manufacturers to submit a list of crackers for testing before they are allowed to be sold at Bazi Bajar in Kolkata.

Although the officials claim the air pollution has gone down this year, it is still hazardous for people suffering from diseases like asthma and diwali will remain a festival of colors and pollution.