Prabir Das Blogger

  The *Mission Begin Again* has been given a go-ahead by the Maharashtra Government. The State government issued the necessary order yesterday. The main takeaways of this mission are opening up the hotels/ lodges and removal of inter/intra districts travel restrictions. Consequently, requirement of E-pass has been done away with. Needless to say the above permissions are subject to stringent health and other conditions mentioned in the order primary being maintenance of social distancing and sanitation procedures which are already in vogue. The Central or for that matter the State Governments could not have anticipated the drastic fallout of lockdown when it began on 25th of March. As compared to other affected countries the precautionary measures were initiated by the central government well in time. A full lockdown was announced on 25th of March which virtually shut up everything barring essential services. The country as the pandemic began was hardly ready to face the same; hosp...

  The government has decided to waive the transaction charges hitherto charged by banks where the same have been made thru use of     Ru-pay debit cards. The benefit has also been extended to transactions made through UPI based apps. While ICICI bank was first yo introduce e-banking through use of internet in 1996 in india the awareness began and a wider use of the digital system took off only since 1999. The need for computerisation of banking system was felt as early as in 1980 as the focus shifted from conventional banking to convinient banking. Gradually, the banks started using Information Technology and slowly standalone computers got linked to Local Area Network. As time passed the banks resorted to Core Banking Solutions where the all the bank networks got integrated as the concept of ‘Anywhere and Anytime Banking’ got clear shape. Today banking as is seen is more of a convenience and personal preference in terms of service. The need for e-banking grew over the ye...

  It is said that love conquers everything; that love is quintessential to every living being, his aspirations,the driving force that leads his creativity, and ultimate Nirvana. Looking back to life which began nearly 3.5 billion years ago on this planet it has tried to thrive withstanding severe roadblocks that came on the way. Life itself loved itself which led to life’s sustenance. The Bible says that God used the breath of life to animate the first humans.  The life that began from cell division took different paths, weathering innumerable challenges that came in its way and it was all    possible as love took centrestage and wrapped life in its warm comforts. There possibly is no dichotomy as life and love became complimentary. The humans evolved as homo sapiens after passing through many phases. The journey though tumultuous was possible as love nourished and thereby sustained it. No research could reveal whether homo sapiens    would evolve further. ...

  The indian economy which was enslaved under very narrow policies started suffering in mid 80’s when the balance of trade tilted dangerously negative leading to almost unmanageable Fiscal deficits. By 1991 India, then under heavy IMF loan, was on the verge of default. To save the blushes the country even     had to bail out its gold reserves to IMF. the country under its new FM Dr Manmohan Singh introduced slew of economic reforms in late 1991 which was based on Liberalisation, Deregulation and Globalisation. In order to counter the precarious trade imbalances the government opened the market for investment by Foreign Direct investors. Slowly india started recovering and after 3 decades it became an    economic giant. As years passed by economic trades between india and other countries widened. One of the countries which raised its head in Trade with India in the new millennium has been China. The trade mostly relates to bulk drugs and electric and electronic m...

  The pandemic that has caused severe disruptions in private as well as public life since March last has left its dark clout in many areas especially in the fields of education. A country of 1.3 billion has seen severe competition in higher education as every student aspiring to scale newer heights in life strives to get into india’s premiere Engineering or Medical institutes.   The mad rush for the aspiring students to get into    IITs and other prestigious institutes is unprecedented and not observed anywhere in the world. The JEE Exams which pave the way for such admissions to IITs over the decades have been the dream realiser for students. Generally, the exams are completed by end of May every year and students get into serious business ( studies) by August. However, the Corona virus has put a spoke in the entire process as the JEE or NEET examinations were postponed. The uncertainty that ensued has taken huge toll on students resources and aspirations alike....

  No one could possibly foresee the lateral changes the life would bring in when 2019 made way for 2020. The first week itself spread the news that a virus , which resemble the outer surface of sun, killed a few in Wuhan province of China. A world not even recovered from the new year celebrations didn’t even wink. The virus-till then already named ‘Corona’ had started playing havoc and continued the killing spree in Wuhan. But then who would bother as the world had already seen the even deadlier Anthrax, Ebola, H1N1 blah blah! The rampage continued and wuhan suffered. The highest health monitoring mechanism WHO didn’t even issue a notice. The Chinese government did nothing and the air travel across globe continued unabated exporting the virus with glee.By start of March the virus had already started exposing its teeth and began killing by hundreds in Europe. America was not far to be left behind. The pandemic engulfed almost the entire world. Countries including India took measures...

  The news of Indo Tibetan Border Police ( ITBP) jawans, around 25 of them, carrying an injured woman in a remote village of Uttarakhand on stretcher braving rain, slippery roads, difficult terrains,is doing rounds in print, electronic and social     media since Saturday last. According to sources The woman from a remote village of Pithoragarh district slipped during a landslide on August 20th and broke her legs. When even the helicopter failed to land at the area due to inclement weather,    a team of 25 jawans of ITBP took on themselves what began a herculean task of rescue ever made on the planet. The jawans covered nearly 40 kms of terraneous road ravaged by incessant rains and reached a place called Munsyari braving super human weather conditions, flowing nullahs and other obstacles for nearly 15 hours carrying the injured woman on their shoulders. An incident which an ordinary would not tread even in dreams. Human life is most precious none would perhaps a...

  No one could possibly guess the degree of damage that would be caused when the news of corona virus first broke in early January this year. It took more than two months for the world to acknowledge the potential threat the virus could pose even though the reports of loss of human lives started tickling in from across the globe. In India the Government acted sufficiently quick and international flights coming to country or going abroad were banned. A full lockdown was thought imperative and the nation virtually came to a screeching halt post 25 th March. Everything barring necessary services came to a still. One of the greatest technological initiatives that started taking control was the digital platform; the one most that raised its head was online teaching. It is undoubtedly the most affected have been the children. While the schools remained mostly closed during the summer the children were not spared from the online onslaught. A question that surfaced is whether these online ...

  It has been decided by the IPL Governing Council to host IPL T-20 matches at UAE this year. The 53 day schedule will begin on19th September and end on 10 Th November . The matches will be played in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu dhabi. While the Council has decided that the Standard Operating Procedures will be in place and matches will be played in bio-secured environments a shadow of doubt is lurking in corner as to the success of the tournament as the pandemic has not shown any indication of decline. Covid-19 has taken severe toll not only in numbers of deaths caused globally but also in economies. A country like India, already grappling to place its GDP in higher orbits at the start of the year, has suffered severely. In this period the country has seen lockdown effecting crippling effects not only in big industries but also in smaller businesses. Crores of labourers walking hundreds of miles barefoot used to be sights which moved people to tears. As if it was not enough a chinese ag...

  The sensational Sushant Rajput investigation has been handed over to country’s premier investigative agency CBI. The Hon. Supreme Court in its Aug 19 verdict paved the way for the said transfer. A highly publicised case involving public sentiments put immense pressure on any investigative team, be it State or the CBI. The primary objective of any investigation is to bring up the truth-there possibly cannot be any other perspective, per-se. In order to achieve that desired objective the team must have free hand and access to all information. Also, the investigative team needs to settle down and not be guided by unsolicited advice. While in a free democracy like ours everyone is welcome to come forward and offer subjective help by way of sharing of esteemed information to the team there must be some quality and restraint to that. It is well known that human mind works best when let free. It is debatable whether the innumerable debates/ discussions going on in media could put an imp...

  The ten day long Ganapati festival is going to begin from 22nd August ( the fourth day of Bhadrapada) in Maharashtra. The event marks the beginning of festival season in India especially in the Western part. This year, due to pandemic, the mood id somber with the mandal authorities are either cancelling the festival or keeping it low-key. The Ganesh festival which generally used to be celebrated in every household in Maharashtra was made a public event by the Great Bal Gangadhar Tilak with an objective to bring people on a common platform in order to thwart the British. The idea clicked and later took a mammoth shape as people from all walks of life celebrate the occasion with much frenzy, enthusiasm and fervour. The pandals are decorated with the idol drawing all attention and people line in for darshan. The dhol tasha, loud music mixed with religious songs played at top decibel entertain young and old alike. This pandemic has played a dampener    with the thought proc...

  Ever since the pandemic has broken thousands of posts have crowded the social media platforms. These include various facts like the origin of the virus, how it spreads, how long it stays active on a particular surface, the precautionary measures to be adopted to keep the virus at bay, the probable medicines available, the development of vaccine and even the sleep patterns which may replace ventilators etc etc. But despite all the above certain queries invade my brain: Can every person detected positive ( RT-PCR) be termed sick? Can a positive but asymptotic person necessarily have the required viral load to infect others? When there is no specific medicines available how recoveries take place in hospitals? Why can’t a positive person be isolated and treated at home unless he developes difficulties regarding breathing? These are the questions that need to be answered in a subtle way. 

  Today is 134th death anniversary ( mahaprayan divas)Thakur Ramakrishna Paramhans. He was born at Kamarpukur but died at Cossipore Calcutta ( Kolkata). People around world know Ramakrishna as the one who mentored the Great Swami. But many consider him God. Ramakrishna often would go into deep meditation. Nothing would matter to him then. Once the great doctor Mahendralal Sarkar visited Dakshineshwar and checked Thakur who was deeply lost in meditation. Dr Sarkar failed to get his pulse; his stethoscope failed to detect even minimal heart beat. He then dug his finger into partially opened eye of Thakur but he did not respond. Thakur was lost within nothingness; that he was in bliss oblivious with his surroundings. He was in trance radiating that glow which the people around felt.. Such was Ramakrishna Paramhans-the eternal Thakur who would speak with goddess Kali and would often lost in that nothingness. A humble obeisance to this great sage of india.

  The news as well as social media is agog with stories how Dr Pradip Bhattacharya, hailing from Shyamnagar, West Bengal, sacrificed his own life treating covid patients recently. Dr Bhattacharya stood by the adage-life should be BIG and not LONG. As a doctor, fearlessly committed to his duties and the hippocratic oath that he had once taken, he made himself available to once and all this pandemic even during the toughest period of lockdown not pulling shutters even once of his modest dispensary. At last    the inevitable happened. The virus, as is its wont, invaded the doctor surreptitiously; the doctor who made many recover could not fight it himself. At last calm was written on his brow-once the last time. But what the doctor has    won is the belief that human life is more important and as a doctor it was his pristine duty to treat every patient even if it meant putting his own life in danger. The sacrifice made and largesse shown by Dr Pradip Bhattacharya w...

  11 th ofAugust is revolutionary Khudiram Bose’s 112th death anniversary. He was hanged by the British on this day in 1908 at the age of 18. An event which an ungrateful country has conveniently forgotten. Young Khudiram along with Prafulla Chaki threw bomb at a carriage with an intention to kill Magistrate Kingsford. But, as Kingsford was seated at a different carriage, the bomb killed two British women. While Chaki committed suicide Khudiram was nabbed by the police. While Gandhi decried the act of violence Bal Gangadhar Tilak defended the young men. Though young Khudiram was saddened by the unintentional death of innocent women he was resolute and unapologetic about his intentions to liquidate Kingsford; so much so he even declined to file a mercy petition.Khudiram was executed at 6 am in the morning. He was jovial and was smiling while the black cap was drawn over his head. The hanging of Khudiram at such a young age fanned the freedom movement in Bengal. He became a hero and ...