1. CM Meets KCR, Keeps Alliance Door Ajar
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao met Mamata Banerjee on Monday, 19 March, to build efforts for a non-Congress, non-BJP platform ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Calling the proposed Third Front a ‘Federal Front’, Rao underlined the need for an alternative agenda that was “not just a coalition of political parties”. Banerjee welcomed Rao’s alternative initiative, but didn’t commit to the non-Congress path that he has been pursuing.
Banerjee hailed the talks as a good beginning. “Politics is a continuous process and we have started a dialogue. Let us approach other parties also. We are in no hurry. Rao has expressed his views like Rahul Gandhi did on Sunday,” she said, leaving the door ajar for future developments.
The Bengal CM didn’t mince words while responding to the BJP’s assertion that the party can take on the opposition even if they come together.
(Source: The Times Of India)
2. Syama Prasad’s Name Smeared With Ink At Presidency University
The politics of vandalism and defacing of statues and plaques returned to Kolkata after a brief interlude when Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s name, on the Hall of Fame board installed at his alma mater, Presidency University, was smeared with black ink.
Monday’s incident came 12 days after his bust, installed at a park near the Keoratala crematorium, was damaged and sprayed with ink. The miscreants, police said, could include a section of current students and alumni. Cops have launched a probe following a complaint from the institution, which itself has formed a five-member inquiry committee to identify the culprits.
The Hall of Fame is a relatively new addition to India’s oldest modern higher education institute and was planned as part of its 200th-anniversary celebrations last year. Mookerjee’s name shares space with those of 200-odd other famous alumni and faculty. These include Swami Vivekananda, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Satyendranath Bose, Satyajit Ray, Amartya Sen, and fellow politicians like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, India’s first president, Rajendra Prasad, and several former chief ministers, and the act invited all-round condemnation from both alumni and current students.
(Source: The Times Of India)
3. Ambulance On Blacklist
The ambulance that ferried ailing Madhyamik candidate Arijit Das from Rampurhat District Hospital to Annapurna Nursing Home in Burdwan was blacklisted on Monday for violating a rule.
"We have blacklisted the ambulance and asked its owner not to ferry patients from the hospital," said Subodh Mondal, the superintendent of the Rampurhat hospital.
Sources said the owner or driver of the ambulance had violated an order that no ambulance would ferry patients from the district hospital to a nursing home.
Arijit died while being brought to Calcutta from the Burdwan nursing home in another ambulance. A man in a white coat who was accompanying Arijit to the city posing as a doctor turned out to be an air-conditioner mechanic.
The Rampurhat hospital swung into action after Arijit's death but questions were raised on whether the response was "too little, too late". In an order last year, the superintendent had made it clear that all ambulance drivers must take patients to Burdwan Medical College and Hospital or any other government hospital mentioned on the referral slip.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. Girl Flees Forced Marriage to Study
A Class X girl allegedly held captive in a relative's house because she had refused to get married escaped through a window, ran barefoot for half an hour to find the nearest railway station and travelled 120km by train to reach her village and seek the local panchayat chief's help.
The girl from a village in Bongaon subdivision of North 24-Parganas said that all she wanted was to continue her studies.
She refused to lodge a complaint against her father, who had allegedly taken her to the relative's house in Canning, South 24-Parganas, last Wednesday to marry her off to a youth there.
The schoolgirl spent Sunday night in the women's barracks of Bongaon police station and was handed over to her family the next morning, based on a declaration by the father that he would encourage her to study and not force her to get married.
(Source: The Telegraph)
5. In Trouble, Principals Trust Mail Trail
School heads caught between the demands of guardians and governing bodies that refuse to yield have realised that their only shield in the line of fire is a mail trail documenting where they stand.
Almost every principal that Metro spoke to admitted to becoming extra cautious about communication with their bosses regarding administrative decisions, especially those with financial implications.
The principal of a Regent Park school where a child was allegedly molested by two teachers last December was removed after it emerged that the institute had not installed CCTV cameras after a similar incident three years before.
"The decision that needs to be taken could be about increasing CCTV surveillance on a campus or hiring more female attendants. As a principal, I can only say that something is required. The onus is on the governing body or board to sanction funds for it. The truth is that nothing gets done easily, but I will be the one taking the flak," said the head of a school in south Calcutta.
(Source: The Telegraph)
6. Scare Of Dead Chicken Supply Leads To Dip in Sales, Prices
Wary of the quality of chicken sold in local markets following stray reports and rumours about sale of dead chicken after they are dressed and treated in ‘solution’, several households opted for mutton this Sunday, leading to a dip in chicken sales and an almost immediate price correction.
At New Market, the biggest chicken retail market in the city with daily sales in excess of 30,000 kg, price of both live and dressed chicken have been revised downward by Rs 10 on Monday.
“We have been noticing a slight dip in sales through the week. On Friday and Saturday, when sales generally show a peak, it remained static. Of the 12 trucks that arrived in the market on Monday, around four had to be sent back as the slack demand did not infuse confidence,” said New Market Chicken Traders’ Association secretary Shaukat Ali.
(Source: The Times Of India)
7. Jadavpur University Students Pass With Flying Colours In GATE
Jadavpur University broke into celebrations after the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), 2018 results were declared on Friday. At least four students from the university have been ranked among the top 10 in various streams of engineering in the all-India examinations.
Of the nearly 600 students who had appeared for GATE 2018, 75 percent cleared it. In electronics and communication engineering, Arnab Adhikary bagged the top spot. The last time a JU student had been ranked number one was in 2012, when a student stood first in computer science.
Sahil Pandey bagged the third spot in computer science and information technology, while Chandrashis Mazumdar secured the ninth position in the same subject. In chemical engineering, Lohit Kayal secured the sixth position.
(Source: The Times of India)
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