1. Kin Count Days To J&K Survivors’ Return Home
Sadar Sarkar (36) and Bakkar Mollah (51), along with six others, had left their Bahalnagar village 26 days ago to work in the apple orchards of Jammu & Kashmir’s Kulgam district. The two were lucky to have escaped the terror attack that killed five of their fellow villagers and injured a sixth one on Tuesday.
On Wednesday morning, Sarkar told his brother, Nader, over phone that their employer, whom he called ‘maalik’, had called him and Bakkar to his home to finalise their accounts on Tuesday. After it turned dark, he dissuaded them from returning to their tenement as he had heard of some trouble there. Little did the duo realise that six of their mates from back home were shot by terrorists. All eight were to return home on 1 November.
(Source: The Times Of India)
2. Kulgam Kindness Wins Over Bengal
Several labourers from Murshidabad have spoken of heartwarming hospitality and generosity in distress by the villagers of Kulgam’s Katarsu, the site of Tuesday’s carnage.
The assistance ranged from rushing one of the workers injured in the attack to hospital, giving shelter and telephones to others so that they could talk to their families, and arranging for return tickets to Bengal.
According to most in Bahalnagar, the Murshidabad village home to the families, “this is the Kashmir Bengal has always known”.
Bahalnagar residents said 30 of their men had gone to Kulgam for seasonal employment and the attack killed six out of a group of seven that stayed together in Katarsu.
(Source: The Telegraph)
3. Left Front & Congress Seal Poll Pact
The Congress and the Left Front on Wednesday formally announced their decision to contest the ensuing Assembly bypolls together.
The byelections will be held in Kaliaganj (North Dinajpur), Karimpur (Nadia) and Kharagpur Sadar (West Midnapore) on November 25.
“Finally, the seat-sharing with the Left Front in the ensuing Assembly bypolls is official after today’s meeting,” Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra said at a press meet.
(Source: The Telegraph)
4. With Only 3 ‘Good’ Days in Oct, City Air Quality Starts To Plunge
Though winter is yet to set in, the air quality in Kolkata was ‘good’ on only three days in October and Howrah had only two ‘good’ days, an analysis of air-quality data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) server has revealed.
Altogether, 13 days in Kolkata recorded moderately polluted AQI, which means people with lung and heart diseases, children and senior citizens have been exposed to breathing discomfort. Howrah, on the other hand, had 12 days of ‘moderately polluted’ and seven days of ‘poor’ air quality. Poor air quality may cause breathing discomfort to people on long-term exposure and discomfort to people with heart disease. Though air quality in both Kolkata and Howrah was ‘moderately polluted’ on few days, the values remain on the higher side of the range and bordered ‘poor’ air quality.
(Source: The Times Of India)
5. Eden Day-Night Test Buzz Grows Louder Online
The red cherry will turn pink, the day’s play will conclude at night and the night watchman’s duty hour will get curtailed.
No sooner did the announcement of the day-and-night Test match at the Eden Gardens on November 22 between India and Bangladesh came, social media went into a tizzy. Hashtags like #IndiavsBandaynight and @Day-NightTest started trending on Twitter with many netizens lauding the decision to keep the “format alive” while several others expressing their reservations over the dilution of the “pinnacle of cricket” and the “true format of the game”. There were some who wondered if this spelt the end of the road for night watchman (a non-specialist batsman who is sent to see out the rest of the overs to protect the next recognised batsman when a batsman gets out near the end of the day’s play) and if Test matches during the day made people sleepy, what will happen in day-night Test matches.
(Source: The Times Of India)
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