Training
for purohits on worship-management
Special Correspondent
SILCHAR, Sept 7: It is
indeed a news for many in
Asom and elsewhere in the
country that there is a three-year
worship-management training
centre at Silchar in south
Asom. Training on various
kinds of pujas is being imparted
to priests at the centre on
every Sunday.
Almost 13 years ago, the worship-management
training centre for priests
had been initiated by Silchar
Shani Mandir with cooperation
from Arya Sanskriti Bodhan,
a socio-cultural organization.
The inaugural function was
graced by late Swami Khyantananda
Maharaj of Ram Krishna Mission
and Swami Jyotirupananda,
who is currently at Moscow.
The training course had to
be disrupted for a few years
due to some unfavourable factors,
said the centre’s publicity
secretary Shanti Kumar Bhattachariya.
However, it has been going
on smoothly for the last three
years with active cooperation
from the Shani Mandir managing
committee.
According to Bhattacharya,
the training starts at 3 pm
on every Sunday in the premises
of the centre at Sadarghat.
Lessons include both theoretical
and practical aspects of priesthood
with special emphasis on mantra
explanation, accent on mantras,
grammatical analysis, Gita
and Chandi recitation as well
as interaction in Sanskrit.
Training on various kinds
of pujas, with special significance
on Durga Puja and Kali Puja,
is also imparted to the trainees
who have to face unit tests
and half-yearly and annual
examinations for evaluation
of their knowledge on the
subject.
Connected with this training
are Sanskrit luminary Subodh
Bhattacharya, Head of the
Department of GC College Birendra
Sinha, Women’s College
lecturer Dr Ranjit Tiwari,
former GC College Vice Principal
Asit Sen, GC College lecturer
Dr Shanti Pokhrel, teacher
Amarendra Goswami, Tarktirth
Tarapada Deshmikhya and teacher
Khounish Chandra Chakraborty.
Those who are imparting the
training are Kishore Bhattacharya,
Rahul Bhattacharya, Sudip
Chakraborty, Gautom Chakraborty
and others.
Cong
Tea Cell to move PM against
Tea Board
By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, Sept 7: Irritated
over the alleged neglect and
indifferent attitude on the
part of the Indian Tea Board
towards the Asom’s tea
industry and welfare of its
labour force involving over
60 lakh people, the Congress
tea cell has decided to move
the Prime Minister and the
Union Minister of Commerce
Jairam Ramesh seeking their
immediate intervention into
the matter.
“Despite cores of rupees
have been injected by the
Centre for the development
of tea sector, all the initiatives
went in vain so far due to
lacklustre attitude on the
part of the tea board, particularly
the board’s Guwahati
regional office,” said
Bhagirath Karan, Congress
tea cell chairman, while talking
to The Sentinel today. He
said the Centre should take
special care of the tea industry
of Asom, which produces about
55 per cent of the country’s
total production. “Though
Rs 400 crore was given to
in the Special Tea Plantation
Fund (STPF) by the Centre
for replantation and rejuvenation
of the old gardens, about
50 sick and closed gardens
in Asom have been benefited
by the scheme,” he said.
Seconee in Nagaon district,
Okha, Saotoli and Rangajan
in Golaghat, Saraipani in
Jorhat, Charaideu in Sivasagar
and Sankar Pukhuri in Tinsukia
district are among the few
prominent tea gardens in the
State which are struggling
for their survival, he said.
“The STPF fund has mostly
gone to big gardens, which
do not care for workers’
benefit, undermining the objective
of the fund,” tea cell
chairman said, adding that
quality of tea could not be
enhanced without caring for
the welfare of the tea labourers.
He said even the gardens under
the Government-owned Assam
Tea Corporation Ltd (ATCL)
are yet to get the STPF fund,
despite an agreement was signed
in presence of the Chief Minister
and the Union Minister for
Commerce in Guwahati in this
regard last year. The Guwahati
regional office of the board
does not maintain any transparency
in distribution of the Central
fund, he alleged.
The Congress tea cell has
threatened to gherao the Guwahati
regional office of the Tea
Board in protest against its
alleged malfunctioning.
AGP
hits out at Gogoi on floods
By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, Sept 7: Reacting
strongly to Chief Minister
Tarun Gogoi’s claim
time and again that his Government
has no dearth of money to
tackle floods, the AGP today
questioned him as to why the
flood-affected people of the
State have not been getting
adequate relief materials.
Talking to The Sentinel, AGP
general secretary and chief
spokesman Atul Bora questioned:
“If Asom has enough
funds, why are thousands of
flood-affected people staying
on embankments with open sky
above in the State? Why didn’t
the State Government repair
a number of embankments that
were breached in last year’s
floods, and why is Lakhimpur
district yet to get Rs 80
crore from the government
as flood relief?”
On the Chief Minister’s
comment that flood in Bihar
is far more worse than in
Asom, Bora said: “Gogoi
is toeing the line of Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and
All India Congress Committee
(AICC) president Sonia Gandhi
who gave more importance on
Bihar flood than that of Asom.”
He questioned: “If Nitish
Kumar can extract Rs 53 crore
from the ONGC as flood relief,
why should Gogoi be happy
with just Rs 1 crore even
though most of ONGC’s
oil fields are in Asom?”
He said Nitish Kumar could
also ensure exemption of LIC
premia for six months in Bihar,
but Gogoi has failed to get
any such remission.
Land
acquisition for public purpose
is justified, says SC
NEW DELHI, Sept 7: Amidst
the debate over acquisition
of agricultural lands for
industrial units or special
economic zones (SEZs), the
Supreme Court has held that
the government as a “sovereign
power can acquire land for
public purpose.” The
“public purpose”
could include “industrial
and other infrastructural
developmental needs for the
common good of the citizens,”
a two-judge Bench of Justices
C K Thakker and DK Jain said.
The bench upheld the acquisition
of vast tracts of agricultural
and other lands by Andhra
Pradesh Government in Ranga
Reddy district adjoining Hyderabad
city.
Upholding the acquisition,
the apex court said the State
being a sovereign power under
the doctrine of “Eminent
Domain” as provided
under the 1894 Land Acquisition
has inherent rights to acquire
land by paying suitable compensation
to those displaced.
“Eminent domain”
may be defined as the right
or power of a sovereign state
to take private property for
public use without the owner’s
consent upon the payment of
just compensation.
According to the apex court
“Eminent domain”
is thus inherent power of
a governmental entity to take
privately owned property,
especially land, and convert
it to public use, subject
to reasonable compensation
for taking the lands.
“It means nothing more
or less than an inherent political
right, founded on a common
necessity and interest of
appropriating the property
of individual members of the
community to the great necessities
and common good of the whole
society,” the apex court
observed.
“Taking the facts in
their entirety, we are of
the view that the action of
the State initiating acquisition
proceedings for establishing
and developing infrastructure
project cannot be held contrary
to law or objectionable,”
the apex court said while
dismissing a batch of petitions
filed by the aggrieved land
owners. The land owners have
filed the appeal in Supreme
Court after the State High
Court has rejected their plea
challenging the acquisition
of their land.
The land owners have alleged
that the acquisition was carried
out with a mala fide intention
to secure the benefits of
a foreign company which was
keen on developing certain
infrastructural projects around
the IT hub in the capital.
PTI
US-based
body says India has not got
‘clean waiver’
New Delhi, Sept 7: Call it
words of frustration or a
reality check on the euphoria
that flowed out of Vienna,
but the US-based Arms Control
Association claims that India
has not got the “clean”
or “unconditional”
waiver it demanded from the
45-member Nuclear Suppliers’
Group (NSG).
At the end of the NSG’s
marathon 76-hour meeting in
Vienna on Saturday, the powerful
cartel that controls global
supply of nuclear fuel, equipment
and technologies awarded the
“waiver” to India.
Despite being elated at the
historic decision that ended
India’s three decades
of nuclear isolation and opened
the doors for trade between
New Delhi and NSG members,
Foreign Secretary Shivshankar
Menon refused to say whether
it was a “clean waiver”
for India.
“The NSG statement on
India does not meet the ACA’s
standards or that of a large
number of NSG states nor should
it satisfy key US Congressional
leaders, but it is not the
‘clean’ and ‘unconditional’
waiver India was demanding
either,” the Association
said in a statement on its
website.
It went on to say that in
the days to come there will
be “serious differences”
between India and the NSG
members about the interpretations
of the guidelines as many
of the issues were not fully
resolved at the group’s
meeting in Vienna.
“Because the negotiations
were tough and the real differences
not fully resolved, there
will likely be serious differences
between India and most of
the NSG about the interpretation
of what the guidelines allow
and don’t allow and
what the consequences of any
violation of India’s
non-proliferation and disarmament
commitments would be,”
the ACA said.
But it also added: “This
outcome is a failure of the
NSG as a whole, the US delegation,
and the NSG chair Germany.”
The association, which has
been a strong opponent of
concessions to India, said
that from the statements issued
by the NSG, and some of its
members such as Austria, China,
Germany, Ireland, Japan, the
Netherlands, New Zealand,
Norway, Switzerland and “others”
- it was evident that for
all “practical purposes”
there were problems ahead
for India. The ACA listed
some of them:
*NSG states should not and
will not likely engage in
“full” nuclear
trade with India;
*NSG states should and very
likely would terminate nuclear
trade with India if it resumes
testing; and
*India’s compliance
with it pre-2005 non-proliferation
commitments and the implementation
of bilateral trade with India
will be reviewed on a regular
(probably annual) basis by
the NSG. To explain why this
will happen, the Arms Control
Association said: “Most
states will try to remain
consistent with US law, policy,
and the US interpretations
of its bilateral trade agreement
with India.” (IANS)
Flood
situation improving
GUWAHATI, Sept 7: Floods claimed
another life taking the overall
toll to 18 even as the primary
road link to the entire Northeast
continued to be snapped for
the eighth consecutive day
following overtopping of NH
31 by flood waters at Rangiya.
However, water levels of the
Brahmaputra and its tributaries
receded after being in spate
for over a week, bringing
some succour to the over 12
lakh flood-hit population
across 18 districts of the
State, with the situation
in Majuli also reported to
be improving. Threat of water-borne
diseases and epidemics now
loomed large, with the government
ensuring that no such outbreaks
had occurred so far. PTI
CBI
launches probe into Monika
allegations
New Delhi, Sept 7: The CBI
has launched an enquiry into
allegations by weightlifter
Monika Devi that she was barred
from taking part in the Beijing
Games because of deliberate
lapses on part of the Indian
Olympic Association (IOA).
The CBI registered the Preliminary
Enquiry (PE) against “unknown
persons” after a request
was made by the Manipur Government
to Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh for a thorough probe
into the entire incident.
While during the PE, the CBI
will summon records of IOA,
Sports Authority of India
(SAI) and the statement of
Monika in front of the one-man
commission set up by the Sports
Ministry, it cannot go in
for questioning of any individual
till the case was converted
into a regular case. Monika,
in her deposition before the
T S Krishnamurthy Commission,
had alleged that the actions
of SAI as “unreasonable
and malafide” and also
that she failed to go to Beijing
Olympics because of the “deliberate
lapse” on the part of
the IOA. PTI
Minor
washed away in Majuli
From our Correspondent
JORHAT, Sept 7: Swirling waters
of a water channel washed
away a seven-year-old boy,
Dhan Bora, at Jalukbari village
under Pokajora Gaon Panchayat
near Garamur in Majuli subdivision
today. The mother of the boy,
Runumi Bora, had saved a neighbourhood
girl, Moromi Hazarika, from
drowning, sources said. But
she lost her own child in
the melee, the sources added.
KA
bandh on Sept 11
Our Correspondence
HOWRAGHAT, Sept 7: The Karbi
Longri NC Hills Liberation
Front (KLNLF) has called a
12-hour Karbi Anglong bandh
on September 11 in protest
against the killing of its
cadre, Akli Singar, on September
4 at Tisomgaon under Bakalia
police station by the Army,
KLNLF’s publicity in-charge
R Dera told The Sentinel today.
Dera alleged that the security
forces had killed Singnar
in cold blood.
CM
wishes Bhupen Hazarika
GUWAHATI, Sept 7: Chief Minister
Tarun Gogoi wished long life
for Dr Bhupen Hazarika who
will turn 83 tomorrow.
Thinking
too much could lead to obesity
A new Canadian study shows
that thinking too much can
lead to overeating and thus
obesity. In their study at
Universite Laval in Quebec
City, Canadian researchers
found that the stress of intellectual
work makes people eat more,
thus raising their calorie
intake and causing obesity.
As part of their study, the
researchers asked 14 students
to eat at a buffet after performing
three easy but different tasks:
Just sitting and relaxing;
reading and summarizing a
text, and doing memory tests
on a computer. The researchers
said these three tasks consumed
very little energy, with students
doing mental work needing
just three calories more than
those relaxing. But they found
that the students ate 203
extra calories after reading
and summarizing the text,
and 253 more calories after
doing the computer-based memory
tests. Their blood samples
- taken before, during and
after the three task sessions
- also showed that their glucose
and insulin levels shot up
during mental work (computer
memory tests). Explaining
this, study leader Jean-Philippe
Chaput said that glucose serves
as fuel for brain during any
mental or intellectual work.
To meet this need and keep
its glucose balance in check,
the body might be consuming
more food, thus more calories.
“Caloric overcompensation
following intellectual work,
combined with the fact that
we are less physically active
when doing intellectual tasks,
could contribute to the obesity
epidemic currently observed
in industrialized countries,”
he said.
Chaput warned that obesity
could become rampant in the
future as more and more people
get involved in intellectual
work around the world.......
