Serendipity : Musings of an Islander

The grand uprising following protest by a Tunisian fruit vendor and setting himself ablaze in a public square generated a dissenting wave shaking empires the world over. The non-violent mode of public protest gained acceptance in such proportion that the entire (year) 2011 is being seen as the year of protests. Fittingly “ T he P rotester” is the TIME P erson of the year and A nna H azare features in the list of “ P eople W ho M attered” in the magazine. T he anticorruption movement launched by team A nna grabbed nationwide attention with flocks of people supporting the movement which led the union cabinet to reciprocate with passage of the L okpal bill. There are protests everywhere in the country. Farmers are on the streets demanding raise in minimum support price for farm produce. There are groups protesting against N uclear P ower P roject, dam and a range of issues across the country. Incidentally such protests are against decisions taken without consulting those who are going t...

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued notification for Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) to be held on 29 th January, 2012. Some Key dates are given below : Application Procedure : Online submission at website www.ctet.nic.in On submission of details, the system will generate a Confirmation page with Registration Number. Candidates are required to take printout of the Confirmation page, paste a photograph, sign in the space marked and send the confirmation page along with DD (if fee paid by DD) by Registered/Speed Post (NOT BY COURIER) to : The Assistant Secretary (CTET Unit), Central Board of Secondary Education, Shiksha Sadan, 17 Rouse Avenue, New Delhi - 110002 Application fee : Rs 500.oo : For General/OBC candidates Rs 250.oo : For SC/ST/Differently abled persons Payment can be made as follows : By DD (drawn in favour of The Secretary, Central Board of Secondary Education , payable at  Delhi) , Credit Card or Debit Card. Syllabus : ...

More than six years back, on December 26th 2004 the Andaman and  Nicobar Islands , along with the rest of the world were hit by a massive undersea earthquake shifting the islands towards south-west by about 1.25m. The tsunami that followed the mega-quake devastated the islands washing away almost anything to everything coming its way. Remote sensing and visual inspection of islands shoreline confirm uplift of Andaman group and subsistence of Nicobar group of islands causing submergence of land, destruction of property and loss of numerous lives. The Govt of India and few NGO’s responded to the crisis, helping survivors overcome trauma inflicted by the epic disaster. But after 6 long years of generous spending on tsunami relief, rehabilitation and rebuilding, the survivors, specifically from rural South Andaman find themselves subjected to official apathy and pushed under the development shadow. The ...

Convoy system in the stretch of A ndaman T runk R oad (ATR) passing through J arawa reserve between J irkarang and  M iddle   S trait , now a day is being used as a means to harass the common public. Rules are implemented tactfully to curtail free movement of common public whereas rules are flouted or relaxed to extend freedom and liberty to the elite few! A s per the system in force, plying of two wheelers is not allowed in the stretch of ATR between J irkatang and M iddle S trait . But the enforcer themselves ride two wheelers; one in front of the convoy and another in the middle of the convoy; every day, every trip, in broad day light. With the prescribed speed limit of 40 km/hour the distance of 47 K m between J irkatang and  M iddle   S trait  should take about 1 hr 10 min. But the convoy lead by two wheeler pilot, surprisingly takes about two hours. This means the enforcers themselves causes the convoy to proceed slowly at speeds less tha...

Port Blair, the capital city is the hub of all citizen centric services namely : the lone referral ( GB P ant) H ospital, A&N A dministration S ecretariat, office of the H on’ble LG/CS/D eputy C ommissioner, P olice H eadquarters, C ivil C ourts, D irectorates of various offices, S chools, E ngineering/ D egree C olleges, ITI, B usiness E stablishments, S hops, A irport, Seaport  and a whole lot of other public utility services. To avail of these services, a good number of peoples from rural S outh A ndaman i.e., F errar G anj T ehsil, the second most populous tehsil in ANI, visits P ort B lair every day through the sea route availing vehicle ferry service between B ambooflat and C hatham. According to a rough estimate approximately 14000 passengers including students, office goers, daily wage earners, patients, industrial workers and about a thousand vehicles comprising 2 wheelers , A uto rickshaw , 4 wheelers, cars etc depend on vehicle ferry and or passenger ferry boats ope...

The recent revision of convoy timings for travel between J irkatang - M iddle S trait and vice versa through which the number of convoys had been cut short to half of what it exists at present (ie., the existing 8 convoys stands reduced to 4 ) is going to create more problems than any good. Let us first take a comparative look at the revised as well as the existing timings. It appears that the existing 630 am, 7 am and 730 am convoy from J irkatang practically stands merged. Hence a large number of intending vehicles would make it to the first convoy. Which means the first convoy is expected to have around 8-10 buses, 60-70 passenger car and 15 - 20 goods vehicle which when lined up one behind the other, would reach a kilometer in length! Further the revised convoy intends to do away with the existing separate convoy for passenger and goods vehicles. This means the first convoy from J irkatang of around 100 vehicles comprising of bus, cars, tourist cabs, goods vehicles etc, whil...