Serendipity : Musings of an Islander

Electricity Billing and Payment, stuck in the past! By Debkumar Bhadra According to local media reports, Electricity Department, A&N Administration is contemplating raising electricity bills by direct meter reading or provisional bill in the islands ostensibly to ramp up the cumbersome process, which as of now is labour intensive and require repeated visits to customer premise, first for taking meter reading and then for distribution of printed bills. With the instant initiative, it seems the department aims to finish meter reading, billing and distribution all in one go. It is a welcome step, but addresses the actual billing-payment issue only partially. Let me explain . According to data accessed from Basic Statistics, A&N Islands have 1,33,990 consumers during the year 2018-19 of which 91,270 is in South Andaman, 32,660 in N&M Andaman and 10,060 in the Nicobar District. Every month personnel from the electricity department visit each of these indivi...

Demand to protect interest of local candidates in jobs gaining relevance and momentum in the wake of visit of Hon’ble President of India By Debkumar Bhadra Separation of the A ndaman and N icobar I slands from mainland I ndia by vast expanse of sea led the islands to develop into a treasure trove of biodiversity with a very high degree of endemism. To protect this unique biological wealth, 86 % (7170.69 sqkm) of the total land area ( 8249 sqkm) of the islands has been classified as R eserved and or P rotected F orests . If deemed forests are taken into consideration, approximately 94% falls under one or the other kind of protection regimen, leaving very little for civilian use. However in consonance with strategic view point, the islands have been populated under various Rehabilitation and Colonisation schemes of Govt of India. Later a good number of families from mainland India migrated to these islands in search of employment and ended up adding to the existing populati...

A VACCANCY NOTIFICATION THAT COULD LEAVE LOCAL CANDIDATES HIGH AND DRY AMID RAINING JOBS A large section of local job aspirants feel deprived since certain clause prohibits them from taking part in the recruitment process  The Directorate of Education A&N A dministration vide recruitment notice published in the official mouthpiece invited applications to fill up a total of 422 teaching posts at the PGT, GTT and PST level. The endeavour received appreciation from the MP of the islands and a few others but not without caveats. The notification however came as a rude shock to the local job aspirants. The reasons are compelling and more than one . CTET compulsory, Posts open to all According to a rough estimate there are not more than 80-85 CTET passed local candidates available in the fray. Therefore by prescribing pass in CTET compulsory, the notification rendered a large number of otherwise qualified local candidates ineligible to participate in the recruitment...