Serendipity : Musings of an Islander

Open letter to His Excellency, The Hon’ble Lt Governor, A&N Islands Dear Sir Hon’ble Lt. Governor, Prof. Jagdish Mukhi called on  the Hon’ble Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari at New Delhi on September 13, 2017 While your Excellency was busy meeting important functionaries of the Central Government at the National Capital, a good number of residents in the capital town of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, governed by your goodself were chased, lathi charged, hit by water cannons and tear gas shells fired at them, right in front of your official residence - Raj Nivas at Port Blair. Their only fault, they sought to appraise their own Lt Governor about the problems faced by them due to prolonged, scheduled, unscheduled electric power cuts and poor condition of roads in the islands.   Sir, during the past few months, the residents of South Andaman have been having a harrowing time dealing with scheduled and unscheduled load s...

Nothing more satisfying than serving the motherland, donning the white uniform – Deputy Commandant Sudeeptho Ghosh Debkumar Bhadra            |        Musings of an Islander                |          South Andaman One of the memories of my childhood days leads me to an impressive collection of black and white photographs, a clutch of Cups (those given in sports) and a good number of Medallions occupying the walls and a round teapoy placed in the front room of an official of Indian Navy named Sambhu Nath Ghosh in the neighborhood. During our visit to his house, he would be seldom seen, but those photographs of him in dazzling white uniform would speak to us at length. In one of the photographs he was captured playing hockey and right above it was a pair of Hockey Sticks ...

Portal to extend financial help to families of Martyr's launched Debkumar Bhadra      |          Musings of an Islander          |          South Andaman The 2017 Shaurya Divas has been special for superstar Akshay Kumar , not because he was attending the function as Guest of Honor, but for fact that his idea to help families of martyrs, proposed before the Govt of India, bore fruit in a short span of two and a half months. Launching the web portal and mobile app titled “Bharat ke Veer” in the presence of Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh said “koi jawan, adhikaari shaheed hota hai, kisi bhi surat me, 1 crore se kam ki dhan rashi uske parivaar ke logon ko nani milni chahiye” (if any Jawaan or Officer is killed, family of such martyr, in no case should get compensation below ...

Banks preparing to milk customers for its inadequacies. Debkumar Bhadra   |          Musings of an Islander       |          South Andaman On 28 August 2014, the   Prime Minister of India   launched   Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana   (PMJDY) scheme for comprehensive financial inclusion by opening a bank account for every household. The goal was to ensure that every citizen has access to financial services namely Savings and Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable manner. In an email to Chairpersons of all PSU Banks the Prime Minister categorically stated that “bank account for each household was a national priority” and urged banks to gear up for the gigantic task. Response of the country men was such that a Guinness World Record was created by opening 1.5 Crore bank accounts on the inaugural d...

An officer in the thick of Mt Harriet Debkumar Bhadra      |          Musings of an Islander          |          South Andaman It was Sunday and I thought it would be a nice idea to spend the holiday exploring the natural environment at Mount Harriet. The thought was driven by the fact that, I could not say no to an offer to trek to Kala Pathar with Ollie, the man who loves rocks [Read Ollie on the Rocks ]. We decided to start early in the morning so that we could devote ample time exploring the nature and also spend some time searching for the inscription that finds mention in the letter written by Rev Thomas L. J. Warneford of the colonial Administration, accessed by Prof Clare Anderson from India Office archives of the British Library. ‘Went to the “rock” … and cut out your name MAUD about 4 inches long,’ wro...

One decision and they got what was due to them – pieces of trash. Ever since the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi , in a televised address to the nation said … “t o break the grip of corruption and black money, we have decided that the five hundred rupee and thousand rupee currency notes presently in use will no longer be legal tender from midnight tonight, that is 8th November 2016” there has been a sense of joy and jubilation among the masses, save a few intellectuals who went to the town doubting and questioning the move, specifically in curbing corruption and black money. Let me cite one example to explain my understanding of how the current demonetisation will help curb corruption and blackmoney. Recall the August 2016 train robbery wherein Rs 5.75 crore, belonging to RBI was robbed from the Salem-Chennai Eg more Express train by cutting open the train’s roof. According to media report...from box number 20, a total of 80,000 notes of Rs 50...

Road safety cannot be limited to enforcement of helmet rule; In life-threatening situations, helmets unlikely to give adequate protection. Debkumar Bhadra                    |           Musings of an Islander             |           South Andaman Last week almost every local dailies carried a news item which reads … persons riding two wheelers in these islands are advised to wear proper ISI marked Head Protective Gear (Helmet) and also the pillion riders are advised to wear helmets for safety of their life. The release further adds that Andaman & Nicobar Police is going to launch special traffic drives against riders/pillion riders who do not wear the prescribed protective head gear. Anyone found violating the [helmet]...