Serendipity : Musings of an Islander

Islanders caught as collateral in the lockdown By Debkumar Bhadra With less than a week remaining into the 21 day lockdown, everyone seems to wonder if the lockdown will be lifted or extended! Well for a diverse country of 1.3 billion, there cannot be a one-size-fits-all answer, specifically when the choice is between life and livelihood. On one hand there is a perceived risk of undoing the commendable job of containing the deadly novel corona virus, on the other it is the country’s economy that is at stake . While many states are already arguing for extending the lockdown, an update shared by the Chief Secretary to the UT Administration of Andaman and Nicobar has brought some respite. “All ten earlier positive cases are now negative after treatment. They will be shifted from hospital to institutional quarantine for 2 weeks” read the late night tweet by @ChetanSanghi. The islands which so far accounted for 11 corona positive cases, after ten of them declared neg...

Not to worry! Ponder? Yes By Debkumar Bhadra It is apparent most of us would lend support to the PM’s call for a 9 minute sojourn with earthen lamps, candles and their likes at 9 pm on Sunday .   This has come at a time when we are most concerned about personal hygiene. It is obvious for one to reach out for hand sanitizers because they are convenient. But one must remember that alcohol  -based hand sanitizers are classified as Class I Flammable Liquid substances, which means they have a flash point of less than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus before striking the match stick or approaching an open fire, it is necessary  to exercise caution with sanitizers as we do with any other flammable substances. Another thing to keep in mind is that washing hands with soap (cake, bar or liquid) and water is recommended. For non-clinical domestic situations, use sanitizers when running water and soap is not available. Since it is human tendency to go for what...

Dated : 29/03/2020 To Shri Mohammed Tabraiz Member, Court Monitoring Committee (COVID GoI SOP implementation related matter) By email : mttabraiz@gmail.com Sir Being a concerned citizen, I consider it my responsibility to bring the problems faced by fellow men rendering their service during the covid lock-down. I am therefore submitting the following few lines before you. Let me come straight to the point, according to the MHA NDMA Order # 4-30/2020-DM-I(A) dated March 24, 2020 Private Security Service has been exempted from closure (See annexure to the MHA NDMA Order, Point # 4 (j)). As such a good number of personnel employed as private security guards are rendering service amid the corona lockdown. They mostly come from remote locations and security service being a 24X7 affair, are often required to report for duty during odd hours. Similarly they get relieved off from duty again during odd hours. Due to non availability of transport, these securi...

In the High Court at Calcutta Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Before : Hon’ble Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan, the Chief Justice And Hon’ble Justice Dipankar Datta Dated : 28 th March, 2020 W.P. No.5324(W) of 2020 Court on its own motion : In Re : COVID 19 - Relief and services at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Letter dated 27th March, 2020 received from Mr. D. C. Kabir, Advocate, treated as a petition) The Court : The extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court is being invoked in view of the extraordinary situation pointed out through this letter petition. The matter relates to the reportedly grim state of affairs in the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Various facets of the challenges faced by the people are pointed out in the letter petition. Access to justice is multifaceted assistance to the people. It is not confined to mere access to courts. It spreads out and trickles down multifarious inalienable necessities for human exi...

Text of the letter dated 26-03-2020 written by Shri Bishnu Pada Ray, Ex MP, A&N Islands. To 1.       The Hon’ble Prime Minister, GOI, New Delhi          (through Shri Sanjay Bhavsar, PMO) 2.       The Hon’ble Home Minister, GOI, New Delhi 3.       Shri G. Kishen Reddy, Hon’ble MoS (Home), GOI 4.       The Hon’ble Lt. Governor, A & N Islands, Raj Niwas 5.       The Chief Secretary, A & N Administration, Port Blair 6.       Shri Ajoy Bairagi Ji, State President, A& N Islands Sub: -    Immediate implementation of MHA’s Order No. 40-3/2020-D dated 24-03-2020 as Administration not implemented and all ration shops/grocery fruit & veg shops / pharmacies/POL outlets totally closed- even their supply chains have been locked down   - will create chaos...