Category Archives: Records, All

Officers awarded during investiture ceremony in Kolkata

Leaders, Records, All

Kolkata :

At the investiture ceremony held at Fort William in Kolkata on the occasion of the 67th Army Day recently, 23 Army personnel and an Air Force officer were awarded gallantry and distinguished services awards. The awards were presented by Lt Gen MMS Rai, GOC-in-C, Eastern Command at the Albert Ekka Auditorium. Several units were also awarded Unit Citations and Appreciations.

“Fourteen Army personnel received Sena Medals (Gallantry) for their courage and bravery during counter-insurgency operations in the North East. The citations were sagas of valour of these brave men effectively eliminating terrorists with professional elan, indomitable courage with disregard for their personal safety. They achieved this using minimum force to ensure safety of innocent citizens ensuring negligible collateral damage. Two Sena Medals (Distinguished), two Bars to Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) and five VSMs were also awarded to personnel for their commendable performance,” an officer said.

Lt Gen Raman Dhawan, GOC, Bengal Area and Gp Capt Tarun Kumar Singha, CPRO, Ministry of Defence in Kolkata were conferred Bars to their VSMs. This signifies that they are being awarded the VSM twice.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Jayanta Gupta, TNN / January 20th, 2015

First batch of military nurses from Kolkata commissioned

Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All

Kolkata :

The first batch of 18 nursing cadets from the College of Nursing, Command Hospital, Eastern Command, Kolkata, were commissioned as lieutenants into the Military Nursing Service on Wednesday. Among those present were Maj Gen A K Nagpal, MG (Med), HQ, Eastern Command and Maj Gen Deepak Kalra, Commandant, Command Hospital, Eastern Command.

“Lt Sushila Bishnoi was awarded the gold medal for securing first position in the University exams and was also adjudged best all-rounder. Lt Priyadarshni Kumari bagged the silver medal for standing second in the batch while Lt Isha Sharma was awarded the silver medal for best clinical nurse. In his address to the nursing officers, Gen Nagpal, spoke about the responsibilities of a nursing officer as being both challenging and rewarding. They have the role of nursing soldiers and their families in the armed forces hospitals across the country in times of peace and war, as well as abroad over land, air and sea, he said,” an officer said.

The School of Nursing was established at the Command Hospital in 1973. It was converted to the College of Nursing in 2010 and conducts BSc (N) programme of four-year duration. Recently, a two-year post graduate programme was also introduced at the college.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Jayanta Gupta, TNN / January 14th, 2015

Hazarduari gets ‘Adarsh’ tag from ASI

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion

Kolkata :

Hazarduari Palace in Murshidabad has been declared an Adarsh Monument by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) along with three others in eastern India.

The other three monuments are Vaishali-Kolhua in Bihar, Rang Ghar in Assam’s Sibsagar and the Konark Sun Temple in Odisha. These
will be in the focus of international tourism promotion plan developed by the central government.

ASI has selected only 25 out of 3,680 protected monuments under the Adarsh Samarak Yojona. The list was made on the basis of the number of tourists these monuments attract annually. The list includes some of the biggest crowd-pullers like Taj Mahal, Khajuraho, Qutab complex and Red Fort.

All of them can be of great interest to international tourists, believes the ministry of culture. “Keeping that in mind, we are developing amenities of international standards, including washrooms, drinking water, signs, cafeterias, audio-visual centres, Wi-Fi connectivity, interpretation centres and encroachment-free areas,” said ASI regional director (eastern region) P K Mishra.

But more than anything else, security will be enhanced. The Centre is thinking of introducing the ‘tourism police’ force that is quite common across the world.

Hazarduari Palace, earlier known as Bara Kothi, is located on the campus of Kila Nizamat in Murshidabad, on the banks of the Bhagirathi. It was built in the early 19th century by Duncan MacLeod under the reign of Nawab Nazim Humayun Jah of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa (1824-1838). In 1985, the palace was handed over to ASI. Kila Nizamat or Nizamat Kila was the old fort of Murshidabad which was demolished to build this grand palace.

Built in the 13th century, the Konark Sun Temple is shaped like a chariot of the Sun God with 12 pairs of ornamented wheels dragged by seven horses.

Rong Ghor, meaning ‘House of Entertainment’, is a two-storied building that used to serve as the royal sports pavilion. Ahom kings and nobles used to watch buffalo fights and other sports at Rupahi Pathar in Rangpur, particularly during the Rangali Bihu. Said to be one of the oldest surviving amphitheaters in Asia, the building was constructed during the reign of Swargadeo Pramatta Singha in 1744-1750.

Kolhua in Vaishali is where the Buddha is said to have preached his last sermon. To commemorate the event, emperor Ashoka erected one of his famous lion pillars here in the third century BC. A hundred years after the Buddha’s death, Vaishali hosted the second great Buddhist council. Two stupas were erected to commemorate it.

Jainism, too, has its origins in Vaishali. In 527 BC, Lord Mahavir was born on the outskirts of the city and lived in Vaishali till he was 22. Vaishali remains an important pilgrimage centre for both Buddhists and Jains.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay, TNN / January 11th, 2015

Bringing smiles to a thousand lips

Amazing Feats, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technology

Kolkata :

About 25 years ago, a surgeon at the state-run SSKM Hospital, Sankar Chatterjee, had applied stitches on the scalp of a Congress leader, a woman who was to create history in Bengal by single-handedly dislodging the Left Front from power.

Today, Chatterjee has created a sort of record by himself. As a project director of Smile Train programme, he has performed cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries on 1,000 underprivileged children in Tripura and Assam over the last six years.

“On August 16, 1990, I was on duty at SSKM Hospital when Mamata Banerjee was wheeled in with two deep injuries on her scalp. She had fended off a third blow with her left arm and fractured it. I was called in to repair the injuries to her scalp as a micro-surgeon. I applied 18 stitches on her scalp under local anesthesia. She didn’t even wince when I applied local anesthesia for the stitches,” Chatterjee recalled.

He took early retirement from state health service and became a part of Smile Train in 2008. He was assigned two hospitals at Agartala and Silchar where cleft surgeries were to be conducted free of cost.

“In Agartala and Silchar, my experience have been heartwarming. The smiles on the faces of the children after they see their ‘new’ faces on mirrors are worth dying for. I still remember a 14-year-old girl from Silchar who turned up a month after her surgery. She told me: ‘Daktarbabu, ami jiboney prothom baar lipstick lagiyechhi (Doctor, I have applied lipstick for the first time in my life).’ I was overwhelmed,” Chatterjee added.

Chatterjee completed his 100th cleft lip surgery in Silchar around the time when the film “Smile Pinki” bagged an Academy Award in 2008.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Jayanta Gupta, TNN / January 11th, 2015

Anthology on Jesuit Fathers’ contribution

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinion

The Goethals Indian Library and Research Centre of St. Xavier’s College has published a book on the lives of the Jesuits who lived and worked in India, especially in Bengal, since the early 19th century.

The anthology was released by Father P. Franck Janin, Jesuit Provincial, South Belgian Province and Luxembourg, at Dhyan Ashram in Joka on Sunday.

Edited by Father Albert Huart and Father J. Felix Raj, Discovery of Bengal: The Jesuit Design marks the 200th year of the Restoration of the Society of Jesus. The book records the academic, social, cultural and spiritual contributions of the Jesuit fathers in shaping the moral growth of the race and the country.

Among the Jesuits who feature in the book are Fathers Henry Depelchin, Achille Verstraeten, Paul Joris, Cardinal Lawrence Picachy, Camille Bouche and Andre Bruylants.

“They attracted heartsby the qualities they displayed and posterity retains them as lessons of life learnt forever. Even after 200 years, their words and works reach those for whom they were intended – the inhabitants of The Kingdom of God. These men of moral might were armed with supreme sense of sacrifice and were gifted with grace and the zeal to establish ‘Good News of God’ and the promise of justice for humanity,” said Felix Raj, the principal of St. Xavier’s College.

“Humility, fortitude, power of prayer and passion for performing God’s will on earth endowed these Samaritans with the benediction that brought the light of the Lord to the masses of Bengal. This collection scripts the eternal immortal lives of the Jesuits who are today and forever in fellowship with us and with God.”

Copies of the anthology are available from the Goethals library at the college.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / by Staff Reporter / Monday – December 29th, 2014

Jadavpur University student may be CAT topper from Kolkata

Education, Records, All

Kolkata :

Soumyadeep Chakrabarti from the electronics and telecommunications department of Jadavpur University is the probable topper from the city in CAT 2014. Soumyadeep has scored 100 percentile.

Averse to the sudden spotlight, Soumyadeep refused to speak to the media. However, his friends from JU feel that it is a rare feat that could only have been achieved by Soumyadeep because of his dedication to studies.

“He is a brilliant student and a hard worker. Though I didn’t know that he was preparing for CAT, his academic scores in the university are pretty high,” said a JU teacher.

“Soumyadeep wants to be an entrepreneur after completing MBA. He is a little shy to divulge his scores since he is well aware that despite a 100 percentile, he may not get a berth in any of the top IIMs, which give much importance to group discussion and personal interview of candidates before a final list is prepared,” said a senior faculty member of a coaching centre.

According to sources, Soumyadeep is focusing on a berth in IIM-Ahmedabad followed by IIM-C and IIM-Bangalore. This was his first attempt at CAT.

“His overall percentile is 100. In Section 1, which is quantitative ability and data interpretation, he has scored 99.97 percentile. In Section 2, verbal ability and logical reasoning, he has 100 percentile. Overall, his score is 100 percentile. He started to prepare for CAT as early as his first year of engineering,” added the source.

Soumyadeep was trained at Career Launcher. “Students from Kolkata have done very well in CAT this year. The number of students with more than 99 percentile has increased as compared to last year. Students from JU, IIEST and St Xavier’s have done particularly well in CAT 2014. The normalization process applied by the IIMs has been more or less equitable this year. It had created a furore last year. I just wish the IIMs had been a little more transparent and let each student know his/her raw score, too,” said director of Career Launcher, Kolkata, and alumnus IIM-Bangalore, Naveen Saraff.

He, however, pointed out that a few students could not see their results on the websites, which reflects that their payment status was unsuccessful. “But they were given admit cards and even took the examination, which shows that there is some fault in the system,” added Saraff.

According to Ramnath Kanakadandi, national course director, T.I.M.E, “It is great that the results are out more than two weeks earlier this year. It means double benefit for students — early relief and more time to prepare for the next phase. Congratulations to the IIM authorities and TCS for pulling off a smooth job overall, despite having just a two-day window.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Somdatta Basu, TNN / December 30th, 2014

History in mint condition

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All

Coins from Bengal are on display as part of Mudra Utsav, the annual exhibition and conference organised by Numismatic Society of Calcutta, at Haldiram Banquet Hall in Ballygunge till Sunday.

“Coins make history speak. They are not just a means of exchange but also a store of value. Their metallic quality helps judge the economic state of a reign while their spread indicates how far a ruler’s sovereignty extended,” said former finance minister and economics teacher, Asim Dasgupta, at the inauguration. He also referred to remarkable work by the numismatist fraternity, singling out Bratindra Nath Mukherjee’s discovery of an ancient script called Shell lipi.

Chhanda Mukherjee, former deputy keeper, numismatics and epigraphy, at Indian Museum, referred to areas in Bengal such as Chandraketugarh, Murshidabad and Pandua-Mahanad area of Hooghly where coins have been found. “The earliest hoard of Gupta coins was found right here in Kalighat,” she said.

Some of the coins mentioned by Mukherjee are on display at the exhibition. Ujjwal Kumar Saha’s Gupta coins date back to the reigns of Samudragupta and Chandragupta I. There are also gold dinars of the Kushan era. Somnath Basu’s collection is on independent rulers of Bengal, from Fakr al Din Mubarak Shah (1334-1349) to Daud Shah Karanani (1572-1576). Ravi Shankar Sharma has displayed Mughal coins from Bengal mints. There are Akbar rupees minted in Satgaon (also known as Saptagram, now in Bangladesh) and in Bang, a soobah of Bengal. “These coins were minted after Akbar’s conquest of Satgaon,” Sharma said.

Mints were there in Patna too, built by Magadh ruler Ajatashatru around 490 BC. A Shah Jahan rupee represents the Patna mint. The only Mughal coin in Bengali script was issued from Alamgirnagar, Aurangzeb’s name for Cooch Behar. “The coin is rare as the area changed hands soon,” Sharma added.

The East India Company, too, had issued bilingual sikkas, with both Bengali and Persian scripts, from their Benaras, Farukabad and Calcutta mints once they realised the Shah Jahan II Mughal coins that they had been copying did not suit the largely Bengali-speaking populace of the Bengal Presidency.

Another notable exhibit is a punch-marked coin from the Bari-Wateshwar area of present-day Bangladesh. Carrying a sun, a boat, an open cross and a six-armed symbol, the silver alloy coin dates back to 3rd to 2nd century BC. “I procured the coin just last week,” said Anup Mitra, president of the society.

Collectors of coins and stamps will also find a lot of interesting items on sale at stalls put up by dealers.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> Calcutta> Story> Caleidoscope / Sunday – December 28th, 2014

Researchers trace 57 addresses of Tagore

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel

Kolkata :

“All our dwelling places contain varied partnerships of love…” Tagore wrote in 1935. What about is own spaces? Have they withstood the onslaught of time?

Not quite. One of the revered addresses that have been deleted forever is 49 Park Street where ‘Gitabitan’ and ‘Mayar Khela’ were composed. Researchers have recently recorded 57 places where the bard lived. Sixteen of them were in Kolkata, 14 in the Hills and 27 in south Bengal.

In a prelude to an ambitious heritage-tourism project of the government titled Tagore Circuit, history professors Shouvik Mukhopadhyay, Partha Sankha Majumdar and Ramanuj Mukherjee, at the behest of the West Bengal Heritage Commission (WBHRC), have come up with dates, anecdotes, addresses and several startling revelations about the poet.

Take Birjitalao where ‘Raja O Rani’ was staged and Tagore played Bikram in the 19th century. Wife Mrinalini played Narayani — her only stage appearance. The poet would frequent this house, rented by brother Satyendranath, next to the St Paul’s Cathedral.

“Indira Devi in her memoirs attests that the present day Calcutta Club was located on this land,” reads the study in its avatar as a coffee-table book. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has a foreword: “Tagore has stayed in many different places which have earned for themselves the distinction of being temples of creativity, knowledge, literature, beyond any parallel.”

WBHRC chairman Shuvaprasanna writes: “The history of these abodes… testifies to the insight of a complete artist… throw light on the mental upheaval of a creative person who was never confided to a single place.”

Tagore would keep visiting the Hills; some of these structures continue to exist. The house that Scottish shipping magnate Daniel Hamilton built for the poet at Gosaba is one of the best maintained structures. But 16 such dwellings in Kolkata don’t exist any longer. The list includes 52/2 Park Street, 50 Park Street, 14 Lower Circular Road (now AJC Bose Road) and 237 Lower Circular Road. Soon after his marriage, the poet started living here and Mrinalini was admitted to Loreto House. Tagore wrote ‘Chhobi O Gaan’ here. Businessman Naliniranjan Sarkar later erected a building here. It’s now the Kolkata Police’s Foreigners Regional Registration Office.

“In a country like ours, it’s not possible to protect such buildings unless they are enlisted. The research on Tagoreean abodes is a significant beginning for such initiatives,” said Partha Ranjan Das, member, WBHR.

Places like 10 Sudder Street where Tagore lived with Jyotirindranath and his wife Kadambari Devi continue to exist. But the only trace of Tagore here is a plaque that reads that ‘Nirjharer Swapnobhango’ was composed here. After changing hands, the building is now Hotel Plaza.

The grand exception is the Art College, an enlisted heritage building. From 1928, the poet frequented the residential quarters of then principal Mukul Dey here and exhibited his paintings in February, 1932.

“His journey was external, physical as well as internal. The constraint of space often made him impatient and he continuously changed his locations, not only by moving outside but also relentlessly changing his dwelling places. Fluidity was integral to his creative genius,” write the researchers.

“The research is our labour of love, but there’s no stopping here. We are working on how the constant change of residences played a crucial role in Tagore’s creative genius,” said Mukhopadhyay. Both he and Majumdar have studied in Santiniketan.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Ajanta Chakraborty, TNN / December 28th, 2014

New Town to get country’s first floating solar plant on Jan 5

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Records, All, Science & Technology

Kolkata :

The country will get its first floating solar power plant on January 5.

The unit, which will generate 10KW solar power every day, will be inaugurated at Rajarhat New Town. State power minister Manish Gupta will inaugurate the floating solar power plant installed on a waterbody near Eco Park in New Town.

The floating solar power plant has been jointly set up by the Arka-Ignou Community College of Renewable Energy, headed by solar power expert S P Gon Chaudhuri, and the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA).

The power that will be put into the grid through marine cables will light up several areas in Eco Park and its surroundings.

Gon Chaudhuri, who is a former managing director of West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA) and West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC), said the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) had earlier sanctioned a grant of Rs 20 lakh to the authorities as a research component and another Rs 15 lakh for developing and installing the solar panels. The panels have already been installed and are now ready to generate power.

“Already, engineers from different parts of the country are coming to have a look. A team of experts is coming from Lakshadweep soon to take a look at the project as a similar project will be taken up there,” Gon Chaudhuri, who was also the former adviser to the state power department, said.

Gon Chaudhuri also said that that it was around one and a half years ago that he first thought about developing a floating solar panel.

“Land is required for setting up any power plant, but a floating solar panel doesn’t require any land, since it is set up on a waterbody. Only Japan and Australia have developed floating solar power plants so far,” he added. “I gave a proposal to the Centre that developing such floating solar panels has its own benefits since it will not only generate pollution-free solar power, but also help emit less carbon dioxide. Once this floating solar panel is inaugurated and starts generation, we will conduct further research on this,” Gon Chaudhuri said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Suman Chakraborti, TNN / December 22nd, 2014

Home hero leads ATK victory lap – ‘For a sports fan, this is the place to be’

Records, All, Sports

As Atletico de Kolkata won the first edition of the Indian Super League with a last-gasp goal in Mumbai on Saturday evening, the 17-year-old sat transfixed in front of the television, grateful to be playing football at a time when the game has finally gone international in India.

The Class XII student at Frank Anthony Public School, who captains his team and wears the No. 10 jersey, writes for Metro what the ISL and Atletico de Kolkata’s victory meant to him.

LiamBainKOLKATA22dec2014

The nail-biting football that had the nation hooked for 90-odd minutes on Saturday night was not only a fitting finale to the first edition of the ISL but also a big triumph for Calcutta, which is the place to be for any sports fan like me.

Atletico de Kolkata’s victory completed a rare double for the city – 2014 IPL and ISL champions – while our home-grown forward Mohammed Rafique’s winning goal made me believe that perseverance and dedication matter the most in the quest for glory.

ATK’s never-say-die attitude in the final was inspiring too. I have won and lost many finals and I know how mentally draining it can be. But the ATK players were calm. Your instincts and talent matter but your mindset can make or break you. Big matches are nerve-wracking and brutal to lose.

Super-sub Rafique’s 95th-minute header reminded me of two occasions where I have been in a similar position. During my training at Club Atletico Boca Juniors, I had come on as a substitute in a friendly and scored a late goal that gave my side a 1-0 win. In the quarter-finals of the Keventer Cup 2014, my school team was awarded a last-minute penalty, which I calmly converted.

On the flip side, I have been in the boots of Kerala’s Michael Chopra, who thought he had scored the winner, only to discover that his shot had been saved by the brilliant Edel Bete.

Like Michael, my heartbreak moment had come in the dying moments of a final of the inter-Frank Anthony schools’ tournament, which cost us the match. That’s the harsh reality of sport.

Saturday’s final taught me how a strategy like keeping a defender at the first post (which Kerala goalkeeper David James should have done) or a brilliant save (like Edel’s) can be the fine line between triumph and misery.

Without Luis Garcia in the starting XI and Fikru out of the match, ATK had their backs to the wall from the beginning. They initially lacked creativity in the midfield and Kerala looked a much better team. But Kerala failed to convert chances and I was amazed how Arnab Mondal and Josemi, the defensive stalwarts, and goalkeeper Edel kept ATK alive in the game.

With missed chances at both ends, each side was almost resigned to 30 minutes of extra time until, astonishingly, ATK found a way out of it!

In the end, I think, India was the real winner of the ISL, opening up so many avenues for the growth of football in the country.

The ISL also gave young footballers like me the much-needed push to dream of making it big. It gave me new heroes like Sandesh Jhingan, who makes match-winning tackles; Elano Blumer, whose free kicks I would like to emulate; Luis Garcia, whose skills and leadership qualities I have tried to embrace; and Iain Hume and Steven Pearson, whose stamina and perseverance inspire me.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / Monday – December 22nd, 2014