Kolkata :

Months before Chhanda Gayen attempted her double climb at Kanchenjungha, a team of mountaineers from the city quietly accomplished a daring feat that is no less stunning. Eleven blind climbers scaled 16,000 feet at the Yunam peak in Himachal Pradesh last September, arguably the tallest climb by a group of individuals with disability in India. While four of these climbers have partial vision, the rest are totally blind. The team plans to improve upon the feat by summiting the Nandaja peak in Garhwal later this year.

Even though they don’t have the power of vision, which could be a crippling disadvantage in any climbing expedition, each of the team members are trained in mountaineering. A few of them had even trekked in the eastern Himalayas before embarking on the daring adventure. They took the assistance of guides and were led by a large group of climbers, but made the journey on their own steam, putting their climbing skills to the sternest test.

Unfortunately, the expedition had to end 4,000 feet short of the Yunam peak as the last leg was considered too risky for the group. “We were progressing steadily, though it was getting tougher. Eventually, the weather came in the way and we had to give up. We were all very disappointed for we believed we could make it,” said Dolly Dutta, one of the blind climbers. The expedition started from Chandigarh, with the team reaching Rohtang Pass via Manali. It then made its way to Tandi and then Kelong and Jispa, where a training session was held for the members. The team then reached Bara-lacha la Pass. “We had our base camp in Bharatpur and were ready to travel the last lap. But it was snowing heavily and the tracks got treacherous. So, the seniors advised us against making an attempt to summit. We had to travel back, but it was still a breathtaking experience,” recalled 31-year-old Dolly, who lost her vision 15 years ago. While the challenged climbers – four of whom were women – were not allowed to proceed, three of the rest made it to the Yunam summit.

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Lack of experience and difficulty in acclimatizing to the extremely low temperature prevented the group from making the attempt, said Raja Abhimannyu, a member of Voice of World, an NGO that organized the expedition. “It’s not easy to get used to the snowfall and the inclement weather. Without the aid of vision, you need experience and skill to negotiate the treacherous climb to the top. Even though very brave and skillful, the team lacked experience. So, we thought it wise to advise them against it,” said Abhimannyu.

But the climbers are itching to return to the Himalayas and summit a peak. Piyali Hansda, another climber, said she was ready for the dash to the top. “It wasn’t easy but every minute was a thrill. Our adrenalin was pumped up and we were raring to go. But the snow made it a little difficult. This experience has toughened us and prepared us for more difficult terrain,” she said. The other challenged members of the team were Bilwa Mangal Sardar, Pappu Das, Tutu Bera and Ritika Khan.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / TNN / July 01st, 2014

Calcutta:

The city franchise of the Indian Super League will have Atletico de Kolkata as its name.

Atletico Madrid owner and CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin unveiled the name on Wednesday at a plush city hotel, in the presence of four co-owners from the city, Sourav Ganguly, Harshavardhan Neotia, Sanjiv Goenka and Utsav Parekh.

On May 3, The Telegraph had reported that the city franchise was almost certain to be named Atletico de Kolkata.

The name of the company formed by the group was also announced. It’s Kolkata Games and Sports Private Limited. However, the jersey and the crest were not unveiled since it has to get the green light from the master franchise ISL.

Neotia revealed that there is a plan of bringing the Atletico Madrid team to play a friendly match in the city. “They are very upbeat about it. There is also a plan to send Atletico de Kolkata to Madrid for the pre-season.”

Everyone was in a happy mood. If the Atletico delegates were presented with scarfs designed by Sarbari Dutta, the four co-owners were presented with the official Atletico jersey No. 19 with their respective names embossed on the back of the shirt. For the record, Atletico star Diego Costa wears the No. 19 shirt.

“Atletico breathes football, lives around football. It’s a great idea to expand our brand and reach a new market. India and China are huge markets. Atletico also collaborates in different countries through Altetico de Madrid Foundation.

“We are trying two different ways… One through the academy and another through the franchise and play professional football,” Marin said.

Marin said the target is to build a competitive team and an excellent academy. “Some players from the academy can come to Madrid and my dream is to see someone from this academy playing in Spain,” he added.

Asked why they chose to invest in a country whose ranking hovers around 150, Atletico Madrid managing director (business development) Javier Martinez said: “You have a massive population and if you combine that with passion and discipline, you are bound to get results. We have seen that in many countries.”

Giving example of world champions Spain, he said: “They don’t have a huge population, but they have achieved everything with the right infrastructure and discipline. There is no reason why India can’t live up to its true potential. It’s the numbers game at the end of the day.”

Briefing about their discussions over the past two days, Neotia said the Atletico delegation was okay with the infrastructure at the Salt Lake Stadium and Barasat Stadium.

“They feel the foundation is appropriate. Yes we need to improve, but we should not have any difficulty in hosting any match in the present infrastructure. We hope to get state government support. But with elections on, we are yet to talk to the state government.”

Neotia said the Atletico de Kolkata’s desire is to have the main coach from Atletico. “But we need ISL’s approval. If they are okay, then there would be a second coach from India with working experience in our country. We have met some people, discussions are going on.”

Jose Ramirez Barreto, for instance, had a round of discussion with the delegates on Tuesday. And had another round of talks with the Atletico team on Wednesday.

“I am very keen to join the franchise. Let’s see how things unfold,” Barreto said.

There is a possibility that Barreto could be roped in as someone to whom the players can look up to. He can be the go-to man for the players, motivating them when the chips are down.

There is no clarity on the players though. As most of the players want to play for Atletico de Kolkata, the master franchise still hasn’t come with anything concrete. “We do not know whether there will be a pool of players or we will select it ourselves. Atletico Madrid are ready to provide players, but they need some clarifications from Fifa as well as ISL,” Neotia added.

Goenka hoped that Atletico de Kolkata will give the much needed push to the game. “We needed something like this. I am confident it will be a grand success,” he added.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph , Calcutta-India / Home> Front Page> Sport> Story / A Staff Reporter / Thursday – May 08th, 2014

Kolkata :

National Library, which could have been a repository of priceless books and documents, has turned into a dumping ground.

The roof of the new section -built at a cost of Rs 148 crore just nine years ago -has started leaking forcing employees to cover treasured books with tarpaulin.

Sources in the museum told TOI that rare books are being ripped apart, page by page, in the name of digital scanning and the original copies dumped like waste material. The microfilmed copies are also out of focus, having been copied by unskilled staff. Rare and old newspapers, which are supposed to be preserved, are dumped carelessly .

The old building — dating back over 200 years — didn’t have the infrastructure to pre serve and maintain old and rare books so the central government decided to build a stateof-the-art facility for this. It was named `Bhasha Bhawan’ and became operational in 2005.

But in less than a decade, the building is in a mess and its treasures worse so. To think that National Library is the apex body of 65,000 libraries, public and private, in India.

“Many portions of the ceiling are broken. During monsoon, water seeps in and falls on the books and newspapers kept on the racks. In some areas it’s so bad that we have to cover the books with tarpaulin or else they will all be destroyed. The stock verification department is supposed to check the condition of books and make a log sheet so that brittle ones can be sent for binding and lamination. But the department has been non-functional for a long time because of shortage of staff,” an employee of library said.

Not only that, the back door of the library is broken and there is no security to check if anyone runs way with a book or a precious document.

Library director P Y Rajendra Kumar insists everything is in order. “As far as I know there is no such leakage in the library . There was one leak from an AC duct and drops of water were falling on the books. I have told the person concerned to take care of it and it will be repaired immediately . Apart from that there is no leakage”.

Sources say the condition of newspapers is even worse. The newspaper section, which was earlier in the reading room of the library at Esplanade, was transferred to Bhasha Bhawan in November 2013 for better maintenance.

But the nearly 18,000 precious newspapers -including historical Hindoo Patriot, Englishman, Anglo Indian Recorder, and Indian Mirror — are in deplorable condition, say insiders. “The newspapers are kept in small racks meant for books, which leaves part of them hanging out. As these papers are old and brittle should be preserved more carefully,” an officer looking after the stack said.

There are nearly 30 lakh books in the library. According to officials, 10-15% books and nearly 30% newspapers need to laminated and restored urgently. Costly machines like aging chamber incubator, temperaturehumidity data logger, ph meter, brightness tester, electronic tearing tester, electronic stiffness tester, abrasion tester and paper cutter -used for the restoration old and valuable books and documents -are lying unutilized since they were purchased in 2010-11.

Though director Rajendra Kumar confidently says that restoration of old and rare books is done in a “regular manner”, the library authorities in reply to an RTI query have admitted that these machines are “not for regular use because CPWD (civil) could not complete renovation of the old storage area of the laboratory in time”.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Saibal Gupta, TNN / June 28th, 2014

Kolkata :

Till about a year ago, life was difficult for 84-year old Joyeeta Banerjee (name changed) and her elder sister Mita (91).

Their problem was not about money. Joyeeta’s son is a successful doctor in the US and takes adequate care of her financial needs.

The two elderly women, sharing a spacious apartment in an upmarket area in North Kolkata, were missing the human touch – someone to share the titbits in life.

The gap was filled by Tribeca Care Pvt Ltd, a Kolkata-based elder care startup. The Banerjees are provided with a care manager.

Always accessible, the smart and educated Sangeeta Pramanik takes the call on recruiting the Ayah (also offered by Tribeca) and training her on special needs of the client, giving a patient hearing to the sisters during her usual rounds to the family, consulting the doctor on their behalf, settling issues at the bank and so on and so forth.

Personal experience

“India has over 10 crore people aged over 60 years. Approximately 3.5 lakh of them live in Kolkata. As the younger generation is increasingly forced to move out from the city or the country for professional reasons, many of such elders are vulnerable to loneliness,” says Prateep Sen.

Sen (45) and co-Managing Director Tamojit Dutta had a personal brush with the problem. Both decided to quit their high-paying jobs as senior bankers in the UK last year to look after their ailing parents in Kolkata.

The choice of entering geriatric care business came naturally. Their anguish was shared by three other NRI friends – Shibaji Saha, Ritendra Roy and Elina Dutta.

While Saha, a consultant Intensivist at Queen’s University Hospital and Roy, an investment banker with JP Morgan, New York, partnered the initiative without quitting their existing responsibilities. Elina, a former advertisement professional, handles communications from Dubai.

Planning big

“We are planning to expand operations in at least two or three more metro cities by next year,” Sen said.

Having started with homecare and medical assistance, Tribeca forayed into recreational non-medical assistance for elders (like escorting them to a mall or temple).

“Right now our services are mostly suited for elders above the age of 75. In the future we will expand our non-medical services for the 60-75 years age-group, who are in relatively good health, financially well-off, and are keen to enjoy life before the turn too old.”

On the cards are offering services for overseas travels. “We will offer complete solution and assistance right from completing visa formalities to providing travel insurance,” Sen said.

Also in the pipeline are plans to open a number of old-age homes and dementia centres. “Patents suffering from dementia need special care. We are currently working out a model for such homes,” he said. The finance may be raised through private equity investments.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> News> National / by Pratim Ranjan Bose / Kolkata – June 26th, 2014

Kolkata’s Peerless Hospital has tied up with a US—based university to train the doctors specialising in emergency medical care. The first batch of students who finished their three—year full—time Masters in Emergency Medicine Program offered in collaboration with The Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine at the US’ George Washington University will pass out next month.

“The first batch had 16 students out of which 7 have got job offers in US hospitals while the rest will work in different parts of India,” Dilip Samadar, Managing Director of Peerless Hospital, told reporters here today. The course is equivalent to MD in India, he said adding that training of international standard was being provided and every month a specialist from the US flew down to Kolkata for sessions with the fellows. Around seven consultants in emergency medicine trained the doctors during the course. “Specialised doctors are needed to handle emergency and trauma cases and we have a dearth of such manpower. There are few such specialised training centres available in India,” Mr. Samadar said. The hospital during the day also launched the Peerless Institute of Emergency Medicine and Trauma Care where more than 50 doctors present at any given point of time. PTI

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kolkata / by PTI / Kolkata – June 26th, 2014

Unavailability of potatoes and high price of capsicum disappoint customers

In a move to control the rising prices of vegetables, especially onions, the West Bengal government on Friday opened its first fair price shop at Kankurgachi-VIP market in the north-central part of the city. Although fair price shops had earlier been introduced in the State on a temporary basis, the State on Friday joined the likes of the Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu governments to start permanent shops selling vegetables at a subsidised rate.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had constituted a task force to look into the spiralling prices of vegetables and fix the prices for the fair price shops.

“The Chief Minister wanted to create a permanent solution in the wake of increasing prices of vegetables. After the task force’s meeting on June 23, we decided to set up 27 fair price vegetable shops spread across 46 municipality-owned markets in the city,” Rabindranath Koley, a member of the task force, said.

“We have tied up with farmers across the State in this initiative. The shops will be coming up in Salt Lake (Kolkata), Howrah, Barrackpore, Barasat, and other district towns,” Mr. Koley said. While the temporary shops had been set up by the State’s Horticulture Department, the permanent ones have been set up by the Agriculture Department.

The sole shop made brisk business during the day with the owner of the shop claiming to have sold majority of his stock of vegetables by 5.30 p.m.

Onions, whose prices shot up recently, were sold for Rs. 28 per kilo whereas elsewhere it was available for Rs. 35. Ginger is available for Rs. 14 per 100 gram while it is generally sold for Rs. 20 per 100 gram in the market. Customers were disappointed to see potatoes unavailable at the shop.

“There was no stock of potatoes today [Friday] which is why the shop could not stock up on the tubers. It should be available from tomorrow [Saturday],” Mr. Koley said.

However, while all other vegetables were selling at cheaper prices compared to other shops in the market, customers shied away from buying capsicum.

“The rate of capsicum is too high at the fair price shop. At other shops, capsicum is sold for Rs. 80 per kilo, but at the fair price shop, it is being sold for Rs. 100,” a customer said.

Asked how the task force planned to regulate the prices, Mr. Koley said, “Prices at the shop have been fixed with nominal profit margin. Prices are generally 20 per cent lower than the market rates. As for regulating prices, we have to rely on trust and keep a close eye on market prices to see if the vendors are selling at the rates fixed by us.”

Earlier, the State government had introduced fair price medicine shops.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kolkata / by Staff Reporter / Kolkata – June 28th, 2014

Kolkata :

The friendship of two legends — Dilipkumar Roy, musician and author, and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, who was the premier of Bengal in British India and the fifth prime minister of Pakistan — was celebrated in the city on Friday, with Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture and Hari Krishna Mandir Trust, Pune, in collaboration with the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture presenting the eighth ‘Dilipkumar Roy Memorial Lecture’.

Mofidul Hoque, trustee and member secretary of Liberation War Museum, Dhaka, was the keynote speaker. RMIC secretary Swami Suparnananda addressed the audience first, with high praise for Roy’s devotion and his musical genius.

Sankar Bandyopadhyay, HKMT secretary, recounted his experiences with Roy. “We called him ‘Dadaji’. Everything he did was guided by his spirituality. Though he travelled abroad, learned foreign music and brought new forms and innovations to India, his sole aim was ‘Bhagabat darshan’. There are several misconceptions about him, one of them being he was at odds with Rabindranath Tagore. But that is untrue. Tagore loved him like a son.”

Hoque narrated the journey of both Roy and Suhrawardy, both of whom travelled abroad in the early 20th century. “In 1919, Roy went to Cambridge for higher studies. Subhash Chandra Bose, too, was in England, but neck-deep into the freedom struggle. Bose had arranged for Roy’s accommodation, in between contacting the Irish rebels and travelling to Germany to scout for Indian fighters. Suhrawardy sailed to Paris in 1909. He went to Oxford and graduated in 1914,” Hoque said. He went on to describe how Suhrawardy befriended Jawaharlal Nehru while in Oxford and how Tagore’s Nobel win charged the entire Indian fraternity.

Educationist Sourindranath Bhattacharya and Ranjan Mitra, secretary at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture, too shared the stage.

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

Kolkata :

Bengal’s first IIIT, a central university catering to IT engineering, will start functioning from July onwards, announced state IT minister Amit Mitra at the Assembly on Tuesday.

While it will start functioning from temporary premises this year, by the next academic session, the university will shift to its own campus spreading over 50 acres at Kalyani. The autonomous university will be run by the Union HRD ministry but will have partial state and private funding also.

The director of Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu), that has just been upgraded to IIEST, will act as the mentor of IIIT for now. The university will start functioning with a B Tech course in IT this year. Next year, it will have B Tech courses in electronics and communication and computer science engineering. From 2016-17, M Tech courses will start here and from 2017-18, PhD will be introduced, Mitra said while detailing out plans for the IIIT.

“A total Rs 128 crore will be invested to set up the IIIT,” he said, adding that there are 10 such universities in the country, but it is the state’s first and should provide a lot of impetus to IT education.

Answering questions placed in the House over the progress that the IT sector has made in the state, Mitra said the exports in IT sector stood at

Rs 11200 crore has been exported in the IT sector in the last financial year. “At the time when Trinamool formed the government, this figure was at Rs 8335 crore and hence there has been a growth of 44%. A total of 1.30 lakh people are employed in the IT sector presently, a jump from 90,000 during the Left rule,” he added.

When asked if this growth was limited only to the BPO sector, Mitra said, “Apart from jobs that have been outsourced to us from foreign companies, there has been a lot of insourcing and indigenous growth too because of a boom in the e-governance.”

“The state government has taken a policy decision about focusing on companies that deal in animation, gaming and special effects. These companies are a mix of creativity and IT. Our children are immensely talented and creative when it comes to having a flair for animation. We need to tap that,” Mitra said. He said 13 IT parks are coming up across the state, in Durgapur, Asansol, Rajarhat, Siliguri, Purulia, Kharagpur, Bolpur, Haldia, Kalyani, Howrah, Malda, Krishnagar and Borjora.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / TNN / June 25th, 2014