New Year
New Year is the time for every people to bid farewell to the bygone year as well as to leave all the bad experience behind. It is the time to welcome a new year with positivity and new hopes. Most of the New Year festivities begin on December 31, the last day of the Gregorian calendar, and continue into the early hours of January 1. There are some common traditions followed on New Year celebrations such as attending to and organizing parties, eating special New Year dishes, making New Year resolutions and display of fireworks.
Civilizations around the world have been celebrating the beginning of each New Year for decades. Babylon was the first city to celebrate New Year about 4000 years ago. Roman king Numa Pompilius revised the Roman Republican calendar to that January replaced March as the first month. In 46 BC Julius Caesar introduced more changes and through Julian calendar, Caesar instituted January 1 as the first day of the year. It is believed that the tradition of exchanging gifts on New Year Day originated in the 7th Century.
Today, the New Year is celebrated in different ways all around the world, but typical New Year's traditions include everything from toasting with champagne and eating foods to bestow good luck to making resolutions for the coming year, a practice that's actually thought to have originated from the ancient Babylonians. One of the most iconic traditions is the ball-drop at New York City's time square. According to the official Times Square Ball website, it has been a tradition since 1907.
New year celebration is all about leaving all the memories of the past behind and stepping into a New Year with new desires. People celebrate and rejoice the end of an old year with great excitement. It is the time to let go off all the hurdles of the past and accept new aspects of the future. People love to celebrate New Year by attending parties, exchanging gift, having delicious food and making new resolution. It is the rule of nature that everything changes and so does time. Therefore, the New Year is a perfect time to make a change for the better.
Achin Das,
Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Gauhati University,
Guwahati.
PM deserves applause
In a surprise address to the nation on Christmas night, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi deserves applause for this path-breaking decision to boost our fight against the prevalent and virulent Omicron. Maybe, there is a political difference, even though no one forgot Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 22 days ago Press Conferences and Tweets to make policy decisions! RG demanded booster shots in a Press Conference. Even just 3 days ago, he again reiterated the demand & asked the PM when will booster shots begin? But this time PM Modi realized the gravity of the situation and did the needful, though it took PM Modi 22 more days to figure the same. Maybe, one of the reasons that 2 weeks back there was a big meeting of health experts and so-called scientists who said no booster required, even hardly three days back Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya was saying no booster dose required, maybe to counter RG but yesterday PM Modi announced it! Basically, after the PM's announcement, it shows that what the Health Minister and his so-called group of experts say has absolutely no meaning at all!
Whatsoever, PM Modi announced that Covid-19 vaccination will start January 3 onward for a teenager in the 15-18 age group, while healthcare and frontline workers (should include lakhs of shopkeepers, delivery persons, bankers, school teachers, police and army men etc.) will be administered a booster — he called it "precaution dose" — from January 10. The announcement came hours after the country's drug regulator granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to Covaxin for vaccinating children in the 12-18 age group. Though, the efficacy of the various approved vaccines against omicron is also a criterion that needs discussion.
On Christmas night, PM Modi once again reminded us that the experience of fighting the corona global epidemic so far shows that following all the guidelines at the individual level is a great weapon to combat corona. And the second weapon is vaccination. Naturally, if the common people behave responsibly and continue to follow the time tested and proven Covid protocols of proper mask up, social distance and hand wash then India will be in a much better position to tackle this crippling menace. Let us fight this war against mutating viruses unitedly with great resolve.
Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee,
1159/Sector 23 A
Faridabad 121005
Farmers' party
What was expected from farmer leaders the same has happened and a new political outfit came into existence in the name of "Morcha" on which farmer leaders are not clear whether it is a political party? It is not a new happening as the country had already such types of potential happenings as after the JP movement Janta Party came into existence and after the Anna Hazare movement Aam Aadmi Party. Let us see what will be the fate of the party as some farmers organizations are not part of this Morcha.
Yash Pal Ralhan,
Jalandhar 144003