Poor service of Demu trains
I would like to draw the attention of the General Manager of NF Railway and the Controller (Traffic) of Lumding Division to the unusually late running of the Guwahati-Silghat and Guwahati-Haiborgaon Up and Down Demu trains since last November.
The Haiborgaon-Guwahati Demu train which doubles up as the Guwahati-Silghat Demu train in its return journey, immediately on its arrival at Guwahati is being run very casually and haphazardly in blatant deviation from its scheduled timing. It is slated to leave Guwahati at 4:30 PM and the Haiborgaon-Guwahati Demu train is to leave Haiborgaon at 1:20 PM. The latter usually leaves on time but for reasons best known to the Controller, the train is stopped, detained, halted at any station or point giving the impression that it is at the whims and mercy of the authority. Consequently, the running of the Guwahati-Silghat train, which usually rolls out from Guwahati at a delay of 2-3 hours, is badly affected, reaching Silghat mostly around 11:00 PM to 11:30 PM - much to the inconvenience of the commuters. This takes a toll not only on the revenue but also on the patience of the passengers who, repelled by the hefty bus fare, mostly travel upto Nagaon. Beyond Nagaon, the number of passengers is scant as around 11:00 PM - 11:30 PM there is hardly any means of communication (tempo, e-rickshaw etc.) to drop people home for which people travelling beyond Nagaon to a destination upto Jakhalabandha opt for buses.
When the train service was smooth and timely, there was a heavy rush of passengers. Even Nagaon-bound passengers had to fend for seats. Going by the inordinate delay, we have ground to smell a rat. Is the authority considering winding up this service? Because, there is an issue of the fare which was hiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. Post the pandemic when the fares have been slashed or restored to their pre-COVID rates, the fares for the Demu trains from Haiborgaon and Nagaon remain unchanged while it has been revised back to pre-COVID rate for the Kolongpar passenger train. The fare for Nagaon-Guwahati and Haiborgaon-Guwahati and vice versa is still Rs 60 whereas the fare for Jakhalabandha-Guwahati is Rs. 40. The journey time for Kolongpar passenger upto Haborgaon is almost 4 hours which used to be less than 3 hours way back in 1995 with as many as 14 scheduled stops when this train service was launched. The track was also single. Except for some stretches between Chaparmukh and Jagiroad, the single track has now been replaced by double track. But the slow and poor service by the Demu trains, which were supposed to augment speed and ensure smooth and hassle-free service, are out of sync with time. Hope the authority comes up with an action plan to mitigate the passengers' plight.
Ashok Modi
ADP Road
Nagaon-782001.
Life lessons from elephants
There is much that we humans can learn from the family traits and courtly behavior of elephants. Among big animals, elephants have the largest brain, with an African elephant weighing around 4618 gms, (approximately 10 pounds) which is three times heavier than the human brain. No wonder then that elephants have attracted the admiration and curiosity of human beings for thousands of years. Scientists have long observed that related elephant mothers and their children stay together throughout life in tight-knit clans, caring for one another's children and forming protective circles around calves when threatened by lions and poachers.
Elephant clan members talk to one another with a combination of gentle chirps, thunderous trumpets and low-frequency rumbles, undetectable to humans. They deliberate among themselves, make group decisions and applaud themselves for their achievements. "Being part of an elephant family is all about unity and working together for the greater good," says Joyce Poole, one of the world's foremost elephant experts and co-founder of 'Elephant Voices', which promotes the study and ethical care of elephants.
Ranganathan Sivakumar
Chennai - 600 091
Science college in Chhaygaon
Chhaygaon is an agricultural area in Kamrup district and far from the State capital. There are thousands of students studying in Arts and Commerce streams at Chhaygaon College, which was established in 1974.
People have long felt the need for a science college in the greater Chhaygaon LAC. The education sector in the State has undergone a lot of changes under the leadership of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. People of Chhayagaon hope that the present government will set up a Science college and a girls' college for the development of the educational sector in Chhaygaon. There is enough government land in Chhaygaon to set up educational institutions. What is needed is the government's goodwill.
Abhijit Kalita
Palasbari
Fall-out
of 'secularism'
Recently, while browsing a social media app on my mobile, I came across a video lasting almost for half an hour depicting the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits in 1991-92 under the then Congress rule at the Centre. It is yet other instance of the 'fall-out' of Indian style of secularism, which in fact has become a one-way traffic since the word 'Secular' was incorporated in our Constitution by some opportunistic leaders of the Congress and Leftists in particular. It is only because of secularism that Indians have become refugees in their own nation, which is totally unseen in other piece of land on the earth. The very same fate happened to our Sikh brothers in 1984 after Indira Gandhi's assassination. The sleeper cells of Pakistan, namely PFI, SDFI, Owaisi, Sidhu, Mamata Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi are taking full advantage of this so-called Secularism which is bleeding the nation internally. The latest Hijab issue is almost creating like a civil-war like situation where some anti-Indian global bodies like OIC are trying to take the issue to international platforms.
Some days ago, an RSS worker was stabbed to death by some Hijab supporters in broad daylight in Karnataka. Had it happened to a Hijab supporter, the Opposition, mainly the Congress, Leftists, SP, TMC in particular, would have immediately called for a Bharat Bandh demanding the resignation of the Modi government.
Issues like anti-CAA, pro-Hijab, anti-Uniform Civil Code, anti-Article 370 etc., are in fact are the fall-out of Secularism.
Joel Gayari,
Tangla.
Kudos to 'Praggu'
Kudos to India's 16 years old chess Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (Praggu) for having defeated world chess champion Magnus Carlsen at the ongoing Airthings Masters tournament, and that, too, while playing black. It is magical! Truly, Praggu has made Mother India proud! The teenager is just the third Indian after the legendary five-time former world champion Viswanathan Anand and P Harikrishna to accomplish the rare feat of beating the experienced and decorated Magnus Carlsen. Interestingly his spectacular win over Carlsen came after a moderate run in the earlier rounds, which included a solitary victory over top-10 player Levon Aronian, two draws and four defeats.
Though Carlsen had racked up three wins in a row as he ominously cranked up the gears, but against Praggu he blundered badly, and the Indian teenager held firm for the win. It was Praggu's first win in any form of chess against the Norwegian, who has won the World Champion title five times and came on the back of having lost three games in a row. Actually, the contest turned in Praggu's favour when the Norwegian - playing with white - committed an error in the 32nd move, which the chess engines took as a huge advantage in black's favour. Praggu made sure he capitalized on Carlsen's mistake and walked away with a victory seven moves later.
Though Praggu beat Magnus Carlsen, in the tournament he finished 11th in the standings with 19 points (scored five wins from 15 rounds, drew four games and lost six). The victories included those over Carlsen, top-10 player Lev Aronian, Russian Andrey Esipenko, former women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk and Keymer, but he unable to reach the quarter-final with the top eight.
As his sister Vaishali Rameshbabu, who is a Woman Grandmaster, rightly assessed, "It was a nice experience and now he has defeated him (Carlsen). Next time he will get the chance to play over the board tournament with him... he will have good chances and he will be more confident."
No doubt he deserves a huge applause for his remarkable feat. Kudos to Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa for bringing happiness to the faces of 138 crore Indians for his brilliant performance!
Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee,
Faridabad - 121005.