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Author Archives: Pankaj Adhikari

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A paradise called Tssango

As the Commander drove up the mountain, east Sikkim with its sylvan surroundings beckoned. A languid morning sun caressed the snow-capped peaks. Sleepy hamlets lazed, scattered and aloof on the undulated cascades of terraced fields.
From the window of my jeep, I watched mesmerized the magic mountain’s changing shades, criss-crossed by mist and light. It was sublimity on earth; sublimity because the intervening days have taken away nothing from that long moment of wonder. After three hours of grueling drive from Gangtok, we reached Tssango.

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Mamata’s administration: One-woman show

The chief minister tours across the state. She keeps tracks on who needs what. Therefore everything can be solved through her interference. What happens is that the process of decentralization of power which began across the country gets a jolt in Bengal. It was thought that people in the villages will themselves plan their development schemes, oversee their work and solve their problems. But now people are told: Have faith only in Mamata. She’ll solve your problem through her own administrative workers. While people were supposed to have been self dependent exercising their democratic rights, what we see now is a complete and total dependence on a single person (read Mamata).

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Mamata’s style of administration

The Mamata government claims they have got rid of the ‘Bandh culture’ perpetuated by the previous government. The government of course took tough stand against ‘anti-government’ bandh but there’s no guarantee yet that the government itself will not call for bandh in near future.

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Mamata’s five years: A report card

When a party comes to power especially after dethroning a party that ruled for 34 years without a break, people harbor great expectations. This happened in the case of Bengal after Mamata Banerjee stormed Writers’ Building in 2011 riding the crest of huge popularity. It’s not surprising that people’s expectations reached sky high.

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Flying without fuel

Solar Impulse has taken off again. After 10 months on the ground in Hawaii due to battery problems, the solar plane took off on April 21st to resume its long journey over the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco. It has two new batteries and a new cooling system. The flight will take three days and nights. The plane is flying without a single drop of fuel, powered by clean, solar technologies, to complete the crossing of the Ocean begun by André Borschberg last year.

Solar Impulse is an experimental plane whose mission is to fly around the world without fuel.

The pilots and their team plan to return to the Middle East by late summer, completing a 35,000-kilometer (27,000-mile) trip around the world. The aim of this trip is to promote clean technologies.


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Shooting star

Smita Sharma is a photojournalist and documentary photographer currently based in New York. She is overseeing the social media and research work on the global campaign on child marriage Too Young to Wed.org. Her work has been published in prestigious international publications and exhibited in galleries from South Korea to the US.

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Reduce meat consumption, help climate

Agriculture of all types produces greenhouse gases that warm the planet, but meat production is especially harmful – and beef is the most environmentally damaging form of meat.

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Pankaj Adhikari’s Blogs

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