Hartal in Pathanamthitta panchayats total
The Hindu
Tense moments after Congress activists face off with police
A hartal called by the Congress in forest-fringe panchayats of Pathanamthitta on Tuesday demanding the governments concerned to file a review petition against the Supreme Court order on eco-sensitive zones (ESZs) brought normal life to a halt.
The public transport system came to a standstill since the morning while shops remained closed. A few private vehicles could be spotted on roads. Emergency services, including hospitals, were exempted from the hartal.
The hartal, which began at 6 a.m, also witnessed tense moments when Congress activists blocked a couple of long-haul services of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) at Seethathodu and entered into arguments with the police.
While District Congress Committee (DCC) president Satheesh Kochuparambil led the protest at Vadasserikkara, the protest at Chittar, Seethathodu, Thannithodu, Aruvapulam and Perunadu panchayats was led by Pazhakulam Madhu, Robin Peter, Samuel Kizhakkumpuram, Vetttoor Jyothiprasad, T.K. Saju and Satheesh Panicker respectively.
Inaugurating a protest march at Vadasserikkara, the DCC president warned of intensifying the demonstration if the governments concerned dragged their feet on addressing the concerns raised by farmers.
“Writing, in general, is a very solitary process,” says Yauvanika Chopra, Associate Director at The New India Foundation (NIF), which, earlier this year, announced the 12th edition of its NIF Book Fellowships for research and scholarship about Indian history after Independence. While authors, in general, are built for it, it can still get very lonely, says Chopra, pointing out that the fellowship’s community support is as valuable as the monetary benefits it offers. “There is a solid community of NIF fellows, trustees, language experts, jury members, all of whom are incredibly competent,” she says. “They really help make authors feel supported from manuscript to publication, so you never feel like you’re struggling through isolation.”
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.