Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation three key projects related to the Petroleum sector in Bihar on 13th September, via video conferencing. The projects include the Durgapur-Banka section of the Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur Pipeline Augmentation Project and two LPG Bottling Plants. They have been commissioned by IndianOil and HPCL, PSUs under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Chief Minister of Bihar will also be present on the occasion.

Durgapur-Banka section of the Pipeline Project

The 193 km long Durgapur-Banka pipeline section, built by IndianOil, is a part of the Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur Pipeline Augmentation Project, for which the foundation stone was laid by the Prime Minister on 17th February 2019. Durgapur-Banka section is the extension of the existing 679 Km long Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG pipeline to the new LPG bottling plant at Banka in Bihar. The pipeline of 14” diameter passes through three states viz. West Bengal (60 km), Jharkhand (98 km), and Bihar (35 km). Presently, LPG injection can be made in the pipeline system from Paradip Refinery, Haldia Refinery, and IPPL Haldia. On completion of the whole project, the LPG injection facility will also be available from the Paradip Import terminal and Barauni refinery.

Laying of the pipeline under Durgapur-Banka Section required crossing several natural and manmade hurdles. A total of 154 crossings were bridged including 13 rivers (one of them being the Ajay river of 1077 m length), 5 national highways, and 3 railway crossings. The pipeline was laid under the riverbeds through state-of-the-art Horizontal Directional Drilling technique without disturbing the water flow.

LPG Bottling Plant at Banka, Bihar

IndianOil’s LPG Bottling Plant at Banka will increase the ‘AtmaNirbharta’ of Bihar by meeting the rising demand for LPG in the state. This Bottling Plant has been built at an investment of around Rs 131.75 crore to serve the districts of Bhagalpur, Banka, Jamui, Araria, Kishanganj & Katihar in Bihar, along with the districts of Godda, Deoghar, Dumka, Sahibganj, and Pakur in Jharkhand. With the LPG storage capacity of 1800 MTs and bottling capacity of 40,000 cylinders per day, this plant would generate direct and indirect employment opportunities in the state of Bihar.

LPG Plant at Champaran(Harsidhi), Bihar

HPCL’s 120 TMTPA LPG Bottling Plant has been constructed at Harsidhi in East Champaran district for Rs. 136.4 crores. This plant has been constructed on 29 acres of land and its Foundation stone was laid by the Prime Minister on 10th April 2018. The bottling plant will cater to the LPG requirement of East Champaran, West Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Siwan, Gopalganj & Sitamarhi districts in Bihar.

The event will be telecast Live on DD News.

India and China have agreed to “quickly disengage” from a standoff that has seen gunfire at a disputed border and accusations of kidnapping. Their foreign ministers met on Thursday and said they would ease tensions.

In a joint statement, the neighbours said the “current situation is not in the interest of either side”.

“They agreed, therefore, that the border troops of both sides should continue their dialogue, quickly disengage, maintain proper distance and ease tensions,” said the statement, released by Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

Both sides have accused each other of straying into their territory, and the clashes have sometimes turned deadly. Soldiers from both countries have periodically skirmished along the poorly demarcated border, called the Line of Actual Control. It is understood that the military commanders’ meeting in the next few days will chalk out steps of disengagement more clearly, which the Foreign Ministers will review before deciding on the course ahead. 

The five points agreed to are a template for the “principles of disengagement”, said a senior official privy to the meeting, but large divergences still remain in the positions taken by both sides. Both Ministers had a frank and constructive discussion on the developments in the India-China border areas as well as on India-China relations and agreed as follows:

1. The two Ministers agreed that both sides should take guidance from the series of consensus of the leaders on developing India-China relations, including not allowing differences to become disputes.

2. The two Foreign Ministers agreed that the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side. They agreed therefore that the border troops of both sides should continue their dialogue, quickly disengage, maintain proper distance and ease tensions.

3. The two Ministers agreed that both sides shall abide by all the existing agreements and protocol on China-India boundary affairs, maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas and avoid any action that could escalate matters.

4. The two sides also agreed to continue to have dialogue and communication through the Special Representative mechanism on the India-China boundary question. They also agreed in this context that the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China border affairs (WMCC), should also continue its meetings.

5. The Ministers agreed that as the situation eases, the two sides should expedite work to conclude new Confidence Building Measures to maintain and enhance peace and tranquillity in the border areas

According to the Chinese press release, state councillor Wang said that bilateral relations between the two Asian neighbours “have once again come to a crossroads”. “But (he added) as long as the two sides keep moving the relationship in the right direction, there will be no difficulty or challenge that can’t be overcome.”
Jaishankar told his Chinese counterpart that India remained concerned at the massing of Chinese troops at the LAC, which was not in accordance with the 1993 and 1996 agreements. There has been “no credible explanation for this deployment”, which the minister said has created flash points along the LAC.

The Indian side said that the Chinese front line troops’ “provocative behaviour” at the various stand-off points showed disregard for border pacts and protocols.

How difficult it is for a family who loses a loved one to bear the loss ? How painful it is for a friend to lose another? How devastating it is for a parent to cry over a child loss? UNIMAGINABLE. You can never know how much it aches to lose a piece of life and that to when you know that it was a “suicide”. When you come to know that someone close to you was tired of his life and you could just not predict that. You would crave to go back to them and ask them WHY did they do so . WHY this step? BUT,it would be too LATE till then. You would have to live with a regret then, that had you questioned this before you could save A LIFE.

Every day and evry year we come across news of suicides happening. From a CEO to a farmer, we had heard it all. Because when the mind is upset,no status matters. The pain and the frustration one feels is identical. But,since the topic suggests “PREVENTION” how can we contribute in the same ? How can we stop ourselves from regrets? How can we stop somebody from commiting a suicide ? Or how can we make someone feel lively again?

There are a lot of things we can do. We just need to get serious and committed about it. We need to stop taking things and people as a joke. Especially,what they speak. Because nobody speaks anything without a reason.If you are talking to somebody and they talk to you seriously about them getting tired of their life or how they can not just handle what is happening to them. STOP THERE,AND LISTEN. Listen to what one is saying maybe you can help them cope maybe you can help them heal . DO NOT JOKE AND IGNORE THE SAME. Maybe you will never be able to forgive yourself later.

There has to be an awareness about the serious effects one can have on their mental health.Aware people around you.Aware people who do not know about the seriousness about the matter.

Never discourage or talk pessimistic to a person who is already talking sad things. Always encourage them and tell them everything will be fine. Tell them about positives of life. Distract them from taking wrong decisions.

Do every part you can. Spread smiles everywhere you can 🙂

A two-day Conclave on “School Education in 21^st Century” organised by Ministry of Education as part of Shikshak Parv 2020 concludes today with a commitment to take New Education Policy 2020 forward.  Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed the Conclave under the National Education Policy- 2020 (NEP-2020) at 11 AM today through video conferencing. Union Minister for Education Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal; Union Minister of State for Education, Shri Sanjay Dhotre; Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Shri Amit Khare, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy Smt Anita Karwal also participated in the event. After the Prime Minister’s address to the participants, Smt Anita Karwal gave a detailed presentation on implementation of New Education Policy 2020 relating to School Education.

Later in the day, the discussions were held in four technical sessions on various subjects of New Education Policy 2020 by the experts.

The first technical session started with a discussion on the subject of ‘Promotion of Indian Languages’ held from 1215 hrs today. The Session was coordinated by Dr. Shakeela T. Shamsu, OSD (New Education Policy draft Commitee), Department of Higher Education. The two speakers were Dr. Dhir Jhingran, Founder Director of Language & Learning Foundation and Prof. D.G. Rao, Director (in-charge), CIIL Mysore.

The speakers made the following points:

• The New National Education Policy provides for promotion of Indian languages through regular use, preparation of pedagogical material, training of teachers, adoption of mother tongue as medium of instructions, etc. It particularly stresses on home languages. NEP also focuses on the promotion of all languages and mother tongue.
• Implementation of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy requires language comprehensions.  It must include children’s language.
• 25% of students suffers learning disadvantage because of gap in the home language and the school language. Most sufferers are from Tribal Areas, boarder areas, children of migrant labourers and children who study through English medium but have no exposer to English at home or otherwise.
• Mapping of languages is necessary.
• Create multilingual awareness
• Begin including children’s home language in teacher and learning in oral domain
• Create children’s material in local languages
• Teacher recruitment or deployment of teachers to a particular area may be linked to the local language of that area. Teacher Education Courses should emphasize on language skills.

The discussion on the subject ‘Holistic Progress Card’ was held from 1400 hrs today. Dr. Shakeela T. Shamsu chaired the session and Dr. Anju Kauwr Chazot and Dr. Ameeta M. Wattal, Principal, Springdales School, Pusa Road, New Delhi were the speaker for the session.

Dr. Shakeela T. Shamsu welcomed all the participants and mentioned first principle of the New Education Policy to develop good human beings capable of rational thought and action, possessing compassion and empathy, courage and resilience, scientific temper and creative imagination, with sound ethical moorings and values. Recognizing, identifying, and fostering the unique capabilities of each student and mapping appropriately is key to holistic development. She told that Holistic Progress card is basically emanating from the principle combined with the principle of the integrated curriculum, experiential learning pedagogy and assessment which needs to move away from formative assessment.

Dr.Anju Kauwr Chazot made a presentation on Holistic Report Card and started with idea of Ahimsa in assessment and mentions need of paradigm changes in Holistic Report Card. She described interdisciplinary assessment which includes Humanities, Design Technology, Arts & Language and also mentioned about inter-disciplinary tasks comprising of Sciences and Physical Education (Sports). She explained that learners should be evaluated by self, their peers, parents and initiators (i.e. teachers). To bring the learners voice into the assessment, the colonial model of education which is based on control supervision and subjugation of a population needs to be change. She told that children have to learn two things- how to give feedback to another child and also how to receive feedback in a constructive manner. This will prepare students for ethical and value based learning.

Dr. Ameeta M. Wattal made a presentation on Holistic Report Card. She explained on aspects of holistic report card which includes equitable, inclusive, joyful, holistic and diverse knowledge. She told that National Education Policy is not about reforming but about transforming. She mentioned attributes of a progress card and the 4D framework for the whole child, which includes knowledge, skills and character. She also described the experiential learning and the core concepts which includes literacy, numeracy, ICT, capability, critical & creative thinking, ethical understanding and indigenous understanding. At last she explained indicators of Holistic Report Card which contains research, thinking, initiator, exploration, experimenting, curiosity, adaptability and balance.

The discussion on the subject ‘Early Childhood Care and Education’ was held at1500 hrs today. The session was moderated by Prof. M. K. Sridhar, Member of Drafting Committee of NEP. During the session two speakers –Dr. Venita Kaul, Ambedkar University and Prof. Suniti Sanwal, NCERT spoke about the subject based on their research and profound experiences.

Speakers highlighted that the impact of early learning, socialisation and school readiness experiences in preschool settings on educational and behavioural outcomes along the primary stages was explained. Based on research experiences, emphasis was given on developing all dimensions of school readiness among children and a strong linkage was highlighted between ECCE and foundational years of education in the life of an individual. In a comprehensive manner, presenters talked about the role of activity, joyful, playful and discovery based pedagogy to be used in the set-up of pre-school education. Quoting the New Education Policy 2020, importance of strong communication between all stakeholders was also elaborated.

The stages of all round development of children in early years and set of skills for development stages were also spoken about. NCERT informed that Pre-school Education Guidelines and Curriculum have been developed by them. To provide an effective and quality based ECCE to children importance of strong convergence between all stakeholders was emphasis.

The discussion on the subject ‘No Hard Separation’ was held at1600 hrs today. The Session was coordinated by Shri Manoj Ahuja, Chairperson, CBSE. The two speakers were Prof Manjul Bhargava, Member, Draft NEP Committee and Dr. Chand Kiran Saluja, Retd. Prof. CIE, Delhi University.

The speakers made the following points:

• NEP provides for multidisciplinary, holistic development of children without any barriers and boundaries of streams, subjects, choices, etc. There is no hard separation in subject study, curricular, co-curricular, extra-curricular, vocational and academic streams, etc.
• The holistic development or education prepares us for facing the different challenges throughout the life.
• Creativity and technical knowhow needed together to excel in life.
• Multidisciplinary and holistic education is the need of the hour.
• Flexibility is the fundamental principle of the NEP 2020 and every chapter of the NEP attempts to eliminate or remove separation.
• Integration and coordination is the basis of the holistic development.
• Ensures the unity and integrity of all knowledge and eliminates harmful hierarchies among different areas of learning.
• Integrates pre-schools (Aganwadies) to Higher Education.
• Promotes creativity and critical thinking, multilingualism and power of language, life skills, etc.
• NEP is based on full equity and inclusion. It encourages innovation and out of the box ideas through autonomy, good governance and empowerment.
• NEP empowers students through flexibility in choice of subjects. It advocates identification of hidden talent in every child.

Union Health Secretary held a video conference (VC) today to review the COVID management strategies and actions taken in the eight North Eastern States. The VC was attended by the Principal Secretaries, Health Secretaries and other State representatives from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. These 8 North Eastern States together account for less than 5% of the total active cases in the country.

With active cases numbering 29,690 (as on date), Assam is presently constituting 68% share in the total active caseload of these eight North Eastern States. Tripura has 7,383 active cases and occupies the second place with 17% of the total active caseload of these States.

A snapshot of the total confirmed cases and the active caseload in these States is tabulated below:

‘Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.’- Charles Swindoll.

I remember working during the online classes now-days-days. Working from home has because a stress factor for me during these days. You have send four to five hours of your day in zoom meetings and submit a tons of assignment within a particular time.  Half of day is spent online due to classes. You get the picture, right?

But unfortunately, after the tiresome day, I do not get time to find time for myself or neither I can spend the weekends or weekdays.

It has become impossible for me to give my undivided attention online and I feel stressed all the time. No forms of refreshment are there during these days. Sitting in front of laptop and mobile phones have become a daily part of our life. Many problems are occurring due this, sleeplessness, eye-itching etc.

A nonstop busyness surrounded me and I was losing myself in this digital world. So I decided to take out some time for me because I need fresh air and oxygen to live. My emotions were almost gone and I am becoming stone-hearted person. Emotions are melting too.

Let us scroll down to look at the 4 factors that kept me going during this stressed period:

1. Control your thoughts: We can control our thoughts. When we are surrounded by negativity, we must try to do positive things and bring positive thoughts in our mind. From ‘what I am doing’ to ‘what can I do’ must be the mind set during these times. It will help to gear our positive thoughts and absorb the negative thoughts.
2. Meditation for the peace of mind: We must spend time in doing meditation for the peace of mind. It is very helpful because it helps to reduce the stress factor and it prepares the mind for the day. It helps us to cope up with the rest of the day and work.
3.  Get charged up: Before stepping into any work get yourself charged up. You can listen to your favourite songs. This keeps your mind fresh. This can also be the song that you can play in your laptop or desk to keep you charge. Two of my songs that keeps me charged are ‘Give me some sunshine’ and ‘My heart will go on’.
4. Accept what it is:  You have to accept the things that you cannot control. It will save your energy. It will help you to concentrate on the things that is in your own hand. You will end your day with happiness.

When you find yourself in a situation, where you are not able to work properly or just cannot accept the stress, it is better for you to leave the job and find another possible job where you can work on your own choice and your stress level will be at controlled. It is the time for change. Your response to these kinds of tough situations can also motivate others and help others.

‘What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.’- Ralph Marston.

Before coming to university, I worked as social worker in the Presidency Correctional Home in Kolkata.  I hated that thing. Working with the criminals? Am I really made for that? These are questions that came into my mind.

Seriously I have to work with criminals. My life was at stake. I was terribly upset with this. It totally sucked.

First day when I went there, I saw prisoners in a terrible condition. They were like searching for a moment of peace and light. Spending a lot of my time, I gained with conclusion, criminals are not born but they are made due to certain shortage of their life. I was empathising with themselves. A feeling was gratitude was coming from within.

Let’s be honest. What do we really understand by criminals? We only know that they are bound by law due to their criminal activities. They are put behind the bars just because law has proved them to be guilt. A stigma gets attached to these people. I really got the opportunity to know them.

That day, I realized that God has a bigger plan for me and that very moment I thanked God, and said Oh My God that is why you have chosen me.

It taught me how to be compassionate towards the people, work with criminals, even in their difficult times. They become lonely, angry, disturbed and how I have to control them to bring peace in their mind, it had taught me. This work taught me that there will be haters, there will be naysayers, there will be disbelievers, and then there will be YOU, proving them wrong. Truly, God’s plans are bigger than your plans for yourself.

I never thought that the job or the work that I hated too much will one day become my main priority. It changed my life completely. The definition of life has changed in my dictionary. 

If you think that your life is hard and you are giving up on that because you think your life is unfair, THINK AGAIN.  We have this amazing fantasy about life, this is how things should work, this is my plan it should go as per my plans. If that does not happen, we give up. I never wanted to be a social worker in a correctional home or never thought of being there.

This life is test and a trail, tests and trails are never supposed to be easy. So when you are expecting ease from life, and life gives you lemons, then you make the lemonade and then do not blame life for that because you were expecting ease from a trail. There are many people  in the world who are dreaming to live a life that you are living right now. You have no idea.

Embrace each and every breathe that you are taking. Celebrate your life, live it. Do not die before your death. Live your life fully. Real happiness lies in gratitude. Live every moment of your life.

So do make a change. Do what you love. When people say that she had worked with inmates of correctional, I repeat to them, ‘These are my scars and I wear them with pride’.  You know what connects me with this correctional home, my imperfections. I am really glad that god has chosen me for serving in correctional home. The things you do today can change everything, even if you cannot see it yet.  You might not love the horrible job at first, but who knows that it might become your main concern and might change your life fully.

Hope you all enjoyed reading. Stay connected for more updates. Till then goodbye and have a nice day.

Indian Culture and traditions are something which has now become renowned all across the world. We all refer to India and its culture as something very diverse and unique. But seldom do we give a thought to why things are done in certain specific ways. Indian Culture is full of several unique customs and traditions, which outsiders might find really intriguing. Majority of the population following Hinduism, around 29%-40% of the people are vegetarians,meaning vegetarian travelers are never far delicious dal (lentil), sabzi (vegetable), or paneer (cheese)-based dishes. (Vegans will have more trouble, as dairy products are used in abundance. The country is the world’s biggest producer and consumer of mangoes, accounting for more than 40% of the world’s supply. In fact, Indians love mangoes so much they made it their national fruit. 

Although around 80% of Indians are Hindus, the country is home to large, well-established communities of all the major world religions, as well as some smaller ones. Christian communities and churches are visible throughout Kerala and Goa, the latter housing the remains of Catholic Saint Francis Xavier at the Basilica of Bom Jesus. The long history of Judaism in India can be seen in the Jewtown area of Fort Kochi in Kerala. Parsi Fire Temples and Towers of Silence are spread throughout Mumbai.
The number of English speakers in India is second only to that of the USA. English is one of the 22 official languages of India, and the joint official language (along with Hindi) of the Central Government. Only around 10% of Indians know English, and just a minority know it as a first language, but in a country with such a huge population, English-speaking travelers can count on being able to communicate almost everywhere they go.Indians are used to hearing a variety of accents and language capabilities, so no one will be perplexed if you don’t pronounce words perfectly or mix up your verb endings and postpositions. Chances are, the person you’re testing your faltering Hindi on speaks Bengali at home and English at work, and is used to bending their ear to the different sounds.

Uttar Pradesh has a population of more than 200 million — that’s more people than in Japan, Mexico…even Russia. UP is home to the Taj Mahal and Varanasi, but it’s so large (at almost 94,000 square miles, it’s about the size of Michigan) and densely populated that so much more can be enjoyed here: There’s the old Mughal city of Fatehpur Sikri, wildlife sanctuaries, the imambara complexes of Lucknow, the Buddhist sites at Sarnath…

India has the largest postal network in the world with over 1, 55,015 post offices. A single post office on an average serves a population of 7,175 people. The floating post office in Dal Lake, Srinagar, was inaugurated in August 2011.At an altitude of 2,444 meters, the Chail Cricket Ground in Chail, Himachal Pradesh, is the highest in the world. It was built in 1893 and is a part of the Chail Military School.

The namaste is one of the most popular Indian customs and isn’t really just restricted to the Indian territory anymore. You have Barack Obama, who has been seen doing it on various occasions, or you had Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, greeting everyone with a namaste at the Times’ Square in New York on the first International Yoga Day. But, what’s the significance? The Namaste, or ‘namaskar’, or ‘namaskaara’ is one of the five forms of traditional greetings mentioned in the ancient Hindu scriptures, the Vedas. It literally translates to “I bow to you”, and greeting one another with it is a way of saying “May our minds meet”, indicated by the folded palms placed before the chest. The word ‘namaha’ can also be translated as ‘na ma’ (not mine), to signify the reductions of one’s ego in the presence of the other.

India also sees a large number of festivals, mainly because of the prevalence of diverse religions and groups. The Muslims celebrate Eid, the Christians have Christmas, good Friday and so on, the Sikhs have Baisakhi (harvesting of crop), and the birthdays of their Gurus and the Hindus have Diwali, Holi, Makar Sakranti, the Jains have Mahavir Jayanti, the Buddhists celebrate the Buddha’s birthday on Buddha Poornima, and quite honestly, the number is endless. All of these translate to holidays in our book, of course.

India used to be an island more than 100 million years ago? About 50 million years ago, it collided with the Asian continent and thus was born the Himalayas. Fascinating, isn’t it? With over a billion people from all kinds of religions and ethniciti

Programmers, while executing their code of any language will come across two terms, compile-time and Run time errors. Let us briefly know what they are.

Compilation Errors

Every code must be syntactically correct to pass compilation. The compilation is the process that compiler checks for syntaxes in the user-written code. Syntaxes are not just special characters but they do have some meaning. For example, semicolon (;) in C means the end of the statement, the opening and closing curly braces ({,}) defines the opening and closing of a block or scope respectively. So, syntaxes should not be missed to avoid compilation errors.

Let us see some examples to demonstrate more clearly.

In the above code, we have missed a semicolon at the end of the declaration of ‘a’ variable. This is syntactically incorrect. So, the compiler results in an error, error: expected ‘,’ or ‘;’ before ‘printf’

Here, the closing scope brace is missed for else part. So, there will be a compilation error saying error: expected declaration or statement at end of input

Run time Errors

after the successful compilation of our program, we’ll take the next step. We will run our program. This is where after the success of which, you will get your output. The errors that occurred during this run-time are called Run-time errors. Let us see some of the run time errors.

A run time error means that the program is compiled successfully, but it failed due to run time error or crashed. There are different types of run time errors. Let us learn them properly.

1. SIGSEGV

This error means ‘Segmentation Fault’. Some of the causes of this error are, by an out-of-scope array index causing a buffer overflow, an incorrectly initialized pointer, etc. this error occurs when the program trying to access the outside the memory allocated for it.

2. SIGXFSZ

This error says “output limit exceeded”. Your program has expected too much data as output.

3. SIGFPE

This indicates a “floating point error”. This is the most famous error. Usually demonstrating run time errors start with this error. This error usually occurs when you are trying to divide a number by zero, or trying to take a square root of a negative number.

4. NZEC

This means “non-zero exit code”. This error means that the program exited returning a value other than 0. This may simply mean that we have forgotten the ‘return 0’ statement in c/c++ languages.

In interpreted languages like python, this error usually means that our program either crashed or raised an uncaught exception.

5. SIGABRT

This error occurs when the program is aborted in the middle of the execution. This error is raised by the program itself.

6. OTHER

This error is generated when we use too much of memory. For example, a very large sized array.

7. MLE

This indicates “Memory Limit Exceeded”. This error is generated when you try to allocate memory beyond the memory limit indicated. This can occur if you declare a very large array or some other data structures.