NEW DELHI: Economist Abhijit Sen, a former Planning Commission member and one of the country’s foremost experts on rural economy, died on Monday night. He was 72.
“He suffered a heart attack around 11 PM. We rushed him to the hospital, but it was all over by the time we got there,” said Dr Pronab Sen, his brother.
In a career spanning more than four decades, Prof Abhijit Sen taught economics at Oxford, Cambridge and New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, and held several important government positions, including the chair of the Commission of Agricultural Cost and Prices.
He was a member of the Planning Commission from 2004 to 2014, when Manmohan Singh was the prime minister. In 2010, he was awarded the Padma Bhusan for public service.
When the NDA came to power in 2014, it appointed Sen to head a high level task force to frame a long term grain policy. Sen was a vocal advocate of a universal public distribution system for rice and wheat.
He would argue that the burden of food subsidy on the exchequer was often exaggerated and that the country had enough fiscal headroom to not only support a universal PDS, but also guarantee a fair price to farmers for their produce.
Sen had also been associated with several global research and multilateral organisations such as the UNDP, Asian Development Bank, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the UN, International Fund for Agricultural Development and OECD Development Centre.
Sen, whose father Samar Sen was a World Bank economist, studied physics at New Delhi’s St. Stephen’s college before switching to pursue a doctoral degree in economics from Cambridge University.
Sen had been suffering from breathing-related ailments for the past years, which got aggravated during the Covid-19 pandemic, said his brother, Pronab.
He is survived by wife, Jayati Ghosh — also a well-known economist — and daughter Jahnavi.
National Health Mission, Madhya Pradesh (NHM MP) will conclude the online application process for recruitment to the post of Psychiatric Nurses today, August 30. Eligible and interested candidates can apply for the posts on the official website sams.co.in.
The recruitment drive aims to fill up a total of 52 vacancies.
Eligibility Criteria
Age Limit: 21 years to 40 years as on January 1, 2022.
Educational Qualification: Master degree/diploma in Psychiatric nursing recognised by the nursing council of Madhya Pradesh/India or BSc. Nursing recognized by Nursing Council of Madhya Pradesh/ India with minimum two years experience of working in Psychiatry/ Mental Health Institution or Hospital in Govt./ Private. More details in the notification below:
On the homepage, click on “Recruitment of Approx. 52 Contractual Psychiatric Nurses, Mental Health Programme under National Health Mission, Madhya Pradesh”
Click on “Apply” link and then the registration link
Register and proceed with application process
Submit the form and take a printout for future reference
When the alarm woke him up on his first day of junior college, Yuri had been dreaming. It was an odd dream. He was standing at the door to a classroom ringing with mirth and loud conversation. He wanted to enter, but he wasn’t allowed in because he hadn’t brought his parents with him.
‘How do we know who you are?’ boomed a voice. ‘Besides, your undergarment is ridiculous.’
The class erupted in laughter.
Yuri had a single photograph of his parents, a black-and-white picture which hung in his bedroom. It was a wedding portrait, he in black, she in white, against a backdrop of stage clouds. They looked into the camera unsmiling and serious, and Yuri often wondered whether it was a premonition. He had studied that photograph for years.
He tried to imagine his mother smiling or laughing or walking in a garden, his father moving, turning, lifting something. But they remained just as he saw them, static images emptied of life.
When he tried to make them speak, they mouthed strange, clumsy lines: ‘We loved you, son.’ Or, ‘We are praying for you, son.’ He turned away in horror then – no, his beginnings could not be so embarrassing.
On his first day of college, when the Favre Leuba alarm clinked and clanked, Yuri tried not to look at that picture. He didn’t need myths and mysteries this morning, he needed the assurance of familiar things. He had hoped for monsoon light – for years, the first day of class had meant a Duckback raincoat with its rubbery smell, a new uniform’s faint abrasions, and water seeping into black rubber shoes.
But the June sun was pouring in, bright with a meaningless cheeriness. Well, at least this was familiar. He was used to unanswered prayers. Rain would have meant some continuity, some way of assuring himself that college wasn’t going to be as much of a challenge as his teachers had said it would be. ‘No one will care whether you attend class or bunk, whether you pass or fail,’ Father Kamath had said. ‘They won’t even know your name…’
Now the smell of eggs frying came wafting in. Tio Julio had obviously skipped morning service to mark the event with a hot breakfast. Normally, Tio’s departure meant time to masturbate; it was best in an empty house, Yuri had found. But today he would have to forego his early-morning pleasuring of himself.
Should I try it in the bath?
– No, you’ll have to rush it.
As the immersion heater warmed his bath water, he shaved with a new Topaz blade. It left him bleeding in three different spots, an improvement from the last time, when he had stopped counting after decapitating five pimples. He dabbed a little toothpaste on the worst cut. Vajradanti, Vajradanti, Vicco Vajradanti – a tune began in his head, then a thought interrupted it.
The sun is out because college will be different.
– You think? And how?
I’ll make friends.
– Friends?
Okay, one friend will do.
And this, too, was familiar. Each year, he had said to himself: ‘This is secondary school, I’ll make friends.’ Or, ‘I’ll join the cricket team this year. I’ll make friends.’ Or, ‘The tenth standard. Last chance to make friends. Should I join a study group?’ And each time the sprig of hope withered within a few hours. He would walk down the stairs into the schoolyard and there they were, the same bunch of boys milling around, already secure in their cliques and teams and groups.
Yuri knew why he had no friends. It wasn’t just that he tried to shave once a month and turned his face from a hairy pimpled mess to a bloody pimpled mess. It wasn’t just that he had grey eyes, like a cat’s, and was therefore untrustworthy by local suspicion. The real reason, he knew, was that he didn’t fit in.
For one, he thought in English while almost everyone else in school thought in their mother tongue. They took his English for a snobbery he had put on, because he was clearly no better off than they. In fact, he was probably a little poorer than many other boys in a school that gave a middle-class,
English-medium education to those who could barely afford it. English was the language that came naturally to Yuri because it was the language in which Tio Julio thought and spoke, and there had been no correctives in the shape of grandparents who spoke Konkani, or Hindi or Marathi, the languages that rang in the grounds and corridors of his school.
Add to that, he was the priest’s child. Padri ka bachcha. This was bad enough to mark him out in St Vincent’s High with its celibate priests. It felt worse because he knew it did not matter to anyone if this were true or not.
For Tio Julio was his guardian, his uncle, and not even a priest. But he was unmarried and belonged to the Order of Lay Contemplatives, an international order of people who had decided to live God-steeped lives, promising chastity, poverty and obedience to each other and to themselves. The only difference between them and the professed clergy was that they lived in the world and could hold other jobs.
If his uncle’s quiet asceticism left the boys uncomfortable, Yuri understood quite early that those who had signed up for a full-time clerical life did not think much of Tio Julio’s kind either. Although the priests in his school did not say so, sometimes there would be a raised eyebrow, sometimes an exchanged look.
But they were far away, these men in white cassocks. The boys were right there, in the schoolyard, all over and around him. The boys saw his uncle as Father Julio, a joyless padri, for he often came to school to teach Moral Instruction to the non-Catholics and scripture to the Roman Catholics. And since he was Yuri’s guardian, ‘Padri ka bachcha’ was how Yuri was known.
It didn’t help that their house was always visible to every boy in school. Their two-bedroom flat was in a church building and overlooked the schoolyard, which also served as the churchyard.
Tio Julio could often be seen putting their clothes out to dry in the narrow balcony, wringing and snapping the khadi browns and greys and Yuri’s uniform before hanging them on the rough jute.
‘What kind of man washes clothes?’ a boy had said to another.
The sight was almost daily proof of Yuri’s oddness. But as he grew older, Yuri sometimes wondered whether there was something quite else, maybe his temperament, that marked him out.
Excerpted with permission from The Education of Yuri, Jerry Pinto, Speaking Tiger.
Former Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani has signed a two season deal to play for Valencia, the Spanish top flight club said on Monday.
The 35-year-old Uruguayan was a free agent after leaving Manchester United, who he joined from Paris Saint-Germain where he scored 200 goals.
“Valencia CF have reached an agreement to sign Edinson Cavani for the next two seasons until the 13th of June 2024,” the club said announcing the news.
Serena Williams swept into the US Open second round on Monday on an emotional night in New York in what is expected to be the 23-time Grand Slam title winner’s final tournament.
The 40-year-old defeated Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-3, 6-3 in front of more than 23,000 fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Former World No 1 Williams had won just one match on tour all year before Monday and saw her ranking slip to 605.
That kind of form prompted Williams to reveal that she was on the brink of retirement from the sport in which she played her first match as a professional in 1995.
“It was such a hard decision,” said Williams on her decision to announce earlier this month that “the countdown” is on for her retirement and that she “was evolving away from tennis”.
“I think when you are passionate about something it is always hard to walk away,” she said.
“I have been trying to decide what to do. I love this game.
She added: “I think now’s the time. I have a family and there’s other chapters in life. I call it evolution.
“It’s like Serena 2.0. I will still be crazy, I’ll still be intense. I’ll still be around. But I look forward to waking up and not having to run onto a tennis court.”
Serena Williams gets ready to walk into the sunset after building a highway full of dreams
On Monday, Williams, who arrived on court in a diamond-encrusted black dress and jacket which sparkled under the lights, overcame a nervy first game for a hold of serve.
The American star brought the crowd to their feet with a break for 2-0, chasing down a net cord to hit a winner.
Kovinic, the World No 80, has enjoyed a solid year at the Slams, reaching the third round of the Australian and French Opens.
The 27-year-old hit back with a break of her own and edged ahead for 3-2.
However, Williams buried the error count – she served up six double faults in the opener – levelled and then raced away with the next three games to take the first set.
Another break for 3-2 arrived in the second set on the back of crunching drives from the back of the court.
A love service game gave the American a 5-3 lead and a final break of the night gave her victory.
She celebrated with a little jig on the baseline and a broad smile, much to the delight of a crowd which included the likes of tennis legend Martina Navratilova, ex-world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and former US President Bill Clinton.
The crowd held up cards to spell out “Serena, we love you”.
Next up for Williams is second round clash against Anett Kontaveit of Estonia on Wednesday.
(Report by AFP)
Here are some of the reactions to Williams’ win on Twitter
The Gurugram Police on Monday arrested a man for repeatedly slapping and hurling expletives at a security guard of a residential complex after he was trapped inside an elevator for a few minutes, PTI reported. The man also assaulted the lift operator of the residential complex.
The man, identified as Varun Nath, got bail later on Monday.
The incident took place around 7.30 am on Monday at Close North Society in Sector 50 area of Gurugram. The CCTV footage of Nath assaulting the security guard and the lift operator was shared widely on social media.
This is absolutely insane. A resident gets stuck in a lift in Gurgaon’s The Close North Apartments and once he is out with the help of a security guard. Instead of thanking him, he starts slapping & physically assaulting the guard. No fear of law. Mad guy! pic.twitter.com/sfMfR0f4DI
In the video, as soon as the lift operator opens the elevator doors, Nath steps out and starts slapping the security guard, Ashok Kumar. He goes on to slap the lift operator before walking back aggressively towards Kumar.
Following the incident, the security guards of the building held a protest and demanded action against Nath, according to PTI.
Deputy Commissioner of Gurugram Police (East) Virender Vij said that a case has been registered against Nath based on a complaint filed by Kumar. Nath was booked under Sections 323 (causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
Kumar told media persons that the elevator had been opened within three to four minutes of Nath getting stuck, The Indian Express reported.
“He [Nath] pressed the emergency button and contacted me from the intercom…He told me that he had been stuck,” Kumar said. “I immediately informed the lift operator, who reached within three-four minutes and opened the lift with a key. After coming out of the lift, he started slapping me.”
He added: “I told him this is wrong…Why are you beating me? When the lift operator intervened, the accused man slapped him as well.”
This incident came a week after a woman was arrested in Noida for abusing and pushing a security guard at a residential complex.
Hyderabad: A fresh row has erupted between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on the issue of power supply bills, following an order to Telangana from the Union Ministry of Power on Monday. The power ministry ordered TS pay AP Rs 6,756.92 crore within the next 30 days.
The ministry said the orders followed representations from Andhra Pradesh over the dues owed by Telangana for power purchases made between June 2, 2014, and June 10, 2017.
The payment must be made within 30 days, the order said.
Hours after the orders from the Union Ministry of Power got into public domain, the Telangana power department said it was Andhra Pradesh, which in fact owed Rs 12.940 crore to Telangana as on December 31, 2021. Of this amount, the department said Rs 7,807 crore was the principal, and the balance Rs 5,134 crore was interest charged at the rate of 10.5 per cent per annum.
Reacting to the order, Telangana Power Minister K Jagadish Reddy said “this is nothing but yet another vengeful act on part of the Central government. Andhra Pradesh owes Telangana Rs 12,900 crore. The Centre never responded to our pleas on these dues.” The Centre, he said, was only able to see letters from Andhra Pradesh, but not those written by Telangana.
He further said the Central Government is “deliberately plotting to plunge Telangana into darkness. The BJP government is not able to digest the success of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao in making Telangana a power-cut free state. This is nothing more than a move to make farmers pay for their power supply.”
The Ministry of Power said Telangana owes Andhra Pradesh Rs 3,441.78 crore as power supply dues, and another Rs 3,315.14 crore as late payment surcharges.
It said the power was supplied by Andhra Pradesh to Telangana as per the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, which stipulated that the “successor state that has a deficit or electricity shall have the first right of refusal for the purchase of surplus power from the other successor state.”
The Ministry then said that “every right of one party entails a corresponding duty. Right and duty are co-joined and as such Telangana must pay the power dues to Andhra Pradesh for electricity supplied to them under the orders of Government of India under the AP Reorganization Act, 2014.”
It said there was no dispute regarding the payment, and hence, Telangana must pay Andhra Pradesh the money owed for power supply. These dues relate to power supplied by Andhra Pradesh between June 2, 2014, and June 10, 2017, the order said, adding that it received representations from Andhra Pradesh that Telangana has not paid these dues.
