Dear reader,
With the monsoon around the corner, several thunderstorms hit the northeast in the past week. However, the one that really caught our attention was virtual, and on Twitter!
A few weeks back, we had reported about the 21-year-old YouTuber from Punjab, and his alleged racial comments against the people of Northeast. While the young boy is still in judicial custody, the incident led students across the students to unite and push for a common cause – a Twitter storm demanding a chapter on Northeastern history and culture to be included in the NCERT curriculum.
From 6 to 8 PM yesterday, the hashtags #AChapterForNE and #NortheastMatters trended on the number two and number three spots on Twitter — with several personalities endorsing it, including athlete Hima Das and MP Shashi Tharoor.
As one student said, "We believe that this kind of racism can be solved only through education”
Let's see if the Education Ministry takes note.
Meanwhile, as Covid rages in some parts of the country, exams have added to the stress of already anxious students. In Assam, where the dates for the Class 12 exams are yet to be announced, students are caught in a lurch. In this dispatch from Assam, read about 18-year-old Daisy Kalita’s experience of prepping for exams in a pandemic year.
If prepping for exams is hard, turns out even sitting for an exam is harder — take for example, the plight of 43 students in Mawhrei in Mizoram’s Siaha district, who have to trek up a hill for 3km in order to get internet connectivity, crucial for their undergraduate exam.
“We have to trek for one hour through a forest to reach the hilltop. By the time it is time to start the exam, we are already tired,” said one of the students.
THE SECOND WAVE
After a number of complaints about exorbitant charges for Covid treatment, a couple of states in the northeast – Assam, Manipur — have come up with price caps for private hospitals. This was after several people complained about private hospitals fleecing them with bills that ran into lakhs — not just in the northeast, but across the country.
In other news, 24 people were arrested after they assaulted a doctor on Covid duty when a patient died at his health facility in Assam’s Hojai district. Beaten with utensils and sticks, the doctor is currently recuperating in a hospital in Guwahati.
But it’s not all bad news.
In Tripura, approximately a thousand teachers are voluntarily manning district Covid war rooms set up across the state. In Assam, a free-for-all 'blessing hut' has come up for the needy.
BEYOND COVID
The post-mortem of the 18 elephant deaths in Assam is out. Looks like they did die after accidental electrocution by lightning – a rare but completely plausible occurrence. Read here.
A defunct airstrip, of World War II vintage, finally took wings in Assam last week. Read our feature on it here
FINALLY...
To end your week, don't miss this extremely talented footballer from Mizoram – the 14-year-old highschooler can work the ball, even in heels!
Until next week,
Tora Agarwala
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