Lakhan Das, Joydeep Biswas, Ahmed Ali, Tapodhir Bhattacharjee, Moral Policing: Here are the top stories of 2018
In many ways, 2018 was a headline-heavy year for the people of Barak Valley. Historically, the year leading up to the Lok Sabha elections has seen a lot of inaugurations, promises, and high-profile visits. This year too, we have seen plenty of such activities across the country, but almost none in Barak Valley. Instead, what made news here is related with things like detention camps, NRC, JPC’s visit, demands over the separation of Barak Valley as an independent state, threat to freedom of expression, deaths due to a drug overdose and even the plight of Cachar Paper Mill employees.
Barakbulletin.com was launched on February 2, 2018 and since then we have been writing about the valley. About three lakh unique users from across 150 countries bestowed us with more than a million (10 lakh) pageviews. Here is a list of most-read stories of 2018:
Call From My Motherland Got Me Back To Silchar From America: Dr. Lakhan Das:
Our executive editor and co-founder Archana Bhattacharjee interviewed one of the most loved and respected doctors in the fraternity Kumar Kanti Das, popularly known as Lakkhan Das. Both English and Bengali version of this interview is still read by thousands every day. This is one of the most read and shared stories published on Barak Bulletin so far. This also proves that respect for the motherland is respected and appreciated by the people.
If you have missed reading the interview, you can read it here:
“I Was Excited, Felt Like A Teenager Again”: 82 Years Old Ahmed Ali After Getting A Special Mention In Narendra Modi’s Speech
If a book is ever written on Barak Valley this man will have a chapter dedicated to him. A rickshaw puller himself opened nine schools for the poor to have access to education. He was interviewed by Adwoy Purkayastha, and during the conversation, Ali time and again expressed his joy on being mentioned by the Prime Minister himself. His motto is that if I could not afford an education, let’s make it affordable for all.
It’s a must read and if you have missed it you can read it here
I am Silchar, I too have my story of joy and sorrow:
This feature story from contributor Avijit Purkayastha managed to find its readers. Features are always a challenging aspect and often attract limited readers. But, this was an exception. The story was read and shared like breaking news and topped the chart for weeks. This has also emerged as one of the most commented feature stories of 2018, and one of the popular demand was to have an English version of the same. So, responding to the popular demands here is the English version of the story.
If you have missed reading the feature click here
Durba Paul And Co. Assaults A Woman Vendor – Allegedly Selling Dog Meat: Another Episode Of Moral Policing
One might debate the importance of this story and therefore the presence of it in this list. Well, this is the most read news story of 2018 and the importance of it can be determined by the events that followed the story. Immediately after the story was published, several associations started to submit memorandums to the administration demanding actions. Local dailies and regional media ignored the story but we kept doing follow-ups to keep the story alive. The more we wrote the more we found out. One of the women assaulted suffered a miscarriage. Later we found out it was not three but five people, who assaulted the vendors. One of the accused has been arrested and Police is in search of others. Now the regional media has also picked up the case. This story actually signifies why the press needs to pay more attention to towards the poor.
If you missed the story, read it here
Professor And Economist Joydeep Biswas On Barak Valley As A Separate State: It Would Not Be Any Worse Than What It Is Now
The link of this story was often used as the final verdict to settle an argument or debate. At a time when everybody had an opinion about separating Barak Valley as an independent state, no one actually thought about the economic implications. Would we lose government jobs, what will happen to health care facilities, what would happen to our borders. Professor Joydeep Biswas answered each and every hypothetical situation wearing the lens of an economist and readers loved it. This interview ends 2018 as the second most read Q&A published in Barak Bulletin.
If you missed reading the interview: Click here
APSC: Hailakandi’s Maria Tanim Tops, Silchar’s Eshan Singh 7th, Souvik Dutta 18th
A sheer moment of pride for the people of Barak Valley. Hailakandi’s Maria Tamin topped the list to prove the presence of brilliance in Barak Valley. This merit list with Silchar’s K Eshan Singh, Souvik Dutta, Hailakandi’s Jagriti Kalwar Karimganj’s Samujjal Das, and Maria is a victory of meritocracy over corruption. While it is true that many deserving candidates must have been denied an opportunity as corrupts took up their sits, 2018 result will act as a booster for those who gave up their public service dreams.
If you missed the story, read it here:
Silchar Boy Rahul Singh On Sharing Podium With Virat Kohli At BCCI Awards: I Am Excited But My Dream Is To Share The Cricket Field With Him
A dream come true moment for the budding cricketer. This interview has stayed as the most loved sports story of 2018. Ithkola born left-arm orthodox (spin) bowler Rahul Singh took 54 wickets in eight matches in Cooch Behar under-19 inter-state trophy, which yielded him a berth in the senior State team too. This performance got him the opportunity to share the podium with Virat Kohli, who received Polly Umrigar Award for the fourth time, for his excellent performance in test cricket in 2016-17 season.
If you missed reading the interview click here:
Another Case Of Sexual Harassment In Assam University; Interim HOD Najmul Islam Arrested
This story was about the head (interim) of Arabic Department, who was arrested after a student of the same department lodged a complaint accusing him of sexually harassing her. The incident had once again startled Assam University, which had been in news owing to a number of similar incidents in the past couple of years.
If you missed reading the story, here it is:
Is Silchar A Taliban Ruled City? MPs, MLAs, Intellectuals, Wake Up Or It Will Soon Become One: An Open Letter
The incident, which had evoked strong reactions from various quarters, was about a girl being abused, harassed and attacked by a mob in a busy area in Silchar in October this year. Videos of the incident had gone viral on social media sending shock-waves to a large number of citizens of the town.
If you missed reading it, click here:
Case Filed Against Tapodhir Bhattacharjee For His Aajkal Column; What Happened To Freedom Of Expression?
A case was filed against Tapodhir Bhattacharjee for writing an article on Aajkal on the plight of Bengalis in Assam. The attack on Bhattacharjee using legal ways had drawn sharp criticism from the intellectual fraternity of Barak Valley.
Police Investigation Confirms Drug Overdose As 16-Year-Old Debraj’s Cause Of Death
It was yet another incident of drug overdose related death in Silchar — this time of a minor boy. The body was found from a building at Panchayat Road. Police investigation later revealed it to be a case of drug overdose.
If you missed the story read it here:
Body Of Missing Municipality Inspector Ranjan Pada Deb Recovered; Congress Demands Niharendra Thakur’s Resignation
We were in our early days and this was the first story that went ‘viral’. A sad news but an important one. The shocking death of the employee raised questions on the system that was suffocating its own servants. While many demands were raise, this is again a typical story of a middle class citizen’s plight which died a slow death.
If you missed reading the story, click here.
State Administration Kept 102-Year-Old Chandradhar Das In Detention Camp; Where Is The Humanity?
102 years back, there was no Bangladesh or Pakistan, there was no refugee. This man with feeble spinal cord and trembling feet has been forced traveling the foreigners tribunal’s door for justice. According to his daughter and his counsel he has valid documents, the court however is still getting them verified. His last dream is to vote for Modi one more time before he breathes his last. This story questions the existence of humanity in the machine driven world.
Cachar Bans E-Rickshaws In Municipality Areas: Eco-Friendly Arguments Find No Space
At a time when eco-friendly vehicles are promoted all around the world, the Cachar Administration decided to ban the E-rickshaws. Adwoy Purkayastha questioned the ban in is story and exposed the politics going around it. The story would not have made it into the list, but what happened after the story was published made it an important one. Soon after the story was published the e-rickshaw union started questioning the ban and eventually got permission to ply in Municipality areas.
If you did not read the story, click here
10 Reasons Why NRC Is A Nightmare For Bengalis Of Assam
Barak Bulletin is a startup, a toddler learning to crawl. This story gave us a sense of arrival. After the story was published on our website we got a lot of positive feedback, the biggest one came from one of the leading dailies of Barak Valley, Dainik Prantojyoti. The story was published on the daily broadsheet and was duly attributed to Barak Bulletin and author Adwoy Purkayastha. This story made it to the list simply because it was one of our best moments so far.
If you missed the story: read it here.
Gandhimela From The Memory Lane
A page out of our executive editor, Archana Bhattacharjee’s diary. This story took the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s back to their Gandhimela evenings. This feature ended 2018 as one of the most liked stories on Social Medial. Not only on social media, the story after it was published on Barak Bulletin garnered attention of mainline editors too. In fact, Samayik Prasanga dedicated half a page to publish the story.
If you missed it, read it here.
Ron Tilla: The Story Of Sacrifice Lying Under The Blanket Of Ignorance
The author of this contributory article is Ashu Paul, retired engineer, town and country planning. He is the backbone of Voluntarily Blood Donation Forum in Barak Valley. He removed the blanket of ignorance through his verses. The historical place is worth a visit and this story is worth a read.
“Private Tuitions Is A Mode Of Spoon-Feeding Which Needs To Stop Immediately”: Vice Chancellor, Dilip Chandra Nath
This is not the most read story of 2018, it is not in top 20 either, but this is the story we launched Barak Bulletin with. We are often criticised in the fraternity for our silent launch and some even go on to say that it was unprofessional of us to launch in an informal way. For us, interview of the vice-chancellor of the only central university in the region we focus on was the most formal way of launching a news a portal. We don’t know if we were right or wrong, but we know that we have no regrets.
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