cute grandma Charulatha ~ India tames Bangladesh

Charulatha Patel, 87, attracted all the cameras as she enthusiastically blew her trumpet.. .. , cheering for Team India  from the stands. Wearing a tricolour scarf and with a bright yellow vuvuzela and the national flag in hand, Charulatha was spotted celebrating every moment of India's win.  This 87-year-old lady's love for life and of course cricket almost overshadowed the crunch game at  Edgbaston, Birmingham on Tuesday.  The old lady, was  identified as Charulatha Patel by former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who was doing the commentary for the official broadcasters of the tournament, won hearts for ardent cheering for India.

Bangladesh's high court has granted the country's rivers the rights and status of "living entities" in a bid to save them from encroachment, a lawyer said Tuesday. The court on Monday published a landmark verdict on a 2016 petition filed by a Dhaka-based rights group, saying all of the country's hundreds of rivers would now be treated as legal persons.  "We filed the petition to save our rivers from powerful encroachers. The court has declared that all the rivers should now have the same rights as legal persons or living entities," a litigant told news channels.  The verdict came just months after the country, much of it criss-crossed by thousands of streams, tributaries and rivers, became the fourth nation after Colombia, India and New Zealand to honour its waterways with such status. The court appointed the country's River Conservation Commission as the legal guardian of all waterways and directed other state agencies to fully assist them. Experts said the verdict would save rivers from illegal encroachment in the densely populated country of 165 million people and where land is precious as gold. They said many of the country's rivers are struggling to survive thanks to illegal sand dredging and large-scale industrial pollution.

On a different note, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on the floor of the assembly on Tuesday made it clear that the state hasn't changed its view regarding sharing of Teesta river water with neighbour Bangladesh. For a long time, Bangladesh has been demanding share of Teesta river water from India but the Central government hasn't agreed to their demands owing to strong opposition from West Bengal. West Bengal's stance has been that there is not enough water to share, something which Dhaka isn't convinced about.  Speaking in Assembly, Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday expressed regret over the fact that Bangladeshi Hilsha no longer comes to India. Bangladeshi Hilsha earlier used to be savoured by Bengalis in India too particularly during the Monsoon period. However, now very few Bangladeshi fish is avalable in the market. Referring to that, Mamata Banerjee said that Bangladesh has stopped exporting Hilsha to India as they are unhappy over not been given Teesta water.

Miles away,  Bangladesh team bus departed the Hyatt Regency and headed towards Edgbaston at around 12:10pm yesterday, where the team would have its first full practice session since their last World Cup game against Afghanistan. The departure was delayed by 10 minutes because bowling coach Courtney Walsh was talking to the media. Five minutes after the bus left, however, all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin was seen standing in front of the main entrance, looking forlornly at his departed ride. He disappeared inside, evidently to call a taxi, which he boarded presently and was off for practice. Apart from paying the taxi fare, Saifuddin’s tardiness will also cost him because he will have to pay a fine in accordance with team disciplinary rules. The media manager was not sure how much the fine would be, but it is expected to be around the 100-pound mark. A costly few extra minutes of sleep indeed ~ but he was prominent in the match !

The match was played on the same pitch that hosted the England-India match on Sunday, and it remained the same kind of pitch: flat but progressively slower. It also meant the square boundaries were the same - short on one side, long on the other. Both teams picked their teams with the boundaries rather than the surface in mind: spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Mehidy Hasan went out, and seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rubel Hossain came in. Cannot be called an imaginative selection as India had 3 keepers – Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Rishab Pant and if you add IPL keeper Rahul, it was 4 .. for a brief while, Dhoni was away – Pant kept wickets – India went for a review and promptly lost that .. ..  Karthik did no favour in the batting – and was he not a specialist WK replacement for Dhoni !! – the score card reads : India 314 for 9 (Rohit 104, Rahul 77, Pant 48, Mustafizur 5-59) beat Bangladesh 286 (Shakib 66, Saifuddin 51, Bumrah 4-55, Pandya 3-60) by 28 runs.  All those pundits who said India lacked intent in their 35 run defeat to England would now say that 28 was too close and Indian win was not comfortable !!!

After keeping hopes alive for much of their World Cup campaign and for 98 overs of yesterday’s match against India in Birmingham, two searing yorkers from Jasprit Bumrah sealed Bangladesh’s elimination from the semifinal race of the 2019 World Cup.  He is on a hat-trick now as Shami leaked runs.  The 28-run defeat was Bangladesh’s fourth in seven completed matches and, with three wins and a washed-out game against Sri Lanka, left them stranded on seven points when they needed to win yesterday and on July 5 against Pakistan to keep their hopes alive. It was a valiant effort by Bangladesh as they had to contend with the hard luck in the washed-out game, missing out on the injured Mahmudullah Riyad yesterday as well as losing a crucial toss on a pitch that grew slower as the day wore on. However, they also left themselves too much to do both yesterday and in a demanding tournament after wasting a chance to beat New Zealand early on in their campaign. Bangladesh are out of the 2019 World Cup. They've beaten the teams they were expected to beat, and also a couple they may not have been, but they haven't managed to win any of their meetings with the tournament favourites, despite looking impressive and coming close on a couple of occasions. They came close against India at Edgbaston, but not close enough, falling 29 runs short in a chase of 315.

With this result, India become the second team after Australia to seal a spot in the semi-finals. They won an important toss, and got to a hugely advantageous position via a 180-run opening stand between Rohit Sharma, who scored his fourth hundred of this World Cup, and KL Rahul.  Tamim Iqbal and Mosaddek Hossain played on, done in by the slowness of the pitch but also their angled bats, while Soumya Sarkar and Mushfiqur Rahim hit aggressive shots straight to fielders on the 30-yard circle. Shakib, using the pace of the bowlers smartly and going at close to a run a ball despite only hitting six fours in 74 balls, kept Bangladesh in the chase despite all these setbacks, but when he was sixth out with 136 still to get, foxed by a clever slower ball from Hardik Pandya, the game looked over. Pandya, the fifth bowler with no sixth bowler in the XI, did a stellar job, varying his pace, hitting the pitch hard, and finishing with three wickets. Despite Shakib's dismissal, Bangladesh's required rate hadn't yet gone out of hand, and Sabbir Rahman and Saifuddin kept the game alive with an entertaining stand of 66 in 56 balls.

Rohit Sharma has been in the form of his life in World Cup 2019. The 104 he hitagainst Bangladesh was his fourth hundred of the tournament, emulating Kumar Sangakkara, who is the only other batsman to make four centuries in a single World Cup. Rohit also became only the second Indian, after Sachin Tendulkar in 1996 and 2003, to score more than 500 runs in a single World Cup.  Shakib Al Hasan is  the first Bangladesh batsman to reach the landmark of 1000 runs in World Cups during Bangladesh’s innings against Afghanistan. More was in store for Shakib as he picked up wickets with the ball after scoring 51 during Bangladesh’s innings.

Saifuddin who missed team bus,  needed one of the tailenders to stay with him if Bangladesh were to get 70 off 41, but they didn't, not for long enough anyway. The equation came down to 29 off 14 when Saifuddin took a single to bring the No. 10 Rubel Hossain on strike for the last two balls of Bumrah's quota of overs. Those two balls was all Bumrah needed, two inch-perfect yorkers proving too good for Rubel and Mustafizur.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

3^rd July 2019.

LPG rates slashed ~ cylinder costs ₹510.35 per cylinder @ Chennai

There is one eternal negativist in social media who would cry hoarse trying to mislead people stating  that LPG cylinder is more than Rs.1000/-  - I posted on his article with diligent proof that it is not so  ~ unable to digest the reality, he put an acerbic comment on my looks ! .. that is his calibre !  : TWO certain lies : 1)  the price that he tries to put would never take in to account the subsidy that he enjoys 2) the price at Chennai for the past 1 year has never touched that figure even [proof screen shot posted down] 

                   4 decades ago, there were less than a handful of houses which had it – cooking was done by kerosene stoves and kerosene was the most sought after commodity.  Housewives were afraid of pressure cookers too.. there were lot of jokes of wives forgetting the close the gas stoves, coming to see movies and calling back their nearby homes to check whether they have switched the stove off – remember that there would be slides in Cinema theatres urging the people to ensure that they switch off the gas stoves immediately once the cooking is over…..

The red cylinder containing LPG is a prized possession for households and there is always concern as to how many days the connection would last and whether refill would be readily available. Now a days, most households have double cylinders and some have multiple connection too… still, people of worried of regular supply.  The distributor is a very important person and the arrival of gas delivery boy is heralded with happiness.  Do you know the rate of a gas cylinder ??  for  all of us who  have a domestic LPG cylinder –– the biggest worry in earlier times was :

•          When will I get the refill ?

•          How many times will I have to go the distributor

•       Am I getting a cylinder which was clandestinely used in a hotel or some other eatery elsewhere

All that has vanished ! ~ the biggest advantage now in present times is  :

o         Ease of booking [tele call / sms / web / visit too !]

o         Transparency in booking and availability (actually there has been no shortage at all in recent years)

o         Up dates on billing / availability / release / delivery

o         Fraud control mechanism preventing misuse of domestic cylinders

Not many of today’s youngsters would know the ordeals that the earlier generation had in cooking.  Even in cities there were only stoves (kerosene stoves).  In villages, it was mostly by wood fired ovens.  Imagine the plight of those who had to stand near the hot oven for preparation of food.  Worst was the plight in lighting a stove again and again – there existed pump stoves and wick stoves.   The  modern cooking gas stove uses LPG – liquefied petroleum gas, which is mostly a mixture of propane and butane.  Propane is a three-carbon alkane, normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid.  It may also contain small amounts of propylene and/or butylene. An odorant such as ethanethiol or thiophene is added so that people can easily smell the gas in case of a leak.

Domestic LPG today is subsidized and hence are distributed only by Public sector Oil marketing companies. LPG for domestic cooking purposes is available in 14.2Kg capacity cylinders with authorized LPG distributors of IOCL. Markets where transporting the 14.2 Kg cylinders are inconvenient, LPG is also marketed in 5Kg cylinders.  Indane is very friendly to the housewife if used in the safe and specified manner. LPG installation for a household consists of ISI approved Gas Stove, Regulator and Suraksha hose.  Use of LPG in India by customers is governed by LPG (Regulation of Supplies and Distribution) order.As domestic LPG is subsidized only one LPG connection is provided per family. As LPG distribution is controlled, each distributor has a specified area of operation and customers can avail the cylinders only if they are residing within the area of operation of a distributor.  

As many would have observed and felt happy - Chennai LPG price stands slashed by ₹100 per cylinder. The price of non-subsidised LPG on Sunday was cut by more than ₹100 per cylinder on the back of softening international rates, IOC has said. The cooking gas in Chennai is now  priced at ₹653 per cylinder from Sunday  (30.06.2019) midnight as against ₹753 currently. Subsidised price will be ₹510.35 per cylinder.

Depending on the usage in a household, the 14.2 kg cylinder might last for a month or less.  A couple of decades ago, getting a refill was difficult ordeal, especially for office goers.  The cylinder is often supplied by an Agency which acts as a retail outlet and had to be booked in person.  A telephone no. would exist but would be next to impossible to reach people on that line.  If you are lucky, the person may not answer and if by chance you get through, there is no guarantee that your cylinder has been booked as there would be no confirmation process. And days after, you might have to redo the entire process afresh.  A visit in person is often considered the right measure to book a cylinder.  There had been complaints of malpractices of cylinders booked in one name being to supplied to some others as also complaints of domestic cylinders being used for commercial purposes.  There was always lurking fear that the cylinder supplied had already been in use for a day or two in a hotel or other place !  ~ the process was cumbersome and wrought with difficulties.

In Sept. 2012, the Government  announced restriction of the supply of subsidised cooking gas to 6 cylinders per household in a year to fetch an additional Rs 20,300 crore.  The CCPA decided that each household will get 6 cylinders of 14.2-kg per annum at the subsidised rate and any requirement beyond that would have to be procured at the market rate.   Modiji went a step ahead – linked Bank Account with Gas account and Aadhar – whilst critics were busy commenting that this would never become a reality – now in a few months, people have forgotten that they were getting gas cylinders at a lower rate. Now they pay in full, and the subsidy, gets credited to their Bank Account, eliminating most mischieves in gas cylinder distribution.

Happy customer**

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

2^nd July 2019

Asian gypsy moth ...... and the trouble at US / Canada Ports !!

Many a decades ago,  in an interesting case before the Court, was the issue of whether in a seaworthy ship, gnawing by rats of some part of the ship causing seawater entry and subsequent damage to cargo was to be treated as an insured peril.  It was held that the loss was not proximately caused by the rat but ‘by perils of the sea’.  It was held that there has to be distinction between the wear and tear caused by rats and vermin over a period of time and ingress of water into a ship caused by rats attacking a pipe !  Not sure whether rats are still a potent problem, but infestation by vermins are !

Heard of moths and in particular of ‘AGM’? – the  Asian gypsy moth is an exotic insect pest native to Far East countries such as Russia, China, and Japan.  Unlike the European gypsy moth, which is closely related but has a more restricted host range, Asian gypsy moth females are active fliers, capable of flying up to twenty miles.  The only way to tell Asian gypsy moth apart from European gypsy moth is with DNA tests. Asian gypsy moth eggs are found in large masses attached to solid outdoor objects such as trees, stones, lawn furniture, and logs.  Caterpillars emerge in the spring and feed  when they enter the pupal stage. Adult moths emerge 10 to 14 days later.

All these could be regular – and may not be of relevance to Marine Insurance but for the fact that adult moths frequently lay their egg masses on cargo ships and shipping containers, and these hardy egg clusters often survive to hatch at ports of call around the world, including the United States. The first such known introduction was in 1991, where egg masses on a Soviet ship docked in Vancouver were found to be hatching.  It is stated that since 1991, there have been 20 introductions of Asian gypsy moth in the U.S., all of which were eradicated successfully.  In 2004, nearly 14 million acres on the U.S. East Coast were attacked by the insect and its European cousin. The region is still recovering.  The strict inspections are the USDA’s first line of defence against the Asian Gypsy Moth.

Reports suggest that the tiny, dirt-like egg clusters are waylaying cargo at ports in the United States, delaying thousands of containers for days at a time.  Officials are desperate to eradicate the Asian Gypsy Moth,  and for Shippers that means stringent inspections of ships and delays.   Last year close to a dozen ships were forced back to International waters after arriving at the port making it to be called the worst AGM season.   When the moths or their egg sacks are found on a ship, it’s sent back out into international waters where the vessel operator must pay to have it disinfected.  The ship will be allowed only when there is no trace.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Canadian officials have worked with ports in countries where the moth is most prevalent —to inspect and disinfect ships before they leave Asia.  AGM are stated tobe voracious eating up hundreds of species of plants. The high-risk periods in these Asian ports, the regulated areas, are determined by the AGM’s “flight season”, when females will be laying eggs, and normally extend from May through September. The United States (US) and Canadian authorities have issued a joint notice advising on risks associated with and actions required for vessels which have visited ports in areas regulated for AGM during specified high-risk periods. The authorities consider the risk of introduction of AGM into North America from the regulated areas to be high for 2015.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has advised that the high risk period for Asian Gypsy Moths commenced on 1 March 2015.  The notice sets out the steps that must be taken by vessel agents prior to entering Western Canadian ports. Vessels which do not comply with the advance notification and certification procedures will be considered non-compliant and subject to enforcement action.  The vessels are expected to maintain  good cleaning practices such as minimising rust, storing excess equipment and clearing debris from the outer decks of vessels, as this will help reduce the chance of AGM infestation while in regulated areas.

Any vessel entering Canada must be free from all life stages of AGM.  If  upon inspection, AGM is suspected,  the vessel will be ordered out of Canadian waters and refused entry for up to two years during the AGM risk period for Canada or until the ship is deemed compliant.

The Master of a marine vessel which has visited a port in a regulated area during the specified periods listed in the current year or in the year immediately preceding the current year, must provide a summary of the ports called upon by the vessel for the past two years, to CFIA, either directly or via the vessel's Canadian agent. The vessel may be required to report at a designated inspection site at a time mutually agreed to by the agent and the CFIA.

The Ports for which ‘High risk periods’ are indicated  are Russian far East,  all ports of Northern China, Republic of Korea and specified ports of Japan – Asia does not include India or Srilanka and we can heave a sigh of relief ! 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

5^th May 2015.

India Vs Bangladesh ~ what happens when one criticises !!

ODI World Cup 2019 first round is about to end as teams make their run to home bend .. .. India would play Bangladesh at Birmingham.  India’s unbeaten streak at the World Cup 2019 came to end when England defeated them by 31 runs on Sunday. India are just a win away from making their place in the semi-finals and will look to do so when they face Bangladesh at Edgbaston tomorrow.

Bangladesh are currently placed sixth in the table and three points behind fourth-placed England, meaning a defeat against India would end their chances of making the semifinals.  India and Bangladesh have faced each other 35 times in ODIs so far, where India have won 29 matches while Bangladesh have 5 wins. However, Bangladesh had defeated India in the 2007 World Cup to knock them out of the tournament. Hence, they will be wary of their eastern neighbours on Tuesday.

This tournament, they have done well – they have beaten South Africa, they've brushed aside West Indies,  closed  Afghan and they've looked impressive even in defeat. They are yet to play Asian rivals – India and Pakistan.  Social media is ripe with calculations that Kedar  Jadhav will lose his place in the playing XI.  India needed 71 off 5.1 overs when Kedar Jadhav walked in to join MS Dhoni in the middle against England on Sunday. It was a steep ask but not impossible on a flat pitch and small boundaries. Inexplicably, Jadhav and Dhoni played out 7 dots and ran 20 singles in the 31 balls they faced together. MS Dhoni hit the only six of the Indian innings in the final over when it was game over for India.

It is curtains not only for Jadhav but for vijay Shankar too.  In less than two weeks, India have lost a second first XI player. This time, a fractured big toe in the left foot has ruled Vijay Shankar out of the remainder of India's campaign at the World Cup. Mayank Agarwal is set to fly out as his replacement and will join the squad later this week.  Vijay's left toe was hit by a yorker from Jasprit Bumrah during a training session in the lead up to the match against Afghanistan. Vijay did go on to play that match and the next one, but sat out of the contest against England on Sunday, which India lost by 31 runs, their first defeat in seven outings in the tournament.

Rishabh Pant replaced Vijay in the XI against England. This morning the BCCI sent out a statement saying Vijay would need three weeks to recover.  It was stated that the condition of his toe worsened and a CT scan showed he sustained a non-displaced fracture of the left big toe. The condition will require a minimum of three weeks to heal. The injury rules him out of the ongoing World Cup," the statement said.  MSK Prasad, India's chairman of selectors, had said Vijay was an ideal choice because he was a three-dimensional cricketer: a good batsman, ideal for the No. 4 slot, a handy part-time seamer in helpful conditions, and a very good fielder.

Sanjay Bangar, India's assistant coach, confirmed that Rishab  Pant would be persisted with at that position over the rest of the tournament because he is a left-hander, and provides a good balance to the middle order.  Mayank Agarwal's selection, meanwhile, might come as a surprise to many. Firstly because he was not even part of the five-man list of standbys announced when the World Cup 15 was announced. Along with Pant, the only other batsman who was part of that was Ambati Rayudu. Agarwal has never played for India in limited-overs cricket. However, the selectors were impressed by Agarwal's batting during the IPL, where he played in the middle-order for Kings XI Punjab and often managed to create an impact immediately. He was the third-highest run-getter for Kings XI, and scored his 332 runs at a strike rate of 141.88.  Agarwal has scored heavily in Ranji too. He would also be a  back-up opener after KL Rahul - who moved to the top after Dhawan went out. 

If one had to pick the best four Bangladesh cricketers of the generation thus far, Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mashrafe Mortaza, without a shadow of doubt, would make that list for they have been the flag-bearers of Bangladesh cricket across the globe. 12 years ago, in  2007 World Cup, India were expected to have a stroll against Bangladesh in their opening game in Trinidad, but  Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid - four of India's top five – were out to  a stunning spell of bowling from Mashrafe Mortaza and posted a below-par total of 191 on the board. Mortaza ended up with 4-38 off his 9.3 overs which also included 2 maidens.    The victory over India  triggered unforgettable celebrations in Bangladesh and despite a ban on public gatherings; the  country soaked in joy and is still regarded as one of their best moments in international cricket.

Now read this news in Daily Mail ~ a leading Bangladesh pediatric doctor has been transferred to a remote clinic after criticising the country's cricket captain. Rezaul Karim, a child cancer specialist, was posted to the southeastern district of Rangamati weeks after blasting skipper Mashrafe Mortaza on Facebook. Mr Mortaza, a member of parliament for the ruling party, visited a state-run hospital in his rural constituency and became infuriated when several doctors were absent.  A video of Mr Mortaza criticising one senior doctor by telephone went viral, starting a social media row.

Karim said he was one of six doctors served notice by the country's health ministry after writing a Facebook post criticizing Mashrafe for 'taking pleasure in bowling Bangladeshi doctors'. Two months later he was ordered to remote Rangamati, where a low-intensity tribal insurgency has simmered for decades.  'I have been transferred to Rangamati Medical College which doesn't have any cancer treatment facilities. This seems to me an unnatural process,' he said. But Mohsin Uddin, a deputy secretary of the country's health ministry who signed the transfer order, said it was 'only an administrative decision', and rejected any suggestion it was a punishment.    Karim's sudden transfer from a cancer facility in Chittagong — where he was treating over 100 young patients — has also grabbed local media headlines. Bengali daily Manabjamin said the transfer was a consequence of Karim's 'disrespectful' Facebook remark against Mashrafe, who enjoys enormous popularity in cricket-mad Bangladesh.

Mashrafe hails from the southwestern Narail district, where his charity Narail Express — also the fast bowler's nickname — has donated ambulances to hospitals and rice seed to farmers. Turning to politics after retirement is not unusual for South Asian cricketers, but Mashrafe is still playing. He captains Bangladesh in the one-day format of the game, and intends to lead the team even after the World Cup.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

1^st July 2019.