‘Did my ma’am teach me wrong?’ Misspelled brand names leave children confused

To sound unique, companies tweak spellings of words An increased use of misspelled words by companies in advertisements has left questions in children’s minds. Aarin, a seven-year-old boy who was watching television with his father, saw an advertisement and promptly asked his father: “Why are there two Ws in the spelling of grow? Did our […]

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Bengal nurses oppose contractual posts

Prefer permanent jobs to higher pay for 2 months Kolkata: Registered nurses and para-medical staff of West Bengal who are waiting for permanent government jobs are unhappy with the state government’s decision to hire them on a contract basis for two months.  Manisha Samanta, a staff nurse at R.N. Tagore Hospital, a private hospital in […]

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Bengal evacuees worry Covid will spread in cyclone shelters

They have been provided masks and sanitizer Kolkata: The fear of being exposed to coronavirus is troubling people who are being evacuated from West Bengal’s low-lying areas to safe camps ahead of the cyclonic storm Yaas.  Chakradhar Sahoo, who lives in a mud house at Dihibirkul village of East Midnapore district, shifted to a camp […]

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Bengal nurses use cannulas to divide oxygen between patients

Method comes handy during shortage of O2 Nurses at the Bolpur super specialty hospital in West Bengal have found a unique way to provide oxygen support for two critical Covid-19 patients from a single oxygen cylinder and regulator. Madhurima Saha, a staff nurse of the hospital, informed The Observer: “Somewhere I heard that it was […]

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Cancellations hit Bihar marriage halls

By Nishant Kumar Sitamarhi: The second wave of Covid-19 has adversely affected Sitamarhi’s marriage halls. With business faltering, owners of the halls are at their wits’ end. According to the Bihar government’s new guidelines, not more than 50 people can participate in a wedding. The decision came into effect after the state recorded a spike […]

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Creators of Madhubani paintings struggle as demand dries up

By Nishant Kumar Bihar: Maithili artists, the makers of the world-famous Madhubani paintings, are struggling to survive as their only source of income – the sale of artefacts – has decreased during the pandemic. “Art is taught to us from childhood and it’s an heirloom,” said Kanak Jha, a Maithili artist. “We learn painting and drawing […]

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With schools and colleges closed, demand for home tutors shows a surge in Bihar

By Nishant Kumar Sitamarhi:  With educational institutions closed, the number of private tutors in Bihar has increased in recent months. Prakash Kumar, a teacher at Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Sitamarhi, informed The Observer: “Schools have been closed for more than a year, and I was left with no source of income. But for the past three […]

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Plate Tectonics

India’s pushback at China’s growing regional ambitions draws their disputed border into an emerging Great-Power conflict, writes Nishant Kumar India and China marked 2020 as the 70th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations. They are the two major regional powers in Asia and in 2008, China became India’s largest trading partner. But their poorly defined and disputed border […]

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