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Sunday, September 20, 2020

CHAMPAK 

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Thursday, September 3, 2020

What is Book talk?

 

Book Talk

A book talk is a short (30 second - 2 minute) speech designed to encourage someone to read a book, giving an idea of plot, characters, or themes of the book, but, unlike a book report, does not summarize the whole plot or give away the ending or major plot points. In other words, no spoilers! Book talks are traditionally thought of as a tool used by librarians and teachers in classrooms and in library programming.

For example:

Scholastic book talk for Cornelia Funke's "Inkheart" (1:40).

 


 

Tips for facilitating a book talk/ discussion:

  1. Choose one question at a time and toss it out to the group. (See Generic Discussion Questions below.) 

  2. Select a number of questions, write each on an index card, and distribute. Each member (or a team of 2-3) takes a card and answers the question. 

  3. Use a prop (or object) related to the story, such as maps, photos, paintings, food, or audio. This can help stimulate members' thinking about some aspect of the story.

  4. Pick out a specific passage from the book description, an idea, a line of dialogue—and ask members to comment. For instance: “How does the passage reflect a character or the work's central meaning?” 

  5. Choose a primary character and ask members to comment on him or her. Consider things like: Character traits, motivations, how he/she affects the story's events and characters. 

  6. Play a literary game. Use an “icebreaker” activity to loosen you up and get your discussion off to an enthusiastic start. 

  7. Distribute handouts to everyone in order to refresh memories or use as talking points. Identify the primary characters and summarize the plot.

Tips for taking part in a book discussion:

  1. Avoid the words "like" and “dislike.” They aren’t helpful in moving discussions forward, and can make others feel defensive. Instead, talk about your experience; how you felt as you read the book. 

  2. Support your views. Use specific passages from the book as evidence for your ideas. This is a literary analysis technique called “close reading.” 

  3. Take notes as you read. Jot down particularly interesting passages: something that strikes you or, that you don't understand. Take your notes to the meeting.

Questions to consider (Fiction):

  1. How did you experience the book? Were you immediately drawn into the story—or did it take a while? Did the book intrigue, amuse, disturb, alienate, irritate, or frighten you? 

  2. Do you find the characters convincing? Are they believable? Are they fully developed as complex human beings—or were they one-dimensional? 

  3. Which characters do you particularly admire or dislike? What are their primary characteristics? 

  4. What motivates different character’s actions? Do you think those actions are justified or ethical? 

  5. Do any characters grow or change during the course of the novel? If so, in what way? 

  6. Who in the book would you like to meet? What would you ask,or say? 

  7. If you could insert yourself as a character in the book, what role would you play? 

  8. Is the plot well developed? Is it believable? Do you feel manipulated along the way, or do plot events unfold naturally, organically? 

  9. Is the story plot or character driven? Do events unfold quickly or is more time spent developing characters' inner lives? Does it make a difference to your enjoyment? 

  10. Consider the ending. Did you expect it or were you surprised? Was it manipulative or forced? Was it neatly wrapped up—maybe too neatly? Or was the story unresolved, ending on an ambiguous note? 

  11. Can you pick out a passage that strikes you as particularly profound or interesting? 

  12. Does the book remind you of your own life? An event? A person—like a friend, family member, boss, co-worker? 

  13. If you were to talk with the author, what would you want to know? (Many authors enjoy talking with book clubs. Contact the publisher to see if you can set up a phone or Skype chat.) 

  14. Have you read the author’s other books? Can you discern a similarity—in theme, writing style—between them? Or are they completely different?

Questions to Consider (for Non-Fiction)

If your book is a cultural portrait of life in another country, or different region of your own country, start with these questions:

  1. What does the author celebrate or criticize in the culture? I.e., family traditions, economic and political structures, the arts, food, or religion. 

  2. Does the author wish to preserve or reform the culture? If reform, what and how? Either way—by instigating change or by maintaining the status quo—what would be gained or what would be at risk? 

  3. How does the culture differ from yours? What was most surprising, intriguing, or hard to understand aspect of the book? Have you gained a new perspective—or did the book affirm your prior views?

  4. Does the book offer a central idea or premise? What are the problems or issues raised? Are they personal, spiritual, societal, global, political, economic, medical, scientific? 

  5. Do the issues affect your life? How so—directly, on a daily basis, or more generally? Now, or sometime in the future? 

  6. What evidence does the author give to support the book's ideas? Does he/she use personal observations? Facts? Statistics? Opinions? Historical documents? Scientific research? Quotations from authorities? 

  7. Is the evidence convincing? Is it relevant? Does it come from authoritative sources? Is the evidence speculative...how speculative? 

  8. Some authors make assertions, only to walk away from them—without offering explanations. Does the author use such unsupported claims? 

  9. What kind of language does the author use? Is it objective and dispassionate? Or passionate and earnest? Is it polemical, sarcastic? Does the language help or undercut the author's premise? 

  10. Does the author—or can you—draw implications for the future? Are there long- or short-term consequences to the issues raised in the book? If so, are they positive or negative? Affirming or frightening? 

  11. Does the author—or can you—offer solutions to the issues raised in the book? Who would implement those solutions? How probable is success? 

  12. Does the author make a call to action to readers—individually or collectively? Is that call realistic? Idealistic? Achievable? Would readers be able to affect the desired outcome? 

  13. Are the book's issues controversial? How so? And who is aligned on which sides of the issues? Where do you fall in that line-up? 

  14. Can you point to specific passages that struck you personally—as interesting, profound, silly or shallow, incomprehensible, illuminating? 

  15. Did you learn something new? Did it broaden your perspective about a personal or societal issue? Perhaps about another culture in another country or an ethnic/regional culture in your own country?

 

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STORY HOUR FOR CLASS 6 TO 9

FOR CLASS 6TH : HOLI KI GUJHIYA

FOR CLASS 7TH : RED AND BLUE PENCILS

FOR CLASS 8TH : MANA MEIN MANIKA

 

FOR CLASS 9TH: WORLD GEOGRAPHY

 


ASSIGNMENT:

READ THE BOOK CAREFULLY AND WRITE THE BOOK REVIEW IN GOOD HAND.

PREPARE BOOK MARK FOR YOUR BOOK. 

AND ALSO PREPARE THE BOOK JACKET.

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KNOW BHARAT RATAN RECIPIENT EX PRESIDENT PRANAB MUKHERJEE

 

Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (Bengali: প্রণব মুখোপাধ্যায়; Bengali pronunciation: [prɔnɔb kuːmaːr mukʰardʒi̯] (About this soundlisten); 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020)[3][4][5][6][7][8] was an Indian politician who served as the 13th President of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the Indian National Congress and occupied several ministerial portfolios in the Government of India.[9] Prior to his election as President, Mukherjee was Union Finance Minister from 2009 to 2012. He was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna in 2019 by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind.

Mukherjee got his break in politics in 1969 when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi helped him get elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament of India, on a Congress ticket. Following a meteoric rise, he became one of Gandhi's most trusted lieutenants and a minister in her cabinet in 1973. Mukherjee's service in a number of ministerial capacities culminated in his first stint as Finance Minister of India in 1982–84. He was also the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1985.

Mukherjee was sidelined from the Congress during the premiership of Rajiv Gandhi. Mukherjee had viewed himself and not the inexperienced Rajiv, as the rightful successor to Indira following her assassination in 1984. Mukherjee lost out in the ensuing power struggle. He formed his own party, the Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress, which merged with the Congress in 1989 after reaching a consensus with Rajiv Gandhi. After Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991, Mukherjee's political career revived when Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao appointed him Planning Commission head in 1991 and foreign minister in 1995. Following this, as elder statesman of the Congress, Mukherjee was the principal and architect of Sonia Gandhi's ascension to the party's presidency in 1998.

When the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came into power in 2004, Mukherjee won a Lok Sabha seat (the popularly elected lower house of Parliament) seat for the first time. From then until his resignation in 2012, Mukherjee held a number of key cabinet portfolios in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government – Defence (2004–06), External Affairs (2006–09) and Finance (2009–12) – apart from heading several Groups of Ministers (GoMs) and being Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha. After securing the UPA's nomination for the country's presidency in July 2012, Mukherjee comfortably defeated P. A. Sangma in the race to Rashtrapati Bhavan, winning 70 percent of the electoral-college vote.

In 2017, Mukherjee decided not to run for re-election and to retire from politics after leaving the presidency due to "health complications relating to old age." His term expired on 25 July 2017.[10][11][12] He was succeeded as President by Ram Nath Kovind. In June 2018 Mukherjee became first former President of India to address a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) event.[13]

Early life and education

Pranab was born into a Bengali Brahmin family at Mirati, a village in the Bengal Presidency of British India (now in Birbhum district, West Bengal).[14] His father, Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee was active in the Indian independence movement and was a member of West Bengal Legislative Council between 1952 and 1964 as a representative of the Indian National Congress; he was a member of AICC. His mother was Rajlakshmi Mukherjee.[15][16][17] He had two siblings: older sister Annapurna and younger brother Piyush.[18]

He attended the Suri Vidyasagar College in Suri (Birbhum), then affiliated to University of Calcutta.[19] He subsequently earned an MA degree in Political Science & History and an LL.B. degree, both from University of Calcutta[16]

He was an upper-division Clerk in the Office of Deputy Accountant-General (Post and Telegraph) in Calcutta. In 1963, he became a lecturer (Assistant Professor) of Political Science at Vidyanagar College, Kolkata[20][21] and he also worked as a Journalist with the Desher Dak (Call of Motherland) before entering politics.[22]

Political career

Mukherjee started his political career as a founding member of the Bangla Congress.[23] In 1969, he managed the successful Midnapore by-election campaign of an independent candidate, V. K. Krishna Menon. He became a member of Rajya Sabha (the upper house of Indian parliament) in July 1969 on a Bangla Congress ticket.[23] Then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, recognised Mukherjee's talents and recruited him to her party, the Indian National Congress.[24] Mukherjee was re-elected to the house in 1975, 1981, 1993, and 1999.[19]

Mukherjee became a Gandhi loyalist and was often described as her "man for all seasons."[25] Mukherjee's rise was rapid in the early phase of his career and he was appointed Union Deputy Minister of Industrial Development in Indira Gandhi's cabinet in 1973. Mukherjee was active in the Indian cabinet during the controversial Internal Emergency of 1975–77. Ruling Congress politicians of the day including Mukherjee were accused of using extra-constitutional powers to "wreck established norms and rules of governance." Following the Congress's defeat in the 1977 general elections, the newly formed Janata government-appointed Shah Commission indicted Mukherjee; however, the commission was itself indicted in 1979 for stepping "outside its jurisdiction. Mukherjee emerged unscathed and rose through a series of cabinet posts to become Finance Minister from 1982 to 1984.[26][27]

His term was noted for his work in improving the finances of the government which enabled Gandhi to score a political point by returning the last instalment of India's first IMF loan.[28] As Finance Minister, Mukherjee signed the letter appointing Manmohan Singh as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.[24]

In 1979, Mukherjee became Deputy Leader of the INC in the Rajya Sabha, and in 1980 he was appointed Leader of the House.[19] Mukherjee was considered the top-ranking Indian cabinet minister and he presided over cabinet meetings in the absence of the Prime Minister.[29]

Mukherjee was sidelined from the INC following the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Although Mukherjee was much more experienced in politics than Indira's son, Rajiv Gandhi, it was Rajiv who gained control. Mukherjee lost his position in the cabinet and was sent to manage the regional West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee. He was considered to be Indira's likely successor and, siding with those within his party who aligned themselves against Rajiv Gandhi, Mukherjee was sidelined and eventually expelled from the mainstream.[25][30]

In 1986, Mukherjee founded another party, the Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress (RSC), in West Bengal. The RSC and INC merged three years later after a compromise was reached with Rajiv Gandhi. The RSC had fared terribly in the 1987 Assembly polls in West Bengal. Many analysts, over the years, have attributed the muting of Mukherjee's political aspirations as the supreme leader to his inability to emerge as a magnetic mass leader.[25] On later being asked that did he ever desire to become Prime Minister, Mukherjee, however, replied, "7 RCR was never my destination."[31] The Zee News noted: "The statement assumes heft in the light of the longstanding speculation that Mukherjee, as one of the doyens of Congress, always nursed an ambition to occupy the top executive post."[31]

Mukherjee's political career revived following Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 when P. V. Narasimha Rao chose to appoint him as deputy chairman of the Indian Planning Commission and subsequently as a union cabinet minister. Mukherjee served as External Affairs Minister for the first time from 1995 to 1996 in Rao's cabinet.[19]

Mukherjee was considered to be a Gandhi family loyalist and the principal architect of Sonia Gandhi's entry into politics, a mentoring responsibility he was believed to have continued shouldering.[25] He was made General Secretary of the AICC in 1998–99 after Sonia Gandhi became Congress President. Mukherjee was made President of the West Bengal Congress in 2000 and held the position until his resignation in 2010. He had earlier held the position in 1985.[16]

Mukherjee became Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha in 2004.[19] He contested and won a Lok Sabha seat from Jangipur in West Bengal which he would later retain in 2009. It was speculated in 2004 that Mukherjee would be made Prime Minister of India after Sonia Gandhi declined to become Prime Minister; however, Manmohan Singh was chosen.[32]

Mukherjee was briefly considered for the post of the largely ceremonial Indian presidency in 2007 but his name was subsequently dropped after his contribution in the Union Cabinet was considered practically indispensable.[30]

Mukherjee held many important posts in the Manmohan Singh government. He had the distinction of being the Minister for various high-profile Ministries including Defence, Finance, and External Affairs. Mukherjee also headed the Congress Parliamentary Party and the Congress Legislative Party which consists of all the Congress MPs and MLAs in the country apart from being Leader of the House in Lok Sabha and Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee President.[19]

Mukherjee ended his affiliation with the Indian National Congress and retired from active political life following his election as president in 2012. The Economic Times had noted: "[the] decades of activity in critical all-rounder roles make [Mukherjee's] exit both a structural and generation shift. With him, the last of the Congress triumvirate – along with Rao and R. Venkataraman – who formed the core team of Indira/Rajiv regimes bows out. While Rao became PM, Pranab's political marathon too ends where Venkataraman's did, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan."[33]

 President of India

Mukherjee was nominated as the presidential candidate of the United Progressive Alliance on 15 June 2012 after considerable political intrigue.[60][61] The elections were scheduled to be conducted on 19 July 2012 and the results were expected to be announced on 22 July 2012. The nominee of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was P. A. Sangma.[62] To file his nomination for the presidential poll on 28 June, Mukherjee resigned from the government on 26 June 2012.[58]

In the election, Mukherjee received 713,763 votes, while Sangma had 315,987.[63] In his victory speech, delivered outside his residence before the results were officially announced, he said:

I would like to express my deep gratitude to all of you who are waiting. The figure has crossed 7 lakhs, only one state remains. The final figure will come from the returning officer. I would like to thank the people of India for electing me to this high office. The enthusiasm, the warmth of the people was remarkable. I have received much more from the people of this country, from the Parliament, than I have given. Now I have been entrusted with the responsibility of protecting and defending the constitution as President. I will try and justify the trust of the people. I would like to reciprocate the congratulation Shri Purno Sangma has extended.[64]

Mukherjee was sworn-in by the Chief Justice of India on 25 July 2012,[65] becoming the first Bengali to hold the post of President of India.[31] After being administered the oath of office, he said we are in the midst of a fourth world war of terror (the third was the Cold war) and what minutes of peace can achieve cannot be achieved in many years of war.[66]


Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh both congratulated Pranab Mukherjee on his election as president.[67] Former Communist leader Somnath Chatterjee termed Mukherjee as one of "the best parliamentarians and statesmen of India" and said the country "has got the most able man for the top job."[68] Opposition leader Sharad Yadav declared "the nation needed a president like Pranab Mukherjee."[69] Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit commented and said Mukherjee will be "one of the wisest presidents." She further marvelled at the fact that parties in the opposition ranks supported Mukherjee. "Even the NDA broke up and wanted to vote for the president to be Pranab Mukherjee."[70] The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was reportedly "shocked" and "upset" at the cross-voting for Mukherjee by its legislative members.[71] However, the BJP party President Nitin Gadkari congratulated Mukherjee and said "I extend my hearty congratulations to Pranab Mukherjee on his election today as the new President of India." Gadkari further declared "I am sure that the country will make further development and progress. I wish him all success and a bright future."[72]

The Zee News noted: "What is striking about [Mukherjee] is that after more than four decades in public life, the Opposition had no ammunition against him after he was declared UPA’s choice for President. In spite of Team Anna making some noise about him being involved in some corruption cases, it has been more or less an easy ride for Pranab to Raisina Hill. Once when Sonia Gandhi announced his name, most of the allies and the Opposition came on board. Whereas, NDA partner JD(U) saw no merit in opposing him, one of the bitter critics of the Congress Shiv Sena too toed the line a little too easily. This support was not for Congress but for [Mukherjee]."[30]

Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 was promulgated by Pranab Mukherjee on 3 February 2013, which provides for the amendment of Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act, and Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 on laws related to sexual offences.[73][74] As of July 2015, President Mukherjee had rejected 24 mercy pleas including those of Yakub Memon, Ajmal Kasab, and Afzal Guru.[75][76]

In January 2017, Mukherjee announced that he would not contest the 2017 Presidential elections citing "advanced age and failing health".[77]

 

Illness and death

During the COVID-19 pandemic, on 10 August 2020, Mukherjee announced on Twitter that he had tested positive for COVID-19 prior to his surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain.[85][86] He was admitted to the hospital after accidentally slipping and falling in his bathroom.[87][88] He was on ventilator support and in critical condition at the Army's Research and Referral (R&R) hospital in Delhi.[89]

On 13 August, the hospital reported that Mukherjee was in a deep coma after he underwent brain surgery, however his vital parameters remained stable.[90][91] On 19 August, the Army's Research and Referral hospital said that the health condition of Mukherjee had declined as he had developed a lung infection.[92] On 25 August, his renal parameters became "slightly deranged", with the condition worsening days later.[93][94]

Mukherjee died on 31 August 2020, aged 84, which was confirmed by his son Abhijit Mukherjee via Twitter.[95][96] His death came after the attending hospital confirmed that his health had deteriorated early that day stating that he had been in septic shock since a day earlier which was caused by his lung infection and that he was overseen by a team of specialists.[97][98]

Condolences poured in immediately from leaders of both India and other nations. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the President Ramnath Kovind, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi conveyed their condolences via Twitter.[99][100][101] The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin,[102] the President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani,[103] the President of Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih,[104] the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina,[105] the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Lotay Tshering, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, and the Prime Minister of Nepal, K. P. Sharma Oli, were among the foreign leaders who expressed their condolences.[99][106][107] Sports players and actors from the country also expressed their condolences.[108][109]

The Government of India announced a seven-day period of state mourning between 31 August to 6 September, whereby the national flag will fly at half mast on all buildings wherever it is flown regularly.[110] The West Bengal state government declared a closure of state run offices for the following day as a mark of respect.[111]

The funeral was held the following day, i.e. 1 September at the Lodhi Road crematorium at 2 pm IST with full state honours.[112] The mortal remains were carried to the crematorium in a van instead of gun carriage due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in the country.[113][114]

Honours

National honours

Foreign honours

Academic honours

Other recognition

Offices held

Pranab Mukherjee's positions in chronological order:[19][142][143]

Books written

  • Beyond Survival: Emerging Dimensions of Indian Economy. S. Chand & Company. 1986. ISBN 0706926587.
  • Off the Track: A Few Comments on Current Affairs. K. P. International. 1987.
  • Challenges Before the Nation: Saga of Struggle and Sacrifice (Indian National Congress). Vikas Publishing House. 1993. ISBN 0706966236.
  • A Centenary History of the Indian National Congress – Volume V: 1964–1984 (co-authored with Aditya Mukherjee). Academic Foundation Kolkata. 2011. ISBN 978-8171888641.
  • Congress and the Making of the Indian Nation. Academic Foundation Kolkata. 2011. ISBN 978-8171888580.
  • Thoughts and Reflections. Rupa Publications India. 2014. ISBN 978-8129134479.
  • The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years. Rupa Publications India. 2015. ISBN 978-8129136015.
  • The Turbulent Years: 1980–1996. Rupa Publications India. 2016. ISBN 978-8129137692.
  • The Coalition Years: 1996–2012. Rupa Publications India. 2017. ISBN 978-8129149053.

 

 

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STORY HOUR

 FOR CLASS 6TH : CHUHA SAAT PUNCHONWALA


FOR CLASS 7TH : ALIF LAILA KI KAHANIYAN


FOR CLASS 8TH : THE M.S DHONI STORY


FOR CLASS 9TH : THE SECRET OF STEEV

 

ASSIGNMENT :

READ THE BOOK CAREFULLY. 

WRITE THE BOOK REVIEW.

 

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Tuesday, September 1, 2020

FOR CLASS 6


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AKBAR BIRBAL FOR CLASS 7TH & 8TH


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FOR CLASS 9TH : HARRY POTTER


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