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Fear the Virus, Not the People

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Shimla-A couple of years back, who would have thought that there would come a time when humanity would sink so low that in some corner of the country, a son will have to carry his mother’s dead body on his shoulders with no one around to lend him a helping hand. I, personally, have never lost faith in humanity, but ever since the pandemic has hit India, there have been many sad incidents where one starts to doubt whether humanity is still alive? I will not use the word virus or COVID-19 to highlight the plight of these people because the virus isn’t the one to crush their souls; it is us, you and me.

In other words, time and again we hear about many incidences like these of people finding it hard to arrange carriage to take their dead relatives to the crematoriums, sick people being deserted when they needed care, people being shunned and thrown out of their rented house because they are infected with the virus and families of the dead victims not being given any space to cremate the dead body. Does it not break your heart to think of what such people go through? Should we not help them? Or are we just going to continue enjoying the luxury of staying at home, and not pay any heed to whatever is happening around us? Like I said before, I have a lot of hope left in me, and I know many of us will not continue watching the needy suffer from a distance anymore. These are tough times for all of us, but we need to look around, as there may be someone who is facing even tougher conditions and may be finding it very hard to survive in such times.

Likewise, we need to understand that because someone is infected with the virus it should not stop us from helping them. I understand that we fear about catching the virus, but if we maintain our distance with the infected person, if we wear masks properly, and if we keep washing our hands and sanitize ourselves, we will still be safe and can help the person who is in need. There’s scientifically no evidence that the dead body is capable of spreading the Covid-19 virus and thus not allowing a person to cremate the dead is uncalled for.  Taking precautions and still finding a way to help such people is the answer. At the same time, a lot of people continue to work in the front line for our needs. Many doctors, nurses, sanitation workers come across people who constantly avoid them and many a times harass them. Don’t be one among such people. Find a way to comfort them from a distance, as they are the real heroes who are leading the battle against Covid-19.

With that being said, yesterday I read the news of a sports trainer in Dharampur coming forward to help a family who was denied help by the villagers to cremate the body of an old woman. The old women wasn’t Covid-19 positive, but due to her daughter being infected with the virus the villagers had objected. After hearing this news through the state officials Sports trainer, Gopal Thakur, along with two other sportsmen travelled to the village from their place, which was 40km’s away and helped the family. After reading that I was filled with a sense of relief, that in some way or form humanity is still alive but at the same time it broke me to realize that none of the villagers had come forward to help the family. But thanks to Mr. Gopal Thakur, my heart got kindled with hope. This incident has reassured me that ‘humanity is not dead, it just needs to be found.’

Thus, it’s time to understand that we should not lose our humanity and our love for mankind in the process of saving ourselves from the virus. Don’t let your soul get infected.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Himachal Watcher or its members.

A 23 year old English graduate intensely passionate for journalism. Literature has taught her the value of latent, varying perspectives, and journalism couples it seamlessly with her inclination to look beyond the surface. She sums up her passion for journalism by quoting Maxine Hong Kingston, “There's something in life that's a curtain, and I keep trying to raise it.”

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Shimla City – Private Bus Operators Seen Creating Nuisance by Blocking Road

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Shimla-In yet another instance, two private bus operators in Shimla city were seen creating a nuisance for the public by jamming the traffic. A reader clicked some pictures at the BCS bust stop in Shimla city on February 19, 2022, at about 8 PM and shared them with us. The reader alleged that two private bus operators, namely ‘Komal’ and ‘Chadda’, indulged in a verbal spat, most probably over their schedule. While the drivers argued, one of the buses remained parked in the middle of the road, choking the traffic. The staff of these two buses indulged in a verbal spat for about 5-10 minutes during which the general public faced a huge inconvenience. The reader has requested the Traffic Police Shimla to take action against such operators and discourage them from adopting such a bullying attitude that they don’t even hesitate to block the entire road.

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Littering – A Grave Threat to Sundernagar Lake and Its Aquatic Life

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Sundernagar-Many people visit the Sundernagar lake in Mandi district and litter along the road. Winds carry all those packets and plastic bottles into the lake. This practice of littering is unlawful because it costs millions in clean-up projects. It portrays a bad picture of an area. Littering is a huge threat to the aquatic life too. In my view, the solution is awareness, responsibility, sensibility and concern for nature. We as a society need to play a big role. At least, dustbins should be installed along the lake. Otherwise, the negligence in the present will affect us in near future.

-Blog and Picture By Divya Acharya, Sundernagar

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If you have relevant issues/complains that you want the people and the government to see and read about, you can publish blogs on Himachal Watcher. Send us your blogs with pictures/videos at editor [at] himachalwatcher [dot]com

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Shimla-Based IT Start-Up Scaling Global Market in Short Span of Time

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Shimla based it company netgen solution

Shimla-A youth from a small town of the Mandi district – Sarkaghat- started as a freelancer and went on to launch his own start-up in 2014. By 2021, the start-up grew into a company that has garnered international clients  and also designed and developed websites and web apps for several Departments of the Himachal Pradesh Government.   

Netgen IT Solutions Pvt Ltd- a young agile company- has, so far, developed websites for the Department of Information Technology,  Women & Child Development, Rope & Rapid Transport Development Corporation, HP Milk Federation Cooperation,  and the HP AIDS Control Society.

Besides, it also developed  HimSuraksha Abhiyan App (National Health Mission) and the website of the Department of Tourism & Civil Aviation along with a  Services Portal.

Further, the website of the Department of Information & Public Relations and the single window system was also developed by NetGen.

Having developed over 2500 websites, Netgen IT Solutions has an imprint of having worked for clients spread over 25 countries in Europe, America, Asia and Australia.

Bootstrapped as a Start-Up on 7th July 2014, the company has evolved to offer a diverse set of services for web, e-commerce and mobile solutions that have enabled Global and Indian business to adapt to a Digital First environment. In seven years, this Shimla-based company has carved out a niche for itself.

The company started with a small team of just four people, and today it employs strong-heeled 25 IT professionals. The skillset of web developers, designers, networking specialists, social media marketers and others is expanding with the growth of the company.

To mark the NetGen Foundation Day, the company hosted a live inter-action of the team members with some clients to understand the need for future technologies and solutions for a fast-changing business environment in the shadow COVID pandemic.

Mr Rajneesh Rana, Founder and Managing Director of the company, is a computer science graduate. Speaking about the company’s journey, Rana’s says, “Stepping out from working as a freelancer at the small township of Sarkhaghat, in Himachal Pradesh, to launching a start-up company, was my first step in entrepreneurship. The company was founded on a shoe-string budget with a small capital outlay. After overcoming the initial hesitancy, we’re on the firmer ground today.”

With the growth in demand for IT Services, the company in the initial year faced manpower shortages. The management took to train and equip freshers in a mentorship program to meet its needs for IT Professionals and also to equip others to find gainful employment elsewhere. Netgen till date has trained over 50 freshers with essential and advanced IT skills. Most of them for the first time in their careers got exposure to the IT Industry.

The company’s IT Technical Team today is professionally equipped to work in 20+ technologies that can be deployed across a vast network of industries. 

The Netgen team of IT professionals has expanded the services that the company now provides. A multitude of projects employing creative website design-development; customised software products; e-Commerce solutions; server administration – web security – networking services; mobile application design – development; social media marketing; stand completed.

“There is a growing demand for many other IT and IT-enabled services that the company has successfully delivered for Global and Indian clients,” said Rajneesh. 

“Since the breakout of the COVID pandemic, the demand for online services has increased. It created an environment that demands moving things onto digital platform, bringing more opportunities for the IT sector ,” added Rajneesh.  

“Take the case of the Government of Himachal Pradesh, India. To secure baseline health data of the over 70 lakh residents in the state and to prepare effective strategies for countering the spread of the pandemic in challenging hilly terrain, the state government needed a simple but effective IT-enabled solution to capture the data as fast as possible,” he said.   

“The ‘Him Suraksha Abhiyan’ application designed and developed by NetGen IT Solutions was used by thousands of teams spread under 2300+ sub-centres. In just over a month, the software solution created successfully captured the data of over 68 lakh residents of Himachal Pradesh,” he added.

The 70:30 Percent (%) Global – Domestic revenue stream of Netgen has prepared the company to expand both its export and domestic service portfolios, said Rajneesh. 

Mr Ravinder Makhaik, Director of the company says, “growing steadily, Netgen is a debt-free, profit-making company. A healthy mix of domestic and international businesses, with sound financials, gives the company strength to take up more challenging projects. Our portfolio of government projects is making good progress.”

Founded as a 1 lakh authorized capital company and with annual revenues rising at a 25 % compounded annual growth rate, the Netgen Board of Directors has decided to expand the authorized capital of the company to Rs 10 lakh to meet future growth needs.

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