Kolkata diary

Express News Service
Ramakrishna Math senior VP passes awaySwami Vagishananda, the senior most vice-president of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, passed away at Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan on Friday last week. He was 91. He suffered a heart attack. Swami Vagishananda was elected vice-president of the order in June 2014, three years after he was authorised to give spiritual initiation to devotees. “A loving spiritual guide, his understanding, affection and empathy will remain invaluable assets to the devotees,’’ said a senior monk of the order. Swami Vagishananda was born in Chittagong in Bangladesh on January 12, 1962.  An initiated disciple of Swami Shankarananda, he joined the order at Saradapith centre in 1954 and had taken sanyasa from Swami Vishuddhananda in 1962. Swami Vagishananda was the head of Malda, Kamarpukur, Mumbai and Cossipore centres. In March 1990, Swami Vagishananda was appointed trustee of Ramakrishna Math, Belur, and a member of the governing body of the Ramakrishna Mission. He had visited several countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal, Mauritius and Japan with the message of the Math and Mission.

Wild dog puppies on display at Alipore ZooTwo Asian wild dog puppies, born at the Alipore Zoo on December 22, were displayed for the first time on Saturday last week. The Asian wild dog, also known as Dhole, is an average size canine found throughout the forest tracts of Indian subcontinent. Two pairs of puppies were brought to the zoo from Visakhapatnam in 2019. One of the females gave birth to a litter of four puppies. But two of the puppies did not survive. The remaining two, a male and a female, were weak and shifted to the zoo’s veterinary hospital. They have recovered and are stable now. The zoo keepers are feeding the puppies milk and chicken. Wild dholes usually hunt in packs and can hunt down wild pigs, deer, hares and wild goats. This is the first time in 50 years that the Alipore Zoo has wild dog puppies. 

No entrance test for evening engg courseThe West Bengal state joint entrance examination board has decided against conducting entrance test for admission to the five-year evening engineering course at Jadavpur University. This is owing to the poor turnout of candidates for the programme in the last year. An official of the joint entrance examination board said that making arrangements for conducting the entrance test that attracts only a few aspirants is not justifiable and therefore from the year 2021 onwards, the board will not conduct the tests. The evening engineering course is usually pursued by working professionals.

Inspections before ICSE, ISC exams beginThe schools where students would appear for their ICSE and ISC examinations would have an additional round of inspection, during which officials would check seating arrangement, sanitisation system and other Covid-19 protocols. Usually, exam conveners inspect the centres during the exams. This time, however, there will be visits before the exams, following an instruction from the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, which conducts the exams. Schools are required to maintain six-feet gap between examinees. 

pranab mondalOur correspondent in West [email protected]