Supratim Pal

[Supratim Pal @lapmitarpus]

Trolls are always blocked on my TL.

[Supratim Pal @lapmitarpus]

@mumbaiheritage Tram.

[Supratim Pal @lapmitarpus]

RT @timesofindia: Sandip Dighe, a special correspondent with TOI Pune, was presented with the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award…

[Sreyashi Dey @SreyashiDey]

Breaking:

#WestBengal CM #MamataBanerjee releases communication between State administration and #President security over the unprecedented faceoff that’s unfolded today. States no protocol breached.

Says, #BJP “misusing” the highest chair for “political agenda.”

[Mamata Banerjee @MamataOfficial]

International Santal Council, a private organisation, invited Hon’ble President to the 9th International Adivasi Santal Conference in Siliguri.

After Advanced Security Liaison, district administration flagged in writing to the President’s Secretariat that the organiser appeared inadequately prepared; the concern was also conveyed telephonically (For relevant letters and photographs, see my related facebook post)

The President’s Secretariat advance team visited on 05.03.26, was apprised of the lack of arrangements, yet the programme continued as scheduled.

Hon’ble President was received and seen off by Mayor Siliguri Municipal Corporation, DM Darjeeling and CP Siliguri Police Commissionerate strictly as per the approved lineup shared by the President’s Secretariat. CM, West Bengal was not part of the lineup or the dais plan. No protocol lapse happened on part of district administration.

BJP is disrespecting and misusing the highest chair in the country for its own party agenda. Most unfortunate.

[Supratim Pal @lapmitarpus]

@AmazonHelp No option to chat with customer care even after clicking the link. On return page, getting this message although delivery and pickup addresses are same!

[Supratim Pal @lapmitarpus]

@amazonIN can’t return item. What’s the option to get in touch with customer care?

[Supratim Pal @lapmitarpus]

Michael, there's been a lot of talk around England's team culture post the Ashes. Where do you stand with your assessment of captain Harry Brook?

#AskCricbuzzLive

[Joy Bhattacharjya @joybhattacharj]

Three years ago, I was at the Lemon Tree Bengaluru for the Volleyball League. And every morning I would finish breakfast & pop out to reception to pick up a copy of the TOI and the Economic Times. After watching me the first two days, this charming lady on duty would see me and immediately pick them out to give me.
One day, I just wanted the TOI, as the crossword then did not appear in the Sunday ET, and when she came with both, I told her I didn't need the ET.
She refused to understand, & didn't want to take back the other paper. And then I realized that like my darling son Neel and all in the autism spectrum, she struggled when a set routine was disrupted.
I apologized immediately, took the ET as well & was rewarded with a smile that just blew me away.
Thank you Lemon Tree Hotels for making a workplace for all. You have a supporter & customer for life

[Supratim Pal @lapmitarpus]

True. What a day it has been!!!

[#AusOpen @AustralianOpen]

WHAT DID WE WITNESS?! 🤯

We were treated to two truly epic men's singles semifinals 😲

[Supratim Pal @lapmitarpus]

Believe!!! Whatta motto #Alcaraz! Such a great crazy #semifinal #AlcarazZverev #AusOpen

[DGCA @DGCAIndia]

Press note on Learjet 45 Aircraft VT-SSK crash at Baramati Airport of M/s VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd

[Kolkata Police @KolkataPolice]

PRONAM registration under Kolkata Police is available only to senior citizens aged 60 years and above who are residing within the jurisdiction of Kolkata Police and are living alone or with their spouse. This facility is restricted to residents under Kolkata Police Stations, and enrollment forms must be submitted at the concerned Police Station. Citizens residing outside Kolkata Police jurisdiction are not eligible.

Eligible persons may also opt for online registration for speedy and hassle-free enrollment through https://t.co/jGIfd8ZCTc / https://t.co/CNRachFyNI subject to verification at the concerned Police Station.

Required documents include address proof, age proof, photograph, blood group, contact number, and emergency contact person’s phone number.

কলকাতা পুলিশের অধীনে 'প্রণাম' (PRONAM) প্রকল্পে রেজিস্ট্রেশন কেবল সেই সমস্ত প্রবীণ নাগরিকদের জন্য উপলব্ধ যাদের বয়স ৬০ বছর বা তার বেশি এবং যারা কলকাতা পুলিশের আওতাধীন এলাকায় একাকী অথবা শুধুমাত্র তাঁদের স্বামী/স্ত্রীর সাথে বসবাস করছেন। এই সুবিধাটি কেবলমাত্র কলকাতা পুলিশ এলাকার থানাগুলির বাসিন্দাদের জন্য সীমাবদ্ধ এবং আবেদনপত্রটি সংশ্লিষ্ট থানায় জমা দিতে হবে। কলকাতা পুলিশ এলাকার বাইরে বসবাসকারী নাগরিকরা এই সুবিধার আওতাভুক্ত নন।

যোগ্য ব্যক্তিরা দ্রুত এবং সহজতর রেজিস্ট্রেশনের জন্য https://t.co/jGIfd8ZCTc অথবা https://t.co/CNRachFyNI এর মাধ্যমে অনলাইনেও আবেদন করতে পারেন, যা সংশ্লিষ্ট থানা দ্বারা যাচাই সাপেক্ষ।

প্রয়োজনীয় নথিপত্রের মধ্যে রয়েছে ঠিকানার প্রমাণপত্র, বয়সের প্রমাণপত্র, ছবি, রক্তের গ্রুপ, যোগাযোগের নম্বর এবং জরুরি অবস্থায় যোগাযোগযোগ্য ব্যক্তির ফোন নম্বর।

[Narendra Modi @narendramodi]

Shri Ajit Pawar Ji was a leader of the people, having a strong grassroots level connect. He was widely respected as a hardworking personality at the forefront of serving the people of Maharashtra. His understanding of administrative matters and passion for empowering the poor and downtrodden were also noteworthy. His untimely demise is very shocking and saddening. Condolences to his family and countless admirers. Om Shanti.

[Supratim Pal @lapmitarpus]

RT @timesofindia: NCP chief #AjitPawar’s plane reportedly crashed while attempting an #emergency landing in Maharashtra’s Baramati district…

[Supriya Sule @supriya_sule]

Manikarnika Ghat, Varanasi, is a sacred site of immense cultural and historical significance, shaped over centuries and closely associated with the legacy of Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar.

Reports of alterations affecting this heritage are deeply concerning.

Requesting Hon. Yogi Adityanath ji, to kindly intervene and issue clarification to ensure that development fully respects history, culture, and due process.

@myogiadityanath

[Supratim Pal @lapmitarpus]

@bhogleharsha Come to #Pune!

[Vijay Anaparthi @VijayCricketFan]

It's Pongal festival week. Everyone knows the iconic Boxing Day Test and cricket fans follow every year but did you know that until 1988, India had it's own tradition of hosting a Pongal Test.

Let's talk about the Pongal Test matches in this thread.

1/n

[Shubh @kadaipaneeeer]

In 2006, my brother was doing his PhD.
Topic: Bovine AIDS.
Institute: a university in Mathura.
Coursework: HSADL, Bhopal, India’s top animal disease lab.

Then bird flu happened.

Suddenly, HSADL became the lab.
And suddenly, my brother was told to drop 1.5 years of research and switch topics.

Not because science demanded it.
Because the system did.

The deal was simple:
Change your topic, or lose your stipend.

He called me and said,
“I love my research. I don’t want to work on what babus want.”

For once, I didn’t give gyaan.
I gave him an exit.

“Apply outside India. Let’s see if anyone values your work.”

He applied to 8 universities.
7 in Australia, 1 in Europe.

Within hours, 7 offers came back.
5 with full scholarships and stipends.

The 8th replied three days later.
The professor was at a conference.
That’s it. That was the delay.

Why?

Because his CV was ridiculously good:
•17 international publications
•1 book
•54 national publications
•103 reviews

He went to Europe.
Finished his PhD.
Got a Post-Doc in Texas.
Applied for a Green Card.
Got it in 2 months.
Citizenship the moment he was eligible.

Still, he wanted to come back.

Because India is home & hope dies slowly.

In 2011, he applied for a professor’s job at JNKVV, Jabalpur.
Salary: ₹40,000/month.

They asked for hard copies of all publications.

I still remember packing a full carton of his papers and couriering it.

Then, on July 8, we got a letter dated July 6.

Interview: July 10. In person.

Bring:

•NOC from his current university
•Character certificate
•Hard copies again

Because “what if interviewers want to see?”

I called them.

“How does someone fly from Europe in two days?”

Answer:

“Interviews are till 12th. He must come.”

That was the moment we stopped trying.

India wasn’t rejecting him.
India was humiliating him.

Later, when he sent his HSADL work to Elsevier, the journal did a routine verification.

HSADL replied saying:

•He left without due process
•His stipend wasn’t settled
•His address was false

We sent:

•No Dues Certificate
•Formal relieving letter
•Proof that the address was the same as his passport
•Proof that our parents still live there

Didn’t matter.
Publication rejected.

That’s the system.

We happily talk about reservations. But we quietly harass competence.

And before someone says, “Things have changed under Modi” no, they haven’t.

I tried in 2023.
Same hard copies.
Same physical interviews.

I now work as a visiting professor with an IIT. Online.

My reimbursement request has been pending since August 2023.

The professor in charge says,
“I get 100 mails a day. I don’t check all.”

Fair enough.

This country doesn’t lack talent. It lacks respect for it.

And the smartest people don’t leave India for money. They leave to save their dignity

[Ameer Shahul @ameershahul]

A lonely goodbye to Madhav Gadgil, one of the tallest environmentalists of our times.

Under the banyan trees of Navi Peth in Pune, Madhav Gadgil was taken for cremation last evening. The gathering was small, some forty, perhaps fifty people.

No ministers. No senior officials. No tricolour to drape the body. No guard of honour salutes. No ceremonial rifle volleys.

One expects a crowd, the usual press cameras and public mourning. Instead, there was a pause, a quiet uncertainty, as if this farewell were happening somewhere it wasn’t meant to.

State honours had been promised, but never quite arrived. Even the police escort lost its way. For nearly half an hour, Gadgil’s body lay waiting, wrapped in simple white, while the city carried on around it, indifferent.

For me, this was not the death of a distant public figure.

In the 1990s, when I was starting out as a science correspondent with the Press Trust of India in Bengaluru, Madhav Gadgil was already a towering presence at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). At the IISc's Centre for Ecological Sciences, he stood out, not by volume or self-importance, but by intellectual rigour and moral clarity.

I walked into his office many a time in those years, notebooks open, deadlines close. He listened carefully, answered precisely, never spoke down. He believed knowledge carried responsibility, and that science without ethics was incomplete. Those conversations stayed with me, shaping how I understood both journalism and ecology.

This was also the man who later led the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, producing a report that treated the mountains not as real estate or mineral stock, but as living systems. The Gadgil Committee Report spoke of ecological limits, decentralised governance, community rights, and long-term survival.

A Padma Bhushan awardee. A UN Champion of the Earth. A lifelong defender of forests, rivers, biodiversity, and uncomfortable truths. In death, he was treated as someone easily forgotten.

The trees were not.

The old banyans stood quietly, their leaves stirring in the afternoon air. Gadgil had given his life to them. Trees remember. Animals remember. They show up when people don’t.

Had this been a politician or an industrialist, roads in Pune would have been sealed, helicopters circling, television studios filled with tributes and theatrical grief. Power is never allowed to pass quietly.

But a man who tried to protect the land that sustains us all was sent off almost unnoticed.

The trees stood witness.

The rest of us moved on.

Goodbye, Madhav Gadgil.

Forgive us.

We did not know how to honour you.

(Photo Courtesy: R S Gopan)

[Anand Kr Shaw @AnandShawKr]

₹50,000 premium. ₹15 lakh coverage. ₹0 peace of mind.

India's health insurance system is broken. And no one's fixing it.

Let me tell you what happened to my family last week.

My wife needed gallbladder surgery. We have HDFC Optima Secure with @HDFCERGOGIC . We've paid premiums for years. We did everything right - got cashless approval, chose a network hospital (@ManipalHealth Whitefield), followed every process.

On 26th Dec, I received the settlement letter:

"Amount to be paid by insured: ₹0"

Surgery happened. It went well. She was recovering. We were ready to go home.

The hospital refused to let us leave.

Despite holding a valid insurance document that said we owe NOTHING, they wouldn't discharge a recovering patient. My wife sat in that room - tired, in pain, wanting to go home - while I begged at the billing counter.

We were only "allowed" to leave after I blocked ₹X,XX,XXX on my credit card.

A patient. Held hostage. In a hospital. In India. In 2025.

Then on 30th Dec, magically, a new settlement letter appeared:

"Amount to be paid by insured: ₹X,XX,XXX"

Same surgery. Same bills. Same everything. But now I suddenly owe lakhs.

Here's how the trick works:

The hospital bills ₹5.8L. The insurance company says "we have an MOU with the hospital, agreed package rate is ₹1.9L." So they settle for ₹1.9L.

The remaining ₹3.9L? "Patient to pay."

But wait - the MOU is between the hospital and insurance company. The "agreed package rate" is THEIR agreement. Why is the patient paying the difference for a deal they negotiated?

The letter was updated AFTER we left. The hospital and insurance company sorted it out between themselves. The patient? Just a pawn in the middle.

Both letters say: "No amount to be collected from insured"

Their own words. Their own document. Exposed for what it is - meaningless paper.

This is not a one-off incident. This is the system working exactly as designed:

→ Insurance companies collect premiums for years, then find ways to deny or reduce claims → Hospitals inflate bills knowing insurance will negotiate down, and patients will pay the difference → Patients are trapped between the two - too exhausted to fight, too scared to refuse → IRDAI exists but is reactive, not preventive - they'll act after you file a complaint, not before you're harassed
Where is the protection for patients?
Where are the regulations that say a hospital CANNOT hold a patient hostage for payment disputes?
Where is the accountability when an insurance company issues two contradictory letters and expects the customer to just figure it out?

We pay GST on premiums. We pay taxes. We fund the regulators. And when we need help, we're left standing at a billing counter, blocking credit cards to take our family home.

I've filed a complaint with @IRDAI_official. I have every document. I'll fight this.

This is not customer service failure. This is systemic exploitation.

@HDFCERGO - honor your own document. Claim: RC-HS25-15349896_1 Policy: 2856205638548200

@IRDAI_official - regulate before patients are harassed, not after.

@JPNadda - health insurance is not a luxury product. Millions of Indians depend on it. The current system is failing them.

@raghav_chadha Need your help to raise this insurance scam in parliament.