ABSTRACT
Matangini Hazra was born in 1870 in Hogla village of Tamluk, in undivided Midnapore district, West Bengal, to a Mahisya family (now in West Bengal). She was a significant participant in several independence struggles, such as the protest against the Chowkidari tax and the Salt Satyagraha. She was affectionately known as 'Gandhi Buri.' She commanded one of the five batches of Vidyut Bahini volunteers sent to Tamluk by the Samar Parisad (War Council) to seize and hang the Congress flag atop the Tamluk Thana on September 29, 1942. Soldiers under the leadership of Anil Kumar Bhattacharya stopped them on their approach to the thana. Matangini Hazra was shot dead in the fire, holding the Congress flag in her hands. She was the first Quit India campaign victim in Tamluk and Midnapore. The goals of this article are to look into Gandhiji's Quit India Resolution, the role of women in the freedom struggle in Bengal, with a special focus on the Purba Medinipur district, the role of Matangini Hazra in Gandhiji's Quit India movement, and the role of the parallel tamluk national government's Biplabi newspaper. Secondary data was acquired from official publications, censuses, books, and journals for the research.
ABSTRACT
Background: Iodine deficiency disorder is one of the preventable public health diseases in India. Prevalence of goiter is also still prevalence at sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal. Study was conducted to assess prevalence of goiter among school students between 6 and 12 years age, to find out urinary excretion of iodine and iodine content in salt sample and to recommend for consuming iodized salt.Methods: We conducted the study among the school students aged 6 to 12 years during the month of June 2018 in Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal, India. Multistage cluster sampling method was conducted for selecting the study population. Clinical examination was done by medical officer to detect goiters. Salt and urine samples were taken from the selected students and were sent to State Iodine Monitoring Laboratory, Kolkata for examination of iodine content in household salt samples and urine samples.Results: Total 2821 students were examined for survey. Over all prevalence of goiter was 3.75% (109/2821). Girls had more prevalence 4.63% than boys 3.18%. Average urinary iodine excretion (UIE) level is 184.74% in 30 clusters of 339 urine samples. Only 5.60% showed UIE level ≤100 microgram/liter. Total 541 household salt samples were tested for iodine and average iodine content was 22.85%. Among them 91.5% (495) had iodine ≥15 ppm indicating adequate iodine contents in salt samples.Conclusions:Purba Medinipur may be considered a non-endemic district. We recommended continuing use of iodized salt.
ABSTRACT
Aims: To document, highlight and provide baseline data to preserving traditional uses of sand dune based medicinal plant species. Place and Duration of Study: Different villages of coastal Purba Medinipur district under West Bengal state in India, between March 2016 to April 2018. Methodology: The ethnobotanical information was collected through semi-structured interviews and key informant discussion. The data was recorded in a data sheet with the names of the plant species, families, vernacular names, voucher number of plant specimens, habits, life span, flowering and fruiting seasons, Raunkiaer's life form and sub type, IUCN status, plant part (s) used, mode of administration, uses(s), fidelity level (FL) and use value (UV). Data were analyzed using informant consensus factors (ICF), UV and FL for each medicinal plant species used to cure various ailments. Results: We documented 130 plant species showing “thero-chamaephytic” phytoclimate belonging to 49 families and 110 genera used for treating 21 human ailments, most of which were herbs. Most remedies were prepared in the form of decoction and used orally. The leaves were most frequently used plant parts. Dental ailments had the highest ICF 0.97, whereas analgesic uses had the lowest 0.5 ICF. Ochthochloa compressa had the highest FL (96.81%) being used for skin and wound healing and Acanthus volubilis had the lowest (3.33%) for the digestive and respiratory disorder. Conclusions: ICF values indicated that there was high agreement in the use of plants associated with dental problems. FL or UV values indicated the more preferred plant species used in study areas. This preferred plant species might be prioritized for conservation and subjected to further studies related to the potential for future. Most of the medicinal plants of the region were collected in the wild and were often harvested for trade. Sustainable harvesting methods and domestication of the highly traded species were thus needed in the study areas.