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১৫ নভেম্বর ২০২৪
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বাল্মীকির আগে লিখিত হয়েছিল ‘রামায়ণ’! কে লিখেছিলেন সেই মহাকাব্য

বাল্মীকি সামনেই দেবর্ষি নারদ জানান, তিনি এর চেয়েও উৎকৃষ্ট এক ‘রামায়ণ’-এর সন্ধান জানেন।

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কলকাতা শেষ আপডেট: ১০ অগস্ট ২০২২ ০৮:২৩
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০১ ১৬
এ কথা প্রায় সকলেই জানেন যে, ‘রামায়ণ’-এর রচয়িতা মহাকবি বাল্মীকি। কিন্তু এই মহাকাব্যের আদিকাণ্ডেই বলা হয়েছে যে, রামকথা বাল্মীকির কল্পনা থেকে জাত নয়। বরং ইক্ষ্বাকু বংশের রাজা রামচন্দ্রের জীবন ও কাহিনি সম্পর্কে অনেকেই অবগত ছিলেন। কবিত্বশক্তি লাভের পরে যখন বাল্মীকি কী নিয়ে কাব্য রচনা করবেন বলে ভাবছেন, তখন দেবর্ষি নারদ তাঁর সামনে আবির্ভূত হন। বাল্মীকি দেবর্ষিকে তাঁর সমস্যার কথা জানান।

এ কথা প্রায় সকলেই জানেন যে, ‘রামায়ণ’-এর রচয়িতা মহাকবি বাল্মীকি। কিন্তু এই মহাকাব্যের আদিকাণ্ডেই বলা হয়েছে যে, রামকথা বাল্মীকির কল্পনা থেকে জাত নয়। বরং ইক্ষ্বাকু বংশের রাজা রামচন্দ্রের জীবন ও কাহিনি সম্পর্কে অনেকেই অবগত ছিলেন। কবিত্বশক্তি লাভের পরে যখন বাল্মীকি কী নিয়ে কাব্য রচনা করবেন বলে ভাবছেন, তখন দেবর্ষি নারদ তাঁর সামনে আবির্ভূত হন। বাল্মীকি দেবর্ষিকে তাঁর সমস্যার কথা জানান।

০২ ১৬
বাল্মীকি নারদকে জানান যে, তিনি সর্ব সুলক্ষণযুক্ত এবং সর্বগুণান্বিত কোনও পুরুষকে কেন্দ্র করে এক মহাকাব্য রচনা করতে আগ্রহী। তেমন কোনও পুরুষের সন্ধান কি নারদ তাঁকে দিতে পারেন? এর উত্তরে নারদ তাঁকে ইক্ষ্বাকু বংশের রাজা রামচন্দ্রের কথা জানান। তিনি কয়েকটি মাত্র শ্লোকে রামচন্দ্রের কীর্তি বর্ণনা করে বলেন যে, এই সর্ব সুলক্ষণযুক্ত ও সর্ব গুণান্বিত পুরুষোত্তম সম্প্রতি একশো অশ্বমেধ যজ্ঞ সম্পন্ন করেছেন। কয়েক হাজার ব্রাহ্মণকে গাভী দান করেছেন এবং আরও অনেক সুকর্ম করেছেন। ধরাধামে ধর্ম প্রতিষ্ঠার কাজ শেষ হলে রামচন্দ্র ব্রহ্মলোকে ফিরে যাবেন। বাল্মীকি রামচন্দ্রের কাহিনিকে তাঁর কাব্যে অমর করে রাখতে পারেন।

বাল্মীকি নারদকে জানান যে, তিনি সর্ব সুলক্ষণযুক্ত এবং সর্বগুণান্বিত কোনও পুরুষকে কেন্দ্র করে এক মহাকাব্য রচনা করতে আগ্রহী। তেমন কোনও পুরুষের সন্ধান কি নারদ তাঁকে দিতে পারেন? এর উত্তরে নারদ তাঁকে ইক্ষ্বাকু বংশের রাজা রামচন্দ্রের কথা জানান। তিনি কয়েকটি মাত্র শ্লোকে রামচন্দ্রের কীর্তি বর্ণনা করে বলেন যে, এই সর্ব সুলক্ষণযুক্ত ও সর্ব গুণান্বিত পুরুষোত্তম সম্প্রতি একশো অশ্বমেধ যজ্ঞ সম্পন্ন করেছেন। কয়েক হাজার ব্রাহ্মণকে গাভী দান করেছেন এবং আরও অনেক সুকর্ম করেছেন। ধরাধামে ধর্ম প্রতিষ্ঠার কাজ শেষ হলে রামচন্দ্র ব্রহ্মলোকে ফিরে যাবেন। বাল্মীকি রামচন্দ্রের কাহিনিকে তাঁর কাব্যে অমর করে রাখতে পারেন।

০৩ ১৬
এই কাহিনি থেকে এটুকু বোঝা যায় যে, লিখিত হওয়ার আগে রামচন্দ্রের কাহিনি লোকমুখে প্রচলিত ছিল। কিন্তু তাকে মহাকাব্যের রূপদান করেন বাল্মীকিই। সে দিক থেকে দেখলে বাল্মীকিই ‘রামায়ণ’-এর রচয়িতা। কিন্তু ভারতীয় লোকসমাজে ‘রামায়ণ’ রচনা নিয়ে এক মধুর কাহিনি প্রচলিত রয়েছে, যেখানে বাল্মীকির ‘রামায়ণ’ রচনার আগেই রচিত এক ‘রামায়ণ’-এর সন্ধান পাওয়া যায়।

এই কাহিনি থেকে এটুকু বোঝা যায় যে, লিখিত হওয়ার আগে রামচন্দ্রের কাহিনি লোকমুখে প্রচলিত ছিল। কিন্তু তাকে মহাকাব্যের রূপদান করেন বাল্মীকিই। সে দিক থেকে দেখলে বাল্মীকিই ‘রামায়ণ’-এর রচয়িতা। কিন্তু ভারতীয় লোকসমাজে ‘রামায়ণ’ রচনা নিয়ে এক মধুর কাহিনি প্রচলিত রয়েছে, যেখানে বাল্মীকির ‘রামায়ণ’ রচনার আগেই রচিত এক ‘রামায়ণ’-এর সন্ধান পাওয়া যায়।

০৪ ১৬
জনশ্রুতিতে বহমান সেই কাহিনিটি এই রকম— ‘রামায়ণ’ রচনা শেষ করে বাল্মীকি তাঁর কাব্য দেবতাদের পাঠ করে শোনাতে আগ্রহী হন। ইন্দ্র, বরুণ, বায়ু, অগ্নি প্রমুখ দেবতা এবং গঙ্গা ও যমুনার মতো দেবী সেই কাব্য শুনে বিমোহিত হয়ে পড়েন এবং তাঁরা অবিমিশ্র প্রশংসা করতে থাকেন বাল্মীকির কবিত্বশক্তির।

জনশ্রুতিতে বহমান সেই কাহিনিটি এই রকম— ‘রামায়ণ’ রচনা শেষ করে বাল্মীকি তাঁর কাব্য দেবতাদের পাঠ করে শোনাতে আগ্রহী হন। ইন্দ্র, বরুণ, বায়ু, অগ্নি প্রমুখ দেবতা এবং গঙ্গা ও যমুনার মতো দেবী সেই কাব্য শুনে বিমোহিত হয়ে পড়েন এবং তাঁরা অবিমিশ্র প্রশংসা করতে থাকেন বাল্মীকির কবিত্বশক্তির।

০৫ ১৬
সেখানে দেবর্ষি নারদও উপস্থিত ছিলেন। তিনি কিন্তু প্রশংসায় অংশগ্রহণ করলেন না। তাঁর নীরবতা দেখে বাকিরা প্রশ্ন করেন। নারদ জানান, তিনি এর চেয়েও উৎকৃষ্ট এক ‘রামায়ণ’-এর সন্ধান জানেন।

সেখানে দেবর্ষি নারদও উপস্থিত ছিলেন। তিনি কিন্তু প্রশংসায় অংশগ্রহণ করলেন না। তাঁর নীরবতা দেখে বাকিরা প্রশ্ন করেন। নারদ জানান, তিনি এর চেয়েও উৎকৃষ্ট এক ‘রামায়ণ’-এর সন্ধান জানেন।

০৬ ১৬
এ বার বাল্মীকির বিস্মিত হওয়ার পালা। তিনি নারদের কাছে জানতে চান, সেই ‘রামায়ণ’ কে রচনা করেছেন। নারদ খানিক টালবাহানার পরে জানান, সেই ‘রামায়ণ’-এর রচয়িতা আর কেউ নন, স্বয়ং মহাবীর হনুমান।

এ বার বাল্মীকির বিস্মিত হওয়ার পালা। তিনি নারদের কাছে জানতে চান, সেই ‘রামায়ণ’ কে রচনা করেছেন। নারদ খানিক টালবাহানার পরে জানান, সেই ‘রামায়ণ’-এর রচয়িতা আর কেউ নন, স্বয়ং মহাবীর হনুমান।

০৭ ১৬
তাঁর চেয়েও উৎকৃষ্ট ‘রামায়ণ’ রচয়িতার নাম শুনে মহাকবির চোখ কপালে। তাঁর রচনায় হনুমান এক বানর। তিনি মহাবীর, তিনি না থাকলে রামচন্দ্রের পক্ষে সীতাকে উদ্ধার করা আরও বেশি দুরূহ হত। মহাকপি ‘রামায়ণ’-এর অন্যতম প্রধান চরিত্র। কিন্তু তিনি যে কবিত্বশক্তির অধিকারী হয়ে তাঁর চেয়েও উৎকৃষ্ট কাব্য রচনা করবেন, এ কথা মহাকবি কিছুতেই মানতে পারছিলেন না।

তাঁর চেয়েও উৎকৃষ্ট ‘রামায়ণ’ রচয়িতার নাম শুনে মহাকবির চোখ কপালে। তাঁর রচনায় হনুমান এক বানর। তিনি মহাবীর, তিনি না থাকলে রামচন্দ্রের পক্ষে সীতাকে উদ্ধার করা আরও বেশি দুরূহ হত। মহাকপি ‘রামায়ণ’-এর অন্যতম প্রধান চরিত্র। কিন্তু তিনি যে কবিত্বশক্তির অধিকারী হয়ে তাঁর চেয়েও উৎকৃষ্ট কাব্য রচনা করবেন, এ কথা মহাকবি কিছুতেই মানতে পারছিলেন না।

০৮ ১৬
তাঁর ‘রামায়ণ’ রচনা যে সময় সমাপ্ত হয়, সেই সময়ে হনুমান ঠিক কোথায় অবস্থান করছেন, তা বাল্মীকি জানতেন না। তিনি নারদের কাছে পবনপুত্রের ঠিকানা জানতে চান। নারদ জানান, সীতার বরে অমরত্বপ্রাপ্ত হয়ে হনুমান হিমালয়ের পাদদেশে এক কদলীবনে বাস করছিলেন।

তাঁর ‘রামায়ণ’ রচনা যে সময় সমাপ্ত হয়, সেই সময়ে হনুমান ঠিক কোথায় অবস্থান করছেন, তা বাল্মীকি জানতেন না। তিনি নারদের কাছে পবনপুত্রের ঠিকানা জানতে চান। নারদ জানান, সীতার বরে অমরত্বপ্রাপ্ত হয়ে হনুমান হিমালয়ের পাদদেশে এক কদলীবনে বাস করছিলেন।

০৯ ১৬
তাঁর চেয়েও উৎকৃষ্ট ‘রামায়ণ’ কেমন হতে পারে, এ নিয়ে কৌতূহল ধরে রাখতে পারেননি বাল্মীকি। বহু ক্লেশ সহ্য করে পাহাড়-পর্বত পার হয়ে হিমালয়ের পাদদেশে অবস্থিত সেই কদলীবনে এসে পৌঁছন বাল্মীকি। কিন্তু হনুমান তখন সেখানে ছিলেন না।

তাঁর চেয়েও উৎকৃষ্ট ‘রামায়ণ’ কেমন হতে পারে, এ নিয়ে কৌতূহল ধরে রাখতে পারেননি বাল্মীকি। বহু ক্লেশ সহ্য করে পাহাড়-পর্বত পার হয়ে হিমালয়ের পাদদেশে অবস্থিত সেই কদলীবনে এসে পৌঁছন বাল্মীকি। কিন্তু হনুমান তখন সেখানে ছিলেন না।

১০ ১৬
সেখানেই তিনি দেখতে পান পর্বতগাত্রে কী সব লেখা যেন খোদিত রয়েছে। বাল্মীকি সেগুলি পড়তে শুরু করেন এবং বুঝতে পারেন যে, রুক্ষ পাথরের গায়ে নখের আঁচড়ে কেউ সেই সব লিখেছেন। অচিরেই বাল্মীকি বুঝতে পারেন, সেই সব লিখনই আসলে হনুমানের লেখা ‘রামায়ণ’।

সেখানেই তিনি দেখতে পান পর্বতগাত্রে কী সব লেখা যেন খোদিত রয়েছে। বাল্মীকি সেগুলি পড়তে শুরু করেন এবং বুঝতে পারেন যে, রুক্ষ পাথরের গায়ে নখের আঁচড়ে কেউ সেই সব লিখেছেন। অচিরেই বাল্মীকি বুঝতে পারেন, সেই সব লিখনই আসলে হনুমানের লেখা ‘রামায়ণ’।

১১ ১৬
সেই ‘রামায়ণ’ পড়তে পড়তে বাল্মীকি আত্মবিস্মৃত হয়ে পড়েন। তার কাব্যসুষমা এবং ছত্রে ছত্রে নিহিত ভক্তিরস তাঁকে আপ্লুত করে ফেলে। নিজের অজান্তেই আনন্দাশ্রু নেমে আসে মহাকবির দু’চোখ বেয়ে। তিনি বুঝতে পারেন, হনুমান রচিত ‘রামায়ণ’ একেবারেই ভিন্ন স্তরের এক মহাকাব্য। যেখানে ভক্তিরস ভাসিয়ে দিতে পারে পাঠককে। বাল্মীকি এ-ও বুঝতে পারেন যে, এই দিক থেকেই হনুমানের ‘রামায়ণ’ তাঁর ‘রামায়ণ’-এর চেয়ে অনেক বেশি হৃদয়গ্রাহী।

সেই ‘রামায়ণ’ পড়তে পড়তে বাল্মীকি আত্মবিস্মৃত হয়ে পড়েন। তার কাব্যসুষমা এবং ছত্রে ছত্রে নিহিত ভক্তিরস তাঁকে আপ্লুত করে ফেলে। নিজের অজান্তেই আনন্দাশ্রু নেমে আসে মহাকবির দু’চোখ বেয়ে। তিনি বুঝতে পারেন, হনুমান রচিত ‘রামায়ণ’ একেবারেই ভিন্ন স্তরের এক মহাকাব্য। যেখানে ভক্তিরস ভাসিয়ে দিতে পারে পাঠককে। বাল্মীকি এ-ও বুঝতে পারেন যে, এই দিক থেকেই হনুমানের ‘রামায়ণ’ তাঁর ‘রামায়ণ’-এর চেয়ে অনেক বেশি হৃদয়গ্রাহী।

১২ ১৬
এমন সময় সেখানে আগমন ঘটে স্বয়ং হনুমানের। তিনি বাল্মীকিকে তাঁর অশ্রুমোচনের কারণ জিজ্ঞাসা করলে মহাকবি তাঁকে জানান, তাঁর সারা জীবনের কাজকে বিসর্জন দিতে ইচ্ছা করছে হনুমানের ‘রামায়ণ’ পড়ে।

এমন সময় সেখানে আগমন ঘটে স্বয়ং হনুমানের। তিনি বাল্মীকিকে তাঁর অশ্রুমোচনের কারণ জিজ্ঞাসা করলে মহাকবি তাঁকে জানান, তাঁর সারা জীবনের কাজকে বিসর্জন দিতে ইচ্ছা করছে হনুমানের ‘রামায়ণ’ পড়ে।

১৩ ১৬
হনুমান বাল্মীকিকে বললেন, এমন চিন্তা বৃথা। কারণ, তিনি ‘রামায়ণ’ রচনা করেছেন তাঁর আরাধ্য শ্রীরামচন্দ্রকে সদা স্মরণে রাখার জন্য। এ ‘রামায়ণ’ একান্ত ভাবেই তাঁর ব্যক্তিগত উপলব্ধির প্রকাশ। কিন্তু বাল্মীকির রচনা এক মহান কাব্য। যা রচিত হয়েছে এক বিশেষ দূরত্ব থেকে। সে কারণে যুগ যুগ ধরে মানুষ বাল্মীকির কাব্যই পড়বেন, হনুমানের রচনা নয়।

হনুমান বাল্মীকিকে বললেন, এমন চিন্তা বৃথা। কারণ, তিনি ‘রামায়ণ’ রচনা করেছেন তাঁর আরাধ্য শ্রীরামচন্দ্রকে সদা স্মরণে রাখার জন্য। এ ‘রামায়ণ’ একান্ত ভাবেই তাঁর ব্যক্তিগত উপলব্ধির প্রকাশ। কিন্তু বাল্মীকির রচনা এক মহান কাব্য। যা রচিত হয়েছে এক বিশেষ দূরত্ব থেকে। সে কারণে যুগ যুগ ধরে মানুষ বাল্মীকির কাব্যই পড়বেন, হনুমানের রচনা নয়।

১৪ ১৬
এই বলে হনুমান তাঁর ‘রামায়ণ’ লেখা পর্বতটিকে উপড়ে ছুড়ে দিলেন দূরে। শতসহস্র যোজন পার হয়ে সেটি সমুদ্রে গিয়ে পড়ল। বাল্মীকি বিস্মিত হলেন এই কাণ্ডে। হনুমান তাঁকে জানালেন, এই ‘রামায়ণ’-এর আর কোনও প্রয়োজন নেই। কারণ, রামকথা তাঁর হৃদয়ে খোদিত হয়ে আছে।

এই বলে হনুমান তাঁর ‘রামায়ণ’ লেখা পর্বতটিকে উপড়ে ছুড়ে দিলেন দূরে। শতসহস্র যোজন পার হয়ে সেটি সমুদ্রে গিয়ে পড়ল। বাল্মীকি বিস্মিত হলেন এই কাণ্ডে। হনুমান তাঁকে জানালেন, এই ‘রামায়ণ’-এর আর কোনও প্রয়োজন নেই। কারণ, রামকথা তাঁর হৃদয়ে খোদিত হয়ে আছে।

১৫ ১৬
এই প্রচলিত কাহিনির অন্য একটি বয়ানকে এক গ্রন্থে তুলে ধরেছেন দেবদত্ত পট্টনায়ক। তিনি লিখেছেন, হনুমান তাঁর ‘রামায়ণ’ লিখেছিলেন কদলীপত্রে। বাল্মীকির কথায় তিনি সেই পাতাগুলিকে এক মুহূর্তে ধ্বংস করে ফেলেন। বাল্মীকিকে তিনি জানান, মহাকবি ‘রামায়ণ’ লিখেছেন নিজের অমরত্বের জন্য। মানুষ যাতে রামকথা পড়তে পড়তে তার রচয়িতাকে মনে রাখেন, সেটাই তাঁর অভিপ্রায়। কিন্তু হনুমান ‘রামায়ণ’ লিখেছেন শুধু মাত্র তাঁর প্রভু রামচন্দ্রকে মনে রাখতে। এর থেকে বেশি কিছু তাঁর চাওয়ার নেই।

এই প্রচলিত কাহিনির অন্য একটি বয়ানকে এক গ্রন্থে তুলে ধরেছেন দেবদত্ত পট্টনায়ক। তিনি লিখেছেন, হনুমান তাঁর ‘রামায়ণ’ লিখেছিলেন কদলীপত্রে। বাল্মীকির কথায় তিনি সেই পাতাগুলিকে এক মুহূর্তে ধ্বংস করে ফেলেন। বাল্মীকিকে তিনি জানান, মহাকবি ‘রামায়ণ’ লিখেছেন নিজের অমরত্বের জন্য। মানুষ যাতে রামকথা পড়তে পড়তে তার রচয়িতাকে মনে রাখেন, সেটাই তাঁর অভিপ্রায়। কিন্তু হনুমান ‘রামায়ণ’ লিখেছেন শুধু মাত্র তাঁর প্রভু রামচন্দ্রকে মনে রাখতে। এর থেকে বেশি কিছু তাঁর চাওয়ার নেই।

১৬ ১৬
দেবদত্ত তাঁর বইয়ের শেষে জানিয়েছেন বিশ্বের বিভিন্ন অঞ্চলে প্রচলিত বিভিন্ন ‘রামায়ণ’-এর কথা। মহাকবি বাল্মীকির রচনা থেকে সেগুলি বহুলাংশেই আলাদা। কিন্তু প্রতিটি ‘রামায়ণ’-ই তার নিজস্ব মহিমায় ভাস্বর। সেই মহিমা রামচন্দ্রের কীর্তির মহিমা। কে তার লেখক, সে কথা কেউ মনে রাখেন না। কৃত্তিবাস থেকে তুলসিদাস, বাঁকুড়ার জগৎরাম-রামপ্রসাদ থেকে কোঙ্কন উপকূলের মৌখিক ঐতিহ্যে বহমান ‘রামায়ণ’ আসলে তার কাহিনি-সৌন্দর্যেই ভাস্বর। সে কাহিনি চিরায়ত। কবিদের নশ্বরতাকে অতিক্রম করে অমরত্ব প্রদান করে সেই কাহিনি।

দেবদত্ত তাঁর বইয়ের শেষে জানিয়েছেন বিশ্বের বিভিন্ন অঞ্চলে প্রচলিত বিভিন্ন ‘রামায়ণ’-এর কথা। মহাকবি বাল্মীকির রচনা থেকে সেগুলি বহুলাংশেই আলাদা। কিন্তু প্রতিটি ‘রামায়ণ’-ই তার নিজস্ব মহিমায় ভাস্বর। সেই মহিমা রামচন্দ্রের কীর্তির মহিমা। কে তার লেখক, সে কথা কেউ মনে রাখেন না। কৃত্তিবাস থেকে তুলসিদাস, বাঁকুড়ার জগৎরাম-রামপ্রসাদ থেকে কোঙ্কন উপকূলের মৌখিক ঐতিহ্যে বহমান ‘রামায়ণ’ আসলে তার কাহিনি-সৌন্দর্যেই ভাস্বর। সে কাহিনি চিরায়ত। কবিদের নশ্বরতাকে অতিক্রম করে অমরত্ব প্রদান করে সেই কাহিনি।

(সবচেয়ে আগে সব খবর, ঠিক খবর, প্রতি মুহূর্তে। ফলো করুন আমাদের Google News, X (Twitter), Facebook, Youtube, Threads এবং Instagram পেজ)
ramayana Valmiki Indian Mythology
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However, you may print or download extracts from these pages for your personal / individual, non-commercial use only. You must not retain any copies of these pages saved to disk or to any other storage medium except for the purposes of using the same for subsequent viewing purposes or to print extracts for personal / individual use.
ABP Pvt. Ltd. forbids you from any attempts to resell or put to commercial use any part of the Site; any collection and use of any product listings, descriptions, or prices; any derivative use of the Site or its contents; any downloading or copying of account information for the benefit of any other merchant; any renting, leasing, or otherwise transferring rights to the Site / Service; displaying the name, logo, trademark or other identifier of another person in such a manner as to give the viewer the impression that such other person is a publisher or distributor of the Service on the Site, or any data gathering or extraction tools; or any use of meta tags. You may not (whether directly or through the use of any software program) create a database in electronic or structured manual form by regularly or systematically downloading and storing all or any part of the pages from this site.
No part of the Site may be reproduced or transmitted to or stored in any other web site, nor may any of its pages or part thereof be disseminated in any electronic or non-electronic form, nor included in any public or private electronic retrieval system or service without prior written permission.

Individual Registration, Access and Exchange of Information

For certain services such as email, personal web pages, contests and shopping, registration by the visitor is required. To register for these services you have to open an account by completing the registration process (i.e. by providing us with current, complete and accurate information as prompted by the applicable registration form). You also will choose a password and a user name. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and account and shall be responsible for the security of the connection and / or network that you are using. By registering, you agree to the following terms in addition to any other specific terms which shall be posted at an appropriate location of the Site. Each registration is for a single individual user only.


To access these services, you will be asked to enter your individual User Name and Password, as chosen by you during your registration. Therefore, we do not permit any of the following:-

• Any other person sharing your account and Password;
• Any part of the Site being cached in proxy servers and accessed by individuals who have not registered with www.anandabazar.com as users of the Site; or
• Access through a single account and Password being made available to multiple users on a network.
If ABP Pvt. Ltd. reasonably believes that an account and Password is being used / misused in any manner, ABP Pvt. Ltd. shall reserve the right to cancel access rights immediately without notice, and block access to all users from that IP address.


Furthermore, you are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under your account. You agree to notify ABP Pvt. Ltd. immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. ABP Pvt. Ltd. will not be liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of someone else using your password or account. However, you could be held liable for losses incurred by ABP PVT. LTD. or another party due to someone else using your account or password.


No unlawful or prohibited use

As a condition of your use of the Services, you will not use the Services for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these terms, conditions, and notices. You may not use the Services in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair any ABP PVT. LTD.'s server, or the network(s) connected to any ABP PVT. LTD.'s server, or interfere with any other party's use and enjoyment of any Services. You may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any Services, other accounts, computer systems or to any of the Services, through hacking, password mining or any other means. You may not obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available through the Services.


Material Posted/transmitted at www.anandabazar.com by the user and /or any third party:

All information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages or other materials ("Content"), whether publicly or privately transmitted / posted, is the sole responsibility of the person from where such content is originated (the Originator). By Posting any material which contain images, photographs, pictures or that are otherwise graphical in whole or in part ("Images"), you warrant and represent that (a) you are the copyright owner of such Images, or that the copyright owner of such Images has granted you permission to use such Images or any content and/or images contained in such Images consistent with the manner and purpose of your use and as otherwise permitted by these Terms of Use and the Services, (b) you have the rights necessary to grant the licenses and sublicenses described in these Terms of Use, and (c) that each person depicted in such Images, if any, has provided consent to the use of the Images as set forth in these Terms of Use, including, by way of limitation, the distribution, public display and reproduction of such Images.


You represent that you have valid rights and title in any and all Content/Images that you submit on the Site, that you have not infringed on any IPR belonging to any party and further that you will indemnify ABP PVT. LTD or its affiliates for all claims arising out of any content that you post on the Site.


ABP PVT. LTD. accepts no responsibility for the said Content / Images. However, you understand that all Content / Images posted by you becomes the property of ABP PVT. LTD. and you agree to grant/assign to ABP PVT. LTD. and its affiliates, a non-exclusive, royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable and sub-licenseable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content / Images (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed throughout the world".


Limitations of Liabilities

Any transactions relating to sale/purchase of goods or services not directly offered by ABP PVT. LTD. are to be settled inter-se between the parties to such transaction and all warranties express or implied of any kind, regarding any matter pertaining thereto, including without limitation the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement are disclaimed by ABP PVT. LTD.


ABP PVT. LTD. merely endeavors to provide a platform where you and other party may interact, exchange information or carry out sale/purchase transactions on such terms and in the manner mutually agreed between you and the other party. ABP PVT. LTD. does not have any involvement in the actual transactions between the buyers and sellers in any way. It is only you, who is entirely responsible for all the activities, arising out of the transactions of sale/purchase of goods or services offered by any other party and not ABP PVT. LTD. ABP PVT. LTD. will not be liable for any loss that you may incur, while selling or purchasing goods /services of the third party.


Under No circumstances will ABP PVT. LTD. be held responsible or liable, in any way, for any content which in Legal opinion is derogatory, threatening, defamatory, obscene or offensive or offends public sensibilities or morals and shall also not assume liability for any errors or omissions in any content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any content posted or uploaded on the Site, or any infringement of another's rights, including intellectual property rights. You specifically agree that ABP PVT. LTD. is not responsible for any content sent using and/or included in ABP PVT. LTD.'s site/service by any third party.


Individual Registration and Access

Certain Services offered by the Company through www.anandazar.com platform, such as email, personal web pages, contests and shopping, require prior registration by the User. To gain access to such Services, You will be required to create an account by completing the registration process. As part of such registration process, You will be required to provide Us with current, complete and accurate information pertaining to such details as prompted by the applicable registration form. You will also be required to choose a unique password and a user name, which shall be entered by You every time You wish to gain access to the said Services. You shall not be entitled to gain, and shall not facilitate, access to www.anandabazar.com platform through a single account and password, by multiple users on a network. You agree and understand that We do not permit any part of www.anandabazar.com platform being cached in proxy servers. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of Your password and account.

If the Company reasonably believes that Your account and/or Password is being/ has been misused in any manner, the Company shall reserve the right to cancel access rights immediately without notice, and block access to all users from that IP address.

You shall not share your account information and password with others or use anyone else’s account. You are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under Your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. In such an event, we shall do our best to help you recover your account; however, we cannot guarantee that your account will be restored or the content contained therein will be recovered. We will not be liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of unauthorized use of your password or account. However, you could be held liable for losses incurred by the Company or another party due to someone else using your account or password.

International Users

You agree and understand that the Services are controlled and operated by the Company from its offices in India. You agree that: (i) the Services shall be deemed solely based in India; and (ii) the use of the Services do not give rise to personal jurisdiction over the Company, either specific or general, in jurisdictions other than India. You agree that the laws of India, excluding India’s choice of law rules, will apply to this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and all other policies and guidelines provided by the Company and to the provision of Services by the Company.

Access to www.anandabazar.com platform and/ or the Services from jurisdictions other than India where the same are illegal is prohibited. The Company reserves the right to block access to www.anandabazar.com platform and/ or the Services by such prohibited access by international users. If you access www.anandabazar.com platform and/ or the Services from a location outside India, you waive any right available under laws of jurisdictions outside of India.

Individual Registration and Access

Certain Services offered by the Company through www.anandazar.com platform, such as email, personal web pages, contests and shopping, require prior registration by the User. To gain access to such Services, You will be required to create an account by completing the registration process. As part of such registration process, You will be required to provide Us with current, complete and accurate information pertaining to such details as prompted by the applicable registration form. You will also be required to choose a unique password and a user name, which shall be entered by You every time You wish to gain access to the said Services. You shall not be entitled to gain, and shall not facilitate, access to www.anandabazar.com platform through a single account and password, by multiple users on a network. You agree and understand that We do not permit any part of www.anandabazar.com platform being cached in proxy servers. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of Your password and account.

If the Company reasonably believes that Your account and/or Password is being/ has been misused in any manner, the Company shall reserve the right to cancel access rights immediately without notice, and block access to all users from that IP address.

You shall not share your account information and password with others or use anyone else’s account. You are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under Your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. In such an event, we shall do our best to help you recover your account; however, we cannot guarantee that your account will be restored or the content contained therein will be recovered. We will not be liable for any loss that you may incur as a result of unauthorized use of your password or account. However, you could be held liable for losses incurred by the Company or another party due to someone else using your account or password.

International Users

You agree and understand that the Services are controlled and operated by the Company from its offices in India. You agree that: (i) the Services shall be deemed solely based in India; and (ii) the use of the Services do not give rise to personal jurisdiction over the Company, either specific or general, in jurisdictions other than India. You agree that the laws of India, excluding India’s choice of law rules, will apply to this Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and all other policies and guidelines provided by the Company and to the provision of Services by the Company.

Access to www.anandabazar.com platform and/ or the Services from jurisdictions other than India where the same are illegal is prohibited. The Company reserves the right to block access to www.anandabazar.com platform and/ or the Services by such prohibited access by international users. If you access www.anandabazar.com platform and/ or the Services from a location outside India, you waive any right available under laws of jurisdictions outside of India.

Termination of Account

ABP PVT. LTD. reserves its right to refuse service, restrict, suspend, terminate your account; (Terminate this Agreement; Terminate or suspend your access to the ABP Web Sites; Refuse, move or remove for any reason any Content / Image that you submit on or through the Services; Refuse, move, or remove any Content / Image that is available on or through the Services; Deactivate or delete your accounts and all related information and files in your account; Establish general practices and limits concerning use of the Services) at any time and, remove or edit contents or cancel orders (entered by you) in its sole discretion with or without cause, and with or without any prior notice for any violation of the Terms of Use. Upon such termination or suspension, your right to use the ABP PVT. Ltd.'s Web Sites will immediately cease.

You can terminate Your account at any time by writing to service@anandabazar.com but your information may remain stored in archive on Our servers even after the deletion or the termination of Your account.


User Conduct and Obligations

You hereby agree and assure ABP PVT. Ltd. that the Site/Services shall be used for lawful purposes only and that you will not violate laws, regulations, ordinances or other such requirements of any applicable Central, State or local government or any other international laws. You further concur that you will not, through Site/Service:

• post, distribute, or otherwise make available or transmit any software or other computer files that contain a virus trojan horses, time bombs, bots, botnets, malicious content, content theft, data manipulation, threats or any other harmful programs or elements or component;
• delete from the Site any legal notices, disclaimers, or proprietary notices such as copyright or trademark symbols, or modify any logos that you do not own or have express permission to modify;
• not use the Site / Service in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair and not to undertake any action which is harmful or potentially harmful to any ABP PVT. LTD.'s server, or the network(s), computer systems / resource connected to any ABP PVT. LTD. server, or interfere with any other party's use and enjoyment of the Site/Service;
• obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available through the Site/Service;
• engage in any activity that causes / may harm minors; or
• perform any activity which is likely to cause such harm;
• impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, ABP PVT. LTD.'s official, forum leader, guide or host, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity;
• take any action which encourages or consists of any threat of harm of any kind to any person or property;
• carry out any "denial of service" (DoS, DDoS) or any other harmful attacks on application or internet service or;
• make any inappropriate, illegal or otherwise prohibited communication to any Newsgroup, Mailing List, Chat Facility, or other Internet Forum;
• use the Site/Service for illegal purposes;
• disrupt, place unreasonable burdens or excessive loads on, interfere with or attempt to make or attempt any unauthorized access to any ABP PVT. LTD website or the website of any ABP PVT.LTD.'s customer;
• transmit through the Site, any unlawful, harassing, libelous, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene, libelous, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind or nature. This includes text, graphics, video, programs or audio, etc;
• collect or attempt to collect personally identifiable information of any person or entity without their express written consent and you shall maintain records of any such written consent throughout the terms of this agreement and for a period of 2 years thereafter;
• engage in antisocial, disruptive, or destructive acts, including "flaming," "spamming," "flooding," "trolling," and "griefing" as those terms are commonly understood and used on the Internet
• forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any content transmitted through the Site.
• upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," duplicative messages or any other form of solicitation.
• encumber or suffer to exist any lien or security interest on the subject matter of this Agreement; or
• make any representation or warranty on behalf of ABP PVT. LTD.


You agree not to post, distribute, transmit or otherwise make available any data, text, message, computer file, or other material that infringes and/or violates any right of a third party or any domestic or international law, rule, or regulation, including but not limited to:

• infringement of any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other proprietary rights of any third party, including, but not limited to, the unauthorized copying of copyrighted material, the digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books, or other copyrighted sources, and the unauthorized transmittal of copyrighted software;
• Right of privacy (specifically, you must not distribute another person's personal information of any kind without their express permission) or publicity;
• Any confidentiality obligation.
Unless otherwise permitted, you will: (i) display the Service on your Site in the exact form received by you, and not modify or edit any of the foregoing without ABP PVT. Ltd.'s prior written consent; (ii) ensure that the fundamental meaning of the Service is not changed or distorted; (iii) comply with all applicable laws and all limitations and restrictions (if any) placed by ABP PVT. Ltd. on the use, display or distribution of any Service and (iv) not archive any of the Service for access by users at any future date after the Service has been removed from your Web site. You acknowledge that the service must link and redirect to the appropriate ABP PVT. Ltd.'s Web page when a user clicks on the Service (e.g. a headline). You shall not display the Service in such a manner that does not allow for successful linking and redirection to, and delivery of, ABP PVT. Ltd.'s Web page, nor may you frame any ABP PVT. Ltd.'s Web page.


No Controlling Spam Policy or Unsolicited E-mails

You will not use any communication tool or other means available on the Site to transmit, directly or indirectly, any unsolicited bulk communications (including emails and instant messages). You may not harvest information about users of ABP PVT. LTD. for the purpose of sending or to facilitate the sending of unsolicited bulk communications. We may terminate your access or use of the Site immediately, with or without any notice, and take any other legal action if you, or anyone using your access details to the Site, violates these terms. We may adopt any technical remedy (including any filtering technology or other measures) to prevent unsolicited bulk communications from entering, or remaining within our computer or communication networks. Such filtering technology or other measures may block, either temporarily or permanently, some e-mail sent to you through the ABP PVT. Ltd.'s Web Sites.


Disclaimer of Warranties and Liability

limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, workmanlike effort, title and non-infringement are disclaimed and excluded.


ABP PVT. Ltd. and its parent, affiliates and associates shall not be liable, at any time for any, direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special, consequential, damages (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business projects, damage to your computer system or damages for loss of profits, damages for loss of use, data or profits, arising out of or in any way connected with the use or performance of the ABP PVT. Ltd.'s sites/services, with the delay or inability to use the ABP PVT. Ltd.'s sites/services or related services, the provision of or failure to provide services, or for any information, software, products, services and related graphics obtained through the ABP PVT. LTD. sites/services, or otherwise arising out of the use of the ABP PVT. LTD. sites/services) arising in contract, tort or otherwise from the use of or inability to use the Site, or any of its contents, or from any act or omissions a result of using the Site or any such contents or for any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to, alteration of, or use of information contained on the site. No representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever are made by ABP PVT. LTD. as to the (a) accuracy, adequacy, reliability, completeness, suitability or applicability of the information to a particular situation; (b) that the service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free; (c) the quality of any products, services, content, information, or other material purchased or obtained from the website will meet your expectations or requirements; or (d) any errors in the website will be corrected.


Links to Other Sites

All the contents of this Site are only for general information or use. They do not constitute advice and should not be relied upon in making (or refraining from making) any decision. Any specific advice or replies to queries in any part of the Site is/are the personal opinion of such experts/consultants/persons and are not subscribed to by this Site. The information from or through this site is provided on "AS IS" basis, and all warranties and conditions, expressed or implied of any kind, regarding any matter pertaining to any goods, service or channel, including without Certain links on the Site lead to resources located on servers maintained by third parties, these sites of third party(s) may contain ABP PVT. LTD.'s-logo, please understand that it is independent from ABP PVT. LTD., over whom ABP PVT. LTD. has no control or connection, business or otherwise as these sites are external to ABP PVT. LTD. You agree and understand that by visiting such sites you are beyond the ABP PVT. LTD.'s website. ABP PVT. LTD., therefore neither endorses nor offers any judgement or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability for the authenticity, availability, suitability, reliability, accuracy of the information, software, products, services and related graphics contained, of any of the goods/services/or for any damage, loss or harm, direct or consequential or any violation of local or international laws that may be incurred by your visit and/or transaction/s on these site(s), as the same is provided on "as is" without warranty of any kind. ABP PVT. LTD. gives no warranty and makes no representation whether expressed or implied, that the information contained in this site is error free. ABP PVT. LTD. shall not be responsible nor liable for any consequential damages arising on account of your relying on the contents of the advertisement. Before relying on the material, users should independently verify its relevance for their purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice.


Material Submitted by Users

Certain elements of the Site will contain material submitted by users. ABP PVT. LTD. accepts no responsibility for the content, accuracy, conformity to applicable laws of such material. You will indemnify and hold harmless ABP PVT. LTD. against all third party claims, demands and actions brought against ABP PVT. LTD. which arises from or relates to the material submitted by you.


Advertising Material

Part of the Site contains advertising information or promotion material or other material submitted to ABP PVT. LTD. by third parties. Responsibility for ensuring that material submitted for inclusion on Site complies with applicable International and National law is exclusively on the party providing the information/material. Your correspondence or business dealings with, or participation in promotions of, advertisers other than ABP PVT. LTD. found on or through the Website, including payment and delivery of related goods or services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between You and such advertiser. ABP PVT. LTD. will not be responsible or liable for any claim, error, omission, inaccuracy in advertising material or any loss or damage of any sort incurred as the result of any such dealings or as the result of the presence of such non-ABP PVT. LTD. advertisers on the Website. ABP PVT. LTD. reserves the right to omit, suspend or change the position of any advertising material submitted for insertion. Acceptance of advertisements on the Site will be subject to these terms and conditions.

Data Protection

ABP PVT. LTD. may send information and offer products and services to you from time to time. For further details relating to our policy relating to such offer please refer to our privacy statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, ABP PVT. LTD. reserves the right to disclose any information in response to / that it is required to be shared, disclosed or make made available to any governmental, administrative, regulatory or judicial authority under any law or regulation applicable to ABP PVT. LTD.


Further, ABP PVT. LTD. can (and you authorize ABP PVT. LTD. to) disclose your name, street address, city, state, zip code, country, phone number, email, and company name to Intellectual Property rights owners, as we in our sole discretion believe necessary or appropriate in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringement, piracy, or other unlawful activity.


Relationship

None of the provisions of the User Agreement shall be deemed to constitute a partnership or agency between you and ABP PVT. LTD. and you shall have no authority to bind ABP PVT. LTD. in any manner, whatsoever.


Force Majeure

ABP PVT. LTD. shall have no liability to you for any interruption or delay, to access the Site irrespective of the cause.


Indian Law

The Agreement shall be governed by the Laws of India. The Courts of law at Kolkata, West Bengal, India shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any disputes arising under this agreement.


Entire Agreement

These Terms of Service constitute the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes and replaces all prior or contemporaneous understandings or agreements, written or oral, regarding such subject matter.


Right to remove inappropriate messages

We reserve the right to remove any messages we deem to be inappropriate, i.e, racist, sexist or threatening. Messages using inappropriate language will also be removed. We do not wish to be censors, but our forums must remain civilized and respect the rights of others.


Limited time to bring your claim

You and ABP PVT. LTD. agree that any cause of action arising out of or related to the ABP PVT. LTD.'s web sites, only, must commence within one (1) year after the cause of action accrues otherwise, such cause of action will be permanently barred.


Acceptance of Terms & Conditions

By using ABP PVT. LTD.'s sites and services, you signify your acceptance of this Terms & Conditions. If you do not agree or are not comfortable with any term described in this Term & Conditions, your only remedy is to discontinue use of ABP PVT. LTD. sites. We reserve the right, to modify this Terns & Conditions at any time.


General Terms

Rights and obligations under the Terms which by their nature should survive will remain in full effect after termination or expiration of the Terms.


Any express waiver or failure to exercise promptly any right under the Terms will not create a continuing waiver or any expectation of non-enforcement.
If any provision of the Terms is held invalid by any law or regulation of any government, or by any court or arbitrator, the parties agree that such provision will be replaced with a new provision that accomplishes the original business purpose, and the other provisions of the Terms will remain in full force and effect.

Notice of Copyright Infringement

ABP PVT. LTD. is not liable for any infringement of copyright arising out of materials posted on or transmitted through the site, or items advertised on the site, by end users or any other third parties. Our policy is to comply with all Intellectual Property Laws and to act expeditiously upon receiving any notice of claimed infringement. If you believe that your work has been reproduced on this website in a manner that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide a notice of copyright infringement containing all of the following information:


(a)A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner for the purposes of the complaint.
(b)Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed.
(c)Identification of the material on our website that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity.
(d)The address, telephone number or e-mail address of the complaining party.
(e)A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law.
(f)A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notice of copyright infringement is accurate, and that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the right that is allegedly infringed.

All notices of copyright infringement should be sent to:

ABP Pvt. Ltd.
www.anandabazar.com
ABP Pvt. Ltd. 6, Prafulla Sarkar St. Kolkata-700001, West Bengal, India
+913322345374

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which ABP Pvt. Ltd. (ABP) collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from users (each, a "User") in respect of the Sites and Mobile Applications and all internet and mobile based products and services offered by ABP Pvt. Ltd.
(www.anandabazar.com, www.ebela.in, www.telegraphindia.com, www.t2online.com )

"You" and / or "Your" and / or "User" shall include and mean the person who is accessing the aforesaid websites through any means available now and / or maybe available in the future.

Governing Law and Meanings:-
These Terms of Use are being governed by the Laws of India and meaning of words used herein in connection with the use of the said website shall bear the meaning as may be envisaged and interpreted by the Information Technology Act, 2000 and any of its Amendment Acts.

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE GATHER ABOUT YOU?

The information gathered when you interact with ABP falls into two categories: 1) Personal information, which includes personal information you supply when you subscribe, order, complete a survey, register for one of our sites, enter a contest or provide your email address and 2) Non-personal information collected through technology, which includes tracking information collected by us as well as third parties.

Personal Information That You Give Us or Ask a Third Party to Share with Us

Registration Information

Registration for ABP may require that you supply certain personal information, including a unique email address and demographic information (ZIP code, age, sex, household income, job industry and job title) to register.

You may register or enhance your profile by linking your Facebook or Google accounts on ABP. By doing this, you are asking them to send us certain information from those social media accounts, and you are authorizing us to collect, store, and use what they send us in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Social media registration features may collect your IP address, the page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social media features and widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our website. You can disassociate your ABP registration from third-party accounts any time.

Kindly note that ABP shall not responsible for any information collected by the third party from you.

User Generated Content and Public Activities (Including Comments and Reader Reviews)

We offer you opportunities to engage in public activities on ABP.com and other ABP Services. "Public activities" are any actions you take on ABP that are designed to be visible to other users, including comments, recommendations, reader reviews, ratings or any other items that you submit. Any information you disclose in your public activities, along with your screen name or ID, or any image or photo, becomes public and may be used by ABP for online and offline promotional or commercial uses in any and all media. If you choose to engage in public activities, you should be aware that any personal information you submit can be read, collected and used by other users of these areas. We are not responsible for the personal information you choose to submit in the course of your public activities and we have no responsibility to publish, take down, remove or edit any of your public activities or submissions. For more information, see Terms of Service.

Public activities may be included in our RSS feeds, APIs and other distribution formats. As a result, your public activities may appear on other websites, blogs, or feeds. Keep in mind that we are not responsible for any personal information you choose to make public via your public activities, and you agree that such sharing will be deemed to have been done by you, not ABP including but not limited to sharing of information in your connected social media accounts.

When you share or recommend links to content on a third-party platform (such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter), that action and any information you share will be covered by their privacy policy.

Contests, Sweepstakes and Special Offers

ABP collects personal information from you when you participate in sweepstakes, contests or special offers. If this information is also being collected by a third party other than ABP, we will notify you at the same time. If you do not want any personal information shared, you should not participate in the sweepstakes, contest or special offer.

Reader Surveys, Reader Panels and Market Research

ABP may collect personal information from you in connection with voluntary surveys conducted via ABP. Data may be collected through ABP, on the phone or through the mail. The information you provide may be shared, but only in the aggregate, with advertisers and partners unless we notify you otherwise at the time of collection.
Members of our Reader Panels agree to participate in surveys, polls or discussions about their readership of ABP, their household/personal characteristics and their purchase behavior.

Conferences and Live Events

We often receive information about attendees to our live events from sign-in and registration lists. We may share this information with event or promotion sponsors, in which case we will notify you when we collect the information.

Non-Personal Information Collected Using Technology

Information Collected by Us Using Technology

We use various internet technologies to manage ABP and track use of the Services. Non-personal information that we collect using these technologies may be combined with other information about you.

Device Information. We may collect non-personal information about the computer, mobile device or other device you use to access ABP, such as IP address, geolocation information, unique device identifiers, browser type, browser language and other transactional information.

Cookies, Beacons, Local Storage and Other Similar Technologies. We use "cookies," web beacons, tags and scripts, and other similar technologies including local storage objects such as HTML5. These technologies allow us to manage access to and use of the Services, recognize you and provide personalization, and help us understand how people use ABP. You will not be able to access certain areas of our websites, including ABP, if your computer does not accept cookies from us. We do not respond to browser-based "do not track" signals. For more detailed information about our use of cookies and local storage, and how to manage them, see Frequently Asked Questions About Cookies.

We may transmit non-personally identifiable website usage information to third parties in order to show you advertising for ABP when you visit other sites. For more information about our third-party ad server, or to learn your choices about not having this non-personal information used to target ads to you, please click here.

Local Storage Objects

We may use Local Storage Objects (LSOs) such as HTML5 to store content information and preferences. Third parties with whom we partner to provide certain features on our site or to display advertising based upon your web browsing activity use LSOs such as HTML 5 or Flash to collect and store information.

Various browsers may offer their own management tools for removing HTML5 LSOs. To manage Flash LSOs please click here:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/
documentation/en/flashplayer/
help/settings_manager07.html

Analytics, Log Files and Reading History

As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information may include internet protocol (IP) addresses (the region or general location where your computer or device is accessing the internet), browser type, operating system and other usage information about the use of ABP, including a history of the pages you view.

We may combine this automatically collected log information with other information we collect about you. We do this to improve services we offer you, including customized Recommendations, advertising and currency display, to improve marketing, and to track access and use of ABP across the devices that you use to access ABP.

We have hired third parties to provide us information, reports and analysis about the usage, browsing patterns of our users. They may independently record the type of device and operating system you are using, general location information, as well as events that occur within our apps, such as how often you use our apps.

Location Information. Some of our mobile applications can deliver content based on your current location if you choose to enable that feature of the app. If you enable the location-based feature, your current location will be stored locally on your device, which will then be used by the app. If you elect to have a location-based search saved to your history, we will store that information on our servers. If you do not enable the location-based service, or if an app does not have that feature, the app will not transmit to us, and we will not collect or store, location information.

The ads in our apps are not targeted to you based on your current GPS location, but they may be targeted to you based on your ZIP code or device's IP address.

Third Parties

Some of the services and advertisements included in ABP, including on ABP and within our mobile apps, are delivered or served by third-party companies, which may collect information about your use of ABP.

These companies may place or recognize cookies, web beacons or other technology to track certain non-personal information about our website users. For example, in the course of serving certain advertisements, an advertiser may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser in order to collect certain information about your use of ABP. For another example, an advertiser or ad server may also be able to collect your device's unique identifier in the course of serving an ad. In many cases, this information could be used to show you ads on other websites based on your interests.

We do not have access to, nor control over, these third parties' use of cookies or other tracking technologies or how they may be used.

Please click here to see a list of third parties that may be using cookies to serve advertising on our websites or in our apps. For example, we use Google to serve advertisements onto ABP, which use the Google Doubleclick cookie, and in some cases, a unique device identifier, to show you ads based on your visit to ABP and other sites on the internet. You may opt out of the use of the Google Doubleclick cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.

You have choices about the collection of information by third parties on our website:
1) If you would like more about your option not to accept advertiser cookies, please click here.
2) If you would like to opt-out of having interest-based ad targeting, click here.

Your access to our websites should not be affected if you do not accept cookies served by third parties.

WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE INFORMATION WE GATHER ABOUT YOU?

Provide the Services You Request

We use the information we gather about you to enable your use of ABP and fulfill your requests for certain products and services, such as sending out electronic newsletters and enabling you to participate in and renew paid services, polls, contests and message boards.

Statistical Analysis

We perform statistical, demographic and marketing analyses of users of ABP, and their subscribing and purchasing patterns, for product development purposes and to generally inform advertisers about the nature of our subscriber base. We use this information for analysis purposes, including analysis to improve customer relationships.

Customizing Your Experience

We use the information that we collect to allow advertising to be targeted to the users for whom such advertising is most pertinent. We also use this information to customize certain features of ABP to provide you with an enhanced experienced based on the type of device you are using to access ABP, and in certain cases, provide you with requested services.

Relevant Advertising

We may use demographic and preference information to allow advertising on ABP Service to be targeted to the users for whom they are most pertinent. This means users see advertising that is most likely to interest them, and advertisers send their messages to people who are most likely to be receptive, improving both the viewer's experience and the effectiveness of the ads. We disclose information to third parties only in aggregate or de-identified form.

Email Newsletters

ABP will periodically send you email newsletters or promotional email about services offered by ABP and its advertisers. For details about ABP email, please see below:

WHAT IS OUR EMAIL POLICY?

We will not send you marketing messages if you have unsubscribed. You can choose not to receive messages in the future by following the "unsubscribe" instructions located near the bottom of each email. We will not share, sell, rent, swap or authorize any third party to use your email address for commercial purposes without your permission. However, we will only share your email id with our registered partners in conformance with law. If you feel you have received an email from us in error, please contact newsletter.feedback@abpdigital.in

Email Newsletters. Anandabazar offers several email newsletters. If you no longer wish to receive a specific newsletter, follow the "unsubscribe" instructions located near the bottom of each newsletter.

Survey Email. We may invite you to participate in user surveys asking for feedback on anandabazar.com and existing or prospective products and services, as well as information to better understand our users. User surveys greatly help us to improve our Services, and any information we obtain in such surveys will not be shared with third parties, except in aggregate form.

Emails from You. If you send us an email, we will use your email address to respond directly to your questions or comments.

Email This Article Feature. Addresses you provide in the "Email" share feature may be saved for your convenience for future articles you may wish to email; but they are not used for any other purpose, and will not be shared with any third parties.

WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE THE INFORMATION THAT WE GATHER?

Within ABP

If you have registered to use ABP, we will not sell, rent, swap or authorize any third party to use your email address without your permission.

In the future, we may sell, buy, merge or partner with other companies or businesses. In such transactions, we may include your information among the transferred assets.

Third Parties

Not with-standing, anything contained herein above, we may share the information provided by you with third parties (in any manner whatsoever) and such consent for sharing information with third parties maybe expressed and / or implied as may be applicable and / or indicated. For abundant caution, it is provided that your participation in our website in any form and / or manner whatsoever is an implied consent from your end to be bound by our privacy policy and a further implied consent of allowing us to share your information with third parties.

If you are a print subscriber, we may exchange or rent your name and mailing address (but not your email address) and certain other information, such as when you first subscribed to ABP with other reputable companies that offer marketing information or products through direct mail. If you prefer that we do not share this information, you may opt-out by emailing us at support@abpdigital.in, reach out to us here. Or write to us at: ABP Pvt. Ltd. 6, Prafulla Sarkar St. Kolkata-700001, West Bengal, India.

Please include your account number and phone number in the body of your email or letter, and include "Opt-out" in the subject line.

We may share information about attendees to our live events with sponsors or other third parties. If so, we will notify you when you provide us the information.

Service Providers

We contract with other companies to provide services on our behalf, including credit-card and billing processing, ad serving, shipping, email distribution, list processing and analytics or promotions management. We provide these companies only with the information they need to perform their services. These service providers are restricted from using personal information in any way other than to provide services for ABP, and they may not share, resell or use the data for their own direct marketing purposes.

We reserve the right to disclose your opt-out information to third parties so they can suppress your name from future solicitations, in accordance with applicable laws. We may occasionally release personal information as required by law, for example, to comply with a court order or subpoena.

HOW DO I CHANGE OR UPDATE MY PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Manage Your ABP Account in the My Account Area. You may review and update your ABP membership or account information and access your transaction history in the My Account area. We will respond to inquiries regarding deletion of data within a reasonable timeframe.

Data Retention. We will retain your information for at least as long as your account is active, as needed to provide you services or as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. As a matter of course, we will delete personally identifiable information associated with accounts that have been inactive for at least 15 years.

HOW DO I OPT-OUT?

If, at any time, you prefer not to receive email marketing information from us, simply follow the unsubscribe options at the bottom of each email.

If you experience difficulty with the unsubscribe process, feel free to contact us at support@abpdigital.in and provide your email address along with the name of the newsletter from which you would like to unsubscribe.

Mail or Telephone Promotions

If, at any time, you prefer not to receive mail or telephone solicitations originated by ABP Home Delivery Department, or if you prefer that we do not share this information with third parties for marketing purposes, please email us at support@abpdigital.in or write to us at ABP Pvt. Ltd. 6, Prafulla Sarkar St. Kolkata-700001, West Bengal, India. Please include your account number and phone number in the body of your email or letter, and put "Opt-out" in the subject line.

It is further provided that if you wish ABP to delete your data provided by you to ABP you are requested to send an email to support@abpdigital.in by expressly stating that the data provided by you be deleted. However ABP can only delete the data you provided to ABP and this deletion shall in no manner deem to be deletion of your data that you may have provided to your linked third party social media accounts.

Use of Third Party Personal Information

If you choose to use "email this article" or give a Gift subscription, we require the recipient's name and email address. We will automatically send them a one-time email about the service. ABP does not store this information.

IS MY INFORMATION PROTECTED?

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy and ensure the appropriate use of information, we have put in place commercially reasonable physical, technical and administrative controls to protect the information. Please note that no method of transmission over the internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure.

OTHER INFORMATION

Compliance With Legal Process

We may access, preserve and disclose personal information if we are required to do so by law or we have a good faith belief that such action is necessary to (1) comply with the law or with legal process; (2) protect and defend our rights and property; (3) protect against misuse or unauthorized use of ABP; or (4) protect the personal safety or property of our users or the public (among other things, this means that if you provide false information or attempt to pose as someone else, information about you may be disclosed as part of any investigation into your actions).

Changes to This Policy

We evaluate this privacy policy periodically in light of changing business practices, technology and legal requirements. As a result, it is updated from time to time. Any such changes will be posted on this page. If we make a significant or material change in the way we use or share your personal information, you will be notified via email and/or prominent notice.