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বাংলার কলেরা ঠেকাতেই চালু হল সঙ্গরোধ

সে উনিশ শতকের কথা। নীল চাষ তুঙ্গে, রাস্তা তৈরির জন্য বিভিন্ন জেলখানা থেকে নিয়ে আসা হল কয়েদিদের। তখনও লোকের বিশ্বাস, মহামারি ছড়ায় দূষিত আবহাওয়া থেকে। পুরো দেশকে আটকানোর দরকার নেই, বিশেষ একটি দলকে সঙ্গরুদ্ধ করলেই হল!

প্রজিতবিহারী মুখোপাধ্যায়
শেষ আপডেট: ০৫ এপ্রিল ২০২০ ০০:৩৪
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সকাল গড়িয়ে দুপুর, দুপুর গড়িয়ে সন্ধ্যা হয়ে গেল, কিন্তু বাজারে একটিও দোকান খুলল না। যে বাজারে সকাল-সন্ধে হাজার মানুষের আসা যাওয়া, সেখানে এখন পাখি চরে বেড়াচ্ছে। পথে লোকজনেরও দেখা নেই। দেখলে মনে হবে যেন সব নাগরিক এক সঙ্গে শহরটা পরিত্যাগ করেছেন। বাস্তবও কিছুটা সেই রকম। অজানা মহামারির আতঙ্কে বহু মানুষই শহর ছেড়ে অন্যত্র চলে গেছেন। যাঁরা পড়ে আছেন, তাঁরাও ভয়ের চোটে একঘরে হয়েছেন।

দৃশ্যটা কিন্তু ২০২০ সালের কোভিড-১৯ আক্রান্ত কোনও শহরের নয়। এটি ১৭২৯ সালের বৈশাখ মাসে মুঘল রাজধানী দিল্লির দৃশ্য। তার বিবরণ দিয়েছেন সমকালীন ইতিহাসবিদ সৈয়দ গোলাম হোসেন তাবতাবাই। আজকের দিনে বসে তাবতাবাইয়ের সেই বিবরণ পড়লে গায়ে কাঁটা দেয়। প্রায় তিনশো বছর আগের এই বর্ণনায় যেন হাল আমলের ছবি। তবে মুঘল আমলের এই বিবরণের সঙ্গে আজকের সঙ্গরুদ্ধ শহরগুলোর একটা প্রকাণ্ড ফারাক রয়েছে। আর সেটা রাষ্ট্রের ভূমিকা সংক্রান্ত।
মুঘল কেন, ইংরেজ শাসন পত্তনের পরেও মহামারির সময় সরকারি ভাবে সারা শহর বা দেশ জুড়ে সঙ্গরোধ বা কোয়ারান্টাইন লাগু করার উদাহরণ বিরল। যাও বা দু-একটি উদাহরণ মেলে, তা হল দেশে নবাগত কোনও বিশেষ একটি দলকে সঙ্গরুদ্ধ করার দৃষ্টান্ত। গোটা শহর বা দেশকে সঙ্গরুদ্ধ করার নমুনা নয়। যেমন অটোমান সাম্রাজ্যে বার বার প্লেগ দেখা দেওয়ার ফলে অনেক সময় পশ্চিম এশিয়ার যাত্রীদের কিছু দিন সঙ্গরুদ্ধ রাখা হত। ১৭৪৯ সালে উইলিয়াম প্লাইস্টেড নামে ইস্ট ইন্ডিয়া কোম্পানির এক কর্মচারী কলকাতা থেকে বসেরা, বাগদাদ ইত্যাদি হয়ে স্বদেশ প্রত্যাবর্তন কালে ফ্রান্সের মার্সেই শহরে কিছু দিন সঙ্গরুদ্ধ হন। সেই বৃত্তান্ত তিনি তাঁর যাত্রার আখ্যায়িকাটিতে লিপিবদ্ধ করে গিয়েছেন।

এরও পরবর্তী কালে ১৮০২ সালে যখন ইস্ট ইন্ডিয়া কোম্পানির ভারতীয় ফৌজ মিশরে নেপোলিয়নের সঙ্গে যুদ্ধে জয়ী হয়ে ভারতে ফিরল, আবারও পশ্চিম এশিয়ায় প্লেগ। ফলে তাঁদের কিছু দিন মুম্বইয়ের বাইরে কসাই দ্বীপ বা ‘বুচার্স আইল্যান্ড’-এ সঙ্গরুদ্ধ রাখা হয়েছিল।

এই ধারার পরিবর্তনের সূত্রপাত ঘটে এই বাংলাদেশেই। ১৮১৭ সালে যশোর জেলায় দেখা দেয় এক নতুন ব্যাধি। আক্রান্ত ব্যক্তিরা হঠাৎ করে ঘন ঘন ভেদবমি ও মলত্যাগের মধ্যে দিয়ে অতি দ্রুত মৃত্যুমুখে পতিত হতেন। যদিও আমাদের এই বঙ্গভূমি বহু কালই পেটের নানান ব্যামোর সঙ্গে সুপরিচিত, ১৮১৭ সালের আগে সে সব রোগ কখনও এত মারাত্মক রূপে আবির্ভূত হয়নি। তাই এই নতুন ব্যাধির নতুন নাম রাখা হয় ‘এশিয়াটিক কলেরা’। যশোর থেকে প্রথমে কলকাতা, তার পর বাকি মহাদেশে এবং তারও পরে সারা বিশ্বে ছড়িয়ে পড়ে এই ভয়ানক এশিয়াটিক কলেরা।

কলেরা বা ওলাওঠার এই দ্রুত অনুকীর্ণতারও একটা স্পষ্ট কারণ ছিল। উনিশ শতকের গোড়ার দিকটা ছিল বিশ্বায়নের প্রথম স্তর। বাষ্পচালিত জাহাজে দূর-দূরান্তে ভ্রমণ হয়ে উঠেছিল অনেক সহজ ও দ্রুত। সেই সহজতা ও দ্রুততার সুবিধে নিয়েই নানা ইউরোপীয় দেশ অন্যান্য মহাদেশগুলোতে সাম্রাজ্য বিস্তার শুরু করেছিল। এদের মধ্যে অন্যতম অবশ্যই ইংরেজ সাম্রাজ্য। এই সাম্রাজ্য বিস্তারের কারণ এবং ফল দুইই ছিল বাণিজ্য। কাঁচামাল সস্তায় কেনা ও তৈরি জিনিস বৃহত্তর বাজারে বিক্রি করা, এই দুটিই ছিল সাম্রাজ্যবাদের মূল মন্ত্র।

যশোর তখন নীল চাষের অন্যতম কেন্দ্রস্থল। আর সেই ব্যবসায় আকৃষ্ট হয়ে নানা দিক থেকে বহু মানুষ তখন যশোরবাসী হচ্ছেন। এই ব্যবসার সুবিধের জন্যই ইংরেজ সরকার নতুন সড়ক তৈরি করার সিদ্ধান্ত নেন। আর সেই সড়ক নির্মাণের কাজে লাগানো হয় বিভিন্ন জেল থেকে নিয়ে আসা কয়েদিদের। এই সড়ক তৈরিতে কর্মরত শ্রমিকদের মধ্যেই প্রথম দেখা দিল ভয়ানক কলেরা। আর এই বাণিজ্যিক পথ ধরেই তা ছড়িয়ে পড়ল সারা পৃথিবীতে। সাম্রাজ্য আর বাণিজ্যের যৌথ ভাবে তৈরি জাল যেমন পৃথিবীটাকে আষ্টেপৃষ্ঠে বাঁধতে থাকে, সেই জাল বেয়েই আবার কলেরার মতো ভয়ানক ব্যাধি দ্রুতগতিতে বিশ্বের এক প্রান্ত থেকে আর এক প্রান্ত ছড়িয়ে পড়তে থাকে।

রোগবালাই: সে কালে ইউরোপীয় কার্টুনে কলেরা মহামারিকে ‘ভারতীয়’ করে তোলা হয়েছিল এ ভাবেই

১৮১৭ থেকে ১৮২১ পর্যন্ত বারে বারে হাজার হাজার মানুষ আক্রান্ত হতে থাকেন কলেরায়। আজকের বিজ্ঞানীরা এই সময়টিকে ‘প্রথম কলেরা প্যানডেমিক’ নামে আখ্যায়িত করে থাকেন। তবে এই বিষয়ে একটি বড় ঐতিহাসিক ধাঁধা হল যে, এই মারাত্মক এবং বিধ্বংসী ব্যাধির মুখোমুখি হওয়া সত্ত্বেও ইংরেজ সরকার কেন সঙ্গরোধের কোনও প্রচেষ্টা করেনি। ঔপনিবেশিক বাংলাকে সঙ্গরুদ্ধ করে দিলে তো তাদের নিজের দেশ রক্ষা পেয়ে যেত। কিন্তু ইংরেজরা তা করলেন না। বরং চিরাচরিত, প্রাক-ঔপনিবেশিক রীতি অনুযায়ী তাঁরা চেষ্টা করলেন আক্রান্ত মানুষদের চিকিৎসার সুযোগের মাধ্যমে কিছুটা সুবিধেও দিতে। প্রধান সড়কগুলির ধারে ধারে স্থাপিত হল কয়েকটি চিকিৎসাকেন্দ্র। গ্রামাঞ্চলে অস্থায়ী ভাবে কয়েকজন চিকিৎসকও নিযুক্ত করা হল। কিন্তু সঙ্গরোধ নিয়ে জিগির তখনও ওঠেনি।

সেই জিগির উঠল মাত্র ১০ বছর পরে, ১৮৩০-৩১ এ, যখন ‘দ্বিতীয় কলেরা প্যানডেমিক’ শুরু হল। এবং আশ্চর্যের বিষয়, তা মেনেও নেওয়া হল। ইউরোপে এবং পরবর্তী কালে আমেরিকায় একাধিক দেশ, এবং দেশের মধ্যে অনেক শহর, গ্রামগঞ্জ পর্যন্ত নিজের নিজের চৌহদ্দির মধ্যে সঙ্গরোধ জারি করতে থাকল। মহামারির মুখোমুখি দাঁড়িয়ে রাষ্ট্রের চিরাচরিত কার্যপ্রণালীতে হঠাৎই এসে গেল আমূল পরিবর্তন। যেখানে এত কাল মহামারির মুখোমুখি দাঁড়িয়ে রাষ্ট্র কেবল কিছুটা দান-খয়রাত করে আর কিছুটা প্রার্থনা করে আর্ত নাগরিকদের প্রতি তাদের দায়িত্ব মেটাত, এ বার সেই রাষ্ট্র হয়ে উঠল অনেক বেশি সক্রিয়। সঙ্গরোধের মাধ্যমে মহামারিকে প্রতিহত করতে সামাজিক জীবনের আনাচে-কানাচে ঢুকে পড়তে সচেষ্ট হল সে।
কেন রাষ্ট্রের ভূমিকাতে এই পরিবর্তন এল? এমন তো নয় যে এর আগে কখনও মহামারি ঘটেনি বা রাষ্ট্রকে তার মোকাবিলা করতে হয়নি। তবে কেন অবশেষে উনিশ শতকের তৃতীয় দশকে এসেই রাষ্ট্রের চিন্তাধারা ও কর্মকাণ্ড বদলে গেল? এই প্রশ্নের উত্তর খুঁজতে গেলে আমাদের দেখতে হবে রাষ্ট্রশক্তির ভিত্তিটি কী ভাবে আঠেরো শতকের শেষার্ধ থেকে পরিবর্তিত হতে থাকে। ওই সময় পর্যন্ত যে কোনও রাষ্ট্রের ক্ষমতা স্থাপিত ছিল মূলত প্রাণহরণের অধিকারের উপর। লোকে রাজাকে শ্রদ্ধা করত, মেনে চলত, কর্জ দিত, কারণ এ সব না করলে রাজা গর্দান নিতেন। সেই অধিকার তাঁর ছিল এবং সেই অধিকার প্রয়োগের জন্য তাঁকে জবাবদিহি করতে হত না। মানুষের প্রাণপাত করার মধ্যে দিয়েই রাষ্ট্র এবং রাষ্ট্রের কর্ণধার— অর্থাৎ রাজা— ক্ষমতায় বজায় থাকতেন।

আঠেরো শতকের শেষ দিক থেকে শিল্প বিপ্লবের চাপে রাষ্ট্রশক্তির এই ভিত নড়ে যায়। মানুষ— বিশেষত নতুন ভাবে প্রতিপত্তিশালী ব্যবসায়ী এবং সদ্যোজাত মধ্যবিত্ত শ্রেণি— রাজার প্রাণহরণের নিরঙ্কুশ অধিকার আর মেনে নিতে চাইলেন না। ফ্রান্সে এই নতুন বুর্জোয়া গোষ্ঠী স্বয়ং রাজারই গর্দান নিয়ে বসলেন। তাঁদেরই জিগির টেনে মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রেও বিপ্লবীরা রাজশক্তিকে সম্পূর্ণ নাকচ করে নতুন গণরাষ্ট্র সৃষ্টি করলেন। এই সব যুগান্তকারী ঘটনার মধ্যে দিয়েই তৈরি হয় নতুন এক ধরনের রাষ্ট্রশক্তি।

এই নতুন রাষ্ট্রশক্তি নিজেকে প্রাণহরকের চাইতে বরং এ বার জীবনের রক্ষাকর্তা হিসেবে প্রতিপন্ন করল। দাবি করল, রাজ্য শাসনের অধিকার জন্মাবে মানুষের প্রাণ নিয়ে নয়, বরং নাগরিকদের জীবন রক্ষা এবং প্রতিপালন করার মধ্যে দিয়ে।
যে রাষ্ট্র তার নাগরিকদের জীবন রক্ষা করতে অক্ষম বা উদাসী, সেই রাজশক্তির ক্ষমতায় থাকার অধিকার নেই।
এই নতুন দাবির মধ্যেই কিন্তু লুকিয়ে ছিল অভুতপূর্ব আর এক রাষ্ট্রীয় আকাঙ্ক্ষা। প্রাক-আধুনিক রাষ্ট্রের ক্ষমতা যে হেতু মৃত্যুমুখী ছিল, নাগরিকদের সামাজিক জীবন নিয়ে তার চিন্তার অবকাশ ছিল সীমিত। নতুন আধুনিক রাষ্ট্রশক্তি কিন্তু ঠিক তার উল্টো। মানুষের জীবন রক্ষার স্বার্থে সে ক্রমশ সামাজিক জীবনের বিভিন্ন অঙ্গের নিয়ন্ত্রণে প্রবৃত্ত হল। গৃহস্থ কোথায় গৃহনির্মাণ করবেন, তার নিয়ম তৈরি হল। কত বয়সে কাকে বিয়ে করা যাবে সে বিষয়ে আইন হল। মোদ্দা কথায়, সমাজের বিভিন্ন রীতিনীতি, প্রথা, আচার, সবই এ বার রাষ্ট্র নিজেই নির্ধারণ করতে সচেষ্ট হল। আর এর অনেকটাই করা হল জনস্বাস্থ্যের স্বার্থে।
ঘটনাচক্রে, এই সময়ে আবার নতুন রাষ্ট্রশক্তির সাহায্যে বিবর্তিত হল নতুন চিকিৎসা ভাবনা। প্রাক-আধুনিক চিকিৎসা ভাবনায় রোগের সংক্রামকতার তেমন কোনও সুগঠিত ধারণা ছিল না। বরং চিকিৎসকদের ধারণা ছিল, প্লেগ কিংবা কলেরার মতো রোগের উৎস দূষিত পরিবেশ। তাবতাবাই ১৭২৯ সালের ব্যাধির বিষয়ে লিখেছেন, এই রোগের কারণ ছিল একটি উৎকট দুর্গন্ধ। দুর্গন্ধটি প্রথম প্রকাশ পায় পটনা শহরে। তার পর বাতাসে ভেসে ইলাহাবাদ হয়ে তা পৌঁছয় দিল্লিতে, এবং দিল্লি পেরিয়ে অবশেষে লাহৌরে। প্রতিটি স্থানেই এই গন্ধের পিছু-পিছুই দেখা দেয় মারাত্মক রোগ।

ইউরোপের মধ্যযুগেও আমরা দেখতে পাই একই রকমের ধারণা। চিকিৎসকেরা এবং শিক্ষিত মানুষও মনে করতেন, কোনও অজ্ঞাত কারণে পরিবেশ দূষিত হয়ে এক ধরনের বিষ প্রসব করে। এই বিষই উৎসস্থান থেকে পরে ছড়িয়ে পড়ে দূরদূরান্তের মানুষকে আক্রান্ত করে। বিষাক্ত বাতাসকে ইউরোপীয় চিকিৎসকরা ‘মাইয়াস্মা’ নাম দিয়েছিলেন। এই বিষাক্ত বাতাস থেকেই মহামারি, ফলে এক জন থেকে আর এক জনের শরীরে সরাসরি সংক্রমণের কোনও সুস্পষ্ট ধারণা ছিল না। আর তাই সঙ্গরোধেরও কারণ দেখা দেয়নি। রোগ যদি সত্যি দূষিত পরিবেশ থেকে জন্মায় এবং পরে আবহাওয়ার মাধ্যমে ছড়িয়ে পড়ে, তা হলে আর মানুষের যাতায়াত, চলাফেরা নিয়ন্ত্রণ করে কী হবে?

১৮৩০-এর পরেই এই ধারণা দ্রুত পাল্টাতে থাকে। তত দিনে সংবাদপত্রের প্রচার বহুল হয়েছে, সাম্রাজ্যের কারণে দূরদূরান্তের দেশগুলির মধ্যে সংবাদ আদান-প্রদান শুরু হয়েছে। সেই সুবাদে ইউরোপের সংবাদপত্রগুলোর দৈনিক খবর থেকে এটুকু প্রমাণ হয়ে যায় যে বাংলা থেকে ধীরে ধীরে কলেরা বিশ্বময় ছড়াচ্ছে পণ্য ও যাত্রীবাহী জাহাজে চেপে, বাতাসের ডানায় ভর দিয়ে নয়। এ থেকেই উঠে আসতে থাকে সংক্রমণের ধারণা, সেই ধারণার দ্বারাই লালিত হয় সঙ্গরোধ লাগু করার যৌক্তিকতা। এই সময় থেকে ধীরে ধীরে আধুনিক জনস্বাস্থ্যের ধারণাও গড়ে উঠতে থাকে। ১৮৩০-এর পরে কলেরার আতঙ্কে ত্রস্ত ইউরোপীয় রাজ্যগুলো একে একে সঙ্গরোধ জারি করতে থাকে।

প্রাক-আধুনিক রাষ্ট্রগুলোর সীমান্ত প্রায়শই ছিল আবছা ভাবে মাপা। প্রধান নদীপথ বা স্থলপথে টোল আদায়কারী কয়েকটা চৌকি ছাড়া তেমন কোনও পাহারারও ব্যবস্থা ছিল না। কিন্তু সঙ্গরোধ সফল করতে, সীমান্তে বসল নতুন পাহারা। দেশের মধ্যেও নতুন সমস্ত আইনকানুন জারি হল। মানুষের সামাজিক জীবনে রাষ্ট্র উঁকি মারা শুরু করল। ডাক্তার, প্রতিবেশী, আত্মীয় ইত্যাদির উপর রাষ্ট্রকে খবর দেওয়ার নতুন দায়িত্ব বর্তাল। আর্তের চিকিৎসা কিংবা মৃতের সৎকার এত দিন ছিল আত্মীয়-প্রতিবেশীদের কর্তব্য, এ বার তার সঙ্গে যুক্ত হল রাষ্ট্রকে সূচিত করার দায়িত্ব।

চিকিৎসকের কর্তব্যেও এল পরিবর্তন। রোগীর রোগ উপশম করা ছাড়াও এ বার তিনি হয়ে উঠলেন সরকারি তথ্যসংগ্রহের অন্যতম সরঞ্জাম। উনিশ শতকের শেষের দিকে তাই আমরা দেখতে পাই, অনেক ক্ষেত্রে রোগীর আপনজনেরা ডাক্তার ডাকতে ভয় পাচ্ছেন, পাছে ডাক্তারের মাধ্যমে রাষ্ট্র রোগীর সংক্রামক রোগের খবর পেয়ে যায় এবং রোগীকে জোর করে সংক্রামক রোগের হাসপাতালে অবরুদ্ধ রাখে। এই সব পরিবর্তনের মধ্য দিয়েই ধীরে ধীরে আধুনিক রাষ্ট্র তার স্বরূপ ধারণ করতে শুরু করল।

তবে রাষ্ট্রশক্তির এই নতুন চেহারার পাশাপাশি দেখা গেল আরও দু’টি জিনিস। শ্রেণিদ্বন্দ্ব ও বর্ণবিদ্বেষ। একের পর এক দেশে দেখা গেল সঙ্গরোধকে কেন্দ্র করে শ্রেণিদ্বন্দ্বের ছবি। কখন সঙ্গরোধ লাগু হবে, কাকে সঙ্গরুদ্ধ করা হবে আর কাকেই বা তার আওতার বাইরে রাখা হবে এই সব নিয়ে বাধতে লাগল শ্রেণিতে শ্রেণিতে বিভেদ। বিশেষ করে ফুটে উঠল যাঁদের পেটের দায়ে দিনের পর দিন বাড়ি বসে থাকা সম্ভব নয় তাঁদের সঙ্গে মধ্যবিত্তদের বিবাদ। মধ্যবিত্তরা মনে করলেন খেটে-খাওয়া মানুষগুলো দায়িত্বজ্ঞানহীন, সংক্রমণের চলমান বাহক। ও দিকে শ্রমজীবী মানুষরাও দেখলেন, সংক্রমণের ভয়ে তাঁদের অনাহারে মৃত্যুর দিকে ঠেলে দিতে কুণ্ঠিত নয় মধ্যবিত্তরা। ইতিহাসবিদ চার্লস রোজ়েনবার্গ তাই লিখেছেন, উনিশ শতকে কলেরা আসলে শ্রেণিদ্বন্দ্বের প্রকৃষ্ট মাপকাঠি হয়ে উঠেছিল।

আসলে বেশির ভাগ আধুনিক রাষ্ট্র নিজেকে ক্রিকেটের আম্পায়ারের মতো বিভিন্ন শ্রেণিদ্বন্দ্বের মীমাংসাকার হিসেবে দেখতে ভালবাসে। তবে মহামারির সময় সেই দাবিটি টিকিয়ে রাখা কঠিন হয়ে যায়। রাষ্ট্রকে তড়িঘড়ি ঠিক করতে হয় তার কাছে কার জীবনের দাম বেশি: অনাহারে মরণমুখ শ্রমজীবী, না কি সংক্রমণের আতঙ্কে ত্রস্ত মধ্যবিত্ত। হাসপাতালের সীমিত স্থানই বা পাবে কে? কোথায় কবে তৈরি হবে নতুন হাসপাতাল? আর কোন এলাকা বাদ পড়বে? সহজ করে বললে, রাষ্ট্রকে ঠাহর করতে হয় যে মহামারির টালমাটাল অবস্থায় কার পাশে দাঁড়াবে রাষ্ট্রশক্তি আর কার দিক থেকে হাত গুটিয়ে নেবে। ফলে, মহামারির চাপে আধুনিক রাষ্ট্রের একটা নির্মম, পক্ষপাতদুষ্ট রূপ হঠাৎ প্রকট হয়ে পড়ে। নিরপেক্ষতার মুখোশটা যেন চাপা পড়ে যায় ‘ফেস মাস্ক’-এর তলায়।

উনিশ শতকে অবশ্য আধুনিক রাষ্ট্রকে আর একটা চাপও সামলাতে হয়। ফ্রান্স, ব্রিটেন, আমেরিকার মতো অনেক আধুনিক রাষ্ট্রই এই সময় ধীরে ধীরে গণতান্ত্রিক রাজনৈতিক ব্যবস্থার দিকে অগ্রসর হচ্ছিল। গণতান্ত্রিক রাষ্ট্রের টিকে থাকার ক্ষমতা নির্ভর করে অনেকটাই তার শ্রেণি-নিরপেক্ষ ভাবমূর্তির বিশ্বাসযোগ্যতার উপর। গণতান্ত্রিক রাষ্ট্রে মানুষ যদি রাষ্ট্রের নিরপেক্ষতার উপর আস্থা হারায়, তা হলে গণ-অভ্যুত্থানের সম্ভাবনা দেখা দেয়। সেই বিপদ থেকে কিছুটা হলেও রাষ্ট্র উদ্ধার পায় বর্ণবিদ্বেষের হাত ধরে।

উনিশ শতকে মহামারির কালে এই বর্ণবিদ্বেষ মোটেই কঠিন ছিল না। ঔপনিবেশিক যুগে ইউরোপীয়রা এমনিতেই নিজেদের অন্যদের থেকে উন্নত মনে করতেন। তার উপর আবার কলেরা যে বঙ্গভূমি থেকে আমদানি হয়েছে এটাও তত দিনে চিকিৎসক, রাজনীতিবিদ এবং সাংবাদিকদের মিলিত প্রয়াসে বহুল প্রচার লাভ করে ফেলেছে। তাই মহামারির কালে বর্ণবিদ্বেষ সহজেই হয়ে ওঠে সমাজ জীবনের অঙ্গ। এমনকি তৎকালীন ব্যঙ্গচিত্রে কলেরা বা মহামারিকে প্রায়শই চিত্রিত করা হত ধুতি আর পাগড়ি-পরা মূর্তিতে। দিল্লির বাসস্ট্যান্ডে ঘরে ফিরতে-চাওয়া পরিযায়ী শ্রমিকদের ভিড় দেখে আজকের মধ্যবিত্তদের আঁতকে ওঠা সেই ঐতিহ্যেরই অঙ্গ।

তবে আমেরিকাতে এই বর্ণবিদ্বেষের চেহারা ছিল একটু আলাদা। মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্র ও কানাডাতে যে হেতু উনিশ শতকে তেমন বেশি ভারতীয় দেখা যেত না, এবং যে হেতু সেখানে মহামারির আবির্ভাব ঘটেছিল মূলত দরিদ্র আইরিশ অভিবাসীদের জাহাজে চেপে, তাই সেখানে গণ-আক্রোশের মুখে পড়তে হয় এই সব আইরিশদেরই। সেই মর্মান্তিক স্মৃতি আজও বহন করছে ‘কানাডা গ্রস আইল’ নামক দ্বীপ। এই দ্বীপে আয়ারল্যান্ড থেকে আসা হাজার হাজার গরিব অভিবাসীকে সঙ্গরোধ করে রাখা হত। যাঁরা মহামারিতে আক্রান্ত তাঁরা তো মরতেনই, উপরন্তু সুস্থ ব্যক্তিরাও অনাহারে বা সংক্রমিত রোগের জেরে মৃত্যুমুখে পতিত হতেন। আজও অনেক আইরিশ এই দ্বীপটিকে তীর্থস্থান মনে করেন।

এই বর্ণবিদ্বেষের ছায়াতেই আধুনিক রাষ্ট্রের নির্মমতা কিছুটা চাপা পড়ে যায়। গতর-খাটানো গরিব মানুষও সংখ্যালঘু বা বিদেশিদের ঘাড়ে পরিস্থিতির দায় চাপিয়ে, রাষ্ট্রকে রক্ষাকর্তা মনে করতে শেখে। যে রাষ্ট্র তার জীবিকা ও স্বাস্থ্যের দায়িত্ব এড়িয়ে চলে, সেই রাষ্ট্রের ধ্বজা হাতেই সে ভিনদেশীদের ঠেঙাতে উদ্যত হয়। তাই দরিদ্র ইংরেজ শ্রমিক সে দিন ভারতীয় বা ইহুদি ঠেঙিয়েই খুশি ছিল। আর দরিদ্র মার্কিন মানুষেরা শান্তি খুঁজেছিল আইরিশদের প্রহার করে। আর এই সবের মাঝেই মহামারি-আক্রান্ত আধুনিক রাষ্ট্র গণনা করেছিল, কার জীবনের দাম বেশি আর কার জীবন পরিহার্য।

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You (the user) agree to access "the Site" and "Mobile Apps", subject to the terms and conditions of use as set out here.


ABP Pvt.Ltd., the owner and / or publisher of www.anandabazar.com may add to or change or update these Terms of Use, from time to time entirely at the its own discretion. You are responsible for checking these Terms of Use periodically to remain in compliance with these terms. Your use of a Site after any amendment to the Terms of Use shall constitute your acceptance of these terms and you also agree to be bound by any such changes/revisions. By using this site you hereby represent and warrant that you are hereby bound by these Terms of Use and it's any amendments thereof and further represent that you are more than 18 (eighteen) years of age and otherwise competent to bound yourself into a valid contract as per the Laws of India. In the event you are below the age of 18 (eighteen) years then it shall be deemed that you are using this site under the guidance and supervision of your natural parent and / or guardian.


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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.