In 2018 SSLC exams, Ramanagara district ranked first and in 2019, it was in the second place in the state with 88.49 passing percentage.
Bengaluru :
In an attempt to get better results in the coming SSLC exams, an IAS officer from Ramanagara has given a task to his officials to take responsibility of one government school each and work towards ‘’good’’ results.
Meet, Mohammed Ikramulla Shariff, an IAS officer of the 2016 batch, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Ramanagara Zilla Panchayat and was transferred to this post some seven months ago. There are more than 100 government schools where around 13,000 students are taking SSLC exams this March 2020. Shariff has asked each official from various departments in Ramanagara to ‘’adopt’’ one school where students are writing SSLC exams this year.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Shariff said that all his officials are well qualified and many of them struggled hard and reached this place. “We have assigned one officer per school. We have chosen them in such a way that their offices are located close to their ‘adopted’ government schools. These officers work in various departments including Horticulture, Revenue, Health and Education, whose offices are located across the district. This initiative is being taken as an attempt to utilise human resources,’’ he said.
In 2018 SSLC exams, Ramanagara district ranked first and in 2019, it was in the second place in the state with 88.49 passing percentage. “These officials have to visit the schools once or twice a week till SSLC examinations. We have instructed them to interact with the candidates, their parents and teachers. These officials will listen to their woes, if any. The same has to be reported to us. They have to encourage them, in case needed, take classes too,’’ he said.
When contacted, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Suresh Kumar said there are many CEOs from various districts including Kodagu, Mandya, Chikkaballapura and Raichur, who are encouraging officials to be involved in the education sector. These CEOs who were limited to management and holding bigger responsibility has chosen education and giving more attention which is a positive sign.
There is so much healthy competition among them. While CEO from Kodagu is writing letters to student on SSLC exams, telling them to be write exams with confidence. CEOs from Mandya, Chikkaballapur and Raichur is pushing average students to get better results. Most of these officials are young IAS officers. “I can see hope that this year’s SSLC results will be good and better than previous year,’’ he said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Ashwini M. Sripad / Express News Service / January 14th, 2020
Mohammad Usman Ghani busy with work in his Belgachhia home that doubles as his workstation. / Picture by Subhendu Chaki
Mohammad Usman Ghani hurries out of a crowded, narrow lane of Belgachhia Children’s Park area, a Muslim locality next to Belgachhia Urdu High School. He greets me warmly and guides me to his house in the lane. “Garib ka ghar hai,” he says apologetically, more than once.
The small room I am ushered into is occupied almost entirely by a double bed, which is his workplace. On it lie books and sheaves of paper in little piles, and a batch of wooden pens with wooden or metal nibs. A showcase stands against one wall and a desktop computer is wedged into a corner. Outside, small children shout and play, sometimes making a quick entry into the room, then a quicker exit.
As one approaches Ghani’s locality, one can see a few anti-CAA and anti-NRC posters.
Amidst all this bustle, Ghani, 38, sits quietly on his bed, his skullcap-covered head bent over a piece of paper that is filling up with beautiful Urdu lettering. Ghani is a calligrapher. The Urdu script, with its curves and swirls, is in itself quite lyrical. Urdu calligraphy, its more concentrated, cursive and complex form, is at its best like distilled poetry.
Ghani was drawn to this centuries-old art from a very early age. He was moved by its beauty. It is a very fine, elaborate and demanding art, he explains, in which every dot, dash or curl, if decorative, is also part of the lettering, and in a master’s hand they come together to fuse into an exquisite design. An ordinary name becomes a work of art.
“I was born here,” says Ghani. He first studied at the corporation school in the area, then went on to study at Mohammad Jan High School in Burrabazar. He studied for his master’s degree at Hyderabad Maulana Azad National Urdu University, passing out in 2008.
But after school, he had first enrolled at Urdu Academy in Calcutta to learn calligraphy along with graphic design. He teaches calligraphy at the academy now.
At home, he works on books, banners and signboards, but also on stone plaques for masjids or for homes, quite often with excerpts of The Quran in them. Calligraphy is central, sometimes literally, to Islamic architecture. “The gates of Taj Mahal are framed with calligraphy,” reminds Ghani.
But that is Arabic, he says. To understand the idea of Urdu calligraphy, one also has to understand the idea of Arabic calligraphy. Ghani practises both.
“A calligrapher is called a katib in Urdu. The wooden nib of the pen is called a sarkanda or a klich,” he says. They can be reed pens too. “The point is called a noqta. The curve is called a dayra,” Ghani adds. “Everything has a name,” he smiles. “How many can I name?” The elaborate terminology of calligraphy also explains how intricate the art is.
The artist M.F. Husain had trained in calligraphy, he reminds.
Arabic calligraphy, from which Urdu calligraphy evolved, was authored in the 10th century by Ibn Muqla, a Persian high official who later became a vizier in Baghdad, explains Ghani. He designed six styles. “Or fonts,” says Ghani.
Urdu calligraphy was formalised between 1330 and 1405, after Islam reached parts of India, in the Nashtaliq font by Khwaja Mir Ali Tabrezi. Urdu, the language too, was developing then from Khariboli, a north Indian dialect that had borrowed heavily from Persian words. “Urdu calligraphy uses eight fonts,” says Ghani.
Ghani cannot express enough gratitude to his two masters, ustads, Ghulam Murtaza and Wasey Ahmed.
To illustrate the differences between Arabic and Urdu further, Ghani brings out a pen and dips it in the special ink. Previously the ink would be manufactured by the calligrapher himself by burning wood, but now it can be bought. “For Urdu calligraphy, the pen has to be held at 63 degrees. For Arabic, at 75 degrees. In Urdu, the dayra is circular or oval. In Arabic, it is differently shaped.”
He offers to rewrite an Urdu phrase calligraphically and chooses a heading of a book of which he had composed the title in calligraphy.
“But Urdu is the language of love, of poetry,” he says. He begins to write on another piece of paper Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s ghazal: “Gulon mein rang bhare, baad-e-naubahaar chale/Chale bhii aao ki gulshan kaa karobaar chale… (May the flowers fill up with colours, may the early spring breeze start blowing again/ Please come back, so that the garden can resume its business again…).”
I later discover that the song was written when Faiz, a Communist, was thrown into prison in Pakistan in the 1950s for his political views. The ghazal, sung by Mehdi Hassan, was also used by Vishal Bharadwaj in his searing 2014 film on Kashmir, Haider.
But Ghani, since he is using calligraphy, selects only the first two lines, and transforms them into a sher, a couplet, and a love poem. For him, it is about the intense longing for the beloved.
Of course, the computer has changed calligraphy. Not too many calligraphers are to be found easily. “But the computer cannot do what the hand can do,” says Ghani. His work on books now mostly mean writing the title of the book in Urdu calligraphy. The rest of the text is composed on the computer.
“The keywords are composed by handwritten calligraphy,” says Ghani. Same for wedding cards, where the names of the bride and groom are written calligraphically; the rest is computer-generated. “The two are never the same,” stresses Ghani.
To supplement his income, he works at the computer himself. He, too, makes wedding cards, with the calligraphy done by hand and the rest written on the computer. He accepts orders for other kinds of commercial writing as well.
At Urdu Academy, about 25 students are enrolled in the calligraphy class, but about 12-13 attend classes. “The government should do something about promoting Urdu and Urdu calligraphy. Not only Urdu, for all other Indian languages like Bengali,” he says.
He says that once, especially in the Mughal court, many Hindus knew Urdu. Many Muslim women have contributed to enriching calligraphy.
But all these seem so far away. Now Ghani has to rush to meet someone for work. He promises to find me an Urdu book that he had handwritten himself, with calligraphy.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> West Bengal / by Chandrima S. Bhattacharya in Calcutta / December 23rd, 2019
On January 7, Hadiya approached the school authorities to display her freestyle skills during the ongoing annual soccer tournament.
Hadiya Hakeem displays freestyle football at Chendamangallur HSS ground | Express
Kozhikode :
Everyone knows that Malabar is football crazy. But little is known about the soccer frenzy of women here.
Hadiya Hakeem, a Plus II student at Chendamangallur Higher Secondary School near Mukkam proves that women folks are no lesser die-hard football fans.
The video of her freestyle football (the art of juggling a football using any parts of the body) at a school ground has gone viral and the girl is now flooded with invites for inaugurating football tourneys.
On January 7, Hadiya approached the school authorities to display her freestyle skills during the ongoing annual soccer tournament.
The school management and teacher gave the nod and they were stunned by the skills of the 17-year-old girl.
“I was keen to play football but there’s no opportunity for girls here. There is not even a girl’s football team here. So, I wished to make use of the interval of the tournament and exhibit my skill,” says Hadiya.
The girl juggled the ball between her two-foot and in the air without allowing the ball to touch the ground. Hadiya’s talents and courage to go for it has encouraged many other girls.
“She has given goosebumps to all of us. Hadiya is a big motivation for not only students but also teachers,” said Saleem N K, Hadiya’s teacher.
Skill that sprouted in Qatar
Since childhood, Hadiya was interested in football. She learned the skills watching her brothers playing the game. She was in Qatar then and developed a bonhomie with the ball. She was a player at her school in Qatar till Class X after which her family shifted to their home place Chendamangallur.
After leaving the Gulf country, Hadiya found that she had no opportunities here to pursue her sporting dreams.
“Our school too does not have a football team for girls. But I never stopped my bonding with the ball as I practised freestyle indoors,” she says.
She is now getting invites from several tournaments in Malabar to inaugurate and display her skills. Her father Abdul Hakeem is a former football player.
“Mohammed Salah and Christiano Ronaldo are my heroes. Team-wise, Brazil and club-wise Real Madrid are my favourites,” she chuckles.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Jouhara Begum / Express News Service / January 12th, 2020
From maestro AR Rahman to latest music sensation Anirudh Ravichander, Nakash worked with almost every composer in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali and…
In a very short span of time and after a lot of patience and struggle, playback singer and composer Nakash Aziz has become so popular that almost every other composer wants him to croon for at least one song in their album.
Nakash began his career as a playback singer in 2010, with ‘Suno Aisha’, a song from ‘Aisha’ movie. Much before this, he worked as a composer for many jingles and devotional albums. He comes from a family of singers and no wonder he sings so beautifully.
His name is still new to many. But once they explore, many will be surprised to know that to most of the hit songs from Bollywood in the recent times, Nakash lent his voice.
“It is my father, from whom I have learnt music. He inspires me a lot and so do others in my family. I owe the credit to him. Also, I must say that I get inspired from nature and Mumbai, the city where in live in,” says Nakash, who was born in Moodabidiri, a small town on the outskirts of Mangalore.
Besides releasing his new single called ‘Superstar’, the singing sensation sang ‘Dumm Dumm’ in ‘Darbar’ and ‘Dang Dang’ in ‘Sarileru Nekevaru’. Both these songs have become instant chartbusters and Nakash is super happy about it.
“Rajinikanth sir is the most down to the earth person I have ever met. I consider myself to have been very lucky enough to meet and work with this amazing person for Darbar. Also, talking about Dang Dang from Sarileru Nekevaru, this is my first song for Mahesh Babu and I am huge Tamannaah fan. So this song was also very special for me. I thank Anirudh and Devi Sri Prasad for having me on board. I really have to reveal my working experience with DSP. He is power house of energy and can make anything sound melodious and beautiful,” says the youngster.
Starting his career with Bollywood, Nakash has become busy in south and has back to back projects in hand. Happy with the number of songs he has been singing in Telugu and Tamil, he says, “I love south industry a lot. Also, I grew up listening to Tamil songs and always, as a kid, I hoped to be part of this huge industry. Now I am singing in other south languages and working with wonderful artistes.”
Music industry is that field where a lot of changes take place. Could be the trend or even a new singer coming up every other day, the changes cannot be predicted. In such a profession and film industry especially, sustaining for a long time is not so easy. When asked about how far he agrees with it, Nakash said that it all depends on who you are as a person. “Every day is a new day. All that you have to do is get up and do what you love. I love cinema and music. In case I fail, I take it as a lesson and try not to give up. Some major changes have taken place in sound and the technology. Things have become experimental and it needs nothing but belief,” he added.
In this current generation, where people are mad about social media and wake up to looking at what is happening on various platforms, Nakash makes sure he stays away from it. It is surprising because many youngsters of his age are addicted to social media.
“I browse the internet just to know where the world is going. I use YouTube a lot as that is where I listen to a lot of songs and watch singles. I share news about my upcoming projects and other stuff on Instagram. Literally, that’s just for professional purpose. I do not open Twitter and Facebook. Social media is okay only when you make the right use of it. Otherwise, it is nothing but a useless way of passing time,” believes Nakash.
Talking about what he does when he is free or feels bored, Nakash says that the best and favourite way of keeping himself busy is composing and listening to music. Another thing that he loves doing the most is making friends, travelling and interacting with people.
“I love listening and telling stories. I can spend hours doing either of them. So I am looking forward to tell them to others and I am working on it. Soon, I will be announcing about it,” says this singing sensation who has a long way to go.
source: http://www.thehansindia.com / The Hans India / Home> Featured> Sunday Hans / by Bhawana Tanmayi / Hans News Service / January 11th, 2020
Members of different religious communities at the congregational prayers at the Kochi Grand Mosque, Kacheripady in Kochi on Friday.
Members of various communities attend Friday’s congregational namaz
In a friendly gesture, the Kochi Grand Mosque at Kacheripady threw its doors open to members of other religious communities to attend Friday’s congregational namaz at noon.
For its first ‘open day’, possibly the first such in the State according to organisers, the mosque committee had invited believers of different religions to observe the jumma prayer and listen to the khutba, the sermon delivered by the Imam, that precedes the prayers.
“The committee hopes to make the open day a regular affair, inviting not just prominent people to attend prayers, but also encouraging believers to bring their friends, at least once in two months. Attempts will be made to encourage this in mosques across the State,” said Imam M.P. Faisal, whose sermon for the day stressed on the idea that the world subsists on compassion.
Members of the committee said in the current political climate, such a gesture was thought necessary to familiarise people with Muslim customs and religious practices to dispel the fear of the unknown.
The invited guests observed the prayers from the back of the prayer hall and addressed the congregation after the namaz.
Justices Devan Ramachandran and Alexander Thomas of the Kerala High Court who attended the prayers pointed out that it was the first time that they had got to witness the namaz.
“This could be the starting point for inter-religious dialogue and fraternity,” said Justice Thomas.
Fr. Vincent Kundukulam, professor at the St. Joseph’s Pontifical Seminary, Aluva, said such a gathering of people for prayers was in keeping with the diversity of the country, and would send out a strong message that could bring down the walls between religions and allow for conversations among those who practise different faiths.
Chaithanya Jnana Thapaswi and Gururethnam Jnana Thapaswi of the Santhigiri ashram attended the prayers, along with P.K. Shamsudheen, retired judge of the High Court.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Kochi / by Abhinaya Harigovind / Kochi – January 11th, 2020
Seriyalur Inam village (Alangadi Taluk – Pudukottai District) TAMIL NADU :
Though the village in Alangudi taluk in the Cauvery delta region has only 60 Muslim voters, only around 40 cast their votes, people’s choice transcended religion, caste and creed as they reposed their trust in 45-year-old Mohammed Jiyavudeen.
Seriyalur Inam is a Hindu-dominated village in Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu, but the nondescript hamlet has sent out a clear and loud message in the just concluded elections to rural bodies by electing a Muslim candidate as its panchayat president.
The election of a Muslim candidate in a Hindu dominated village comes at a time the country is facing massive protests against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) which Opposition parties term as “anti-Muslim measures.”
Though the village in Alangudi taluk in the Cauvery delta region has only 60 Muslim voters, only around 40 cast their votes, people’s choice transcended religion, caste and creed as they reposed their trust in 45-year-old Mohammed Jiyavudeen.
Jiyavudeen, who has coordinated relief and rehabilitation efforts in the village and near-by areas after Cyclone Gaja left a trail of destruction in 2018, romped home despite elders of the village “auctioning” the panchayat president post in favour of another villager, Shankar, who lost by 17 votes.
The 45-year-old received maximum support from youngsters and women, who refused to toe the line of the village elders and voted in Jiyavudeen. He had returned to the village in 2018 after being in the UAE for over a decade.
“I see it as a recognition for the work that we as a group did in the aftermath of Cyclone Gaja. People reposed faith in me and two others from our group who contested as councillors. Through election people here have not just sent out a message on secularism but have also made it clear that they want people who work for their betterment,” Jiyavudeen told DH.
Jiyavudeen and fellow villagers, especially youth, had pooled in resources from various sources to rehabilitate people who were affected by Cyclone Gaja. “We built 10 new houses to people who lost their houses, distributed sewing machines to widowed women and wet grinders for elderly. We also disbursed interest-free loan for people in the village which have made them happy,” he added.
The new panchayat president said he takes pride in the fact that he neither spent money on distributing liquor or money for his voters.
Nimal Raghavan, a techie who had quit his job in UAE and is now involved in desilting lakes and ponds in near-by Thanjavur district, told DH that the country should follow the example set by people of Seriyalur Inam village.
“In our area, we live in complete peace and harmony. People will even print names of their friends belonging to other faith in wedding invitations. Election of Jiyavudeen is a classic example that humanity is above religion, caste and creed. His election sends out a strong message as the country witnesses protests on CAA,” Raghavan said.
Kannan, a resident of Sethangudi village, said people should realise that humanity trumps everything including religion. “People like Jiyavudeen should come to power as they inspire the common man. He had worked with us to ensure that his villagers get proper relief during Cyclone Gaja. By electing him, people have spoken loud and clear against attempts to divide society on the basis of religion,” Kannan added.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> National> South / by ETB Sivapriyan / DHNS Chennai / January 10th, 2020
The new team of office-bearers of Mysore Muslim Football Club were elected recently.
Seen are (from left) Mohammed Irshad Ahmed (Club Representative), Mohammed Owayaz Khan (MD – EK Constructions), Farhan Baig (New Secretary), Mohammed Javeed Khan (New President), Mohammed Jamel Khan (former President, Lucky XI FC), Mohammed Shakeel Ahmed (President, Lucky XI FC).
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports / January 05th, 2020
A classroom debate moderated by this writer last week, with students of drama, brought to the fore misapprehensions regarding what one might term ‘Islamic theatre’ in India. The phrasing itself was called out as parochial in its scope, or too strongly affiliated with religious identity, and some even questioned the need for such a classification since we don’t usually talk about ‘a Hindu theatre’ (but of course we do, by glorious default). This was all compounded by the fact that there were no Muslims in the room, but arguably, one might say there were many among us whose world-views might have been influenced or even shaped by Islamic mores and values, given that we live in a country with one of the largest populations of Muslims in the world and even if insularity runs really deep, parallel cultures do meet at some point. Or, at least, we hope they do.
Rooted in culture
To explain further, when it comes to semantics, many use the words ‘Islamic’ or ‘Muslim’ as adjectives rather interchangebly, often in incorrect contexts. While the word ‘Muslim’ refers to those people who are followers of Islam and not to events or ideas or things, the word ‘Islamic’, according to scholar Ahmed E Souaiaia of the University of Iowa, “can be used to describe things that are present in Islamic societies and cultures, even if their origins are not rooted in Islam or produced by Muslim people.” It is an adjective that connotes a civilizational ethos and encompasses almost everything from architecture and art to philosophy and history and, yes, theatre. It is, without a doubt, an inclusive term, even if speaking it out loud might seem odd to our tongues, laced as they are with a multitude of conditioned prejudices. A corollary might be drawn with the word ‘queer’. For some it is an all-embracing cultural umbrella that covers an entire spectrum (the veritable rainbow), for others it remains a social label that is pejorative and reductive and can never be reclaimed. Even words like ‘feminist’ are double-edged these days, given the rise of ‘male anxiety’ culture post the advent of the #metoo movement. It is unfortunate that there are many who seek to interpret politically charged labels by being selective, or even cavalier, about the meanings that they want to extract, and that is a problematic privilege of gaze that most might be hard pressed to discard.
The notion of an Islamic theatre does not encourage the politics of exclusion or discrimination. Instead it is a canopy of cultural richness, even if the categorisation might make some uncomfortable if only due to its lustre. From aesthetic forms like the Dastangoi (or traditional Urdu storytelling) to mainstream fare like the stage adaptation of K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam to sub-cultural gems like Bhagi Hui Ladkiyan, performed by young women from Delhi’s Nizammudin Basti, it cuts a large swathe across the cultural landscape and perhaps, acknowledging its cultural roots shouldn’t threaten those who live insecurely in majoritarian systems.
Tip of the iceberg
Plays such as Taoos Chaman Ki Myna, directed by Atul Tiwari and based on Naiyer Masud’s story, are set in a milieu where Islamic culture prevails — old-world Lucknow during the ill-fated reign of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. However, the vein of progressiveness that pervades the piece makes a strong case for its liberal credentials. This is different from a play like, say, Imran Rasheed’s Bade Miyan Deewane, based on Shaukat Thanvi’s Budbhas, where religion might be absent, but a patriarchal structure is very much in evidence, even if it lends itself to far-fetched but hilarious comic situations in the mien of the Urdu farces of yore, which wore their ‘Muslimness’ both lightly and without reproach. Then there is Deepan Sivaraman’s masterful theatrical adaptation of O V Vijayan’s Khasakkinte Ithihasam, in which Islamic religious fervour is ingrained in the soil of the small hamlet of Khasak, rather than being ‘othered’.
Where purportedly non-Muslim theatremakers come into the picture, there is usually an outsider’s gaze that might codify everything from hijabs to prayer mats to skullcaps, while often, Muslim theatremakers operate from within the status quo without commenting on ages-old practices and customs, but focusing instead on humanising the people who abide by them — Rasheed’s Phir Se Shaadi, where a divorced Muslim couple seek to remarry, but not before negotiating a minefield of Quranic regulations. As Anamika Haksar’s Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Jaa Riya Hoon showed us, these works are just the tip of an iceberg.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Theatre / by Vikram Phukan / November 08th, 2019
Families associated with erstwhile rulers of Bengal decry citizenship regimen
Syed Reza Ali Meerza / (Picture sourced by The Telegraph)
Descendants and associates of the Nawabs of Bengal who decided for centuries who their subjects would be are worried about their ability to prove Indian citizenship.
Since 1717, when Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar combined the nizamat (civil administration) and diwani (revenue administration) of the Bengal subah (subdivision) to elevate Murshid Quli Khan to the post of Nawab Nazim, the Murshidabad Nawabs of the Nasiri, Afshar and the Najafi dynasties ruled — de facto or de jure — for nearly two centuries the territories of undivided Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, besides parts of Northeast and Chhattisgarh.
Syed Reza Ali Meerza, a 70-year-old grandson of Sayyid Sir Wasif Ali Meerza Khan Bahadur — the last Nawab Bahadur of Murshidabad recognised by the government of Independent India — said on Friday that the direct descendants of someone who had contributed to the very presence of Murshidabad in India should not be “degraded” by having to prove their citizenship.
Meerza Khan Bahadur had played a crucial role in the return of Murshidabad to India from East Pakistan after three days from August 15, 1947. He studied at Sherborne, Rugby and the Trinity College and was a resident of 85 Park Street in Calcutta towards the end of his life.
“Even if we were to forget the entire history and legacy of the Murshidabad Nawabs till 1947, at least the role played by my grandfather to ensure the return of Murshidabad to India after Partition should be remembered,” said the septuagenarian.
The former state government employee narrated the tales of how his grandfather Meerza Khan Bahadur spearheaded the initiative to ensure the return of the key district, despite being Muslim-majority, to India after the newly adopted Parcham-e Sitarah o-Hilal, the flag of Pakistan, flew atop the Hazarduari Palace for three days. The initial Radcliffe Award had placed Murshidabad in Pakistan and Khulna in India. On August 18, the two districts were exchanged.
“Now, his descendants have to stand in line on the same land to prove they are Indian,” said Meerza.
“There was a time when we — our forefathers — used to decide who were subjects and who were not. Before the British took everything from us, our family used to rule the wealthiest and industrially the most developed place in the world,” he said.
Meerza was referring to the economy of early 18th Century proto-industrialised Bengal, with its inhabitants purportedly having among the highest living standards and real wages in the world with over 10 per cent contribution to the global GDP. “Now, we have to prove that we are Indian?”
Meerza said many members of his extended family of Najafis did not have several requisite documents owing to legal reasons and were “living in fear”. “I condemn the NRC (National Register of Citizens), the CAA (Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the NPR (National Population Register) in the strongest terms,” he said.
Meerza said he had the requisite documents from the East India Company, the British Raj and the government of India, and he would not be “part of any queue” to prove he is Indian.
Other members of the extended family — who reside in the Qillah Nizamat area near Hazarduari Palace in Murshidabad — said although they had no official recognition as royals in the eyes of the state anymore, they felt demeaned even more by the prospect of being rendered stateless by the NRC.
“Our generation has not even received pension from the government, although they seized almost everything after Independence,” said Syed Mohammed Mazer Jha, who works as a nursing home employee in Murshidabad.
“Even my father did not get pension from the state. He died suddenly last year, and I am having trouble locating his papers,” he added.
Residents of the Hazarduari area said they respected members of the royal family for choosing to stay back in India. “The governments in India do not show as much respect to the descendants as groups of people in Pakistan or Bangladesh do. Still, they have stayed back,” said a resident of the area.
“The members of the royal family are by no means outsiders to this country. Rather, they have chosen not to immigrate to Pakistan or Bangladesh in spite of having lost so much property to the government of India,” said 50-year-old Mohammed Ali, a teacher at Singhi High School in Murshidabad.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> West Bengal / by Alamgir Hossain in Behrampore / January 03rd, 2020
Some overcome all odds to achieve their goals and dreams, and Ronak Reyaz is the perfect embodiment of this. Even though the situation in Kashmir is still uncertain, Reyaz has not allowed it to deter her from achieving laurels. Reyaz bagged a gold medal at the 5th International Thang-Ta championship held in South Korea recently. With this, she has created a mark in a sport which has been traditionally dominated by men and is serving as an inspiration to many women.
Every Sunday Reyaz and her mother would travel from Baramulla to Srinagar for practice at the Gojwara Club, a portal covering women’s issues stated. And despite not having a practice hub nearby, nothing could break the young sportswoman’s resolve and routine of two years. Reyaz is a 16-year-old from SRM Welkin School in Sopore and belongs to Magraypora, a small village in the Baramulla district.
For Reyaz, her mother Hafeeza, has been a pillar of strength and support. But she worries about arranging funds for her daughter’s trips to various championships. “Her South Korea trip cost us Rs 2,00,000. We had to arrange Rs 75,000 entry fee for South Korea meet in August when everything was shut,” Hafeeza told The Tribune.
Reyaz has still not been approached by any authority for help, despite her consistent performances and bringing accolades to the country. Hence, she feels that sports in rural areas are still a neglected sphere by the government.
source: http://www.femina.in / Femina / Home> Trending> In the News / by Femina / January 02nd, 2020
