Category Archives: Community Involvement / Social Issues

Aster Hospitals to offer free surgery for 100 underprivileged children

Dubai, UAE / Kerala / Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

The ‘Second Life – Because Little Lives Matter’ initiative was launched in Bengaluru on November 15 by Dr. Nitish Shetty, Regional Director, Karnataka and Maharashtra Cluster; Farhan Yasin, Regional Director, Kerala and Oman Cluster; and Devanand K.T., Regional CEO, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Cluster

A 24X7 multi-lingual helpline has been set up to manage enquiries

To mark Children’s Day, Aster Hospitals in India launched the ‘Second Life – Because Little Lives Matter’ initiative.

The year-long initiative is aimed at supporting the medical treatment of disadvantaged children. The aim is to facilitate free paediatric surgery for at least 100 children below the age of 12 years.

Throught this initiative of Aster Volunteers Global CSR, the company wants to extend help to deserving children who are being treated across Aster Hospitals based in five States in India. This includes common childhood illnesses, such as appendicitis, intussusception, empyema and paediatric urology surgery, as well as complex clinical surgeries, including bone marrow transplant, liver transplant and heart surgery.

The initiative was launched in Bengaluru on November 15 by Dr. Nitish Shetty, Regional Director, Karnataka and Maharashtra Cluster; Farhan Yasin, Regional Director, Kerala and Oman Cluster; and Devanand K.T., Regional CEO, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Cluster.

The treatment will be funded either by Aster DM Foundation, philanthropists or NGOs.

The foundation has established the criteria to identify eligible cases for the program. Applications will be assessed on the socio-economic status, BPL category, medical outcome of the child prior to commencement of selection and subsequent treatment.

A 24X7 multi-lingual helpline (+91 9633620660) has been set up in Kozhikode in Kerala to manage enquiries.

Abdul Jabbar is new Congress minority cell president

Davangere District / Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar with K. Abdul Jabbar, who took charge as president of the Minority Cell of the KPCC, in Bengaluru on Tuesday.  

The former MLC and former president of the Davangere District Congress Committee K. Abdul Jabbar on Tuesday was sworn in as president of the Minority Cell of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).

On the occasion, KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar appealed to the minority community members to expose the “anti-people” and “anti-minority” policies of the BJP Government in the State. Unlike the BJP, he said, the Congress had been following an inclusive policy and accommodating people from all sections and community in the party and in the government.

Senior leaders M. Mallikarjun Kharge, Siddaramaiah, H.K. Patil, K.H. Muniyappa, Shamanur Shivashankarappa, Ramalinaga Reddy, KPCC office-bearers, MLAs, and former Ministers attended the programme held at the Palace Grounds.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Bengaluru – November 16th, 2021

Ornithologist Salim Ali’s Forgotten Radio-casts Now Come ‘Alive’ in Book

Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

Ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali’s forgotten radio-casts now come ‘alive’ in a book. /
In memory of Ornithologist Dr Salim Moizuddin Ali.

Dr Salim Moizuddin A. Ali (November 12, 1896-June 20, 1987) was the first Indian to conduct systematic bird surveys across undivided India and even later, and then penned several bird books which popularised ornithology in the sub-continent.

Mumbai :

In a unique initiative, the forgotten radio broadcasts of legendary ornithologist, the late Dr Salim Ali have been compiled and brought ‘alive’ in a book form, which will be released on November 12, marking the 125th birth anniversary of the ‘Birdman of India’.

Dr Salim Moizuddin A. Ali (November 12, 1896-June 20, 1987) was the first Indian to conduct systematic bird surveys across undivided India and even later, and then penned several bird books which popularised ornithology in the sub-continent.

The book — “Words For Birds” — edited by renowned author Tara Gandhi, comprises all the 35 broadcasts of Dr Ali on All India Radio (AIR) — from British India to Independent 1980s — probably unheard of by most people in the current century.

“I had worked with Dr Salim Ali for long… I have even worked on his other papers and documents and I came across these broadcasts that are well-preserved by BNHS,” the book editor Gandhi told IANS briefly, as the book awaits official release.

It will be unveiled as part of the ongoing 125th birth anniversary celebrations of the great ornithologist conferred with the Padma Vibhushan (1976), at the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS, founded 1883), said Education Officer Raju Kasambe.

The 35 talks that comprise “Words For Birds” were broadcast over 45 years, between 1941-1985, revealing Dr Ali’s exceptional skills both as an oral communicator and a passionate bird propagandist.

“The object of these talks is really to interest listeners, in the first instance for the healthy pleasure and satisfaction bird watching affords rather than for its intrinsic scientific possibilities,” the ornithologist had said of his radio transmissions.

The enthralling radiocasts, in a story-telling style, cover a wide range — bird habits and habitats, risks they face, the crucial role of avian in nature’s cyclic processes, how they benefit agriculture, unseen or little understood contributions to the economy, etc.

On his passion, Dr Ali said how 50 years ago bird watching in India was nowhere as popular, or indeed respectable, as it has become now, and in his younger days he would time and again fall in with persons who left him with a feeling, as they withdrew, that they were inwardly tapping a pitying finger on their foreheads.

“Their first glimpse of me very often was, it is true, of a distinctly shabby khaki-clad individual of the garage mechanic type, wandering leisurely and rather aimlessly about the countryside and surreptitiously peeping into bushes, and holes in tree-trunks and earth banks…” said the legend modestly.

Though he had focussed mainly on birds in his radio talks, it is evident that he was interested in all forms of wildlife and contemporary conservation issues, too, with each talk reading like a short essay, and the reader can even glance randomly through it to be immensely educated and entertained.

Dr Ali’s best-sellers from his massive collection include “Book Of Indian Birds” and the monumental 10-volume “Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan” (co-authored with S. Dillon Ripley), “The Birds of Kutch”, “Indian Hill Birds”, “Birds of Kerala”, “The Birds of Sikkim”, and his autobiography, “The Fall of a Sparrow”.

The book editor Gandhi was guided by Dr Ali for MSc (Field Ornithology), and she works for biodiversity conservation, conducts surveys to document birds and other wildlife in India.

Besides scientific and popular articles on nature and ecology, she has penned several books like “Birds, Wild Animals and Agriculture: Conflict and Coexistence in India” and edited the two-volume “A Bird’s Eye View: The Collected Essays and Shorter Writings of Salim Ali”.

Published by Black Kite and Hachette, “Words For Birds” (256 pg/Rs.599) will soon be available from BNHS and Amazon platforms. — IANS

source: http://www.clarionindia.net / Clarion India / Home> India> Life> Books / November 05th, 2021

J&K constable shot dead by militants in Srinagar

Srinagar, JAMMU & KASHMIR :

“Today at about 2015hrs Srinagar Police received information about a terror crime incident at S.D Colony Batamaloo area of Srinagar. Senior police officers reached the terror crime spot,” police said in a statement.

A Jammu and Kashmir Police constable was shot dead by suspected militants in Srinagar on Sunday night – the latest in a string of terror-related killings in the Valley despite high security alert.

Police said militants fired at 29-year-old Tawseef Ahmad Wani at SD Colony in Batamaloo neighbourhood of Srinagar. He was immediately taken to the nearby SMHS hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

“Preliminary investigation has revealed that terrorists fired upon one police personnel… In this terror incident, he (Wani) had sustained grievous bullet injuries and was shifted to nearby hospital for the treatment, where he succumbed to his injuries and attained martyrdom.”

The National Conference the attack. “Unequivocally condemn the cowardly & dastardly attack on 29-year-old policeman in Batmaloo, Srinagar in which he lost his life… Our hearts go out to his family and friends at this time of grief,” the party tweeted.

The incident comes close on the heels of a series of attacks against civilians in the Valley. In October, at least 12 civilians, mostly migrant workers and those from the minority community, were killed in multiple militant attacks in Kashmir.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> India / by Express News Service, Srinagar / November 08th, 2021

Junior doctor takes healthcare to the doorsteps of poor people in West Bengal’s Burdwan

Mohabbatpur Village (Malda), WEST BENGAL :

The young doctor arranges transport for those living in remote areas, holds regular health camps, reports Pranab Mondal.pix

West Bengal : 

As a junior doctor at Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, Dr Golam Ahmed Kibria became overwhelmed by the heart-wrenching ordeals of the underprivileged patients admitted here. “After joining the service, I saw how the poor had to suffer after a nationwide lockdown was announced last year to reach the state-run hospital in Burdwan. Many failed to turn up at the hospital because they couldn’t arrange for vehicles,” said Dr Kibria.

Witnessing these unfortunate circumstances reminded him of a line from the customary oath that medical students take: “I solemnly pledge myself to consecrate my life to the service of humanity.” So Dr Kibria decided to start doorstep healthcare services for the marginalised. After his duty hours, he would organise free health camps in remote pockets of the district and even distribute free medicines.

“In a camp at Memari held on last October 4, I saw a three-and-a-half-year-old child suffering from frequent convulsions and his illiterate parents were helpless. I immediately made all arrangements to get the child admitted to Burdwan Medical College and Hospital where it was detected that he was suffering from Sturge-Weber Syndrome, a rare congenital neurological and skin disorder.” The child was discharged after he recovered.

Dr Golam Ahmed Kibria (in white tee) with underprivileged patients.

In another camp, a woman in her early 60s turned up. “She was not in a position to move because of severe orthopaedic disease. Her family said they had gone door-to-door of rural hospitals but none could cure her. The orthopaedic surgeons at our hospitals identified the exact problem and gave her proper treatment,” he said.

Dr Kibria hails from Mohabbatpur village, Malda, which means a ‘hamlet/town of love’. His act of serving the poor reflects the meaning of his ancestral village’s name. He is the first male in his village to have cracked the medical entrance examination. “Treating patients with different ailments is not possible as a junior doctor. But I ensure their transport to the district hospital with the help of my colleagues, so that needy patients get speedy treatment and necessary pathological tests done,” said Dr Kibria, who organises two free health camps every month.

Realising he needs more man-power to serve the poor, Dr Kibria recently set up a welfare organisation called Prayas. It has 163 members and over 160 doctors. “We also provide rations and financial support to get daughters of poor families married off. Helping every poor person is beyond our capacity. But we try to reach the families who are in deep distress. We have already spent over `11 lakh for this purpose,” he said.

The 26-year-old doctor and his team even reached the areas ravaged by Cyclone Yash in West Bengal. “We held many camps in the affected areas and distributed free medicines. I do it all for the people of my country as my duty,” Dr Kibria signs off.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Pranab Mondal, Express News Service / November 07th, 2021

Budding female boxers in Lucknow’s Malihabad mango belt pack a punch

Lucknow, UTTAR PRADESH :

For representational purposes

The budding female boxers come from humble backgrounds. Their parents have allowed them to pursue their passion, thanks to the inspirations they find in Marry Kom or Lovlina Borgohain.

Lucknow : 

In the expansive orchards of densely planted mango trees in Malihabad on Lucknow  outskirts, a peculiar sound catches one’s attention. It is the report of punches being rained on the hanging sandbags and covered mango tree trunks.

It’s a bunch of girls in their boxing vests and shorts punching hard. Otherwise known for its Dussehri, the most popular mango variety, the makeshift boxing ‘nursery’ falls in Malihabad.

The budding female boxers come from humble backgrounds. Their parents have allowed them to pursue their passion, thanks to the inspirations they find in Marry Kom or Lovlina Borgohain.

The endeavour has brought out at least 10 district level boxers and one national level under the junior category in recent years.

Apart from taking on the ring for professional achievement, as many as 87 boxers, primarily girls, have learnt to safeguard themselves from assaults.

“The initial intent was to train the girls in boxing so that they could use the skill for self-defence, but it catapulted many into medal winners over the years,” says coach Mohammad Saif Khan.

Impressed with Saif’s intent, the ChildLine unit of Lucknow has joined hands with him and its coordinator Sangeeta Sharma often holds camps in rustic belt to teach teenagers about sexual abuses and ways to raise voice against it.

Saif, once a heavyweight boxer, has played till state level in Uttarakhand. A moving incident around 15 years back forced him to shift focus from mango farming to train girls in self-defence techniques.

He narrates that how a young girl in his neighbourhood was raped and how he found himself helpless in bringing justice to her as her family was reluctant to report the incident fearing social stigma. 

“This made me think how to ‘empower girls’ for self-defence. I then decided to train girls in boxing,” says Saif. One of his students, Kamna Rawat (15), has won two district level gold medals.

Anamika (17) is another boxer who showed the impact of her punches at national level in quarter finals in a championship organized at Nagpur in 2018.

How a Rape incident prompted him 

Saif decided to start teaching boxing to girls after a girl in his neighbourhood was raped and her family didn’t lodge a police complaint, fearing social stigma. 

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Namita Bajpai, Express News Service / November 05th, 2021

G Santha Teacher Memorial Journalism Award 2021 for Kashmir-based journalist Mudassir Kuloo

JAMMU & KASHMIR :

The award has been instituted in the memory of G Shantha, an English teacher hailing from Thalavadi in Kerala’s Alappuzha district. 

Rekha Satheesh from The New Indian Express was the first winner.

The specially-crafted stone memento made by noted mural artist MS Chandramouli that will be awarded to Mudassir Ahmad (right). (Photos | Special Arrangement)

Bengaluru :

Mudassir Ahmad Kuloo (33), an independent journalist from Kashmir, has been awarded the 5th G Santha Teacher Memorial Journalism Award instituted by the Inspired Indian Foundation (IIF), Bengaluru.

The award will be presented on November 6 in Bengaluru, during the 5th Guru Kalam Memorial Lecture, an annual national event being organised by the IIF to commemorate the birth anniversary of former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. The IIF spearheads several missions of Dr Kalam in association with Dr APJ Abdul Kalam International Foundation, Rameswaram.

This year the award carries a specially-crafted stone memento made by noted mural artist MS Chandramouli from Karnataka in addition to Rs 25,000 as a cash component.

The 2021 jury included aerospace and defence scientists, writers, teachers and activists in addition to the trustees of IIF. Mudassir was chosen from a list of three shortlisted Indian journalists.

Mudassir pursued his Masters in Mass Communication and Journalism from University of Kashmir and has been a Senior Correspondent with The Kashmir Monitor for six years. 

His reports have also featured in The Third PoleTRT WorldFirst PostThe TehelkaHuffPostCNBC TV and Dainik Bhaskar among others.

Ashfaq ul Hassan, Editor of The Kashmir Monitor, termed Mudassir as a dependable journalist who covers all possible angles of a story. “His honest, enthusiastic and realistic approach is highly commendable,” Ashfaq noted.

Ishtiyaq Ahmad, Editor of Kashmir Indepth, also hailed Mudassir terming him an extremely intelligent journalist who has always strived to highlight issues of human rights, gender, social justice, environment and health. “A perfect team man who has his ear to the ground” was how Ishtiyaq summed him up.

The award has been instituted in the memory of G Shantha, an English teacher hailing from Thalavadi in Kerala’s Alappuzha district. Born in 1942, she dedicated her career to instilling in her young wards an unshakeable determination to chase their dreams wherever she taught, including at Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College, Trichy, Tamil Nadu, and Devasvom Board College, Thalayolaparambu, Kerala, and Mahatma High School for Girls, Chennithala, Kerala. 

G Shanta passed away in 2007 at the age of 65. She worked selflessly to promote the English language among rural kids. She also found time to write short stories and poetry.

Rekha Satheesh, a Senior Chief Sub-Editor with The New Indian Express, Kochi, was the first recipient of the award in 2016, while Rajeev Kumar Mishra, a Chief Sub-Editor with the Bengaluru edition of Rajasthan Patrika, won the honour in 2017. 

The award went to Jugal Purohit, a Senior Broadcast Journalist with BBC India, in 2018 and in 2019 M Nanjundaswamy a Mysuru -based stringer of Kannada daily Vijay Karnataka, was the recipient.

(Mudassir can be reached at: mudasirkuloo00@gmail.com | Twitter: @MudasirKuloo)

If you have any queries w.r.t. this release, please contact the following: Madhusoodanan A: 9731065269 / Snigdha Jha: 7899778888

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Nation / by Press Release – Madhusoodanan / November 01st, 2021

Leander Paes and Nafisa Ali join Trinamul Congress in Goa

Kolkata, WEST BENGAL :

While the names of swimmer and activist Ali and Deshprabhu had been doing the rounds, the tennis icon was a surprise for most.

Mamata Banerjee with Leander Paes in Dona Paula, Goa / Telegraph picture

Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday inducted celebrities such as Leander Paes and Nafisa Ali and entrepreneur Mrinalini Deshprabhu into her party for its Goa foray, which she formally launched over the course of a busy day of political and PR exercises.

While the names of swimmer and activist Ali and Deshprabhu had been doing the rounds, tennis icon Paes was a surprise for most.

“When, at the age of 14, I went to play tennis for India, Didi (Mamata) was the (junior) Union sports minister. She used to always encourage, always support…. Now, after three decades of tennis, I would like to support the lady who has been going forward with immense courage. She is a real champion to me,” said Paes, 48, a Calcutta boy and now a resident of Goa.

Regarded as one of the greatest players in doubles, he won 18 Grand Slams in men’s and mixed doubles, and a bronze for India in men’s singles at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

“I would like to serve the people by means of politics. I would like to serve the youth of the nation. That is why I have joined Didi,” said Paes. “India is the world’s largest democracy. There cannot be division here on the basis of caste, creed, or religion,” he added.

Now 64, Ali was a Congress candidate against Mamata in Calcutta South in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. She lost. Ali also had a brief stint with Samajwadi Party before returning to the Congress in 2009.

Mamata Banerjee with Nafisa Ali in Goa / Telegraph picture

“She (Mamata) is such a champion for the cause of protecting the inclusive ethos of India…. It is important, now more than ever, to close the ranks on forces that seek to divide this great nation,” said Ali, a Calcutta girl who was the national swimming champion in the early 1970s, was crowned Miss India in 1976, and went on to act in films.

Sources in Trinamul said Mamata was keen on engaging civil society members in politics in Goa, something she did successfully in Bengal.

The BJP’s Pramod Sawant-led government would seek re-election to the 40-seat Goa Assembly in  February 2022.

The principal Opposition there is the Congress, with the AAP testing waters there for some time.

Last month, Mamata inducted Goa’s former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro, with four decades in the Congress. He is now a national vice-president of Trinamul, helping it not only in Goa but also in several states of the Northeast, which he handled organisationally for the Grand Old Party.

After Faleiro came a number of political leaders from Goa, from various parties there. From the civil society, Trinamul has already managed to get the likes of poet N. Shivdas, filmmaker Tony Dias, environmentalist Rajendra Shivaji Kakodkar, footballer Denzil Franco, and boxer Lenny Da Gama.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / Home> West Bengal / by Meghdeep Bhattacharrya, Calcutta / October 30th, 2021

Independent journalist Mohammad Ali wins Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting on South Asia 2021

New York, USA :

Mohammad Ali is an independent journalist based in New York.

Independent journalist Mohammad Ali was announced as the winner of this year’s Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting on South Asia by the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) for his report on right-wing vigilantes’ radicalization of India’s Hindus. The past winners of the award include Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist Dexter Filkins and renowned investigative journalist Azmat Zahra. 

New Delhi : 

Independent journalist Mohammad Ali was last week announced as the winner of the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting on South Asia 2021 by the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA), a journalism organization based in the U.S. and Canada. 

Ali was awarded for his investigative piece on the Hindu vigilante’s radicalization of India’s Hindu’s by “using a dangerous cocktail of social media and Hindutva.” The 10,000-word long piece titled ‘The Rise of a Hindu Vigilante in the Age of WhatsApp and Modi’ appeared in the American magazine WIRED, well known for its focus on “how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics.” The piece appeared as a cover story in May 2020 of WIRED magazine. 

Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, Ali announced, “I am grateful to @sajahq for the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting on South Asia 2021 for my profile of a Hindu vigilante in @WIRED. It was an investigation into the process of radicalization of India’s Hindus using a dangerous cocktail of social media & Hindutva.”

Picture: Mohammad Ali Twitter

The Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting on South Asia is awarded yearly by SAJA. Named after American journalist Daniel Pearl, who was killed in Pakistan in 2002, the past winners of the award include Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Dexter Filkins, and renowned investigative journalist Azmat Zahra. 

Ali said that he is elated at the award. “Besides helping my career, the award will draw more attention to the rise of Hindu extremism in India,” Ali told TwoCircles.net. 

Ali said the idea for the WIRED story on the rise of Hindu vigilante in India, especially after right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in India in 2014, was spawned as he “didn’t like the liberal media coverage of Hindutva in India.”

Ali said for the story he spent a lot of time with the foot soldiers Hindutva, who would carry out the task of propaganda for “India’s slide towards right-wing Hindu extremism.”

“I didn’t want to demonize them (the workers of right-wing parties in India) but instead to humanize them and tell their story,” Ali said, adding, “With all being said, these workers and the work they do is historically significant as it is changing the course of India’s fate as a democracy.”

Ali’s has been reporting and writing on the rise of Hindu nationalism and violence against Muslims in India for over twelve years.

A post-graduate in literature, Ali started his journalism career with TwoCircles.net in 2008 before joining The Hindu in 2012.

“I belong to the generation of Indian Muslims who witnessed the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat and became conscious of the oppression against the community,” Ali said. 

Ali said his foray into journalism came naturally as “becoming conscious of the issues facing Indian Muslims lead me to write about it.”

TwoCircles.net, Ali said, gave him a platform to write about these issues. 

“At TCN, the reportage on Muslims was a priority. It was not done before in any other mainstream publication. Working at TCN provided me with a great experience in understanding the issues facing the Muslim community in India beyond what was being written about them in the mainstream press,” Ali said. 

It was at TwoCircles.net, Ali said that he did his best stories. His series of stories on the wrongful incarceration of Mohammad Amir brought the focus on the impact of the war on terror on India’s marginalized Muslim community. 

Mohammad Amir, a resident of Azad Market in Old Delhi, was falsely charged in 20 cases of bomb blasts in and around Delhi in 1998. He was finally released in January 2012, after 14 year long wrongful incarceration.

TwoCircles.net was the first news portal to break the sad story of Aamir. 

Ali detailed the plight of Aamir and his family in a 2010 article titled ‘12 yrs in jail and counting: Story of Amir – a victim of war on terror,’ after he met briefly met Aamir by chance at Teeshazari Court in Delhi.

“Aamir’s story is the defining story of my career. The story brought focus on him and he was eventually released. I still keep in touch with him,” Ali said. 

Currently based in New York, Ali’s work has been featured in WIRED, Al Jazeera and The Hindu, among others. 

Ali said that due to threats to his life in 2017 from extremist Hindu groups he had to move to the US in 2018 when Columbia Journalism School offered him a fellowship. 

Ali has been interviewed by The NewYorker (in a piece on the lynching of Muslims in India), Al-Jazeera (The Listening Post episode on use of WhatsApp in spreading violence and propaganda in India), Harper’s Magazine (on the lynching of Muslims in India), Guardian, (on murders triggered by fake news on WhatsApp), and dozen other Indian publications.

His WIRED piece, which won him the Daniel Pearl Award, which was over a year-long investigation into the functioning of the foot soldiers of RSS, is a powerful account of “how Modi’s rise has unleashed an army of violent Hindu extremists on India’s minority communities pushing them to the possibility of second-class citizenship.” 

To report for the story, Ali spent months with workers of Bajrang Dal which is part of a larger ideological fraternity patronized by BJP and Modi. 

“The WIRED piece is one of the very few instances of reporting in American magazines on Bajrang Dal’s functioning on a day-to-day basis, and demonstrated how politics transforms a society, how hatred is created between communities in the name of ancient wounds and how it is deployed to control power in the present,” Ali said. 

Ali said that his WIRED piece documents “how the most commonplace and most humane things like eating a meal or falling in love can be politicized and turned into sources of majoritarian rage and violence against minorities.”

Ali is currently working on a book on India. 

source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Lead Story / by Irfan Mehraj, TwoCirlces.net / October 29th, 2021

Auto drivers return bag with cash, mobile phone to owner

Kodagu, KARNATAKA :

Auto drivers Sunil and Mujeeb returned a bag with cash, a mobilephone and documents to its owner at Suntikoppa in the presence of the police

Two honest auto drivers have returned a bag containing Rs 28,000 in cash, a mobile phone and documents to its owner.

Auto drivers Mujeeb and Sunil had found a bag lying on the ground at Panya Junction in Madapura. After opening the bag, they found that it had cash, documents and a mobile phone.

The duo handed the bag over to Autorickshaw Drivers and Owners’ Association president A M Shareef, who in turn handed it over to PSI Puneeth Kumar.

The police informed the owner of the bag.

It is said that plantation labourers Ravi and his wife were travelling in an auto and did not realise that their bag had fallen while they were travelling.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by DHNS, Suntikoppa / October 27th, 2021