The youngest headmaster Babar Ali will take part in a session, organised to mark Children’s Day by city-based Learners PU College in association with All India Corporate Council for Skill Development (AICCSD), at Kalamandira on November 14 at 5 pm.
Babar Ali, who was born in 1993, started his teaching career when he was nine-year-old and became headmaster in a school in West Bengal when he was 16. The biography of Ali has been included in the pre-university English textbook, published by Karnataka state government.
English teachers, students of class X and PUC can attend the event. Interested people can register by sending SMS along with the name to 99169 33202 or 99163 97939 or email to learnerspuc@gmail.com.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / DH News Service / Mysuru / November 11th, 2017
Tipu Sultan, the `Tiger of Mysore’, born Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu in 1750 at a place now part of Bengaluru, was never in Calcutta. But our city has two masjids in his name as descendants of his descendants live in our city. Last year, the government of Karnataka decided that November 10 will be annually celebrated as Tipu Sultan Jayanti. This attracted foolish objections from those who never learned from history but want to rewrite it and rip up the country’s social fabric. As Stephen Hawking succinctly puts it, “We spend a great deal of time studying history , which, let’s face it, is mostly the history of stupidity.”Tipu Sultan, the powerful ruler in south India during the 18th century , when the British themselves were taking over India in their empire-building frenzy , was a formidable opponent to their imperialistic ambitions.Unfortunately , he died on the battle field in 1799, one of the first Indian rulers to do that. However, he had also signed a treaty with the British seven years earlier by which he ceded half his kingdom and unable to pay the colonists some `300 lakh, had to accept his two minor sons being exiled to Calcutta.Although they were returned to their family two years later, a `mutiny’ in 1806 resulted in the entire family and entourage of about 300 people literally being shipped off to Calcutta. This included Tipu’s 11th son, Prince Ghulam Mohammed Anwar Shah. Ghulam Mohammed is remembered today , if at all, by the name of the road that skirts around the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) and arrives at the Golf Green area.
The family was settled in hutments on marshy tracts of land in Russapugla, the area which now houses Tollygunge Club and RCGC, initially liv ing in penurious conditions.However, Ghulam Mohammed Shah was enterprising. He scrounged and saved the stipend he received from the British and built up his finances through judicious investments, later acquiring the lands they were settled in and setting up the Prince Golam Mohammed Trust in 1872. He built the famous Tipu Sultan Shahi Masjid located at the junction of Dharmatala Street and Chowringhee in honour of his father in 1832. A decade later he built the twin of that mosque in Tollygunge at the crossing of Prince Anwar Shah and Deshpran Sasmal Roads. The Trust started by him is considered to be one of the richest Muslim trusts in the country , their revenues earned mostly from the ownership of multiple properties stretching from south to central Calcutta. It is said the land on which the Lower Circular Road Christian cemetery is located was acquired from Tipu Sultan’s son in 1840.That explains the small mosque in an enclosed area at the rear of the cemetery .
It is fun to extrapolate that despite the political and social conflicts raging in the nation at that time, the Tipu Sultan Shahi Masjid, one of the lesser known heritage attractions of Calcutta, along with the Sacred Heart Church, a short walk down Dharmatala Street, as its contemporary neighbour, are rather obvious examples of this city’s plurality and cosmopolitan nature.Tollygunge, not yet known as Tollygunge, would be called that after Colonel William Tolly dredged the Gobindapur Creek in 1773 and reconnected Calcutta Port with the Matla and Bidyadhari rivers. He was also permitted to levy a tax on ships plying to and from today’s Bangladesh and built a market there, a ganj. The area was thereafter known as Tollygunge. In due course, Prince Ghulam became the owner of almost all the land.
The first hole of Tolly Club’s golf links is named after Tipu Sultan and for someone who never even set foot in this city, his legacy here is quite something to wonder at. George Orwell said, “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history .” Rewriting the history of a country to fit a particular political mould is an attempt to do exactly that and it shall fail because those doing so are in denial. Tipu Sultan was many things to many people. He was probably what many monarchs were at that time, benevolent and violent, fighting valiant battles to retain his lands and his people, harsh and despotic, heroic and innovative, patriotic and tyrannical, and a whole lot more. He, nevertheless, will be a significant character in our history, if for no other reason but that he was where he was, when he was.
One of the ways someone like Tipu Sultan will live on in history is because of music.He featured in folk songs of the period as he did in English ballads of the time. The English songs were of course all derogatory and cursed the Indians in various ways, while being full of self-praise and odes to British military valour.Perhaps there is still time for someone to do what Francis James Child did in the 1800s, collecting Scottish and English ballads and transcribing them to text and notation. The wealth of folk music in India would give us, what could only be an amazing take on the history of our country .
— PATRICK SL GHOSE
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Kolkata News / by Patrick SL Ghose / TNN / November 06th, 2017
Minister UT Khader reached the hospital after he had got a call from the soldier’s brother for help
The soldier was part of the troop that took part in the surgical strikes against Pakistan
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Mangaluru :
In a humane act, food and civil supplies minister UT Khader rushed to help a soldier, who was bitten by snake, in the midnight and played his part in rescuing a life.
At around 1.15am on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, a person who introduced himself as the younger brother of Santosh Kumar, a soldier to Khader over phone, said Santhosh was bitten by a snake and that he had been admitted at a private hospital. However, he said the hospital had asked for 10 injections and as he felt completely helpless in arranging them, he called up the minister. On learning this, Khader rushed to the hospital in the next 15 minutes.
Khader met Santhosh who lay in the emergency ward. After discussions with the doctor, Khader immediately arranged the required injections from the Government Wenlock Hospital and got them administered to Santhosh. Khader again visited the hospital on Monday morning and took note of Santhosh’s health. The soldier is now recuperating.
Santhosh was part of the troop that took part in the surgical strikes against Pakistan in Kashmir last year. He had arrived to his native recently to attend a family function.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Mangalore News / TNN / November 06th, 2017
Kolkata man aces rice bucket challenge with a record 39,000-kg contribution
Giving joy Kolkata rises to the challenge/ Usha Rai
Since 2014, a social initiative called ‘rice bucket challenge’ has given new meaning to philanthropy in India, and involves collecting and distributing this staple grain to the poor and needy.
The idea of the challenge is to get people to compete with one another in giving. Early this year, Mohammed Tauseef Rahman of Kolkata created a new record by distributing about 39,000 kg in five hours at the Ladies Park in Park Circus.
Started as an online social initiative by journalist Manju Latha Kalanidhi in Hyderabad, the challenge began with ‘Likes’ and shares on Facebook. Tauseef took part in the first challenge in Kolkata in December 2014.
Last year he again distributed 19,000 kg of rice in association with the Kolkata-based NGO Tiljala Shed.
This year’s donation, his third so far, was the biggest, with online retailer Big Basket and seven to eight other local people contributing rice. Even as the distribution started, the contributions of rice kept coming in till the last minute. The queue of recipients seemed endless and there were hiccups like the polythene carry bags tearing under the weight of the rice — 5 kg a person. The recipients had been identified earlier and given a slip of paper each, which they produced on the day of distribution.
The rice bucket challenge was inspired by the Ice Bucket Challenge started abroad by an association for people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), to create awareness about the ailment and raise funds for further research. It involved pouring a bucket of ice cold water on a person’s head.
Rather than waste precious water, Kalanidhi turned the concept on its head by making the challenge all about raising donations of rice for the poor and hungry.
The Facebook page was launched on August 23, 2014, and received 7,000 likes within a day. The Twitter hashtag #ricebucketchallenge followed and, within a month, it had been tweeted 11,000 times.
The challenge also received extensive coverage in the mainstream media.
Kalanidhi says that as long as the concept reminds people to share, it serves its primary purpose.
Today, the Facebook page has over 65,000 followers and it recently helped raise more than 800 kg of rice for the Maa Illu Orphanage in Hyderabad.
In Kolkata, Tauseef handled the entire event and plans an even bigger one next year.
The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Specials> India Interionrs / by Usha Rai / November 03rd, 2017
After much dilly dallying, the state government has finally nominated two women members to the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) board of management (BoM), which presently has only male members.
Both members come with strong political affiliations. While one is the daughter of the Congress MLA from Nargund, B R Yavagal; another is a Congress party leader and councillor of Dandeli City Municipal Council.
The department nominated Namratha B Yavagal and Yasmin Riyaz Kittur on October 27, and KSOU notified the same on October 30.
But as per the Karnataka State Open Universities Act, the nominated members should be from the academic, administrative or scientific fields.
Nominations to the KSOU BoM have been shrouded in controversies, especially given the inordinate delay in appointments. The five posts had remained vacant since August 2013. It was only in early July this year that Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddi nominated the members.
This had, however, raised eyebrows as all five members were male. The KSOU Act stipulates that two of the five members, should be women, while one member should be from the SC/ST community. Following opposition, the department had withdrawn its July 3 order.
In its latest order, the department has terminated the nominations of M H Chandrashekar and Hazrat Ali Goravakolla, to accommodate the two women.
The other members are K S Shivaramu from Mysuru, Rachaiah from Chamarajanagar and Ramanna Salabhavi from Koppal.
Namratha, 35, is serving as the principal of Sanjay Gandhi Polytechnic, Ballari; Yasmin, 53, has been elected to the Dandeli City Council four times. She has been with the Congress party from 1996.
When contacted, both the women said that they were unaware that their names had been referred to the government.
The BoM comprises 15 members, including the KSOU V-C, registrar, dean academic, principal secretaries of the Higher Education department and Finance department, V-C of another varsity from the state, four legislators and five nominated members.
The term of the formerly nominated members had been withdrawn in 2013, after the Congress came to power, as all five of them had been appointed by the previous BJP government.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State / by Ashwini Y.S, Bengaluru / DH News Service / November 02nd, 2017
North Kanara Muslim United Forum Kumta Unit on Saturday distributed academic excellence award for around 13 Muslim students of Kumta Taluka for their outstanding performances in academics. The event was organized at Ideal high school Kumta.
North Kanara Muslim Forum’s Gen. Secy. Mohsin Quazi in his address appreciated the awardees, and students are raising the bar of Educational level in town by taking up fields like engineering and other courses which is a good sign for the development of thee town. He then spoke about Islamic courses that have been recently started in the Madrasas and also lauded the efforts put in by the North Kanara Muslim United forum.
Local youth Congress leader Ravikumar Shetty who was present as the chief guest of the event, congratulated the winners of the academic awards and also offered to lend any support to the forum required for educational development through Mohan Shetty trust of Kumta.
Akbar Mulla, Imtiyaz Umar, Muhammad Shafi Shaikh, Zahid, Basti Abdul Malik, Abusaleha and others were present along with local audience during the event.
source: http://www.bhatkallys.com / Bhatkallys.com / Home> Bhatkal News > Kumta / Bhatkallys News Bureau – I. Zaorez Shahab / October 28th, 2017
The stone and lime mortar tomb has been painted white in violation of conservation rules.(Pic: Syed Omar)
Hyderabad :
Hazrat Syed Khaja Hussain Shah Wali. The very mention of this revered name evokes spirituality and science. The saintengineer of the early Qutub Shahi period was responsible for the picturesque Hussainsagar that once irrigated vast stretches of green belts and quenched the thirst of thousands of people in the Hyderabad of yore. He also designed the Purana Pul, Hyderabad’s first bridge across the Musi. With the unique distinction of witnessing the reign of three Qutub Shahi kings, Hussain Shah Wali also oversaw the execution of the world’s first food-for work programme.
Sadly, large parcels of prime land attached to the grand mausoleum, where his mortal remains are buried, have fallen prey to land sharks.The mausoleum once had about 2,000 acres, but today only a small portion is free of illegal occupation. Encroachments have come up all around the mausoleum in utter disregard to the city’s spiritual and engineering heritage. Even the road leading to the dargah (tomb) is not free of encroachments. As if this was not enough, those manning the dargah have whitewashed the tomb built of stone and lime mortar, thus robbing it of its original beauty. Earlier, the managing committee had painted the tomb green. This is in clear violation of conservation rules. Neither the state Waqf Board nor the archaeology department has taken cognizance of this blatant violation.
“Heritage sites built of stone and mortar are not to be whitewashed or painted. Cement is never used for restoration as it is like cancer to mortar. The tomb was built during the reign of Abdullah Qutub Shah VII. Bad and unscientific upkeep has made the structure weak,” said city historian Dr Mohammad Safiullah, demanding that the tomb be restored by the government on the lines of the Qutub Shahi tombs where experts from the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) are working.
Hussain Shah Wali was the son-in-law of Ibrahim Qutub Shah IV. He was the head of all civil works in the kingdom. He built Hussainsagar in 1562. The saint-engineer died in 1620 and the tomb was constructed later by Abdullah Qutub Shah VII.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Hyderabad News / by Syed Akbar / TNN / October 29th, 2017
Chairman of Indo Arab League, Hyderabad, Syed Vicaruddin at Media Plus Auditorium in the city on Wednesday. Vice Chairman Mir Akbar Ali Khan and Syed Amiruddin are also present
Charminar :
The Indo-Arab League on Wednesday announced provision of space for establishing Palestine’s consulate office in the city free of cost. The league chairman Syed Vicaruddin told media personnel that it has decided to ensure land for the Palestine consulate office in Indo-Arab culture center sans any cost.
“We want to see Palestine’s consulate office opened in Hyderabad,”IndoArab league chairman Syed Vicaruddin said. He added that the central and state government want to establish an Indo-Arab university in either the country or the state, so that Arabs and Indians can study together. He further said that the proposal was discussed with other foreign ambassadors as well.
Apart from this, the Indo-Arab League is going to organize programmes in the city on October 29, in which, delegates from different Arab countries, including Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon , Judge of Palestine, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are expected to visit.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Hyderabad News> Schools & Colleges / TNN / October 26th, 2017
Here is a very special tribute from team Kootathil Oruthan to the one person who, Till date continues to inspire everyone with his words and deeds and raised India to its heights – Honorable Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
Ayub Ahmed, also known as ‘Body Miyan’, has been voluntarily burying unidentified and unclaimed bodies
Ayub Ahmed at a burial ground in Mysuru.
Shifting unidentified and unclaimed bodies is no enviable work. But 38-year-old Ayub Ahmed, a resident of Mysuru, not only shifts such bodies voluntarily to the mortuary, he also takes them to the burial ground and lays them to rest after the police declare them unidentified and unclaimed.
Mr. Ahmed began doing this selfless act about 19 years ago after he came across a body lying on the outskirts of Mysuru on Nanjangud road for more than 10 hours. That was the first unclaimed body he buried.
“While I was going to Gundlupet in a KSRTC bus to purchase a car, the driver stopped the vehicle near Bandipalya where a crowd had gathered around a dead body lying on the road. Ten hours later, when I was returning to Mysuru in my new car, the body was still there,” he says.
A policeman standing near the corpse said he could not find anybody to shift the body to the morgue. “When anybody buys a car, they take their friends or relatives on a drive. But I transported a dead body to the mortuary in mine,” he says.
When he realised the aversion and taboo surrounding the handling of dead bodies and transporting them, Mr. Ahmed began offering his services.
After helping the police as well as the public to shift bodies over the last 19 years, he has lost count of the number. But it has helped him earn not only the respect of the police department in Mysuru and neighbouring Mandya, but also the nickname “Body Miyan”.
Mr. Ahmed says his phone rings soon after the police is alerted about a dead body. By the time the police completes formalities, he reaches the spot and gets down to work. He helps in the toughest of circumstances, such as when a body has to be recovered from water, says Lakshmikant Talwar, Inspector of Mandi police station in Mysuru.
Mr. Ahmed says he does not receive more than ₹50 to ₹150 every time he transports a body. “Even if a body is claimed by relatives, it is very difficult to ask them for payment to transport the body when they are in grief,” he says.
Mr. Talwar endorses Mr. Ahmed and says that he offers to shift the bodies after post-mortem to their native even free of cost if the relatives are from a poor background.
The last rites of the unclaimed bodies are conducted as per their respective religion. “When bodies are taken to the burial ground near Jodi Thenginamara road near Highway Circle for the last rites, a Hindu priest assists me. If the body is of a Muslim, it goes to a graveyard near Mandi Mohalla. The bodies of Christians are taken to the cemetery in Ramanahalli,” said Mr. Ahmed.
Now, he has been promised the assistance of the police in securing a vehicle that is suitable for transporting bodies, which will be better than the old car that he uses.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Laiqh a Khan / Mysuru – October 24th, 2017
