Salman in Houston when it flooded earlier this year.
SALMAN SAYYED may have summed up his life in a less-than-three-minute video but there could be a film on him, the 25-year-old jokes. A pavement dweller from Mumbai who now aims to become entrepreneur in social tourism, Sayyed’s video went viral on social media platforms on Saturday, tracing a young boy’s journey from Haji Ali traffic signal in central Mumbai to Houston, in Texas, where he is now pursuing a course in Business Studies.
“I am surprised the video went viral while I slept in the US,” Sayyed said, jokingly, from Texas on Saturday. Born on a footpath in Haji Ali area, Sayyed dropped out of school to support his family, comprising his parents, a sister with three children, her husband and a grandmother. While his mother worked as ragpicker, his father did odd jobs, and Sayyed sold second-hand books near Haji Ali signal.
“I would ask customers to explain words in the books I sold. My father had taught me basic alphabets,” he told The Sunday Express. When he was about 14, a volunteer from the NGO Akanksha Foundation, which provides aid in education, met him. “They were doing some survey. I spoke a little English, and they were impressed.”
Soon, Sayyed was coaxed to join the NGO, and study. For the next few months, he would wake up early to attend classes. In afternoon, he sold books, and spent the evenings playing. He quit after a few months — “they all spoke English. I didn’t feel comfortable.”
He does not remember his age at the time but one day, while selling books at Haji Ali signal, he wondered, “For how long will I sell books?” That was the “turning point”. He approached the NGO volunteers again and started studying. After failing in his first attempt in Class X Board examination in 2011, he reappeared the next year, and cleared it. In Class XI, funded by the NGO, he scored 91 per cent, following it up with 89 per cent in Class XII Boards.
He went on to pursue undergraduation in Sociology and worked as tour guide with Magic Tours of India alongside.
From the footpath his family moved to Kalyan, on the outskirts of Mumbai, and rented a small flat — his mother now works as a domestic help, and father photographs tourists at Haji Ali.
Last year, Sayyed came across a course under Community College Initiative, where he could study for 10 months in Houston’s Community College. He applied, and got through. “I am no different than anyone. Most of us are stuck at crossroads.. Today I want to help others like me,” he says in his video.
Ram Subramanian, former advertising professional and filmmaker who made the video on Sayyed, said even he was surprised when the video went viral from his Facebook page. “When I met him, we walked from my Khar office to home in Bandra. I realised he is very knowledgeable for his age. It is not academic knowledge — life has taught him a lot,” Subramanian, founder-director of Handloom Picture Company, said.
Sayyed has experienced the floods in Texas, joking that it is no different than Mumbai’s monsoon. The 25-year-old said several volunteers were “after my life, waking me up early morning to study”, and he now realises the importance of having that persuasion in life by an external force. Who does he think is happier, the rich or the poor. “The poor,” he replied. “We have nowhere to rush to. They (rich people) are always rushing, working.”
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> India / by Express News Service, Mumbai / December 17th, 2017
Dr. Abdul Munaf, M.B.B.S., Founder President, Krishnagiri Islamic Trust for Education, Al-Ameen Manjil, 27/I, Jakkappan Nagar II Cross, Krishnagiri – 635 001.
Mr. G.N.Srinivasan, Secretary & Correspondent, Urumu Dhanalakshmi College, Tiruchirappalli
Prof. Hajee M.J.A. Meeran, Former Professor of Physics, The New College, Chennai.
Dr. P.M. Mansure, Principal, MIET College of Arts & Science, Tiruchirappalli.
Dr. M.M. Shahul Hameed, Head, Department of Biotechnology, Jamal Mohamed College, Tiruchirappalli.
Dr. M. Sheik Mohamed, Principal, Jamal Mohamed College, Tiruchirappalli.
Mr. R.K.Medhar Mydeen, Deputy Commissioner (Commercial Taxes), Zone-IV, Chennai-6.
Dr. A.Abdul Subhan Khan, Head (i/c), Commerce & Business Administration Self-Financing, Departments, Jamal Mohamed College, Tiruchirappalli.
Mr. Dawood Miakhan, Secretary and Correspondent, Quaide Millath College, Melavakkam,Secretary and Correspondent, Quaide Millath College, Melavakkam, Chennai – 601 302.
Prof. Mohamed Iqbal, Principal, Quaide Millath College, Melavakkam, Chennai -601302.
Mr. K.A.R. Mohideen, K.A.R.Leathers Pvt.Ltd., 86 E, Madurai Road, Begambur, Dindigul-2.
Mr. S. Mohamed Rahmathullah, Programme Manager, Mashreq Bank, Dubai, UAE
Mr. A. P. Rajendran, PG Teacher in Botany, Namakkal
Mr. M. Zahir Husain, Senior IT Infrastructure, Systems and SAN Storage Administrator, Petrochemical Industries Company, Kuwait
On 15th August 2014
Mr. N. ALTAF AHAMED, Director, MEASI Academy of Architecture, Chennai
Mr. P. SAMIIYA, Ex-Zonal Chairman, Tiruchirappalli City Corporation
Dr. AMEENUL HUSSAINI BIN ABDUL KADER, Malaysia
Alhaj Kazi, S.A. SHAIK HASSAN SAHIB, QADIRI, Government Town Kazi and Managing Trustee of Nagore Dargah Shariff
Dr. HABEEBULLAH KHAN BIN ABU BAKAR SIDIQ, Malaysia
Mr. G. RAMESH KUMAR, FCA, Chartered Accountant, Trichy
Mr. M. SAWKATH ALI, Area Warehouse Manager, Shuiba Water & Power Production Station, Kuwait
Mr. T.M.A. ABDUL MALIK, Joint Managing Director, Super Sonic Trading LLC Group, Dubai, UAE
Mr. K. M. KABEER MOOSA, Principal, Jamal Mohamed College Ayesha Girls Matric Hr.Sec. School, Trichy
Mr. D. ASHOK GANDHI, Vice President, All India Synthetic Gems Manufacturers and Dealers Association
Rtn S GOPAL, Prop: Sri Lakshmi Roadways, Trichy
Dr. A . M. MOHAMED SINDHASHA, Former Principal, Jamal Mohamed College Trichy
Dr. M. HUSSAIN MUNAVAR, Professor & Head, Department of Molecular Biology. School of Biological Sciences, CAS in Functional and Organismal Genomics, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai
Mr. M. S. HABEEBUR RAHMAN, Engineering Consultant, Chennai,
Dr. K. SATHIYAMURTHY, Associate Professor, Department of Bio Medical Science, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli
Mr. HAJA SHEIK ALLAUDIN, IT/E-commerce Manager and Director Revenue, Singapore
Dr. A. MOHAMED JAFFAR, Professor of Commerce, Tamilnadu Open University, Chennai
Shri. A. ARUNMOZHITHEVAN, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), Cuddalore Constituency
Mr. HAJA MOHIDEEN, CIO, Islamic Bank, Qatar
Mr. NOOR MOHAMED ABDUL MALIK, Project Manager, Tech Mahindra Ltd., Singapore
Mr. ABDUL KARIM ABDUL NAZIR, Associate Director, Banking, NCS PTE LTD, Singapore
Mr. N. AMEER AHMAD, GeneralManager, TRAVEL CLUB Tourism Company, Kuwait
Mr. R. RAHAMATHULLAH, Director- Radiant IAS Academy, Villuppuram
Mr. HABIBULLAH NOOR MOHAMED, Managing Director,MASS Education Institute, Singapore
Mr. MOHAMED SIDDIQUE, Project Manager, IT, Mannai Corporation, Qatar
Mr. A. MOHAMED SHAJAHAN, Universal Lubricants Factory (ZINOL) L.L.C., Sharjah – U.A.E.
Mr. A. NASHEER AHAMED, Chief Executive Officer, Sixth Star Technologies, Chennai
Mr. HABEEB RAHMAN M.I. SHARFUDEEN, Contract Administrative Officer, Qatar
Ms. SHEERIN SAMSUDEEN, Specialist – Manage Direct Tax (United States) M/s. Shell India Markets Pvt Ltd (SBSC)- Chennai
Ms. AIMAN ARISHA, Senior Technical Analyst, CITY Global Service, California, USA
Launching learning into cyberspace, the Maulana Azad National Urdu University’s YouTube channel for higher education went live on Tuesday.
The channel, an initiative of the university’s Instructional Media Centre (IMC), is expected to reach over 80,000 students who have enrolled in various courses which are different stages of completion in the distance mode.
University Vice-Chancellor M. Aslam Parvaiz underscored that while the large number of its students stand to benefit through the YouTube channel, the initiative would also reach a larger number of Urdu speakers who are not students.
“The books which we give in form of study material is insufficient these days as there is no teacher. This channel takes the teacher to the student’s house,” Dr. Parvaiz said. The Urdu speaking diaspora of the country in Europe and the USA too would benefit.
Describing the launch of the YouTube channel as a day of liberation of Urdu, Dr. Parvaiz opined that the language has been confined to ‘literary ramps’ and would now be associated with knowledge.
Taking questions from the media on the frequency of generating content, he said that each department is given a schedule to record its videos. The IMC, he said, generates 30 such videos each month. “That is more than one per day. There is a good collection which already exists. This too will be made available,” he said. The IMC will also start making 3-D films soon.
Touching upon how MANUU’s schools would benefit, he said that the second phase of content generation would deal with this aspect.
Also launched at the event were the IMC logo, Cinematheque MANUU Signature Film and MANUU Knowledge Series.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Staff Reporter / Hyderabad – December 13th, 2017
In an inspired moment, the street in Alwarpet was named after two giants of the legal field, K. Bhashyam Iyengar and Basheer Ahmed Sayeed
Fellow heritage enthusiast and writer, Dr G. Sundaram, wondered as to the origins of Bashyam Basheer Ahmed Street in Alwarpet. Have the signboard painters got it wrong he wondered. But for once they had it right. It is indeed Bashyam Basheer Ahmed Street. And as for its Vaishnavite-Muslim name combination, the explanation is simple — it commemorates two men — K. Bhashyam Iyengar and Basheer Ahmed Sayeed. Both were giants of the legal field.
Bhashyam enrolled as an advocate in 1906. He apprenticed under his father-in-law, the legendary Sir VC Desikachariar, and later worked with leaders such as VV Srinivasa Iyengar and S. Srinivasa Iyengar. He was greatly successful in independent practice as well. He wrote a classic commentary on the Negotiable Instruments Act, while still in the early days of his career and is even now referred to at times as NI Act Bhashyam to distinguish him from the other, Sir V Bhashyam Iyengar.
But it is his services to social causes that earned him immortality. Active in the freedom struggle he was beaten by the police and also sentenced. He took to representing in court, people charged for participating in the independence movement. He was to be a member of the Syndicates of the Madras and Annamalai Universities, a councillor, a member of the Legislature and a minister in the Prakasam Ministry of 1946-47. He died in 1959.
Basheer Ahmed enrolled in the High Court in 1925. An expert in languages and also Islamic law, he rose quickly in practice and was later made a judge of the Madras High Court. He was confirmed as a judge in 1950. Like Bhashyam, he too was actively involved in social causes, one of the prime beneficiaries being the Music Academy, of which he was a member of the executive committee.
It was at his prompting that the Academy purchased its present property. Justice Basheer Ahmed, in 1951, set up the Southern India Education Trust along with a few other prominent Muslims of Madras.
Sixteen acres of land were purchased in the Teynampet area and in 1955, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, who greatly admired Basheer Ahmed’s legal acumen and learning, laid the foundation stone of the SIET College, the first of the many SIET institutions. Justice Basheer Ahmed Sayeed died in 1984.
K. Bhashyam lived in Champaka Vilas, at the intersection of Luz Church Road and Mowbrays (now TTK) Road. That property is a rabbit’s warren of flats now. The other side of Mowbray’s Road, was mainly paddy fields, with the vast Sudder Court (native courts of the 18 century) in the distance. The main court building, Sadr Gardens, was Basheer Ahmed Sayeed’s residence. It still exists, a magnificent pile.
When the surrounding area was developed in the 1940s, roads were laid and one connected Sadr Gardens to Mowbrays Road. In an inspired moment, it was decided to name it after both men and so we have it, Bashyam Basheer Ahmed Street.
Happily, it remains so.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai> Hidden Histories / by Sriram V. / January 02nd, 2013
A 100-member team of archivists is digitising over 10 crore documents to prevent further loss. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed in two years.
A letter from General Lake Sahib to Zaibun Nisa Baigum dated 8 October 1802 at Delhi archives.(Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)
On March 9, 1858, a British court declared Delhi’s last king, Bahadur Shah Zafar, guilty of rebellion, treason and murder before exiling him to Rangoon in the then British-controlled Burma. The trial was approved and confirmed a month later by N Penny, major general commanding, Meerut division.
One hundred and fifty nine years later, the 42-day trial conducted at Diwan-e-Khaas of the Red Fort by British prosecutor Major F Harriott lies preserved word for word at the Delhi archives in the form of a hardbound book comprising 262-pages.
Apart from the handwritten trial papers, the Delhi archives is a repository of over 10 crore rare documents comprising Mughal firmans (imperial orders), maps, land acquisition award statements, jail records, manuscripts and government orders narrating the historical and political journey of Delhi since 1803.
So far accessible to only researchers, the treasure trove will soon be just a click away for those interested in the history of the national capital. An ambitious ‘digitisation and microfilming of archival records’ project started by Delhi government is underway with the target of converting 4 crore documents in the first phase by 2020.
An official with a copy of the trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)
“Some of the records are so old that they might get damaged. So, it is required to preserve them in digital and microfilm formats for posterity,” said Sanjay Garg, the chief archivist of the archives. The Delhi Archives is city’s second repository of records from early 19th century after the National Archives of India.
Mughal firmans to land acquisition for Lutyens Delhi
In September 1803 East India Company’s forces under general Gerard Lake fought the Marathas in what is popular as Battle of Delhi, or Battle of Patparganj — named after the area now in east Delhi.The earliest documents at the Delhi Archives relate to this battle. Thought the British emerged victorious, they allowed Shah Alam II — the blind emperor of Delhi — to issue firmans in Persian language, many of which are also preserved at the archives.
“There are different sizes of royal seals in Persian language depending on the hierarchy in the Mughal courts on the firman with gold marks,” said Ashutosh Kumar Jha, assistant archivist pointing at ‘A letter from General Lake Sahib to Zaib-un-Nisa Baigum’ dating October 8, 1802.
The transfer of power to the British crown in 1958 followed setting up of a new administration and eventually the construction of the new capital, Delhi, in 1912. The Archives also have records of land acquisition during this historic shift of the national capital from Kolkata to Delhi.
“From photographs to award statements of land acquired from the owners, we have rare documents that bear testimony to how the present day Delhi came up,” said Sandeep Singh, assistant archivist. In one of the records dating March 1913, an individual named Ram Das was awarded a compensation of Rs 172, two paisa and nine annas for his 285.38 acre of land acquired by the government in Khanpur. The deal was signed by Kamruddin, revenue assistant, Delhi province.
Documents being scanned for digitisation at Delhi archives. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)
The repository at the archives includes pictures of construction of historical buildings housing Parliament and Rashtrapati House in early 20th century. Originally called House of Parliament, the Sansad Bhawan was designed by the British architect Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker in 1912-1913 and was constructed between 1921 and 1927.
A poster of a debate being organised by Delhi Students’ Federation on May 29, 1937 at Arabic College Hall (Ajmeri Gate) is in the section of rare documents showing how teachers would support students’ concerns. The debate on why “the proposed scheme of educational reconstruction of Delhi University will be detrimental to the best interest of the students’ community and the cause of education in the country”, had C Eyre Walker, principal Arabic college, S Dutt, principal Ramjas College, and BB Gupta, principal Ramjas inter college among speakers.
A rare document dated April 7, 1912 is testimony to how ‘Khan Bahadur’ title was awarded to one Chaudhari Nabi Ahmed on the occasion of ‘His Majesty, the King- Emperor’s Birthday’.
The Delhi archives is a repository of over 10 crore rare documents comprising Mughal firmans, maps land acquisition statements, jail records, manuscripts and government orders. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)
Digitising 10 crore rare documents
The project, billed as the largest in Asia, envisages digitisation of 10 crore records stored in the four specially constructed floors of the Delhi Archives building in Qutub Institutional Area. In the first phase, four crore records are expected to be ready and uploaded on the website of the Delhi archives over a span of 30 months at a cost of Rs 25.4 crore.
The project was fist conceived in 2011 but was taken up by the incumbent government on August 31 this year. Led by Garg, a 100-member team of archivists, scholars and employers are busy with the digitisation task using computers and high-end German-made scanners.
“We have got eight scanners for now. We digitise about 50,000 pages each day,” Garg said
A collection of old newspapers at the archives includes a copy of Hindustan Times, Evening News, published on September 25, 1948. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)
Once digitised, the records would be transformed into microfilms.
“The thumbnails of the records with some information would be available on the website. For higher resolutions, one has to pay,” Garg said
A welcome move
“It’s a welcome move to preserve and digitise records particularly Bahadur Shah Zafar’s trial. The public will know who sided with British and who was with revolutionaries in the first war if Independence,” said historian Rana Safvi, who has translated Zahir Dehlvi’s Dastan-e-Ghadar which comprises eyewitness account of the 1857 uprising against the British
An old invite of Delhi Student Federation, now DUSU (Delhi University Student Union), at Delhi archives. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)
Established in 1972, the Delhi archives is a repository of non-current records of Delhi government under the department of art and culture. It is responsible for preservation of the archives and making them available research and references.
“We are committed to make knowledge more accessible to the common people. This is an important step towards preserving our precious heritage. While digitisation will ensure preservation of documents, making them available to a larger audience through a website and outreach events will play a key role in dissemination,” said Manish Sisodia, the minister of Art, Culture and Languages.
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Cities / by Gulam Jeelani, Hindustan Times / December 14th, 2017
The ex-students of Vile Parle’s Mithibai College will hold their seventh reunion Saturday December 9 at Club Millennium, Juhu.
“We will felicitate composers Sajid-Wajid, film director Vikram Bhat, stage artiste Paritosh Painter and Afroz Shah who initiated the Versova beach clean-up,” said Krishna Hegde, convenor,Mithibai Ex-Students Association (MESA).
The glamour quotient coupled with social messages makes the Mithibai alumni meet an awaited event. This year, performances by Purani Jeans, Cutting Chai and An Evening Down Memory Lane are on schedule.
Mithibai College has among the largest number of students worldwide and approximately one million alumni in different countries.
Hegde said, “It has been a tradition to felicitate outstanding ex-students for their achievements at our reunions. We are very excited with the names selected for this year’s MESA Hall of Fame 2017.”
The previous edition of the reunion saw a turnout of over 500 alumni. Senior media professional Balakrishna Pillai’s batch is celebrating its silver jubilee since passing out. He said, “Our reunions are one of the largest and grandest in India. For us, reunions are not just about get-togethers but also celebrating the success of our college mates and being socially responsible. Since MESA was founded about 19 years back, besides getting the students together at regular intervals, it has arranged various blood donation drives, health camps, fund raising for Kargil jawans, supporting the education of underprivileged and other activities.”
“It is not uncommon to spot a film star, industrialist or sportsperson at other college reunions but at ours, celebrities seem to outnumber the average alumni! Ex-students like Ajay Devgan, Raveena Tandon, Vivek Oberoi, Praveen Amre attend the reunions frequently,” said Khalid Khan, MESA president.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Mumbai News / by Bella Jaisinghani / TNN / December 07th, 2017
Students of Paramita High School in Karimnagar who have been selected to participate in international competitions in the USA. | Photo Credit: Byarrangement
Two students of Paramita High School to fly in May 2018
Two students of Paramita High School (IIT) in Mankammathota of Karimnagar town have been selected to participate in the international robotic presentation which would be organized jointly by Lawrence Technologies, Michigan and RILE university, West Florida in the USA in May 2018.
Class IX students K. Aneesh and Md. Aziz, who participated in the National-level Robo Making Challenge and its functioning analysis organized by Novatech Robo Institute in Bengaluru at Christ University from December 7 to 9, have bagged the first prize in the competition in which more than 300 students from reputed schools across the country participated.
Incidentally, another set of students from the school — Meghana and Nikitha — participated in the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Arizona in USA in May 2016.
Two students of the school Paramita Schools chairman E. Prasada Rao said that the Atal Tinkering Lab set up by the Union government in their school in 2016 had come in handy for the students to have hands on experience in the robotic designing and participate in the national and international competitions.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / Karimnagar – December 12th, 2017
Mashqoor Ahmad Usmani from Bihar has been elected as the next students union president of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), varsity officials said on Tuesday.
Usmani, who hails from Darbhanga, polled 9,071 votes and defeated his nearest rival Ajay Singh by 6,719 votes.
Singh is the grandson of former Uttar Pradesh minister and BJP legislator from Barauli Thakur Dalveer Singh. He got 2,353 votes. Abu Baqar stood third with 2,192 votes.
The results were announced after midnight. An official announcement will be made later in the day.
Sajjad Rathar was elected the Vice President and Mohammad Fahad bagged the secretary’s post.
A total of 18,200 students voted on Monday to elect the new leaders.
IANS
source: http://www.tribuneindia.com / The Tribune / Home> Nation / Aligarh – December 12th, 2017
The bird has been described from northeastern India
Twenty-nine years after the demise Dr. Salim Ali, the birdman of India, an international group of ornithologists named a newly discovered species after him, thus paying homage to the man who shaped generations of ornithologists and also contributed to the better understanding of birds.
Himalayan Forest Thrush, Zoothera salimalii, thus goes the name of the species, which has been described from northeastern India and adjacent parts. The research team that identified the species included scientists from Sweden, India, China, the U.S., and Russia.
Earlier, a bat species — Salim Ali’s fruit bat — that was first collected from Western Ghats region of Theni district, Tamil Nadu, was named after the legendary ornithologist.
The present study was initiated in June 2009 by Per Alström of Uppsala University, Sweden and Shashank Dalvi of the Alumnus of the Post Graduate Program, Wildlife Conservation Society- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, while studying birds at high elevations of Western Arunachal Pradesh. The researchers had discovered that there were two species of Plain-backed Thrush breeding in sympathy in Arunachal Pradesh, India. These were completely “segregated by elevation and habitat, one occurring in mostly coniferous forest up to the upper tree limit and the other in alpine habitats above the tree limit. Their songs were strikingly different, although no definite morphological differences were detected in the field.”
The research findings were published in Avian Research.
According to the researchers, “it was realised that what was considered as a single species, the Plain-backed Thrush Zoothera mollissima, was in fact two different species in northeastern India. While the Plain-backed Thrush in the coniferous and mixed forest had a rather musical song, those individuals found in the same region, but on bare rocky habitats above the tree-line had a much harsher, scratchier, unmusical song.”
The studies of “specimens from 15 museums in seven countries revealed consistent differences in plumage and structure between birds from these two populations. It was confirmed that the species breeding in the forests of the eastern Himalayas had no scientific name. Later, the new species was named as Himalayan Forest Thrush Zoothera salimalii. The high-elevation Plain-backed Thrush is now renamed as Alpine Thrush while it retains the scientific name of Zoothera mollissima,” said a communication.
The analysis of plumage, structure, song, DNA and ecology from throughout the range of the Plain-backed Thrush revealed that a third species was present in central China, which was already known. This was treated as a subspecies of Plain-backed Thrush and was called as Sichuan Forest Thrush. The song of the Sichuan Forest Thrush was found to be even more musical than the song of the Himalayan Forest Thrush, the communication said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech / by K. S. Sudhi / January 24th, 2016
Renowned Urdu Scholar and former general secretary of Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu Hind, Dr Khaliq Anjum passed away today in New Delhi after prolong illness. He was 81.
One f the most prominent scholar of his time, Anjum dedicated his whole life for promotion of Urdu in the country through his literary works and Anjumans and academies.
He authored several books of high literary value. One of the most important books is by him is ‘Matni tanqeed’, or textual criticism, a fine work that discusses the methods and techniques of evaluating, editing, annotating and compiling texts. His other significant contribution is the editing and annotation of Ghalib’s Urdu letters, compiled in five volumes.
Being an expert on textual criticism, he was one of the first people in the subcontinent to adopt the German technique of compilation to edit these letters and his version of Ghalib’s letters is considered among the most authentic ones.
His other books on Ghalib include ‘Ghalib ka safar-i-Kalkutta’, ‘Ghalib Kuchh mazameen’ and the forthcoming ‘Ghalib aur shahan-i-Taimuriya’.
In addition to Ghalib and textual criticism, Dr Khaliq Anjum’s another expertise was in the field of history and archaeology. His books ‘Muraqqa-i-Dehli’, ‘Dilli ke aasar-i-qadeema’ and ‘Dargah-i-shah-i-mardan’ deal with the archaeological sites of Delhi. His profound knowledge of Delhi’s history and its historical remains is also evident from the gigantic task he has carried out in three volumes editing and annotating Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s ‘Aasar-us-sanadeed’.
Dr Khaliq Anjum also served ministry of education and was also a member of Inder Kumar Gujaral committee formed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for the promotion of Urdu. The committee submitted a detailed report on the status of Urdu., Dr Khaliq Anjum toured the length and breadth of India to survey and to understand the issues concerning the language.
The report made several recommendations, including the one that suggestion for establishing Urdu academies in every Indian state and Urdu schools and colleges in every locality where Urdu-speaking people were 10 per cent or more of the population.
Unfortunately most of the recommendations went unheeded and the only major implementation was the establishment of Urdu academies and that, too, in some state were implemented.
Born in Delhi in 1935, Khaliq Anjum, whose real name is Khaliq Ahmed Khan, did his intermediate and graduation from Aligarh Muslim University.
Having got a Master’s in Urdu and diplomas in linguistics and library science from Delhi University, he joined Delhi University’s prestigious Karori Mal College as lecturer and taught Urdu for about 10 years. In 1970, he obtained a PhD from Delhi University. His doctoral dissertation was on Mirza Mazhar Jan-i-Janan, Urdu’s classical poet and a Sufi in his own right.
source: http://www.theindianawaaz.com / The Indian Awaaz / Home / by Andalib Akhter / / New Delhi – October 18th, 2016
