She reaches out to people in need with Oxygen cylinders.
Shahjahanpur, UTTAR PRADESH :
A 26-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh has earned the moniker Shahjahanpur’s ‘Cylinder Bitiya’ (cylinder daughter), for reaching out to people in need with Oxygen cylinders on her Scooty.
Arshi Ansari’s father, Mashkoor (65), fell ill on April 2, the first day of Ramzan. Tests revealed that he was COVID-19 positive. Arshi went to the city magistrate to ask for an Oxygen cylinder for him but was told that there was no such provision for patients in home isolation. The official suggested that she finds a hospital for her father.
Arshi, a resident of Madar Khel area, went to the district hospital but was appalled by its stench and dirt. She then tried a few private hospitals, but was told that they had no Oxygen and that she would have to make her own arrangements.
“I did not want to leave my father uncared for, in a hospital,” says the woman who has completed her Bachelor of Arts in English and Urdu.
Next morning, she again went to the city magistrate and pleaded for a cylinder. This time she was given one.
Meanwhile, Arshi’s appeal for a cylinder on social media had attracted response from a group of volunteers in Rudraprayag, who sent her 10 cylinders.
Though Arshi’s father took a month to get well, after the first 12 days of illness, he did not need Oxygen cylinders. Arshi then decided that she would distribute these to the needy, who could reach out to her through a WhatsApp group. Around Shahjahanpur and even to Hardoi which is 67 km away, to the neighbouring state of Uttarakhand, Arshi has carried the life-giving gas over long distances without any charge. She also gets empty cylinders filled on request.
“No one hoards a cylinder. After have no use of it, they refill it and pass it on to others in need”, she says.
Arshi started distributing Oxygen cylinders during the month of Ramzan. Yet, she says, she never felt any discomfort or hunger. “It is my belief that I got success in my work because it was Ramzan and I had Allah’s blessings”.
When she started the work, she had to face nasty comments from passers-by and cat calling by boys. “There were even filthy posts and memes made on me”, she said.
However, the woman, who runs a computer coaching institute for underprivileged children, said, “It will be so much better to give up this childish behaviour and get out of your homes to help at least one person in need. This pandemic has taught that all we have are each other”.
source: http://www.theweek.in / The Week / Home> News> India / by Puja Awasthi / May 17th, 2021
According to colleagues and friends, Dr Nabila Sadiq, a PhD scholar from JNU, was teaching and helping students with their thesis until April 20.
NEW DELHI :
Dr Nabila Sadiq
Nearly a week after she tested positive for Covid — and sought an ICU bed for herself on Twitter — a 38-year-old assistant professor from Jamia Millia Islamia died at a Faridabad hospital on Monday night.
According to colleagues and friends, Dr Nabila Sadiq, a PhD scholar from JNU, was teaching and helping students with their thesis until April 20.
Ten days before Nabila’s death, her mother Nuzhat (76) had also died of Covid-related complications. Her father was hospitalised for Covid but was eventually discharged and is under home quarantine.
Friends and family said Nabila wasn’t aware of her mother’s death, and died “worrying” about her parents.
Among her last tweets, on May 2, was: “At this rate no one will stay alive in Delhi at least.”
Laraib Neyazi (27), an MA student from Jamia, said, “When I came to know about her health, I rushed to her home with other students, and we started looking for a bed. We found one at Alshifa hospital, where she also tested positive for Covid. Two-four students would always stay at the hospital. Meanwhile, we rushed her mother to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital but she passed away. We didn’t tell Nabila because she was critical…”
Students said Nabila was a caring teacher who loved writing poems, and discussing politics and gender theory. Her students helped perform her mother’s last rites on May 7. Around the same time, Nabila’s health deteriorated.
Waqar, a student from JMI, recalls calling “every hospital in Delhi-NCR to get an oxygen bed”.
“Her friends helped us get a bed at Fortis Hospital in Faridabad. However, her oxygen levels dropped to 32%. After a CT scan, the doctor said her lungs were damaged. I received hundreds of calls every day from her colleagues, relatives and friends asking about her health. We didn’t know what to do” said Waqar.
“Every student who was pursuing gender studies wanted to do their PhD under her mentorship. She helped so many people during the pandemic. We would talk to her and tell her that her parents were missing her, hoping she would feel better and recover. But on Saturday night she was put on a ventilator,” said Waqar.
Nabila’s doctors said she wasn’t responding to medicines and treatment. She died around 11 pm on Monday.
On Tuesday, her students and friends performed her last rites at Mangolpuri, where her mother was buried ten days earlier.
Nabila’s father Sadique (80), a retired professor who taught at Aligarh Muslim University and JNU, was told about his daughter’s death in the afternoon.
He told his family members: “I think she loved her mother more and left with her… leaving me alone here.”
Nabila’s colleague and friend Tarannum Siddiqui said she feels helpless because Sadique is alone. “I have known Nabila and her family for seven years. They helped me last month when I had Covid. When Nabila was admitted to the ICU, I sent her messages on her phone. I knew she wasn’t reading them but I was waiting for her to recover, read those texts and meet me. She was an honest woman. We both taught gender studies. I can’t believe she has left me. JMI has lost a great academician,” said Tarannum.
Manasi Singh, a professor from the Central University of Gujarat, said she has known Nabila for 18 years. “We pursued our Master’s and PhD at JNU together. She was a good friend and a great scholar. I would watch her seminars online and admire her work. She was jovial and I loved her child-like innocence,” said Singh.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Cities> Delhi / by Jignasa Sinha, New Delhi / May 19th, 2021
Pairaband Village (Rangpur),BENGAL (British India):
A PAST WE MUST PRESERVE | She was a pioneer of women’s education and feminist writing who started the first school for education of Muslim girls in Calcutta
Begum Rokeya, 1880-1932 / File picture
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, popularly known as Begum Rokeya, was a pioneer of women’s education and feminist writing who started the first school for education of Muslim girls in Calcutta. She considered education to be crucial to women’s emancipation.
She was born in 1880 at Pairaband village in Rangpur, now in Bangladesh. Her elder sister Karimunnesa, who was a poet who wrote in Bengali, was a great influence on her life. Rokeya at 18 was married to Khan Bahadur Sakhawat Hussain, who was 38 and the deputy magistrate of Bhagalpur.
A liberal man who spoke Urdu, he encouraged his young wife to continue her studies in Bengali and English and to write.
Rokeya chose to principally write in Bengali and her works uphold the equality of men and women. Matichur (1904, 1922) is a two-volume collection of her essays on her thoughts about women and society, Padmarag (1924) is about the oppression of Bengali wives and Abarodhbasini (1931) is a robust critique of the severe forms of purdah for women.
Ten years before the American novelist Charlotte P. Gilman published Herland, Begum Rokeya wrote her feminist utopia Sultana’s Dream in 1905. Written in English, it is a novella set in Ladyland, ruled by women.
A few months after her husband’s death in 1909, Begum Rokeya started Sakhawat Memorial Girls’ High School in Bhagalpur, with five students. She moved the school to Calcutta in 1911, where it is still located, but is run by the government.
In 1916, Begum Rokeya founded Anjuman-e-Khawateen-e-Islam (Islamic Women’s Association) to hold discussions on women, education and progress. She advocated change in Muslim women’s lives and spoke up against rigidity and conservatism.
She went from door to door to ask Muslim families to send their daughters to school. She was engaged till the very end of her life in ideas and activities that would lead to the empowerment of women. She passed away on December 9, 1932, shortly after presiding over a session of the Indian Women’s Conference.
Bangladesh observes Rokeya Day on her death anniversary every year.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / Home> Culture> People / by Chandrima S. Bhattacharya / March 28th, 2021
The incident takes the number of serving and retired faculty members who have died because of Covid or Covid-like symptoms to at least 39.
Professor Mohammad Nasiruddin, 55, from the department of pharmacology died on Sunday / File picture
A senior professor of Aligarh Muslim University has succumbed to the coronavirus disease at the varsity’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, according to officials, taking the number of serving and retired faculty members who have died because of Covid or Covid-like symptoms to at least 39.
Professor Mohammad Nasiruddin, 55, from the department of pharmacology died on Sunday.
Professor Shahid Ali Siddiqui, principal of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, said Nasiruddin had tested positive for Covid-19 and had been admitted to the hospital two weeks ago.
Students of the AMU have submitted a memorandum to vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor urging him to set up separate vaccination centres on campus for university staff and students.
At least 18 serving and 21 retired AMU faculty members have died of Covid or Covid-like symptoms.
On Sunday evening, AMU students took out a candle march in memory of the serving and retired faculty members.
AMU proctor professor Wasim Khan told reporters on Sunday “according to available information, none of the AMU teachers who lost their lives to Covid-19 had been vaccinated”. He said the authorities would consider the students’ demand for separate vaccination centres for them and university staff.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / Home> India / by PTI, Aligarh / May 18th, 2021
Virologist Shahid Jameel. File | Photo Credit: Eswarraj R
The eminent virologist did not give any reasons for his departure
Shahid Jameel, eminent virologist and head of the advisory group to the Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortia (Insacog), resigned from his post on Friday.
Dr. Jameel confirmed to The Hindu that he’d quit but did not give any reasons for his departure.
Multiple scientists who are part of Insacog — a group of 10 laboratories across the country, tasked with tracking evolving variants of the coronavirus — told The Hindu that Dr. Jameel’s decision appeared to be sudden as he hadn’t communicated reasons for his resignation to consortium members but one of them cited “government pressure” as a potential reason.
Dr. Jameel, who is Director, Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University has been critical of aspects of the government’s handling of the pandemic.
On May 13, in an invited opinion piece for the New York Times, Dr. Jameel summarised India’s response to the multiple waves and the uneven vaccination rollout and concluded by saying “scientists were facing stubborn resistance to evidence-based policy-making. On April 30, over 800 Indian scientists appealed to the Prime Minister, demanding access to the data that could help them further study, predict and curb this virus. Decision-making based on data is yet another casualty, as the pandemic in India has spun out of control. The human cost we are enduring will leave a permanent scar.”
The Insacog, setup in December, faced initial challenges with funds and equipment but since March has considerably accelerated sequencing samples from all over the country for variants. It has been tracking international variants of concern as well as discovered the so called ‘Indian variant ‘ (B.1.617) that is believed to be instrumental in India’s devastating second wave.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National / by Jacob Kohsy / New Delhi – May 16th, 2021
Vidarbha has been a fertile soil for many social reformers and intellectuals. It has played an active role in the nation’s destiny and its social, cultural and political rivulets have flown into and enriched the great sea of national civilization. One such luminary who emerged from Yavatmal was Kazi Syed Karimuddin. He rose to be a great criminal lawyer of the region and played a critical role in the drafting of the Indian constitution.
Kazi Karimuddin was born on 19 July 1899, at Darwah in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra to Kazi Syed Nasiruddin and Dayanath Begum. He had his school education at Mohamedan High School, Amravati. He graduated from Morris College, Nagpur and obtained his postgraduate degree in economics from Aligarh Muslim University. He later qualified for law. He married Qadirunnisa Begum (May 24, 1926) .
Kazi Karimuddin had an active presence in social, legal, judicial and political circles in Yavatmal. He was Vice Chairman, District Council (1924-28) Sub-judge (1928-31) President, Anjuman Middle School (1932-37) and Public Prosecutor (1939-45). He was member of Constituent Assembly (1947-50) and of Madhya Pradesh Assembly (1947-52) (at that time Madhya Pradesh was known as the Central Province). Following that, he was a member of the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Indian Parliament) from 1954 to 1958. He died on 14 September 1977.
Kazi Karimuddin moved an amendment in the Constituent Assembly on the lines of American Constitution to make right to privacy a fundamental right but Dr. B.R. Ambedkar gave it only reserved support. Article 20 provides that no person shall be convicted of any offence except for violation of a law in force at the time of the commission of the act; that no person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once; and that no person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.
Endowed with rare forensic skills, Kazi Karimuddin’s vast experience and insights gave him an uncanny knack for unraveling the anatomy and pathology of crimes. He was always apprehensive of the pervasive scope of the intrusive lens of the state as well as private agents. He considered privacy a vital constituent of a healthy constitutional polity since India’s large population of minorities had become vulnerable due to the emerging communal situation.
He wanted that the following be added as clause (4) in article 20: “ The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the person or things to be seized.”
He said: “This is very important amendment. You will be pleased to find that this finds place as article 4 in the American Constitution and in the Irish Constitution there are clauses (2) and (5) which are similar and in the German Constitution there are article 114 and 115 on the same lines. In the book of Dr. Ambedkar—Minorities and States—on page 11, item No. 10, a similar provision has been made. What is the situation in India today? …Arrests are made without warrant and searches without justification. We are being governed by lawless laws and there is no remedy for the redress of grievances on account of unauthorized arrests and searches.”
Dr. Ambedkar pointed out that this clause was already in the Criminal Procedure Code, and was therefore a part of Indian law, but also acknowledged that it may be desirable in the interests of personal liberty to ‘place these provisions beyond the reach of the legislature’. Despite Ambedkar’s support the amendment was negatived.
However the Karimuddin amendment in the Constituent Assembly re-emerged through the process of judicial engineering in Kharak Singh v. State of U.P where the court discussed the relationship between surveillance and personal liberty (personal liberty being guaranteed by the Constitution) and found that unauthorised intrusion into a person’s home would interfere with her right to personal liberty. The court recognised “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects” and declared that their right against unreasonable searches and seizures was not to be violated.
Kazi Karimuddin was also the key persona in the deliberations on the Uniform Civil Code in the Constituent Assembly. He argued: “The people outside and the members of the Constituent Assembly must realize that a Muslim regards the personal law as part of the religion and I really assure you that there is not a single Muslim in the country—at least I have not seen one—who wants a change in the mandatory provision of religious rights and personal laws, and if there is anyone who wants a change in the mandatory principle, or religion as a matter of personal law, then he cannot be a Muslim.”
Kazi Karimuddin had three sons and five daughters. Though he was a staunch opponent of the UCC, he was a very progressive and forward-looking Muslim who educated his children at the country’s premier educational institutions. Since Yavatmal did not have adequate facilities for higher learning, he sent his daughters to Hyderabad to pursue postgraduate courses at Osmania University which was a renowned educational hub for women.
His sons-in-law also excelled in their respective fields: Nizamuddin Ahmed (LLM) was trained in UK in Labour Law and retired as Deputy Commissioner- Labour, Maharashtra; Syed Mukassir Shah was former Chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council; Justice M.M. Qazi was former Chairman of the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal and retired judge of Bombay High Court; and Dr Mirza Basheer Baig was an orthopedic surgeon (FRCS) in UK.
The life of Kazi Karimuddin serves as a beacon to modern day Muslims who are now at the most challenging crossroads in history.
source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Indian Muslim / by Moin Qazi / May 13th, 2021
Iqtidar Alam Khan’s Latest Books on India’s Medieval History Unearth Hidden Secrets
A painting of west gate of Firozabad fort, near Delhi. This fort was built by Feroz Shah Tughlaq in the 1350s, but destroyed by later dynasties. Photo: Wikipedia/Public domain
Iqtidar Alam Khan’s first slim book, a biography of Humayun’s brother Mirza Kamran was published in 1964; his latest book, slightly bulkier than the first, has been published in early 2021 when he is nearing 90, with nearly a dozen authored and edited volumes in-between. Quite an emphatic comment on how prolific he has been in his distinguished career as a historian of medieval India! Add a very distinct quality of the huge range of themes and the empirical solidity of his researches and one begins to appreciate the indelible imprint on the study of medieval Indian history he has left for his own and future students.
Professor Iqtidar Alam Khan was an alumnus and later faculty of the department of history at Aligarh Muslim University when it shone like the pole star in the study of medieval Indian history under the leadership of frontline scholars like Professors Mohammad Habib, Nurul Hasan, K. A. Nizami and Irfan Habib; he himself added to its lustre, evident in his extensive explorations of different facets of his discipline. This, when he always avoided drawing attention to himself.
The range of his explorations is amazing: biographies of two Mughal nobles, “Turko-Mongol theory of kingship” which had a decisive influence on Mughal notion of sovereignty, the system of revenue assignment of Akbar.
The classic essay on “Akbar’s nobility and the evolution of his religious policy”, which was a sort of watershed intervention in 1968 in that it set new terms for the study of the Mughal “religious policy” and has stood the test of time, some feeble recent challenges notwithstanding, the pioneering studies of gunpowder, guns and artillery and not least the bringing to attention some Persian language texts. However, all this work pertained to the Mughal period of Indian history.
Attention to detail
This current year has, however, revealed two hitherto unknown facets of his scholarship with the publication of two books in quick succession, both by the venerable publishers, Primus: Studies in Thought, Polity and Economy of Medieval India 1000-1500 and, hard to believe, Researches in Medieval Archaeology.
The first brings to us his mastery of various themes from the Delhi Sultanate era with the same eye for empirical soundness of every detail as his works on the Mughal period, though still tied to the Court and its outliers except for a revisit to Alberuni’s ‘concept of India’.
It is the second work that takes us literally to the ground level, taking us through the dust and grime of small buildings, remains of centuries-old Sarais (inns), waterworks, indigo vats, dykes and fascinatingly the ‘city’ built by Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq which he had named Swargduari, Gateway to Heaven, in district Etah in present day Uttar Pradesh.
Traveling in ramshackle vehicles for nearly two decades, Professor Khan along with his team, dedicated himself to recovering and recording the remains of small, virtually forgotten buildings of various kinds – calling them monuments would be grandiose – in every little detail of location, dimensions, recoverable history from texts and from folklore. It was remarkable labour of love where his age and family’s pleas could not hold him back.
The introduction, besides bringing the reader up to date on the theoretical backdrop of archeological study makes the valuable plea that one should embark on field exploration only after running through all the relevant textual material available for imparting completeness to the exploration.
While for all the sites studied included in the book have almost every kind of technical detail have been recorded, the last and longest chapter, dealing with Sarais is the most fascinating in that it opens up a number of windows to the social history of the period. It reveals that the state took upon itself the task of promoting travel as well trade, and at a certain stage postal service, by constructing inns and rest houses all along the trade routes. The task of constructing inns starts as early as Asoka’s time, for it is mentioned in one of his edicts, but later history on the theme is obscure.
In medieval India, references to these, along with milestones, kos minars resume from Sher Shah’s time and continue into the 18th century. The title Sarai is scattered all over the land with prefixes like Ber Sarai, Arab ki Sarai, Katwaria Sarai, Sarai Kale Khan and numerous others in Delhi itself, not to forget the Mughal Sarai, its history now erased through political diktat.
The very spread of these is suggestive of both the extent of travel and trade and state’s assumption of responsibility for providing security and patronage for it. The lodging and boarding at Sarais were often complementary and at times chargeable.
Luckily for the historian, the travelers at times left some graffiti on the walls noting their identity, several of which have been copied in the book. Where boarding was provided, separate kitchens were run for the Hindu and the Muslim travelers, suggesting that they came from both communities and shared the space but maintained differences in food, which was recognised and accepted by the state.
It also suggests that the difference did not turn into hostility. The book reproduces one graffiti in Devnagari on the wall of a mosque by one Kishan Das wald (son of) Maha Nand Kambu of Agra; he had obviously found shelter at least for a night at the mosque which he appears to have gratefully recorded; this reminds Professor Khan of Goswami Tulsi Das’ reference to “sleeping at a mosque”!
These two books, the second one, in particular, is a delightful revelation of an attractive aspect of an extremely reticent scholar of great eminence: dedication without seeking recompense in the form of the fanfare of recognition, but pure dedication to the unearthing of history’s hidden secrets without a trace of prejudice or preference. Dedication that cuts across compartmentalisation of Delhi Sultanate versus Mughal Empire, economic history versus political history, archeology versus textual narratives and so forth. A dedication that does not tire with age.
We are grateful to Professor Ali Nadeem Rezavi, who as head of the department of history and in-charge of its section of archeology persisted with Iqtidar Alam Khan to collect all his scattered data and reproductions of photographs of remains and graphs prepared to put together in a book; we owe a big debt to him for succeeding in the effort.
Harbans Mukhia taught medieval history at JNU.
source: http://www.thewire.in / The Wire / Home> Analysis> Books> History / by Harbans Mukhia / May 11th, 2021
Dean of Faculty of Law at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Prof Shakil Ahmed Samdani, died on Saturday at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital where he was undergoing treatment for coronavirus, an official said.
AMU spokesperson Rahat Abrar said 59-year-old Samdani was admitted to the hospital in the varsity 10 days ago after he tested positive for COVID-19.
He initially seemed to have recovered but his condition suddenly deteriorated a few days back, the official said.
The teaching staff at the AMU has lost 17 members during the past 18 days. All of them were either suffering from COVID-19 or displaying COVID-19 like symptoms, the spokesperson said.
Professor Rafiqul Zaman Khan (55), till recently the chairman of the Department Computer Science, passed away on Friday at the medical college hospital due to COVID-19.
Two days ago, former dean of the Law Department, Prof Mohamed Shabbir Ahmad (70), died of COVID-like symptoms.
He was the founder-head of the Ambedkar Chair in the Department of Law and had also served as the acting vice-chancellor of AMU, the spokesperson said.(PTI)
source: http://www.firstindia.co.in / First India / Home> India / by First India / May 08th, 2021
Prof Yusuf was the first Muslim in India to earn a doctorate on Rigveda, as per the statement.
Aligarh Muslim University (File Photo | PTI)
Aligarh :
Noted Sanskrit scholar at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Prof Khalid Bin Yusuf has passed away after a brief illness, a university statement said here on Thursday.
Prof Yusuf (60) was showing COVID-19 symptoms and had acute pneumonia, his family members said.
He passed away on Wednesday night while being treated at a hospital, they added.
Prof Yusuf was the first Muslim in India to earn a doctorate on Rigveda, as per the statement.
AMU Vice Chancellor Prof Tariq Mansoor paid rich tributes to the departed scholar.
During the past fortnight, 13 serving members from the teaching faculty at AMU who were either suffering from COVID-19 or showing symptoms of the infection have lost their lives.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Nation / by PTI / May 06th, 2021
Well known social activist Dr Fakhruddin Mohammed has passed away this noon (May 5) following the second attack of coronavirus at a leading hospital in Hyderabad. He was 61.
According to family sources Dr Fakhruddin had returned home from the hospital after recovering from the first attack of COVID-19. But within a couple of days the attack recurred and he was rushed to the same hospital where could not survive.
Dr Fakhruddin was the Chairman of Muslim Educational, Social and Cultural Organisation that is popularly known as MESCO that was established in 1975 with the motto of serving the backward Muslim community through various ways.
Today MESCO is a major name in the field with a network of schools and colleges to its credit where thousands of students are enrolled.
Because of his active participation in matters related to education and social work, he was known across the country. He was also a consultant for setting up medical colleges. At one time he served as a member of Aligarh Muslim University Senate.
By setting up MESCO Diagnostic Centre in the Old City of Hyderabad with the patronage of senior medical practitioners, associates and other community leaders he was able to establish a chain of educational institutions.
He is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.
He was laid to rest after Isha (night) prayers.
source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> News>Hyderabad News / by Usama Hazari / May 06th, 2021
