Freedom fighter Captain Abbas Ali who was part of the Indian National Army (INA) died of a cardiac arrest today at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College here.He was 94 and is survived by son Qurban Ali and two daughters.
freedom fighter capt abbas ali passes away
Aligarh (UP):
Freedom fighter Captain Abbas Ali who was part of the Indian National Army (INA) died of a cardiac arrest today at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College here.
He was 94 and is survived by son Qurban Ali and two daughters.
“He will be laid to rest later this evening at Qila Road graveyard,” a family member said.
An alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Ali had joined the British Indian Army in 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II. In 1945, when Subhash Chandra Bose raised the banner of armed revolt, Abbas left the British army and joined the INA.
Shortly thereafter, he was arrested, court marshaled and sentenced to death. When India gained independence, he was released from prison before the death sentence was meted out. Abbas Ali joined politics under the influence of socialist party leaders including Ram Manohar Lohia, Acharya Narendra Dev and Jai Prakash Narain. In 1966, he was appointed State General Secretary of Sanyukt Socialist Party.
He was appointed as a member of the national executive of the Socialist Party. He was arrested again during the national Emergency under the Defence of India Rule (DIR) and remained behind bars during the entire period of emergency. In 1977, when emergency was lifted and his party merged with the Janata Party, he was elected to Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council and was appointed as the first President of Uttar Pradesh Unit of the Janata Party.
Shortly before his death, while attending a public function at Aligarh on the eve of 15th August, Captain Ali had said, “There is only one unfulfilled wish of my life and that is that the true story behind the last few days of my leader Subhash Chandra Bose should see the light of the day. “West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamta Banerjee has assured me that she will leave no stone unturned to unravel the mystery behind his death”, he had said.
source: http://www.indiatvnews.com / India TV / Home> English News> India / by PTI / October 11th, 2014
Illustrated book on legendary hero Kunjali Marakkar brought out for children
The popular witticism – when the going gets tough, the tough get going – has literally set off a young anthropologist- cum- archaeologist to author a book for children on Kunjali Marakkar, the legendary hero of the 16th century.
For N.K. Ramesh, a guide at the Kunjali Marakkar Memorial Museum at Vadakara, it was an opportunity to trace the history of the four Kunjali Marakkars, when his contract was terminated after the museum was closed to the public from March.
“Certainly a difference existed between writing for children and for adults. So I put down a simple narration and included illustrations based on important events during the period of Kunjali Marakkar and also a picture of a mural painting of a sea war,” he says.
Kunjali Marakkar was a honorific title given to the Muslim naval chief of the erstwhile Zamorin of Calicut. “The four Kunjali Marakkars who were the naval commanders of Zamorin fought against the Portuguese from 1507 to 1600. In fact, the Kunjali Marakkars were maritime merchants and supporters of Arab trade who lived in the coastal regions of Kayalpattinam, Kilakarai, Thoothukudi, and Karaikal. But they shifted their trade to Kochi and then migrated to Ponnani after Portuguese trade interference,” Mr. Ramesh says.
He took about four months to pen the book with 104 pages. The book has already hit the stands although the official launch has been deferred in view of the COVID-19 protocol.
Historian M.G.S. Narayanan has given an introduction to the book on Kunjali Marakkar, whose battles against the Portuguese were portrayed as a symbolic national movement.
The book also delves into the objective of the construction of a fort by Pattu Marakkar, the third Kunjali Marakkar, at Iringal (Kottakkal) in 1571 and the political dispute between his nephew Mohammed Marakkar, who became the fourth Kunjali Marakkar, and the Zamorin.
Later, the Zamorin joined hands with the Portuguese to defeat the last Kunjali Marakkar. The fort was also demolished and Kunjali executed by the Portuguese. The decline of Kunjali Marakkar, he says, led to establishment of Dutch Dominion and later British rule in India.
Mr. Ramesh, who holds a postgraduate degree in anthropology from Kannur university and Post M.Sc. Diploma in Museology from Aligarh Muslim University, has been credited with numerous discoveries, including the unearthing of Palaeolithic tools from north Malabar.
For a living, the 34-year-old is now engaged in de-husking at farms and odd jobs at Nadapuram and adjoining areas.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Biju Govind / Kozhikode – September 15th, 2020
Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari was a staunch Congressman and author of a book titled ‘Regeneration in Man’. Wednesday marks his 81st death anniversary.
India’s political leadership during the British Raj was dominated by lawyers and journalists. A noted exception was Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari (1880-1936), one of Delhi’s richest men, who dexterously balanced his busy medical practice with a deep involvement with politics.
Ansari was a close companion of Gandhi and an icon of the Khilafat movement. The few scholars who have studied his life have focused solely on his role as a Congress leader, and on his skills on the negotiating table of high politics. His exploits with the scalpel have been ignored. More than 80 years after he died, on May 10, 1936, it is remarkable that forget any serious study, there is hardly any discussion about the hundreds of operations he conducted in India in which he grafted animal testicles – from bulls, monkeys and sheep – onto human beings.
Adviser to princes
Dr Ansari studied at Queen’s Collegiate school in Benares and at the Muir Central College in Allahabad (which was later incorporated into Allahabad University). He later joined the Nizam College in Hyderabad where he was given a scholarship in 1900 to study medicine in the UK. After earning a medical degree at the University of Edinburgh, he worked in London at Charing Cross hospital, the Lock Hospital and St Peter’s Hospital. He returned to India in 1910, and set up his practice in Calcutta before shifting to Delhi.
He acted as medical adviser to the princes of Alwar, Rampur, Joara and Bhopal. His two older brothers were well-known hakims, who practised the traditional unani system of medicine. They were close to the scholars at the respected Islamic school in Deoband. His own circumstances and family background proved crucial in his positioning as a key functionary during the Khilafat movement of 1919. This movement was launched by Indian Muslims to urge the British government to preserve the authority of the Turkish Sultan as Caliph of Islam with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire after World War I.
A new science
Along with his political activity, Ansari turned his mind to a matter that has obsessed physicians for centuries: the quest for medical interventions to help ageing clients produce heirs. In the early 20th century, medical journals in Europe and America were increasingly documenting cases of xenotransplantation – the transplantation of living cells, tissue or organs from one species to another. It was through such articles that Ansari became interested in this field.
In his role as a medical practitioner, Ansari was also constantly faced with a large number of patients suffering from a “real or imaginary decline in their mental, physical and sexual powers”. His brothers attempted to treat such with traditional medicines. But Ansari looked to Europe for possible answers.
In 1921, 1925 and 1932 he visited Vienna, Paris, Lucerne and London and spent a considerable amount of time in laboratories, hospitals and clinics. He met and observed urologist Dr Robert Lichenstern, Eugen Steiach, Dr Serge Voronoff – all of whom are considered pioneers in the field of grafting animal testicles onto humans. He also collected vast amounts of literature on the subject, sourcing books and journals from Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria and the US.
This procedure may now be ridiculed but in the Roaring Twenties there was quite the rush of men wanting to undergo these regenerative surgeries. Ansari offered a treatment to his clientele in India that was only available to the elite in the West.
Rejuvenating the nation
According to Ansari, there were a few key reasons why the people of India suffered from poor health. These included unhygienic surroundings, poverty and the lack of medical facilities, as well as seclusion and segregation of the sexes, and rules confining the choice of marriage partner to a limited circle.
In his 1927 presidential address to the Congress in Madras, he dwelt on the problem of healthcare in India.
He said:
“Sixty percent of the revenues of India is absorbed by the Military Department in the name of Defence of the country but the government ought to know that there can be no defence of the country when people are allowed to exist in such a state of utter physical degeneration. The real defence lies in tackling the problem of manhood and improving the general health of the nation.”
In the last decade of his life, Ansari conducted such testicle grafting operations on around 700 people. These included property agents, merchants, jewellers, bankers, provincial civil servants, sportsmen and labourers.
In a letter to Aziz Ansari, his cousin, the doctor wrote that Eugen Steinach “urged me to publish my researches (sic) and not to hide my light under the bushel”.
Ansari meticulously noted down around 440 cases of grafting that he had done. He monitored or kept in touch with these individuals for a period of three to four years after the surgery. In one case, he wrote that a wrestler whose testicles were badly damaged by an opponent and lost his “sexual power” for eight years underwent grafting and found that his sexual appetite was restored. In another case, a man in his early 50s, who was a heavy drinker and had contracted sexual diseases in his 30s, found his health to be deteriorating drastically. After Ansari grafted slices of a bull’s testicles onto the man’s gonads, he gained weight, became healthy, and started leading a normal life with a new wife. Through such case studies, Ansari emphasised that his surgeries resulted in the rejuvenation of patients, which added to the productivity of the nation.
He gave Gandhi a copy of his book Regeneration in Man, who read it with great interest in one day. Describing it as evidence of “research and great labour”, Gandhi, whose aversion to western medical practices is well known, asked his friend: “What is revival of youth worth if you cannot be sure of persistent physical existence for two consecutive seconds?”
But for the short, well-built, moustachioed doctor who played the role of Othello in a play while a student at the University of Edinburgh, these procedures were part of a larger vision for a “universal campaign against the disability of old age”.
source: http://www.scroll.in / Scroll.in / Home / by Danish Khan / May 10th, 2017
Coinciding 74th Independence Day on Aug. 15, scholars recollect help of Turkey to India’s national freedom struggle
Abdul Hameed Nomani, General secretary of the All India Muslim Majlis Mushawarat
New Delhi:
Celebrating country’s 74th Independence Day on Aug. 15, under the shadow of recent communal riots in capital Delhi and anti-citizenship law stir, many Indian scholars have called for recalling the role of Muslims during India’s freedom struggle.
Author and scholar Waseem Ahmed Saeed said over time, the contribution of Muslim freedom fighters in India has been forgotten.
In his book titled Kala Pani: Gumnam Mujahideen-e-Azadi 1857, Saeed said from the 1757 Battle of Plassey in Bengal, Tipu Sultan’s Seringapatam battle in South India in 1799 to the massive revolt in 1857 against the British was led by Muslims.
Saeed, who has authored a book on the subject in the Urdu language, said while India’s official history celebrates Udham Singh for killing Michael O’Dwyer, the lieutenant governor of Punjab in India, in revenge for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar, it does not recognize Sher Ali Afridi, who killed Lord Mayo, British viceroy and governor-general of India from 1869-1872.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, many Muslim scholars and historians said the role of their ancestors in the freedom struggle has been overlooked.
According to Syed Jamaluddin, director of historical research projects at the Institute of Objective Studies, a think tank, there is no adequate coverage of the role of the Indian Muslims in the national movement.
“The contribution of Muslim revolutionaries, poets and writers is not known today. Similarly, little is known about the contribution of people like Ali Musliyar and Bi-Amma, who made significant contributions,” he told Anadolu Agency. He is currently editing a book on the Muslim role in India’s freedom struggle.
Saeed recalled in his book that it was the ruler of Bengal Siraj-ud-Daulah, who first fought and lost to the British in 1757, which became a cornerstone for the imperial power to colonize India.
He said that even after losing this battle, there were many rebellions led by Muslims until 1850.
Muslim revolts against British
Jamaluddin mentions the Fakir-Sannyasi rebellion, a joint revolt against colonial power by Muslim and Hindu ascetics, for preventing them from collecting religious tax from locals. It started in 1764 and continued until the 1850. He said the rebellion even spread its wings to southern India’s Madras (now Chennai) presidency.
But most prominent and popular movements that hit the British hard in the early 20th century in the subcontinent was the Reshmi-Rumaal Tehreek (Silk Cloth Movement) led by Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi with the help of Turkey, Germany, and Afghanistan.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, a prominent Muslim scholar Abdul Hameed Nomani said that despite his best efforts, Sindhi’s contribution has not been included in the official Indian history.
Along with an Indian prince Raja Mahender Pratap Singh, Sindhi, and Maulvi Barkatullah had established the exiled government of India in Afghanistan in 1915.
“The movement picked up around the same time when Subhash Chandra Bose [renowned Indian freedom fighter] was allying with Germany and Japan to oust the British from India. While Bose is celebrated nationwide, not much is known about Sindhi and his supporters,” said Nomani, who is also the general secretary of the All India Muslim Majlis Mushawarat, an umbrella group of prominent Muslim organizations.
It was named Silk Cloth Movement because Sindhi and other leaders used to send letters and directions to their cadres written on silk cloth.
Later, Sindhi went to Turkey and joined the country’s national struggle.
“The movement led to the formation of Indo-German-Turkish mission to encourage local tribes on the borders of Afghanistan to attack Britishers and their interests. While the key figures were arrested by the British, the movement remains a key event in the freedom history,” he added.
He said even though in 2011 the government released a postal stamp to commemorate Sindhi’s movement, there has been no vigor to record the sacrifice of Sindhi and his allies Mahmud Hasan and Husayn Ahmad.
“Only passing reference has been made about the role of Muslims in India’s national struggle,” rued Nomani.
source: http://www.aa.com.tr / Anadolu Agency / by Cheena Kapoor / August 14th, 2020
He was born in village Dihuli of District Muzaffarpur, in Bihar on 3 March 1900.
His father Moulvi Hafizuddin Husain was a zamindar. He first went to a Madarsa, then to North Brooke Zila School, Darbhanga, from where he was expelled for opposing the Rowlatt Act. He passed the matriculation from Pusa High School and was admitted in B.N. College, Patna, for higher studies.
His mother died in his childhood. His elder brother Maulana Manzoor Ahsan was also a freedom fighter.
He was married to Azizul Fatima. His marriage was all Khadi i.e. Bride and Groom both wore hand woven Khadi clothes. After nikah marriage function was transformed into an a public meeting for freedom struggle.
He left his studies at B.N. College to follow Gandhi and joined the non-cooperation movement in 1921.
There after he actively participated in the freedom movement. He mobilised masses against Britishers by organising volunteer corps, Ramayan Mandali, and also collected fund for freedom struggle through ‘Muthia’ drive. ‘Muthia’ meant to take out a muththi or fist of grain before preparing every meal to fund freedom struggle. Once Ajazi unknowingly reached at house of his cousin sister in a remote village. He asked for a ‘Muthia’. He got answer in negative. His sister recognised him and requested him to take meal. But Ajazi refused to take not only meal but even a glass of water. When his sister promised to take out muthia and donated the dues then he agreed to take meal.
He organised ‘Sewa Dal’ established by Sarojini Naidu and formed ‘Ajazi Troop’ to promote and train youngsters for freedom struggle. He first time attended AICC session held at Ahmedabad in 1921 and supported the motion of Maulana Hasrat Mohani on ‘Complete Independence’.
He represented Central Khilafat Committee at the All Parties Conferences. On the direction of Mohd Ali Jauhar he took the charge of Khilafat Committee Calcutta. There he was arrested in a protest march led by Neta ji Subhash and was arrested and released at a farther most place from Calcutta.
He obtained degree from Calcutta Homoeopathic Medical College. In August 1942 movement his house was searched and he worked under ground, though his promising eldest son Muzaffar Husain Ajazi died at young age on 25 July 1942.
Ajazi opposed Jinnah’s Two-nation theory. Muslim League workers used to come in batches at his residence, virtually spitting and shouted slogan. Ghaddar-e-Qaum.
He was also a poet and writer in the Urdu language as well as an orator. His papers, diaries, letters and files are preserved in national libraries.
After independence Ajazi devoted his whole life for the welfare of the downtrodden and for protection of rights as well as development of Urdu language. He was also actively associated with trade union movement.
Ajazi died on 26 September 1966 at his residence in Muzaffarpur city.
source: http://www.milligazette.com / The Milli Gazette / Home> News> Family & Kids / The Milli Gazette / October 14th, 2020
Hyder Ali, who is famously known as ‘the Nepoleon of South India’ for his relentless fighting against the conspiracies of the East India Company and its henchmen and for checkmating the British ambitions of expansion in South India, was born in 1722 at Devanahalli village, Karnataka state. His father was Fateh Mohammad Ali and mother Mujidan Begum.
Though he did not have any formal learning, he received training in martial arts. Hyder Ali was sharp in intellect, strong in will, capable of handling multiple tasks simultaneously and was brave at heart.
He had participated in Devanahalli war in 1749 as a young soldier of Mysore State. Recognizing his gallantry, Nanjaraj, the Minister of Mysore kingdom, honoured Hyder Ali with the title of ‘Khan’ and promoted him as the Chief of a battalion in the Mysore army.
They attacked Mysore several times with the help of the East India Company.
Though Hyder Ali suffered initial losses, he resisted them successfully and proved a virtual nightmare to East India Company. Even then, the British rulers provoked Hyder Ali again which led to the second Mysore war in July 1780. He went to the battlefield along with his son, Tipu Sultan.
While Hyder Ali captured the Arcot, his son Tipu defeated the East India Company troops and captured Kanjeevaram, which was about 50 miles from Madras. This sent shivers to Warren Hastings, the Governor General of East India Company.
He immediately sent additional troops from Culcutta, Madras with abundant funds under the control of his Commander General, Sir Eyre Coote. While fighting against the foreign enemy on one side, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan taught a befitting lesson to Malabar Nayars and chieftains, who revolted against him with the active support of Nizam of Hyderbad.
Hyder Ali, while leading his troops towards successive victories, fell ill and died in the battlefield on 7 December, 1782, near Narasingarayuni Peta village, which is now in Chitoor district of Andhra Pradesh.
source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> Featured News / by Nihad Amani / August 22nd, 2020
Decades before the birth of the city of Calcutta, the area that is now Tollygunge was a dense forest land called Russapugla with an abundance of mangrove trees.
The clubhouse on the grounds of Tollygunge Club in Kolkata. The club is preparing for its New Year’s Eve party with stage equipment on its grounds. (Express photo: Neha Banka) ______________________
Most know Tollygunge as a neighbourhood in south Kolkata rather than the long stretch of road by the same name that cuts through a large swathe of the area.
Decades before the birth of the city of Calcutta, the area that is now Tollygunge was a dense forest land called Russapugla with an abundance of mangrove trees. Over the centuries, the land was cleared for settlement and urban planning but some traces of the forest can still be found in the expansive property belonging to Tollygunge Club and the Royal Calcutta Golf Club in the neighbourhood, some of the oldest social clubs in the city.
Tollygunge Club, established in 1895, derives its name from the neighbourhood of Tollygunge, that in turn got its name from William Tolly, a colonel in the British Army in 1767. Calcutta was a city of creeks, although many have been entirely or partially filled up. Today, few of those creeks remain, winding slowly across the city, trying to find their way into the Bay of Bengal, but one would have to search beneath cramped, illegal urban settlements and mounds of garbage to find them.
Tolly’s Nullah behind the grounds of Tollygunge Club in Kolkata. (Express photo: Neha Banka) ______________________
In the outer peripheries of the property that belongs to Tollygunge Club, a narrow creeks snakes past, as if conjoined to the boundaries of the club’s walls. On both banks of the creek, slums have developed over the years and garbage floats on the water, emanating a foul stench.
According to historian P Thankappan Nair, who has documented the city’s history extensively, this creek was originally called the Govindpur Creek. There is no historical documentation for why the creek was so named, but perhaps it acquired its name from that of the village of Govindapur, one of the three villages that went on to form the city of Calcutta. According to Nair, another name for this creek in Bengali was Adi Ganga or the original River Ganga that flows past the city.
This map is a conjecture map and shows the path of Adi Ganga. Tolly’s Canal is named ‘The Creek’ in this map and runs past Tollygunge when it was still the village of Govindapur. (Map credit: Chattopadhyay 1990/Jenia Mukherjee) ________________________
In 1775, Colonel Tolly wrote to Warren Hastings, the Governor-General of India, with a proposal of leading an excavation to connect the village of Balliaghat, now called the neighbourhood of Beliaghata, in the wetlands of the eastern fringes of the city, to the neighbourhood of Tollygunge through a waterway.
Slums have come up on both banks of Tolly’s Nullah. (Express photo: Neha Banka) ____________________
According to published letters in the Fort William-India House Correspondence Vol.7 (1773-1776), Tolly wrote to Hastings saying he can do the same on a contract with the East Indian Company or lend his services for Rs 80,000, along with a levy on tolls paid by boats passing through the creek for a period of 12 years. This plan was agreeable to the Company, and Tolly was directed to survey the land. This creek, 27 kilometres long, was then renamed Tolly’s Nullah after the colonel and opened for navigation in 1777.
After the opening of the Nullah, the neighbourhood became more developed and came to be known as Tollygunge. After Tolly’s death, his widow was unable to continue collecting the tolls and the maintenance of the waterways. The Company took over the management of the Nullah and auctioned its leasehold rights in March 1794 to an Englishman in the city, John Hooper Wilkinson. In 1804, the Bengal Government took control over the Nullah and the Collector of 24 Parganas was authorised to maintain it.
Passersby stand on a small bridge that connects the banks of Tolly’s Nullah. (Photo: Neha Banka) __________________________
There is no document to independently verify this fact, but according to the Tollygunge Club archives, the premises of the club was originally an indigo plantation home of Richard Johnson, a merchant in the East India Company, set up in 1781.
Around 1806, the British dispatched Tipu Sultan’s family to Calcutta and gave them a living allowance. Tipu Sultan’s son Ghulam Mohammed Shah purchased the plantation grounds from Johnson to be used as a residence and the family spent a considerable amount of time in the neighbourhood.
After the family’s fortunes changed, they sold some portions of the plantation and leased out other sections to William Dixon Cruickshank, a Scottish banker, who was looking to build a sports club for the British that would also allow residential facilities and provide space for the British to socialise.
After the fortunes of Tipu Sultan’s family changed, they sold some portions of the plantation and leased out other sections to William Dixon Cruickshank, who was looking to build a sports club for the British. (Express photo: Neha Banka) ___________________
Over time, Tipu Sultan’s family divested complete control of the estate and the lands came under the direct control of the Tollygunge Club, a name that the institution acquired because of the neighbourhood it was located in and because of the location of the creek that runs just behind its premises.
Over the decades, most of the open spaces in the club were converted into an 18-hole golf course and the forest land was cleared to make space for other structures and facilities inside the club premises.
Today, there are no signboards that indicate the location of the Tolly Nullah in the neighbourhood of Tollygunge. Haphazard modern construction has changed the facade of Tollygunge and to find the nullah, one would have to engage in a self-conducted walking tour using an old map of the city for guidance.
An offshoot of the main road in Tollygunge, a narrow lane, through which only one vehicle can pass at a time, is the only way to access the nullah these days. Slums occupy both banks of the waterway and an overwhelming sense of garbage permeates all around. Tollygunge Club itself has changed over the decades and its history can only be found in pockets.
Haphazard modern construction has changed the facade of Tollygunge and to find the nullah, one would have to engage in a self-conducted walking tour using an old map of the city for guidance. (Express photo: Neha Banka) ______________________
Although most of the dense forest has been cleared away over the years, jackals still roam its greens in the darkness of dusk and late into the night. On any given day, one can spot diverse species of birds on the club grounds, like kingfishers and cattle egret. Few city residents know of how the institution and its neighbourhood got its name and perhaps even fewer know of the existence of the waterway that lies beyond the high walls of the club.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Cities> Kolkata / by Neha Banka / Kolkata , December 27th, 2019
Attitude of the British government towards India after the First World War, where the Indians backed the British war efforts in hope of better treatment, exacerbated the already suppressed Indian feelings. The Rowlatt bill, satyagraha in its opposition, Jallianwala massacre, and brutal suppression of the satyagraha led Mahatma Gandhi to call for Non-Cooperation movement coupled with Khilafat movement.
Gandhi urged his followers, through Young India, on 11 August, 1920, to ‘formulate an education system completely independent of government control’. Only then, in his view, non-cooperation holds any real meaning.
Mazharul Haque was the first in Bihar to respond to Gandhi’s call of developing indigenous education system. On 22 November, 1920 Haque opened a National School in Patna with Dr. Harnandan Lal Nandkeoliyar as its principal. But, the moment of glory was yet to arrive.
Mazharul Haque
On 11 December, 1920, One Hundred & Ten (110) students of Bihar Engineering School (B.E.S) boycotted classes and with all their belongings, with raised flags of ‘Free B.E.S’ marched to Sikandar Manzil, residence of Mazharul Haque, at Fraser Road in Patna. Students urged Haque to lead them into the non-cooperation movement. Haque left his house with 103 students, since seven (7) were taken by their parents to home, for an orchard in a rather scantily populated area on Patna- Danapur road. The orchard was a property of Khairu Mian, who donated it to the students without any hesitation. Haque, with the help of the students, made huts with straws, woods and leaves. The orchard, where now 103 students and Mazharul Haque were living, was named Sadaqat Ashram.
Sadaqt is a Persian/ Urdu word for truth while Ashram is a Sanskrit/ Hindi word for Abode. So, the place was Abode of Truth.
Now all the residents of Ashram were studying and spinning Charkha (cotton spinning wheel) and the ashram became a focal point of nationalist activities in Bihar.
Mahatma Gandhi, in December, emphasised upon having a Bihar Vidyapith to oversee all the nationalist education and coordinate National Schools running in Patna. Dr. Rajendra Prasad and other Congress leaders were unable to raise enough funds to secure land for Vidyapith in Patna. When the difficulty was put in front of Haque, he immediately started construction of a building, with his personal funds, at the Ashram site.
On 6 February, 1921, Mahatma Gandhi, Kasturba Gandhi and Mohammad Ali arrived in Patna, by Punjab Mail, to formally inaugurate the Bihar Vidyapith (Bihar University). At the inauguration Gandhi said that without the efforts of Mazharul Haque it would have been impossible to open a National College at Patna. It was only because of Haque that Gandhi was inaugurating the Vidyapith.
Mazharul Haque was chosen as the Chancellor, Braj Kishore Prasad as the Vice Chancellor and Rajendra Prasad as the registrar of the newly formed Bihar Vidyapith.
Sadaqat Ashram did not stop at this. In September, 1921, Mazharul Haque started printing newspapers, journals and books from the Ashram. An English weekly The Motherland and an Urdu daily Sheristan were two prominent newspapers published from the Ashram. Apart from these, books like Tufan-e-Nuh, Khilafat and England, etc., were also published from the Ashram press.
Mazharul Haque set an example by renouncing his lavish lifestyle to live in Sadaqat Ashram with the students. Mahatma Gandhi wrote about Haque, “The Sadaqat Ashram near Patna is a fruit of his (Mazharul Haque’s) constructive labour. Though he did not live in it for as long as he had intended, his conception of the Ashram made it possible for the Bihar Vidyapith to find a permanent habitation. It may yet prove a cement to bind the two communities together.”
Later, Rajendra Prasad lived at Sadaqat Ashram after retirement, Jayprakash Narain launched his movement from here and presently it serves as the Bihar Congress headquarters.
With the Sadaqat Ashram, the legacy of Mazharul Haque remains alive.
(Author is a well known historian)
source: http://www.heritagetimes.in / Heritage Times / Home> Bihar / by Saquib Salim / July 08th, 2020
“To live like a TIGER for a day is far better than to live like a jackal for a hundred years.” – Tipu Sultan
Today marks the 221th death anniversary of Sultan Fateh Ali Khan Tipu, better known as Tipu Sultan the Muslim warrior-king of Mysore, who died fighting the British today, May 4th 1799. Tipu ruled the kingdom of Mysore, which he inherited from his father Haidar Ali. His bravery, valour and skills were so talked about that French commander-in-chief Napolean Bonaparte once sought an alliance with the ruler of Mysore.
Tipu Sultan was born as Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu on November 10, 1750 in Devanahalli, present-day Bangalore. He was born to Fatima Fakhr-un-Nisa and Hyder Ali, the Sultan of Mysore. Tipu Sultan succeeded his father in 1782. The 18th-century ruler is popularly known as the Tiger of Mysore and Tipu Sahib.
We, as a citizen of India pay heartfelt tribute to Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore on his 221th death anniversary and salute his valour against the British forces. He was considered to be the first Indian freedom fighter, was a great patriot of India, who fought whole life against the British occupation and colonialism. He was glorified as India’s original Missile man by Ex-President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kamal. Tipu Sultan is revered as a pioneer in the use of rocket artillery. Sultan’s rockets were the first iron-cased rockets successfully deployed for military use. He deployed the rockets against advances of British forces and their allies during the Anglo-Mysore Wars. The rockets used during the Battle of Pollilur in 1780 and Siege of Seringapatam in 1799 were said to be more advanced than the British had previously seen.
Tipu’s portrait is in a NASA facility. It shows his passion and willingness towards scientific and technological advancements as well as innovations. It is said that Tipu was fascinated by western science and technology.
Admired by Abdul Kalam, Ex-President of India
After becoming President, in 2006, Kalam sent a top Defence scientist to Srirangapatana in Karnataka to study Tipu Sultan’s efforts to use rockets against the British over 200 years previously.
At the end of his visit to various sites associated with Tipu Sultan’s rocket launching activities at Srirangapatna, then Chief Controller of Research and Development at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), A Sivathanu Pillai declared, “There is no doubt that this is the birthplace of rocketry.”
“Now, I will report to the President what I have seen here (Srirangapatna). He (Kalam) is a rocket scientist. Naturally, he is interested to know,” Pillai had said.
After this visit, Pillai said he would recommend President Kalam to build consensus in the community of rocket scientists that Srirangapatna was the birthplace of rocketry by holding seminars and other initiatives.(courtesy: The Quint)
Tipu’s startup hubs and rockets
“Tipu Sultan was perhaps the first ruler to understand that there was a marked difference between Europe of the 1700s and 1790s, thanks to scientific innovations,“ says aerospace scientist Roddam Narasimha, who has been studying Tipu’s rockets for many years now. “He realised the power of technology , combined with discipline, and set up four innovation hubs (like modern-day tech parks) in Bengaluru, Chitradurga, Srirangapatna and Bidanur. He called them Taramandalpets.”(courtesy: The Economics Times)
He was the only Indian ruler who understood the dangers the British posed to India, and fought four wars to oust them from India – in that sense, he could be called the first freedom fighter in the subcontinent. He fought four wars against British colonialism with heroism, valour, and bravery, moreover to the last. He sacrificed his life for the nation and martyred a historical and brave death.
Tipu was a generous patron of several Hindu temples, including the Sri Ranganatha temple near his main palace at Srirangapattana, and the Sringeri Math, whose swami he respected and called Jagadguru. The Editor of Mysore Gazetteer Prof. Srikantaiah has listed 156 temples to which Tipu’s regularly paid annual grants. His progressive measures in the administration were equally commendable.
His reign is remembered for many technological and administrative innovations. Among them was introduction of new coin denominations and new coin types. He also introduced a luni-solar calendar. During his rule, he introduced a land revenue system which gave a boost to the Mysore silk industry and helped in establishing Mysore as a major economic power.
In the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War between 1798-99, he was defeated when the forces of the British East India Company, the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad came together. He was killed on May 4, 1799, while defending his fort of Srirangapatna, present-day Mandya in Karnataka.
Md Irshad Ayub, Founding English Editor at Millat Times
http://www.heritagetimes.in / Heritage Times / Home / by Team HT / May 02nd, 2020
Arfa Khanum Sherwani works as senior editor with ‘The Wire’ while Rohini Mohan is a Bengaluru-based independent journalist
Arfa Khanum (left) and Rohini Mohan
The Chameli Devi Jain Award for an Outstanding Woman Journalist was awarded jointly this year to Arfa Khanum Sherwani, senior editor, The Wire and Rohini Mohan, a Bengaluru-based independent journalist. Rukmini S., an independent data-journalist from Chennai, received an Honourable Mention.
The annual award, which recognises social concern, dedication, courage and compassion, received over 40 entries from all over India representing the print, broadcast and online media. While most entries were in English, a substantial proportion was also in Hindi, Malayalam, Odia and Telugu.
A three-member jury, comprising of Zoya Hasan, political scientist and Professor Emerita, Centre of Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Sreenivasan Jain, Managing Editor, NDTV and Manoj Mitta, senior editor and author, felt that Arfa Khanum Sherwani excelled in reporting from conflict situations in Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh. Through her online videos in Hindi, including field reports and studio discussions, she displayed exceptional courage and empathy in giving a voice to people on the margins and holding authorities to account.
The jury observed that Rohini Mohan’s reportage on the NRC exercise in Assam set a new benchmark for investigative journalism. In the highest tradition of watchdog journalism, the meticulous research on the ground, her humane engagement with affected people, and analysis of the arbitrary conduct of the institutions involved yielded findings that proved to be far-reaching.
Rukmini S. the jury said, deserved special recognition for pushing the boundaries of data journalism in India.
The presentation of the award, scheduled for Saturday, which was to be followed by the BG Verghese Memorial Lecture by Madan Lokur, former justice of the Supreme Court, was postponed due to the coronavirus threat.
The Media Foundation instituted the Chameli Devi Jain Award for an Outstanding Woman Journalist in 1980, named after Chameli Devi Jain, a legendary freedom fighter and community reformer who went to jail for her beliefs. The first award was given in 1982 and nearly 40 years later it continues to recognise some of the best known and respected names in Indian journalism.
The Media Foundation was started in in 1979 with the aim of upholding freedom of speech, expression and information and to encourage freedom in society and enhance the quality of life through the media and process of communication. Its founding members were media luminaries including B.G. Verghese, L.C. Jain, Prabash Joshi. N.S. Jaganathan and Ajit Bhattachrjea. Currently, Mr Harish Khare, former editor, The Hindu and The Tribune is chairperson of the Foundation.
source: http://www.nationalheraldindia.com / National Herald / Home> India / by National Herald Web Desk / March 14th, 2020
