Category Archives: Leaders

Revisiting the Life and Works of the ‘Beypore Sultan’

July 7, 2015Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leadersmpositiveone@gmail.com

Thiruvananthapuram :

The air of an informal get-together marked the meeting held at Manaveeyam Veedhi on Sunday to commemorate the 21st death anniversary of Vaikkom Muhammaded Basheer. A cloth-bound easy chair and an earthen water jug took centre stage while a ripe bunch of ‘poovanpazham’ and a goat perked up the backdrop. The setting was simple and yet richly evocative of the Basheerian cosmos. Poet Sugatha Kumari summed up the spirit of the event saying that the sapling of Mangosteen planted on the wayside was the most befitting tribute to the author who celebrated the equality of all beings in nature.

The meeting was organised by Thiruvananthapuram Women Writers’ Forum. Sugatha Kumari released the second edition of ‘Basheer Enna Anugraham’, a memoir penned by K A Beena, by handing over a copy to author Susmesh Chandroth. The book describes the author’s association with the iconic literary figure during her student days.

The simple nature of the event was thoughtfully orchestrated as it was in accordance with Basheer’s philosophy, said Geetha Nazeer, convener of the Writers’ Forum. Sugatha Kumari remembered that when she sent out letters to writers in the State asking for their support against the Silent Valley Project in the late 1970s, Basheer was the first to reply. “I had written to every writer in Malayalam asking for them to join in this battle to be lost. Basheer wrote back, saying – ‘I enlist my support for this battle to be lost’. He also pinned a 100 rupee note to the letter which had the value of some thousands back then,” she said.

She referred to the recent exhortation of Pope Francis to ‘feed the hungry’ and said that Basheer’s writings echo the same sentiments. “His heart went out to the hungry and the homeless. Nature was God to him. His boundless optimism and humour derived from the superior awareness of a mystic,” she said.

Susmesh Chandroth, who has coveted attention as an emerging voice among the younger generation of authors, spoke about the influence of Basheer on Malayalam literature. “Basheer’s novel ‘Shabdangal’ is a case study in technique and style. I would prescribe it as a must-do text for every student of literature and aspiring writer,” he said. He added that Basheer is a timeless author and is in the same league as the finest writers in world literature. “Whatever age you are, you will find a Basheer story that you will enjoy. Basheerian texts compliment the insights gained at every stage of life,” he said.

B Lakshmi, daughter of Guptan Nair, shared her thoughts about the book authored by K A Beena. In her valedictory speech, Beena recounted her prolonged correspondence with Basheer and the freedom she enjoyed in his home as a young girl. Shailaja P Ambu presented an impressive stage adaptation of Basheer’s famed short story, ‘Ente uppupak oru ana undarnnu’ under the direction of Sam George.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / July 06th, 2015

Call to use digital lockers to secure documents online

July 6, 2015Leaders, Science & Technologympositiveone@gmail.com

Deputy Commissioner Meer Anees Ahammed has said people should make use of digital locker system launched by the government to securely store documents online.

Speaking at a programme organised as a part of Digital India organised by the department Electronics and Information Technology, at Madikeri on Saturday, he said that with the advance in science and technology, facilities are available online.

With digital locker facility, paper-less system will be created in the future. There is a need to create awareness on the same.

The users can store their documents such as school certificate, passport and other documents in the digital format.

Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer M Kurma Rao said one can avail postal, airlines, train, bus, banking services through online. This will help in checking the intervention of middlemen.

Additional DC M Sathish Kumar said efforts will be made for Aadhaar registration in schools, colleges and hostels in the future.

Lead Bank Manager K A Devaiah said Digital India depends on connectiovity.

The digital India will be a success with the effective connectivity system by the telecom operators. Banking system has been computerised.

Biometric system will be introduced in place of ATM to withdraw and deposit money in the future. Kushalnagar Engineering College lecturer Prof Vani also spoke.

Winners

Prizes were distributed to the winners of essay, elocution and painting competition held as a part of Digital India week in Kodagu district. The winners in painting Jeen Salong, St Michael School (I), Meghana, St Jospeh School (II) in Madikeri taluk; Brijesh of Fathima School (I), Tejaswini of Kanbail Government High SChool (II) in Somwarpet taluk; Dilip (I) of Heggala Government High School and Venisha (II) of St Annamma School in Virajpet taluk.

Essay contest winners are— Chaitanya of St Michael School (I), Rasheela Deeksha of St Jospeh School (II) in Madikeri taluk; Tejasri N R (I) of Hudikeri Janata School and Prajna P V of Gonikoppa High School (II) in Virajpet taluk and Hemanth Kumar (I) of Morarji School and Cinchana M D of St Joseph School (II) in Somwarpet taluk.

Elocution contest winners are —Sathish R S of Madikeri Junior College (I), Nireeksha of St Joseoh School (II) in Madikeri taluk; Leena K L of Srimangala Junior College (I) and Dhanya of St Anns High School (II) in Virajpet taluk and Chinmay of Aloor Siddapura School (I) and Akshatha Bhat of ST Joseph School (II) in Somwarpet taluk.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / DHNS, Madikeri – July 04th, 2015

Victoria Memorial to display Tipu Sultan’s notebook on artillery

July 5, 2015Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leadersmpositiveone@gmail.com

Tipu Sultan’s notebook. / Photo: Shiv Sahay Singh / The Hindu

The lovers of history and connoisseurs of artefacts are up for a treat as the Victoria Memorial Hall is going to display for the first time a notebook belonging to Tipu Sultan, the legendary ruler of Mysore.

The notebook written in Persian (Shikasta) touches on a variety of subjects but is mainly a treatise on the art of artillery. It is divided into eight chapters with introduction dealing with certain tenets of Islam and chapters dedicated to rules for horsemen and piyada (foot soldiers) of his army.

Each page of the notebook consists of nine lines of script. Some pages bear the stamp of the three royal seals while ten sketches explain the use of muskets with details on how to load and hold them.

Sahebzada Ghulam Mohammad, one of Tipu Sultan descendants, had donated the notebook to the trustees of Victoria Memorial in 1904.

“The notebook reflects his keen interest and the first hand information on the use of arms and artillery along with the fact that he was introducing modern equipment in his armoury. In fact Tipu Sultan was one of the few great kings who died fighting,” Gholam Nabi, head of VMH documentation and photography unit told The Hindu.

Mr. Nabi said the King of Mysore who wrote in Kannada, had dictated the contents of the note book to his calligrapher who wrote it in Persian. Historians believe that Tipu Sultan was one of the first kings to have made use of rockets in war as early as 1790s.

“The artefact is going to be part of an exhibition on ‘Life and Times of Tipu Sultan’ which we have been planning for quite some time. The exhibition is likely to be held at the end of this year,” Jayanta Sengupta, the secretary and curator of VMH told The Hindu.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Other States / by Shiv Sahay Singh / Kolkata – July 05th, 2015

‘He could tell if something was wrong just by sniffing the food’

July 5, 2015Business & Economy, Leaders, Travel & Tourismmpositiveone@gmail.com

Friends and family recall their memories of Abdul Haq, the CMD of iconic city restaurant Empire

The Empire chain is well-known for its non-vegetarian food

With 18 outlets across the city, Empire has, quite literally, lived up to its name. A crowd throngs its outlets no matter what time of day it may be, and many a large Sunday lunch and post-movie dinner run has been made in its basic-yet-clean interiors. So patrons were surprised to find that the restaurant was shut on July 1, only to discover that the empire had lost its patriarch, Chairman and Managing Director, Abdul Haq, at the age of 61.

While the restaurant continues to function under the stewardship of Haq’s brothers Kunhi Mohammed (Joint Managing Director) and Abdul Aziz (Vice Chairman), his son Shahid Haq is still grappling with the loss of his father. Haq had become synonymous with the expansion of the restaurant into a chain, from its earliest avatar as a small restaurant in Central Street, Shivaji Nagar in 1966 by his NRI father, Abdul Rahim.

“My father joined the operations in 1980. Initially he did everything from cutting chicken in the kitchen to sitting as a cashier. He had to learn the nitty-gritty of the business because my grandfather would not always be in India,” recalls Shahid. As business improved and he learnt the ropes, in 1998, Haq renovated the place, acquired adjacent shops and bought the property. He set up their first new outpost at Church Street, in 2004, “to attract the younger crowd.”

As the city grew, Empire grew with it, catering to the generation that now brought its children with it. Haq and his brothers introduced some of their signature dishes – from Chicken Kabad to Butter Chicken Gravy, Ghee Rice, Coin Paratha, and Chill Chicken. He understood the importance of modernisation, training staff to better their standard of service, updating the crockery and cutlery and introducing air-conditioning. “But he always wanted to keep the pricing reasonable no matter what,” Shahid recalls. In 1997, they introduced the Non-veg Thali; in 2008 the non-veg buffet. Along with the Dosa Chicken, (“Dosa was a common food but he wanted to make it about our gravy”), it helped cement Empire’s place in the city’s foodscape.

Controversy dogged him when in 2012, he allegedly ran over Selvaraj, a 50-year-old construction labourer from Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu, who was sleeping on the pavement on Kamaraj Road. Selvaraj’s right leg had to be amputated after the accident.

Although Haq was accused of being inebriated, the claim was rubbished by the then Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) MA Saleem, and Haq footed the bill for Selvaraj’s treatment.

While Shahid remembers him as a man who was always stressed that he was not doing enough for the brand, crunching numbers in his mind, it seems he need not have worried so much.

Shahid will now have to cultivate his father’s keen sense of smell and taste – that enabled him to find the flaws in his food just by sniffing it.

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore> Others / by Khushali P. Madhwani & Sowmya Rajaram , Bangalore Mirror Bureau / July 04th, 2015

Only 37 Muslim Candidates Selected in Civil Services

July 4, 2015Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Leadersmpositiveone@gmail.com

Fahmina Hussain for BeyondHeadlines

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Saturday declared the results of the Civil Services 2014 examinations. IRA SINGHAL has secured the top position in UPSC civil services examination 2014. RENU RAJ and NIDHI GUPTA came second and third respectively in the examination.

A total of 1236 candidates have been recommended for appointment including 590 General (including 15 Physically challenged candidates), 354 Other Backward Classes (including 05 Physically challenged candidates), 194 Scheduled Castes (including 01 Physically challenged candidate) and 98 Scheduled Tribes candidates.

BeyondHeadlines also tried to collect all Muslim names from the UPSC result 2012 which has come today (4th May 2015).

It is pleasing that nearly 37 successful candidates are Muslims and of them in top hundreds are 4 candidates. According to this list of 1236 candidates, 37 are Muslims which means that stands 2.9%. Last year, 31 Muslim candidates were successful in the UPSC examination out of 998 who qualified.

Successful Muslim Candidates for UPSC Result-14

S.NO.	NAME	RANK
1.	B FOUZIA TARANUM	31
2.	MUHAMMED ABDAAL AKHTAR	35
3.	MOHAMMAD ROSHAN	44
4.	BASEER UL HAQ	46
5.	ZAINAB SAYEED	107
6.	SAFEER KARIM	112
7.	K ARIF HAFEEZ	135
8.	MOHD IMRAN RAZA	165
9.	MOHAMMAD SANA AKHTAR	211
10.	NABEEL AHMAD SAAD	226
11.	HARIS S	387
12.	PATHAN ADEEB DAULATKHAN	412
13.	MODASSAR SHAFI	420
14.	FARAH ZACHARIAH	428
15.	SAJU VAHEED A	429
16.	AFAQ AHMAD GIRI	457
17.	CH MOHD YASIN	459
18.	SHEIK ABDUL RAHAMAN S	494
19.	DEEBA FARHAT	553
20.	ATHAR AAMIR UL SHAFI KHAN	560
21.	MOHD SAMEER ISLAM	564
22.	EHTESHAM WAQUARIB	576
23.	NOORUL HASAN	625
24.	SHEIKH SAMI UR RAHMAN	675
25.	MOHAMMED IKRAMULLA SHARIFF	741
26.	AZHAR KABIR	744
27.	RUVEDA SALAM	878
28.	WAZIM MUSTAFA	894
29.	MASROOR AHMAD	914
30.	RAZEEM K	922
31.	ANSARI SHAKEEL AHMED	935
32.	MAQSOOD AHMED	944
33.	UMAR FAROOQUE	967
34.	RAUNAQ JAMIL ANSARI	1005
35.	MOHAMED ASHRAF J S	1149
36.	IRFAN HAFIZ	1183
37.	RIZWANBASHA SHAIK	1214

You can see the Result of UPSC on this link: http://www.upsc.gov.in/

BeyondHeadlines congratulates all the above candidates and wishes them the very best in all their future endeavors.

source: http://www.beyondheadlines.in / Beyond Headlines / Home> Admin / by Fahmina Hussain / July 04th, 2015

Centenary celebrations of City Central Library from Aug. 2

July 4, 2015Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leadersmpositiveone@gmail.com

CM likely to inaugurate; ‘Kuvempu Mobile Library’ to be revived

Mysuru :

The City Central Library (CCL) on Sayyaji Rao Road, established in 1915, is a treasure house for lakhs of knowledge seekers. Now, preparations are afoot to celebrate the 100 years of CCL.

Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, Sir M. Visvesvaraya and Sir Mirza Ismail were instrumental in the construction of CCL. Janab M. Hussain, B. M. Shri, Rao Bahadur Ranga Iyengar, M. Venkatakrishnaiah, Rev. E. W. Thomson, N. S. Subbarao and B. G. Lakshman Rao were the other key players in establishing this library in the heart of the city.

CCL was inaugurated on October 15, 1915 by the then Mysore King Narasimharaja Wadiyar and since then lakhs of Mysureans have benefitted from the vast collection of books in the library.

Centenary celebrations

To mark 100 years of CCL, various programmes will be held from August 12, 2015 to November 14, 2015 in city, according to B. Manjunath, Deputy Director, City Central Library, Mysuru.

Chief Minister Siddharamaiah is likely to inaugurate CCL’s centenary celebrations on August 12, the National Librarians’ Day. The CCL’s Centenary Day valedictory will be held on November 14, the National Library Day.

Tenders have been invited by Public Works Department (PWD) to get the CCL building painted for the Centenary celebrations. New furniture is provided for the inner hall of the library.

An Editorial Committee has been constituted to bring out a Souvenir on the occasion. Articles written by litterateurs, members of the library and other prominent persons which have already been submitted will be featured in the Souvenir.

Mysuru District Publishers’ Association has come forward to sponsor the printing of the Souvenir.

The CCL in Mysuru was the first to introduce ‘Kuvempu Mobile Library’ in the State and due to various reasons the Mobile Library stopped functioning a few years back. Now the authorities have taken a decision to revive the Kuvempu Mobile Library.

Apart from this, it has been decided to construct a library building in People’s Park.

The CCL run by Public Library Department has 17 other libraries in city, 9 Seva Kendra Libraries, 5 Vachanalayas, one Community Children’s Centre and two affiliated centres. Around 50,476 people are registered members of CCL in city. CCL has a collection of over 55,000 rare books and it keeps adding new books every year. The library was handed over to the State Government in 1965, when the Public Library Act was passed.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Sunday – June 28th, 2015

Lucknow Shias mediate between Saudi Arabia and Israel

July 4, 2015Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, World Opinionmpositiveone@gmail.com

New Delhi :

In May, Lucknow played host to an unusual meeting — a high level track-2 interaction between Israel and Saudi Arabia attended by prominent Shia intellectuals in India.

The Raja of Mahmudabad, well-known Shia intellectual in Lucknow and erstwhile royalty and his sons were part of a meeting between an Israeli think tank, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and a Saudi delegation from the Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies, in Jeddah.

Interestingly, the Israeli team was led by Dore Gold, who has just been named Israel’s new foreign secretary. The Saudi delegation was led by Maj Gen(retd) Dr Anwar Majed Eshki, according to Shimon Shapira, one of the members of the Israeli delegation who wrote a blog on the meeting, calling it “extraordinary”.

“Our hosts were the leaders of the Shiite community in Lucknow, the Raja of Mahmudabad Amir Khan, his son Ali Khan, intellectuals, and teachers of the local madrassa. It was an extraordinary meeting of Jews from Jerusalem, Saudi Sunnis from Mecca and Medina, and Indian Shiites from Lucknow,” Shapira wrote, describing the meeting as a “delicate dialogue with restrained tension.”

However, Ali Khan Mahmudabad who was at the meeting denied that they had “hosted” the meeting. In his own blog on Huffington Post, Ali Khan said it was organized by a New Delhi think tank, and it was not until they actually met that he realized it was a meeting between Israelis and Saudis. “Initially, those of us invited to this half-day discussion were not informed of the composition of the delegations except that the visitors were interested in finding out more about the ‘syncretic culture’ of the region. Amongst those invited from Lucknow were a university professor, a representative of a prominent cleric, some businessmen, my father, brother and I. When we gathered, it quickly transpired that the visitors were high-ranking ex-military officials.”

Even more interesting, this meeting was reportedly one of five bilateral meetings held by Israeli and Saudi representatives, which a diplomat confirmed to TOI was with the full blessing of the governments. The other meetings were reported to have been held in Italy and Czech Republic, covering almost an entire year. The last one was literally “out of the closet” when Gold and Eshki did a joint event at a US think tank, Council for Foreign Relations, where both countries said they believed Iran should be stopped.

Saudis and Israelis have made common cause against Iran. There was no official recognition of the Israel-Saudi meeting in Lucknow, but the government would certainly have been aware of it. India and Israel will be getting into a counter-terrorism and political dialogue at the official level next week.

In his blog Ali Khan observes, “With the potential of a nuclear agreement between Iran and the United States in June 2015, it was becoming increasingly clear that the delegation was visiting India in order to find out about public opinion amongst Shias for Iran and perhaps gauge what reaction there maybe amongst Indian Shias if something happened vis-a-vis Iran.”

Israel and Saudis have been at daggers drawn for decades, with Saudi Arabia leading the regional political and diplomatic boycott of the Jewish state. But in recent years, the evolution of Iran as a regional power, complete with nuclear capability has affected both nations equally, which is about to intensify after a deal is struck between Iran and the world. There have been off-radar outreach between Riyadh and Jerusalem, as both sides make common cause in their opposition to Iran. Wikileaks, exposing 5 lakh Saudi documents reveals that students from the Arab nation actually visited the Israeli embassy in Washington DC and received a “diplomatic briefing” and got photographed with Israeli diplomats.

Summarizing the meeting, Shapira quotes the Raja as saying “all religious extremism in Islam in this era began with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the Saudi Arabian kingdom. He contended that the Saudis supported Islamic movements that became extremist and violent over the years.” To which Shapira says Dr Eshki, the chief Saudi guest, respectfully countered that as a devoted Muslim, he saw great importance in bridging the Islamic sects.

Later Shapira also goes on to describe one morning when the Sunnis and Shias put aside their religious differences to pray together.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> India / by Indrani Bagchi, TNN / July 03rd, 2015

Stanford Trio Launch Code Camp to Empower Girls through ICT

July 1, 2015Education, Leadersmpositiveone@gmail.com

Stanford University students Aashna Shroff, Akhila Moturu and John Kamalu at the launch of Girl Code Camp at Chirec International School in Madhapur on Saturday | RVK Rao

Hyderabad :

An alumnus of city-based CHIREC International School, along with two of her undergraduate batch mates from Stanford University, has launched a concept named Girls Code Camp (GCC) which is aimed at creating a network of young women who are confident in their abilities to computer code and use technology to foster change. The Girls Code pilot boot camp at CHIREC is scheduled to be held from June 29 to July 4, 2015.

The trio – Aashna Shroff, Akhila Moturu and John Kamalu – is conducting GCC as a 6-day workshop in partnership with select schools in Hyderabad. Aashna Shroff is a sophomore at Stanford pursuing Computer Science and Economics; Akhila Moturu is a freshman majoring in Computer Science at Stanford University, seeking a minor in Education; and John Kamalu is a freshman interested in Computer Science and Linguistics at Stanford University.

Each workshop is being planned around an innovative theme that allows girls to align their interests with what they are learning. Workshops will be on Mobile App development, web development and hands-on tinkering for 8th to 10th grade girls.

Speaking at the launch of the pilot boot camp at CHIREC, on Saturday, BVR Mohan Reddy, founder and executive chairman, CYIENT and chairman, NASSCOM, told young girls to be fearless and compete with men in every field. He urged the students to make full use of technology around in creating social equity. “Technology today is all pervasive and accessible. It is constant though the velocity of change is increasing. Predictability of technology has come down and ICT is at the pinnacle of the change,” he said. Further, he opined that use of technology can bring about a social transformation in sectors like education, health, hygiene, and agriculture.

“The idea is to bridge the gender disparity in technological fields in India. With better exposure to computer science skills, girls can take charge of their lives and their communities,” said Aashna. According to her, there exists better awareness abroad for bridging gender disparity apart from combat mechanisms in the form of special scholarships for girls, and student groups.

Iffat Ibrahim, principal, explained about the efforts being taken by the school in empowering students. The GCC will be conducted at NASR girls school, Meridian International School, Sreenidhi International School, and Oakridge International School in the city.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / June 28th, 2015

Kalyan group owner wealthiest jeweller in India

July 1, 2015Business & Economy, Leaders, World Opinionmpositiveone@gmail.com

Kalyan Jewellers’ chairman and managing director T S Kalayanaraman, is the wealthiest jeweller in India with a personal fortune of USD 1.3 billion, says Wealth-X report.

Kalayanaraman opened his first jewellery shop in Thrissur City in 1993 with only USD 100,000 capital, and his business has now expanded to 32 showrooms across South India. His personal fortune is worth USD 1.3 billion.

Nirav Modi was ranked second on the Wealth-X list of India’s wealthiest jewellers with an estimated net worth of USD 1.1 billion.

“Born into a family of Indian diamantaires, Modi left the family business in 1999 and launched his own company, Firestar Diamonds. In 2007, Firestar Diamonds acquired New York-based Sandberg & Sikorski,” it said.

The third on the list is M P Ahammed, with a personal fortune of USD 1 billion. Ahammed had opened the first Malabar Gold & Diamond showroom with only USD 70,000.

Others on the list include, Bhima Jewellers’ B Govindan with a personal wealth of USD 620 million, Kiran Gems’ Vallabhbhai S Patel (USD 590 million), Laxmi Diamond’s Vasant Gajera (USD 580 million), Dharmanandan Diamonds’ Laljibhai Patel (USD 480 million), Kiran Gems’ Babubhai Lakhani (USD 470 million), Kiran Gems’ Mavji Bhai Patel (USD 410 million) and Rajesh Exports’ Rajesh Mehta (USD 310 million).

Wealth-X provides insight into the ultra wealthy with the world’s largest collection of curated research on ultra high net worth individuals.

“The gems and jewellery industry is among India’s fastest growing sectors fuelled by UHNWs affinity for jewellery and the fact that they view it as an important store of value. For India’s ultra wealthy jewellers, all that glitters is gold!,” Sahil Mehta, director, Indian subcontinent at Wealth–X said.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> National / PTI / Singapore – July 01st, 2015