AR Rahman said as an artiste, it is a pleasure to be part of an innovative cultural program that supports creative excellence and artistic appreciation; and brings diverse audiences together.
AR Rahman named ambassador of Indo-UK culture platform / Image Source : INSTA/ARRAHMAN
Music great A R Rahman has been named the ambassador of British Council’s ‘India-UK Together Season of Culture’, which aims to boost collaboration among emerging artists. The ‘Season of Culture’ that marks the 75th anniversary of India’s independence was officially launched on Tuesday here by Britain’s Deputy High Commissioner to India Jan Thomson and Director (India) of British Council Barbara Wickham. Rahman said as an artiste, it is a pleasure to be part of an innovative cultural programme which supports creative excellence and artistic appreciation; and brings diverse audiences together.
“Today, creative expression and exchange can nurture young talent and create a global stage for fair and equitable access to arts,” he added.
Wickham said Rahman has been a significant adviser to the ‘Season of Culture’ and his work and professional journey truly embody what the ‘Season of Culture’ stands for – working together, and artistic output that captures the imagination of the world.
Over 1,400 artistes will showcase their collaborations to millions of audiences across India, Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, through a wide array of arts such as theatre, dance, visual arts, literature, music, architecture, design, fashion, tech-art, and new media art.
The ‘Season of Culture’ aims to build on the British Council’s work in India and strengthen India-UK collaboration in the areas of arts, English and education.
Wickham said people in both the countries will have the chance to experience innovative and exciting creative work from some of the most promising UK and Indian artists pushing the envelope of creativity and the infusion of creative tech.
source: http://www.indiatvnews.com / India TV / Home> English News> Entertainment / by PTI / New Delhi – June 08th, 2022
Team Dovely (from Left to Right Mohammed Obaidulla Khan, Zainab Khatoon, Uzma Khatoon and Masarrat Fatima)
Hyderabad:
How often do casual conversations on women’s safety get realised into full-fledged businesses focusing on women empowerment? One such conversation led to the creation of the ‘Dovely’ app by-city-based siblings Uzma Khatoon and Zainab Khatoon.
Concerned over women’s safety, Uzma and Zainab thought of coming up with a solution to address the issue. The Dovely app provides a bike taxi service exclusively run by and for women. Apart from ensuring women’s safety, the entrepreneurs also aim to make women financially independent.
The four-person run application comprises founder Zainab who is a final year B. Pharmacy student, Uzma, a final year B.com Computers student, and Masarrath Fatima and Obaidulla Khan who are final year B. Tech students.
As of now the platform has 20 riders and over 400 users and functions through its website and connects riders and passengers through WhatsApp.
The app is still undergoing improvements. “We will be able to develop a full-fledged app only after we reach a certain milestone like 200 rides,” said Masarrat.
She further added that the company can’t risk putting up the app on the app store or the play store since users may face challenges as it is manually operated at present.
Speaking to Siasat.com the founder and CEO of Dovely, Zainab Khatoon said, “The idea to create Dovely first struck me and originated from a conversation between me and my mom, who wanted to visit my granny and was looking for cost-effective and safe rides.”
The idea only came into existence following an unpleasant autorickshaw experience, aimed at ensuring women feel safe and secure during their journey.
“The idea struck me once again while I was travelling with my friend in an autorickshaw when the driver looked at us from the rear view mirror making me feel uncomfortable,” Zainab added.
“We sat down with our parents to discuss the name of the company. After going through about 400 names, our father came up with the name Dovely,” said Chief Operating Officer and co-founder Uzma.
“Apart from providing rides for women, the app also allows women to connect with us as Dovely partners. To access information regarding the platform one may visit the Dovely website. At the time of filing the story, Dovely successfully completed 37 rides,” Zainab said.
Addressing the query regarding profit sharing, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Obaid Ulla Khan said, “Currently all the money earned is being kept with the riders themselves, and we aren’t earning any commission.”
Bootstrapping for funding Dovely:
Running a startup is not an easy task and requires consistent funding. However, Obaid believes in “Bootstrapping”, where entrepreneurs fund their own ventures. “Even if we approach venture capitalists at this stage they would set milestones based on which they would provide the money, hence it is better that we set a milestone for ourselves before we reach out to investors.”
“In order to pitch the business idea, we are collecting all the information ranging from the number of riders to the number of users along with the IDs of our riders in an excel sheet, this will make it easier for us to attract investors,” he explained.
With regards to the credibility of the riders, Zainab said, “I personally handle the onboarding process for Dovely. As part of the hiring process we ourselves take long distance rides with the candidates to test their driving skills.”
On Safety
Shedding light on the steps taken to ensure the safety of the riders and passengers, Uzma said, “One of us is constantly checking on the live location from the beginning to the end of the ride, and the riders are only supposed to switch off the live location after completing the ride.”
Adding to Zainab’s response, Obaid said “More than the candidate’s driving skills, we focus on their behaviour since we want to provide the best possible service to our customers”
Addressing the query on whether riders have to be logged in for a specific period of time on a daily basis, he said, “Keeping in mind the household responsibilities of our partners, we don’t have any specific login timings for now.”
A few Dovely partners were also present during the interview and they shared their experience with Siasat.com. Nahera Lohreen, one of the partners said,” The first ride was a bit challenging since I was hesitant as to how it would go, but after a while, I felt comfortable and it has been a great experience.”
Nahera is also the first partner to be roped in by Dovely.
Zareena Begum, another partner with the firm said,” It is a great opportunity since it gives us financial independence and I was looking forward to such an opportunity”
Speaking of future plans, the company’s CEO Zainab said, “As of now we are focusing on a minimum of 10 rides per day, we will gradually expand into three and four-wheeler markets.”
She further said, “Apart from bike taxis, we are planning to deal with transport and logistics which will also be led by women. The greater vision of the company is to empower women across India and make them financially independent.”
www.dovely.org
source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> News> Hyderabad / by Mohammed Baleegh / June 19th, 2022
Rural women of Bihar engaged in doing Kheta embroidery work. | Picture by author arrangement
Kheta is said to be a 500-year-old quilting heirloom practised exclusively by Shershahabdi women. Today, Kheta embroidery work is getting popular among non-Shershahabdi people with many women formerly associated with making Beedis taking to Kheta work to earn a decent livelihood.
Bihar :
Razia Khatoon of Kishanganj district of Bihar is getting 45 days of training in Kheta embroidery work. The training will be completed on May 14 and is done under Project Samarth, a scheme for capacity building in the textile sector carried out by the government of India. Earlier, she would make Beedi (plant leaf cigarettes) as a livelihood. She said Kheta has given her a chance to get rid of the health hazards that making Beedi brings on.
For several workers like Razia, the Kheta embroidery work, after acquiring proper training, is expected to be an alternate livelihood instead of the hazardous Beedi rolling job.
Believed to be a 500-year-old quilting heirloom practised exclusively by Shershahabdi women, today the Kheta embroidery work is getting popular among non-Shershahabdi people. Earlier, the intricate embroidery work was done on the layers of pre-used print Sarees and chequered Lungis etc, however, today the use of new clothes for making Khetas is widely done.
“Shershahabdi is a term used for Muslims of the Seemanchal area of Bihar who were settled in the region by emperor Shershah Suri. They are said to be ethnic Pashtuns mixed with local Surjapuris,” Ashraful Haque, a Shershahabdi, who co-ordinates with the Kheta weavers, told TwoCircles.net.
“Kheta is so intricate and organised that officials from Delhi first refused to believe it as a handcraft. When a live demo was done, they were immensely impressed. After the efforts of the local member of parliament Dr Mohammad Jawed, who raised this question of Kheta in the Parliament, we have got this opportunity to train our women not only in making more vibrant Khetas but also make them aware of its marketability,” he said.
To make Kheta embroidery work as a source of income, the artwork is being introduced in new forms with the use of new clothes. This embroidery work is now done on bedsheets, notebook covers, bags, pillow covers, mufflers, table clothes and handkerchiefs etc.
As of now, seventy thousand workers are believed to be associated with this artwork.
Noticeably, unlike other embroidery works, Kheta avoids figurative depictions which are considered to be forbidden in Muslim culture. The colours used for Kheta are generally bright like red, green, yellow, blue, and purple.
Razia, 24, is a Shershabadi woman, and like every other Shershahabadi female, she knew a bit of Kheta.
She expressed her happiness in learning new designs and colour patterns of Kheta. She used to earn around 1$ per day by Beedi making. She now hopes to double her income by part-time Kheta making.
More than the money she is happy as she considers Kheta work as “Izzat wala kam (a respectful job.)”
Another trainee Rulekha Khatoon’s husband is a migrant labourer. Khatoon is 25-years-old and is doing Kheta work regularly for the last six years. She learnt the technique from her mother and grandmothers. “Earlier we used to make Kheta only for family purposes like dowry and gifts etc. This training showed us that we can sell our work too. I hope to earn Rs. 3000-4000 per month with the work of 3-4 hours,” she said.
47-year-old Tajgara Khatoon is a top trainer of Kheta. She told TwoCircles.net, “A needle and some threads are required to do wonders in Kheta embroidery but not without great painstaking concentration. Shershahabdi women learnt it naturally but this training is giving them a wider range of patterns.”
Inderjit De and Saumya Pande of Zameen Astar Foundation write in their paper on Kheta embroidery, “The term Kheta stands for straight running stitches in the local dialect and refers to both embroidery and the product. In its similarity to the word, Khet meaning farm, the term Kheta may resemble the meticulous lines of the paddy fields.”
According to the website involved in the promotion and marketing of Kheta, “the array of designs offered by Kheta resonates with ripples of water, materials used in building make-shift huts, flowers, dry fruits, leaves, among many more.”
Yuman Hussain is the executive director of Azad India Foundation which is actively involved in promoting Kheta and arranging training for workers.
Yuman told TwoCirles.net that the “training helps in benchmarking the skill level and understanding the quality control. It formalizes the knowledge transfer and helps in keeping the next generation interested in continuing the quilting practice.”
The training also provides the trainees with an artisan card with benefits like insurance and access to participate in different exhibitions.
“On average, a Kheta artisan can make 4 to 6 quilts (96″ x 60″ size) in a year. They can earn anything between Rs 10000 to Rs 30000 per year depending on how many quilts they are making, sizes of quilts, the skill level of quilting etc,” she said.
Yuman rued that even though most Shershabadi women know how to make Kheta, the supply of skilled artisans is less. “The work needs to be done on both sides to build awareness in the market and a supply chain base for these quality quilted Khetas,” she added.
Sami Ahmad is a journalist based in Patna, Bihar. He tweets at @samipkb
source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Lead Story / by Sami Ahmad, TwoCircles.net / May 05th, 2022
Modelling professional, rugby player and dermatologist among role models.
(From left) Bilkes Perveen, Saba Ali Firoz and Suraiya Rahman. Gautam Bose
A young woman set a condition to her would-be husband that she would marry only if she was allowed to pursue sports after wedding.
A girl whose neighbours once complained she wore jeans pursued her dream and became a fashion model, an entrepreneur and an anchor-presenter.
Several Muslim women who refused to tread the steps that many others wanted them to — get married, have children and live a domestic life — are now successful professionals. They came together at a gathering on Thursday afternoon.
The women will be feted by the NGO Friends of Alumni of Colleges Educational Institutes and Schools (FACES) and Mashriq Education Trust next week.
The Telegraph listened to some of their stories:
Bilkes Perveen
Anchor, model and entrepreneur
She was once frowned upon for wearing jeans. Bilkes, in her early 30s, who grew up on Convent Road in central Kolkata, said she was probably the only girl in her community in the neighbourhood who wore a pair of jeans.
“My neighbours were not happy with me wearing jeans. It was a very conservative space where I grew up,” she said. But she didn’t budge.
When she was 18, Bilkes took a night-shift job. She would go to her workplace wearing jeans or trousers. “I was 18. I wanted to be financially independent. Relatives and neighbours questioned why I took a night job. They wanted me to marry and have a kid instead of working. Fortunately, my parents stood by me,” Bilkes said on Thursday.
Life had better in store for her. At 19, she took up a job with a bank. It is while working there that she found her future husband, Tanmay Chatterjee. “Tanmay has always been very supportive. He wanted me to be a role model for others. After marriage I set up a company named Perveen and Chatterjee,” she said.
Bilkes wants to help women who have dreams but are afraid of defying the moral police. “My company trains Muslim women in personality development,” she said.
Bilkes herself hosts events as anchor and is also a model for a sari brand. “I am today happy with what I am doing,” she said.
Saba Ali Firoz
Rugby player and stylist
Saba had set a condition to her husband before marriage — she would pursue sports, her passion.
“My husband was fine with it,” said the 39-year-old mother of two.
She continues to do it despite unsolicited comments meant to fetter her. “I had to wear short skirts for playing, for which I had to hear comments like ‘you are not Sania Mirza’. Wearing a short skirt is a taboo,” she said.
Daughter of a retired police officer, Saba, a resident of Metropolitan off EM Bypass, got inducted into sports from her early teens by her father. “I did sprints and long jumps. It was my father who inspired me to take up athletics.”
Saba’s interest in sports spans disciplines. She has represented her club CCFC in rugby. She has played darts, badminton and tennis. She has also inculcated the passion for sports in her kids. Her 15-year-old son has represented the state in swimming and her 9-year-old daughter is training in swimming and basketball.
Imran Zaki, president of Faces, one of the organisers of Thursday’s get-together, said Muslim women were usually not encouraged by the society to take up sports and continue that after marriage. “It is to Saba’s credit and her will that she has managed to do what she loves. She is the one to emulate,” said Zaki.
As a professional, Saba runs her own studio at her home. She is a stylist and a make-up artist.
Suraiya Rahman
Gynaecologist and owner of a hospital
Suraiya earned her MBBS degree from Bihar in 1967. She was the only Muslim woman in her batch. She later completed her MD from Kolkata in 1975. Again she was the only Muslim woman in her batch.
“There were objections from relatives and acquaintances. They thought it was disgraceful for a woman to go to a convent school and a medical college,” she said. “But my parents never let those objections reach me. My younger sister is a gynaecologist,” she said.
If Suraiya was a rare example in her student days, she is one even now. At 76, Suraiya is running a hospital on Dilkusha Street near bridge number 4 in Park Circus. She does procedures, looks after the daily administration and advises junior doctors. “I am only 76,” she said when applauded for being so active at her age.
Farah Khan, director, Mashriq Education Trust, said: “Suraiya Rahman is a role model for the entire community. So many young doctors from our community, both women and men, look up to her.”
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Kolkata / Home> My Kolkata / News> Women’s Empowerment / by Subhajoy Roy / June 10th, 2022
Partners Surakat Ahmed and Vijesh Kumar received the award. The award was presented by Sowmya Reddy, MLA of Karnataka and also the general secretary of All India Mahila Congress of Karnataka.
WeCare Home Nursing and Security Solutions, the face of quality Home Health Care and Security in Mangaluru and Dakshina Kannada, has been bestowed with ‘Best HealthCare Consultant’ in the healthcare sector at KTCC Karnataka Business Awards, the ceremony was held at Manpho Convention Centre in Bengaluru on May 29.
Karnataka Business Awards is the most cognized listing of Karnataka’s companies that have played a significant role in the success of the state and have unambiguously unveiled themselves as the next set of game changers in their respective categories.
The nominations were judged by a jury of independent senior professionals and experts. The winners of the award are those that have worked hard to win consumers’ trust.
Partners Surakat Ahmed and Vijesh Kumar received the award. The award was presented by Sowmya Reddy, MLA of Karnataka and also the general secretary of All India Mahila Congress of Karnataka.
Elated on receiving the award, Surakat Ahmed said, “In any service industry, customer is the king, and services and products that we provide are designed according to what the clients and patients require. We are delighted and honoured to receive such an award which recognizes the hard work we have put in to build this company in the past 3 years.
“It gives us immense pleasure to know that people of our region, Dakshina Kannada have trusted us and we have been able to fulfill their faith in us,” he said.
Vijesh Kumar said, “It is the result of dedicated service and collective hard work of the entire team over the years which enabled WeCare Home Nursing and Security Solutions to grab this award.”
WeCare Home Nursing and Security Solutions is a Mangaluru based ISO 9001:2015 certified company with over 250 employees currently under them having it’s office at Nandigudda. They have been providing exemplary service to the region in providing home nurses/ caregivers who are well experienced and have received formal training in patient home care skills and home management. They are qualified to perform duties and services that help maintain personal comfort in a clean and safe environment.
WeCare is also a highly reliable security service company providing thoroughly trained security guards to building contractors, apartments, business centres, industries, hotels, showrooms, banks and educational institutions.
www.wecare24.co
source: http://www.daijiworld.com / Daijiworld / Home> Top Stories / by Media Release / June 10th, 2022
Kasturba Medical College, Attavar organized camp organizers’ meet and conferred E K Hussain with Dr TMA Pai Arogya Sevak Award 2022, at the Sanjeevini Hall, KMC Attavar here on Saturday June 11.
Marketing head of KMC Hospital Mangaluru, Rakesh Darshan welcomed the gathering. Camp co-ordinator of KMC Attavar Herbert Pereira briefed on the number of camps organized in Dakshina Kannada and said, “Due to COVID, we were not able to organize more camps in 2020 but from October 2021, we have organized 178 camps in various places where more than 27,474 patients had undergone health check-up and 1,442 patients were given further treatment at the KMC hospital. When we organized camps, we received very good support from many organizations. I would like to thank all the organizations that joined hands with us to make our mission successful.”
Addressing the gathering Dr Deepak Madi said, “Our founder Dr TMA Pai had a dream of eliminating illiteracy, poverty and ill health. He started schools to educate the poor people, banks to eliminate poverty and hospitals to provide treatment. Now, KMC Hospitals in the health sector are in second place in the country.”
Dr Deepak Madi further said, “We cannot go to every village to treat the patients, but some good-hearted people have joined hands with us to reach out to every village in providing treatment to the people. We are also providing the KMC Attavar Loyalty card and the Arogya card to the people. We normally hold camps in the hospitals but holding camps in villages is quite different. It is a godly work and I salute all those who have dedicated their time to helping the people who are deprived of medical facilities. I urge all of you to continue your good work. If you need any help we are always there at your service. This humanitarian work should continue. In the coming days, let all the people make use of the KMC Loyalty Card and Arogya cards.”
E K Hussain was felicitated by Dr Deepak Madi with a shawl, memento, and citation. Medical social worker Asha read out the citation. Prajna Counselling Centre was awarded with ‘Best Camp Organizer – 2022’ for its outstanding work in the field of rural Helth. KMC Hospital also felicitated all the camp organizers and those who had done the highest registrations of Manipal Arogya Card on the occasion.
Dr Manohar Pai, Dr Sumana Kamath, Dr Athmananda Hegde, Dr Rajendra A, Dr Shourjya Banarjee, Dr Basavaprabhu, Dr Smitha D’Sa, and Dr Deepthi D’Souza were present.
Nithesh Shetty delivered the vote of thanks.
source: http://www.daijiworld.com / Daijiworld.com / Home> Karnataka / by Media Release / June 11th, 2022
Shahid sahab or Shahid bhai, as he was called by most, was not a writer or a poet himself but helped many become successful writers, poets and researchers.
Shahid Ali Khan at his Bookshop in New Delhi. Photo: Mahtab Alam
Since the onset of the pandemic, so many gems from the world of Urdu language and literature have been lost that I have now lost count. It was only last year that a few of us compiled a list of at least 75 Urdu writers and poets who had passed away. It included the likes of Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, Anand Mohan Zutshi ‘Gulzar Dehlvi’, Rahat Indori, Mujtaba Hussain, Nusrat Zaheer and Asrar Jamayee. Notably, this list does not include any Urdu writers, poets, researchers and translators outside India.
This year so far, we have not been able to gather the courage to collate such a list. I am sure the numbers are higher than last year, even though we are still to go through more than half the year. While it’s true that not all succumbed to the virus, the pandemic coupled with the lockdown ensured that most of the friends, admirers and other Urdu lovers were deprived of having one last glimpse or participating in the last journey of their favourite literary heroes.
One such person was Shahid Ali Khan, whom we lost in April this year. He passed away in the wee hours of April 21. This news was not wholly unexpected, as he was 91 years old and was not keeping well for the past few months. Despite that, when the news of his death reached me, I was engulfed in an inexplicable layer of grief. In fact, I felt more helpless than sad. Helpless because despite my strong will to participate in his last journey, I could not do so as I was down with a high-grade fever myself and had been briefly hospitalised due to COVID-19.
Shahid sahab or Shahid bhai, as he was called by most, was not a writer or a poet himself, but he helped and enabled many to become successful writers, poets and researchers. Ram Prakash Kapoor, who retired from the Bhilai Steel Plant, recounts in an article that Shahid sahab encouraged him to write in Urdu and invited him to write a guest editorial for one of the issues of Kitab Numa, a magazine of which Shahid sahab was the editor. Thanks to Shahid sahab’s constant encouragement, Kapoor went on to author at least two books in Urdu after his retirement.
Nai Kitab bookshop in Jamia Nagar, New Delhi. Photo: Mahtab Alam
Like Kapoor, there are probably dozens of writers who were nourished by Shahid sahab during his lifetime. Amongst his admirers included noted writers such as Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, Mujtaba Hussain, Shameem Hanafi, Sughra Mehdi and Sadiq-ur-Rahman Kidwai. For many years, he was also associated with the Maktaba Jamia, the Urdu publication division of Jamia Millia Islamia. The Maktaba is one of the largest and longest surviving Urdu publishers in India. He had joined the Maktaba in 1951 as a junior clerk and retired as its general manager in 2006.
He had also worked as the in-charge of Maktaba Jamia’s Mumbai branch. According to noted screenwriter and playwright Javed Siddiqi, there was a time when the Maktaba in Mumbai used to be packed with writers, poets, journalists, professors and (then) young lovers of literature like him. So much so that people had to take refuge on the steps of the Maktaba and the footpath outside it. It was a place for debate and discussions on issues related to literature and beyond. Every Saturday evening witnessed a literary gathering in which Urdu lovers from across the city used to participate.
It is here that he befriended writers and poets like Jan Nisar Akhtar, Meena Kumari, Sahir Ludhianvi, Kaifi Azmi and Jagan Nath Azad. Some of them were regular visitors at the Maktaba. There are several interesting stories about their friendship which can be heard here in his own words. Though he had left the city several decades ago, several Urdu writers and journalists who used to visit the Maktaba (located near JJ hospital naka) would tell me of how they missed Shahid Sahab’s presence.
He continued to attract and host Urdu lovers in Delhi. It would often happen that whenever an Urdu lover visited the city, they would make it a point to meet him. One of the reasons behind this was that he possessed an encyclopaedic knowledge about Urdu and its literature. He also often had Urdu books which were not available in the market. At times, he would also make arrangements for books on request.
After his retirement from the Maktaba, he started an independent publishing house and book store in Jamia Nagar by the name of Nai Kitab and a quarterly literary journal by the same name. It is here that I met him for the first time in 2007. Though the magazine ceased to be published after a few years – owing to his growing age and deteriorating health, he continued with the book shop even though it was time for him to take a break. “The bookstore is like oxygen for me,” he had once told me. It was open till a few months before the lockdown in March last year.
One of the attractions for me while visiting Jamia Nagar (after having shifted out) was to meet Shahid sahab and spend some time at his bookshop. It was not just another bookshop where one would primarily buy books. It was like a centre of learning and Shahid sahab was always there to host you no matter how young one was. He was a guide for those interested in Urdu and wanted to know more about the language and its literature.
During my umpteen visits to the bookstore, I always found him surrounded by people – poets, writers, journalists, researchers and students of varying ages. He would always pay individual attention to each visitor and if you were regular, you were likely to be treated with black tea and chips. It was no surprise then that Urdu lovers missed his warmth when the bookshop was closed.
“It is not just a bookshop but an institution where one got to meet noted writers and lovers of Urdu literature,” young Urdu poet Rizwan Khan, who used to visit the shop at least twice a week, told me last year. “I miss the black tea and chips that Shahid sahib served us with love and affection,” he recalled, adding that “he is a storehouse of information, and several veteran writers were his friends, so he would tell us stories all the time.”
In my own case, after enquiring about his khabar-khairyat on each of my visits, he would say, “Achcha aap bahut dino baad aayen hain, ye nayi kitaabein aayi hai dekh lein (You’ve come after a long time, here are some new books for your perusal),” pointing towards the book rack where new arrivals were kept or those that were on his table. It is no surprise to me that some of the best Urdu books in my personal library are from his shop, often on his recommendation. I had been reading the works of noted Urdu writer Shaukat Thanvi in the past few days, all brought from his shop and which are either out of print or seldom available in the market.
Shahid Ali Khan and other staff of Maktaba Jamia (Mumbai) with Zakir Hussain, former president of India and VC of Jamia Millia Islamia. Photo: Shahid Ali Khan: Ek Fard, Ek Idara (Arshia Publications)
It is our misfortune that despite requests from several admirers, he never paid heed to write his biography or memoirs. Had he done so, we would not have been deprived of the knowledge and stories which have now gone with him. In my understanding, he didn’t write his memoirs for two reasons. He was always busy with work and never had the time – so much so that his children would say that the Maktaba (and later, Nai Kitab) was his first love. Secondly, and more importantly, he hardly ever spoke about himself.
He had a special interest in young researchers of Urdu. God only knows how many of them he has helped by supplying important books and literature for their research, providing guidance (what to read, whom to interview or contact) and getting their work published.
There are many who claim to be, or are often referred to as Khadim-e-Urdu (Servant of Urdu). But I have not met a servant of Urdu like Shahid sahab. He was a selfless benefactor of Urdu and his services can’t and shouldn’t be forgotten. Now that Shahid sahab is no more, it is unlikely that the bookshop will open again. Even if it does, it will never be the same.
source: http://www.thewire.in / The Wire / Home> Culture / by Mahtab Alam / June 01st, 2021
Shamnad was not just an expert in intellectual property rights, but a relentless crusader who worked towards ensuring diversity and representation of marginalised communities in legal practice.
The untimely and tragic death of professor Shamnad Basheer was a bolt from the blue for many of us. As I scuttled to get more information on what initially seemed impossible to believe, I realised that apart from the loss of a friend, the country had also lost one of its finest legal minds. Globally renowned for his expertise in the field of intellectual property rights (IPR), Shamnad was found dead in his car near Bababundangiri in Chikkamagaluru of Karnataka.
As news of his death spread and tributes started pouring in all over my social media timeline, there remained no doubt that his sudden demise was a great loss to the legal fraternity and academia across the globe. Shamnad was a relentless crusader, working day in and out to ensure diversity and representation of marginalised communities in the field of law and legal practice. An alumni of the National Law University, Bangalore and Oxford University, Shamnad was a man on a mission as he championed many causes ranging from internet equality, fairness in IPR, public interest litigation, judicial accountability, to the rights of sexual minorities, visually impaired and physically disabled persons.
For me, Shamnad was more a social justice warrior than a globally-known IPR expert. He was not just the force behind Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to Legal Education (IDIA), but also Access to Legal Education for Muslims in India (ALEM India).
I first heard of him in 2009, when he wrote a blog about remarks made by then Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju. In open court, Justice Katju equated a young Muslim sporting a beard with a Taliban militant. That year, Justice Katju had rejected an appeal of a Muslim student that he should be permitted to sport a beard in his convent school. Rejecting the plea the judge had remarked that, “We don’t want to have Talibans in the country. Tomorrow a girl student may come and say that she wants to wear a burqa. Can we allow it?”
According to Shamnad, “notwithstanding the merits of the case”, Justice Katju’s comments were “callous and insensitive” and he was “unfit to be an impartial judge”. Back then, Shamnad was the HRD ministry’s professor of intellectual property law at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata. In the conclusion of his blog, he wrote:
“The Supreme Court bench may have been right in denying admission to Salim’s SLP. However, in view of Justice Katju’s statements made in open court that equated every bearded Muslim with a Taliban, the possibility of bias against a community cannot be ruled out. And the Chief Justice must not only censure such remarks, but take immediate steps to have this case reheard before another bench. For justice must not only be done, but also be seen to be done!”
Years passed by, and I kept reading his insightful articles and commentaries in various newspapers and websites. He was prolific, writing on a range of issues related to law, policy and public good. In 2015, a common friend (Tarunabh Khaitan) connected us, asking me if I would be interested in helping Shamnad’s team at IDIA to reach out to the Muslim community. Having admired Shamnad’s writings, the opportunity to work with him was like a dream come true. I readily agreed and eventually, we became good friends.
Shamnad Basheer at a panel discussion of intellectual property rights. Photo: Flickr/World Intellectual Property Organisation CC BY NC ND 2.0
Diversifying the legal field
More than anything, he was always on the lookout for ways and means to ensure that IDIA reaches the remotest parts of the country. To contextualise the need of diversity in national law schools, let me quote a study conducted by the students of NLS Bangalore in 2016. According to the study:
“While the students are somewhat evenly divided across sexes, the income, caste and religion statistics are telling of what constitutes ‘merit’ in this country. While 15% of the students reported their family’s annual income to be above Rs 36 lakh per annum, more than 50% reported an annual income of more than Rs. 12 lakh per annum. Eighty two percent were Hindus and the next largest religious group was the wealthy Jain community (5%), which constitute less than 0.5% of India’s population. On the other hand, Muslims, who constitute 14% of India’s population, make up only 0.5% of that of NLS. The NLS also has predominantly upper-caste students at 65%, with about 27% identifying as Brahmins.”
Similarly, another report found:
“In the last 15 years i.e., from 2000 onwards, only one Dalit advocate has been designated senior by the Supreme Court, and only two from the Muslim Community. The Advocates from backward States like Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand or Bihar have not been designated at all. The Advocates from rural background are totally ignored. Even with regard to a progressive State like Karnataka, only one Advocate has been designated after a gap of 25 years. It is relevant to mention that in the last round of designation, out of five advocates designated, four of them belonged to one caste.”
Despite being an extremely busy person, Shamnad believed in and practiced mentoring and coaching young minds, individually and personally. Few years ago, when I visited his flat in Bangalore, he was helping two students who were staying at his house to prepare for the CLAT exam. Both belonged to an unprivileged background, a common thread among the spectrum of students whom IDIA supported. A glance at IDIA scholars, like visually impaired Najrul Islam from Siliguri, West Bengal, who studies at the National Law University, Delhi (NLU) or Meraka Mani from Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, currently studying at IFIM Law College, Bangalore, Aparna Amnekar from Nagpur, Maharashtra, a student of Government Law College, Mumbai, Sonia Sabu of Ernakulam district in Kerala, studying at NLIU, Bhopal and Vinatoli of Dimapur (Nagaland), studying at NUJS Kolkata shows an incredible initiative founded and run by him, with diversity and representation at its core.
Learning from IDIA’s experiment and under the guidance of Shamnad, ALEM India was started last year. The initiative tries to ensure access for socio-economically disadvantaged Muslims and improve their representation in Indian law schools.
Personally coaching legal professionals
His objective was not just to coach students for national law schools or produce batches of successful lawyers and legal professionals. He wanted to prepare young minds who are competent yet socially committed. It is hardly a surprise that IDIA produced graduates like Yogendra Yadav, better known as Yogi. The son of a manual labourer (working in Alang, Gujarat) and a resident of Pitij village in Chhatra district of Jharkhand, Yogi graduated from the National University for Study and Research in Law (NUSRL), Ranchi in 2017. He is currently a lawyer in the Ranchi high court. He worked as a newspaper hawker in and around his village from a very early age and it is while distributing newspapers that he got to know about IDIA and CLAT.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, he contested as an independent candidate. Explaining his rationale to contest the election, Yogi told Bar & Bench, “IDIA always encouraged me to take up community causes and help as best as I could, They were training me to become a CHAMP and this is all part of that.” I clearly remember Shamnad informing us of Yogi’s inspiring story with pride. “Yogendra Yadav, our IDIA Scholar makes his Political Debut!,” read the email he had sent to some of us.
Shamnad was also keen to highlight IDIA scholars to people working in different walks of life, not just those in the law and judiciary. In 2017, got in touch with me to invite the anti-manual scavenging activist and convener of the Safai Karmachari Andolan, Bezwada Wilson, to deliver the key note address at the IDIA conference on creativity and leadership.
Bezwada Wilson. Photo: PTI
“We share the same set of ideals in terms of empowering the marginalised and building a more inclusive India,” he had written to Bezwada, copying me in the email. Bezwada’s key note, according to Shamnad was “a provocative address”. A year later, he also wrote an article on Bandicoot, a robot to replace manual scavenging. He noted:
“Bandicoot is not just a clever idea; it is a game changer, and dare I say a life saver! Putting some teeth back into India’s constitutional promise of “equality” for Dalits and other marginalized sections who’ve had to clean our crap for years. Only a few days ago, the Delhi high court ruled on a case involving the death of two manual scavengers; making the government pay for its murderous negligence!”
His latest email to me was in July this year, a heart breaker titled: “Deeply Disappointing News: 7 IDIA Scholars Still Without Committed Donors!”. “I am deeply saddened to bring you this disheartening message. Unfortunately, of the 12 IDIA scholars that gained admission to leading law schools this year, we found donor support (covering all expenses) for only 5 of our scholars. Which means 7 of our kids are left behind and it will be a struggle to put them through law school without some promise of a committed donor (or donors),” read his email. Little did I know then that this was going to be his last email to me.
Now that Shamnad is gone and we cherish his memory, our duty is to ensure that we carry forward the work he initiated, in the same spirit that he always professed. And that, I believe, would be our real tribute to him.
source: http://www.thewire.in / The Wire / Home> Law> Rights / by Mahtab Alam / August 11th, 2019
Photo of Shamnad receiving the Infosys Prize (Humanities) in 2014 from Mr. Amartya Sen / pix: shamnad.com
Bengaluru :
Indian Institute of Science (IISc) professor Jayant Haritsa and Intellectual Property (IP) academic and consultant professor Shamnad Basheer, both from Bengaluru, are among six winners of the Infosys Prize for this year.
Each prize, comprising a purse of Rs.55 lakh, a 22-carat gold medallion and a citation, is awarded by Infosys Science Foundation, a not-for-profit trust, set up by the global software major and funded by a corpus of Rs.100 crore ($16 million), contributed by the IT firm, its trustees and co-founders in 2009.
“Haritsa, computer science and automation department professor at IISc, has been awarded the prize under the Engineering and Computer Science category for his contribution to the design and optimisation of database engines,” the Foundation said in a statement here Thursday.
Haritsa also heads the supercomputer education and research centre at the institute.
Basheer, founder of SpicyIP, India, bagged the prize for his contribution to the analysis of a range of legal issues, including pharmaceutical patent injunctions and enforcement in the Humanities category.
As India’s premier blog on IP and innovation law and policy, SpicyIP does accurate reporting of IP developments across the country.
Basheer is also founder and managing trustee of Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA) in Bengaluru.
Shubha Tole, associate professor at Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), got the prize under the Life Sciences category for her contribution to studying the hippocampus and amygdale centres of learning and memory in the brain.
“Tole’s work can lead to a better understanding of human behaviour, cognition and emotions,” the statement noted.
Tole is also a principal investigator at the TIFR’s biological sciences department.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) adjunct professor Madhu Sudhan has been awarded the prize under the Mathematical Sciences category for his seminal contribution to probabilistically checkable proofs and error-correcting codes.
As a principal researcher at Microsoft Research in New England in the US, Sudan also heads the electrical engineering and computer sciences (EECS) department and computer science and artificial intelligence laboratory (CSASIL) at MIT in Boston.
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) senior scientist Srivari Chandrasekhar at the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) has bagged the prize under the Physical Sciences category for his contribution to the synthetic organic chemistry with special focus on the synthesis of complex molecules from natural sources.
Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at MIT, Esther Duflo, got the prize under the Social Sciences category for her pioneering contribution to development economics, including the work related to India and Africa.
Duflo is also founder-director of Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab in the US.
“The Foundation has been able to recognise some of the best researchers of our time through the prize. Their contributions are an inspiration to students and professionals and have the potential for real-time impact on individuals and society,” Infosys co-founder and Foundation president N.R. Narayana Murthy said on the occasion.
A panel of jurors, comprising renowned scientists and professors from the world over, evaluated the noted winners.
The Infosys Prize jury chairs are Pradeep Khosla, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, Inder Verma, Srinivasa S.R. Varadhan, Shrinivas Kulkarni and Kaushik Basu.
President Pranab Mukherjee will award the winners and felicitate them Jan 5 in Kolkata.–-IANS
www.shamnad.com
source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Exclusive Reports> Indian Muslims> Youth / November 15th, 2014
Rashida Be Khatri, a craftsperson of Bagh Print, has been selected for national merit certificate for 2018 by Union Ministry of Textiles.
Bhopal :
Rashida Be Khatri, a craftsperson of Bagh Print, has been selected for national merit certificate for 2018 by Union Ministry of Textiles.
She has been selected for Bagh handblock print bedcover. In the bed cover; she has done fine work using natural dyes. Rashida has been working in the field for more than 30 years in Bagh village in Dhar district of the state.
She is the only woman to have been received two state-level awards in 2012 and 2014. She is wife of late master craftsman Abdul Kader. Rashida did not lose hope after death of her husband on May 12, 2019. She took care of her sons Arif, Hamid and Ali as well as the craft. Her sons are also working under her guidance to promote the craft.
Her designs are inspired by ancient monuments of Dhar district including Mandu Nilkanth besides Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Agra Fort etc.
source: http://www.freepressjournal.in / The Free Press Journal / Home / by Staff Reporter / October 31st, 2021
