Numismatists and real estate mogul Rezwan Razack was conferred an honorary doctorate on Tuesday by GD Goenka University.
The honorary doctorate was conferred on him during a special convocation attended by Chancellor of the GD Goenka University Renu Goenka, Pro-Chancellor Nipun Goenka, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr Tabrez Ahmad, Chairman of M3M group Basant Bansal, and Registrar of the university Dr Dhirendra Singh Parihar. Prof. Dr Tabrez Ahmad, Vice-Chancellor of the GD Goenka University, praised Razack for his contribution to numismatic studies and research.
Rezwan Razack is Co-Founder and Joint MD of Bangalore-based Prestige Group and is hailed as the largest collector of Indian currency. He is also the founder of South India’s first currency museum in Bengaluru, one of the largest and most authentic collections of Indian paper money and coins. He is co-author of the Revised Standard Reference Guide to Indian Paper Money.
After receiving the honorary doctorate from the GD Goenka University Razack said it was an honour for him. A graduate of prestigious St. Joseph College Razack is also the current chairman of the International Bank Notes Society-India Banknote Collectors’ Chapter.
source: http://www.thecognate.com / The Cognate / Home> Business / by The Cognate News Desk / November 25th, 2021
Ebrahim served time on Robben Island as a political prisoner alongside Mandela, Kathrada and others.
Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim (Twitter Yeni Ozgur Politika)
Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim, an Indian-origin anti-apartheid icon who spent years imprisoned on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada, has died. He was 84, South Africa’s ruling party African National Congress (ANC) has announced.
Ebrahim died after a long illness at his home here on Monday, the party said in a statement on Monday.
“The ANC learnt with deep sadness of the passing of Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim. We offer our heartfelt condolences to his wife and children, as well as their extended family, friends and comrades,” it said in the statement shared on Twitter.
“Comrade Ebi, as he was affectionately known, was a longstanding member of the ANC, a patriot who served his country in different capacities with humility, dedication and distinction,” the party said.
Ebrahim served time on Robben Island as a political prisoner alongside Mandela, Kathrada and others. After his father was arrested twice for defying laws that restricted the movement of Indians in South Africa, he joined the liberation struggle at the age of 13.
He often stated how he had been inspired by the Satyagraha style of Mahatma Gandhi, which he used in his passionate representation of the ANC in global conflict situations in Sri Lanka, Palestine, Rwanda, Kosovo, Bolivia and Nepal.
Ebrahim was arrested in 1963 and imprisoned on Robben Island, where he shared a cell with former president Jacob Zuma, whose role in state capture and corruption he later decried.
After his release, Ebrahim went into exile to continue his work with the ANC, but was abducted by apartheid-era security police from neighbouring Swaziland, tortured and sentenced to a second term on Robben Island.
He obtained two university degrees while on Robben Island.
After the release of all political prisoners and the election of Mandela as South Africa’s first democratic president, Ebrahim served in various capacities, including as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Parliamentary Counsellor to Mandela.
Sharing their condolences, the human rights organisation #Africa4Palestine acknowledged the role Ebrahim played in the ANC resolution for the immediate and unconditional downgrade of the South African Embassy in Israel to a Liaison Office in 2017.
The Congress of Business and Economics, an offshoot of the erstwhile Transvaal Indian Congress, honoured Ebrahim with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.
“Comrade Ebie, as he was fondly known, recalled at the time how he had spent half of his adult life in prison but that he would do it all over again if he had to because of his firm belief in struggling for peace, justice and the end of the scourge of apartheid and racism across the world,” said CBE Executive Director Yusuf Moosajee.
“In all my interactions with Ebie, both locally and abroad, he was always passionate about South Africa and its role in world politics,” said internationally-renowned filmmaker Anant Singh in a tribute.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> World / by PTI, Johannesburg / December 07th, 2021
The Mumbai-born Ajaz took all 10 wickets in India’s first innings and returned with an impressive return of 10-119.
New Zealand’s Ajaz Patel celebrates the dismissal of India’s Mohammed Siraj during the day two of their second test cricket match with India in Mumbai (AP)
Ajaz Patel becomes just the third bowler in the history of men’s Test cricket to take all 10 wickets in an innings (Jim Laker in 1956 and Anil Kumble in 1999).
Resuming on 221 for four, the hosts were bowled out for 325 runs. The Mumbai-born Ajaz took all the wickets and returned with an impressive return of 10-119.
In his first over of the day the 33-year-old Patel, whose family immigrated to New Zealand in 1996, dismissed Wriddhiman Saha leg before wicket for 27 to complete his third five-wicket haul in an innings in tests.
Incredible achievement as Ajaz Patel picks up all 10 wickets in the 1st innings of the 2nd Test.
Ravichandran Ashwin was out bowled on the next delivery to hand the left-arm spinner his best bowling figures in the format as India were reduced to 224-6.
Axar denied Ajaz the hat-trick and then combined in an unbroken 61-run stand for the seventh wicket with Agarwal to keep India on course for a big total on a track offering assistance to the spinners.
Agarwal has hit 16 fours and four sixes in his knock and looked assured at the crease with Ajaz, who didn’t find much support from the other New Zealand bowlers.
The opening test in Kanpur ended in a thrilling draw, with New Zealand’s last batting pair hanging on in the final session to deny India victory.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Sports> Cricket / by Sports Desk, New Delhi / December 03rd, 2021
Two women, one war. What sets them apart? Professor Lakshmi Subramanian explores Rudrangshu Mukherjee’s ‘A Begum and A Rani’.
The focus of this work, as evident in the title, is two women who fought the same war in 1857 but who never met, whose lives were strangely similar and yet were recalled very differently. Why this was so, what made for a particular telling of their afterlives and how in course of the retrospective retelling, one became a legend and the other a mere trace, forms the core of Rudrangshu Mukherjee’s narrative.
It departs from his earlier work on the Revolt of 1857, where he placed emphasis initially on the diverse structural elements that made up the popular uprising in Awadh and subsequently on explaining the violence that characterised the actions of both the insurgents and their suppressors. Here, in contrast, Mukherjee prefers to focus on the individual as the actor of history and on the politics that animated the reconstruction of individual lives. He does so with elegance, ever attentive to the dictates of Clio, in unravelling the complexity of the context in which the two protagonists found themselves as they were sucked into the vortex of real politics and popular expectations.
(A Begum and A Rani was published by Penguin Allen Lane in July 2021. Buy it here.)
The first two chapters of the book give the reader a taste of the Revolt in its early stages, when a series of military mutinies collapsed into agrarian rebellion, bringing myriad elements into the fray, ranging from the aggrieved taluqdar to the oppressed peasant, from the disenfranchised ruler to the urban dweller. Amidst the clamour of the rebels for a return to Mughal rule and for an end to the unholy power of the hated firang, emerged a slow political front to embark on campaigns against the British forces and coordinate military activity.
Two parallel centres of authority
In Lucknow, the discarded wife of Wajid Ali Shah found herself at the epicentre of protest, whereas in Jhansi, Lakshmibai was urged by the rebels to take up their cause. While the latter was found in active combat, Hazrat seems to have attended to the day-to-day requirements of the troops, making sure that they were provisioned and supported. Hazrat seems to have also been pitted against one of the most charismatic leaders, Maulvi Amir Ali, who insisted on Hazrat becoming his disciple — which Hazrat herself resisted.
That these two individuals represented two parallel centres of authority is clear but what this implied in terms of differing conceptions of freedom is not readily apparent. However, in the analysis of the ishtahars or proclamations that were issued, Mukherjee makes the important point that religion was the integral and unifying idiom in the Mutiny.
The Afterlife
It is in the chapter titled Afterlife that the book really comes into its own. Here, Mukherjee tracks the moments in the emergence of a nationalist historical consciousness in Maharashtra, Bengal, and subsequently in North India, in which the status of the martyr queen gained traction. Analysing poetry, local memories, eulogies and early historical work on the Rani of Jhansi, Mukherjee tracks the making of a very particular historical memory and its amnesiac other, thereby engaging with the complex relationship between myth and history.
He suggests that these categories were not necessarily oppositional. Rather, both were exercises in remembering and forgetting and reconstructing. It is to his credit as a practitioner of history that he reconstructs as well as he does the lives of two women — one of whom was subsequently pushed on to the centre-stage while the other was relegated to the margins.
Lakshmi Subramanian is professor of History in BITS Pilani, Goa. She is the author of several works on music and nationalism as well as on India’s maritime history. Her latest book is Singing Gandhi’s India: Music and Sonic Nationalism. When she is not steeped in teaching and research, she likes to travel to the hills.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Online / Home> My Kolkata / by Lakshmi Subramanian / December 03rd, 2021
Five students from University of Kashmir have invented an automatic rice cooker. Apart from working automatically, the rice cooker also sucks out starch from the rice.
The group of inventors said, “Rice cookers accessible these days are giving us undesirable food. They prepare food without expelling the destructive material like starch which can cause medical issues among some people.”
The main goal of this invention is to suck out the starch from the rice which is unhealthy for the diabetic patients.
Earlier, the people who used to cook rice in cooking pots, used to drain out starch from the rice manually which avoided health problems like diabetes, obesity etc. It was researched by innovators that diabetic patients were advised by doctors not to consume rice made in rice cookers as it doesn’t drain out starch.
“The cooker is designed as such that it prompts the user whether to suck out the starch from rice or not because healthy people need starch for their body,” said Jehangir Hameed, a member of the group, who is currently pursuing M. Tech.
The rice cooker will cook food with a single text message sent by a user through the mobile phone. It will monitor the starch status of the rice being cooked. It will consistently screen the starch status and will expel when it is being discharged out of the rice.
Working of the project
It has inbuilt rice bowl and water tank which are controlled utilizing controllers and hence no physical intervention is required while cooking or keeping the prepared food warm.
The device is fully automatic as it is controlled by GSM and IoT based technology. The rice cooker is programmed and configured to receive a command from a mobile phone to cook rice for people ranging from 1 to 12.
With predetermined chambers for water and rice, it will automatically put the rice and water for cooking. At every stage of cooking, the device will send an alert to the user about the number of people for whom rice is cooked. When the food is cooked, it will again send a message to the user that the food is ready.
Jehangir said, “It’s good for everyone. People who work outside, or a student who lives in a hostel, people coming from outings and sports activities after being exhausted, have no capacity to prepare food. With a single text from a mobile phone or other source, it will accomplish the cooking work itself.”
Apart from Jehangir, Azraw Hussain, Sajid Noor, Ariez Koul and Imran Nazir are part of the project along with Dr. Bilal Ahmad Malik, the Scientific Officer from University of Kashmir.
The patent authority of India has accepted and published the details of their patent on the invention.
The innovators want support from government or private companies in order to convert their prototype into a marketable product.
source: http://www.risingkashmir.com / Rising Kashmir / Home / by Insha Latief Khan / November 03rd, 2021
Although the award will technically go to AR Rahman for being the music director and the producer of the video, it is clear that Rahman considers the video to be the work of his daughter Khatija.
Chennai :
Noted music director AR Rahman’s daughter Khatija Rahman seems to be doing her dad proud. The gifted singer’s music video – ‘Farishton’ – has won the award for the Best Animation Music Video at the International Sound Future Awards.
Although the award will technically go to AR Rahman for being the music director and the producer of the video, it is clear that Rahman considers the video to be the work of his daughter Khatija.
He tweeted the news of the musical video having won the awards. “‘Farishton’ wins one more award. @Rahmankhatija EPI.”
This is not the first award for ‘Farishton’ as just a couple of days ago, the music video won an Award of Merit at the Global Shorts.net, an international short film competition.
The video has also received a special mention award at the Los Angeles Film Awards.
‘Farishton’ is significant as Khatija Rahman considers it to be the beginning of her musical journey.
In a post describing her video on YouTube, Khatija says, “I was born in Chennai in a multicultural family with different genres of music and with friends from diverse backgrounds. I’ve always been fascinated with the wonders of life. As Mawlana Rumi says – ‘There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground; there are a thousand ways to go home again’. The video’s main character Amal was created with such experiences of mine and the longing to explore the unknown. I hope all of you find your own journey of the unknown.”
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamilnadu / by IANS / November 09th, 2021
The 31-year-old Arif, who hails from Tangmarg of Baramulla district (Jammu & Kashmir), achieved the qualification in the final FIS Qualification being held in Dubai.
Alpine skier Arif Mohammad Khan
Chennai :
Arif Mohammad Khan on Saturday became the first alpine skier from the country to win a quota for the Winter Olympics by accumulating requisite FIS (International Ski Federation) points.
The 31-year-old Arif, who hails from Tangmarg of Baramulla district (Jammu & Kashmir), achieved the qualification in the final FIS Qualification being held in Dubai. The 2022 Games is scheduled to be held in Beijing in February.
Father Mohammad Yasin Khan was Arif’s first coach. Yasin used to guide mountain tracking expeditions and teach the basics of skiing in Gulmarg. “Arif took up skiing at the age of three and quickly learnt the basics. It’s good that the efforts he had put in in all these years have eventually paid dividends,” said an elated father.
As per the FIS, a skier has to accumulate minimum qualifying points to confirm the Winter Games spot. According to www.olympics.com, in order to qualify for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in the slalom, the average of five best results in the event between the period of July 1, 2019, to January 16, 2022, is considered. For alpine skiers who have competed in less than five events during this period, an extra 20 per cent of average points are added to the International FIS points list.
The four slalom races in Dubai over the past week were the only events Arif has taken part in during the qualifying period.
“It’s a proud moment as earlier the Winter Games Federation of India used to organise trials to pick the teams including the skiers. Arif has become the first alpine skier from the country to secure qualification by earning FIS points,” Rauf Tramboo, member of Winter Games Association of Jammu & Kashmir, told this daily.
Alpine skiing comprises events like downhill, super G, slalom, giant slalom and combined.
Arif will now head to Italy from Dubai to compete in an international event. “Some international event is there. It will be great preparation for him ahead of the Games. He is unlikely to return to the country before the Games,” signed off Rauf.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Sport> Others / by Firoz Mirza, Express News Service / November 20th, 2021
Mehreen Mushtaq Shamim, a teacher from Bengaluru’s Delhi Public School has bagged an award in Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the Intel AI Global Impact Festival.
She was selected as one of the four winners of ‘AI impact shapers: Teachers with innovative AI teaching learning practices’. Mehreen has been teaching AI in DPS East for nine years now. The CBSE curriculum had introduced AI as a subject for classes 9-12 in 2019.
Mehreen is credited with empowering 1,218 students with practical knowledge of AI and training over 250 teachers in AI-related multi-disciplinary pedagogies.
“I introduced students to Bootcamps that give them advanced lessons in AI. I could mentor students and inspire them into creating projects, three of which are now pending patents. Our students are interested in technology and can think out of the box very well. If guided in the right direction, they can do wonders,” TOI quoted Mehreen as saying.
Mehreen, who has a masters in computer applications, said the more she learnt about AI, the more passionate she got about the subject. “Knowing the power of AI, I now want to encourage children of other streams — not just science — to take up the subject and upskill themselves,” she added.
The first Intel AI Global Impact Festival was launched on October 15, 2021. It saw the participation of 20 countries from around the globe and the display of more than 200 AI-led social impact innovations. The other winners from the AI Impact Shapers category were from Singapore, South Korea and Poland.
source: http://www.thecongnate.com / The Cognate / Home> Inspiring / by Rushda Fatima Khan / October 30th, 2021
The task at hand is to spot the Unicorns or billion-dollar valuation startups from Kerala.
Azhan Musthafa Backer and Zahan Musthafa Backer.
Kochi :
Though there are many successful Malayali-founded startups including the likes of Byjus, Fresh-to-Home and ID Fresh Food, there are hardly any startups that have attained that level of success from Kerala. Now, two Ivy League-graduated Dubai-based siblings with roots in Thalassery, are on a mission to identify and guide high-potential Kerala-based startups to navigate through regulatory blindspots, and handhold them from seed capital level to accessing the public markets through an IPO. The task at hand is to spot the Unicorns or billion-dollar valuation startups from Kerala.
Meet Azhan Musthafa Backer and his younger sibling Zahan Musthafa Backer, founders of Backer Ventures, a firm that not only helps founders access seed funding but also assists them to wade through the regulatory and legal maze so that the founders can stay focused on the core business. To begin with, Backer Ventures will start a liaison office in Kochi to assist the startups based out of Kerala.
“The entrepreneur eco-system here is ‘let’s startup here and scale-up somewhere else’. The good thing that Covid has brought about is, it allowed people to work, network and access funds over Zoom,” says Azhan, co-founder of Backer Ventures. The post-Covid changes that allowed people to work and access markets sitting anywhere in the world will help the Kerala startup ecosystem immensely, believes Azhan, who did his undergrad from Warwick University, UK and LLM from Cornell University, New York.
Zahan, the co-founder of Backer Ventures, who accompanied his elder brother Azhan on a four-day trip to Kerala, says they have met with some ‘interesting startups’ in Kerala in the fintech, healthcare and AI (artificial intelligence) space during the trip. While Azhan is CEO & Director (Projects & Deals) at Musthafa & Almana, a Dubai-headquartered international law firm, Zahan is director, technology and innovation at the law firm. The law firm is founded by Kerala couple Musthafa Zafeer OV and Almana Zafeeer.
Backer Ventures will help provide $150,000 to $300,000 to early-stage founders, who are going to be trailblazers in the emerging markets. “Operating at the intersection of law, tech and entrepreneurship, we are long-term allies that provide startups with the necessary tools to breakthrough in emerging venture markets,” explains Zahan, who also did his undergrad from Warwick University and LLM from Cornell University.
“Globally speaking, the money is easily available. Startups coming out with a half-decent idea and half-decent founders can easily attract funds now. Investors like us as competing. We are telling founders to allow us into your cap table, please allow us to invest in your company,” says Azhan.
Backer Ventures, he says, provide a “differentiated venture platform that demystifies a niche corner for founders that partner with us”.
Will the young Turks succeed? “We are pretty confident. And hopefully, we will have some figures to back it in the next 12-18 months”, says Azhan.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Kochi / by Rajesh Abraham, Express News Service / November 17th, 2021
Nawazduddin Siddiqui was also nominated with David Tenant and Roy Nik in the Best Performance as an Actor (Male) category.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
Mumbai :
Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui had a moment of pride as his British show ‘McMafia’ won Best Drama Series at the 47th International Emmy Awards, and he accepted the award for the entire team on the stage.
The actor was also nominated with David Tenant and Roy Nik in the Best Performance as an Actor (Male) category.
Nawazuddin said:
“For me getting recognised and nominated on such a huge level is something I had never dreamt of in my wildest dreams. David Tenant who is nominated with me in the same category makes me feel extremely special.”
“I have watched Des, Hamlet and many other films. He is a performer to watch for and he portrays every scene and character to its perfection and getting nominated alongside such a talented man means a lot.”
The actor will be seen in the upcoming film ‘Jogira Sa Ra Ra’, ‘Heropanti 2’ and ‘Adbhut’. His film ‘No Land’s Man’ was premiered at the Busan International Film Festival and Cairo International Film Festival.
source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> Life & Style / IANS / November 15th, 2021
