Ayishakutty, 91, the first woman panchayat president from the Muslim community in Kerala, died here on Monday night.
Ayishakutty
Malappuram :
Ayishakutty, 91, the first woman panchayat president from the Muslim community in Kerala, died here on Monday night. A native of Nannammukku in Malappuram, Ayishakutty had been undergoing treatment for age-related illnesses and she breathed her last around 11pm.Also known as Ayishakutty Teacher, she became the president of Nannammukku panchayat in 1979. Ayishakutty has been an inspiration to many women as she courageously took up the path of politics and social service at a time when many women, especially from her community, were not allowed to go out of their houses.
Despite warnings not to go out and speak publicly citing gender and religious issues, Ayishakutty chose to get education and interact with people to learn the problems in society. She became the first woman to complete SSLC in Ponnani taluk. A Congress leader, she is also the first woman panchayat president in Malappuram district. After completing the first term as panchayat president, she served as a member from 1984 to 1991. She became the president of Nannammukku panchayat again in 1995. Apart from being active in politics, she also worked as a teacher at AMLP School, Punnayurkulam, Thrissur.
She is survived by daughters Laila and Jameeela and son-in-law Hamsa. The burial was conducted at the Nannammukku Juma Masjid on Tuesday. Abdul Kareem, the present panchayat president of Nannammukku, said Ayishakutty was a powerful leader who had implemented several development projects in the panchayat. “She had introduced the project to provide land to the landless people in the panchayat. Also, she worked relentlessly to end the drinking water problem and other issues in the agricultural sector in the panchayat,” said Kareem.
She became the president of Nannammukku panchayat in 1979.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / February 26th, 2020
Mohammed Safi with his works / PHOTO: S. RAMESH KURUP / The Hindu
Leaves, often never given a second glance, are the principal characters of Safi’s photographs
Leaves — ever present and taken for granted—are Mohammed Safi’s focus. His photographs capture leaves in all their moods — green and vital; flushed red, crimson and yellow, smelling of autumn; and finally, brown, wrinkled and dying. “Ela Illathe Illa” (Without Leaves, Nothing) — 36 photographs of Safi, a freelance photographer, are on show at the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi Art Gallery.
Noticing leaves
“We might often sit under a tree’s shade and also eat its fruit. But the possibilities of leaves as fine art is often missed upon us,” Safi explains why he zeroed in on leaves. Abundant and everywhere as they are, Safi never went questing for his frames. Instead, they are drawn from everyday life. Images struck him on routine journeys, enticed him to stop, pull out his Nikon D200 and click. And his camera has caught the minute and the mammoth. One show is the photograph of an aging wet bark. But sprouting from its middle are two fresh leaves and glued to it is a rain drop. “When you see such a sight, you realise the poetry in nature. You also become aware of the possibilities of art,” he says.
Safi’s photographs capture poignancy, often arresting the moments between life and death. On show is a low-angle shot of a coconut tree on the edge of a beach, baring all its root. A day later, says the photographer, the tree was uprooted and washed away by the waves.
Most photographs speak of summer and sunshine. A few capture leaves drenched in rain. One frame merely has fallen acacia leaves lying listlessly in still waters. Quite like the dead leaves, imperfect ones — torn and blighted — make Safi’s frames. In a couple of photographs, leaves chipped and eaten at the edges are the centre. So too are trunks cut away at the middle. “Trees are categorised by their resourcefulness. For us coconut and rubber are lucrative. I am constantly instructed to clear the worthless trees in the yard. But I let them grow,” says Safi.
Among his photographs are trees and plants growing on the banks of the Bharatapuzha and those flourishing on clay tile roofs.
Inspiring environment
Safi finds most of his frames in and around Malappuram and Thrissur. A potent environment for him is the Thekkinkkadu maidan in Thrissur with its towering trees. Low-angle shots capture trees and leaves in different seasons giving the frames the feel of a canvas. The clutch of photographs on the maidan shows sweeping branches with full green leaves and so too wet and yellow ones.
The exhibition is on till February 12 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi Art Gallery.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Events / by P. Anima / Kozhikode – February 07th, 2014
In a unique project in Kerala, a government school becomes a world-class institution
When Oscar laureate A.R. Rahman flew down to Kozhikode recently, it was not for a music programme but to see the amazing transformation brought about in a government school.
In a programme masterminded by school authorities under the guidance of the local MLA, the 120-year-old Government Vocational Higher Secondary School for Girls in Nadakav, which mostly teaches children from society’s weaker sections, has been upgraded to international standards.
In the spacious new auditorium, Rahman recalled how he met old friends K.E. Faizal and wife Shabana in New York where they told him about how the Faizal-Shabana Foundation had spent Rs. 15 crore on a school project in Kerala. That’s when Rahman decided he wanted to visit the school and see for himself the transformation.
Kerala’s achievements in the education sector, particularly in democratising it, have been remarkable. Its success in bringing education within the reach of the poorest children has made its literacy rate among the highest in the country. And now, this unique collaboration between MLA Pradeep Kumar and a private foundation has emerged as another development model for education in the country.
What was once just another government school now boasts of facilities unheard of in similar schools — an astro-turf playground, super-smart classrooms, computers, and a state-of the-art science lab, among other facilities. Pradeep Kumar, the CPI (M) MLA for Kozhikode, says his mission was to have a world-class school that would still be affordable to ordinary people. The state’s Planning Board came up with a project titled Promoting Regional Schools to International Standards through Multiple Interventions or PRISM.
World-class it certainly is. Infosys provided 150 computers, and ISRO gave a high-tech science lab. From the government and the MLA’s local area development fund came Rs. 7 crore. For the rest, NRI tycoon Faizal and Shabana stepped in with Rs.15 crore from the Faizal-Shabana Foundation. The plan was provided by Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIMK). Rahman, obviously impressed by what he saw, has announced the support of Rahman Foundation in Chennai for a music school that he immediately inaugurated. Interestingly, the school’s facilities are open to the people of the neighbourhood.
The school is a superb example of government-private participation in the education sector, and a rare instance where bitter political foes — the Congress-led United Democratic Front and the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front — played equally productive roles. The project was initiated by Pradeep Kumar when the LDF government was in power and it was completed under the UDF government.
The Nadakav school is a promising chapter in the attempt to resist the commercialisation of education that threatens to make high-class education unaffordable to everybody but the very rich. It is also a heartening attempt to lift the sagging image of government schools and make them more attractive to students who are migrating in large numbers to private schools that boast of attractive infrastructure and ambience. It has often been noted that better infrastructure and facilities could improve both morale and quality of education in government schools.
Meanwhile, Pradeep Kumar has turned his attention to two other government schools in his constituency, but finding benevolent sponsors is not easy. Work has begun in the Government Higher Secondary School of Karaparamba with a small allocation from the MLA’s local area development fund, and the search is on for other funds to complete the work.
At a time when education standards are falling appallingly across the country, this unique public-private model might be just the shot in the arm that government schools need.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Sunday Magazine / by R. Madhavan Nair / February 08th, 2014
Jazeera in front of the house of businessman Kochouseph Chittilappilly in the city on Tuesday. / Photo: K.K. Mustafah / The Hindu
The stress of sleeping on the pavement in the heat and cold of the day is writ large on the face of Mohammed, who is hardly one and a half years old. His sisters, 12-year-old Rizwana and 10-year-old Shifana, recalled their experience the previous night when mosquitoes and insects disrupted their sleep and forced them to remain awake till the morning to keep their little brother out of harm’s way.
“Kochi is horrible compared with Delhi despite the freezing cold in the capital because of the attack by mosquitoes here. Even during the day time, insects and mosquitoes cause extreme discomfort to us. We are concerned about Mohammed, who is too young to withstand such a situation,” said Rizwana, daughter of 31-year-old V. Jazeera of Kannur, who began a sit-in protest in front of the house of industrialist Kochouseph Chittilappilly on Monday afternoon, seeking clarity on a cash award promised to her.
Ms. Jazeera, who drew world-wide attention through her four-month sit-in at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against illegal sand mining in her native village in Kannur, is on a protest against Mr. Chittilappilly, who promised a cash award of Rs 5 lakh in recognition of her boldness in starting the struggle against quarrying.
Ms Jazeera, wearing soiled clothes and sitting under a tree in front of Mr Chittilappilly’s bungalow, said she had forgotten to bring along even the minimum change of dress for her children as she was not prepared for a long round of agitation. “I came here to seek clarity from Mr Chittilapilly on the promised cash award. My earlier plan was to leave by 11 am on Tuesday after getting an explanation from him. But he has now forced me to go on an indefinite strike,” she said.
A few autorickshaw drivers and local residents offered to provide fresh clothing to the mother and her three children. The locals also offered food and bathing facilities for the family.
Asked why she was putting her children to such suffering on the pavement, Ms Jazeera said she had told her two daughters go back to the native village and live with relatives. “As I am breast-feeding Mohammed, he alone can stay with me. But my daughters are fully convinced of my agitation and they stick with me during these crucial days,” she said. The two girls said they would not abandon their mother on the pavement to go back to their village.
When pointed out that the popular perception was that she was begging in front of the house of a generous man for a cash award he had announced voluntarily, Ms Jazeera said her demand was just clarity, not money. “If Mr Chittilappilly says that he will not give the promised amount, I will soon stop the agitation and return home. In fact, he and his business ventures gained undue publicity by announcing the award. It was not his commitment to my cause but the severe public criticism against giving cash award to a woman who voiced her personal concerns against a popular struggle in the State capital that prompted him to announce it,” she said.
“Sandhya, the housewife in Thiruvananthapuram, voiced her concern against all agitations. I was not ready to receive the cash award by sharing a platform with Sandhya as demanded by Mr. Chittilappilly. If I was crazy about money, I could have taken a flight from Delhi as suggested by Mr. Chittilappilly and stayed at a posh hotel to receive the amount. Mr Chittilappilly used me as a tool to gain publicity,” she said.
She had no answer to a question on the nature of assurance she received from Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on illegal sand mining. “How I can continue the strike indefinitely in New Delhi?,” she asked.
On Tuesday, the premises of Mr. Chittilappilly’s bungalow saw a number of hoardings extending solidarity to Ms. Jazeera. They included one jointly put up by the CPI(M)’s trade union wing CITU and Congress’ INTUC.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chittilappilly convened a press meet where he said the protest staged by Ms Jazeera was politically motivated. “Everybody knows who have organised the protest,” he said in an apparent reference to the CPI(M), which turned against him after he announced a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh to Sandhya. “I stand by my earlier promise. I am ready to deposit the amount in a bank account of her children,” he said.
“Why is Mr Chittilappilly overly worried about my children? I am capable of looking after them. If he is ready to give the amount, it must be directly handed over to me. I am yet to decide how the money will be utilised,” Ms Jazeera said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by K. A. Shaji / Kochi – February 05th, 2014
