Syeda Muhammadi Begum was the first woman in the Indian sub-continent to be the editor of a weekly magazine,‘Tehzeeb-e-Niswaan’. The Urdu magazine was dedicated to emancipate the women. The magazine came out with its first edition on 1st July, 1898.
Muhammadi Begum started her work along with her husband Mumtaz Ali. Mumtaz, who had also written a book stressing upon the rights of women, ‘Huqooq-e-Niswaan’, was a Darul Uloom, Deoband educated Lahore based publisher. He was a close associate of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan during the later years of the leader of Aligarh Movement. In fact, a hostel has been named after Mumtal Ali in AMU. Muhammadi and her husband realised that its was important that Muslim women also access modern education along with Muslim men. It must be kept in mind that when the magazine was launched Aligarh College was only a boys institution and there was no women’s college in Aligarh.
In fact, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan disagreed with Mumtaz and Muhammadi on women’s education. It was not until the demise of Sir Syed that they actually launched the magazine for women.
Muhammadi Begum, born in 1878 in Shahpur, Punjab, married Mumtaz Ali in 1897 after the death of his first wife. Syed Muhammad Shafi, father of Muhammadi, was the Principal of Wazeerabad High School and ensured that his daughters received modern education. In fact, Muhammadi used to play cricket and ride horses as well in those days when women were kept inside homes. When she married Mumtaz, he was already owning a publishing house and a printing press in Lahore.
Within a year, Muhammadi learned the art of publishing, editing and proofreading from her husband. She could read English, Hindi, Urdu, Persian and Arabic. Soon the first Urdu weekly dedicated to the cause of women was launched, ‘Tehzeeb-e-Niswaan’.
As expected, people did not take such progressive magazine positively. Muhammadi and Mumtaz used to send free complimentary copies to the well known educated people. In return they would receive the copies back along with letters abusing Muhammadi. The magazine picked very slowly and even after three months only 70 people subscribed to the magazine, after three years 345 and after five years 428.
Muhammadi had one son, Imtiaz Ali, whom he used to affectionately call Taj. She used to write stories, poems, plays and lullabies especially for him. She trained him to be a man of literary taste. Imtiaz grew up to edit the magazine and established himself as one of the greats of Urdu literature.
Muhammadi later launched another magazine for women, ‘Musheer-e-Madar’, in 1905. Which did not survive much after her death. She also established schools for women. A very interesting experiment carried out by Muhammadi was of an all-Women shop. This shop was operated by the women and for the women and no man was allowed inside the shop for any work. Interestingly, the title of Ashraf Ali Thanvi’s Bahishti Zewar is inspired by one of the poems written by Muhammadi.
From 1897, Muhammadi’s life was busy with social work. She edited magazines, wrote essays, stories, poems and held public meetings to emancipate the women of India. This hard work took a great toll on her health and left this world at a young age of 30, in 1908.
(Author is a well known historian)
source: http://www.heritagetimes.com / Heritage Times / Home> Women / by Saquib Salim / September 14th, 2020
The qorma is the king of Indian curries. The word qorma has its etymological root in the Turkic ‘qavirma’, which denoted a method of frying and was adapted in Persian, Arabic and Urdu.
Turkic qavirma is also the source of the Turkish qavurma. The qavurma is a fried and braised meat dish found in Turkish cuisine. It is not to be confused with qovurma, a similar meat stew found in Azerbaijani cuisine, which often includes dry fruits and sour grape juice (verjuice), and sometimes vegetables too. Qovurma, in contrast, is a dry meat dish, which sometimes uses preserved meat chunks or mincemeat, and is served with pilaf (pulao) or yoghurt. There are several variations of qavurma. Sabzi qovurma, or lamb stew with herbs, is a blend of Persian and Turkic cooking. Turşu qovurma combines lamb with preserved lemons and dried apricots and is flavoured with turmeric, while nur qovurma features lamb and pomegranate.
Persian cuisine has khoresh, khormeh or ghormeh – a basic stew with vegetables, herbs and kidney beans. The Persian khormeh uses yoghurt and almonds. It has a mild flavour, a thick, creamy texture and base tones of spices and herbs. Across the border, Afghan cuisine has kormeh, a meat curry that gets a slightly sour taste from the use of the limu omani or dried lemons. The use of lemon juice is incidentally also advocated in old Rampur cookbooks.
It can be hard to trace precise culinary trails, which meander and weave through regions and times. It is possible that sometime in the 18th century, in Mughal kitchens, the meat stew from Persian cuisine assimilated spices, yoghurt, almonds, garlic and other ingredients. This resulted in a thick, spicy curry, with fried onions giving it a classic aroma. Even today, fried and crushed or ground onions with whole spices form the foundational flavour of the Indian qorma. Thus, qorma is named after a style of cooking which involved braising meat over high heat followed by long slow cooking. In India, the technique of dumpukht, or slow-cooking the meat by sealing the pan, is used to prepare the meat.
Some food writers claim that a Persian meat curry dish (possibly khormeh) was imbued with Indian masalas through the collaboration of Rajput cooks and Mir Bakrawal, the superintendent of Mughal kitchens. It is sometimes even said that the dish was named after a Rajput clan – Kurma. This origin myth for qorma is highly suspect as no reference to qorma is found in the Ain-i-Akbari or the Nuskha-e-Shahjahani written during the time of the early Mughal emperors.
There are, however, a number of qaliya recipes to be found there. Food historian Neha Vermani writes: “In the Mughal context, the earliest reference to qorma which I am aware of, comes from aristocratic cookbooks produced during Shah Alam’s reign.” Possibly the qaliya and do pyaza metamorphosed over the years into the Indian qorma in Mughal kitchens.
It would be safe to assume that by the end of the 18th century, the qorma was on the royal menu. As the Mughal Empire disintegrated, it was carried to cultural centres across the subcontinent. The iconic recipe certainly graced the dastarkhwan,the royal table, of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. Munshi Faizuddin Dehlvi, writing with startling detail about the court of Bahadur Shah Zafar in Bazm-e Akhir, mentions the qorma in the list of dishes at the royal tables.
There are essentially three main variants of the qorma in the subcontinent – the north Indian qorma with yoghurt, almonds, cashews and/or cream; the Kashmiri version that uses fennel seeds, turmeric, tamarind and dried cockscomb flowers; and the South Indian qorma with a pronounced coconut taste. Under the rubric north Indian qorma, there are two styles: Mughlai and Awadhi. According to Lizzie Collingham, the author of Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors, Awadhi cooks added cream to the Mughal qorma and turned it into a sumptuous shahi qorma.
Rampur Qorma: Reflections of Tarana Husain Khan
The Nawab’s kitchen had a specialist khansama, or head cook, who only cooked qorma. A manuscript authored by Nawab Kalbe Ali Khan (1865-1887) describes qorma murgh. Chicken is marinated in yoghurt and spices (cumin, coriander seeds, cardamoms, cloves, ginger and chillies); onions are fried to golden brown and the chicken added to it along with saffron water. The use of powdered almond distinguished it from the qaliya, a basic meat curry with turmeric which might contain vegetables.
Rampuri qorma has a distinctive taste – a meaty flavour with few aromatic masalas and, occasionally, cream. It is not a complicated dish to cook, but balancing the flavours and rounding the sharp edges of the spices requires mastery. Most khansamas never reveal their spice mix or the ginger-garlic-onion proportions.
Rampur Qorma being cooked in a degh. Courtesy: Tarana Husain Khan.
An old khansama revealed the secret of the legendary Rampur qorma to me: add the stock from the leg bones of a goat to the gravy. I tried this technique once – it was tedious, but it changed the dimensions of taste. I would highly recommend using mutton stock for special occasions.
Rampur survived the devastation post-1857 and invited chefs and artists from the fallen kingdoms of Delhi and Awadh. At that time, the Rampur cuisine already had its basic meat curries as well as the tribal qaliya. There are several types of qaliyas described in late 19th-century manuscripts, showing its popularity and versatility. The Delhi and Awadh cooks collaborated with their Rampur counterparts to craft the inimitable Rampuri qorma.
Qorma served with pulao is still the benchmark of culinary skills in Rampur, but the boundaries between qorma and qaliya have become blurred. Taar roti, which was originally a qaliya with turmeric, has become a kind of faux qorma with the addition of fried onions – the sine qua non of the latter dish. The qorma served at elaborate dinners often has a significant amount of turmeric, which would be sacrilege in Mughlai and Awadhi cuisines. Interestingly, royal and aristocratic families do not use turmeric in their qorma, but the practice has become popular across all other strata. The Rampuris love the vermillion-red colour of the curry and appreciate a certain sharp flavour added by the turmeric. Though I prefer the more rounded taste of qorma sans turmeric, when I am in an adventurous mood, I put in a little haldito jazz things up.
Awadhi Qorma: Recollections Of Rana Safvi
In my childhood, qorma was associated with guests, festivities and celebrations. Our daily meals consisted of qaliya, or mutton cooked with vegetables. This menu choice ensured that vegetables were consumed daily.
Though chicken qorma is popular today, chicken was not always the preferred meat. Those were also the days when chicken was quite expensive (weight-for-weight) compared to mutton, and it was thus a delicacy. Murgh ka qorma was the ultimate dish cooked for a guest. All this was before the late Padmashree Dr BV Rao revolutionised the poultry industry. He established Venkateshwara Hatcheries Pvt Ltd in Pune in 1971 and is still remembered as The Father of the Indian Poultry Industry.
To this day, I associate chicken with feasts. I even prefer the desi variety over the farm-grown, as the latter is too bland. The epicures of Awadh, too, probably found chicken bland, for Abdul Halim Sharar writes in Guzishta Lucknow (a book about Lucknavi culture first published in serial form between 1913 and 1920) that the chickens used to be fattened with musk and saffron pills until their flesh was scented with these two substances. Since nobody can afford musk- and saffron-fed chicken, to ensure that the meat is not bland, it is best to marinate it in a garlic, salt and yogurt mix for a few hours and then sauté it in the masala before adding water for the curry, so that the masala seeps in.
Chicken was not the only meat that was used for qorma. Game meat (especially venison, quail and partridge) was also very popular, as hunting was a popular pursuit of the landed gentry before it was banned. Now, farm-grown quail is available and bater ka qorma is gaining in popularity. But one must remember that quail is a very delicate meat, so the masalas have to be minimal in order not to drown out the flavour. Indeed, while cooking any qorma, it is essential to remember this fact. Too often, the meat in the qormas is overpowered by the masalas. The special taste of Awadh is in the delicate flavouring as compared to the robust taste of Delhi cuisine.
I was accustomed to using very minimal garam masala. When I got married, that turned out to be boon – or I would have had to reinvent my recipes. My husband is allergic to cardamom, which almost led to a disaster. My wedding was held at home, as was usual in those days. Tents and shamianas would be erected on people’s lawns, as hotel weddings were unheard of. The cooks were called from Lucknow. I remember the old khansama sitting near my mother a couple of days before the wedding and presenting her with a list of ingredients to be bought. When he gave the amount of cardamom to be bought, my mother said, “That won’t be added to any food as my son-in-law-to-be is allergic to it.” I will never forget the look on the khansama’s face when he replied, “Begum sahib, had you told me earlier, I would not have come. What face will I show the world when they see that the qorma has no elaichi in it?” My mother had to coax him not to leave in a huff, persuading him that the taste was in his skill of using right proportions, roasting the masalas, marinating the meat and not in the blighted cardamom! The khansama then took it on as a personal challenge and the qorma turned out to be superb.
There is rarely any cardamom in my kitchen even now. I believe that the taste of the dish comes from the amount of time spent in roasting the masalas well – not in drowning it in oil and garam masalas.
To come back to the qorma, a feast would be considered complete only when there were at least two types of qorma, zarda (a sweet rice) and pulao, as well as at least two varieties of kababs and sheermal (a flatbread). This formula also meant that at least three types of meat such as mutton, fish and chicken were offered. Again, there would be adjustment in the masalas depending on the meat. Ginger paste continues to be used for meats with strong smell and those that are tough to digest. Fish, on the other hand, requires a delicate hand when using masalas.
There were cooks of yore who specialised solely in cooking qormas. In The Classic Cuisine of Lucknow: A Food Memoir by Nawab Jafar Hussain (Sanatkada Publications), there is an interesting anecdote. In 1925, Nawab Jafar Hussain – a descendent of the nawabi aristocrats of Lucknow – came across a cook named Mohammad Hussain who belonged to a family of cooks from the royal period. When the Nawab sahib asked him what he could cook: “He replied in the typical Lakhnavi tone of voice, ‘Sir, qorma and chapati. Besides this, what else is there in food? I will feed you only this. I do not know how to cook anything else.’” Nawab sahib immediately employed him and he stayed with him until his death in 1931. Before you wonder at this, let me add what Nawab sahib pointed out: “In the period of approximately five years, every day, for both meals, he cooked qorma and I never felt even a twinge of monotony.”
Though such artists are hard to come by, it is possible to cook a decent qorma if one uses the spices from scratch. That means you roast and grind all the garam masalas, coriander, etc. fresh just before starting to cook. There must be many people who remember the storeroom with their mothers sitting in front of it, getting the masalas taken out and ground fresh daily. The khansamas would grind it on a huge sil (grinding stone) with a batta (stone). The garam masalas were dry-roasted and then pounded separately in an imam dasta (mortar and pestle) and then strained. In those days, hardly any house used powdered masalas.
Another important point to be noted is that the meat (if it is mutton) should be from the raan (leg). The pieces in Lucknow would be cut with artistry and called katoris (bowls) – for they did not have bone and would curl up into a round shape in the curry. Today, when we ask the butcher for boneless mutton, he tells me to show him a boneless goat. These butchers lazily chop the meat instead of cutting along the grain.
While cooking, special care must be given to ensuring that the onions are fried just right, as the base of the qorma comes from the paste of fried onions. If it is too brown, the curry will taste bitter and have a dark colour; if it is not fried well and left a little raw, the colour of the qorma will be pale. The trick of a khushrangqorma (the bright reddish-brown hue) is in the way the onions is fried and the masala is sautéed. I learned these tricks as a young girl around the wood fire chulha (stove) in my grandparents’ kitchen, while my grandmother would describe the cooking process. I share this family recipe for you to try. Of course, as you start cooking, you will learn to make your own adjustments.
Awadhi Murgh Qorma
Our Family Recipe
Ingredients
1 whole chicken, cut in curry pieces (cleaned; no skin or offal)
(Note: marinate chicken for at least 2 hours in 1 tsp salt, lemon juice & 1 tsp of ginger-garlic paste)
1 large onion, finely sliced
3 tbsp oil
2 tbsp curd
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp coriander powder, lightly roasted on a griddle
½ tsp garam masala, freshly ground or powdered
¼ tsp whole peppercorns
3 cloves
2 green cardamom
2 bay leaves
2 drops kewra
1 cup water
¼ cup fresh cream, well beaten
Salt and chilli to taste
A few strands of saffron, soaked in 1 tbsp of warm milk
Method
Add the cloves, peppercorns, cardamom and bay leaves. Toss in the onions and fry until golden brown. This takes about 4-5 minutes on low heat.
Remove the onions and spices from the oil, making sure the oil is drained back into the cooker and set aside. Remove bay leaves. The rest should be ground to a fine paste.
Shake off excess water from the chicken. Add the pieces to the oil and fry lightly.
Add the ginger and garlic pastes, chilli and coriander powder. Sauté, adding dashes of curd at intervals to prevent the mixture from sticking or burning. This process will continue for at least 10 minutes
When the oil separates from the masala, add the garam masala, salt, paste of fried onions and bay leaves. Stir for a minute. Add the water and cook until the meat is tender. Keep the flame low and the pot covered.
Strain the cream if you are using fresh cream from home, so that it is smooth consistency. Add cream, saffron and let it simmer for two minutes.
Add 2 drops of kewra water (mixed in 1 tbsp of water) before serving.
Please note: Do not garnish the dish with green coriander leaves. That garnish is reserved only for qaliya.
Our thanks to Neha Vermani for her careful reading and suggestions on an early draft.
This article is part of the project “Forgotten Food: Culinary Memory, Local Heritage and Lost Agricultural Varieties in India”, curated by Tarana Husain Khan and edited by Siobhan Lambert Hurley and Claire Chambers. It has been funded by Global Challenges Research Fund through the Arts & Humanities Research Council in the United Kingdom. Read the other parts here.
source: http://www.scroll.in / Scroll.in / Home> Forgotten Food / by Tarana Hussain Khan and Rana Safvi / November 07th, 2020
Jamia Millia’s Prof. Imran Ali adjudged India’s number 1 scientist by University of Stanford
The list has been published in the globally renowned journal PLOS Biology. Prof. Ali is at 24th rank in the world while number one in the country. PLOS Biology has published the list of 68,80,389 (Sixty Eight Lakh Eighty Thousand Three Hundred Eighty Nine) scientists excelling in different scientific fields in the research paper entitled “Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators” authored by John P A Ioannidis et al, an India Today report added.
Apart from Prof. Ali many elite researchers from Jamia Millia Islamia secured top 2% position in the list of 60 lakh plus Global Scientists. Prof. Faizan Ahmad, INSA Senior Scientist at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences has been adjudged as 4th top scientist in the country in the field of Biophysics. Other elite scientists from the university who secured their names in the coveted 2% top scientists list are as follows:
Prof. Mohammad Sami, Centre for Theoretical Physics: All India Rank: 10 in Nuclear & Particle Physics
Prof. Anjan Ananda Sen, Centre for Theoretical Physics: All India Rank: 31 in Nuclear & Particle Physics
Prof. Sharif Ahmad, Department of Chemistry: All India Rank: 1048 in Polymers
Prof. Haseeb Ahsan, Faculty of Dentistry, All India Rank: 377 in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Prof. Sushant Ghosh, Centre for Theoretical Physics; All India Rank: 782 in Nuclear & Particle Physics
Prof. Tabrez A. Khan, Department of Chemistry; All India Rank: 831 in Environmental Sciences
Dr. Rafiq Ahmad, Ramalingaswami Fellow, Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology; All India Rank: 1182 in Analytical Chemistry
Dr. Atiqur Rahman, Department of Geography, All India Rank: 1219 in Geological & Geomatics Engineering
Dr. Abid Haleem, Department of Mechanical Engineering, All India Rank: 1422 in Business & Management
Dr. Arun Kumar, Department of Physics, All India Rank: 1540 in Energy
Prof. Tokeer Ahmad, Department of Chemistry: All India Rank: 1687 in Materials
Dr. Md. Imtaiyaz Hassan, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences; All India Rank: 1746 in Biophysics
Professor Najma Akhtar, Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia expressed her happiness and congratulated all the scientists as they brought laurels to the University exactly when it was celebrating 100th years of its foundation. This array of scientists once again proved that JMI is excelling well in both high-quality research and teaching, she said.
source: http://www.varthabharati.in / Vartha Bharati / Home>India / by Vartha Bharati / November 06th, 2020
Nanoscience researchers from Jamia Millia Islamia – Marya Khan and Abgeena Shabir – selected for Prime Minister Research Fellowship 2020
New Delhi :
Two research scholars from Jamia Millia Islamia’s Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology – Ms Marya Khan and Ms Abgeena Shabir – have been selected for the coveted Prime Minister Research Fellowship (PMRF) under the Lateral Entry category of the May-2020 drive.
Dr Aurangzeb Khurram Hafiz, Officiating Director of the centre said that as part of the PMRF both researchers would be getting a fellowship of Rs 70, 000 for first two years, Rs 75,000 for 3rd year, Rs.80,000 for the fourth year and Rs.80,000 for the fifth year also. Apart from this, each Fellow would be eligible for a research grant of Rs. 2 Lakhs per year (total of Rs 10 Lakhs for five years).
Jamia Millia’s Vice Chancellor Prof. Najma Akhtar congratulated both researchers and hoped that it will inspire other students of the university to do well in research. Jamia Millia stands for excellence and strive hard to provide its students every possible support to achieve great heights, she added.
“It is a matter of great pride for the Jamia Millia Islamia,” said Ahmad Azeem, PRO-Media Coordinator of the central university.
In a press statement, he said that Ms Marya Khan’s PhD work will be based on “Multifunctional Hybrid Nanomaterial based Biosensors for Health Monitoring”. The overall object is to synthesize multifunctional hybrid nanomaterials and further use them for the development of different biological sensing devices.
Functionalization of active area of biosensors with multifunctional hybrid nanostructures will not only improve the biosensor device stability, but also enhances selectivity, sensitivity and lowers detection limits of the biosensor. Additionally, the aim is to use micro-fabrication techniques to produce highly sensitive biosensors.
The development of multifunctional hybrid nanostructures based biosensors will help to overcome the limitations of sensing performances. Making them disposable and flexible will impact directly on socially and economically crucial arenas such as improved detection of clinically important biomolecules for effective response and treatment as well as an integrated smart sensing device will provide a simple, facile approach capable of selective and simultaneous detection of different biomolecules.
The PhD work of Ms Abgeena Shabir, who is pursuing PhD in nanotechnology under the supervision of Prof. S.S. Islam at Jamia, will be based on “Fabrication of High Performance Anode Materials For Li-Ion Batteries”. Through her research work she seeks to synthesize high specific capacity anode materials using facile and scalable techniques such that high energy demands are met and limitations of conventional batteries are overcome. The main aim of her work would be to synthesise Silicon/Graphene nanocomposite based anode materials with extraordinary properties of high stability, conductivity and coulombic efficiency. Her research work will pave a way for new future of silicon/graphene based batteries which will be cost effective and easy to operate.
The Prime Minister’s Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme has been designed for improving the quality of research in various higher educational institutions in the country. With attractive fellowships, the scheme seeks to attract the best talent into research thereby realizing the vision of development through innovation. The scheme was announced in the Budget 2018-19.
source: http://www.inclusiveindia.net / Inclusive India / Home> Education / by Editor / November 06th, 2020
Khushboo Mirza was part of the dedicated teams of Chandrayaan 1 and Chandrayaan 2 missions.
Khushboo has reached such heights that schools and colleges in Uttar Pradesh invite her to give talks. Photos: By special arrangement
Chaugori Mohalla is a small Muslim neighbourhood in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha town, about 200 km from Delhi. To reach the place, one needs to get off NH-24 from Itarsi, about 40 km before Moradabad, and a bumpy 10-km drive on a rough and dusty road would lead to the destination.
The narrow lane has old concrete houses with Urdu nameplates. Men wearing skull caps and women clad in burqas still give the locality a traditional look. Amroha, which is inhabited by both Hindus and Muslims, is called Aman Ki Nagri (town of peace). It has never witnessed a communal riot.
Hailing from this nondescript peaceful town is a young woman, Khushboo Mirza who is locally known as the woman who went to moon. Not for nothing, she has now reached the position of a director-level grade of Scientist F at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was part of the teams of Chandrayaan 1 and Chandrayaan 2 missions.
Khushboo is thrilled over her recent promotion which means she is just two levels below that of the position held by Abdul Kalam and the incumbent ISRO chairperson, Dr K Sivan.
But her life was not without troubles. Born on July 24, 1985, Khushboo lost her father Sikandar Mirza when she was just seven years old. In an unusual move, her mother Farhat broke religious norms to run her husband’s petrol pump to send her children to school. Khushboo studied in a Hindi-medium school till Class 10. She applied for B.Tech at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and bagged the seat under the sports quota as she was a volleyball player.
Khushboo at work at an ISRO lab
When Khushboo graduated in 2006, she was offered a software engineer job by American multinational company Adobe. But she applied to ISRO as she wanted to serve “Indian Science”. After joining the space agency, she was first drafted into the dedicated team for the Chandrayaan 1 mission in 2008. Khushboo received the ISRO Team Excellence Award in April 2015. She was also a part of the Chandrayaan 2 mission in 2019.
Even when she was accomplishing achievements in the space, her mother had to face criticism from some of the villagers. But Farhat ignored them and travelled with her daughter to ISRO training programmes across the country.
Khushboo then sought Farhat’s permission to shed the burqa and wear jeans to work. “She wanted to wear jeans, and I allowed her,” Farhat said. “In the absence of her father, and given the fact that she had to travel miles, many people said a lot of unkind things. But I told my daughter to work hard,” added Farhat.
Khushboo maintained the orthodoxy and tradition, and followed religious norms, but they had no impact on her work.
“I do follow our religion and do Namaz five times a day, besides observing fast during the fasting period. But I also wear western clothes. We belong to a progressive family, where modernity can exist along with tradition,” said Khushboo, who once celebrated Eid with her colleagues in an ISRO lab.
She has reached such heights that schools and colleges in Uttar Pradesh invite her to give talks. She keeps telling children, particularly girls, to concentrate on education which alone can provide them with a good future. She has also impressed many Muslim girls to consider education seriously. Khushboo feels that the necessary facilities for primary and high school education in the villages must be stepped up.
Khushboo with her mother Farhat Mirza
Many people in Uttar Pradesh think that she had made a journey to the moon and congratulate her and this why she is called the Moon Girl. Khushboo has emerged as a Muslim icon and a woman icon in Uttar Pradesh. Neither Khushboo nor her family members stereotype women, especially Muslim women. They believe that anyone in the country can fare well if they are provided with a good education.
With education and hard work, success is bound to come. There is no need to bring in religion or orthodoxy here, she said. “Times have changed and the attitude of people towards Muslim girls also needs to change. Our families do educate us.”
The success story of Khushboo Mirza is expected to inspire girls across the country and persuade families to educate their children, raising hopes of a better future not just for these families but the whole country.
source: http://www.thefederal.com / The Federal / Home> Features / by R. Rangaraj / July 19th, 2020
Asman Khan, a 21-year-old female Congress candidate from Jaipur, recently became one of the city’s youngest councillors. Contesting from ward number 81 in Jaipur Heritage Municipal Corporation elections 2020, Khan won the seat in her first attempt .
Here are some things you must know about Asman Khan:
• Coming from a middle-class family, Asman Khan is the middle child among six brothers and sisters. She says she has received immense support from her family. ” I was scared initially but my family supported me “
• Her father Salim Khan has been associated with the Congress party as a party worker for quite some time now. He even had plans to contest the municipal elections himself. However, their ward became reserved for women. Consequently, he convinced his daughter to contest elections.
•Khan is currently an undergraduate student a Muslim Girls Degree College, Jaipur, and will take her final year exams soon . She will devote her entire attention to her ward’s welfare only after taking her final exams.
• Asman Khan became one of the youngest councillors in her first attempt. Describing her decision to contest elections as a “sudden” one, she told Times of India , “I always wanted to serve the public and this election has given me an opportunity to do so.”
• Talking to News18, Khan said that although there were a lot of contenders for the post, she emerged as a favourite because she is a young student.
• Khan has mentioned that she received a lot of love from her ward’s members during her campaigning. She also ensured that the public voiced their plight to her.
• As per Asma Khan, the major everyday problems being faced by her ward include mismanagement of garbage, sewerage, and dysfunctional street lights. She also wants to ensure that Muslim girls in her ward receive adequate training and opportunities. Khan hopes to work extensively for the development of her council in the next five years.
• Asman Khan has plans to pursue a post-graduation degree in humanities. She also aims to further her political career and ambitions in the future. Picture Credits: Times of India
Tarini Gandhiok is an intern with SheThePeople.TV.
source: http://www.shethepeople.tv / She The People / Home / by Tarini Gandhok / November 04th, 2020
Author Hemender Sharma re-examines activist and environmentalist Shehla Masood’s gruesome murder with detailed insight into the events leading to the conspiracy.
Author: Hemender Sharma
Publisher: HarperCollins
If an urban woman with ‘modern’ sophistication and a ‘questioning’ attitude is killed in our country, the investigation, in most instances, begins with a close examination of her character. Shehla Masood was one such gutsy woman – an Indian environmentalist, wildlife and RTI activist. Hemender Sharma, in his book, Shehla Masood: The Murder that Shook the Nation, peels many layers to understand her life, her murder and the ultimate resolution of her case
Stepping out of her house in Bhopal to attend Anna Hazare’s ‘India Against Corruption’ campaign, Masood was shot dead from point-blank range in broad daylight on August 16, 2011. With Masood featuring in the news ahead of her murder after exposing corruption rackets through ‘RTI Anonymous’ – a portal where individuals could file an RTI without disclosing their identity – the Indian media had covered her gruesome death extensively. Shehla came from a humble background, but convent education along with brave instincts made her a savvy Muslim girl endowed with big dreams.
The book unravels the circumstances that led to her murder, the politics that subsequently unfolded and the long fight for justice that ensued. Cover-ups and attempts to tarnish her image started soon after her death. The local police tried to label her death as a suicide, while the state chief minister ordered a CBI probe within 48 hours. Names of various political dignitaries and bureaucrats were in the suspect list, but when the verdict was declared in January 2017, Zahida Parvez, an interior designer who gave the contract to kill Shehla, along with three others, stood convicted.
Zahida, a mother of two girls, in her statement, revealed her affair with Darbar (pseudonym) who was the Chairman of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department. After a few formal meetings, their friendship strengthened, leading to intimacy. Darbar, on the other hand, was already in a relationship with Shehla. Zahida was madly in love with Darbar and surely not fond of Shehla.
Darbar’s 53rd birthday was approaching and Zahida wished to celebrate it with grandeur. Bhopal has a tradition of politicians putting up their own hoardings and congratulating themselves on their birthdays. But to her disappointment, Darbar’s hoardings had no place for her, leaving her heartbroken.
She knew that Darbar was a Casanova, but couldn’t substantiate her doubt with palpable evidence. With her friend Sabah, she followed Darbar on instances to gather evidence and catch him red-handed. When Darbar went to meet Shehla on his birthday, Zahida was left fuming. Her anger and frustration usually subsided the moment she finished pouring her heart out in her diary. But this time, her anger knew no bounds. The man for whom she had waited the whole day, putting her family and daughters at stake, was drifting away from her. She assumed that Shehla was the culprit jeopardizing her illicit relation with Darbar, which was now showing visible cracks.
Zahida contacted Shakib, a contractor. When Shakib entered her office, she threw a file towards him with the initials ‘SM’ inscribed. It contained Shehla Masood’s newspaper cuttings from Hindustan Times and Free Press. She told him that she wanted this woman dead as she was negatively influencing girls. Besides, she had also lied to him about Shehla’s affair with her husband. She negotiated a deal worth Rs 3 lakh to get Shehla killed. Very soon, Shakib brewed the plan along with Irfan and Tabish, and it was only after a couple of failed attempts that they succeeded in executing the conspiracy.
On the day of her murder, Shehla walked towards her car around 11:19 am. She was about to ignite the car when Shakib pounced on her from the rear and shot her in the trachea. The detailed narrative furthers reveals Shakib’s call to Zahida confirming the murder, who further lets Sabah, her friend, know of their success. Irfan, Shakib’s partner in the crime, was let go as he turned an approver during trials. Zahida and Sabah were convicted under Section 302 (murder) with 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC and sentenced to life imprisonment. Shehla’s father, upset with the verdict, asserted, “Probably the real culprit will never be caught.”
The book also details how the CBI team, led by Joint Director Keshav Kumar and DIG Arun Bothra, painstakingly reached the killers after being severely misled.
source: http://www.millenniumpost.in / Millennium Post / Home> Book Review / by Arif Mohammad / May 04th, 2019
Twenty police officers of the state police will be awarded President Medal for their exemplary work in police department. Awards will be given in two categories: Vishishit Sewa and Sarahaniya Sewa categories.
The DGP announced the awards and congratulated the awardees for their achievements.
The Vishishit award will be given to the ADG training and the director of the MP Police academy Bhori Anuradha Shankar, inspector and Liberian DrFarid Vazmi, inspector and steno in PHQ Rakesh Mohan Dixit and Bharat Kumar Bhawsar.
The Sarahaniya Sewa Award will be given to AIG RRS Parihar posted at PHQ, deputy commandant of 23rd SAF Shanu Aftab Ali, SP radio training schoolIndore Santosh Kori, ASP narcotics Indore Dilip Kumar Soni, inspector Deepak Kadam, head constable posted in 7th SAF Bhopal Seetaram Tiwari, head constable posted in Pawai of Panna district Pyare Garg, head constable crime branch Bhopal Rajkumar Goutam, constable Mangal Singh Yadav posted in 7th SAF Bhopal, constable Rajesh Kumar Pandey posted in 25th SAF Bhopal, constable posted at in administration section at PHQ Ravi Naresh Mishra, Subedar Sunil Kumar Tiwari and Balram Singh Rajput posted at PHQ, inspector Ramraja Gupta of Hosangabad, inspector posted in EOW Bhopal Rajiv Choudhary and sub inspector Anil Kumar Nigam.
source: http://www.freepressjournal.in / The Free Press Journal / Home> Bhopal / by Staff Reporter / August 14th, 2020
Shawar Khan, resident of Bagh Frahat Afza had a dream since he and his brothers built a house of his own, to paint it in tricolor shade.
Man waiving flag/ Representative Pic
Bhopal :
At times when patriotism of Muslims is being questioned, a Muslim man from Bhopal demonstrated it by painting his house in tricolor hues.
Shawar Khan, resident of Bagh Frahat Afza had a dream since he and his brothers built a house of his own, to paint it in tricolor shade. ‘I have love for the tricolor from school days. I used to paint tricolor hues at most of the places. I also used to make tricolor flags on occasion of Independence Day and Republic Day and distribute them for free to my friends and relatives,’ said Shawar.
Shawar has been taking up petty jobs including driving auto rickshaw for living. Corona pandemic had adverse impact on him like thousands of others and he lost living. Since then he assists his brother Raja at his grocery shop.
‘Allah ne meri murad poori kar di (Allah fulfilled my wish),’ says Shawar with sense of achievement in his tone. He said that he and his brothers built the house in 2013. ‘Since then I had a wish that the house be painted in tricolor but I didn’t have enough money,’ he added. With my brother’s help my dream has come true.
Considering wish of Shawar, his brothers came to his help and contributed money to paint the house like a national flag. It cost us about Rs 20,000, says Shawar, whose house is located near Maqbare wali Masjid in Bagh Farhat Afza.
It took about a week to pain the house tricolor. In his three storey house, the ground floor is painted green. The first floor is white and the second floor has been painted saffron to give it a tricolor look. The house after getting new looks started attracting people who are coming from all corners of the city to have a look at it.
source: http://www.freepressjournal.in / The Free Press Journal / Home> Bhopal / by Shahroz Afridi / August 15th, 2020
Her research group’s interest in the malaria parasite is driven by the desire to understand (a) the molecular workings and functions of the relict plastid (apicoplast) of Plasmodium, (b) mechanisms of protein translation employed by Plasmodium organelles and (c) human genetic factors and susceptibility to severe P. falciparum malaria in endemic and non-endemic regions of India.
Dr. Saman Habib, Chief Scientist and Professor (AcSIR) in Molecular Biology Division, CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow brought the laurels to the Institute again through her outstanding work for understanding the malaria parasite.
She is elected as fellow of Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi.
Her research group’s interest in the malaria parasite is driven by the desire to understand (a) the molecular workings and functions of the relict plastid (apicoplast) of Plasmodium, (b) mechanisms of protein translation employed by Plasmodium organelles and (c) human genetic factors and susceptibility to severe P. falciparum malaria in endemic and non-endemic regions of India.
Other important honours and awards in her credit:
Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (2016)
Fellow of The National Academy of Sciences India, Allahabad (2015)
National Women Bio-scientist Award, Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India (2012)
Prof. BK Bachhawat Memorial Lecture Award, National Academy of Sciences, India (2008)
CSIR Young Scientist Award, CSIR (2001)
source: http://www.smestreet.com / SME Street / Home> News> Covid-19 / by SME Street Edit Desk / October 22nd, 2020
