The late Siddiqui, Adnan Abidi, Sanna Irshad Mattoo and Amit Dave won the prestigious prize for feature photography.
Reuters photographers Adnan Abidi, Sanna Irshad Mattoo, Amit Dave and Danish Siddiqui. | The Pulitzer Prizes
Reuters photographers Adnan Abidi, Sanna Irshad Mattoo, Amit Dave and the late Danish Siddiqui won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography on Monday for their coverage of the coronavirus crisis in India.
Siddiqui, 38, was killed while covering a clash between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters near a border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan on July 16.
The jury said that the prize was awarded to the four photographers for their images of the crisis that “balanced intimacy and devastation, while offering viewers a heightened sense of place”.
This is Abidi’s third Pulitzer. Siddiqui had also won the prize before, in 2018.
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Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni said that the world was “jolted awake” to the scale of India’s Covid-19 outbreak after the news agency’s photographers documented it.
“To have Danish’s incredible work honoured in this way is a tribute to the enduring mark he has left on the world of photojournalism,” Galloni said in a statement.
A mass cremation of victims who died due to the coronavirus disease is seen at a crematorium ground in New Delhi on April 22, 2021. Reuters/Danish Siddiqui
While Abidi is based in New Delhi, Mattoo is a photographer from Kashmir. Dave is based in Ahmedabad, from where he covers local and national news assignments for Reuters.
The body of a person, who died from the coronavirus disease, lies on a funeral pyre during a mass cremation at a crematorium in New Delhi on May 1, 2021. Reuters/Adnan AbidiFamily members embrace while wearing personal protective equipment as they mourn a male relative, who died from the coronavirus disease, during his cremation ceremony in New Delhi on April 21, 2021. Reuters/Adnan Abidi
Other winners
The New York Times won three Pulitzer Prizes and was named as a finalist in five other categories on Monday.
The Washington Post won the award in the public service category for its “compellingly told and vividly presented” account of the attack on Capitol Hill in Washington on January 6, 2021.
The journalists of Ukraine were also awarded a special citation for their coverage of the Russian invasion.
American journalists Corey G Johnson, Rebecca Woolington and Eli Murray of the Tampa Bay Times were awarded the Pulitzer for their investigative reporting.
The three had exposed highly toxic hazards inside Florida’s only battery recycling plant that forced the implementation of safety measures to adequately protect workers and nearby residents.
Novelist Joshua Cohen was awarded the Pulitzer in the fiction category for his book The Netanyahus. The book is based on the life of Benzion Netanyahu, the father of former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Pulitzer Prize in music was awarded to Raven Chacon for his composition Voiceless Mass.
Senior Indian journalist P A Mubarak, 66, passed away on Friday night in hospital. He was undergoing treatment post Covid-19 complications for last two months.
He was the former Qatar correspondent for Chandrika daily in India. He worked with the Ministry of Commerce and was running his own business own company after leaving the ministry.
He was an active presence in Indian community activities over the years and has been general secretary of Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) and Pravasi, Indian expat organisations in Qatar.
He wife Najiya succumbed to Covid-19 in Qatar on April 30.
He is survived by two daughters Nadia Shameen and Fatima Mubarak and sons-in-law Muhammad Shameen (Etisalat, Dubai) and Parvez Vallikkad (Doha, Qatar Foundation).
The burial will be held this evening at Abu Hamour cemtary.
source: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com / The Peninsula / Home> Doha Today> Community / October 27th, 2021
Winners receive awards from President Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan
New Delhi :
President Ramnath Kovind on Monday presented civilian awards or Padma awards to 119 personalities at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan New Delhi. The list includes foreigners, artists, sportspersons, people from film industry, public servants, activists. The awardees also include eight Muslims from different walks of life.
Eminent Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, who passed away in April 2021 of Covid-19 complications, was awarded Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award after Bharat Ratna. Prominent Shia leader and scholar Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, who passed away last year, got Padhma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award.
The Padma Shri list of 102 includes six Muslims. These are Ali Manikfan, Gulfam Ahmed, Lakha Khan and Ghulam Rasool Khan and two from Bangladesh Sanjida Khatun and Col Quazi Sajjad Ali Zahir.
Ali Manikfan has been awarded for hiscontribution at grassroots level innovations in Lakshadweep. He was born in 1938 into an aristocratic family on Minicoy Island of Lakshadweep. Manikfan is multi-talented — marine researcher, ecologist, shipbuilder, agriculturist, and a polyglot.
Gulfam Ahmed hails from Uttar Pradesh and has made contributions in the field of Art. He is a Sarod and Afghani Rabab player and is known for promoting Indo-Afghan cultural relations.
Lakha Khan, 80, who has been conferred with Padma Shri for his contribution in art is a Rajasthan-based musician who plays Sindhi sarangi and sings folk songs. He comes from the Manganiar community among Muslims that is traditionally associated with begging. He was born into the family of musicians and was trained from childhood.
Ghulam Rasool Khan is a handicraft artist from Srinagar, Kashmir. He is working to conserving Jamawar Patchwork, the oldest form of Kashmiri shawl technique. Before getting Padma Shri Khan won the National Award for Textile. Khan has a reputation of creating masterpieces and rare artefacts in the Jamawar craft.
Sanjida Khatun, Col Quazi Sajjad Ali Zahir from Bangladesh have been awarded for their contribution in art and public service respectively.
Snajida Khatun, born in 1933, is musicologist and teaches Bengali literature at the University of Dhaka. She was also one of the founders of Mukti Sangrami Shilpi Sangstha that fought Pakistani forces in 1971 Bangladesh war.
Col. Zahir who was a soldier in the Pakistani army rebelled and joined the forces fighting for Bangladesh’s liberation. He defected from the army and moved to India where he became a key person in the rebellion.
source: http://www.clarionindia.net / Clarion / Home> Big Story> India / by Team Clarion / November 08th, 2021
Poovachal Khader, 72, passes away in Thiruvananthapuram
Poovachal Khader, who died in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday at the age of 72 while undergoing treatment for COVID-19, was a most prolific lyricist who penned several all-time hit songs in Malayalam cinema.
In a career that spanned over five decades, he wrote over a thousand songs for more than 350 films. He was so busy in the late 1970s and 80s that he took leave from his job at the Public Works Department – he had a diploma in Engineering – to concentrate on his alternative career in cinema.
Poovachal Khader, who used to write poetry from his student days and went on to pen songs for the stage and radio, caught attention right from his early days in cinema. His two songs in the 1973 film Kattu Vithachavan – Neeyente prarthana kettu… and Mazhavillinanjnathavaasam… – were hits. Then the songs of Ulsavam (Aadya samaagama lajjayil…and Swayamvarathinu) established him as a lyricist to reckon with.
Chart-toppers
Among his chart-toppers are Naathaa nee varum kalocha… (Chamaram), Shararanthal thiri thaanu… (Kayalum Kayarum), Sindoora sandhyaykku mounam… (Choola), Ente janman neeyeduthu…(Itha Oru Dhikkari), Etho janma kalpanayil… (Palangal), Ponveene… (Thalavattam), Naanamaavunno…(Aattakalasam),Poomaaname… (Nirakkoottu) and Anuraagini itha en… (Oru Kudakkeezhil).
The accent on meaningful lyrics may have become less in Malayalam film music by the time Poovachal’s career peaked, but he came up with beautiful, poetic lines in song, such as Naathaa nee varum and Aadya samaagama lajjayil…(Ulsavam). That was also the time when a tune was composed first and the lyricist was asked to write lines accordingly. He was still able to write some fine lines.
Not many know that he wrote one of the most popular light songs in Malayalam – Jayadeva kaviyude…, which was set to a lilting tune by M.G. Radhakrishnan. Through songs like that, Poovachal will always be remembered.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by P.K. Ajith Kumar / Kozhikode – June 22nd, 2021
A doting father and husband, a selfless community worker, our dear friend, and a beautiful human being,” is how one message circulating on social media remembers Tippu Adam Khan, a 42-year-old man who volunteered to help many people in different ways during this pandemic. He succumbed to COVID-19 on Friday. Tippu, a former Vice President at J.P. Morgan played an immense role as a community worker leaving a lasting impact on his family, friends, and even on people who had never met him.
Tippu, along with his friends, had set up ‘Oxygen Helpline‘, a volunteer network to help procure and supply oxygen cylinders for free to people in need across the city.
Humer Khan, who started ‘Oxygen Helpline’ with Tippu Adam Khan says they started the service after he saw the crippling health situation in the city and people dying due to shortage of oxygen supply.
The group has helped more than 500 people across the city so far to procure oxygen cylinders, besides educating people and rendering other assistance to patients.
“Tippu bhai was an inspiration to work with. He worked day and night to help people get oxygen cylinders. He had no fixed timings. You could find him on a call with volunteers at 3 in the night trying to procure cylinders. I have not seen another person like him,” he said.
Mohammed Kaif, co-founder of the NGO Small Appeal, and a friend of Tippu says, he was a relentless and an altruistic individual. Days before he was tested positive for COVID, Tippu had arranged for 9000 masks and dispatched them to Lakshadweep. “When he got to know that there was a rise in Covid cases in the islands, and there was a lack of essential medical supply. He jumped right into it and formed a team to procure medical supplies. He got in touch with people in each island in Lakshadweep to try to understand the needs of people there”.
But friends and associates of Tippu say his work goes beyond providing relief during the pandemic.
Abdullah Raj, a revert and a friend describes Tippu as a genuinely loving person, who was passionate about spreading the message of Islam to the world. “He would talk endlessly about Islam to people trying to clear their misconceptions about the faith”.
Raj said Tippu even left his job as a vice president at J.P. Morgan because it wasn’t complying with Islam, which prohibits interest-based banking. “He was committed to Islam, even at the cost of personal loss,” he said.
In an online condolence meet that was organized in Tippu’s memory on Friday by his friend Imtiaz Chowdhry, more than a hundred people gathered to share their memories of him. One friend Aslam, shared an incident of how Tippu had arranged for monthly groceries for a few widows when he heard that they had no one to support them. Aslam said the families wept when they heard of Tippu’s passing away.
From his children’s school teachers to colleagues, there were tens of people who shared their stories of how Tippu had touched their lives and had helped people. One friend mentioned that he was the grandson of Muslim Vellori (Mohammed Abdul Wahid Khan), a freedom fighter, and a prominent social activist of his time, who took part in many anti-colonial struggles and was jailed several times.
The meeting that was started at 11 pm went on till 2 am. His friends said they had to organize another online meeting the next day to accommodate those who couldn’t attend due to Zoom’s participant limitations.
Tippu was admitted to the city’s Shifa Hospital on June 8th, his brother Tippu Ahmed Khan said. But within days, his condition started worsening and his oxygen level started fluctuating. But even in the hospital bed, Tippu did not stop going out of his to help people in need.
“He was texting and calling people to arrange for oxygen cylinders for other patients when his own health was fast deteriorating,” his brother said.
He was put on ventilator on Friday and he passed away in the evening.
Ameen-E-Mudassar, a Covid warrior who started the Covid Helpline Bangalore website said, in his last message to him, Tippu said that he wanted to start a school, as he had seen many people unable to afford school fees during the pandemic.
“If I come back alive, I want you to work with me on a plan for a school,” he had messaged Ameen. He never came back.
For Tippu’s friends, his silent efforts to help people, without letting anyone know about it is an inspiration they say they would carry forward for the rest of their lives. In the online condolence meeting, one constant statement everyone made about him was how despite knowing him for years there were facets of his life they were not aware of. He had touched the lives of many people in so many ways.
His friends are now planning to bring up a biography of Tippu, highlighting his life and contributions. “It will serve as an inspiration to friends and family and it will serve as a memory to his young children on what a selfless and beautiful man their father was,” said Ameen.
Tippu is survived by his wife and three children.
source: http://www.thecognate.com / The Cognate / Home> News / by Shaik Zakeer Hussain / June 20th, 2021
BJP leader and chairman of Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation Mukhtar Pathan’s son Imran Khan Pathan died in Belagavi on June 13.
He had recovered from COVID -19, but suffered from other complications, family sources said.
He was 27. He was the son in law of senior journalist Saleem Dharwadkar.
Imran Khan Pathan, an IT engineer, had returned to Belagavi a few months after his company allowed him to work from home. He had contracted the virus two weeks ago. He was admitted to a private hospital since then.
“He had recovered from COVID-19, but developed other complications. Efforts of doctors did not succeed in saving him,” family sources said.
The final rites were held in the Idgah burial ground on June 13.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Belagavi – June 13th, 2021
A file photo of Prince Anjum Qudr, Dr Kaukub Quder Sajjad Ali Meerza and Prince Nayyar Qudr posing for a photo with Meerza’s daughter, Manzilat Fatima, at Imambara Sibtainabadin Metiabruz, Kolkata, sometime during 1985-1986
Kolkata / Lucknow :
Kaukub Quder Sajjad Ali Meerza, the great-grandson of Awadh’s last monarch, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, and grandson of Nawab Birjis Quder, died of Covid-19 in Kolkata on Sunday afternoon, aged 87.
Considered an authority on Wajid Ali Shah’s literary and cultural contributions, he is survived by his wife, two sons and four daughters.
Meerza may be buried on Monday at the royal burial ground(Gulshanabad Imambara), about a kilometre from the Sibtainabad Imambarah in Metiabruz, where Wajid Ali Shah rests.
A popular figure in the billiards and snooker fraternity of the country, Quder had graduated with honours in economics from St Xavier’s College in the same batch as Amartya Sen. He studied political science and then a three-year law course.
Subsequently, he studied Urdu at CU, won a silver medal in 1962 and also earned a UGC Junior Fellowship for research on the “Literary & Cultural Contributions of Wajid Ali Shah” in the department of Urdu at Aligarh Muslim University. In 1967, he joined the department as a lecturer and earned a doctorate for his thesis.
Kaukub Quder Sajjad Ali Meerza’s daughter, Talat Fatima, is now translating his book from Urdu to English. “His research was extremely rich. This book, published in the late 70s, has a compilation of some 42 works of Wajid Ali Shah. Some of them are in Persian,” she said, adding that her father preferred to be addressed as “Dr Kaukub Quder Sajjad Ali Meerza” instead of using the title of a prince.
It was his academic interest in his forefather that had also got Satyajit Ray to get in touch with him during the making of “Shatranj ke Khilari”.
On Ray’s birth anniversary this year, his daughter, Manzilat , had tweeted: “There are a couple of letters that were exchanged between Bawa [her father] and Satyajit Ray during the making of Shatranj Ke Khilari.” On Sunday, she spoke about how Ray had even visited their 11 Marsden Street residence that is popularly known as ‘House of Awadh’. “Ray could have gone to anyone else for information. But he chose to get in touch with my father. In fact, he had made many attempts to meet my father but the meeting never happened. Hence, it was through correspondence that he got the information regarding Wajid Ali Shah. I feel Ray had portrayed Wajid Ali Shah in the right light. Many often claim that Wajid Ali Shah had been exiled, but that isn’t true. He had left the kingdom of his own volition. I believe my father’s information helped him give authentic information about Wajid Ali Shah,” she said.
Quder was also a great connoisseur of food. A big photograph of him along with his two brothers hangs in the rooftop restaurant opened by his daughter. “He was happy when he saw how, in my capacity, I was upholding the family name. Awadhi food was already losing its identity. He was happy I was making the effort to popularize that food,” Manzilat said.
Incidentally, he was the chief referee of first World Snooker Championship held at the Great Eastern Hotel in Kolkata in 1963-64. He had remained the chief referee of the National Billiards & Snooker Championship till it left the Palm Court of the Great Eastern Hotel in the 70s .
“It was my father who coached me to play snooker and billiards. I became the first woman participant from India to play the games at the national level,” said Manzilat.
The rolling trophy of the IBSF World Snooker Championship, the MM Baig Trophy, was designed by him. In the 70s, he had also brought out a pioneering Billiards magazine, “The Baulkline”.
According to his son, Irfan Ali Mirza, “He was the founder-secretary of The Billiards & Snooker Federation of India, The West Bengal Billiards Association and The Uttar Pradesh Billiards & Snooker Association.
Sudipta Mitra, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Peerless Hospital and a student of Meerza, describes his mentor’s demise as a “huge loss”. “A part of our cultural history is lost with his demise. He came with pneumonia and was admitted to the ICCU. Unfortunately, he passed away today afternoon due to Covid pneumonia. Jawaharlal Nehru had initiated the idea of the government of India bearing the expense of his education. He was my research guide while writing the book titled ‘Pearl by the River: Nawab Wajid Ali Shah’s Kingdom in Exile’,” Mitra said
The Peerless Hospital CEO, said according to his research, he was “the last royal pension holder”. “In 1892, the British government had created a royal pension book where only the lineage of Birjish and his wife, Mahtab Ara Begum, who was the granddaughter of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor of India, was recognized.
Birjish, who was the only son of Wajid Ali Shah and Begum Hazrat Mahal, was the eldest surviving son of Wajid Ali Shah when the latter died in 1887. That is why this lineage has been recognized for royal pension,” Mitra said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Kolkata / by Priyanka Dasgupta and Yusra Husain / TNN / September 14th, 2020
Renowned educationist, founder of Al-Ameen Educational Society and Daily Salar newspaper, and former Pro-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, Dr Mumtaz Ahmed Khan passed away Thursday evening in Bengaluru. He is survived by his wife, one son, and two daughters. He was 86.
Widely referred to as ‘Baba-e-Taalim’, Dr Mumtaz Ahmed Khan founded the Al-Ameen Educational Society in 1966. The Al-Ameen group of Institutions now number more than 200 in Karnataka and all over the country. In Bengaluru, the Al-Ameen institution has various colleges catering to varied streams from pre-university, degree, post-graduation Institute of Management, College of Pharmacy, and Law College to the Al-Ameen College of Education.
Born on 6 September 1935 in Trichy in Tamil Nadu, Dr Khan did his MBBS at Madras University, Chennai in 1963. After getting married he continued his postgraduate studies, M.S. specializing in surgery at Stanley Medical College, Chennai. He moved to Bengaluru in 1965.
In 1966 at the age of 31, he started the Al-Ameen Educational Society also sometimes referred to as the Al-Ameen Movement, which was a pioneering effort to impart education, especially within the state’s Muslim community.
Dr Khan was one of the founders, trustees of ‘Salar’, an Urdu daily newspaper from Bengaluru since 1964; he was also Pro-Chancellor/Treasurer of Aligarh Muslim University.
He is a recipient of several awards like Karnataka Rajyothsava award (1990), Kempegowda Award, Junior Jayees Award and Public Relation Society of India Award.
‘Dr Mumtaz Ahmed Khan Award’ given every year in recognition of exemplary services by members of the community is named after him.
source: http://www.thecognate.com / The Cognate / Home> News / by Shaik Zakeer Hussain / May 28th, 2021
According to colleagues and friends, Dr Nabila Sadiq, a PhD scholar from JNU, was teaching and helping students with their thesis until April 20.
NEW DELHI :
Dr Nabila Sadiq
Nearly a week after she tested positive for Covid — and sought an ICU bed for herself on Twitter — a 38-year-old assistant professor from Jamia Millia Islamia died at a Faridabad hospital on Monday night.
According to colleagues and friends, Dr Nabila Sadiq, a PhD scholar from JNU, was teaching and helping students with their thesis until April 20.
Ten days before Nabila’s death, her mother Nuzhat (76) had also died of Covid-related complications. Her father was hospitalised for Covid but was eventually discharged and is under home quarantine.
Friends and family said Nabila wasn’t aware of her mother’s death, and died “worrying” about her parents.
Among her last tweets, on May 2, was: “At this rate no one will stay alive in Delhi at least.”
Laraib Neyazi (27), an MA student from Jamia, said, “When I came to know about her health, I rushed to her home with other students, and we started looking for a bed. We found one at Alshifa hospital, where she also tested positive for Covid. Two-four students would always stay at the hospital. Meanwhile, we rushed her mother to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital but she passed away. We didn’t tell Nabila because she was critical…”
Students said Nabila was a caring teacher who loved writing poems, and discussing politics and gender theory. Her students helped perform her mother’s last rites on May 7. Around the same time, Nabila’s health deteriorated.
Waqar, a student from JMI, recalls calling “every hospital in Delhi-NCR to get an oxygen bed”.
“Her friends helped us get a bed at Fortis Hospital in Faridabad. However, her oxygen levels dropped to 32%. After a CT scan, the doctor said her lungs were damaged. I received hundreds of calls every day from her colleagues, relatives and friends asking about her health. We didn’t know what to do” said Waqar.
“Every student who was pursuing gender studies wanted to do their PhD under her mentorship. She helped so many people during the pandemic. We would talk to her and tell her that her parents were missing her, hoping she would feel better and recover. But on Saturday night she was put on a ventilator,” said Waqar.
Nabila’s doctors said she wasn’t responding to medicines and treatment. She died around 11 pm on Monday.
On Tuesday, her students and friends performed her last rites at Mangolpuri, where her mother was buried ten days earlier.
Nabila’s father Sadique (80), a retired professor who taught at Aligarh Muslim University and JNU, was told about his daughter’s death in the afternoon.
He told his family members: “I think she loved her mother more and left with her… leaving me alone here.”
Nabila’s colleague and friend Tarannum Siddiqui said she feels helpless because Sadique is alone. “I have known Nabila and her family for seven years. They helped me last month when I had Covid. When Nabila was admitted to the ICU, I sent her messages on her phone. I knew she wasn’t reading them but I was waiting for her to recover, read those texts and meet me. She was an honest woman. We both taught gender studies. I can’t believe she has left me. JMI has lost a great academician,” said Tarannum.
Manasi Singh, a professor from the Central University of Gujarat, said she has known Nabila for 18 years. “We pursued our Master’s and PhD at JNU together. She was a good friend and a great scholar. I would watch her seminars online and admire her work. She was jovial and I loved her child-like innocence,” said Singh.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Cities> Delhi / by Jignasa Sinha, New Delhi / May 19th, 2021
The incident takes the number of serving and retired faculty members who have died because of Covid or Covid-like symptoms to at least 39.
Professor Mohammad Nasiruddin, 55, from the department of pharmacology died on Sunday / File picture
A senior professor of Aligarh Muslim University has succumbed to the coronavirus disease at the varsity’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, according to officials, taking the number of serving and retired faculty members who have died because of Covid or Covid-like symptoms to at least 39.
Professor Mohammad Nasiruddin, 55, from the department of pharmacology died on Sunday.
Professor Shahid Ali Siddiqui, principal of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, said Nasiruddin had tested positive for Covid-19 and had been admitted to the hospital two weeks ago.
Students of the AMU have submitted a memorandum to vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor urging him to set up separate vaccination centres on campus for university staff and students.
At least 18 serving and 21 retired AMU faculty members have died of Covid or Covid-like symptoms.
On Sunday evening, AMU students took out a candle march in memory of the serving and retired faculty members.
AMU proctor professor Wasim Khan told reporters on Sunday “according to available information, none of the AMU teachers who lost their lives to Covid-19 had been vaccinated”. He said the authorities would consider the students’ demand for separate vaccination centres for them and university staff.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph Online / Home> India / by PTI, Aligarh / May 18th, 2021
