In a heartfelt tribute to Missile Man and former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, the Maulana Azad Manav Seva Sansthan (MAMSS) organized a ceremony at Madrasa Anjuman Islamia to honour 15 outstanding Muslim girls for their academic excellence.
The girls, who secured top marks, were awarded mementos, certificates, and flower garlands as part of the event, which marked Kalam’s birth anniversary.
Chief guest, Kailash Sharma, a senior leader from the state Congress committee, along with other distinguished guests, shed light on Dr. Kalam’s inspirational life journey. Born on October 15, 1931, into a modest Muslim Ansari family in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, Dr. Kalam rose from humble beginnings to become one of India’s most revered scientists and leaders. His immense contributions to India’s space and nuclear programmes were praised during the event.
Notable figures, including Madrasa Anjuman Islamia President Majid Salim, Trade Federation General Secretary Kanhaiya Lal Chittoda, District Congress Committee Vice President Zakir Mansoori, Councillor Mohammad Sharif Rangrez, and Madrasa Board Deputy Chairman Shahid Iqbal Bhati, also addressed the gathering, emphasizing Dr. Kalam’s enduring legacy.
The event saw enthusiastic participation from Dr. Nasir Hussain Yunani, Abdul Wahid, Munna Master, Nasir Khan Bunty, Mohammad Irfan Mansuri, and other community members.
source: http://www.radiancenews.com / Radiance News / Home> Latest News / by Raheem Khan, Radiance News Bureau / October 17th, 2024
Rainbow Peacock Marbled Paper (source: The Whimsical Marbler)
Fatima Alam Ali (1923-2020) was a writer of pen portraits (khaake) and humorous essays (tanz-o-mizah) from Hyderabad. Her work offers an untapped and intimate glimpse into the literary personalities and gatherings that flourished in mid-twentieth century Hyderabad.
Fatima Alam Ali (Source: Asma Burney)
Surprisingly, her writing has not received the proper attention it deserves. This can be attributed to the general neglect of the pen-portrait and non-fiction writing in general in the study of Urdu literature. Most scholarly work and translation has focused on poetry and fiction. However, her work is also neglected, in part due to the triple marginalization that women writers from Hyderabad face—as women, as citizens of a former princely state, and as Urdu writers from the Deccan.
Yaadash Bakhaer by Fatima Alam Ali (Source: Archive.org)
Fatima first began writing at school in Lucknow at the behest of Urdu teacher and writer Razia Sajjad Zaheer. She was later encouraged to continue by Jahanbano Naqvi, another Urdu teacher and writer, when she was at Women’s College (Osmania University) in Hyderabad in the 1940s. Nurtured by a network of women writers, Fatima published widely in newspapers, magazines, and books while also reading her work on All-India Radio and at literary gatherings. In 1989, a collection of her pen-portraits and humorous essays were compiled in a book called Yaadash Bakhaer (“May God Preserve Them”). This text is a rich storehouse of information and insight into contemporary figures living in Hyderabad as well as the reflections of a woman writer coming into her own.
Fatima was the daughter of one of the great Urdu luminaries of the mid-twentieth century, Progressive writer and journalist Qazi Abdul Ghaffar (1889-1956). He began the influential left-wing newspaper Payaam in Hyderabad. Her cheerful and lively personality notwithstanding, Fatima mentions how she felt not only gratitude but also a sense of anxiety about this connection.
Interactions with her father’s peers and members of the Progressive Writers movement were always burdened by the awareness that she was Qazi Sahab’s daughter. She believed that she was respected because of her relationship to Qazi Sahab and not the merit of her own achievements. This left Fatima’s writing dotted with self-deprecating and apologetic comments that gesture towards a certain “anxiety of authorship.” The gendered aspect of this anxiety has been explored by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar in the context of Victorian Women’s writing.
One place this anxiety of authorship appears in Fatima’s work is a long disclaimer she gives about her perceived inability to write about her father. She appeals to her readers that if they do not like her pen-portrait of him, they should forgive her, and if they do like it, then they should attribute it to the “noorani faiz” (luminous grace) of her father. Such prefacing apologies are part of established convention in Urdu and Persianate prose genres (such as the biographical tazkira). However, with women writers, they can be additionally tinged with gendered anxieties stemming from durable patriarchal norms and values.
Fatima’s pen-portraits draw attention to many contemporary Hyderabadi authors. Her portraits bring to life luminaries such as the writer and scholar Agha Hyder Hasan, an old Aligarh connection and dear friend of her father’s, and the scholar Habib ur-Rehman. We also see through her eyes her childhood playmate Ainee, who met her unchanged and with the same affection after a meteoric rise in the literary firmament as Qurratulain Hyder. She remembers Razia Sajjad Zaheer – “a woman in a man’s world” – as a mesmerizing teacher, hardworking mother, talented writer, and maternal figure. Fatima, whose own mother had died soon after her birth, remembers Razia with great emotion and is unable to find the words to describe the love she had given her.
Fatima grew up being mothered by the father figures in her life, an analogy she frequently draws. She describes her unusual and lively relationships with these men, who included, besides her father, her maternal uncles, Agha (whom she called “Chacha”), Habib ur-Rehman (“Baba”), and even Makhdoom Mohiuddin. With Qazi Sahab and Agha, the teenaged Fatima had relationships that were akin to friendships, marked by banter that was strangely grown-up. This was frowned upon in a conservative society that still believed in upholding a certain image of older men as abstract figures demanding veneration and formal distance. Fatima’s banter included teasing her father about the women who would fall for his dashing good looks and jokes with Agha Chacha about her future marriage.
It is not surprising, then, to locate the sense of ease with which Fatima writes and remembers the towering male literary figures of her youth. She writes fluidly and eloquently about them and with the same comfort and affection as she does about Razia Sajjad Zaheer or Zeenath Sajida.
Of particular interest and value in this regard is a memorable essay called “Adabi Mehfil” (“Literary Gathering”) that Fatima wrote – decades later – about an all-male mushaira that was hosted at Qazi Sahab’s home when the Progressive Writers’ Conference took place in 1945. Those who attended included Agha, Makhdoom, Jigar Moradabadi, Fazlur Rehman, Sikandar Ali Wajd, Hosh Bilgrami, Kaifi Azmi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Ali Sardar Jafri, Ghulam Rabbani Taabaan, Sahir Ludhianvi, and Srinivas Lahoti.
Qazi Sahab could not afford the arrangements that were made in aristocratic homes, so they had only a buffet table under the open night-sky. There were no huqqas, only cigarettes, and the sole accessory demonstrating any continuity from an older tradition of mushaira was the paan that was arranged carefully and offered from a khaasdaan.
Fatima Alam Ali (Source: Asma Burney)
In engaging detail, Fatima introduces us to the august personalities of poets, writers, and intellectuals, as they dine with friends and peers before the mushaira begins. It is in her astute, sympathetic observations of these quintessential performers over dinner that we see their human dimensions, somewhat stripped of the dazzle of celebrity. Indeed, small aspects of their personalities often form the most attractive and compelling features of Fatima’s writing. She explains how they spoke more than they ate, how Srinivas Lahoti took over as host and led people to the table, and how Agha Hyder Hasan, who was unaccustomed to the new culture of buffet dining, sat by himself on a chair and balanced his plate on his lap.
Yet, Fatima writes as much as a fan as the host of such a gathering. She tells us, for example, how she held her breath while Makhdoom recited, afraid to disturb even the air around him. In vivid, engrossing detail, she recreates the charged atmosphere of the mushaira, where “in the Lakhnavi style,” everyone gives way to the others until Qazi Sahab intervenes and directs one of the younger poets to begin.
The euphoria when a striking verse is skillfully recited, the enthusiastic requests for certain well-known compositions, the restlessness when a particularly fraught verse is delivered, the unspoken code of hierarchy and ceremony, and even the specific verses that were produced – all these are represented in sparkling prose and bring the mushaira alive for the reader. What adds to the immediacy and vividness of her writing is that she addresses the reader periodically, saying “just look at this!” or “did you see that?,” transporting the reader to the time of imaginative reconstruction.
At the same time, Fatima does not shrink from criticizing these great men, telling us regretfully that the gifted ghazal proponent Majrooh Sultanpuri is now but a “filmi” poet or that Sahir Ludhianvi was already full of himself before he became famous. Through her sensitive, discerning descriptions of their appearance, temperament, and individual style of recitation, we get an intimate glimpse into their personalities: Majaaz, who was always shy when sober; sleepy, languid, dishevelled Kaifi, who always had a strange glitter in his eyes at mushairas; Jigar’s jaunty self and the errant wisp of hair that peeped flirtatiously from his cap; Sulaiman Areeb, who would cadge cigarettes from an indulgent Qazi Sahab, who in turn would sway in pleasure when Makhdoom sang his best verses; Makhdoom, the people’s poet, who would ask for achaar with his qorma and later be inundated with requests for his verses; and the evergreen wit and flamboyance of Agha, the quintessential Mughal from old Delhi.
Fatima Alam Ali (Artist and Source: Asma Burney)
In engaging detail, Fatima introduces us to the august personalities of poets, writers, and intellectuals, as they dine with friends and peers before the mushaira begins. It is in her astute, sympathetic observations of these quintessential performers over dinner that we see their human dimensions, somewhat stripped of the dazzle of celebrity. Indeed, small aspects of their personalities often form the most attractive and compelling features of Fatima’s writing. She explains how they spoke more than they ate, how Srinivas Lahoti took over as host and led people to the table, and how Agha Hyder Hasan, who was unaccustomed to the new culture of buffet dining, sat by himself on a chair and balanced his plate on his lap.
Yet, Fatima writes as much as a fan as the host of such a gathering. She tells us, for example, how she held her breath while Makhdoom recited, afraid to disturb even the air around him. In vivid, engrossing detail, she recreates the charged atmosphere of the mushaira, where “in the Lakhnavi style,” everyone gives way to the others until Qazi Sahab intervenes and directs one of the younger poets to begin.
The euphoria when a striking verse is skillfully recited, the enthusiastic requests for certain well-known compositions, the restlessness when a particularly fraught verse is delivered, the unspoken code of hierarchy and ceremony, and even the specific verses that were produced – all these are represented in sparkling prose and bring the mushaira alive for the reader. What adds to the immediacy and vividness of her writing is that she addresses the reader periodically, saying “just look at this!” or “did you see that?,” transporting the reader to the time of imaginative reconstruction.
At the same time, Fatima does not shrink from criticizing these great men, telling us regretfully that the gifted ghazal proponent Majrooh Sultanpuri is now but a “filmi” poet or that Sahir Ludhianvi was already full of himself before he became famous. Through her sensitive, discerning descriptions of their appearance, temperament, and individual style of recitation, we get an intimate glimpse into their personalities: Majaaz, who was always shy when sober; sleepy, languid, dishevelled Kaifi, who always had a strange glitter in his eyes at mushairas; Jigar’s jaunty self and the errant wisp of hair that peeped flirtatiously from his cap; Sulaiman Areeb, who would cadge cigarettes from an indulgent Qazi Sahab, who in turn would sway in pleasure when Makhdoom sang his best verses; Makhdoom, the people’s poet, who would ask for achaar with his qorma and later be inundated with requests for his verses; and the evergreen wit and flamboyance of Agha, the quintessential Mughal from old Delhi.
At the same time, she comments on the unreliability and instability of memory, cautioning us that time, place, and people are likely to get mixed up in her writing. And yet, she reveals an astonishing ability to reproduce verbatim specific verses or entire ghazals or nazms that were recited at literary gatherings. This signals how our memories operate, focusing on the enduring impression that certain events and experiences make on us, rather than external or superficial contexts.
Fatima’s pen-portraits are always coloured with expressions of nostalgia and loss and an urgency to record these figures, their work, and their milieu for posterity to ensure that they are not forgotten. In the process, she creates an important “memorative” collection that provides unique information, insight, and perspective upon a particularly important period in the history of Urdu literature.
source: http://www.maidaanam.com / Maidaanam.com / Home / by Nazia Akhtar / October 11th, 2011
By Nazia Akhtar. Nazia is Assistant Professor of Literature at the International Institute of Information Technology, Gachibowli-Hyderabad. Her research interests include the literature and history of Hyderabad, Partition Studies, women’s writing, and comparative literature.
That culinary addition is attributed to Chef Manzilat Fatima’s great-great grandfather Wajid Ali Shah, the Nawab of Awadh.
Chef Manzilat Fatima, April 22, 2024. (image courtesy: Umang Sharma)
Manzilat’s great-grandfather did
On most evenings, Manzilat Fatima’s rooftop restaurant in South Kolkata, aptly named Manzilat’s, is packed with food connoisseurs waiting to taste the incredible dishes she prepares for them. But there is another reason foodies climb four flights of stairs to her quaint little eatery.
An engraving of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. Pic Courtesy/ Wikimedia Commmons
What Manzilat does, is nothing short of remarkable. Not only does she tantalize the tastebuds of food lovers with exceptional dishes such as Chicken Lazeez Shami Kebab, Lakhnavi Murgh Biryani, or the famed Lakhnawi Mutton Yakhni Pulav – but she also evocatively creates a bridge between the present and the royal past of Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh.
Manzilat Fatima is the great-great granddaughter of the Nawab who made his home in Kolkata after the British East India Company annexed his kingdom. He gave the culinary world the famed aloo in Biryani.
A descendant of Awadh
“I am a direct descendent of Wajid Ali Shah and Begum Hazrat Mahal ,” Manzilat reveals.
After the annexation, her great, great grandmother Begum Hazrat Mahal who took charge of Awadh, put her son Birjis Qadr on the throne in 1857. Birjis Qudr was the son of Jaan e Alam Wajid Ali Shah and Begum Hazrat Mahal.
Manzilat is the daughter of Dr. Kaukub Qudr Meerza, the grandson of Birjis Qudr, she explains.
Like her pantry, stocked with delectable food, Manzilat is a storehouse of stories and fascinating history.
A conspiracy at play
According to Manzilat, despite having no inheritance, Birjs was still the legal heir of Wajid Ali Shah and Begum Hazrat Mahal.
“Birjs Qadr had a son Mehr Qadr who was my grandfather,” adds Manzilat. “He did not have any siblings growing up. He did have a family, but they were assassinated in cold blood on August 14, 1893.”
Manzilat says that the British invited Mehr Quadr from Kathmandu to Calcutta under a false pretext. “The other descendants of the Awadh royal family wanted to snuff out the last crown king, even though there was nothing to inherit by then.”
There was a deeper conspiracy at play.
A dish of Awadhi biryani (image courtesy: Manzilat Fatima restaurant)
A poisoned dinner
“In order to snuff out this branch they cooked up a conspiracy along with the British and invited him and his family over for dinner where they laced the food with poison. In that tragedy, he, along with a son and daughter as well as his guards and dogs were murdered.”
Only Mehr Quadr’s wife, Mehtab Ara Begum, survived. She was pregnant with Manzilat’s grandfather and did not attend the dinner. “Had she gone for the dinner, the entire course of history would perhaps have been different,” says Manzilat.
Her grandmother, Mehtab Ara Begum, survived along with an unborn child – Manzilat’s father- and a daughter who was four years old at that time. The little girl grew up and married, but died childless. But the lineage of Wajid Ali Shah continued through Mehr Qadr and Manzilat’s father Kaukub Qudr Meerza.
“My lineage shaped me into a very loyal Indian,” she says. “We grew up hearing stories of valor of Begum Hazrat Mahal and Birjs Qadr and how, after 1857, (she) chose to live free in Kathmandu, Nepal. Our history helped us be grounded and honest. We learned the art of sacrifice.”
From lawyer to chef
Growing up, Manzilat heard stories about the tragedy and the conspiracy that destroyed her family – from their time in Lucknow until Birjs Qadr’s assassination, and how her grandfather was protected and grew up very sheltered because of the constant threat to his life.
Being a chef was not always the game plan. Manzilat studied at Aligarh Public School and graduated with an English (Hons) degree from Women’s College, Aligarh Muslim University. She enrolled at Calcutta University for her Master’s in English and a few years after her marriage, even completed a five-year LL.B course in 2002.
Chef Manzilat Fatima (image courtesy: (Umang Sharma)
Manzilat opened the doors to her kitchen to food lovers from all over the world. As the smoke rises from her tender Mutton Awadhi Galwtii Kebab, or tear-drop-shaped condensation rolls down her chilled Khus ka sherbet, or even as patrons savor the pillowy soft aloo in their biryani, Manzilat knows that she has not only served some delectable dishes but offered her guests a panoramic view into the world of her ancestors and what they stood for – the mighty Wajid Ali Shah, the indomitable Begum Hazrat Mahal.
In the fragrant aroma of her kitchen, Manzilat Fatima is the custodian of the legacy of the last Nawab of Awadh. Her guests experience more than just culinary delights; they immerse themselves in a narrative of courage, tradition, and the enduring spirit of Awadh.
source: http://www.indiacurrents.org / India Currents / Home> Food> India> Lifestyle / by Umang Sharma / April 26th, 2024
Their work focused on Muslim women writers and their contributions to magazines in Kerala during the period.
Reading Rumours curators Haneena P A and Jazeela Basheer
Kozhikode :
Victorian-era English novelist and poet Mary Ann Evans famously adopted the pseudonym George Eliot to escape the constraints of social norms and patriarchy.
As times changed, female writers increasingly gained the courage to publish under their own names. However, in Kerala – a region still grappling with significant gender disparities – women defied the odds and entered the publishing industry as early as the 1900s. Yet, tracing the contributions of some, particularly Mappila women, proves challenging.
The exhibition titled Reading Rumours, held at Silk Street in Kozhikode, shed light on the hidden history of women’s involvement in Kerala’s print culture between 1900 and the 1950s. Curated by research scholar Haneena P A and exhibition designer Jazeela Basheer, the event is the result of two years of research by the collective Around The Sufrah. Their work focused on Muslim women writers and their contributions to magazines in Kerala during the period.
“Print culture flourished in Kerala from 1900 to 1950, and readership grew. But the contributions of women writers from this era have largely been overlooked,” Haneena told TNIE.
“Reading Rumours brings together the micro-histories of these women writers, encouraging visitors to engage with their stories and legacies.” The title, Reading Rumours, symbolises women’s quest for knowledge and their fight for recognition.
“Rumours are often seen as statements without a reliable source of truth, frequently associated with women. Much of women’s knowledge, history, and experiences are dismissed as mere gossip. The title is also a play on the traditional vayanashaala, or reading rooms, where men would gather to read and discuss,” Haneena explained.
The idea for Reading Rumours originated from a desire to present Haseena’s postgraduate thesis in a more accessible, popular format.
“This exhibition is an extension of my thesis, which focused on Mappila women in print. We are generally aware of only a handful of female writers from the early 1900s, but my research uncovered around 25 Muslim women who were actively involved in writing for magazines and other publications,” she said.
The three-day exhibition, which began on October 4, received enthusiastic support from the public. “The response has been overwhelming,” Haneena noted.
“Many visitors expressed surprise at discovering the significant role Muslim women played in Kerala’s early print culture,” she said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Kerala / by Lakshmi Athira / October 07th, 2024
The deadline to submit applications for entry into the post-matriculation boys’ and girls’ hostels under the Minority Welfare Department for the current academic year (2024-25) has been extended to November 11.
Pre-university (PUC), parallel course, professional course, graduation and post-graduation students may apply for accommodation at the hostels, under the State Scholarship Programme, the authorities have said in a press release, adding that the applications are provided on the State Hostel Portal (SHP) site.
Additional information on applying for accommodation at the hostels is available on the SHP site. The applicants may also approach the government personnel at the district and taluk offices of the Minority Welfare Department, the press release has stated.
source: http://www.english.varthabharati.in / Vartha Bharati / Home> Karnataka / by Vartha Bharati / October 15th, 2024
Meet 25-year-old specially-abled girl, who plays basketball, does motivational speaking and drives a car.
Ishrat Akhter in Team India jersey | eNewsroom India
Delhi:
Ishrat Akther from Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir is a multi-faceted personality. She is an international wheelchair basketball player, a motivational speaker, Kashmir’s young leader and an achiever’s award-winner. Indeed, six years back, Ishrat’s life had no meaning — but an incident changed it all.
Now, Ishrat has become an inspiration for all those individuals who set limitations for themselves. Who refuse to dream and achieve their ambitions.
The girl next door
Ishrat was born in a village where women did not participate in sports. Like any other girl, she believed whatever her family taught her and did not dare to dream big. However, her life changed on August 24, 2016, when she fell from the balcony of her house. The injury was serious, it damaged her spinal cord – making her physically challenged.
Life changed for the good when the 25-year-old girl from the Authoora area in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district started her basketball career in 2018. For her, playing basketball was not just a love for the sport but a passion for standing against all odds, come what may.
“I never played any sport before 2016, not even in school, but in 2016 when I was just 18 years old, I met with an accident. I fell off from the balcony of my house and this made me bedridden for two long years,” recalls Ishrat.
Did not surrender to fate
A brave and resilient girl, she developed the will power to transform adversity into hope. Certainly, she did not wish to live a life of hopelessness and despair.
“After that accident, I was a patient at the Voluntary Medicare Society. I saw some boys coming to play basketball on the court which was in the society and all of them were in wheelchairs! Seeing them play, I was deeply influenced. I was inspired. I thought, “I don’t want to sit idle. Let people form their own, biased opinions,” she says and continues:
I, therefore, decided to play basketball. I remember that when the selection process for the Indian team started, police and army people came to my home and informed me that my name was in the list and if I wanted to attend the three-day selection process for the Indian team, I must leave for Chennai within a day. For me, this was a golden opportunity, so I left for Chennai all alone, and participated in the selection process. Luckily, and to my great joy, I got selected. Since then, I have been determined to live a life based on self-conviction, will power and courage.
At the Medicare Society, I joined the Wheelchair Basketball Team and got selected for the ‘nationals’ in Tamil Nadu, representing Delhi. Jammu and Kashmir did not have a team at that time. I was part of a team of good players. Eventually, a team for the state was conceived. I played the second national game at Mohali, representing J&K.
Ishrat Akhter receiving an award by the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha | eNewsroom India
Conquering world
“I was selected to represent India at the Asia Oceania Wheelchair Basketball Championship at Pattaya, Thailand in 2019. I am the only girl from my state who has represented India at the international level. Besides, I have participated in a Boys’ Wheelchair Race, I being the only girl in the race. Happily, I secured the first position. I also play Wheelchair Table Tennis,” says Ishrat, with great pride.
Among others, Colonel Isenhower has been a constant support for Ishrat. He has been her guide, mentor and guru. And she is full of praise for him.
“When the selection process for the Indian team was going on, communication services were suspended in Kashmir. Hence, Colonel Isenhower, who was in Kochi, traced me out in two days and arranged everything. Since then, he has been an inspiration for me. He has always been motivating me to do much, much more. He always says that I have to make my name and thus refuse to be restrained — because I am a wheelchair-bound person,” says Ishrat.
Ishrat’s family has always acted with amazing positivity and magnanimity, giving her optimism and courage. She feels that, undoubtedly, it is due to the support of her family that she has reached the international forum, something impossible to conceive for a girl with the kind of difficulties she had faced in her life.
On the flip side, she believes that her life has completely changed because of the accident which resulted in her opting for basketball.
Indeed, after four years of the accident, Ishrat has resumed her academic life, and is currently pursuing a diploma in the Women’s Polytechnic College, Srinagar.
Truly, she represents the eternal metaphor of hope. For her, sky is the limit.
“Not just an international recognition but after 4 years of my accident, I resumed my studies. I passed my Class 10 and also appeared for my Class 12 exams. Now, I’m also pursuing my Diploma,” she says.
Controls her life
The specially-abled Ishrat, braving all odds drives a car, all by herself without anyone’s support.
“In the beginning, it was very difficult, but I wanted to drive by myself. If one has courage and willpower – one can achieve anything in life,” she adds.
“I remember, I used to feel scared even if I had to go some miles away from my home but today I travel alone, even when I have to go to some places outside Kashmir. There are instances when I observe people looking at me and seeing how I manage things but at the same time I’m proud of the fact that today, I get invited to speak as a motivational speaker across India,” she points out.
In 2019, she was also selected for a Sports Visitors Program- Wheelchair Basketball and Accessibility in the USA but because of personal issues she was not able to attend it.
Ishrat is also a motivational speaker and has delivered many talks in Kashmir and other states. She was presented the Kashmir Young leadership award and Kashmir Young Achievers Award 2021 by the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha.
She has also received the Women Steel award 2022 from JKPCC.
source: http://www.enewsroom.in / eNews Room India / Home> Play On> She / by Varalika Mishra / May 08th, 2022
Rana Ayyub, an Indian investigative journalist and Global Opinion Writer at The Washington Post, is the recipient of one of the two coveted 2024 International Press Freedom Awards, as announced by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). She has been named for this award for her reporting that tenaciously upholds press freedom while holding governments accountable.
Ayyub will attend the CJFE Gala: A Night to Celebrate Courage in Journalism, where she will accept the award in Toronto on October 23.
When Ayyub went undercover in 2010 to look into the government’s role in communal violence – which is defined as violence based on race or religion – she established her reputation for fearless reporting. Since then, she has provided news and investigative reports about the persecution of minorities, state-sanctioned violence, and communal politics for a variety of Indian and international publications, such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and Foreign Policy. Her best-selling book, Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover-up was released in 2016.
The Modi administration has reacted angrily to Ayyub’s political exposés. Ayyub is one of India’s most harassed and abused reporters, according to the International Centre for Journalists, and the UN special rapporteur has urged Indian government to stop the “relentless misogynistic and sectarian attacks” against her.
source: http://www.radiancenews.com / Radiance News / Home> Pride of the Nation> Awards / by Radiance News Bureau / October 04th, 2024
Anam Rais Khan is the first female and first ever Muslim from Aligarh Muslim University to qualify the prestigious Delhi Judicial Services Examination 2018, securing 71st rank to become a judge in Delhi.
She completed her B.A.LL.B (Hons) from AMU in 2015 and did LLM from National Law University Delhi in 2016. She was the University Gold Medalist and also received Gold Medal in Constitutional Law. Socially active on campus, she organised several legal literacy awareness programs, donation camps and environment campaigns.
She qualified UGC NET and got enrolled with Bar Council of Delhi in 2017. Then she moved to Australia with her husband, who is a software engineer at TCS, and started working at a reputed Immigration consultancy firm in Sydney. But her strong desire for competing judicial services exams was always there and she kept preparing for it for around 1.5 years and then gave it a shot in January 2019 and cleared the most coveted judicial services exam of India at the young age of 26.
Her husband, Adil Khan always stood by her, supported her and encouraged her, come what may. Her father, A.R. Khan, Retired Station Superintendent in Indian Railways always wanted to see her daughter adorn this respectable post, and Rahul Yadav, her mentor at Rahul’s IAS Coaching, guided her throughout the journey.
She also thanks her mother Prof. Samina Khan and sister Alvina Khan and her in-laws for being so supportive always. Anam says she always wanted to be a judge because being a judge gives one the power and also the responsibility to correct so many injustices in society. She says now she will be able to contribute to the evolution of law, serve the nation, and become a better student of law and at the end of the day sleep with a clear conscience by making a difference in the society.
Her advice to the aspiring candidates would be not to become bookworms and try to think out of the box.
source: http://www.radiancenews.com / Radiance News / Home> Latest News > Markers of Excellence / by Radiance News Bureau / October 03rd, 2024
The record for making the longest cotton banner on drug abuse was set by Muslim High School in association with JRC Coordinator Ramla Beebi (born on May 15, 1968) of Palakkad, Kerala.
A total number of 2000 people wrote messages on drug abuse on the banner (measuring 1220 m in length) on July 4, 2022 at 10:30 am, as confirmed on July 23, 2022.
source: http://www.indiabookofrecords.in / India Book of Records – IBR / Home> Culture & Creativity / by ibr editor / November 01st, 2022
This is just not another memoir of a politician happily or unhappily bounds to look back; the author, instead, talks like a grandmother narrating a story of post-independent India somewhat interlinked with the Congress.
Mohsina Kidwai, author of the book ‘My Life in Indian Politics’
Book Review: Non-fiction (Memoir)/2022; My Life in Indian Politics by Mohsina Kidwai (As told to Rasheed Kidwai); HarperCollins, 300pp (Hardback)
Indian politics is a sort of ‘wonder’ and its unique existential positioning can’t be imagined without people behind its ups and downs. Reading the memoirs, especially of those who served in public life for long, is amongst the rewarding pastimes of a reader. I read Mohsina Kidwai’s memoir as a manuscript, and of course, I reread it even more carefully in its print version. Here is a candid account of a prominent political figure of India who dispels the stereotyped traditional notions that are usually expected to be self-centred and being extra boastful in the first person narrative.
Mohsina Kidwai has been in public life as a member of the Indian National Congress for over six decades. A cabinet minister in several successive central governments and a senior office-holder in the Congress, she has had a ringside view of Indian politics for almost the entire span of independent India’s existence. She has witnessed, and been a participant in, the tenures of prime ministers from Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and was a member of parliament until 2016, one of only twenty Muslim women to have been elected to the Lok Sabha since 1951. She has had a prolific track record that can’t be compared with her fellow women politicians, more so, from the Muslim community.
My Life in Indian Politics by Mohsina Kidwai
The book reflects well on her long and eventful life in politics and covers quite skilfully her contributions to public life, and also succeeds in providing an honest appraisal of the turn in fortunes of the political party she has remained a loyal member of over the decades. The author along with co-author and senior journalist Rasheed Kidwai, endow the readers with rare glimpses to homes, lives and hurly-burly of election campaigns from bygone era when Congress dominated the political landscape at centre and in the states.
One such memorable one was the Azamgarh bypoll in 1978, which Mohsina Kidwai won as Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief, and which signalled a revival of the Congress’s fortune after its spectacular defeat in the post-Emergency general elections of 1977. The book’s cover informs you and inside, the details and rich and beautifully presented.
We get to see little known facts about India’s Prime Ministers Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narsimha Rao. Similarly, she is forthright in accepting that her move to join the breakaway Tiwari Congress in 1995 was a mistake.
Here is a quick recap of a few of them:
Mohsina Kidwai talks about an incident which happened when Lal Bahadur Shastri had visited Barabanki sometime in the early 1950s. “A few years after marriage, I saw Shastriji, who had come to meet my father-in-law. Jameel ur Rahman Kidwai Saab had stood for elections and Shastriji was canvassing for him. Shastriji was a simple man. Our domestic help, who did not recognize him, asked him where he was from. Shastriji, by then already a Union minister, replied that he had come in connection with the election and wished to meet Jameel Saab.
“He will return home in the evening,” the domestic help told Shastriji and asked him to wait. Shastriji waited. The servant served him tea.
In the evening, when my father-in-law returned, he saw Shastriji waiting.
A little embarrassed, my father-in-law scolded the servant for not informing him about the guest. After that Shastriji became a member of our extended family.” Some rarest accounts on Indira Gandhi:
“Indiraji was extremely caring and attentive. I can go on talking about many instances. Sometime after the 1977 Lok Sabha polls when Indira ji was in opposition, she planned to visit Badrinath for puja. I and Narayan Dutt Tiwari and I accompanied her. It was an October month. We were told that puja starts at 4 am. Asking us to wait, she went to the temple for Puja. We were to start at 6 am on the return journey to New Delhi. At 5 am, Indiraji returned from the temple and checked whether all the vehicles of our convoy were ready. The pundit of the temple offered us breakfast. When we were having breakfast, the drivers were heating the engines of their respective vehicles. I told Indiraji, we had breakfast but poor drivers must be hungry. They have not even had tea as they were busy heating vehicle engines. I suggested we stop at the first tea shop in return for the drivers to have tea. She agreed.
Indiraji had the habit of carrying some snacks with her in a basket during travel. After a while I saw her taking out some biscuits from the basket kept beneath her seat. She tore the biscuits in four pieces and asked the driver to pick the pieces one by one from her hand while driving. She extended her hand carrying biscuit pieces and the driver did what he was told to do. Indiraji used to enjoy such affection and spontaneous display of it that it often stunned me and used to fill my heart with admiration and pride for my leader.”
“Indiraji could also sense what people around her were feeling. Once we were traveling by an overnight train to Gorakhpur and I suddenly realised I was alone with the Prime Minister in the first-class coupe. She sensed that I was a little uncomfortable and directed me to turn my face towards the wall and go off to sleep,” adds the author.
Undeniably, the book is written with honesty and simplicity, and should be better known as a work to assess an entire era in Indian politics. This is just not another memoir of a politician happily or unhappily bound to look back. She, instead, talks like a grandmother narrating a story of post-independent India somewhat interlinked with the Congress. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in knowing India, its democracy and the foundational stories of a remarkable journey.
(The author is a policy professional, columnist and writer with a special focus on South Asia. Views expressed are personal.)
source: http://www.outlook.com / Outlookindia.com / Home> Culture & Society> Book Review / by Atul K Thakur / January 07th, 2023
