Category Archives: Women/Girls(since May26-2021)

Nuh’s Niyaz Khan and his 11 daughters who swam against the tide for education

Nuh, HARYANA:

11 daughters of Niyaz Khan
11 daughters of Niyaz Khan

When I met Shabnam and her elder sister Nafisa after a flight of 37 steps of a half-built high-rise building on the Nuh-Tawadu road, I couldn’t gauge the high spirits of these two women, their nine sisters, and late father Niyaz Khan in our brief meeting.

Niyaz Khan, a former revenue officer in the Punjab Waqf Board, has left this world, but he is remembered for bringing about the change in the mindset of Muslims in Nuh through his act of giving a good education to all his 11 daughters.

Not only he educated his daughters but 8 of them became teachers and are carrying on the mission of spreading education in one of the most backward areas of India.

In a conversation with Awaz-The Voice, Shabnam says, “I and my sisters who are teachers make efforts to ensure that girl students in our respective schools do not give up on their studies midway and drop out of school. We also make extra efforts to see that besides retaining the numbers, more girls are enrolled in the school.”

Shabnam says that to retain girl students they call the parents of students to school to make them aware of the importance of education.

Shabnam, who worked in an NGO for a long time before joining the government school, says, “Due to my experience with an NGO, I face lesser difficulties in this job (retaining girl students in school) in comparison to other sisters. My experience of working on child education in an NGO is helping me.”

She says that increasing the number of students helps in upgrading schools. Shabnam is now TGT i.e. Trained Graduate Teacher in Rithoda vuillage. The primary school where she worked earlier has since been converted into a middle school.

Shabnam and Nafisa

Shabnam’s elder sister Nafisa says that many parents come to consult her and all her teacher-siblings. They ask them how to ensure a good future for their daughters. “Many times strangers stop them at the bus stand for paying compliments and telling us that they want their daughters to be like us.”

Nuh remains one of the most backward districts of Haryana, where women are struggling to rise amidst diehard patriarchy, old-fashioned thoughts, rampant illiteracy, and a lack of basic facilities. The dropout rate of girl students is the highest in the state.

Although there are many schools and colleges in Nuh, it has no university and women must go outside for higher education.

Asif Ali Chandaini, General Secretary of Mewat Vikas Manch, says, about 70 to 80 percent of the population of the district survives by doing petty and menial jobs. In such a situation, parents have financial constrains, and safety of daughters as issues in their minds while deciding on educating their daughters. In the end they prefer to keep their girls at home.

Defying such conservative traditions in the decade of nineties, Niyaz Khan decided to send his daughters for higher education.

Nafisa, the eldest of the sisters, who spoke with Awaz-the voice said their father had a transferable job. As long as the family was living outside Mewat, he did not face any problems in educating his daughters. However, after he met with an accident, took voluntary retirement and shifted permanently to Nuh in 1993, he faced stiff opposition to sending his daughters to colleges and universities.

Her father was a resident of Chandaini village, about four kilometers from Nuh. The people there are progressive and clear about the aware of education.

Praising her father and grandfather, Shabnam says, “Both were very great people. Dada (paternal grandfather) never stopped us from going to college and school. In the nineties, when the environment was worse than what you see today, he not only continued to give higher education to his daughters but also sent them out of Nuh for studies.”

Shabnam has also studied law; her husband is a practicing advocate in Sohna.

Despite the regressive environment around them, Niyaz Khan’s eight daughters became teachers. They are employed in government schools. Shabnam says teaching was their choice.

Shabnam has five children. One of her daughters has a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from Banaras. Her other children are also into masters and other higher education courses.

Nafisa’s elder son is pursuing a Ph.D. in Physics.

Shabnam and Nafisa say that they care least about others’ opinions when it comes to their children’s education. “Our children are moving forward by choosing their careers. We are only supporting them,” they said almost in unison.

 According to Nafisa, the children of the younger sisters are also pursuing education at different levels.

She tells that things are changing for Mewati Muslims on the education of girls. However, the change is quite slow.

Nafisa says that there is a trend of girls dropping out after fifth or eighth standard and being sitting at home.

Many parents prefer to send their daughters to Maktab, local Madrasa, instead of sending them to school.

Shabnam’s disciple Mohammad Rafiq, who has done his Ph.D. on the topic of Mewat’s female Sarpanch, says that the picture of Mewat can change if the authorities present these eleven sisters as ‘role models’.

The 11 sisters becoming the face of women’s education and empowerment can bring down the dropout rate significantly. However, both the sisters do not agree on this.

They feel the thrust on women’s education has to begin from their homes of Muslims.”Everything cannot be left to the government; the politicians of Mewat have to show willpower,” Shabnam says.

She said once she invited the local politicians to a meeting of Urdu teachers, but none of them came. She also this was the most discouraging since most of them are her relatives.

Despite this, they do not show any special seriousness towards education.

Niyaz Khans’s daughters:

Nafisa: JBT & B.Ed, Govt Teacher

Shabnam: MA, LLB, JBT, government teacher

Afsana: JBT, MA, B.Ed.

Farhana: JBT, MA, B.Ed. government teacher

Shahnaz: JBT, MA, B.Ed teacher in private school

Ishrat: B.A

Nusrat: Lecturer in JBT, MA, MEd and employed in a Polytechnic

Ana: JBT, MA B.Ed, Govt Teacher

Razia: MBA and working in private sector

Nazia: Diploma in Architecture, works in private sector

Bushra: MA, B.Ed

source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz, The Voice / Home> Stories / by Malick Asghar Hashmi / May 04th, 2023

Hana Mohsin Khan is a pilot yet it wasn’t easy for her

SAUDI ARABIA / Meerut, UTTAR PRADESH:

Hana, (second from left), with her parents (in middle) and siblings
Hana, (second from left), with her parents (in middle) and siblings

It was on a day in November of 2020; commercial flights were resuming after a long hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. An octogenarian Sumitra Devi (name changed on request) was on her maiden flight from Gaya to Delhi when out of curiosity she requested the crew to show her the pilot of the aeroplane. The air hostess of aircraft A320 escorted the lady to see the cockpit from the outside

As soon as she had a glimpse of the crew, the lady’s pupils widened and she quipped in a Haryanvi accent: “Oi yahan to chori baithi” (Oh! It’s a girl sitting inside). That girl was Hana Mohsin Khan, a commercial pilot with an Indian airliner.

Thinking of that experience makes Hana laughs loudly even today. Hana’s post on Twitter on this went viral and made her famous. Hana is one of the 34 Muslims among 3500 women pilots in India. As such India has the largest proportion of women pilots in comparison with the rest of the world and yet the representation of Muslims is also one in 100.

Hana flying her aircraft

Hana’s rise too wasn’t easy; she reached this position after pursuing journalism and running an event management company. Growing up as a Muslim woman brings its own set of challenges for girls with evolved minds and higher ambitions. Hana also faced this.

She did her schooling in Saudi Arabia and after passing her 10th standard, she returned to Meerut City, Uttar Pradesh. While in Saudi, she lived in a society where women were not treated on par with men, back home, in her Muslim milieu, she was labeled as a “fast girl”. After she shifted to Delhi for her graduation, she was labeled as a “prim and proper’ woman, a euphemism for a docile woman in an urban environment.

Hana says these labels impacted her and became a reason that made her take long to find her true calling. Today, after being a celebrity, she says she is “still eager to gain knowledge.” She says, “Don’t be surprised if some 10 years down the line you see me having mastered in some other field.”

Speaking with Awaz-the Voice she recalls meeting a group of pilots attending a wedding in 2014 in Trivandrum. They invited her over for a cup of tea, “Facebook used to have check-in where people would flaunt their status while flying. I realized I was the only non-flying person in that group.” This was the moment for Hana to realize her calling. She decided to become a pilot.

Hana said, “I started preparing for the qualifying examinations in the off-wedding season, I used to study 18 hours a day; it wasn’t easy as I should have appeared in the examination at least 15 years back.” Hana cleared her written exams with flying colours and was finally selected after clearing three flying tests before she received her commercial flying license. She later went to Florida, USA, for her flight training and then to Greece to specialise in Airbus aircraft.

Hana (in middle) during her training days

However. the real battle lay ahead, as she hadn’t yet broken the news to her parents. “It was like a movie scene, I sat my parents down and told them, “I am about to break an important decision to you, but you cannot say anything negative, at least not in front of me.”

Hana recalls how her parent felt anxious when she broke the news. However, they never said no to her. It was only after she got a job with a major airline that her mother exclaimed, “Everyone said she was making a mistake, there aren’t jobs available in this field and so on…”

Her father Mohsin Khan comes from Shahjahanpur, Meerut while her mother hails from Pabli. The couple had big dreams for their children. The family shifted to Saudi Arabia when she was a toddler. “Growing up, I never felt lesser than anyone, it is now that I realize that maybe we women are not as strong as men but that doesn’t make us less equals and I thank my father for it.”

Hana, the eldest of her four siblings, is born a leader and had supportive parents but in the school, she struggled for equality. “Growing up in Saudi Arabia I never saw women driving, I didn’t see women doing a lot of things that I thought they should be doing, though now it’s changed, I think that is why I became a rebel more than anything else.”

“In my school in Saudi, the smaller building was for the girls while the bigger one was allotted to boys, though we went to the boys’ building for attending functions; the very idea of bifurcation based on gender disparaged me.”

She shared an incident from her 10th standard. “At a summer camp where teachers of the girls’ and boys’ school were swapped; a male teacher started teaching the chapter on engines to a class fo girls. The teacher wrote the name of the chapter on the board and said: “Arey engine hain (oh! Its engines), I know most of the girls won’t be interested”, and started laughing.”

Hana with her pet babies Cessna and Chewy

The 13-year-old Hana found it offensive. She asked her father to teach her everything about engines. “I went through encyclopedia videos and made my father open our car bonnet and tell me what it was. It was in the 55-degree Celsius temperature but hats off to my father who didn’t stop me from asking the questions and taught me all about the engines.”

The next day she surprised her teacher with her knowledge of engines.

When Hana returned to Meerut City for pursuing her studies after 10th, she was ostracized for being so vocal for her rights, “I was questioned on the way of dressing up, riding a Scooty, and being friends with the boys.”

She had scored 99 percent marks in science and 100 in math in her 10th standard back in Saudi, thus in Meerut she decided to pursue the science stream, she was asked “tum toh musalman ladki ho (you are a Muslim girl), why are you making this tough for yourself.

Such remarks made her feel uneasy, “I no longer had an interest in science”, she adds. Soon she shifted to Delhi to pursue a bachelor’s in mass communications, “Here I was labeled a small-town girl who didn’t go out after 9, followed the rules, and so on.”

All this fueled her ambition even more and she started interning from the very first semester of her graduation, “I used to go to college, to work in the evening. My first job was with Vinod Dua (the late journalist). He was my first boss, and I got 5000 rupee as my first salary when I was 17 years old.”

She says, “My father grew up in a village and was one of the first few people to study and leave the city, marry outside the family and he wanted the best for his children, so he worked very hard on us.”

She says, “My mother and I dream alike, she has these innovative ideas and wants the best in everything”. She reminiscens having finished her flying and landing a job when someone in her family fell sick, she jokingly said to her mother, “Amma we need a Doctor in the family”, her mother innocently quipped, ““why don’t you become one”. Hana says, her mother was serious, “She somehow feels that I can be a doctor; when you have such driving forces backing you up, it is hard to fail.”

Today while talking to Awaz-the Voice Hana says, “You know though I have no regrets about my decisions but somewhere it took me a long time to find my true calling and pursuing a technical field.” 

Hana took note of mentioning her maternal grandmother who was a school principle and was responsible for educating an entire generation, “My Nani came to the city and made sure that all her kids got good education, I’ve always looked up to her for inspiration.”

She says, “I could have been a NASA scientist or an engineer, you never know but I would end up hearing extraordinary stories about myself which weren’t true and it made me question myself, and unfortunately it was a new experience for my parents as well thus they couldn’t help me out either, sadly my community people didn’t want me to grow.”

Hana with Rana Safvi

In 2020, Hana flew her first commercial flight. “I was praying for a good landing and it was a good landing, I felt so thankful to the universe and to the world for giving me this opportunity, I thought that even if I were to die today, I’d have no regrets.”

Talking to Awaz the Voice, Hana went down memory lane. “So many years have passed yet it still feels fresh in my memory, the only difference being, today I can laugh out loud and feel happy, sad, angry at the same time.”

Hana says if she could then she would go back to her younger self and tell her and women like her to never doubt their worth and fight for their rights even if that means turning their backs on society, “Being happy with what you are doing, being satisfied is more important than anything.”

She feels women should help out one another, “We need all the help we can get, all the women need, all the help after so much we all have gone through, all women in India at least. We hear things about ourselves which are untrue, we get cat-called, harassed on the road yet we fight, we learn how to fight.”

According to her, retaliation is a many-step process that starts with being scared which slowly leads to anger and later on becomes action, “Imagine the strength that we have, imagine not being crazy, staying fine, working, behaving like normal human beings, being emphatic, taking care of our families and communities…”

Hana says, “I mustn’t be judged for wearing a short skirt or for covering myself from head to toe, either of these choices cannot be forced on me.” She says, “My not wearing a hijab doesn’t make me less of a Muslim. We already have it hard as women. And then we are further categorized as Muslim women, and then we have external factors that are making it harder to be Muslim. So it’s so much, so many intersectionalities.”

She narrates an interesting incident of how gender discrimination is rampant, Hana was once performing her ablutions in Jama Masjid when a man came up to her and said that she was doing it the wrong way as the water didn’t touch the tip of her elbow. She retorted “Your abulition is null and void as you were busy watching me while doing it”.

She feels airports and airplanes make beautiful humane stories. “The other day I saw this man who was video calling his wife and showing him the insides of the aircraft, I was walking beside him and saw how happy they were.”

Kochi airport

One day a CISF lady officer complimented Hana, “Madam uniform suits you.” Hana replied, “Yours looks perfect on you too, uniform suits all women .’ Narrating her favourite moment she tells Awaz the Voice how once a 5-year-old girl on seeing Hana in uniform asked her Mother can girls also be pilots, “Her mother looked at me and said, of course, they can, while I told her “Sweetheart if I can then you can too”.

Talking about the importance of social media in reaching out to the masses she says, “It was during the Delhi riots that I realized Twitter was a serious space, along with Rana Aapa (Rana Safvi), Tarique, Yuman Aapa, Safa and others we were able to raise funds and rehabilitate 44 families of Mustafabad, we gave them ration and three months rent.”

Hana uses her social media to help aspiring aviators. In one of her stories on Instagram, she answered some 1000 questions about flying and an aviation career. 

Apart from flying she is a voracious reader, a food enthusiast, a pet-mom and a part-time writer, she feels, “Age is just a number, if you really want to do something then trust me just go with it and things would fall into place.”

source: http://www.awazthevoice.in / Awaz, The Voice / Home> Story / by Shaista Fatima / May 01st, 2023

UP Board 10th result 2023: Mishkat Noor, who secured 2nd rank, wants to become a doctor

UTTAR PRADESH:

UP Board 10th result 2023: Mishkat Noor, who secured 2nd rank, wants to become a doctor
Mishkat Noor said she studied for five-six hours while preparing for UPMSP matric exams 2023. Photo Credit: TV9

Mishkat Noor is a student of Canossa Convent Girls Inter College, Ayodhya. Thanking god, she gave credit for her success to her parents. Her father is a teacher at a madrasa.

New Delhi:

The UP Board today declared UPMSP Class 10 and 12 results 2023 and also released list of toppers for both the classes. Priyanshi Soni has topped UPMSP matric exam 2023 with a score of 590 out of 600 marks. Two students have secured the second position with 587 marks. Their percentage comes out to be 97.83 per cent. The name of those two students are Kushagra Pandey and Mishkat Noor.

Mishkat Noor is a student of Canossa Convent Girls Inter College, Ayodhya. Thanking god, she gave credit for her success to her parents. Her father is a teacher at a madrasa.

She said she studied for five-six hours while preparing for UPMSP matric exams 2023. However, even after attaining such good marks, Mishkat is not satisfied with her result. She said she could have scored more marks had she not made a mistake which cost her two marks. Talking to media, Mishkat said she wanted to become a doctor.

The toppers of UP Board will be awarded cash prize and a laptop. They will receive a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, as per reports. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath congratulated students on clearing the board exams and wished them luck for their better future.

Top 10 toppers at state level and district level will be honoured at the district level, the chief minister said in his tweet.

This year, more than 31 lakh students sat for UPMSP matric exam 2023. The overall pass percentage for Class 10 stands at 89.78 per cent and that recorded among girls is 93.34 per cent.

Students who are not satisfied with their UP Board result 2023 can apply for scrutiny on the official website of the UPMSP at upmsp.edu.in. The UPMSP will re-evaluate sheets of those who apply for scrutiny and check if any question remained unchecked.

Those who have failed in or two subjects will be able to apply for compartment exam to pass Class 10 or 12 in which they studied. They will be issued revised marksheet if they clear their compartment exam.

source: http://www.news9live.com / News9Live.com/ Home> by Education & Career / by Nikhal Jha / April 25th, 2023

Who is Leena Rafeeq? An 11-year-old Prodigy Girl from Kerala creates AI App for Eye Disease Detection

KERALA / Dubai, UAE:

Just an 11-year-old girl astonishes the world with her extraordinary development skills. She recently created an AI Application that uses advanced models to determine eye diseases or serious conditions such as Melanoma, Cataracts, etc. Read below about this creative Kerala-origin girl.

An app that finds eye diseases is launched by an 11-year-old.

An 11-year-old Dubai-based girl called Leena Rafeeq has designed a modernistic application integrated with Artificial Intelligence (AI). This young girl from Kerala proclaimed that this smart app can locate common eye disorders and symptoms. Moreover, this can be determined through a unique scanning method built into the app and only the iPhone supports this advanced model so far. 

iPhone users will be able to check their eye-related problems and conditions with 70 per cent accuracy. The intelligent app that has been going viral for a couple of days has been named ‘Ogler EyeScan’ by Ms Leena Rafeeq. She was just 10 when she built it and now after so much research at the age of 11, she exuberantly launched it. 

Self-taught Techie

On a social media platform called LinkedIn, she vividly presented the model. She further expounded the workings of her self-made in an online video that she posted online after which several viewers are impressed with her knowledge and skill set. 

She asserted that this AI-based application has the capability to evaluate various parameters. The specifications include light and colour intensity, distance and look-up points in order to track down the eyes. 

It scans the human eyes within the available range of the frame and this is possible through the “advanced computer vision and machine learning” used in this model’s design. 

Features of ‘Ogler EyeScan App’

Leena Rafeeq explains her exceptional achievement and said that the Ogler EyeScan App can also identify any light burst issues. Additionally, this app will first check the eye positioning inside the scanner frame and after that through advanced technological scanning procedures, it can identify some of the common eye problems. 

Built with Machine Learning Algorithms and Computer Vision Systems, eye conditions like Arcus, Melanoma, Pterygium and Cataracts can be checked however 70% accurate results have been recognized till now. 

How AI App is developed?

Ms Rafeeq told that this smart technology app was developed natively with high-level programming developer ‘SwiftUI’ without the involvement of any third-party libraries or packages. She also reveals that she dedicated herself for almost six months to conducting research and development to come up with this initiative. 

Along with this, she continued her learning about different eye conditions, computer vision, algorithms, machine learning models and other advanced levels of Apple iOS development which involves sensors data, AR, CreateML, CoreML and many such tools.

It is notable that the Ogler EyeScan is supported solely in iPhone 10 or Apple phones with iOS above 16. The app is under review on the App Store and this young girl hopes that her model gets listed soon.

Appraisal of her Project

This young Kerala girl leaves many flabbergasted by the invention of such a little girl. People congratulated her as she attains this level at this age. A user commented that this is a pretty good example of how AI can be effectively used in the health sector.

Another goes on to say that this is such an amazing creation and wished her good luck with her future endeavours. They all wished her positive reviews on her app. Ms Rafeeq responded that the model accuracy is “almost 70 per cent”. 

However, she is handling some difficulties with the presence of glare and burst from lights caused by the distance required for capturing scans through the phone device. She has implemented metrics and detection for light-related issues so that the users will be able to re-scan. Her current focus is on training more elegant models. As soon as Ogler is accepted by the Appstore, she will be releasing an update in the software.

source: http://www.jagranjosh.com / Jagran Josh / Home> Current Affairs> Science – Technology Current Affairs / (headline edited) April 2023

Karnataka 2nd PU result 2023: Commerce Topper Ananya K.A scores 600/600 & Arts Topper Tabassum Sheikh scores 593/600.

Bengaluru, KARNATAKA:

The results of the 2nd PU exams in Karnataka were announced on April 21.

Tabassum Sheikh, 2nd year PU arts topper with her parents Abdul Khaum Sheikh and Parveen Modi, after the results of 2nd PU exams in Karnataka were announced, in Bengaluru on April 21, 2023. Tabassum is a student of NMKRV PU College for Women, Jayanagar. | Photo Credit: Murali Kumar K

The results of the 2nd PU exams in Karnataka were announced on April 21 by Ritish Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary in the Department of School Education and Literacy, and Ramachandran, Chairman of Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board.

M. Mohan Alva, chairman, Alva’s Education Foundation, Moodbidri offering sweets to Ananya K.A., who topped the commerce stream in the second PU exams in Karnataka. The results were announced on April 21, 2023.

Ananya K.A. , commerce student, Alva’s PU college, Moodabidri is the topper in Karnataka scoring 600 marks out of 600. She hails from Kushalnagar in Kodagu district. She joined Alva’s PU College under the institution’s scholarship scheme

In the arts steam, Tabassum Sheikh, NMKRV PU College, Bengaluru is the topper with 593/600 marks.

S.M. Koushik from Gangothri PU college, Srinivaspura, Kolar district, and Surabhi S. from R.V. PU college, NMKRV campus, Bengaluru are the toppers in the science stream with 596 marks for 600.

How PU students performed as compared to last year

At 74.67%, the pass percentage in the II PU exams shot up by 12% from the previous year.

Of the 7,02,067 students who appeared for the exams, 5,24,209 have cleared them. A total of 4,79,746 (78.97%) regular students, 33,833 (48.42%) repeaters and 10,630 (43.02%) private candidates passed.

The pass percentage in the arts stream (1,34,876 students) was 61.22%, in commerce (1,82,246 students) was 75.89%, and in science (2,07,087 students) was 85.71%.

This year too, the pass percentage of girls is higher than boys — 2,82,602 girls (80.25%) passed against 2,41,607 (69.05%) boys. The performance of rural students was better than those in the urban areas — 1,19,860 (74.79%) rural students passed against 4,04,349 (74.63%) urban.

A total of 1,09,509 students got distinction (above 85%), 2,47,315 students got first class (60% to 85%), 90,014 students got second class (50% to 60%) and 77,371 students secured more than the minimum marks to pass (35% to 50%).

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> India> Karnataka / by The Hindu Bureau (headline edited) / April 21st, 2023

Murali Abbemane, Mariyam Rasheeda win Dr. Krishi Photo Story Award

KARNATAKA:

The results were announced at the inauguration of an exhibition of photo stories that was shortlisted for the award on Saturday, April 15, in Mangaluru.

Mariyam Rasheeda | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Murali M. Abbemane and K.M. Mariyam Rasheeda were declared winners of the Dr. Krishi Photo Story Award 2022 of the “Under 30 Photo Story Contest” organised by the Mangaluru Chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) in association with Art Kanara Trust.

Murali M. Abbemane | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The results were announced at the inauguration of an exhibition of photo stories that was shortlisted for the award on Saturday, April 15, in Mangaluru.

Pranam Shreedhar and Shravya Manjunath were the finalists. Likhith Raj Gatty and Sowjanya Jogi (joint project), Neel Kote and Vivek Gowda were the shortlisted contestants. The contest was announced in August 2022 and elicited 28 entries, said a release.

Physician and writer B. Srinivas Kakkilaya, photojournalist Yajna and advertising photographer and filmmaker Prakash Braggs, who was one of the jury members, were the dignitaries on the occasion.

Releasing ‘Metaphors of Physical & Emotional Spaces,’ a book on shortlisted entries, Dr. Kakkilaya spoke about his friendship with Late Dr. Krishna Mohan (Dr. Krishi). “Krishna Mohan was one of the first Mangalorean to explore the internet and launch a website, inspiring many others.” During COVID-19, he was active in dispelling myths and creating public awareness by publishing scientific information.

Responding to an audience query, whether a story is required to explain a photograph, Mr. Yajna said, “A single shot photo is a work of art and should speak for itself. But, a photojournalist or a photo storyteller needs to build a context around the single or multiple photos to reach out to the viewers.”

Mr. Braggs explained the ‘less is more’ concept in photography. “It’s not about what you include in the photo, but what you leave out.”

The exhibition of photographs would be open to the public till April 23, between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m at Kodialguthu Centre for Art and Culture, G.G. Road, Ballalbagh.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangaluru / by The Hindu Bureau / April 17th, 2023

Bhopal: Artist Nawab Jahan Begum uses 24 carat gold in Gond artwork

Bhopal, MADHYA PRADESH:

She exhibited tricolour painting in mandana, a tribal art form of Madhya Pradesh. It took more than 6 months to prepare all the artworks, she said.

Bhopal: City artist's Mandana artwork depicts gender equality
Artist Nawab Jahan Begum with her art work | FP Pic

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): 

Artist Nawab Jahan Begum from Bhopal has used 24 carat gold in a Gond artwork. She said that this was the first time that 24 carat gold was used in Gond art. “I used liquid gold, which is being liked by visitors here. Many people greatly appreciated the tribal art of Madhya Pradesh,” she said

Nearly 17 works of the painter were on display at Kala Spandan Exhibition in Mumbai inaugurated by film actor Anita Raj. The exhibition was organised from November 24 to 27. She exhibited tricolour painting in mandana, a tribal art form of Madhya Pradesh. It took more than 6 months to prepare all the artworks, she said.

Besides, she exhibited three convertible art works. “Three works have 10 different paintings. It was a different work, which was appreciated.” Her Hindi calligraphy artworks were also on display.

Begum has obtained MA degree in drawing and painting. Her signature styles are abstract modern art paintings, which she make using knife and adds gold to it to give it a royal feel and look. She took part in many national and international painting exhibitions and sold paintings in the UK, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Maldives.

She has also made a painting for Taj Lakefront Bhopal. Her works are on display at Bhopal airport and Cymroza Art Gallery in Mumbai.

source: http://www.freepressjournal.in / The Free Press Journal / Home> Bhopal / by Staff Reporter / November 29th, 2022

Hyderabadi medical coder wins Rs 2.2 cr in Mahzooz draw

Hyderabad, TELANGANA / Abu Dhabi, U.A.E:

Hameda is the first female and the fourth millionaire to win the guaranteed one million Dirhams under the new prize structure.

 38-year-old Hameda Begum (Photo: Gulf News)

Abu Dhabi:

A 38-year-old United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Hyderabadi woman has been revealed as the winner of one million Dirhams (Rs 2,22,28,303) in the weekly Mahzooz draw.

The winner of the draw Hameda Begum– matched five out of the six winning numbers during the 122nd weekly Mahzooz draw held on Saturday, April 1.

Hameda Begum, from Hyderabad, India, who works as a medical coder in UAE. She has been living in the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi from the past three years.

“I’ve never entered a raffle or won anything in my life so this has been a delightful surprise to me. For me, this is a dream come true, and I can’t believe it,” Hameda told Gulf News.

Hameda is planning to spend her winning for her four children’s education and secure her family’s future.

Hameda is the first female and the fourth millionaire to win the guaranteed one million Dirhams under the new prize structure.

On March 4, the draw revamped its prize pool, introducing a new feature where every week one participant becomes a guaranteed millionaire.

source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> News> Hyderabad / posted by Sakina Fatima / April 17th, 2023

M Iqbal Manna reinstalled as President of the Giants Group of Udupi for 2023

Udupi, KARNATAKA:

Udupi: 

M Manna Iqbal was on Monday reinstalled as the President of the Giants Group of Udupi for the year 2023, in a ceremony held at the Woodlands Hotel here in the city.

Dinkar K Amin, a Central Committee member of the Giants Welfare Foundation was present as the Chief Guest of the event while Vasudev Mahale, Unit Director of Federation 6 was the installation officer at the ceremony.

Former Federation President Jayarajprakash was the keynote speaker at the event while Dr. Junaida Sulthana, Academic Head, MET, Udyavara, Udupi, Tejeshwar Roa, Federation vice-president, and Lakshmikanth Beskoor, Federation coordinator were present as the guests of honor.

Four women – Dildar Akbar – Special Needs School, Udupi, Sushma Gopalkrishna – Police Inspector Udupi Women’s police station, Bindu Thankappan, Advocate, Shaila Amanna, Asha Nilaya, Udupi – were also felicitated for their outstanding services and selfless contribution towards the society.

The new committee of the Giants Group Udupi was also formed. Yashwant Salian and Vincent Saldana were appointed vice-presidents, Roshan Ballal. Director of Administration, Vadiraj, Joint Director of Administration, Ganesh Ural, Director of Finance, Dayanand Kalmady, Joint Director of Finance. Prabhakar Bangera, Liyaqath Ali, Vinay Kumar Poojary, Zeenath, Geetha Rao, and Diwakar Sanil took oath as Directors.

Roshan Ballal presented the annual report while Vivek Kamath proposed a vote of thanks and compered the event.

The event was followed by an Iftaar arrangement for the members and audience.

source: http://www.english.varthabharati.in / Vartha Bharati / Home> Karavalii / by Vartha Bharati / April 18th, 2023

Meet the CSE 2020 Topper Among Muslim Candidates Who Chose Foreign Service over IAS

Roorkee, UTTARAKHAND:

Highlights

  • Ms. Sadaf Choudhary, who hails from Roorkee, Uttarakhand, was the topper among Muslim candidates in UPSC CSE 2020.
  • The 23rd rank holder in CSE 2020 is a BTech from NIT Jalandhar and had quit her MNC job to prepare for the exam.
  • With her high score, she could have easily opted for IAS, but she chose Indian Foreign Service, as she wanted to represent her country abroad.
Ms. Sadaf Chaudhary

Ms. Sadaf Choudhary from Rourkee, Uttarakhand, became the topper among Muslim candidates in UPSC CSE 2020 with AIR 23. That year, 29 people from her community managed to clear the examination, a dip from the previous year, when 44 Muslim candidates made it to the prestigious list.

Ms. Choudhary not just topped the Muslim candidates list in 2020, she made it to the Top 25 in the general list, bringing focus to her native place and community, as people started looking up her background soon after the results were announced. 

After her success, Ms. Choudhary revealed through media interviews that she firmly believes that improving the education rate of girls in India will bring great social changes and, hence, called for giving special attention to education of girls.

Early Life

Ms. Choudhary was a good student from the primary years and was very fond of reading books. She is the eldest daughter of Israr Ahmed and Shahbaz Bano. Her father was a former manager at Gramin Bank at the Deoband branch.

Ms. Sadaf Choudhary

After completing her BTech from NIC Jalandhar, she joined an MNC where she used to get a decent paycheck. However, with the aim of having a bigger purpose in life, she started looking at Civil Services as a career option.

Clearing UPSC CSE 2020

Ms. Choudhary said that she considered herself preparing for the UPSC exam since past 20 years, from the time she was being nurtured in school. While talking to media, she reminisced her time when she was in school and used to visit her grandparents’ place in Saharanpur during summer vacations. As her grandparents had a school there, she used to effectively utilise her summer vacations in studying literally everything.

After quitting her job, she dedicated her heart and soul into studying for the UPSC exam and chose self-study over coaching. After breakfast in the morning, she used to start her study session for as long as she could. She would also review and assess her preparations once a week.

Ms. Sadaf Choudhary clears UPSC 2020 with an AIR 23

In the first attempt, she did not manage to make it because of a few marks, but in UPSC CSE 2020, she was so satisfied with her performance that she already knew she had cracked the exam even before checking the results. Her confidence proved to be right, and when the result date came, she emerged as a topper. 

It was a moment of pride not only for her and her parents, but for all people of her community. 

Choosing Foreign Service

Before sitting for the exam, Ms. Choudhary was greatly inspired by IFS officer Sneha Dubey, who came into limelight for her fiery response to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan at the UN General Assembly. She decided then that she would follow in Ms. Dubey’s footsteps and join the Indian Foreign Service.

Ms. Sadaf Choudhary

With her high score, she could easily have joined Indian Administrative Service (IAS). However, she chose the Foreign Service over it, as her dream was to become a diplomat and represent her country abroad. And do it in style, leaving a mark. Just like Ms. Sneha Dubey did.

source: http://www.indianmasterminds.com / Indian Masterminds / Home> Features> Be Inspired / by Raghav Goyal / April 04th, 2022