Category Archives: Leaders

Varanasi celebrates birth anniversary of Jhansi ki Rani Laxmi Bai

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Travel

Varanasi:

To mark the 182nd birth anniversary of the warrior queen of Jhansi Laxmi Bai, a colourful procession was taken out at her birth place in Bhadaini locality on Wednesday. A function was held at Shri Goyanka Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya by by Maharani Laxmi Bai Nyas to celebrate the occasion.

Students from different schools took out the procession and performed a ‘Parikrama’ of the birth place of Rani Lakshmi Bai. The students of of Panini Kanya Mahavidyalaya recited ‘mangalacharan’ followed by a series of cultural events.

Speaking on the occasion V Shanta Kumari of Rashtra Sevika Samiti highlighted the bravery of Rani Laxmi Bai who struck terror in hearts of the British during 1857 war of Independence, and called upon girls to take inspiration from the life of warrior queen. The Trustee Rajendra Pratap Pandey said that the government should arrange ‘Akhand Jyoti’ and build a grand memorial of the queen at her birth place.

The district gazetteers of Varanasi record that in the city of Varanasi in 1835 was born to Moropant Tambe (a Maratha scholar) and his wife Bhagirathi a girl whom they named Manu Bai, and who later came to be known as Lakshmi Bai.

In 1844, she was married to Ganga Dhar, the king of Jhansi and, on his death in 1853, she herself became the ruler of Jhansi. She was destined to become one of the most famous personages who took active part against the British in the struggle for freedom in 1857. She lived in Varanasi for four years and, after the death of Peshwa Chimmaji Appa, Moropant Tambe along with his daughter returned to Peshwa Balaji Bajirao at Bithoor in 1839.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Varanasi News / by Binay Singh / October 18th, 2017

How Kanpur’s IAS officer battled power theft, introduced digitisation of power

Business & Economy, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders

Ritu Maheshwari’s UDAY initiative slashed the combined financial losses states to Rs. 40,295 crore in the year to March 31.

Mumbai:

An IAS at the Kanpur Electricity Supply Co. has been making headlines for halving the company’s losses by digitising power to prevent power theft.

The tale of Ritu Maheshwari, a graduate from the Punjab Engineering College, who steered away the losses of Kanpur Electricity Supply Co., is one of courage to change the system and of embracing technology to drive that change.

According to a report in Bloomberg, upon her appointment at the company in 2011, Maheshwari installed new meters across almost a third of the company’s customer base. The devices recorded the daily power consumption and exposed leaks in the distribution system, in real-time.

The company that was incurring a distribution loss of 30 per cent when she joined, currently records 15 per cent loss now. “I managed to change 160,000 meters of 500,000 amid protests from pilfering consumers that drastically brought down the city’s distribution losses, which were at 30 percent then,” she said in an interview with Bloomberg.

However, like in every other sphere of life, corruption and protection of interests of the power thieves, led to her transfer after 11 months.

In a country where power loss due to illegal tapping is rampant, Maheshwari’s efforts re-iterate the need for digitisation of power. The woman, whose story was filed in 2014 Bollywood movie ‘Katiyabaaz’, was recently leading Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to help out loss-incurring state power departments.

Maheshwari’s UDAY initiative slashed the combined financial losses of these states to Rs. 40,295 crore in the year to March 31 — about 22 per cent lower than the previous year, according to the power ministry.

This strategy has gained popularity among retailers like Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd , in Delhi and Mumbai, who found their losses minimizing.

It has led to the upgradation of power grids with hi-tech meters, transformers, automation and new wiring supplied by companies such as Schneider Electric SE, Landis+Gyr Group AG, and Nokia Oyj.

Currently, the government is contemplating investing about USD 50 billion in the power transmission and distribution industries in the next five years through 2019, according to former power minister Piyush Goyal.

Digitization of power so far covers only about 10 percent of the consumption side of electricity use in India, according to Schneider Electric. In states like Uttar Pradesh, where losses amount to 35 percent for distribution companies, 29 million rural households receive electricity without meters, while 11.2 million are left without power, according to government data.

India issued its first tender to buy 5 million smart meters in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana on August 1. “This is a pilot project where 4 million smart meters will go to Uttar Pradesh and the rest to Haryana,” said Saurabh Kumar, of Energy Efficiency Services Ltd, the agency handling the energy efficient programs on the government’s behalf.

“The next two years will be very crucial as several states need to move from poor metering to smart metering,” said Maheshwari who was heading that program till two weeks ago.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Business & Economy / September 12th, 2017

Praise For Paytm Boss Vijay Shekhar Sharma. All The Way From Aligarh

Business & Economy, Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO of Paytm, spent his childhood in Aligarh

New Delhi :

It’s always a nice feeling to reconnect with old friends from school. Something similar happened to Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma. From his humble beginnings in Aligarh to heading a multibillion-dollar company, Mr Sharma has come a long way. And a word of appreciation came from an old classmate of the Paytm boss. The 43-year-old shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation on Twitter. In the conversation, a person informed Mr Sharma that his Uber driver belonged to the same school as the Paytm boss and was proud of his achievements.

“My Uber driver says Namaste to you. He says he was in your school. His name is Vijay Upadhyay s/o Pramod Kumar Sharma,” read the message. A delighted Mr Sharma quickly responded by recalling the school they went to. “Awww. Agrasen Inter College. Harduaganj,” he wrote. Harduaganj is a town in Aligarh district in Uttar Pradesh where Mr Sharma is from.

As the conversation went on, he was told that his former classmate was happy to admit that the two went to the same school and how proud he was of Mr Sharma’s success. “He is saying you have made everyone proud,” the message read. Vijay Shekhar Sharma shared the heartening conversation on Twitter.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma spent his childhood in Aligarh. At the age of 15, he enrolled at Delhi College of Engineering. In 2010, he founded digital wallet platform Paytm which is now valued at over $4 billion. The online payment app saw a huge surge after PM Modi’s demonetisation policy in November 2016. Now at 43, he is the second Indian on Time Magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People list’ along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Disclosure: Paytm’s parent company One97 is an investor in NDTV’s Gadgets 360.

source: http://www.ndtv.com / NDTV / Home> Sections> Off-Beat / by Meghna Nijhawan / May 02nd, 2017

‘Being invited to events our only honour’

Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Leaders, Records, All

Bithoor , Kanpur District :

Though it has a big compound, the house of Tantya Tope—a leader of the first war of Independence in 1857—in Bithoor is located in a crowded locality near the famous Ganesh mandir and there is nothing outstanding about it. The compound of the brick-and-mortar building has been encroached and the descendants have been fighting a legal battle for ages for their removal. The house has only two remnants from that era—a well from where Tantya Tope drew water and the mud wall. The well has a cemented eddy and the wall is still strong.

Vinayat Rao Tope, fourth generation descendant of Tanya Tope,in Bithoor

None of the successive UP governments did anything for the family. Though the 400-page visitors’ register kept at the family’s museum in the front hall of the house is almost full, “No one has helped us,” said Vinayak Rao Tope, son of Tantya’s nephew, Narayan Rao Tope. The only honour the family keeps receiving is being invited at random events to be presented a shawl, he said, adding, “I was even called by Raj Bhawan for ‘poochh-taachh’ (enquiry) about my family background but nothing happened.”

“Modiji kehte hain na ki jiska ghar hai ussi ka rahega, is liye jo zabardasti ghus bhi gaye hain woh kab tak rahenge (We believe in what Modi says that house would always belong to the owner. Those who have entered forcefully will not live for long),” said the woman of the house, Vinayak Rao’s wife Sumati Tope about the encroachment. But asked if ‘Modiji’ or his party ever came calling, Sumati’s answer is “No”.

This fourth generation of Tantya Tope said they were indebted to “Laluji” (former railway minister and Bihar ex-CM Lalu Prasad Yadav). As railway minister in 2007 Lalu offered a job to Vinayak Rao Tope’s daughters in the container department of railways. “When Laluji came to our house, he saw the well and marvelled at its construction,” she said, adding, “We were called to Delhi too. Laluji got every fact about us verified before he gave my daughters the job,” said the woman.

Vinayak Rao was running a ‘parchoon’ (grocery) shop at that time. “We were discovered by a Delhi-based journalist who told Laluji about us and he helped us. Now that our daughters are married, we are at odds again,” she said. Their son has completed graduation and has done a 14-month course in computers but has no job. Both father and son are now into ‘panditaai’ (priesthood) to make a living.

There are about nine Marathi families residing in Bithoor. The Moghe family too has a Peshwa-era connect. Living at Dhruv Teela in Bithoor, it’s the sixth generation of Raja Ram Pant Moghe, one of the five commanders sent by Bajirao Peshwa (I) in 1700 to guard Bithoor. Bajirao Peshwa (I) was the general of the Maratha empire in India. None of the Peshwa’s direct descendants is left in Bithoor. The descendants of other commanders are also not found in the city.

“Bithoor was called ‘Veeron ka thaur’ or the hub of bravehearts but British could not pronounce it and they distorted the title and it came to be known as Bithoor,” said Sunny Rao Moghe sitting at his more-than-300-year-old home at Dhruv Teela. The house is decrepit and because of the weathered off plaster, the lakhauri bricks, of which the wall of the compound is made is visible. New construction comprises the main entry door, a temple at the centre and two rooms.

In 1996, archaeological department took possession of the Teela. The family is entwined in a legal battle with the department since then. Dattatreya temple at the Teela receives several VIP visitors. When TOI visited the spot on Tuesday, sitting MLA from SP Munindra Shukla’s wife had come to offer prayers at the temple. Moghe family is respected in Bithoor for the lineage. Ask anyone on the Bithoor’s streets, and he would know of the family. Politicians come asking for vote. “But none of us ever got any help be it in the form of government job or a pension,” said one of the family members.

Moghe’s also have around six beegha land almost adjacent to the house. “We owned several beegha land but most got encroached,” said Sunny Rao Moghe. “We got our land under ‘Sankramani Bhumidari’ where Chakbandi does not apply,” he said. A rusted, more than 300-year old sword with frayed edges, of Raja Ram Pant Moghe, is also one of the prized possessions of the family.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / City> Lucknow / TNN / February 16th, 2017

Devotees start arriving for Ravidas Jayanti

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Records, All

Varanasi :

There are no bigwigs like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal among the visitors to commemorate the 640th birth anniversary of Sant Ravidas falling on Friday.

Modi and Kejriwal arrived in the city in February last year to pay obeisance to preacher-philosopher Sant Ravidas at the temple in Seer Gowardhan area here. They also accepted the ‘prasad’ prepared at its community kitchen.

“This year, we are witnessing increased turnout of devotees from across the country as well as abroad. The devotees have been pouring in from different parts of states like Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand while foreign devotees from UK, US, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, New Zealand, Greece have also been thronging the temple premises,” general secretary of Sri Guru Ravidas Janam Asthan Public Charitable (SGRJAPC) Trust Satpaul Virdi said.

Against the 50 tents installed last year, the count has been increased to 75 to cater to large number of devotees, Virdi said, adding that even the main pandal had to be shifted 2-3 kilometres ahead. The district administration had also tightened the security arrangements.

The entire Seer Gowardhan village was abuzz with festivity as people, including men and women, had started congregating at the temple on Thursday. Small makeshift stalls and shops selling variety of articles like toys, artificial ornaments, books, pictures and posters of Sant Ravidas attracted people as well as kids.

Trust chairman Sant Niranjan Dasji Maharaj, who along with other devotees and saints reach on Wednesday evening, inaugurated the fully automatic chapati making machine donated by Phagwara-based Sri Guru Ravidas Charitable Trust, in collaboration with a trust based in Vienna, Austria. According to a volunteer Gyani Meher Singh, the machine can produce over 2,000 chappatis per hour.

Later in the evening, the statue of Guru Ravidas was garlanded at Ravidas Park situated on the banks of Ganga. On Friday morning, the religious flag will be unfurled by Maharaj.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Varanasi News / TNN / February 10th, 2017

JP’s story through Chaar Anna, Chawal

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Records, All

Lucknow:

Unfolding the story of socialist ideologue and freedom fighter Jai Prakash Narayan’s escape from jail during the Quit India Movement, a museum shop named ‘Chaar Anna’ and a restaurant called ‘Chawal’ will be part of the JP Museum at Jai Prakash Narayan International Centre set to come up in the city.

“The museum shop has been named ‘Chaar Anna’, narrating the incidents during the freedom struggle when JP had escaped from Hazaribagh Central Jail in 1942 during the Quit India Movement. At that time, he had only ‘Chaar Anna’ in his pocket,” said museum architect Sourabh Gupta.

“The restaurant has been named as Chawal as JP was given chawal (rice) and salt to eat in jail. The menu of the restaurant will be decided later but the idea is to add a Swadeshi touch,” he added.

Moreover, a metallic sculpture of JP will also greet visitors. Made of metal bars, it has been so designed that the space between them creates the image of JP. The bar represents a prison, the second home to JP throughout his life. This two-dimensional sculpture is a combination of reality and illusion. It is placed on the steps of the congregation, showing him as the leader of the people, officials said.

The museum will be the state’s first kinetic museum in which three-dimensional exhibits move around the visitor while an audio tour guide narrates the story. Superstar Amitabh Bachchan has given voice to the audio tour.

The museum will give the look and feel of JP’s life by using four octagonal galleries exhibiting the birth of the Lok Nayak, escape from prison, Bihar Movement and total revolution at the time of Emergency in 1975. The four galleries have been divided into time frames depicting main events of his life.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / Mohita Tewari / TNN / August 18th, 2016

Visitors show interest in Azad’s urn displayed in Lucknow museum

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Records, All, Travel
The urn containing the ashes of Chandra Shekhar "Azad" displayed at the State Museum in Lucknow (TOI photo)
The urn containing the ashes of Chandra Shekhar “Azad” displayed at the State Museum in Lucknow (TOI photo)

Lucknow :

As the nation steps into its 70th year of Independence, the urn containing the ashes of freedom fighter and revolutionary Chandra Shekhar “Azad” completed its 40 years in the UP State Museum, located within the precincts of Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Garden (formerly called Lucknow Zoo).

The urn was kept at a special gallery for the visitors as a part of Jashn-e-Azadi celebrations to mark the 70th Independence Day. However, much about the special urn is unknown to the public. Sunday, the eve of the Independence Day sprang a surprise for a few visitors, who while visiting the State Museum were amazed to see the urn containing the ashes of Azad, and that they had never noticed it during their earlier visits.

Elaborating further about the urn containing the ashes of Azad, director of State Museum, Yashwant Singh Rathore, said, “After the cremation of Chandra Shekhar ‘Azad’, some of his ashes was kept in safe custody of Shiv Vinayak Mishra (Azad’s uncle). The ashes kept in the urn have been kept as a memory of the revolutionary.” He further stated that the historical procession (Shobhaa Yatra) of the ashes of Chandra Shekhar Azad started on August 1, 1976 from Varanasi’s Vidyapeeth and reached the State Museum in Lucknow on August 10, 1976.

Born in 1887 in Unnao’s Beeghapur, Shiv Vinayak Mishra was a freedom fighter who participated in the Satyagraha movement called by Mahatma Gandhi and also in the Non-Cooperation Movement from 1930-32.

When Chandra Shekhar grew up, he left his parent’s place and fled to Banaras. His uncle Pandit Shiv Vinayak Mishra used to stay there. Chandra Shekhar took some help from him, and made some arrangements to get admission in the Sanskrit College.

Aadesh Shukla, who visited the Lucknow State Museum along with his friends was amazed to tumble upon the urn containing the ashes of Chandra Shekhar Azad. “I had visited the museum earlier, but it seems that I had always missed the urn containing the ashes of Chandra Shekhar Azad. Anyway thanks to Jashn-e-Azadi, I not only saw the urn, but also clicked its photo,” Shukla said.

Anupam Mishra, while reacting to development was of the view that the Uttar Pradesh government must give adequate publicity to this special urn, which contains the ashes of Chandra Shekhar Azad kept in State Museum, Lucknow. “Some of the amount of money spent on the advertisements by the UP government could be easily diverted to give some publicity to this,” Mishra said.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Swarajya Party of India headed by Anupam Mishra fielded Azad’s great-grandson Rajeev Mishra alias Raju from the Unnao parliamentary constituency.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / Arunav Sinha / TNN / August 16th, 2016

VC of UP Rajashri Tandon Open University honoured

Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All

Allahabad :

Making the city and the institution proud, the vice-chancellor of Uttar Pradesh Rajashri Tandon Open University, Prof M P Dubey has been felicitated with the special ‘higher education leadership award. The award, conferred on Prof Dubey for his exemplary role in the field of higher education was given at the 7th World Education Summit 2016 which was supported by digital learning, Asia’s premier magazine on ICT for Education.

The summit, which concluded at Delhi on Saturday, aims to create a global knowledge sharing platform for thought leaders, policy makers, education leaders and industry leaders to initiate change in the entire education system. Earlier summits were held at Kuala Lampur, Singapore, Dubai, Colombo, Dhaka and New Delhi.

This felicitation is the recognition of the achievements of the UPRTOU in the field of ICT as with the aim to meet the challenges, this lone open university of the state has kept abreast the expanding frontiers of knowledge in different branches of learning, tried to prepare skilled and socially motivated human resources. The quest for quality and the concern for excellence in the academic sphere has been made sensitive to the countervailing need for assuring equity through special provisions and efforts to meaningfully help socially and academically underprivileged students, and fulfil the opportunity for higher learning.

As the University trains its teachers in modern pedagogy and updates their knowledge, they would be encouraged to use online material such as MOOCs and TED talks liberally. Mobile Apps developed by the university would make the system much more student friendly. It has implemented CBCS (choice based credit system) since July 2015 by restructuring and modernising all the syllabi.

Steps has been taken to raise the quality of administrative and financial management towards making the system ‘user’ friendly, time-conscious, cost-efficient, self-critical and team-work oriented, speedily responsive to problem situations, amenable to intervention-oriented monitoring and imbued with a positive work ethic. The accelerated automation and computerization of offices and administrative work has been of major help in this regard. The internal quality assurance cell has also been set up for the purpose of creating and maintaining quality and standard.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Allahabad / Rajeev Mani / TNN / August 06th, 2016

Kabir musuem to come up soon

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders

Varanasi:

Here’s good news on Kabir Jayanti. Decks have been cleared for an array of projects in the name of Kabir, the great poet-saint. The detailed project report (DPR) of a new museum complex and hut (Kabir ki jhopdi) at Kabirchaura Mutt, Moolgadi was submitted to the union ministry of culture this year. The remaining projects are currently in the pipeline.

The ministry of culture had sanctioned Rs 5 lakh for preparation of DPR in August last year. However, the ministry asked for some changes in the DPR and wrote to the mahanth of Kabirmutt, Moolgadi, on the same.

The revised DPR was submitted in January this year and the proposed cost of the project is Rs 4.65 crore, mahant at Kabirchaura mutt, Sant Vivekdas Acharya, said on Kabir Jayanti on Monday.

As per the DPR, a hut and a three-storeyed museum building are expected to come up in mutt premises.

The mahant said, “The rooms of the hut will be furnished with Kabir’s belongings so that devotees and tourists are better acquainted with the way he lived. Notably, the proposed hut is to come up at the exact spot where the poet’s hut was some 500 years ago.”

” A museum complex will be set up adjacent to the modular hut to store and preserve the belongings of Kabir and his successors and contemporary saints”, added Das.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Varanasi / TNN / July 04th, 2016

Young UP bureaucrats scripting change, garnering goodwill

Business & Economy, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders

Lucknow : (IANS)

A young ‘collector saheb’ sipping piping hot coffee and munching ‘laiyya-chana’ at a chaupal with wide-eyed villagers, a young woman IAS official cradling infants at an Aanganwadi centre, a district magistrate riding pillion on a motorbike to check open defecation at a Varanasi village.

Dispelling the myth that bureaucrats are only meant for office comforts, a band of young officials in Uttar Pradesh is scripting a new chapter wherein not only are the people being benefited but the state’s tainted bureaucracy is also getting a long due makeover.

Perahaps taking a leaf out of the ‘chai-pe-charcha’ campaign that Prime Minister Narendra Modi used to the hilt for political success in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Gonda district magistrate Ashutosh Niranjan has kicked off a ‘coffee with collector’ wherein he randomly selects a village panchayat, drives in with his officials for a cup of coffee and problems of the village are discussed and settled then and there!

The first edition of the event was held recently in the Paraspur development block at the panchayat of Mijhaura where, over steaming cups of coffee, village head Vipin Kumar Singh, the lekhpal (revenue official) and the panchayat secretary deliberated upon a host of issues ranging from roads to potable water to power supply.

It was also decided that the gram pradhans would very soon host a similar meeting over lunch with the lekhpal, panchayat secretary, beat constable and other grassroot-level workers. “The idea is to strengthen the panchayat system and setttle many issues like land disputes at the grassroot level,” Niranjan told IANS.

Varanasi district magistrate Vijay Karan Anand is setting a similar example wherein many-a-time he hitches a motorbike ride to reach far-flung locations to “catch up with reality”. Only recently, he rode pillion at 5 in the morning to physically check issues like cleanliness, the power situation and sewerage.

He found the situation in neighbourhoods like Dayanagar Malin Basti and Sigra “pathetic” and was quick to order immediate course correction. He has also been visiting villages very early in the morning to dissuade people from open defecation.

“It is amazing to see such officials; it is a reassuring feeling,” said Vivek Singh, who works with a telecom company in Varanasi.

Moradabad district magistrate Zuhair Bin Sageer has done some exemplary developmental work in the villages. Not only did he step out of the confines of his air-conditioned office but was also instrumental in creating a mobile application for monitoring work in what are designated Lohia villages, where affordable housing is being developed for the poor.

Kinjal Singh, the district magistrate of Faizabad, is still remembered for her good work during her previous stint in Lakhimpur Kheri, wherein she not only got special sheds made as dining areas for school children for their mid-day meals but also initiated a process to assimilate the marginalized Tharu tribe into the mainstream.

Pilibhit district magistrate Masoom Ali Asgar has almost cleared the high-profile political constituency of encroachments. He is also credited with beautifying the tiger reserve here.

Suhaas LY, the district magistrate of Azamgarh, the parliamentary constituency of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, has scriped a unique method of beautifying the city, its roundabouts and major roads. Through the PPP model, the young bureaucrat has ensured beautification and lighting up of all the city’s major intersections.

Lucknow district magistrate Raj Shekhar is also creating waves. From ensuring restaurants are freed of child labour to clearing a whopping 1,000 acres of encroached government land, Shekhar is also known for his modest style and easy accessibility.

“We all have been assigned a job by the government and we are just doing it to the best of our abilities,” Shekhar told IANS.

(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)
–IANS
md/vm/tb

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / IANS / May 31st, 2016