Category Archives: Education

Needed in Aligarh, bookstores

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Uncategorized

Aligarh :

Reading The Fault in Our Stars, now that social media is abuzz with talks of the film adaptation of the book, maybe a tad difficult if you live in Aligarh. Despite the city being home to one of the country’s most prestigious educational institutions – Aligarh Muslim University – the absence of a good bookshops selling fiction, non-fiction or, for that matter, anything beyond prescribed reading material for students is quite a telling let-down.

“The city has somehow never really felt the need to have the kind of arrangement where you can go and buy fiction in a store that’s well-furnished with eclectic literary offerings,” says Shubhangini, a CAT aspirant. “Although there is not much of a choice when it comes to book shopping, it doesn’t mean people in Aligarh are not aware of the current scenario in the world of literature. Popular books can be procured through some of the stores by placing an order and paying a commission.”

There are nearly 100 bookshops functioning for decades in Aligarh, but they mostly cater to the madrassa-going students and sell Urdu literature. And almost all stores stock reading material that help in preparations for competitive examinations. This leaves the lover of fiction/non-fiction with little choice but to tap online sources or place an order at a bookshop, which may take anywhere between a week and 10 days (depending on availability) to deliver. The other option is to travel down to Delhi or the National Capital Region and go on a book shopping spree or, if one is a student, rely on AMU libraries to satiate the inner bibliophile.

Though education fairs are common in Aligarh, book fairs are few and far between. “It is a small city without much tourist inflow. So, there are not many stores that sell popular books. There are far more education fairs than book fairs here,” says Sandeep Choudhury, who recently organized an education fair in the city.

Students being on the look-out for better opportunities and job prospects have prompted even the oldest bookstore in the city – Malviya Pustakalaya – to stock books for competitive exams and recruitment tests. Malviya Pustakalaya, incidentally, has one of the most valuable collections of literature, religion, philosophy and Hindi novels.

“These were ordered, so we got them,” says Sanjeev Agarwal of Vimal Book Store, pointing to a stack of popular fiction and non-fiction reading material. It was only recently that 1 % of the shop’s stocks began comprising authors like Arundhati Roy and William Dalrymple. “Earlier, there used to be a store selling fiction but now it has shut down, probably because of dipping sales.”

However, what makes Aligarh unique to bookworms is its repository of Urdu literature. Home to a substantial number of madrassa and AMU students, the city’s stores have an enviable collection of fiction and non-fiction by Faiz, Firaq and Ghalib. “Urdu works are most popular as a lot of retired professors or students from madrassas or AMU reside here,” says Asad Faisal Farooqui, who frequents the Education BookHouse established in 1927.

“It is interesting to see modern English literature being translated into Urdu for them,” he says, adding, “Students have bought Urdu translations of books by Jaswant Singh, Irfan Habib and also religious texts, including translations of the Bhagvad Gita.”

However, the trend does not go beyond prescribed reading material or books talked about in popular media. As Ashok Kuckreja of Aligarh Law Books, says, “Students buy what their professors recommend, which may be pertinent to one’s course but may not help build a larger reading repertoire.”

The experienced bookseller rues never being asked for books by, say, legal humourist Marc Galanter or by the likes of AP Herbert. “Not even 1% of that genre is ordered here, I have tried so many times to bring to their notice the works of Edward Heward on Lord Denning, John Mortimer’s ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ and Krishna Swamy’s work on V R Krishna Iyer, but there is no interest,” Kuckreja says.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Agra / by Eram Agha, TNN / September 22nd, 2014

Academy to revive rare books

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All

Allahabad :

As part of its initiative to revive its lost glory, Hindustani Academy has started publishing rare out of print Hindi and Urdu literary books of the pre-Independence era. The first in the series is a book on legendry king Raja Bhoj.

Raja Bhoj’s ‘Coronation millennium year’ was celebrated in 2011 in Madhya Pradesh for one year. A book, ‘Raja Bhoj’ written by Ramagya Dwivedi ‘Sameer’ was published once in 1932. It was selected to be published.

The publication of two other rare books of the third decade of last century, ‘Awadh Kosh’ (1934) and ‘Prayag Pradeep’ (1937) have also started rolling and are expected to hit book shelves.

Prayag Pradeep was stated to be an exhaustive description of the socio-political history of Allahabad, documented by Shaligram Srivastava in 1937.

Sunil Jogi, chairman of the academy said the books would provide a good reading material for the readers as well as research scholars.

“The ‘Awadh Kosh’ published once in 1934 and written by Ramagya Dwivedi ‘Sameer’ is another book worth reading and incorporates the socio-geographic status of regions coming under the then Awadh, the districts of Faizabad, Lucknow, Pratapgarh, Allahabad, Shravasti, Sultanpur, Unnao and Kanpur,” Jogi added.

It may be mentioned here that Hindustani Academy, established in January 1927, publishes, promotes books in Hindi and Urdu. Till 80s, the academy used to buzz with literary discussions with stalwarts like Mahadevi Verma, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Jagdish Gupta and others regularly participating in debate. The Academy also holds seminars, talks and lectures for the promotion of the two languages.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Vinod Khanal, TNN / September 18th, 2014

G.B. Pant University honors U.S. Chief Agricultural Negotiator Ambassador Islam A. Siddiqui

Agriculture, Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Leaders, Nature, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

The G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, today honored its former student, United States Chief Agricultural Negotiator Ambassador Islam A. Siddiqui, with an honorary degree of Doctor of Science. The degree was conferred upon Ambassador Siddiqui in recognition of his contributions to agricultural research and development, as well as agricultural trade policy development and his work’s influence on world agriculture.

“I feel humbled and honored at the same time to be receiving this honorary degree of Doctor of Science. Thousands of agricultural scientists, engineers, and veterinarians graduating from Pantnagar and sister universities provided the foot soldiers to make the Green Revolution a reality. This massive technology transfer of modern agricultural practices – combining education, research, and extension — turned India from a net food importing country to a food exporting nation. As a student of the first batch of this great institution when it opened its doors 51 years ago, I had not imagined in my wildest dreams that one day I would receive this prestigious award.”

Ambassador Siddiqui was born in Haldwani, Uttar Pradesh and attended G.B. Pant University before taking a scholarship at the University of Illinois in the United States. Throughout his career, he has advocated for international cooperation, technology transfer, capacity building, and new technology development to achieve food security in the 21st century.

source: http://www.newdelhi.usembassy.gov / Embassy of the United States, New Delhi, India / Home> News & Events> Press Releases / New Delhi – May 20th, 2011

LMGC moves alumnae to restore Khursheed Manzil

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All

Lucknow :

After financial assistance from Ministry of Culture towards conservation of the magnificent Khursheed Manzil, the La Martiniere Girls’ College looks up to its alumni to contribute towards converting the historical structure into a museum. The conservation work began in mid-June.

In the general body meeting of the La Martiniere Girls’ Alumni Association held recently, the school management had asked alumni to contribute towards renovation of Khursheed Manzil.

Principal Farida Abraham said “a museum is being prepared to preserve all old records and documents so that students present and past can relate more closely with the college’s glorious past.” Public will get a closer look at the antique remnants of this 200-year-old landmark, she added.

The grand museum will spread across three rooms comprising staff dining hall, drawing room and verandah, and would be adjacent to the principal’s office. The museum will exhibit the treasure trove of the historic college.

In an attempt to restore the pristine glory, the college had approached Union ministry of culture with a proposal. In May, the ministry sanctioned Rs 48 lakh. The total project outlay is around Rs 3 crore.

Conservation architect Ashish Srivastava said “the building was in a shambles. During excavation work, the college found pottery, good collection of books and paintings, picture plates dating back to pre-Independence years and other documents like shield, comments by old Martinians, etc.”

The college also plans to set the clock back. A drawbridge that led to the building in the past will be put in place so that visitors get a feel of the 18th century castle. This structure was witness to some stubborn fighting during the first War of Independence in 1857.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Isha Jain, TNN / September 09th, 2014

Gateway to ancient wisdom on verge of closing

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All

Lucknow:

Hindutva may be the flavour of the day, but there are no takers for Hindu mathematics in Lucknow University. This section of the Mathematics department of Lucknow University is virtually closed. It neither has expert faculty, nor students to carry forward research on invaluable transcripts on Astronomy and Algebra authored by great Hindu mathematicians till 1800 AD, which the world recognizes as masterpieces. Major reason for the faculty’s closure is that to study these documents one has to be well-versed in Sanskrit as well as a master of mathematics, which is a rare combination. Paucity of funds has just added to the woes.

Former section in charge Aruna Nigam who headed the department till 2009 says “the section has rare collection of work in mathematics. A lot of awareness is needed to revive the section.” She adds the last student of this department was Japanese national T Ohashi, who came a decade ago to study Indian astronomy. On how Hindu mathematics differs from Vedic mathematics, she said the former has been practiced from 2nd century AD while the latter dates only around 5,000 years Before Christ.

Present caretaker Poonam Sharma who took charge six months back said “these days nobody opts for Hindu mathematics because it does not fetch the kind of money other careers do.”

The section has a unique distinction in that it possesses around 52 priceless transcripts of original manuscripts written by Hindu mathematicians. There are three photocopies of the original work penned by Brahmagupta, ‘Sput Siddhanta’, in 620AD, brought from England and three microfilms in Bengali on algebra and mathematics. Formed in 1939 by A N Singh, the first Indian LU head of the math department, the section does not receive any grant, neither from the University Grants Commission nor state government.

Most transcripts are in Sanskrit and regional languages and they are on astronomy. “This was basically because the people then were particularly fascinated by Astrology and Astronomical wonders,” said Nigam. “That’s why we were world leaders in Astronomy till 1500AD, she said, adding arithmetic, algebra and geometry developed as byproducts of astronomy.

Some of the rare collections here are: ‘Aryabhattiyan’ by Aryabhatt (495 AD), Bahad Jatak by Varahmihir (6th century AD) and Sridharacharya’s Pati Ganit and Dholi Karma. Nigam said very few know there were two Bhaskaracharyas. Bhaskaracharya I (620 AD) was the astronomer and Bhaskaracharya II (1156 AD) the author of ‘Leelavati’. This was brought to light by English mathematician Colebrooke in the 18th century, she informed. She also challenged the popular belief that Leelavati was daughter of Bhaskaracharya II. “Bhaskaracharya used the name Leelavati for explaining mathematical problems, we have no proof weather she was an imaginary figure, disciple or daughter of the scholar”, she added.

Hoping that the section would be revived, former head of maths department, Ram Nivas informed “we had zero, decimal system concept of ‘infinity’ much before the world came to know about it.” Bodhayan derived Pythagoras theorem and calculated the value of pie in 800 BC. Through ‘Surya Siddhanta’ they had calculated distance of sun from earth. They knew about number of planets, their motions, causes of eclipses and trigonometry. ‘Theory of Indeterminants’ was in Indian mathematics since 5th century, while the world developed it after 13th century.

Aryabhatt (495 AD) was the first to discover that earth moves round the sun (west to east) by observing movements of boats. These scholars could read time accurately by measuring inclination of sun rays. They also knew about ‘principal governing observatories’, informed experts. Geometry was known as Dholi Sutra (since it was measured by threads) and arithmetic as ‘Dhool Karma’ and ‘Pati Ganit’ (since calculations were done on sand and wooden planks).

Nigam during her term took up the arduous task to translate these in English. Five books are already available in the department. “It’s unfortunately that the section is now closed,” she added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Isha Jain, TNN / September 01st, 2014

Octogenarian makes dictionary of bacronyms

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All, World Opinion

Agra :

For octogenarian BD Bhargava, playing with words is a passion. This toothless and frail, yet dynamic man has created what he calls the world’s first and only dictionary of bacronyms. According to Wikipedia, a bacronym is “a specially constructed acronym created to fit an existing word.”

Bhargava, who is a resident of Kamla Nagar, has more than 4,000 bacronyms in his collection. The man who runs several blogs which are being followed by many teachers and students, is now planning to take his magical world of ‘words’ a step ahead.

“After playing much with words, I am playing with pictures these days. I think picture speak much more than words. This is the reason why I am inculcating graphics and pictures in my bacronyms blog and it is more attractive and easy to grasp now,” he added.

Talking about the term backronym, Bhargava said it comes from a combination of the words “back” and “acronym,” because bacronyms are essentially acronyms in reverse. While acronyms list just the initial letter of a word phrase (e.g., “FBI”), a bacronym takes the letters of a word, and makes a word phrase using those letters.

“There are two necessary things about bacronyms. The first is that the word phrase should explain the meaning of the original word. The second is that the words must start with the letters of the original word in a sequential order. For example, EAR = Earliest Audio Receiver,” he said.

Talking about the idea behind creation of his bacronym dictionary, Bhargava said he got this idea from a book ‘crazy english’ by Richard Ledrerand. “The book was magical and hit my heart. It made me think that we have a lot to play with words. And I started playing with them. Initially, I worked on small sentences but my wife and kids motivated me to go ahead with what I started, somewhere in 1996 and since then I am making bacronyms,” he added.

His son-in-law created websites for Bhargawa and later, he also started writing his own blog which has caught the attention of academicians.

The octogenarian said he had delivered special lectures in schools and institutes based in New Delhi and even abroad, but has not yet been approached by schools of his own town. “I want to share this with school kids, its fun and easy to learn,” said Bhargava.

Commenting on the hard work needed in making up bacronyms, he said it takes him three to four days to select the best possible words to form one such acronym. Adding relevant pictures is also an uphill task for Bhargava, who is unable to concentrate on computer screen due to his old age.

“Nothing is said now that hath not been said before. I am not being modest. Most of what we say (or write) has been said (or written) before. The only claim to originality that I would like to make is about bacronyms. They are my idea and my creation. I can claim that my dictionary with more than 4000 bacronyms is the world’s first and only dictionary of its kind,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Agra / Ishita Mishra, TNN / August 31st, 2014

AU prof deciphers Gupta dynasty inscription

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Historical Links / Pre-Independence

Allahabad :

A faculty member of the department of Ancient History of Allahabad University has managed to decipher and identify a rare 5th century copper plate inscription discovered in a village near Mahasthan in Bogra district of Bangladesh.

The 1,500-year-old single copper plate is the first of the Imperial Gupta dynasty (CE 320-550) to come to light in the past three decades and is expected to throw new light on the empire whose political and cultural history is mainly based on 58 published inscriptions engraved on stones, copper plates, iron pillar and clay tablets, besides 42 inscriptions.

The accomplishment of cracking the inscription has been achieved by D P Dubey, associate professor in the department of Ancient History. Dr Dubey said, “This is the 59th inscription of the dynasty and second copper plate charter of king Vainyagupta who reigned from CE 499-500 to CE 507-08. The inscription is engraved on both sides of a single sheet of copper, measuring 22.5 cm x 11cm and weighs 850 grams and there are 26 lines of writing on it.”

“A circular seal is attached to it, which bears the legend in two lines si (read shri) paramabhattaka Vainyaguptadhikaranasya. The language of the inscription is Sanskrit and the record dates back to the Gupta year 180 (which means CE 499-500) and supplies the day and month as 9th day of the month of Jyeshtha (May-June),” informed Dubey.

He further said that King Vainyagupta, who succeeded Gupta king Budhagupta (CE 476-77 to CE 499-500), was known from his Nalanda seal and his Gunaighar (Comilla district of Bangladesh) copper-plate grant of Gupta Era 188 was published in 1930. It is known that in GE 157, Budhaguta ascended the throne but his last date has been speculative because the date read as 180 on one of his coins is doubtful. This new inscription shows that Budhagupta was dead well before Jyeshtha month in GE 180.

Dubey also claimed that this is the only inscription or source referring to maladministration in the time of a Gupta king in the empire, particularly in North Bengal (modern Bangladesh) in GE 157. The high provincial officer named Mahamatra was not heard after the Maurya rule in Indian history and for the first time in Gupta history, his existence is now known again, otherwise he is unknown in the Gupta history.

This inscription is also important because of the fact that it refers to king Vainyagupta as paramabhattaraka, a titled used for Maharajadhiraja in the Gupta period. But many historians think that Vainyagupta of the Gunaighar grant and the Nalanda sealing are identical. However, the evidence from the present inscription puts this controversy at rest, said Dubey.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / Rajiv Mani, TNN / August 28th, 2014

Calligraphy fans come from Jaipur, Japan to hone skills

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, World Opinion

Allahabad :

In a bid to revive the glory of dying art of calligraphy, youngsters from Jaipur to Japan have assembled here to receive training of the art from Hyderabad-based artist Mohammad Nayeem Sabri. Majority of them do not are experts in Urdu, still they want to carry forward the legacy of this art.

On Friday, TOI spoke to trainees and trainer in the ongoing workshop at Allahabad Museum.

Harpeet Kaur Chabra, a Sanskrit calligrapher, came to know about the training workshop from social site, Facebook in Jaipur. She contacted Allahabad Museum and sought permission to attend the workshop.

“I am a professional dealing with Sanskrit manuscripts and not well acquainted with Urdu language so I decided to participate in the week-long training sessions,” Chabra said.

Asuka from Japan, who was researching on Urdu, joined the workshop to carry the dying art to her country.

“Calligraphy is a medium of expression practiced in English, Urdu and Arabic and others languages. Since I am researching on Urdu, I decided to join the workshop to hone my skills,” Asuka said. Hamidia Girl’s Degree College (HGDC) principal Rehana Tareeq invited her to join the diploma course in calligraphy in her college also.

HGDC student Farheen Kausar and 15 others have decided to join the workshop.

“We are from fine art background, so we decided to learn the difficult form of art. We have added innovations to it by using brush strokes in calligraphy,” Farheen added.

Calligraphist Mohammad Nayeem Sabri (86), who had dedicated his life to the art after getting relieved from 48 years of service as engineer in Hyderabad, said: “There are couple of girls who can make it big in the art of calligraphy if they practice under the guidance of experts.”

“The art is found on nearly every monument in India and even in English there is a immense scope. The calligraphy at Qutab Minar, Taj Mahal had attracted tourists worldwide. At present, this art is passing through a poor phase so I hope government will look into it.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Vinod Khanal, TNN / August 23rd, 2014

AMU Professor Gets SAARC Best Law Teacher Award

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Leaders, Records, All

Eminent academician Faizan Mustafa, who is senior vice-president of city-based NGO Rural Litigation Entitlement Kendra, has been conferred with this year’s prestigious SAARC Best Law Teacher Award.

In a unanimous decision the high-powered jury conferred this award on Mustafa, according to a press statement released by the NGO here today.

The award which carries Rs 1 lakh in cash, a citation and a plaque would be given to Mustafa by the Union Law Minister in Delhi on September 6, in the presence of eminent professors of law, judges and eminent lawyers, it said.

Earlier awardees include leading jurists N R Madhav Menon, Ranbir Singh, G V Ajjappa, V S Mani, Prof. Laxminath and Prof. Mizanur Rehman of Bangladesh’s Dhaka University.

Mustafa is Aligarh Muslim University’s Law Faculty member and is widely respected for his passion for teaching. He introduced several courses such as Intellectual Property Rights, International Human Rights Law and Tourism Laws at AMU.

At NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad where he is presently working as Vice-Chancellor, he designed and taught new courses like Diversity Management Law, Comparative Strict Liability Law, Multiculturalism & Minority Rights.

He is the only academic who has been nominated as member of the National Legal Services Authority, which is headed by the Chief Justice of India.

He is member of several Executive Councils, Academic Councils and General Councils of various universities. He has been member of several search committees for the appointment of Vice-Chancellors.

Noted rights activist Avadhash Kaushal who heads the NGO has suggested that the Uttarakhand government should utilise the services of Mustafa in planning the proposed National Law University of Uttarakhand.

source: http://www.outlookindia.com / Outlook / Home> News / Dehradun – August 19th, 2014

40 students from 7 districts express their heritage in German

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, World Opinion

Allahabad :

Sangam city witnessed a unique confluence of German and Indian culture when around 40 students from seven districts of the state assembled to creatively express the heritage and tradition of their respective cities in German language. The occasion was a German language camp organised as a part of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)’s German language school curriculum. The programme was being conducted by Kendriya Vidyalaya, Varanasi region and Max Mueller Bhawan.

Take for instance the pictorial description of Varanasi with caption by students of class 7 and 8. With ‘Gott Buddha’ for ‘God Buddha’, ‘Fluss Ganga’ for ‘flowing Ganga’, ‘Der Tempel’ for ‘Temple’ and ‘Der Sari’ used to describe the popular Banarasi sari, the poster by students presented a live picture of the city as a cultural-heritage city.

Students from the KV of Allahabad, Rihandnagar, Basti, Shakti Nagar among others expressed themselves in German. 13-year-old Pratyush, student of KV, who gave a vivid description of Varanasi as ‘Banaras is a heritage city through which river Ganga flows. It flows silently…The city lanes are crowded and traffic snarls…’.

Commenting on the workshop and programme, project coordinator at the Goeth Institute, New Delhi, Puneet Kaur said, “children from Kendriya Vidyalas of Allahabad Region have assembled to improve their German language skills while discussing their immediate environment in their city.”

The workshop concluded with the valedictory session, addressed by the deputy commissioner KVS Varanasi Region, PV Sai Ranga Rao. Interacting with the students, he said, “the efforts put in by the host school, KV New Cant is worth an applaud and so is the enthusiasm of the students.”

He also said a collaborative programme such as this would help students in shaping their career as learning German as a second language gives them better prospects.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / TNN / August 07th, 2014