British ‘de-developed’ India, says Darwin descendant

Education, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, World Opinion

Lucknow :

The British did not develop, rather “de-developed” India, said Felix Padel Darwin, a descendent of evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin. “India was developed long before and British conquered it because they were developed militarily,” said Darwin, an adjunct professor in Jawarlal Nehru University’s School of Social Sciences, visiting the city for a national seminar on ‘Social ecology and environmental movements in India’ at Lucknow University.

“India was far more developed than Britain in terms of multi-cultural ethos and in its manufacturing skills. After the British rule, the quality of manufacturing in many things like cloth declined radically and went in the ‘de-developing’ mode,” he said.

Tribal communities (adivasis) whose lands are taken over or invaded by a mining company or for a dam, undergo a precisely similar process, said the social scientist, adding that it’s a long process of developing a symbiosis as their natural environment is cut off and their quality of life drops drastically. Their indigenous process of development is disrupted and destroyed effectively, he elaborated.

Darwin is fascinated with the indigenous culture of the tribal communities. “They are egalitarian, have excellent environmental knowledge. Tribal societies are far more developed than the mainstream industrial society, especially if we look at living sustainably,” he said.

Terming the mainstream industrial society as uncivilised and primitive, the London-born sociologist-activist said adivasis have a strong sense of law which the entire country must learn from. Their legal process reconciles with contestants rather than one party right proving the other wrong. “Traditionally, both parties were usually fined, and the fines paid funded a feast of reconciliation. What can be more civilised than that,” said Darwin, and adds, there are thousands of thousands court cases pending.

The scenario is no different in developed countries like America. Darwin said, in India, corruption is very easily visible. “The corruption starts from my own country Britain. The top accountancy firms don’t even see the proper documents. They just see the mark of British approval. It is meaningless but is completely forced,” says Darwin

Human right is the index of development of the country. But today, thousands of police officers are raping with complete impunity. “In Shivaji’s regime, the person committing rape was immediately executed. I am not saying that capital punishment is right or wrong but it surely created a fear among others,” said Darwin.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Isha Jain, TNN / October 14th, 2015

Artisans from East UP to display artifacts in Geneva

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, World Opinion

Varanasi :

Crossing the geographical boundaries, the signature products of Varanasi region are all set to catch the attention of international audience at the 55th General Assembly of International Bureau of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland. A three member delegation including two artisans left the city on Sunday to take part in WIPO event from October 5 to 10.

“The Banarasi artisans will exhibit some of the famed products in the ‘Make in India -Geographical Indication of India’ event at Geneva”, said the team leader and president of Human Welfare Association (HWA) Rajni Kant before leaving the city. “It is really a proud movement for the artisans that they were invited by the WIPO, one of the specialized agencies in United Nation. It is a recognition of the eastern UP’s GI products at international level,” said a jubilant Kant.

With him the two master craftsmen – Kunj Bihari Singh from Varanasi and Sohit Kumar Prajapati from Nizambad, (Azamgarh) left for Geneva with their artifacts. Kunj Bihari is known for his mastery over the art of Gulabi meenakari (pink enameling), and Sohit is a craftsman of black pottery of Nizamabad. They will give live demonstrations of Gulabi Meenakari and Black Pottery in the front of international audience. For them the trip to Geneva is like a lifetime achievement. “We had never thought of participation in such an international event,” said Kunj Bihari. An art piece made by Kunj Bihari -a replica of pink enameled rickshaw was presented to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the city on September 18.

According to Kant, this event is supported by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India in collaboration with WIPO. “This event will create a great opportunity to the GI registered products of the country, mainly the hand-woven and handicrafts products will get maximum benefit to show-case at Geneva where nearly 170 country will represent in this international event,” he said adding that five other artisans from other parts of the country will also take part in the event with their traditional products. “It is for the first time when the real artisans are participating in this type of international event which is exclusively organize on the issue of Intellectual Property Right (IPR),” said Kant, who played a key role in getting GI tags to many products of this region. Varanasi has emerged as a hub of GI registered products.

According to him, some of the products of this region like Banaras Brocades and Sarees, Handmade carpet of Bhadohi, Banaras Gulabi Meenakari, Wooden Lacquer ware & Toys, Mirzapur handmade Dari and Black Pottery will display there with other GI products of the country. “We are grateful to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and WIPO to provide us this opportunity for creating new dimensions at international level for the traditional weavers and artisans of the GI registered products under Make in India initiative, and we hope that after this initiative, the artisans and weaves will get a new market through GI as a brand and millions of the weavers and artisans and consumers will be directly benefited under “Make in India – Geographical Indication of India,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Varanasi / by Binay Singh, TNN / October 04th, 2015

In Lucknow to trace their roots, love for India

Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion

Lucknow :

He is not an Indian but a part of India always lived inside Noel Gunther. In fact, the desire to see ‘Charbagh’ grew with this Briton in mid 50s. On Saturday, his dream came true and the ‘happiness of its achievement’ rolled down his eyes as tears.

Overwhelmed with joy, Noel said, “I could feel the warmth of my grandfather’s love in the air.” Noel represents a group of some 1.2 million non-Indians surely in love with India brought together by London based ‘Families in British India Society (FIBIS) a not for profit organization started in 1998. Accompanied by 15 others, Noel reached India to trace his roots in September.

“Charbagh was the workplace of my grand-father Robert Upshon who worked as electrician in Indian Railways and stayed in Lucknow in the 1920s – the formative years of Charbagh Railway Station,” he said.

Trustee of FIBIS, Elaine MacGregor who headed the group said, “Ancestors of all FIBIS members have a common heritage emanating from India. Their forefathers have worked or lived in cities of Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Kanpur, and Meerut among others in years between 1600 and 1947 AD.”

So far, the group has covered Delhi, Meerut, Amritsar, Dharmshala and Shimla. After Lucknow, they would travel to Kanpur, Bithoor, Agra and Jaipur before leaving in the coming week. “While other places are important, Lucknow stands out because a large chunk of people who visited India are connected to it,” Elaine told TOI.

“Lucknow’s importance may be gauged from the fact that one-third of all queries received by FIBIS are related to it,” she added. In Lucknow, the group would pay a visit to La Martiniere and Residency on Sunday morning besides having a brief walk in Hazratganj.

Like Noel, other members in the group are also very sure of their Indian connection. Some of them have done individual researches to establish their links. Noel for instance had Baptism record of his aunt who was born in Lucknow.

Others relied on FIBIS which ‘joins the dots’ for British in love with India with the help of references. “We have a name data base of 1.28 million members extracted from hundreds of documents including East India Company Parish Registers, Newspapers, Directory of British residents in India, old books, photographs and diaries,” said Elaine.

Besides reclaiming one’s history and origin and answering ‘who do you think you are?’ the journey is a nostalgic experience to most. Twenty year old Mark, youngest member in the group says that decided to explore a country they are so passionate about while Penny from Brisbane wanted to see her alma mater – the La Martiniere Girls College once again.

A secondary aim is to document condition of British cemeteries in India. Valmay, who is compiling the report said, “Many cemeteries are overgrown and missing. But there are some positive stories as well as in case of Shimla where a local pastor has volunteered to save cemetery.”

Two other groups starting from Bengaluru and Kolkata would come in the subsequent weeks.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Shailve Sharda, TNN / October 11th, 2015

NBRI develops cotton plant resistant to whitefly

Agriculture, Records, All, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

Even as Punjab farmers rue the loss of nearly two-thirds of their cotton crop to whitefly, Lucknow-based National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) has developed a cotton variety that is resistant to the pest.

The technology has been tested on cotton plants at the institute’s polyhouse, where a gene derived from a vegetable – which the institute did not disclose – was found effective against whitefly. The ones injected with the ‘gene’ at the polyhouse are healthy and others are stunted and infested with whitefly.

“The ‘gene’ makes whitefly sterile thus controlling the reproduction of the pest,” said Dr PK Singh, principal investigator of the project, ‘Development of Resistance against Whitefly in Cotton’, at the institute. NBRI, a research lab of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has applied for a patent for the technology in eight countries.

Whitefly is a common pest which affects 30 plant varieties, including cotton, brinjal, papaya, tomato, okra and cucurbits, both in open fields and polyhouses. Though cotton is grown in nine states – Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, it’s the northern states where the pest affects the crop more.

Whitefly is a sap-sucking pest which affects plants in two ways: it sucks all the nutrients from leaves and excretes on the leaf’s surface thus causing fungal infection. Worse, the crop infested with whitefly may not wither completely but remains stunted. This gives farmers the hope that an overdose of fertilisers and pesticides would save the plant, but actually the yield from unhealthy plants is too little.

Once there is an outbreak it is difficult to check it. Spraying pesticides may not always help as the canopy formed by grown up plants may not let pesticide act on each and every leaf. Besides, the pest sticks to the base of the leaves and lays eggs there. “Treating each and every leaf can help but that’s a tough task,” said a scientist.

Once the pest spreads, it can destroy the crop in six to eight weeks. It was after testing genes from 250 plants that NBRI found the gene from a vegetable effective on cotton.

The protein formed by the gene was found safe and also easily digestible in the laboratory trials. The technology is now ready for field trials. “We want industrial partners to take the technology forward for field trials and efficacy test,” said director, NBRI, Dr CS Nautiyal.

The institute has done the trial on ‘coker’ variety of cotton which is not cultivable for low yield. “It needs to be crossed with other varieties and after six to eight crossings, we can transfer the gene to varieties which are commonly cultivated,” said Singh. ‘Coker’ is competent to take any gene.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Neha Shukla, TNN / October 09th, 2015

Music composer Ravindra Jain passes away at 71

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Veteran music composer, Ravindra Jain passed away in Mumbai’s Lilavati hospital on October 9, 2015. He had been admitted to Lilavati Hospital, where his condition was said to be stable.

The 71-year-old musician was suffering from a urinary infection causing a problem in his kidney.

“He was in the ICU… he was on ventilator. He was on 24 hour dialysis,” his brother Mahindra told PTI on October 8, 2015.

Ravindra Jain has composed the music for blockbusters like Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Chitchor, Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se, Geet Gaata Chal, Vivah to name a few and has composed numerous bhajans.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> Entertainment> Hindi> Music / TN & Agencies / October 09th, 2015