Admin steps in to restore Moti Jheel

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion

Agra :

The district administration has initiated steps to restore the Moti Jheel that is located behind Fatehpur Sikri fort complex, following the directions from the central government.

The project is aimed at rediscovering the beauty of this Mughal lake by preventing encroachments and settlements around it. The union tourism ministry wants the water body to be restored near the Unesco heritage site (Sikri fort complex) so as to promote tourism in the area.

Speaking on this aspect, district magistrate Pankaj Kumar said, “The Moti Jheel is a massive project. So, in the meantime we plan to build a pond nearby the fort. The biggest obstacles that would make the task of reviving the Jheel quite difficult, are the settlements and farm lands, surrounding it.”

“The work for constructing the pond will start in the next 15 to 20 days. As far as the Jheel is concerned, we have two options – either we compensate the villagers and ask them to vacate the land or convince them for the same. We are looking in to the matter,” Kumar added.

Sources said kumar recently conducted an inspection of the area along with a team of revenue and irrigation department officials to identify the area, where once this lake existed. The officials were asked to demarcate the lake area with the help of old maps. They were also directed to file a report on the size and appropriate depth of the lake.

The project has been gathering dust for the last two years, but revived once again during the visit of union tourism minister Shripad Naik, who instructed the ASI and the local administration to look into the feasibility of restoring the Moti Jheel.

An ASI official said, “It is the responsibility of the administration to restore the lake. There are historical evidences about the Jheel and about its tributaries. No doubt, it will take time to acquire land before restoration work can starts.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Agra / Aditya Dev, TNN / August 25th, 2014

British era police records to be preserved

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

Allahabad :

The Allahabad police has found police records of British era in which casts of Urdu alphabets were used to lodge FIRs as well as maintain records. Now, these records would be preserved for posterity with help from historians and experts of Allahabad museum.

The records, dating back to 1896, reveal that the Britishers had laid emphasis on maintaining history of each and every case systematically in Conviction Registers (CR).

Interestingly, every case registered in a CR had its serial number along with name of convict and number of history-sheet, percentage and caste, place and date of conviction, offence category, punishment awarded, place of crime committed outside village and remarks.

Apart from this, the records had other details also like notes on crime in the village with special references to fractions, land or water dispute, presence of criminal tribes or gang, occurrence of obstructions or damage to railway line within the village, special outbreaks of crime in the village.

SSP, Allahabad, Deepak Kumar said, “After collecting the old police records from different police stations, we have decided to preserve them technically and scientifically. Maintenance of records revealed that the Britishers were keen to compile special references to fraction village wise, land or water disputes as well as damage to railway line within a village.”

Interestingly, the police authorities have decided to consult Allahabad Museum experts and eminent historians to know more about the records and how to preserve them scientifically.

The records also indicated that in British era, ‘gopniya patrikas’ (secret reports) were being prepared regarding public movements, i.e., dharna, demonstration and violence in which a senior police officer also put his remark. The main record was known as conviction register and contained details of criminal cases along with all details.

The Britishers had maintained area wise Village Crime Note Books (VCNBs) like Chowk, Colonelganj, Civil Lines. Each VCNB was divided into five sections. The conviction register was the main part of VCNB while other details were compiled in different sections. The Britishers also had a list of names of respectable persons (area wise), licenced arms holders, people of a particular caste, religion along with religious places.

The British era cops used to take pains to gather and note down all inputs about the people and the area under their jurisdiction and the seniors were putting the remarks once or twice in a year.

The police have also found the notes wherein special remarks were put regarding a particular incident. For instance, a paper wherein an inspector rank police officer had on August 8,1966 noted down his remark regarding an incident of public agitation over power crisis was also found.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / Kapil Dixit, TNN / August 21st, 2014

Dr. Indu Singh takes Telemedicine to Villages Near Benares; The Story of G.V.Meditech

Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Science & Technology

A Dream Come True Situation

With urbanization, migration has become a common occurrence especially in villages around even towns like Benares. More and more young men are heading to cities in search of jobs. This has left women, children and old people in these villages without the people to escort them to the city for any serious medical requirement.

Meena Sharma living in a village near Gazipur developed life threatening complications during the final stages of her pregnancy. Thanks to the presence of telemedicine facilities in Gazipur, tests were done immediately to diagnose the problem. Within two hours, the doctors arrived at the scene from Benares. The right blood donor had also been identified saving both mother and the premature baby.

Telemedicine1LUCKNOWaug2014

G.V.Meditech Bridging the Gap

Being a gynecologist from Gazipur (near Benares) specializing in fertility, Dr. Indu Singh had the opportunity to travel around the world and meet other medical practioners. This strengthened her pursuit of providing good medical infrastructure for people who needed it in this part of the country.

So in the year 1992 a small maternity and child health care unit called G.V.Meditech was started by Dr. Indu Singh in Benares providing the much needed medical infrastructure to people in this area. “My husband and myself, we are also attached to people from the villages of Gazipur and Mirzapur because we are from there. We have started two satellite centres in both these places so that people don’t have to travel unnecessarily. The problem was that the elderly people, woman and children are left alone in the villages. There were no people to bring them to Benares for treatment,” explains Dr. Indu Singh, Founder, G.V.Meditech.


ICT & Telemedicine Facilities
Telemedicine02LUCKNOWaug2014

Apart from computerization of all data, ICT forms the backbone of telemedicine practices followed by G.V.Meditech. Live telemedicine solutions with specifically designed equipments, once attached to the patients in Gazipur, act as a machine to read BP, ECG etc that can be accessed by doctors in Benares. If anything serious then the patients could get in touch with the doctors in Benares through telemedicine facilities attached to mobile phones.

Apart from their satellite centres, G.V.Meditech has also conducted around 150 camps in the last 10 yrs. “The best part about medical camps is that we get to meet people in person making ourselves more approachable for later interactions,” shares Dr.Indu. Invited by the villagers, G.V.Meditech conducts camps. Families support them by cooking for them. Girls and teachers from the schools where they conduct camps volunteer to support them. They check 3000-4000 people in each camp providing prescription and free medicine.

G.V.Meditech had also brought the Lifeline Express/Jeevan Rekha Express, mobile hospital train to Benares for 3 days and to Gazipur for 3 weeks. 28,000 people were treated including 450 eye surgery and 50 cleft lip surgeries that were performed.

Challenges and the Road Ahead

Sadly, the lack of funds to do surgeries continues to haunt people who need medical support. “Motivating doctors and finance are the biggest challenges. People are ready to support micro-finance organizations etc but not healthcare. Patient investors are required in this sector because it will take 3 years or so to yield results,” says Dr.Indu.

Yet G.V. Meditech Ltd. has 65 doctors who cater to 7.1 million people in 15 districts in and around Benares especially in eastern regions of Uttar Pradesh, Western Bihar and Jharkhand for the past 20 years. They attend to more than 1 million outpatient visits, deliver 25,552 babies, perform 32,452 surgeries, and fill about 64,000 prescriptions in a year.

“I plan to have another 4 centres to cater to the huge population in and around Gazipur. They will be micro clinics with one paramedic person giving medical awareness, education, blood tests etc. Our ultimate aim is that people don’t die of ignorance or lack of medical support,” shares Dr.Indu. They are also looking to educate boys and girls to train and employ them in micro clinics to support the ecosystem.

Want to support G.V.Meditech in their endeavors? Take a look at G.V.Meditech’s website. http://www.gvmeditech.com/

source: http://www.yourstory.com / YourStory.com / Home / by Brindaa Lakshmi, K / October 16th, 2012

Sound of Buddha’s teachings to see light of the day soon

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

Varanasi :

Good days are ahead for Sarnath, the place where Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon after attaining enlightment. The UP Tourism department is planning to launch a sound and light show in the backdrop of Dhamekha Stupa. The Archaeological Survey of India too has given its nod in principle to the project.

In 2002-03, Union ministry of tourism had sanctioned Rs 352 lakh for a project based on Lord Buddha’s life that was to come up at the proposed Buddha Theme Park. Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) was assigned the project and in 2003-04, the fund for the light and sound show too was sanctioned. Sources claimed that despite floating repeated tenders, ITDC failed to attract bidders. A team of ITDC experts visited Buddha Theme Park in May 2011. However, the project continued to linger on.

In 2013, Union tourism minister Subodhkant Sahay and deputy secretary Vishal Gagan held a meeting with officials of ITDC and UP Tourism in Varanasi to discuss the delay in the project. Later, the ministry withdrew the funds from ITDC and returned it to the state government so that it could materialise the project.

After ITDC had delayed the project by decade, the UP Tourism department decided to shift the site to Dhamekha Stupa. Regional tourism officer Ravindra Mishra said that ASI had in principle agreed to allow the show near Dhamekha Stupa.

On the call of the ASI, Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU) experts conducted a study to know the affect of sound and light show on the monuments including Dhamekha Stupa. Initially the team provided a brief report making it clear that there would be no harm to Sarnath monuments from this project.

Mishra said that the ASI demanded detailed study, so the IIT-BHU report was being revised and would be ready in a day or two. The UP Tourism headquarters would forward it to the Union government, through state government. As per the rough estimate prepared by the electricity division of Rajkiya Nirman Nigam (RNN), the cost of the new sound and light show project at Sarnath could go up to Rs 8 crore, said sources.

Officials of UP Tourism stopped pursuing the issue. Mishra said that the district administration and the tourism department had decided to go for fresh project. This time, officials also decided to change the venue and start the sound and light show near Dhamekha Stupa as this site is visited by pilgrims and tourists coming to Sarnath. The project will be forwarded to the state government to ensure that it is sanctioned in the current financial year, he added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / Rajeev Dishit, TNN / August 05th, 2014

Colourful tableaux mark ‘Dadhijkando’ fair

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Allahabad :

The glitzy ‘Dadhijkando’ fair, first in the series of six held on every weekend, started with the display of best of Indian culture and tradition by around two dozens socio-religious tableaux at Salori here on Saturday.

The fair, traditionally organised from the sixth day of Janmashtami, were started with tableaux based on the several episodes from the life of Lord Krishna.

The first in the series was Lord Krishna and Baldau sitting atop an elephant followed by tableau procession which started late in the evening and was continued till going into press.

The procession after passing through Chandpur-Salori, Teliarganj, Rasoolabad was scheduled to conclude at the same place. The localities through which tableaux passed were decked up with colourful lighting patterns and cut-out of Lord Krishna.

Earlier, the procession started with president of Salori Mela Committee Brahma Prakash along with local leaders and administrative officials offering worship at Salori temple.

As per the tradition of depicting socio-economic state of affairs along with that depicting life sketch of Lord Krishna, tableaux on ‘corruption’ were also taken out. Similarly, tableaux ‘Kraishna-Baldau’, ‘Kalia-Mardan’, ‘Raas-leela’ were highly appreciated by visitors. The decked up tableaux were also given cash prize and shield by the organizing committee on the basis of the lightings and topic selected.

On Sunday, Sulemsarai would host the Dadhikando fair. The sixth-day ‘Shasti’ celebrations was also held at Kunj Bihari Lal Agarwal Athithi Bhawan where tableaux depicting the Lord Krishna and devotional programmes were held.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / TNN / August 24th, 2014

Tributes paid to Shehnai maestro

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Records, All

Varanasi:

Rich tributes were paid to Shehnai maestro Bharat Ratna Late Ustad Bismmillah Khan on his 8th death anniversary observed at Dargah-e-Fatman on Thursday.

A music lover and a fan of Ustad, Narendra Gupta from Delhi, paid tributes to him by reading Sunderkand of Ramcharitmanas and Hanuman Chalisa beside his grave. Gupta visits the city every year on birth and death anniversary of Ustad. Some music lovers also paid a musical tribute to him on the occasion.

They were disappointed to see that the grave of Ustad could not take a shape of a maqbara yet, and a music academy after his name also seemed to be a distant dream. A series of promises were made by the government after the death of Shehnai maestro but none of them have been fulfilled yet.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / TNN / August 22nd, 2014

Tabla and sarangi make up Bhatkhande Vrind band

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

The mellifluous notes of tabla, violin, sarangi and an array of other instruments fill the air of the classroom in Bhatkhande Music Institute Deemed University. Budding musicians and singers, during rehearsal, warmly welcome you to the incubation centre of an emphatic classical band called Bhatkhande Vrind.

In a corner, first-year students Alok Kumar Jaiswal and Chhatrapati are practicing to get a hold of the tanpura, while Saurabh and Devanand are putting in their best on the tabla.

The excitement is palpable. These students know that they will get a chance to perform as professional artistes. Parvez, a first-year student of masters of performing arts, taking a break from his flute, says, “The very thought that Bhatkhande is reviving its classical band is a wonderful feeling”.

“In addition to regular classes, being a part of Bhatkhande Vrind is a golden opportunity to learn stage management and how to establish a connection with the live audience,” says Raniththri Ishanka, a student from Sri Lanka.

“The band comprising not less than 35 students will focus on classical music while all instruments and singing will be based on raagas,” says Kamlesh Dubey, a senior faculty member at Bhatkhande Music Institute and in charge of the formation of the band.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India Home> City> Lucknow / by Uzma Talha, TNN / August 24th, 2014

‘Ballia independence’ commemorated

Historical Links / Pre-Independence

Varanasi :

In order to commemorate the historic event when ‘Baghi Ballia’ had declared Independence from British rule in 1942, hundreds of local residents assembled at the district jail on Tuesday. The gate of jail was opened for a while. A procession was taken out across the town.

On August 19, 1942, thousands of people of Ballia proceeded to jail to free their leaders imprisoned during Quit India movement. They were armed with guns, lathis and spears. The gate of the jail was opened and the political prisoners were freed. It was the historic victory of Ballia. People had taken control of the town and they declared ‘Independence’ for Ballia on August 20, 1942. A government headed by Chittu Pandey was formed. Every year, on August 19, people carry out procession from the district jail and hold meeting at Bapu Bhawan to celebrate the victory.

People uprising in Ballia began soon after the arrest of Congress leaders taking part in Quit India movement. On August 10, 1942, all the schools were closed and people continued to take out processions. On August 13, Bilthara Road railway station was attacked and the building was burnt. On August 16, Rasra treasury was attacked and two days later the police station at Bairia was attacked. The station officer had removed the Tricolour, which the freedom fighters hoisted on August 15. At least 20 persons were killed and several others injured in police firing.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / TNN / August 19th, 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

Postal department to release postage stamps on music maestros

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Allahabad :

Yesteryears’ classical music maestros, who gave new dimensions to Indian music would now hog the limelight through postage stamps. For collector’s delight, the postal department has decided to release stamps of eight legendary vocalists and instrumentalists who captivated the audience worldwide through their talents.

The release being commemorative and a one-time release has been eagerly awaited by the city philatelists here. The maestros who had ruled the music world and made their presence felt in overseas also, ranges from that of early 20th century to the past few years.They include Bharat Ratna and three time Grammy award winner Pandit Ravishankar who introduced sitar to the world, Bharat Ratna Bhimsen Joshi who ruled the music arena for over six decades with his ‘khayal’ style of singing and Padma Vibhushan, Kumar Gandharva, famous for his unique vocal style and his innovative genius.

Among the list are sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan who recorded his first performance at the age of eight and gave his last concert at the age of 75 years. Similarly, Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur, classical singer of the `khayal’ style and Padma Vibhushan awardee Gangubai Hangal also of the `khayal’ genre and Padma Vibhushan Awardee and DK Pattama, renowned Carnatic musician and a playback singerfor film songs would also figure in the stamps to be released soon by the postal department.

Director, postal services, KK Yadav said, “Gauging from the response the people, specially the young collectors have shown over the stamps of yesteryears’ actors, we are convinced that the collection of the stamps of the musicians which will be released in a limited number across the country will be sold out within couple of days. The stamps release is proposed on September 3.”

Harish, a registered stamp collector said they are eagerly awaiting the collection of stamps of musicians to be released in the month of September.”It will be a valuable collection for us as it would be the first of its kind stamps on Indian music in the past few years,” he added.

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