A ‘Taj Mahal’ in Kuwait

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

Taj Mahal of India is widely recognized as “the jewel of art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage”. It’s a unique monument built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Taj Mahal is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and one of the best examples of Islamic architecture.

Millions visit India to get glimpses of this unique architectural beauty and this includes a large number from Middle East. How about seeing the beauty of Taj Mahal here itself in Kuwait?

Inspired by the architecture of Taj Mahal, Kuwait has designed a mosque exactly like Taj Mahal, a replica. The mosque is a bigger version of India’s Taj Mahal. It’s 3 times bigger.

Sadeeqa Fatimatul Zahra Mosque, a prayer place for the Kuwaitis, looks similar to India’s Taj Mahal from the outside. Located at Block 6, Abdullah Al-Mubarak area, West of Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, the mosque is already gaining a reputation as one of Kuwait’s most distinctive buildings and is called the “Taj Mahal of Kuwait”.

It’s learned that Hassan Johar, a Member of Parliament, who was behind this unique project here, received the blessing of the Indian embassy before building the mosque.

Internal design of the mosque differs from the original. It consists of carvings of verses from the Quran. The four minarets and central dome of the mosque are adorned with brass crescents. The main prayer area is at the ground floor with library and utilities. It has a separate prayer hall for the women in the first floor. The Mosque was officially opened for the public in 2011.

The beauty of the mosque in middle of the desert is mesmerizing. It’s a proud feeling for all Indians here in Kuwait to witness a replica of the Taj Mahal in Kuwait. Those who have not seen the Taj Mahal in India, they can now see it in Kuwait.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> NRI> Contributions> Contributors / by Deepika Nambiar, TOI Contributor / April 30th, 2014

Royal pensioners look up to Modi govt for relief

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

Lucknow :

The Royal Family of Avadh, a body of descendents of erstwhile Nawabs of Avadh, wants the Modi government to revise the amount of wasiqa, the royal pension scheme initiated by Bahu Begum, the mother of Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah for the eternal benefit of her relatives, descendants and close servants. The scheme was continued by the East India Company and then the British rulers. After independence, it became responsibility of ministry of home affairs, government of India. Given in the form of silver coins, the pension was converted into currency notes which reduced its value.

The allowance lost its value further owing to division among beneficiaries. “In the 1850s, different wasiqas in the form of silver coin worth Rs 10 lakh were distributed among 168 persons,” said Ravi Bhatt, who has authored books on Lucknow’s history. “Today the number of beneficiaries is 1,800 and conversion from silver coins to currency has reduced the total value of all wasiqas to about Rs 22,000. This means less money and more claimants. As a result, the pension of more than 500 wasiqa holders is less than Rs 10,” he added.

General secretary of Royal Family of Avadh, Shikoh Azad says “changeover from silver coins to currency notes defeated the purpose of the scheme. No effort was made to revise the amount. In the interest of the community, we now want the wasiqa amount to be increased 100 times,” said Azad.

He added that Rajnath Singh had promised to revise wasiqa. The senior BJP leader and Lucknow MP is now also Union home minister. “Rajnath Singh assured to take up the matter. Our delegation will meet him next week with draft of the proposal,” claimed Azad, whose father is a wasiqedaar.

The delegation would also be talking about what the government did with loans and saving certificates given by nawabs of Avadh to East India Company. “The cumulative worth of these loans and certificates 200 years ago was Rs 198.33 crore and Rs 88.9 lakh, respectively. We want to know what the government has done with that money over the past 66 years,” asked Safdar Nawab, a royal descendent.

The royal family wants the interest accrued over this amount to be passed on to the descendents as royalty. “That’s our money and we have a right to it. But, we are as generous as our ancestors and will not mind a portion of it to be contributed to India’s defence services or for internal security,” said Nawab Jahangir Agha.

Royal family of Avadh wants Modi government to appoint a commission with representation of the descendents to “study all aspects of this tradition and recommend accordingly,” said Nawab Ibrahim Ali Khan, president.

Revision of wasiqa will change the fate of many holders living in penury. Begum Sabiha Kazmi, for example, who is a royal descendent, work as zardozi artisan to meet ends. The 60-year-old wants her granddaughters to study buthas no means. “A few thousand rupees can help us lead a better life,” she said.

For the well-to-do wasiqa holders, pension is an attestation of their royalty. “Money is not the issue for me and I use the wasiqa amount for charity. But wasiqa as an emblem of royalty and will help us keep the legacy of Lakhnavi tradition alive,” said Naseema Raza.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Shailvee Sharda ,TNN / June 18th, 2014

Babura is first village in UP to enjoy IT benefits

Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology

Allahabad :

Babura village in Kaushambi district has become the first village in the state where e-governance will be provided with click of a button. The programme has been finalized under ‘E-village’ initiative.

Giving details, informatics officer of Kaushambi Daanish Faizan said: “Various types of services like making of income certificates, caste certificate, domicile certificate will be provided through E-village centre (Jan Suvidha Kendra) established at the Babura village. These certificates will be provided electronically over the counter at the time of filing the application. Any applicant can get the requisite certificate within five minutes.”

This initiative will soon be implemented in the villages all over the state.

This plan will be integrated with the other programmes in the state like public health centre, schools and public distribution system.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / Ashraf Jamal , TNN / June 07th, 2014

359th Urs of Shah Jahan to commence from May 25

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

The 359th annual Urs of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan will begin at the Taj Mahal from May 25 to 27.
The 359th annual Urs of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan will begin at the Taj Mahal from May 25 to 27.

Agra :
The 359th annual Urs of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan will begin at the Taj Mahal from May 25 to 27 and entry will be free for visitors during the three-day celebrations.

“There would be free entry to the monument from 2pm until sunset on May 25 and 26, and on May 27 no entree fee will be charged throughout the day,” N K Pathak, chief superintending archaeologist, ASI, Agra zone said here today.

Khudddam-e-Rauza Committee, the traditional caretaker of the Taj, would put a 735-meter-long chadar on the cenotaph of Shah Jahan, he said.

Committee president Tahiruddin Tahir said that the length of the chadar to be placed on the tomb had been increased by 70-metres from the 635-meters length of last year.

Besides, a chadar made of 359 garlands would also be offered by the Shahi mosque Fatehpuri to mark the Urs on May 27, Saeed Khan, the mutawalli of the mosque said.

During the Urs, prince Yakub Habeebuddin Tusi of Hyderabad, who claims to be the great grandson of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, makes an annual pilgrimage to the monument and offers prayers there.

Shahjahan was the fifth Mughal emperor who ruled the empire for 30 years from 1628 to 1658 before he was deposed by his son Aurangzeb. He died in 1666.

He had erected the Taj Mahal in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / PTI / May 22nd, 2014

Lucknow’s civil services topper made it in second bid

Education, Leaders, Records, All

Lucknow :

In 29 years, Thursday was the one of the busiest and most exciting days of Prem Ranjan Singh. His cell phone kept ringing every minute and all he said was ‘thank you’. It was not his birthday, but an unforgettable day as he secured 62nd all India rank in the civil services examinations. Ecstatic, Lucknow-based Singh, who was currently undergoing training at National Police Academy, Hyderabad, said: “it’s a moment worth living for. After four years, my dream has come true.”

This was his second attempt for Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). While in first he couldn’t clear the interview, in the second and third round, he got selected in police services. A mechanical engineer from MNIT, Allahabad, Singh worked for four years in Ashok Leylands, Chennai. “I wanted to do MBA but took the civil services route to serve my country,” said he.

On why IAS, he said “being an administrator puts one in diversified roles. There are different domains where one can work. One gets experience working in different departments and can also specialise in a particular one. IPS was restricted to police.”

His father D N Singh is a retired railway employee, while his mother is a homemaker. One of his two brothers is also in the railways while the other is an IIM-Ahmedabad graduate working in Mumbai.

Holding AIR – 67, city boy Rituraj Raghuvanshi said “rigorous studies and being patient is key to success.” Rituraj is presently working in Indian Railway Traffic Services. It was his fourth attempt in civil services. In his last attempt, he secured AIR – 555.

A CMS student, Rituraj did BA LLB (hons) from Symbiosis School of Law and LLM from National Law University, Bangalore. His father Anil Kumar Singh is an IAS officer and presently special secretary, rural development department, UP. On his success, Rituraj said “my books always accompanied me while I was out of home.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / June 13th, 2014

Sitapur boy tops civil services in UP

Education, Records, All

Lucknow :

Sitapur boy Avi Prasad is UP topper in the prestigious Civil Services examinations-2013 by securing an All India Rank, 13. An IPS officer, Avi is currently undergoing training at National Police Academy, Hyderabad. “I will now shift to IAS,” Avi told TOI over phone from Hyderabad.

Having done his schooling from Sitapur, Avi graduated in international business and finance from Jamia Milia Islamia University, Delhi. Later, he pursued post graduation in management and business law from NLU, Jodhpur. Avi has one and half year of working experience at the Reserve Bank of India. “I had absolutely no inclination towards civil services. While I was working in RBI, I realised our system just doesn’t deliver. Interacting with people, I found its people who are running the system makes a difference. I chose civil services to work for a citizen-centric system,” said Avi.

Son of a business man, Avi’s mother is a home-maker. His sister is preparing for judicial services. It was Avi’s second attempt. The first time, he secured an AIR of 171. On how difficult it was to quit a plum government job, Avi said “In RBI, it would take another 15-20 years to achieve something. In civil services, one begins early age. Responsibilities comes early and one has full control on his work place and environment. The charm to deliver pulled me towards IAS.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / June 13th, 2014

Babura is first village in UP to enjoy IT benefits

Science & Technology

Allahabad :

Babura village in Kaushambi district has become the first village in the state where e-governance will be provided with click of a button. The programme has been finalized under ‘E-village’ initiative.

Giving details, informatics officer of Kaushambi Daanish Faizan said: “Various types of services like making of income certificates, caste certificate, domicile certificate will be provided through E-village centre (Jan Suvidha Kendra) established at the Babura village. These certificates will be provided electronically over the counter at the time of filing the application. Any applicant can get the requisite certificate within five minutes.”

This initiative will soon be implemented in the villages all over the state.

This plan will be integrated with the other programmes in the state like public health centre, schools and public distribution system.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Ashraf Jamal, TNN / June 07th, 2014

Display of robotic manipulators at IIIT-A

Education, Science & Technology

Allahabad :

The basic concepts and challenges in robotics were discussed in the ongoing summer school on robotics by IIIT-Allahabad on Monday.

Delivering a lecture, Subir Kumar Saha from IIT-Delhi demonstrated his software Robo Analyzer which enables students learn the hard, scary and mathematics savvy topics in robotics, using this motivating software. Saha set the tempo at the very start of his lecture with fascinating display of amazing things robots do at the labs of IIT-Delhi. He dealt with robotic manipulators, or ‘intelligent’ movement of the robot’s arms and wrists.

Amar Banerjee from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai talked about telepresence or the technology wherein one may see and feel the presence of dear ones miles away. He focused on robotic manipulators or robot arms.

The session was followed by a poster presentation by Somnath Biswas, director, IIIT-A. The participants were asked to present their work as posters to enable the participants delve into the core of the subject.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / TNN / June 10th, 2014

Annu Rani rewrites javelin record

Sports

Annu Rani of Meerut set a national record in women’s javelin as she threw 58.83 metres twice in the 54th National inter-State athletics championship in Lucknow on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Annu who had started her athletic career with the discus, bettered the national record of 58.64 set by Gurmeet Kaur in 2000.

For someone who had a previous best of 54.35 metres in the last Open National championship in Ranchi, Annu impressed with a series of 57.39, 55.31, 58.83, 57.42, 57.88 and 58.83, much to the joy of the locals.

Coached by Kashi Nath at the national camp in Patiala, Annu easily beat the meet record of 54.21 set by Gurmeet Kaur in 1999.

In the process, she also went past the selection criteria of 58.46 metres set for the Commonwealth Games by the Athletics Federation of India.

Interestingly, the selection norms were changed overnight in 16 events after they had been announced in the managers meeting on the eve of the championship.

The norm was brought down from 60.03 in women’s javelin.

Though the joy of host Uttar Pradesh doubled with the 24-year-old Dharamraj Yadav winning the men’s discus with a personal best of 56.73 metres, there was disappointment as the ‘best woman athlete’ of the last championship, the Asian Games gold medallist, Sudha Singh failed to finish the 3000 metres steeplechase.

Mayookha shines

Mayookha Johny who had already booked her ticket for Glasgow in long jump, asserted her good form by clinching the triple jump gold with a new meet mark of 13.72 metres.

Mayookha had a series of 13.38, 13.72, 13.64, 13.51, 13.53 and 13.67 as she sailed past her own meet mark of 13.68 set in 2010.

National record holder V.S. Surekha was in a flood of tears after her failed attempts to erase the meet mark of 4.00 metres set by Khyati Vakharia last year, though she was nowhere near the qualification standard of 4.20 metres in women’s pole vault.

The results: Men: 3000m steeplechase: 1. Naveen 8:42.29 (NMR, old 8:42.58); 2. Jai Veer 8:47.26; 3. Sachin Patil 9:01.12.

High jump: 1. Nikhil Chittarasu 2.20; 2. Jithin Thomas 2.18; 3. S. Harshith 2.14.

Discus: 1. Dharamraj Yadav 56.73; 2. Vikas Poonia 55.18; 3. Baljinder Singh 55.11.

20km walk: 1. Chandan Sinh 1:31:33; 2. Baljinder Singh 1:31:48; 3. Kuldeep 1:31:56.

4x100m relay: 1. Telengana 41.53; 2. Kerala 41.75; 3. Tamil Nadu 41.79.

Women: 3000m steeplechase: 1. Lalita Babbar 10:10.38; 2. Nandini Gupta 11:14.33; 3. Chinta yadav 11:15.40.

Triple jump: 1. Mayookha Johny 13.72 (NMR, old 13.68); 2. Joyline M. Lobo 13.05; 3. V. Neena 13.04.

Pole vault: 1. V. S. Surekha 3.90; 2. Kiranbir Kaur 3.60; 3. R. Remya 3.50.

Javelin: 1. Annu Rani 58.83 (NR, old 58.64); 2. Suman Devi 56.92; 3. Saraswathy 47.49.

4x100m relay: 1. Orissa 46.27; 2. Kerala 46.50; 3. Tamil Nadu 47.71.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Other Sports / by Kamesh Srinivasan / Lucknow – June 07th, 2014

Letters to and from Lucknow

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

A reading of letters that offer snapshots of life in the city from 1903

The letters look at both mundane and political exchanges
The letters look at both mundane and political exchanges

Lucknow, the administrative and cultural hub of the nawabs of Awadh at the time of the British Raj, is today an amalgamation of the medieval and the modern. The centuries-old city and its past will be brought to life by Saman Habib and Sanjay Muttoo through an illustrated reading session of handwritten letters written to, or by, people living in Lucknow, in the Capital on Sunday and Tuesday.

Habib is a research scientist at the Central Drug Research Institute in Lucknow, and Muttoo is a freelance media professional.

Their performance, titled “Lucknow In Letters: Endeavours, Achievements, And Tragedies”, is structured around a historical timeline, with a commentary that contextualizes the letters. It is accompanied by photographs of the people who wrote and received them, images of original manuscripts, and a minimal soundtrack to enhance the sensory experience.

Drawn from far and near in India and abroad, each letter provides an authentic narrative of events as they happened—from M.K. Gandhi appreciating Jawaharlal Nehru’s role in the protests against the Simon Commission, appointed by the British in 1927 to look at governance reform, in Lucknow, to Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi’s letters to his close friend S.M. Mehdi; from sundry exchanges between cousins about the kitchen being repaired, to ones that talk about how secular Lucknow was till the mid-1950s. Among these, a few published and publicly available letters—the exchange between Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan, involved in the Kakori Conspiracy, a train robbery during the independence movement, for instance—will be featured too.

A letter written in 1903, by Hilda Seebohm from Lucknow to her home in London, describing the plague in the city, is the oldest of the lot.

This reading is one of Habib and Muttoo’s many endeavours to trace their cultural roots to Lucknow. “At the Mahindra Sanatkada Festival in February, our session on ‘Feminists Of Awadh’ elicited huge response. I read out pages from Ismat Chughtai’s autobiography Kaghazi Hai Pairahan and Sanjay read about Begum Akhtar. The crowd’s appreciation of the language and content got us thinking, and hence began our search for letters,” says Habib.
A host of humorous and poignant letters within her family served as starting material but a much larger and diverse set was needed for a more real representation of Lucknow. More letters from Habib’s cousins in Pakistan, and scanned published material, came in. “The most poignant line in the entire collection is in a letter from a person in Pakistan writing to his cousin in Lucknow saying, ‘My body may be in Pakistan but my soul lives on in Lucknow’,” says Muttoo.

“Lucknow In Letters: Endeavours, Achievements, And Tragedies” will be held on 25 May, 7pm, at Studio Safdar, 2254/2A, New Ranjit Nagar, Shadipur, New Delhi; and on 27 May, 4pm, at the National Institute of Immunology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi. For details, call 25709456/26717121.

source: http://www.livemint.com / Live Mint & The Wall Street Journal / Home> Leisure / by Arunima Mazumdar / Thursday – May 22nd, 2014