SULABH SWACHH BHARAT - (Issue - 35)

INDEPENDEN

sulabhswachhbharat.com CE DAY SPE

CIAL FIND US ONLINE

Scan this with your smartphone

RNI No. DELENG/2016/71561

08

chronology

countdown to freedom

Here are snapshots of the long process of winning freedom in which many besides Congress played roles

Vol-1 | Issue-35 | August 14 - 20, 2017 | Price ` 5/-

Good News Weekly for Rising India

20

graffiti

THE SMILING WALLS

An NGO and a group of artists have taken to the cause of creating walls that are a pleasure to behold

30

behind bars

convict’s durga puja

Four Durga Puja committees in Calcutta and Howrah are harnessing their immense talents

prime minister’s mantra

“Karenge Aur Karke Rahenge” “Will Do and Definitely Do It”. In the run up to 70th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorts people to launch another ‘Quit India’ against corruption, casteism and communalism

02 ‘Quit India’ Anniversary

August 14 - 20, 2017

INDEPENDEN

CE DAY SPECIAL

“Karenge Aur Karke Rahenge” SSB BUREAU

P

rime Minister Narendra Modi has invoked the Quit India Movement and exhorted the countrymen to use the same spirit to expel problems of communalism, casteism, corruption, terrorism, poverty and dirt from the country in next five years.

He asked the people to take a pledge to contribute in some way or the other to create a “New India”.

Invoking the spirit of Quit India Movement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a determined effort by all sections to rid the nation of ills like communalism, casteism and poverty by 2022.

The prime minister, speaking in the Lok Sabha, underlined that everyone

Quick Glance PM called for uprooting poverty communalism and casteism He said the spirit of 1942 is needed to take up this massive challenge But he said that today global conditions favour India to achieve these

Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the people

to take a pledge to contribute in some way or the other to create a “New India” would need to rise above political and ideological affiliations to rid the nation of ills like communalism, casteism, poverty, corruption and dirt. He said ideological differences, which are there today, existed even during the freedom struggle and despite the different approaches, everyone had worked for the common goal of Independence.

Corruption, poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition are the greatest challenges that India now needs to overcome and to do that, there is a need to create the same spirit that existed between 1942 and 1947, he said. Setting 2022, the 75th anniversary of the country’s Independence as the target year, Modi said people should take a pledge of ‘Karenge, Aur Kar Ke Rahenge’ (We will do and surely do).

“In 1942, the clarion call was ‘Karenge Ya Marenge’ (Do or Die) - today it is ‘Karenge, Aur Kar Ke Rahenge.’ The next five years should also be about ‘Sankalp

Se Siddhi’, a resolve which will lead us to accomplishment,” Modi said.

From Incremental to Transformative He said in the next five years till 2022, India must try to bring positive changes so that it can become inspiration for many other nations. India’s freedom from colonial rule was not only about India, but a defining moment in ending colonialism in other parts of the world too, the Prime Minister said.

He said from 1857 to 1942, the move towards freedom was incremental Gradually growing, slowly spreading, people were slowly connecting, but the years from 1942 to 1947, were transformative and delivered on the objective. There was an environment of disruption which forced the British to finish all the equations and give us freedom; to force them to go. From 1857 to 1942, everything was proceeding slowly, but between 1942 and 1947 this

was not so.

“In 1942, conditions internationally became favourable for India to get independence. Today again, the global conditions are favourable for India,” he said.

The prime minister hailed the role of freedom fighters, saying the struggle for independence saw participation of people from all sections, responding to Mahatma Gandhi’s clarion call in 1942 of ‘Do or Die’. During his nearly 30-minute speech, he remembered the role played by different leaders in different period of times which include Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jai Prakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekar Azad and Raj Guru and Sukhdev.

Modi recalled that even as many senior leaders like Mahatma Gandhi were jailed at the beginning of the Quit India movement, a new generation of leaders emerged to fill the vacuum and take the movement forward. “The Quit India movement marked the rise of a new leadership. They supported Mahatma Gandhi during the movement,” he said.

We all feel proud to be a part of this august gathering in Parliament to commemorate the August Kranti.

IND EP E

AL Y SPECI NDENCE DA

However even after years, such major events the memory of such major events are source of inspiration for the people.

Remembering such important events gives a new boost to the life and strength to the nation. In the same way it is our duty to ensure that this message reaches out to our new generations. Every generation is responsible for bequeathing the legacy and the glorious history of their times generations, the atmospherics at that time, the sacrifices of our great men, the duty, the power, to the future generations.

India became a free country in 1947.

The period between 1857 to 1957 was a witness to different stages in our freedom movement as many people laid down their lives for the nation and there were several ups and downs. However, the movement in 1942 was in a way the final mass struggle that the fellow citizens were waiting for.

The 1942 movement prepared the ground work for our independence. We may recall the freedom struggle movement in 1857 when every corner of the country was reverberating with the call for freedom. Mahatma Gandhi return from abroad, Lok Manya Tilak call for Poorna Swarajya (Total Self Governance) and “Swarajya is my birth right” represent the sentiments at that time. It was followed

by Mahatma Gandhi Dandi march in 1930. Netaji Subhash Bose creating INA inspired the people while many youngsters

August 14 - 20, 2017

‘Quit India’ Anniversary

Prime Minister remembered the role of Netaji

03

(Top Row left to Right) Netaji Subhash

Subhash Chandra Bose, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jai Prakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekar Azad, Raj Guru and Sukhdev

Chandra Bose, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jai Prakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia (Bottom Row left to Right) Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekar Azad, Raj Guru and Sukhdev

like Veer Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Chandrashekhar Azad, Chapekar Bandhu, laid down their lives for the motherland.

All these events provided the momentum for the freedom and it was a situation of ‘now or never’.

If it’s not for today, it will never happen again; such was the mood of the people of the country. Thus, every person of this country was involved in this movement.

It seemed that Rajaji’s movement was being carried out through the elite class.

However in 1942, the movement had spread to every region and every social class in the country. The guiding forces were the words of Gandhi ji. This was the movement where the slogan of ‘Quit India’ was on everyone’s lips.

One of the most striking features of this movement was that the sentiments which appeared in the minds of the people were altogether different from Gandhi ji’s thoughts, contemplation and ethics.

The key words of this great man were, ‘We shall do or die’. These words from

The country was desperate for that freedom, be it a leader or an ordinary Indian, there was no difference in the intensity of this feeling. I believe that when the country stands united and when there is a power of unity, when the goal is set, the target is set then the people can walk towards that direction. Within fiveyears i.e. between 1942 and 1947 Mother India became free.

At that time Rambriksh Benipuri had written a book titled “Zanjire Aur Diware” and inthat book he wrote, “There is a wonderful atmosphere throughout the country. Every person became a leader and every crossroad became the office of ‘the Do or Die’ movement. The country put itself inside the oven of revolution.

The flame of revolution was engulfing the country. Bombay showed the way. All means of transport were stopped. The Court proceedings were stalled. The news of the bravery of the people of India and the brutality of British government was reaching every corner. The public had well placed the Gandhian mantra of ‘Do

Gandhi ji were unique for the nation.

Gandhi had said, “From today onwards, everyone should consider himself as an independent woman or a man and should act accordingly. I’m not going to be content with anything less than complete independence. We will do or die”. These were Bapu’s words and Bapu also clarified that he had not left the path of nonviolence. However the situation and the pressure was such that even Bapu, had to adapt to the people’s emotions while assuming the leadership.

All sections of the society; the villages, the farmers, the labourers, the teachers, the students joined this movement with the slogan ‘Do or die’. Bapu even used to say that – ‘whosoever becomes martyr because of the violence perpetrated by the British, one should write this slogan on his body that he was a martyr of this freedom movement’. Bapu tried to take this movement to such a height and the result of that was that India was liberated from the slavery of the British.

04 ‘Quit India’ Anniversary or Die’.

This book provides the description of that time and shows the kind of atmosphere at that time. It is true that British colonialism began in India and also ended in India. It was not only the freedom of India; after 1942 the way this flame erupted against the colonial rule across the world, India’s freedom became a source of inspiration for colonies in Africa and Asia. The way this inspiration had spread to various parts of the world had become a cause of tribute to the masses of India. Any Indian can be proud of this and after that we saw that once India got its independence, gradually all these countries became free. This tells us that this was a good evidence of the determination of India.

The lesson for us is that when we are determined to do something we gradually move towards the desired goal. Then it becomes the strength of the country and we take the country out of the crisis and the country can be prepared for the new goals. The history is the evidence of

INDEPENDEN

August 14 - 20, 2017

this fact. At that time, the poetry of the national poet, Sohan Lal Dwivedi, vividly described the power of Bapu and the time and movement . In his poem he had said-

py iM+s ft/kj nks Mx ex esa py iM+s dksfV ix mlh vksj xM+ xbZ ft/kj Hkh ,d n`f’V xM+ x, dksfV n`x mlh vksj This means that the path walked

by Mahatma Gandhi was followed by millions of people and where Gandhiji’s eyes were fixed, the eyes of millions were set upon the same thing. But today when we are in 2017 we cannot deny the fact that we do not have a Gandhi today.

Today, the level of leadership that we had at that time does not exist but we have the strength of 1.25 Crore Indians. If we all try together it will not be a difficult task to fulfil the dreams of Gandhi and dreams of those freedom fighters.

Today we have the opportunity in 2017 an enabling situation like that of 1942. The world is undergoing a crisis

today. Just like in the year 1942 we became the source of inspiration for the world, similarly we can set an example for the world today as well and can be the source of inspiration. Today we are standing at this juncture, where we can avail the opportunity and how we should take upon this responsibility? I believe that we should take inspiration from these episodes of history. We should place the country above the party. Politics should be separated from this.

If there are 1.25 crore people in the country, then we can easily progress by bringing the solutions to these problems successfully. How can anyone deny the fact that corruption can destroy the country like a termite - be it a political corruption, social corruption, or personal corruption. Let us not get into the controversy on who were involved and when. But today is a holy occasion and we should celebrate it with honesty and lead the country with honesty. This is the demand of the common man of the country.

CE DAY SPECIAL

Poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy are the challenges in front of us. These challenges are not considered as challenges of the government but that of the country. There are grave questions in front of the poor and therefore we all have the responsibility of fulfilling this commitment for the country and to die for the country. For some of the issues we also had different sections of people in 1942. The people who believed in the violence were different. The ideals of Subhash Babu were different, but in 1942 everyone had said in a single voice: Quit India! This is our path under Gandhi’s leadership.

Our upbringing and ideologies might be different. But today’s time demands that we take the opportunity to free the country from some issues, whether it is poverty, hunger or illiteracy. Why is that Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of village Swaraj has been left behind? What is the reason that the people have left the villages and are staying in the cities? What was the issue concerning Gandhi ji regarding the village? Can we revive that dream? Can we

Students should visit freedom fighters’ houses, memorials: UGC These include the homes of martyrs from military, para-military as well as police forces SSB BUREAU

T

he government has asked all universities and educational institutions to take students to memorials of freedom fighters and residences of martyrs in the run-up to the 70th Independence day celebrations next week.

Students at various universities and educational institutions across the country will also take a pledge on Wednesday at 9.30 am along with teachers and non-teaching staff to make the country a “terrorism-free, caste-free, corruption-free, uncleanness-free and povertyfree society”.

“Faculty should be requested to conduct guided tour of students to memorials of freedom fighters and places/houses of any martyr from military, para-military and police, to acquaint the students about contribution of the freedom fighters,” UGC secretary JS Sandhu said in a communication to vice chancellors of all universities. “Prime minister’s endeavour to have a terrorism-free, caste-free, corruption-free, uncleanness-free and poverty-free society would only actualise with the help of the society and make his vision a reality.

Accordingly you are requested to kindly organise pledge-taking ceremony on 9 August at 9.30 am,” he added.

A quiz competition to sensitise students about the contribution of our freedom fighters and the events as they unfolded during the freedom struggle besides talks by eminent educationists, debates and declamation contests are among the activities listed by UGC for commemoration of 75th year of ‘Quit India Movement’ and 70th year of India’s Independence.

Saheed Smarak, Chauri Chaura, Gorakhpur

After about four hours of discussion during which leaders of all parties spoke, the Lok Sabha unanimously adopted a resolution, pledging to work tirelessly in the next five years to build a nation as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters.

“We, the representatives of more than 125 crore people, resolve to take along every citizen in working towards building a nation as envisioned

by Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters by 2022 when we will celebrate 75th anniversary of our independence,” the resolution said.

India of Gandhi’s dreams

The resolution, read out by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, said, “We shall remain committed and dedicated to build a strong, prosperous, clean and glorious India which is free of corruption. We are committed to welfare of all sections and promote harmony and patriotism.”

In the Rajya Sabha, Leader of the House Arun Jaitley said it was the day to commit to make the country a strong, just and economicallyprogressive country. He underlined the need for freeeing the country from all kinds of violence, be it in the name terrorism, politics or religion.

Jaitley, who holds the portfolios of Defence and Finance, said the country still faces challenges to its security and sovereignty but the armed forces were capable to deal with these. Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad targeted the ruling BJP by equating yesterday’s developments related to the Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat to the events witnessed when the Quit India Movement was launched on this day in 1942.

After three hours of discussion, the Upper House also adopted a resolution pledging to build a strong, self-reliant, secular and democratic India.

Moving the resolution, Chairman Hamid Ansari said the House recalls that 75 years ago, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi gave a clarion call to people for ‘do or die’ to end the British Rule while asking the British to quit India. He said, “The House observes on the 75th anniversary of Quit India Movement that it is important to remember the heroic struggle of people, students, peasants, workers and government officials who defied the brutal oppression of the British Raj to launch mass Satyagraha that shook the very foundation of the British Rule.”

The House “solemnly takes a pledge to uphold and safeguard the values and ideals of the freedom movement and rededicate ourselves to build an India that is strong, self- reliant, inclusive, secular and democratic,” Ansari said.

IND EP E

AL Y SPECI NDENCE DA

do anything for the poor farmers, dalits, and the deprived class?

These questions concern not a single individual or a group but all of us and the 1.25 crore people of the country. This is the time when the inspiration gives us the power to do something for the people and this inspiration should be utilised. We know that sometimes duties are neglected, authority is misused. This happens in both the political and social life.

Unfortunately, some of these vices have entered into some of our lives and has turned it into a ‘way of life’. We don’t feel guilty if we jump the red light; this feeling of ‘I am breaking the law’ is never realised. If I spit somewhere, I do not feel that I am doing something wrong.

Breaking rules has become our way of life. Even the smallest incidents are taking us towards violence. Whether it’s the mistake of the doctor or not, of the hospital or not, the relatives go and set the hospital on fire. They beat the doctor.

If an accident takes place, we burn the car and kill the driver.

As a law abiding citizen, we must be dutiful. Some vices have entered in our way of life, and we do not think that we are breaking the law and that is why it is the responsibility of the leadership and of the society to get rid of these faults that have crept into the society. Wake up to the duty of the society!

Toilets and cleanliness are not a matter of mockery. Those mother and sisters have to spend so much time waiting for the darkness to relieve. Thus, the mindset of the society needs to be changed. It is necessary to educate the public to use

August 14 - 20, 2017

‘Quit India’ Anniversary

PM said August 9 is intrinsically linked with the

mantra of “Sankalp se Siddhi” (Achievement through Resolve) and the date symbolises the will power and ambition of the youth the toilets. We have to be alive to this matter and these values can be instilled not by the law. We have to understand our duty. We should think of the mothers and sisters of our country who are under this burden.

The country should bear the burden of at least a class of people which includes women and sisters of this country. Their strengths can give us strength. In the freedom movements of Mahatma Gandhi many of these mothers and sisters used to lead and had made equal contribution during the freedom struggle. Even today, they have as much contribution to the nation. In order to take them forward, we should move forward with this duty.

Just as we saw a quantum jump, I think 2017 and 2022, 75 years of Quit India and 75 years of independence respectively; within these five years, the same mood that existed between 1942 and 1947 shall prevail. In 2022, we will celebrate 75 years of independence, by that time we should fulfil the dreams of the heroes of the freedom struggle. We will carry forward our resolve and move forward.

I believe that not only will our country progress, but due to the success of Forty two to Forty seven, many countries of the world have benefited, the ardour of

freedom arose, the strength was re-gained.

If in the span of 5 years from 2017 to 2022 we take this responsibility to carry India to that height in front of the world then this only is the quest for leadership. It will be a great service to the nation if the country comes together in this endeavour.

I am confident that we can do a lot of work with consensus on certain issues.

We just saw the GST, and I repeatedly say that this is not my political statement, but my conviction. The success of GST is not the success of any government; the success of GST is not the success of any party. The success of GST is the result of the willpower of the people sitting in this House. Whether sitting here or anywhere, it goes to all the states; goes to the general merchant of the country; And because of that, it was possible.

The country’s political leadership has done such a great job because of its commitment. It is something unique to the world. GST is a big wonder for the world, if this was possible then more decisions can be easily taken in the future by sitting here. And as a representative of the 1.25 Crore people, with the resolution of 2022, I believe that we shall continue to bring those results.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also

05

asked District Collectors across India to prepare a vision document for their districts by August 15 to reflect 10-15 objectives which should be achieved by 2022, the 75th anniversary of country’s Independence.

Addressing the district administrative heads across the country through videoconferencing on the theme “New India - Manthan”, Modi asked them to decide where they must see their districts in 2022 in terms of removal of deficiencies and improvement in services.

Noting the government is asking each individual, each family and each organisation to aim for certain goals which they should accomplish by 2022, he asked the Collectors of 100 most backward districts to work in a mission mode and listen carefully to the poor who approach them with their grievances.

The first-of-its-kind interaction with the Collectors was held with the aim of catalysing the “manthan” at the grassroots level. Modi asked the Collectors to seek help from colleagues, intellectuals of the district, and students of schools and colleges, to prepare a vision, or resolution document for their district before August 15. He said August 9 is intrinsically linked with the mantra of “Sankalp se Siddhi” (Achievement through Resolve) and the date symbolises the willpower and ambition of the youth. Citing how senior leaders of the freedom movement were arrested at the beginning of the Quit India Movement but youth across the country successfully carried the movement forward, he said Collectors were not only representatives of the districts but also of the youth.

“When youth assume a leadership role, goals are sure to be achieved,” Modi said adding that Collectors were fortunate as they have been given the opportunity to dedicate themselves to the nation.

The Prime Minister noted that some districts have always lagged in basic services such as electricity, water, education and when socio-economic conditions improve, it would give a big boost to the overall development parameters of the country.

Practices, where good results have been achieved in districts, should be replicated and scaled up, he said, adding that as he is doing the manthan with the collectors, they can do the same in the districts.

Noting many schemes fail to have the desired impact many times just because people are not aware of them, he asked the Collectors to make people aware of the benefits of initiatives such as LED bulbs and BHIM App. He said that Clean India Campaign was dependent on a responsive administration and awareness among people and the real change can only come through public participation. Urging the Collectors to go out in the field more to understand ground realities, he said that the more a Collector visits the field, “the more active he will be on files”.

06 Small Steps to Freedom

August 14 - 20, 2017

INDEPENDEN

CE DAY SPECIAL

some major events of freedom

Small Steps - Big Role in India’s Freedom Struggle Right from the Santhal uprising of 1857 to the formation of Indian National Amy by Subhas Chandra Bose, there were many incidents that complemented Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagrah, in achieving Total Independence from the colonial rule

Khudiram Bose

T

hough Mangal Pandey was the first Indian martyr and trigerred the Sepoy Mutiny, there were many others in the phase known as revolutionary freedom movement who laid down their lives. Besides, there were some major incidents, such as the one at Chauri Chaura, which have become landmarks in India’s freedom struggle.

Khudiram Bose Khudiram was the youngest martyr, and the first during the phase of revolutionary movement in the country. He was 18 years , eight months and eight days when he was hanged to death. He had been inspired by the then revolutionary Aurobindo Ghosh (who later became the saint Shree Aurobindo) and was secretly recruited by the revolutionary outfit Anushila Samity.

Later, he and Prafulla Chaki, two teens, were tasked to kill Kingsford, the tyranic magistrate of Muzaffarpur. Khudiram rented a place in a charitable inn and watched the movements of Kingsford for a

few days. On the fateful day, April 30, 1908, at around 9.00 pm, he hurled the bomb at what was indeed Kingsford’s fiton. Only, Kingsford was not there, instead, the riders were two other British ladies. Khudiram managed to leave the site but the next day, two suspecting policemen arrested him.

His trial became a major historic event. A battery of eminent lawyers defended him, free of cost. But Khudiram was defiant, to the effect, in fact, that he explained to the judge how exactly he had made the bomb.

Later, his lawyers advised him to deny any involvement. But the judge did not accept that and Khudiram was sentenced to death. After he was hanged, despite police prohibition in Calcutta, a massive crowd followed the vehicle carrying his body in a show of mourning and solidarity.

Chauri Chaura After World War I (1914-18), the fight over independence in India was fully accelerated because the British had turned their backs on their promise of liberating

India after World War. Following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (April 13, 1919) and the Rowlat Act, there was a tremendous uprising against the English government in the Indians.

In 1920, non-cooperation movement under the leadership of Gandhi took the form of extension. It became such a nationwide movement that led the country to think that the country would be liberated very soon. Under Gandhi’s leadership, the whole country was fighting the non-cooperation movement. Millions of farmers - the workers stood together against the British. After the rebellion of 1857, the English rule was once again completely shaken but on February 5, 1922 when the police stopped a group of farmers in Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, the angry mob burnt the police station there. 22 policemen were killed in the mishap.

After violence at Chauri-Chaura, Gandhi postponed the non-cooperation movement. There is no doubt that Gandhi’s non-violent style was uniting the country as an ideology. But after the postponement of the Non-Cooperation Movement, many members of Congress and the revolutionaries opposed Gandhi’s decision.

After this, the angry members formed a new Swaraj Party because at the time the freedom movement was at its peak. At such a time, delaying of the movement was to weaken the entire battle. Politicians such as Motilal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose did not approve of Gandhi’s decision.

Kakori conspiracy Kakori conspiracy, also known as the train robbery incident, took place on 9th August 1925. Kakori conspiracy, one of the significant event of the freedom struggle. The conspiracy was planned and executed by the Hindustan Socialist Republic Association (HSRA). The whole ploy was spearheaded by Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan.

The main aim behind this robbery was the need of money for arms purchase. Since people with money refuted to help them because of fear of the government. So they decided to loot the 8 Down train travelling from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow. At Kakori, the train was stopped by one of the revolutionaries by pulling its chain and 10 HRA revolutionaries looted the government treasure. In the conspiracy one passenger was killed by an accidental shot, making it a murder case. They later escaped to Lucknow.

However, the plot was unearthed within a month and some 30 people were arrested. The people who were arrested included Swaran Singh, Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri, Durga Bhagavati Chandra Vohra, Roshan Singh, Sachindra Bakshi, Chandrasekhar Azad, Vishnu Sharan Dublish, Keshab Chakravarthy, Banwari Lal, Mukundi Lal, Sachindra Nath Sanyal, and Manmathnath Gupta, Ram Prasad Bismil and some others Chauri Chaura

IND EP E

AL Y SPECI NDENCE DA

August 14 - 20, 2017

Kakori Martyrs

were charged with various offences, including robbery and murder. The final judgments were pronounced on April 6, 1927.

Mangal Pandey Born on July 19, 1827 in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia district, Mangal Pandey was a sepoy of the British East India Company in the 34th Bengal Native Infantry regiment. He is known for kicking off the first war of India’s freedom struggle against the British regime in 1857. He attacked the British officers in North Kolkata’s Barrackpore on March 29, 1857. The British government termed him as a traitor and rebel but he was not less than a ‘hero’ for lakhs of Indians who were struggling to get independence.

However, he was detained and hanged by

Mangal Pandey

the Britishers on April 8, 1857.

Pandey is known for his bravery and never-die-attitude and regarded as the ‘hero’ of modern India. Looking at his contribution towards the freedom struggle of the country, the government of India issued a postal stamp in his honour on October 5, 1984. Besides this, the government also commemorated him by naming a park after his name. The park ‘Shaheed Mangal Pandey Maha Udyan’ where he attacked the British officers and was hanged was named after him.

Chittagong uprising Chittagong uprising, also known as Chittagong armour raid, is a less concentrated chapter of Indian Independence movement. The movement which took place on April 18, 1930, was an attempt to capture Chittagong’s two main armouries and take down all

Master da Surya Sen

communications and railway lines by armed Indian independence fighters led by Masterda Surya Sen. Chittagong raid is happened to be one of the most thrilling and fierce revolutionary actions during Independence movement.

But quite surprisingly, the uprising and the sacrifice of several unnamed revolutionaries did not get a proper importance in Indian history. Sadly, the history books contain hardly one or two lines about the brave and revolutionary movement, happened during freedom struggle of the country.

Masterda Surya Sen, who was the Chief architect of the uprising, was a teacher by profession. His plan was to assassinating the members of the European Club – military and government officials who were responsible for siding with the British to maintain the Raj. His plan also included making Chittagong Independent from the tyrant supremacy.

Apart from Surya Sen, Nirmal Sen, Lokenath Bal, Ganesh Ghosh, Anant Singh, Ambika Chakravarti, Pritilata Waddedar, Tarakeswar Dastidar and Kalpana Dutta are the names of other unsung heroes, involved in the armoury raid.

Though the movement was quite successful and it gave birth to a feel of terror in the hearts of British government, Masterda’s goal to make Chittagong independent did not last for long. After facing the bullets fired by the British Army during the movement, Masterda and team finally escaped to the hills of Jalalabad.

Jalalabad encounter is remembered as one of the deadliest encounter in the history of India’s Independence movement.

Lahore Conspiracy Case The Lahore Conspiracy Case started

Small Steps to Freedom

on 26th April 1915, listing 82 individuals as accused, including Ras Behari Bose, and continued up to 13th September 1915.

The principal charge Kartar Singh against them was Sarabha that they waged war against the king and wanted to overthrow the British government in India for the achievement of which they resorted to the enticement of Indian soldiers, collection of arms and ammunition, obtaining money by robbing government treasuries, committing murder of police officials and civilians, wrecking of railway trains and bridges, production of inflammatory literature and its circulation to spread rebellion.

Judgement of the Lahore Conspiracy Case was announced on 13th September 1915. Twenty-four of them, including Kartar Singh Sarabha and Sohan Singh Bhakna were condemned to death. 27 were incarcerated for life, six were sentenced to term-imprisonments and four were acquitted.

Kartar Singh was a man of rare rationality. The death sentence did not overtake the love of the country in the heart of Singh. While coming out of the court, after hearing the death sentence, he is known to have sung a challenging song in sporting spirit.

The sentences awarded for the Lahore Conspiracy Case were not only too ruthless and revengeful, but also inconsistent to the offences allegedly committed and even incomparable to each other. The public strongly protested against the irrational judgement and it was highly criticised in the national press too. Lord Hardinge was appalled at the public outburst. He came to Lahore. The formalities for hanging of twenty-four convicts were completed.

Udham Singh Udham Singh, born on 26th December 1899, was orphaned at the age of 5 and was brought up in the Khalsa Orphanage in Amritsar. He was present in Jallianwala Bagh on the day of the massacre (13th April, 1919) as a helper and was serving water to people present there. He escaped, but there were deep emotional scars left in his heart that could only heal from revenge.

He dedicated his life to the people of our country and soon after, travelled to the USA where he joined the Gadar Party in search of more comrades. He was gathering Indians overseas to fight the colonial rule back home.

He was then called back to India by Bhagat Singh in 1927. He obliged and came back with 25 men and some firearms.

But he was arrested for carrying unlicensed

07

firearms and convicted for 5 years.

During this tenure in prison, General Dyer passed away. On his death bed, he had said: “So many people who knew the condition of Amritsar say I did right. But so many others say I did wrong. I only want to die and know from my Maker whether I did right or wrong.”

Upon Singh’s release in 1931, under constant surveillance, he somehow made his way to Kashmir and then escaped to Germany where the Nazi regime was growing. His fellow revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged that year while he was imprisoned, but he soldiered on.

Udham Singh reached London in 1934 under the alias Ram Mohammed Singh Azad and started planning the assassination of Michael O’Dwyer who was the Governor of Punjab in 1919 & had supported General Dyer’s massacre plan. Udham Singh had held O’Dwyer responsible for the horrific event because the then Governor of Punjab had endorsed the brutal slaughter of innocent lives.

13th March, 1940: Michael O’Dwyer was set to speak at the East India Association and the Central Asian Society at Caxton Hall. Udham Singh sneaked in a revolver in his jacket pocket and shot O’Dwyer twice. He did not try to flee

Udham Singh

or resist arrest. While awaiting a trial in Brixton Prison, he went on hunger strike for 42 days as well. On 31st July, 1940, Singh was hanged at Pentonville Prison and buried there.

In 1962, Jawaharlal Nehru who had condemned Singh’s actions reversed his statement and said: “I salute Shaheed-i-Azam Udham Singh with reverence who had kissed the noose so that we may be free.” His remains were returned to India in 1974. The son of the soil was cremated in his birthplace of Sunam, Punjab. His ashes reunited with that of fellow martyrs Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev as their too were scattered in the Sutlej River.

08 Chronology of Freedom

August 14 - 20, 2017

INDEPENDEN

CE DAY SPECIAL

swaraj panorama

Countdown to Freedom!

Right from the Santhal uprising of 1857 to formation of Indian National Army by Subhas Chandra Bose, there were many events that complemented Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagrah, in achieving Total Independence from the colonial rule ssb bureau

1856 The Santhal Rebellion was the first armed rebellion agaist British rule and the zamindars and lasted for six months before being quelled.

1909 Minto-Morley Reforms of Indian Councils Act - 21st May.

1911 Delhi durbar held.

Partition of Bengal is cancelled.

1912 New Delhi established as the new capital of India.

1912 A Bomb was thrown on

Lord Hardinge on his state entry into Delhi on 23rd December.

1857 Sepoy

Mutiny against the British.

1885 Indian National Congress is founded by A.O. Hume.

1905 Partition of Bengal announced.

1906 Muslim League was

founded at Decca on 31st December.

1908 Khudiram Bose was executed on 30th April.

1908 Bal Gangadhar Tilak was sentenced to six years for sedition.

1914 The Ghadar Party was formed at San Francisco on 1st November.

founded Indian Home Rule League with its headquarters at Poona on 28th April.

1914 Tilak was released from

1916 Annie Besant started

jail on 16th June.

1914 Outbreak of the 1st World War 4th August.

1915 Mahatma Gandhi arrived in India on 9th January.

1915 Gopal Krishna Gokhale died on 19th February.

1916 Bal Gangadhar Tilak

another Home Rule League on 25th September.

1917 Mahatma Gandhi launches

1920 The Indian National

Congress (INC) adopts the Non-Cooperation Resolution in December.

1920-22 Mahatma Gandhi

suspends Non-Co- operation Movement on Feb 12 after the violent incidents at Chauri Chaura.

the Champaran campaign in Bihar to focus attention on the grievances of indigo planters in April.

1922 Moplah rebellion on the

1917 The Secretary of State

1923 Swaraj Party was formed

for India, Montague, declares that the goal of the British government in India is introduction of Responsible Government on 20th August.

1918 Beginning of trade union movement in India.

1919 Rowlatt Bill introduced on Feb 16, 1919.

1919 The inhuman massacre of

the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy took place on 13th April in Amritsar, Punjab killing many innocents.

1919 The House of Commons

passes the Montague Chelmsford Reforms or the Government of India Act, 1919 on 5th December.

Malabar coast in August.

by Motilal Nehru and others on 1st January.

1924 The Communist Party of India starts its activities at Kanpur.

1925 The Kakori Train Conspiracy case in August.

IND EP E

AL Y SPECI NDENCE DA

August 14 - 20, 2017

Chronology of Freedom

1927 The British Prime

1942 Subhash Chandra Bose

Minister appoints Simon Commission to suggest future constitutional reforms in India.

established the Indian National Army and Azad Hind Fauj on 1st September.

1928 Simon Commission

arrives in Bombay on Feb 3. An allIndia hartal is called. Lala Lajpat Rai assaulted by police at Lahore.

1928 Nehru Report

recommends principles for the new Constitution of India. All parties conference considers the Nehru Report, Aug 28- 31, 1928.

1928 Lala Lajpat Rai died on

1943 Karachi session of the 1930 Mahatma Gandhi launches 1935 was passed on 4th August. the Civil Disobedience movement with his epic Dandi March (Mar 12 to Apr 6).

1930 First Round Table

17th November due to injuries.

Conference begins in London to consider the report of the Simon Commission on 30th November.

1929 All Parties Muslim

1931 On 5th March, the Gandhi

Conference formulates the ‘Fourteen Points’ under the leadership of Jinnah.

1929 Bhagat Singh and

Batukeshwari Dutt throw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on 8th April.

09

lrwin pact was signed and the Civil Disobedience movement was suspended.

1931 Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev

and Rajguru were executed on 23rd March.

1931 Gandhiji returns from

London after the deadlock in llnd RTC on 28th December. Launches Civil Disobedience Movement. The INC declared illegal.

1940 Lahore session of ihe

Muslim League passes the Pakistan Resolution in March.

1940 Viceroy Linlithgow

announces-August Offer on 10th of August.

1940 Congress Working

Committee rejects the ‘August Offer’ between 18th to the 22nd of August.

Muslim League adopts the slogan Divide arc in December.

1944 Wavell calls Simla

Conference in a bid to form the Executive Council on 25th January.

1946 Mutiny of the Indian naval ratings in Bombay.

1946 Cabinet Mission arrives

in New Delhi (Mar 14) to propose new solution to the Indian deadlock on 15th March; ; issues proposal (May 16).

1940 Congress launches

Individual Satyagraha movement on 17th October.

1941 Subhash Chandra Bose escapes from India on 17 January; arrives in Berlin (Mar 28).

1932 Gandhiji was arrested 1929 The Lahore session of the

INC adopts the goal of complete independence (poorna swarajya) for India; Jawaharlal Nehru hoists the tricolour on the banks of the Ravi at Lahore on 31st December.

1930 First Independence Day observed on 26th January.

1930 The Working Committee of the INC meets at Sabarmati and passes the Civil Disobedience resolution on 14th February.

and imprisoned without trial on 4th January.

1932 The Third Round Table

Conference begins in London (Nov 17 to Dec 24).

1933 Gandhiji released

from prison as he begins fast for self-purification on 9th May. INC suspends Civil Disobedience movement but authorizes Satyagraha by individuals.

1935 The Government of India Act

1942 The INC meets in

Bombay; adopts ‘Quit India’ resolution on 7th & 8th August.

1942 Gandhiji and other leaders

1946 Jawaharlal Nehru takes over as Congress president on 6th July.

1946 Wavell invites Nehru to

were arrested on 9th August

form an interim government on 6th August.

1942 Quit India movement

1947 August 15, the famous

begins on 11th of August; the Great Aug Uprising.

midnight speech, India’s Tryst With Destiny by Jawaharlal Nehru.

10 Movies of Freedom

INDEPENDEN

August 14 - 20, 2017

CE DAY SPECIAL

Saffron, the colour of sacrifice, has been a theme since we fought the British for Independence. Since then, Indian cinema has repeatedly taken up the theme of sacrifice for the motherland in many major productions

geeta singh

O

n August 15, 1947, India was liberated. Hundreds of people gave up their lives in the fight for independence. Today after 70 years of freedom, there are many Indians who were born much after independence and now they only listen to stories from their elders in this regard. From such stories, many films were made in Hindi and after watching these patriotic movies, many of the youngsters feel a sense of patriotism.

Gandhi, Border, Lakshya, Shaheed, Rang De Basanti and Mangal Pandey are some of many such films which are painted in the colour of patriotism.

The filmmakers have tried to show their patriotism in their own way. Many of them were successful at the box office and some were badly beaten. Filmmakers have chosen different angles and theme to portray freedom of India, some have made films on eminent freedom fighters; others have made movies on wars and mutinies.

But in every such movie, the central theme remains patriotism and celebration of Indian Independence.

Let’s have a look on some of the famous patriotic films: Ananda Math (1952) The film, ‘Ananda Math’, which was

released in 1952 is a patriotic-historical film directed by Hemen Gupta, based on Anandamath, the famous Bengali novel written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1882. The novel and film are set in the events of the Sannyasi Rebellion, which took place in the late 18th century in Bengal. The film was a story of freedom fighters who fought against British in the 18th century. The national song ‘Vande Mataram’ was also used in this movie.

The film starred Prithviraj Kapoor, Bharat Bhushan, Geeta Bali, Pradeep Kumar and Ajit in the lead.

Haqeeqat (1964) Another film on the war was also is also famous till date. Haqeeqat is a 1964 Hindi war-film directed by Chetan Anand. The film stars Balraj Sahni, Dharmendra,

Priya Rajvansh, Sanjay Khan and Vijay Anand. The music is still popular. It was composed by Madan Mohan and the lyrics by Kaifi Azmi. The movie was based on the 1962 Sino-Indian War. It won the National Film Award for Second Best Feature Film in 1965. The film was screened in a retrospective on August 12, 2016, at the Independence Day Film Festival jointly presented by the Indian Directorate of Film Festivals and Ministry of Defense, commemorating 69th Indian Independence Day. ‘Haqeeqat’ was the story of a soldier’s troop in the hilly terrain of Ladakh who was considered dead but was rescued by Ladakhi tribesmen and by Capt. Bahadur Singh (Dharmendra). They were asked to retreat from their post (chowky) as the Chinese have surrounded them.

Shaheed (1965) Shaheed released in 1965 is one of the most prominent Indian patriotic movies based on the Indian independence movement, it was produced by Kewal Kashyap and directed by S Ram Sharma and stars Manoj Kumar, Kamini Kaushal, Pran, Iftekhar, and Anwar Hussain in lead roles. Shaheed was first of Manoj Kumar’s series of patriotic films, followed by likes of Upkar, Purab Aur Paschim and Kranti.

Shaheed was the best film of patriotism created on the life of Bhagat Singh. The film’s story was written by Bhagat Singh’s companion Batukeshwar Dutt. And several songs were written by freedom fighter Ram Prasad Bismil. After this many Hindi films were made on the life of Bhagat Singh but still it is by far the best authentic film based on Indian freedom struggle.

IND EP E

AL Y SPECI NDENCE DA

August 14 - 20, 2017 superhit films. It was shown in the film how a troop of Indian Army dashed the Pakistani army. In the film, actor Sunny Deol gave life to his voice. Songs of the movie are still on the verge of the people. The story of this film was inspired by a true incident. The Longwala war fought during the IndoPak war in this film has been explained in detail, where 120 Indian soldiers in Rajasthan faced the Tang Regiment of the whole night.

Gandhi (1982) Ben Kingsley’s ‘Gandhi’ movie is based on the story of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s life. The film has tried to touch every aspect of Mahatma Gandhi’s life. It shows how Gandhi fought the struggle for independence from South Africa. From his childhood till the battle of independence, it has been filmed beautifully in a true way that it seems Gandhiji has become completely alive. ‘Gandhi’ was made in 1982 by Richard Attenborough. Both Richard and Ben Kingsley were awarded the Academy Award for the film.

Sardar (1993) The film, made on the life of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel or Iron Man of India.

Released in 1993 Sardar was a famous movie based on one of India’s greatest freedom fighters, directed by Ketan Mehta and written by noted playwright Vijay Tendulkar. The film was screened retrospective on August 12, 2016, at the.

It was shown in the struggle of freedom from his efforts of unbroken India. Paresh Rawal played a key role in it, which was appreciated.

Border (1997) J P Dutta directed film Border was realed in 1997. Based on the Indo-Pak war in 1971, Border is also part of patriotic

Lakshya (2004) Hrithik Roshan starer movie Lakshya was war drama directed by Farhan Akhtar.

The film, released in 2004, also featured Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Sharad Kapoor. Hrithik had played Lieutenant Karan Shergill. It has been shown in the film that hero’s detachment saves six Pakistani soldiers. Although this film also became one of Hrithik’s flop yet Hrithik’s dance was highly appreciated in the song “Main Aisa Kyon Hoon” and the song “Kandhyo ke milte hai kad” was full of patriotism.

Raag Desh (2017) The recently released film Raag Desh is also painted with the colour of patriotism.

Directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia, the film depicts the story of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s Azad Hind Fauj and British rule in 1945. The story is of three soldiers of the Azaad Hind Fauj who were accused of treason and a sick lawyer (Bhulabhai Desai) who came forward for helping them. Though the film was not successful but it had a well researched story in the film, the policies of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and the functioning of the Azad Hind Fauj have been shown very closely. Raag Desh will also be remembered for years.

CISF

11

cisf swachhta

not just weilding the guns!

The key paramilitary force has gone beyond its original call of duty and cleaned up public places in Tamil Nadu and Mumbai

ssb bureau

C

entral Industrial Security Force (CISF) has been undertaking various tasks as part of Swachh Bharat Mission of the government. As part of the mission, CISF jawans took a pledge to clear the Kanyakumari beach during a recent visit there of its Director General OP Singh and his wife, Neelam Singh who is also patron of CISF Wives Welfare Association. The Koodankulam unit of CISF launched a special cleanliness driver on Sunset Point and entire Kanyakumari beach to mark the occasion. The Jawans participated in the week-long drive picking up plastic bags, bottles and other garbage from the beach.

The CISF unit contacted municipal authorities of Kanyakumari special town, Kovalam village panchayat and Koodankulam power project head to ensure that the good work undertaken by the jawans becomes a permanent feature. All of them hailed CISF’s work and promised to contribute to continue it in the future as well. The Koodankulam project head agreed to display banners, boards and posters in their area in Hindi, English and Tamil. These posters would appeal to the people not to litter the place

with garbage.

Kanyakumari special town panchayat also agreed to put up adequate number of garbage bins at strategic loacations to prevent littering of the place. Kovalam village panchayat agreed to pick up garbage every day.

CISF jawans have been undertaking similar cleanliness drives every week as part of PM’s Swachh Bharat Mission, helping the project head to contribute in realising PM’s dreams of a garbage free India.

In other programmes organised in the area was awareness programme among local residents, training camps and cleanliness drive in neargby areas, villages and community areas. These include Gamdevi police chowki, Emperor Ashok Chowki, Hotel Samrat Ambawadi, Shivaji Nagar and Ziri-Miri in Mumbai, Ghazipur village in Gaya (Bihar), Kaushal Nagar in Patna, Sairi Bazar, Jathia Madir Park in Raipur, Tusangaiyan in Udaipur, cleanliness drive in Port Blair and the Airport.

CISF jawans and officials voluntarily participated in these programmes and this initiative is being widely acclaimed for their hard work and determination.

Locals also helped jawans in carrying out the drive.

12 Good News

august 14 - 20, 2017

PATNA

stats new india

Swachh Bharat launches Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2017 Now third party verification will state how much true progress has been made Quick Glance Quality Council of India has already made a third party assessment of the progress made in rural India QCI surveyed 1.4 lakh rural households and found that there were toilets in 62 per cent homes From now, to encourage states, they will be ranked according to their performance based on available data

Highlights of this week are:

IANS

A

s the Swachh Bharat Mission approaches the third anniversary of its launch by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation last week launched a third party verification survey report to take stock of the progress already made by the Mission in rural India.

The Quality Council of India (QCI) has conducted a transparent thirdparty assessment of the present status of rural sanitation in all States and UTs, called Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2017.

Under the Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2017, QCI surveyed 1.4 lakh rural households across 4626 villages, and found the overall toilet coverage to be 62.45%. At the time of the survey, i.e. May-June 2017, the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) MIS reported the coverage to be 63.73%. The survey also observed that 91.29% of the people having access to a toilet, use it. The Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2017 report was launched at a press conference last week in New Delhi by the Union Minister, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Narendra

Singh Tomar, and the Secretary, Parameswaran Iyer.

It was also announced at the press conference that, to encourage states and districts to improve their sanitation coverage and Solid Liquid Waste Management (SLWM), the MDWS will also begin ranking all districts in India based on the data available on the SBM-G IMIS quarterly. The ranking will be done based on parameters of Performance, Sustainability and Transparency, and the first ranking will be announced on 2nd October, 2017 for the quarter July-September 2017. To instil healthy competition amongst districts, they will also be given awards based on this ranking on a quarterly basis. The formula for calculating these rankings will be: Total score (100) = Performance (50) + Sustainability (25) + Transparency (25) Further, in response to the Prime Minister’s call to the nation to Quit Filth, it was announced by Tomar that the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) will celebrate the week leading up to the 70th Independence Day as “Khule Mein Shauch Se Azaadi Saptaah.

1.More than 24 States have prepared their Swachhta Action Plan for the week to reinforce their swachhta efforts by innovative methods and with community engagement.

2. On 12 August, 2017, MDWS and MoWR, RD & GR will jointly announce 24 Ganga Grams from five States, Uttarakhand (3), UP (10), Bihar (4), Jharkhand (5) and West Bengal (2) to make them Aadarsh Ganga Gram.

3. 30 Swachhta Raths will be launched at Allahabad on August 12, 2017 in the presence of the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Shri Tomar.

4. SwachhtaRaths will also be launched in other parts of the country.

Shri Tomar also announced that, in the run up to completion of three years of Swachh Bharat Mission, MDWS is planning various Swachhta events across the country from 25th September to 2nd October 2017. During this week, National Swachhta Awards will be given to grass root level swachhta champions, district officers, Best Pakhwada Ministries, outstanding contributions by Ministries, PSU sponsors for Swachh Iconic Places and Swachhta Action Plan. Over 4.54 crore household toilets have been constructed since the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin. 2,20,104 villages, 160 districts and 5 States declared ODF. Sanitation Coverage has increased from 39% in October 2016 to 66% in August 2017.

App to monitor Anganwadi activities in Bihar Pradeep Modak

B

ihar government has developed an App to monitor the activities of the Anganwadi centres like attendance of children and distribution of nutritious food articles among the kids across the state.

Chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh said an app “Angan” had been developed to monitor integrated child development project in Anganwadi centres. He said Anganwadi workers were being given training for the handling of the app. “Soon the app will be launched throughout the state”, he said. He said the government would start data sharing process taking cooperation from the health department to monitor the nutrition supplement scheme so that no

pregnant or lactating mother felt deprived of getting supplementary nutrition provided by the state government. These directives came from the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who held a meeting to review the performance of social welfare department here last week.

The chief minister has directed the social welfare department to chalk out a comprehensive plan keeping in view the full life cycle of girls, their needs and expectations under the Girls Marriage and Save Girls schemes. On the women empowerment scheme, Kumar has directed the officials to increase the number beneficiaries. He expressed his satisfaction over the working of women helpline and Mahila Alpavas Grih (women transit home). Kumar said the government was committed to women empowerment and the execution of women empowerment policy was top priority. “For this, the government has decided to launch anti child marriage and anti dowry campaign across the state from October 2 next”, the CM asserted.

Good News

august 14 - 20, 2017

Bird Conservation

BENGALURU lakes

Only treated sewage to flow into water bodies The city, where water pollution has reached scary levels, has decided to set up STPs by 2020

Quick Glance Many governments are grappling with the problem of sewage water getting mixed in waterbodies A woman MP was threatened with jail for her factory was spewing pollutants into a fish-feed pond From 2020, all Bengaluru sewage will pass through treatment plants before emptying into waterbodies

G Ulaganathan

O

ne of the biggest problems confronted by almost all the civic bodies is the mixing of sewage water into the water bodies like lakes and rivers passing through the cities.

Many governments are grappling with this problem and the industrial pollution which affects life , both human life as well as the marine life. There are any number of court judgemtns directing the civic authorities to wield the stick and punish the guilty. But most of the time the offenders get away as they are highly connected or beling to political parties.

There was recently a case of a woman Member of Parliament in Mangalore in Karnataka who had to be threatened with jail term because effluents from her factory which produces fish food near Udupi was causing enormous environmental harm. She tried with all her power and influence to get away from punishment but the court stood firm and ordered closuere of her factory.

Now the government of

Karnataka has taken this up very seriously. The city of Bengaluru which once had about 70 lakes today presents a pathetic picture of only four or five live lakes.

Even these are under threat from encroachers, as well as small time entreprenuers who let the sewage on to them.

“Come 2020 and sewage in the city will be released to water bodies only after treatment. Works on sewage treatment plants (STPs) are being prioritised and by October this year, almost 80 per cent of the works will be completed,” says Bengaluru Development Minister K J George.

The city of Bengaluru,

once considered an ideal one, had about 70 lakes, but today it just has four or five that are ‘live’, but are also under threat

13

George, a full time minister for the city of Bengaluru has been pro active ever since he took charge and has been taking on the various mafias including the garbage collecting mafia. Of course he has the full backing of the chief minister Siddaramaiah and with elections looming large in the state, quick action is the need of the hour.

He says of the 1,800 MLD water consumed in Bengaluru in a day, 80 per cent of it or about 1,400 MLD is released as sewage. Wetland treatment is being proposed to clean sewage along KoramangalaChallaghatta valley. A detailed project report (DPR) is being prepared for its implementation.

“This is the only way to save some lakes of the city, which once formed an elaborate irrigation network,” he adds.

Regarding garbage disposal and waster segregation, he says “We generate about 3,500 to 4,000 tonnes of garbage everyday. Though segregation is practised, it has not been completely successful due to poor planning and unscientific methods.”, he agreed.

One of the proposals is to convert abandoned quarries into `tree parks’. Waste will also be dumped at the quarries by ensuring that water does not percolate into the ground by lining the quarry pits. In the new Comprehensive Development Plan of Bengaluru Development Authority, abandoned quarries with an area of 1,000 acres have been earmarked as green areas, he adds..

Puttenahalli lake set to turn into bird reserve ssb bureau

T

he work to develop Puttenahalli lake near Yelahanka New Town, Bengaluru, into a bird conservation reserve has already begun. To begin with, a diversion channel is being put in place to ensure sewage water from surrounding areas does not flow into the water body.

Forest department officials say this would ensure that water is purified to a large extent before being let into the lake. The arrangement would last until the sewage treatment plant begins to operate.

A notification rolled out by the state government

back in 2015 had declared this “Puttenahalli Lake Birds Conservation Reserve” for its ecological, fauna, flora and geomorphological importance and for the purpose of protecting the environment around the water body.

Puttenahalli lake is home to several species of birds like darters, painted storks, blackcrowned night herons, purple herons, pond herons, egrets, Asian open bill storks, Eurasian spoonbills, spot-tilled pelican, little grebe, little cormorant spot-billed ducks, purple moorhen and other waterbirds.

This lake is also an abode for endangered and migratory bird species from the Northern Himalayas and Siberia, many of which are listed under threatened category of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). After the lake is beautified, a walking path would be constructed around the lake, artificial islands would be created and bird hides would be set up.

14 Science & Technology

August 14 - 20, 2017

nasa unique power

Dr Rahul Kumar Mishra

Electricity Generating Flying Carpets to Roam Earth’s Orbit NASA is now trying to launch electricity generating carpets into the Earth’s orbit that catch solar energy and beam it down to the ground for uninterrupted power (Left) Illustration by Bob Silberg. Figure of man riding flying carpet is from 1880 painting by Viktor Vasnetsov (Below) As this NASA image shows, lack of electricity keeps much of Africa and Asia in the dark at night

these microwaves would be much safer than the harmful UV rays of the sun since they are non-ionizing. They can’t induce chemical changes, they simply generate slight heating.

T

o picture what NASA is working on, one can imagine a rocket exiting Earth’s atmosphere. Its nose cone opens and what comes out is a flying carpet. The carpet, folded and rolled into a cylinder is just 3 feet in diameter and 5 feet long. After leaving the launch vehicle, it unfurls into its full expanse: 2/3rd the size of a football field and only 1 inch thick. Now one can imagine 2,500 of these spaceborne magic carpets flying together thus creating a sheet covering an area of 3.5 square miles (nine square kilometres) in the Earth’s orbit. This area is as wide as 1,670 whilst maintaining a thickness of only 1 inch.

These carpets are there to capture the sun’s energy and beam it down to Earth to produce electricity. This NASA technology is going to the largest-ever-built space structures.

People Empowered According to the UNDP, a quarter of Earth’s population lacks access to reliable electricity. More than half of those people don’t have access to electricity at all. For such isolated areas and populations, these ‘magic’ carpets would prove to be a viable solution.

In places where there are no landline networks, it would be viable to

establish a wireless network in the area.

This is an easier and more economical solution in places like sub-Saharan Africa. It is much easier to establish ground stations that receive electricity from a spacecraft and transmit it to the local populations.

The receiving antennas for the power generated through the carpets would not displace any productive land use. They can be easily put up like chicken wires over farming fields for example. They could also be embedded within ground-based solar panels thus allowing them to deliver power through day and night.

The orbiting system of carpets would beam solar energy to the Earth in the form of microwaves, to be converted into electricity at the ground stations. One would think these microwaves pose a safety hazard.

But, this does not pose any safety hazards. The density of transmitted energy will be as much as one is exposed to when standing out in the sun or using the cell phone. As a matter of fact,

the idea In orbit, a solar panel is exposed to cloud free, high noon sunshine constantly with the potential to gather energy wavelengths that get absorbed by the atmosphere before they reach the ground based solar panels. A receiving antenna on the surface of the Earth will produce 9 times as much electricity as their ground based counterparts.

Harvesting energy in space while

The carpets would beam the collected solar energy to ground stations where it will get converted into electricity

Quick Glance UNDP says about a fourth of the world population do not get power NASA plans to send 2,050 flying carpets to trap solar power Together, these carpets would cover nine square kilometers in space

being considered hasn’t been executed yet because launching the necessary equipment has been uncomfortably expensive. But the new technological innovations have shrunk the cost of lifting and delivery considerably.

Organizations like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Space Solar Power Initiative (SSPI) are tackling this problem. The new approach employs uses ultra-lightweight integrated circuits, photovoltaics and structures that make it about two orders of magnitude lighter than any competing effort.

Smooth Sailing The size and weight of each spacecraft will make them more susceptible to be nudged off course due to the sunlight beating on them. This would require periodic correction. The operators on ground may be able to steer it by using the pressure the way a sailboat employs the wind to navigate the rough seas.

A fleet of 2,500 formation-flying spacecraft in each solar-energy system would comprise 900 million functionally independent tiles. The power generated by each tile would be transmitted to Earth instantaneously.

A modular approach like this makes the system very robust. Even losing a few tiles to solar flares or micrometeorites is no big deal for the system.

(The author cracked IIT-JEE and secured a position in the merit list. He did his PhD in Chemistry from Israel and now he is pursuing research in antibacterial agents and industrially important chemicals)

August 14 - 20, 2017

Science & Technology

15

Astro-Physics Black Holes

100 million Black Holes in Milky Way! Astronomers have determined that the Milky Way is home to about 100 million of the enigmatic, dark objects, far more than expected

A

ssb bureau

fter conducting a cosmic inventory of sorts to calculate and categorise stellarremnant black holes, astronomers have determined that the Milky Way is home to about 100 million of the enigmatic, dark objects far more than expected.

“We think we’ve shown that there are as many as 100 million black holes in our galaxy,” said James Bullock, Professor at University of California, Irvine (UCI), and co-author of a research paper on the subject published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The university’s celestial census began more than a year and a half ago, shortly after the news that the Laser Interferometer GravitationalWave Observatory, or LIGO, had detected ripples in the space-time continuum created by the distant collision of two black holes, each the size of 30 suns.

“Fundamentally, the detection of gravitational waves was a huge deal, as it was a confirmation of a key prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity,” Bullock said.

“But then we looked closer at the astrophysics of the actual result, a merger of two 30-solar-mass black holes. That was simply astounding and had us asking, ‘How common are black holes of this size, and how often do they merge?’” Bullock said.

The research, led by doctoral candidate Oliver Elbert from UCi,

was an attempt to interpret the gravitational wave detections through the lens of what is known about galaxy formation and to form a framework for understanding future occurrences.

“Based on what we know about star formation in galaxies of different types, we can infer when and how many black holes formed in each

Based on what we know about star formation in

galaxies of different types, we can infer when and how many black holes formed in each galaxy

Paleogenomy Wolves

Dogs Have a Common Origin Most dogs, including the fancy ones people keep as pets, have descended from the Gray Wolf some 20,000 to 40,000 years ago IANS

C

hallenging previous research that suggested two domestication processes led to the modern dog, a new study led by an Indian-origin scientist says that all contemporary dogs have a common origin and emerged through a single domestication process of wolves 20,000 to 40,000 years ago.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, are based on an analysis of the DNA of two prehistoric dogs from Germany.

The researchers determined that their genomes were the probable ancestors of modern European dogs. Only last year were researchers able to sequence the

genome of a 5,000-year-old dog from Ireland using the latest paleogenomic techniques.

The results of the study led the research team at the University

of Oxford to suggest dogs were domesticated not once but twice.

The research team also hypothesised that an indigenous dogs stock domesticated in Europe was replaced by incoming migrants independently domesticated in East Asia during the Neolithic period.

“Contrary to the results of this previous analysis, we found that our ancient dogs from the same time period were very similar to modern European dogs, including the majority of breed dogs people keep as pets,” Krishna Veeramah, Assistant Professor at the Stony Brook University, New York.

“This suggests that there was no mass Neolithic

Quick Glance The discovery of two Black Holes validated a key theory of Einstein That was the starting point for a celestial census more than a year ago Oliver Elbert attempted to interpret the gravitational wave detections

galaxy,” Elbert said.

The number of black holes of a given mass per galaxy will depend on the size of the galaxy, said Manoj Kaplinghat, Professor of Physics & Astronomy at UCI. The reason is that larger galaxies have many metal-rich stars, and smaller dwarf galaxies are dominated by big stars of low metallicity. “We have a pretty good understanding of the overall population of stars in the universe and their mass distribution as they’re born, so we can tell how many black holes should have formed with 100 solar masses versus 10 solar masses,” Bullock said. “We were able to work out how many big black holes should exist, and it ended up being in the millions way more than I anticipated,” Bullock said.

Quick Glance Dogs have a common origin and emerged through a single domestication process Ancient dogs from the same time period were very similar to modern European dogs It seems dogs were domesticated from wolves between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago

replacement that occurred on the continent and that there was likely only a single domestication process for the dogs observed in the fossil record from the Stone Age and that we also see and live with today.”

Veeramah and his colleagues used the older 7,000-year-old dog to narrow the timing of dog domestication to the 20,000 to 40,000 years ago range.

They found evidence that the younger 4,700-year-old dog represents a mixture of European dogs and a stock that resembles current Central Asian/ Indian dogs.

16

August 14 - 20, 2017

If you are not “ willing to risk the

usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary” Jim Rohn

independent india

people’s awakening Across the country, many people are voluntarily getting into actions that will change the social reality

I

N what can only gladden the hearts of all Indians, a mass awakening seems to be growing in almost every field in the country, especially in the area of removing filth and in sanitation. Bangalore, which was once reputed to be a beautiful city, had turned into a garbage dump, and its lakes were so polluted that a vast majority have died. The people have now forced a rethink and by 2020, it has been decided, that every sewage and factory outlet will have treatment plants. This would not have been possible without the pressure of the common people. More importantly, a group of civic minded people call themselves The Ugly Indian, to reject what Indians actually do... litter everywhere. On their own, they have taken up shovels and sacks and first cleaned up the city’s dirtiest corners and then, they took up brushes and palettes and painted them in glorious colours. Our guess is that some Bangalorians who return after a year or so to their city will miss the ‘landmarks’ of garbage. This Ugly Indian is now being replicated across many cities now. In this edition of Sulabh Swachh Bharat we bring you three extraordinary stories. First is how the Capital city’s visual landscape is changing with an NGO promoting Wall Art and changing the very look of the dirty walls. This will go a long way in making Delhi a city where walking on the streets will be pleasure. The second story comes from a Baghpat village, where the panchyat has decided not to marry off girls to families that do not have a toilet. The third story comes from Calcutta, where four Durga Puja Committees have decided to utilise the art skills of convicted prisoners. At this rate, it is great going!

Editor-in-Chief

Kumar Dilip Edited, Printed and Published by: Monika Jain on behalf of Sulabh Sanitation Mission Foundation, owned by Sulabh Sanitation Mission Foundation Printed at: The Indian Express Limited A - 8, Sector -7, NOIDA (UP) Published at: RZ - 83, Mahavir Enclave, Palam - Dabri Road, New Delhi - 110045 (India) Corporate Office: 819, Wave Silver Tower, Sector - 18, NOIDA (UP) Phone: +91-120-6500425 Email: editor@sulabhswachhbharat.com, ssbweekly@gmail.com

yogesh Vajpayee A senior journalist with over 40 years of experience with newspapers like National Herald, The Times of India, The Indian Express, The Telegraph and The New Indian Express

VIEWPOINT

Means are important to achieve goals of the SBM

B

ill Gates recently wrote that India is winning its war against waste.It is perhaps too soon to predict outcomes, but there is no denying that a strong start has been made to the efforts.

India is midway into the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). It aims to follow variants of the celebrated Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach which depends on information to bring behavioural changes. The CLTS categorically states that it is a means of facilitating change at the community level, and that toilet construction is not by itself the panacea. It also requires that demand for toilets be generated from the bottom up, and that change be driven and sustained by the community itself once it has been “triggered”.

The SBM guidelines, too, proclaim that coercion is against the spirit and intent of the mission, although the scheme is more pragmatic, combining the use of information with incentives.

Since its inception on October 2, 2014, the ministries of Urban Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation have been spearheading the programme, with implementation happening at the state level.

The key differentiator with the SBM is the prime minister’s ongoing focus which has percolated to district and block officials.

It has also captured the imagination of the people of the country. The SBM has witnessed several notable achievements in reducing open defecation thanks to the focus on behaviour change, need-based capacity building and constant measuring of outcomes. The last three years have seen an increase from 42 per cent to 65.02 per cent in national sanitation coverage.

Five states, 149 districts and 2.08 lakh villages have already been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF). Nearly 22 per cent of the cities and towns have been declared ODF; 50 per cent of the urban wards have achieved 100 per cent door-to-door solid waste collection; and over 20,000 Swachhagrahi volunteers are working across urban local bodies, and over a lakh are working in rural India.

The number of schools with separate toilet facilities for girls has increased from 0.4 million (37 per cent) to almost one million (91 per cent).

There have seen numerous analyses, discussions and conclusions about the SBM. One recent media report mentions that the government is not measuring ODF, and rather tracks funds spent on latrine construction while putting out numbers about sanitation. This is not entirely correct, as there have been efforts to measure ODF. Of course, the modalities for the same can be debated and there may well be scope for improvement in the measurement protocols. Several sectoral experts are members of the Empowered Working Group (EWG), which is responsible for examining the survey methodology and setting protocols for the government’s upcoming national survey through the Independent Verification Agent (IVA) under the World Bank project.

One of the key differentiators of the SBM programme (and rightly so) is the decision by the government in November 2014 to make ODF the success parameter. It was made clear by the ministries concerned that progress will be tracked and evaluated only on this basis.

This caused a paradigm shift in the thinking of the implementers as ODF measurement has a direct relationship with behaviour change.

This policy shift led to ODF Monitoring Committees (or Nigrani Samitis) being formed at the village level, reflecting the community ownership of SBM. The monitoring committees’ key tasks were not to count the number of toilets but to ensure that no individual from the village resorts to open defecation.

Anecdotal information and

The PM’s major

scheme SBM has now percolated to the district and block level officials

August 14 - 20, 2017

Achieving ODF status

alone is not sufficient for the success of the SBM. Attention must be paid to complete sanitation cycle feedback from NGOs and others in the field suggests good progress on this front.

Sanitation, in a diverse country like India, encompasses a number of factors which are important determinants for the success of the mission. It has a direct relationship to caste, creed, religion and gender. A successful sanitation programme needs to address such factors, which makes achievement of safe sanitation a very complex exercise. Additionally, India has a large number of disabled people whose needs require customised solutions. Despite these challenges, we have seen a marked improvement in sanitation coverage since the launch of SBM. Achieving ODF status alone is not sufficient for the success of SBM. Attention to the complete sanitation cycle is required, where toilets not only need to be built and used but the waste generated also needs to be collected and treated properly. The India Sanitation Coalition advocates safe and sustainable sanitation including design, implementation and practice. This is evident in the tag line BUMT (Build, Use, Maintain and Treat) to complete the entire sanitation chain. .

Achieving ODF is the collective responsibility of the entire nation, not just the government. We have now reached a stage where the need for BCC (Behaviour change communication) has been recognised. Turning a large and populous country like India around is not an easy task. However, in less than three years we see that India is already course correcting and with the momentum building, the pace of change going forward will be much faster.

Doubts as to whether these toilets are usable and sustainable are occasionally, but reasonably voiced. There are, however, other equally important questions which merit consideration but remain largely unexamined. Not least of which is, how are these toilets being built?

Paternalism is not a new approach in the sanitation space, in India or elsewhere. Such an approach implies a sense of superiority, exasperation at the ignorance of the uneducated villager, and the insistence that such yokels must be forced to do things for their own good. India’s complicated history of segregation and social sanctions based on notions of cleanliness only raises the possibility of unintended outcomes. Even an oblique endorsement of such means without considering all their implications is worrisome. A reassessment of tactics may not be inopportune at this juncture in our war.

Oped

17

Ask “Who Am I?”

mihir paul

Mihir Paul is a graduate of Philosophy and Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States

Enquiring into the immutable nature of the self-gives way to a realization of the true self. Hint: it’s not your ego

upfront

O

ur true self is very different from our perceived self.

Our perceived self isn’t who we really are. Our perceived self is an ego, a personality, a name, and a combination of memories.

Your perceived self is a construct of thoughts that consist of past memories, an image of you in time, and a collection of thoughts and actions that occur in the present and project this residual ego of yourself into the future. It’s a faux persona.

This perceived self is what we all know as the ego. It’s the objectified version of our true self, the subject.

We never seem to question our own identities. We never ask “Who am I?” Us being the subjects of our experiences simply cannot be the object of our own experiences.

Just how a fingertip can’t touch itself, fire can’t burn it; we cannot objectify our own self and yet we do it every time we stare into the mirror. We objectify and limit our being and nature down to a fleshand-blood body that has a limited life and a limited experience. And yet we force ourselves to believe

we are this vague collection of thoughts and memories. If we somehow let go of our thoughts and perceive reality as is, then if we try to find out who or what we are, we get only one answer – NOTHING. And the only ‘thing’ in ‘nothing’ is the present moment.

Thus, we realize we are the present moment and nothing else.

We realize that we are our entire

experience and not just a body and mind. We only experience the present moment as it is through the five senses. And that’s all we are, a collection of changing experiences that occur subsequently in this

eternal present moment and thus time becomes a measure of changes in that present moment. Only the interference of thoughts running in the mind creates the illusion of a past and a future even though both past and future exist as memories and projected thoughts in the present moment. We are not our egos and it’s very easy to verify once we start examining our very own life experience as it occurs in the present moment. One has to start inquiring into the nature of oneself. Seriously, ask yourself “Who am I?” and when thoughts don’t jump to answer this question, you shall have your answer.

The true self stays as is, just like the present moment.

In that, you become one with everything and thus realize that there’s no need for material objects or any desires for that matter. You already are the universe manifesting itself as an instance of life. In essence, we are all instances of the same life living through different experiences.

letters to the editor in mind is a fine move. Their plan to provide an environment which is elderly friendly is praise worthy. It could be even healthier for them as it might be a change in their routine surroundings. It will provide a good opportunity to interact with other people who are not able to travel much.

Jagdeep Prasad, Barsoi

wondrous park The article ‘Seven Wonders Parks’ is interesting news. The recent idea of the southern municipal corporation to mould the seven wonders of the world into parks, with a chaupal for the elders

yusuf meherally The article ‘The ‘Quit India’ Man’ is a very readable article. It provided a comprehensive body of details on Yusuf Meherally and proved to be a source of information that helped to get to know more about him.

There are always many questions left undecided, but this article answered many questions about the various points and levels of participation of Yusuf ji in the Quit India movement. The mention of

the philosophical and ideological relationship between Gandhi and Yusuf in a small but impact creating detail too was interesting. Such journalistic articles help to get one’s facts right and research deeper into the matter and events of Quit India Movement Ananth Kumar, Chikmagalur wow edition!

I really am grateful to this news paper for bringing out an edition so rich in the history of the Quit India Movement. That was a defining call, but today’s youngsters just talk about Independence Day, and not what all went before that. The Republic of Bareli was a pleasant shock. I do not think even meny elders know about this. Your article is a true tribute to the martyrs of Bareli, and I salute them!

Naina Bhatia, Kolkata

Please mail your opinion to - ssbweekly@gmail.com or Whatsapp at 9868807712

18 Photo Feature

August 14 - 20, 2017

Tryst With Destiny!

It was the most celebrated day in India’s history after being under British Rule. The British Raj ended formally on August 15, 1947, as the Empire could no longer keep the indomitable Indians under their thumb. And celebrations broke out

Photo Research: jairam

There were great moments that have been captured by various lensmen... what with Nehru and Gandhi and other leaders seen in discussion. Nehru took a ride on the official chariot of the passing out Governor-General Lord Mounbatten and his wife Edwina, and the two had a special photo opp with Mahatma Gandhi too. People broke out in large numbers, whether on the Raj Path in

August 14 - 20, 2017

Photo Feature

19

New Delhi, or in remote villages, where too villagers hoisted the national flag. Gandhiji blessed children. The Times of India’s historic page talked about ‘frenzied enthusiasm’. From that date till his demise, Nehru celebrated every Independence Day from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort

20 New Art 20

August 14 - 20, 2017

Quick Glance In 2016, a two-month long graffiti festival was organised in Delhi, and this took off From Hauz Khas this has now spread to Lodhi Colony, Shahpur Jat and Azadpur Mandi The artists are faceless and often sign in interesting nom de plumes

or a bench hidden behind a tree. Even the humble dustbin is no longer simply and only utility based commodity.

Touched by skilled brush strokes of an artist, they have been transformed into eye-catching art pieces. A visit to some of these spots offers a spell-binding impact.

delhi graffiti

THE SMILING WALLS OF DELHI

The megapolis is notorious for its shabby, often decrepit walls that one would rather quickly march by. Now many of them are offering a free and lively aesthetic experience saurabh singh

I

t was a cloudy Sunday afternoon when a steady drizzle tapped on the roof, and like some other overworked Delhi’ites, all I wanted to do was gorge on a plateful of pakoras and then snore to sleep. But such plans were of no avail. A long pending meeting forced me to travel down to the southern part of the city. Surprisingly, and thankfully, the dismal beginning to my Sunday slowly slipped into a memorable day, and a happy adventure. It was an amazing date with the exquisite art form that is as ancient as it is contemporary.

In 2016 last year, a two-month long festival of Graffiti, that includes wall art, murals, and installations, was held in Delhi. In the fest, a number of artists from the city came together. The festival offered a venue for interaction among all those artists who have been actively working to lend beauty to the many dull, discolored, ignored exteriors in Delhi. The best known sights of street art is Delhi’s Hauz Khas area. But that is just one of many. There is a lot to see in Lodhi Colony too; and in Shahpur Jat; and Gol Market, even in the commercial area of Azadpur Cold Storage; and in several other corners of

the city.

Looking up at one such ‘restored’ wall, one is pleasurably faced with a huge, multi-coloured 9x10 bird that seems to sweep down, from the other 6x8 ft. wall the face of a child grins disarmingly through his tumble of hair falling all over his face; a geometrical figure straight out of science fiction stands above a doorway, from another terrace the 5x6 ft. face of a tiger crouches before it prepares to leap…

In these parts of the capital city where street art has left its amazing mark, it has transformed the shops, lanes, street corners, the odd lamp post,

Faceless Facelifters Who are the artists and the painters who have created beauty in the many long-neglected, drab and uninteresting exteriors of residential and commercial buildings? Who are the painters who do not seek fame in the usual sense of the word? These are men and women who have taken art out of the elitist labels. They have turned colours into a medium of reaching out to the general public. There is no ticket, no fee to see these pieces.

Even if they put a signature in the corners of their ‘canvas’, it could very often not be their ‘real’ name. It could be a pseudonym, or a nick name which is as mysterious as their art. Some of the artists who have made a mark include ‘Daku’ an artist who is a member of 156 - an international graffiti artists group. Recognised for his murals of cats, Anpu is the favourite of many.

Yantra is known for his concern with

Artisans had no money

to buy raw material. Now the organisation not only provides raw material, designs and knowhow but also machines to skilled artisans

August 14 - 20, 2017

New Art

21

interview

From ‘Vandalism’ to Pop Art Founder of ST-ART, Yogesh Saini, spoke to Saurabh Singh How is street wall art different from that which is showcased in art galleries?

Street art is on the street. So you can say that we are trying to bring art out of galleries into public spaces. And also trying to bring art to a lot of people who don’t usually visit the art galleries or go to the closed art spaces.

So one big difference between street art and the gallery art is that gallery art is usually created with an idea of preserving it and over time it increases in its value. Street art is perishable. It has limited life span. And depending on the location, depending on the weather elements, it may last for a few years or may be last in a few months What is the durability? How often are the paintings changed?

See, it depends on the location. If street art is done on the interior walls then it can last on for a long time. But if it is on the outside, like the wall we have in Chanakyapuri outside the Police Memorial, that wall by nature is only going to be there as long as the construction is happening.

Which are the organisations involved in this art?

We came up with ST-ART four years back and Delhi Street Art was created to come up with the idea to take up unusual spaces in the public domain, normally where people would not expect art. So the first area was around Lodhi Gardens, and there 135 garbage cans were painted

by different artists. We did that over a few month’s time. There on, we went on to several other locations railway stations, flyovers, prisons. Besides us there are several independent artists and other organisations that are also active not only in Delhi but in other parts of the country and cities as well.

Is this a ‘western’ idea?

The current form of street art which you see is definitely more prevalent in the West. It started out in the form of graffiti.

Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s in the US, specially New York and parts of Europe, and again got a big boost after the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany and beyond that street art has evolved a long way from graffiti, which was then mostly considered to be vandalism. Now, street art is actually seen as an aesthetic means to improve urban visage, to improve the experience that the people have with the public space. So while it’s coming from the West, the elements that are used in the street art in India are very much domestic.

What is the cost factor? How do artists get the funds?

Cost factor really varies. Mainly, major costs are around art materials and, obviously, the cost of compensating an artist for a design and execution.

Other costs come into play depending upon if you need to pay someone to get permission, or if you need some special equipment to create the art work. So, typically, artists either

they are commissioned by clients, if they could bear the cost. If they are doing a social project, like we do a lot of social projects, in that case we partly or wholly subsidize the cost ourselves. A few times the corporate or paint companies step in as helping partners or helping sponsors to reduce the costs to some degree.

So what are the future programmes?

With Delhi Street Art, street art continues to grow and evolve, and we hope to continue doing more of what we are doing and in more locations.

We have already ventured into ten cities within India.

Any social messages? Street art is not ‘art for the sake of just art’?

By and large, any art work has either direct or indirect social message.

There are times when we started out by getting a social message across, for example, in a place in Connaught Place we have an entire building dedicated to women empowerment.

socio-political issues. Representing the pristine northeast is Zine from Mizoram. There are others whose names themselves spell creative vibes – Komet, Vader, Full Power, Rush, Dizy, Rave1200, Elf, Lady Karma, PCO, Treble, and so many other talented ones.One of the masterpieces which have beautified the walls and buildings of Delhi include the wondrous piece on the exterior of the famous School of Planning and Architecture.

It was one long, rejuvenating day as I, caught in a spell that only art can create, visited, some of the most popular site of Delhi’s street art.

Stopping for a cup of tea at Lodhi Colony on my way back, the thought crept up again and yet again in the mind was, that as Indians, born into a culture of ritualistic and mythical tradition of drawings in temples and homes, the role of architecture and technology can definitely smartened up the metropolitan city, but its soul will still come from the heart.

Or to call it by yet another name, Street Art!

22 Environment

August 14 - 20, 2017

campaign

conservation Wildlife

Rishi Kapoor supports Rivers campaign

Snow leopard programme needs change Good science could help in the conservation of the snow leopards. But there is too little science, which is also too simplistic

Quick Glance

According to the official page of the cause, Ganga, Krishna, Narmada, Kaveri and many of our rivers are depleting fast

India is sensitive to the cause of conserving the rare snow leopard Worldwide, there are just 8,700 snow leopards left so far The Indian conservation effort needs to be much more transparent

IANS

V

eteran actor Rishi Kapoor has extended his support to Rally for Rivers campaign and has urged his followers and friends to help save rivers in India.

Rishi on Tuesday took to Twitter and shared a 27-second video clip, in which he is urging his fans and followers to help save the rivers -- which are called the lifelines of India.

In the video, Rishi is heard saying: “Hello, friends this is Rishi Kapoor here. I am supporting Rally for Rivers -- India’s lifelines.

Please support the same. Thank you.”

The 64-year-old actor captioned the video: “Our rivers are dying... they have embraced

ians

I

ndia supports a robust population of the endangered snow leopard but its conservation-research data is not shared and doesn’t contribute to the global efforts to conserve the species, whose numbers worldwide are estimated at between 4,080 and 8,700. The country needs to be more transparent, a US biologist has said.

Human encroachment and habitat degradation in the Himalayas are among the factors that are threatening the existence of the highly elusive snow leopards in the wild.

“Raw data (on the snow leopard) is almost not shared, nor is there a good legal framework or enforcement or budget,” Falk Huettmann, Associate Professor with the Institute of Arctic Biology, Department of

Biology and Wildlife, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, told IANS in an interview here.

He was in this Colombian city for the Society for Conservation Biology’s 28th International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB 2017).

Good science could help in the conservation of the snow leopards. But there is too little science, too simplistic, too fragmented efforts and many hidden agendas, he added, also pointing to the over-commercialised non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in conservation of the snow leopard in India.

Studies in India’s high-altitude regions of Himachal Pradesh’s Spiti and Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh regions show the presence of one snow leopard per 100 sq km. The overall population is estimated at between

200 and 600.

Mincing no words, Huettmann said India’s research on the snow leopard is not as well developed as it could be, considering that the country has such a huge potential and very sophisticated infrastructure like its own satellites to monitor wildlife.

“I would rather say research (on the snow leopard) in India is primarily funding and NGO-oriented. There are too many competing entities and too much outside money and so is the outside influence,” he maintained.

The biologist said “the Indian government is not strong enough to hold out (to these influences), and also lacks the expertise to make headway on its own”.

As an example of expertise, he mentioned “statistical inference, based on the latest methods like machine learning predictions” and said that some agencies “might say all is fine because of some earlier population numbers”.

“However, that’s not true and there is much more to the story,” he said.

Most raw data is not shared or contributed to global efforts like the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, they aver.

Beijing Electric buses

Beijing to have 10K electric buses by 2020

us for millions of years.” According to the official page of the cause, Ganga, Krishna, Narmada, Kaveri and many of our rivers are depleting fast.

The initiative has been started by spiritual leader and yogi Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, who has established Isha Foundation. The campaign is called #RallyforRivers and Sadhguru himself will drive from Kanyakumari to Himalayas to create awareness, according to the foundation.

Other personalities who are supporting the cause include Juhi Chawla, Tamannaah Bhatia, Mithali Raj, P.V. Sindhu and Kunal Nayyar among many others.

Electric buses create lower emissions and less noise. Each of the vehicles can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45 tonnes every year IANS

T

he number of electric buses in Beijing will increase from the current 1,000 to 10,000 by 2020 in an effort to improve the environment, the Public Transport Group said.

The proportion of buses purely powered by electricity among the total public transport vehicles will increase from the current 10 per cent to 60 per cent in three years, Xinhua news agency quoted Zhong Qianghua, Deputy General Manager of the group,

as saying. Zhong said electric buses create lower emissions and less noise.

Each of the vehicles can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 45 tonnes every year, and the vehicles are free from PM2.5 emissions.

Recently, 50 new electric buses were deployed on two routes in Beijing’s Yanqing district. It takes only around 20 minutes to charge a bus, and a single charge can power the vehicle for 80 km. The two routes can transport 3.45 million people every year, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1,600 tonnes. Currently

the group operates about 1,020 bus routes in Beijing. By 2020, the group will be able to transport about 3.046 billion people per year.

August 14 - 20, 2017

Arunachal Pradesh natural disasters

Modi to solve Arunachal woes State Chief Minister Pema Khandu said he had drawn attention to the problem and sought the central government’s intervention for a foolproof system SSB Bureau

P

rime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to work out a long-term solution to the recurring problem of natural disasters that hit Arunachal Pradesh every year, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said last week.

Khandu, who attended a review meeting to take stock of the flood situation in the northeast, chaired by Modi, at the Assam Administrative Staff College at Khanapara in the neighbouring state, said he had drawn attention to the problem and sought the central government’s intervention for a foolproof system to not only avert natural disasters but also have a very quick and robust relief and damage control system, an official system said.

Development of North Eastern Region Minister Jitendra Singh, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Secretary Shakunta Gamlin and other senior government officials attended the meeting.

cigarette

“Damages caused over the years have accumulated a severe burden to the state thereby creating a huge gap.

The State is left with a mammoth task of restoring damages, which it is unable to carry out due to its meagre resource,” Khandu said the meeting.

He also requested a comprehensive package for the state to meet the gap besides deputing the Inter-Ministerial Central team so that an accurate assessment of damage could be done.

Citing the national and state

road building

Cigarette Butts Make Good Roads This could mean safe and permanent disposal of one of the most ubiquitous toxic wastes, as the synthetic filters do not biodegrade SSB Bureau

R

esearchers have found that cigarette butts can be safely disposed of by sealing them up inside roads and paths, an advance that could not only solve a huge waste problem but would also be useful in reducing the urban heat island effect common in cities.

Trillions of cigarette butts are produced every year worldwide, with most discarded into the environment.

They take ages to break down while their toxic chemical load is released into creeks, rivers and oceans.

In the study, the researchers demonstrated that asphalt, or bitumen - a mixed composite material commonly used to surface roads with

cigarette butts can handle heavy traffic and also reduce thermal conductivity.

“I have been trying for many years to find sustainable and practical methods for solving the problem of cigarette butt pollution,” said Abbas Mohajerani, senior lecturer at the RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

“Cigarette filters are designed to trap hundreds of toxic chemicals and the only ways to control these chemicals

Quick Glance

Environment

23

noble profession

Arunachal Pradesh has a highly fragile ecosystem that needs special attention Due to the fragility, natural disasters are occuring every year The CM has taken up the issue with the PM during a meeting last week

disaster relief fund norms that do not permit restoration works in certain sectors, he sought the Prime Minister’s intervention in relaxing them for his state.

He also appealed for a special consideration for the damages that occurred in the state within a span of two to three months this year due to unprecedented incessant rain. Khandu also sought mitigation funds from the Central government prior to any disaster so that the state could gear up for preparedness instead of engaging itself for restoration works after the damages occur.

“A provision of advance funding for mitigation plan, advisory warnings and other preparedness activities will lessen the damage and avoid human losses,” the Chief Minister said.

Assured all possible support to the state, Modi said that the Central government is committed to bring in a lasting solution to the state’s flood situation as well as help the state cope up with the present situation. are either by effective encapsulation for the production of new lightweight aggregates or by the incorporation in fired clay bricks,” added Mohajerani whose team previously demonstrated recycling cigarette butts in bricks.

In the study, published in the journal of Construction and Building Materials, the team encapsulated the cigarette butts with bitumen and paraffin wax to lock in the chemicals and prevent any leaching from the asphalt concrete. The encapsulated cigarette butts were mixed with hot asphalt mix for making samples.

These encapsulated cigarette butts can be developed as new construction material which can be used in different applications and lightweight composite products, the researchers said. About six trillion cigarettes are produced every year, leading to more than 1.2 million tonnes of cigarette butt waste. These figures are expected to increase by more than 50 per cent by 2025, mainly due to an increase in world population, the study revealed.

The findings can create a new construction material while ridding the environment of a huge waste problem, Mohajerani added.

Forests special to Indian ethos: Mukherjee The former president of India Pranab Mukherjee congratulated forest officials for taking up a noble profession IANS

C

ongratulating the Indian Forest Service Probationers for clearing the exam, former President Pranab Mukherjee urged them protect the forest of the nation, as they are “special for Indian ethos and culture”.

Mukherjee told the officers that they had chosen a very noble profession and that the onus of protecting the spiritual and cultural heritage embosomed in forests lay with them.

“You have chosen a very noble profession. Forests have always been special to Indian ethos and culture. Our civilisation has derived its intellectual and spiritual strength from forests.

“These forests, therefore, are not merely a resource but they also cover the cultural, spiritual and intellectual heritage of the country,” he said.

The world is becoming aware of the dangers of environmental degradation that has threatened the very survival of the humankind, the former President said and added that forests are instrumental in restoring the balance of nature and subvert the effects of global warming.

“In the past few decades, the world has woken up to threats to the very survival of humankind due to environmental degradation, depletion in forest cover and above all global warming leading to climate change.

“That is why the environment has become a key concern for the 21st century. And forests are an integral part of the solution,” he said.

24 Social Service

August 14 - 20, 2017

patna city with a heart

Roti Bank gaining momentum in Patna About 20-odd youth can be seen on their motorcycles in different localities of Patna after 6pm daily knocking the doors of residents to collect rotis for the poor

Pradeep Modak

T

heY are not beggars but almost doing the same job for a pious mission, that is to feed poor and deprived people, spending their nights on the pavement or night shelters provided by the municipal corporation.

They have been doing the work for a noble cause religiously without any fail regularly for about two months under the banner of Roti Bank launched by a social organisation - Bihar Youth Force on June 15 this year. Bihar Youth Force is a voluntary social organisation run by

Quick Glance A once political activist and research scholar saw a destitute trying to get leftovers from a wedding pandal He started the Roti Bank from June 15, with the help from some 50 helping hands working voluntarily Currently they feed fresh food for dinner to about 100 destitutes and hope to do more in the future

Food quality control to ensure freshness is a major

challenge, and sometimes they found stale food, but now people are giving them freshly cooked meals a research scholar-cum-social activist Rishikesh Narayan Singh with the help of some like-minded Patna University students.

This is a lending food bank which does not charge any interest from its customers with a motto no street dwellers should sleep hungry.

The volunteers of the Roti Bank collected the rotis gladly from the houses, giving thanks to local residents for helping their cause. After the collecting of food, they meet in a place decided well before the day’s work starts and start packaging the food stuffs in foil boxes. After the work is over, they drive round the city to find the pavement dwellers and other downtrodden people and distribute the food for dinner. Each packet contains five rotis, some subzi, bhujia (vegetable and

fried vegetable) and achaar (pickle).

“The real task in the process is to check the quality of food that we want to deliver to deprived people who sleep hungry,” Singh said.

“We check each and every roti and packed subzis given by the house owners to find out the freshness. Some time we find that the food stuff given by the local residents is not good enough to serve, as foul smells come out of them”, he said.

“Quality checking is an important task, as the slightest negligence could spoil the show and the entire Roti Bank team could face disrepute,” he remarked.

“Now, local residents have begun to understand the piousness of our service and they give us fresh rotis which they made a hour an hour or two before we visit them,” he said.

“Some house owners even make their own boxes containing separate packets for rotis and subzi. Some of them also add additional food stuff like sweets into them,” he said.

“We are serving a section of our society by the help of society and this is the simple equation of our work,” he said.

“We do not take any money from the government or any other organisation.

Our volunteers bear the cost of the petrol from their own pockets to move around the city,” he said.

On the response from the street dwellers, he said within two months, Roti Bank got stunning responses from the poorest of poor people. “They wait for our food delivery. Sometime it happens, that we start delivery of food a bit late in the evening due to collection hassles and time consuming quality checking and repackaging. They wait patiently and even ask us why was the delay,” he said.

“It gives us immense pleasure that cannot be described in words,” he said.

“Now, we are approaching more people to join our campaign,” he said.

Rishikesh Narayan Singh, a youth in his late 20s, is a well known name among the Patna University students. He spent several years fighting for the cause of students against the university authorites.

A few years ago, Rishikesh could be seen staging dharna before the university gate raising the demands of the students.

He was a leader of the students’ wing of the Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) led by union minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

About two years ago he left politics suddenly. “Politics is not my cup of tea.

I am a straight forward man and cannot make false promises,” he said.

An indomitable Rishikesh has passion to do something positive for the society.

He started to provide free education to children coming from deprived sections of the society.

Then he started a community school Gyanshala - for the underprivileged kids in Adalatganj slum of the state capital about three years ago. He provided all education materials to the children and took classes himself to teach the boys and girls in the evening.

“Gyanshala is still running and one

August 14 - 20, 2017

Court

25

bengaluru judiciary

Bengaluru gets two child-friendly courts

Now the city will have the first child-friendly courts in the south to create a comfortable atmosphere for victims who might be scared of seeing the police

Now some rersidents of

Patna make fresh food for the Roti Bank, make their own packets and even add some special stuff like sweetmeats more venue has been added to it. Now, it is also running in a slum located near the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH). Thirty-odd kids have been getting primary education in the evening by volunteers of Youth Force”, he said.

On being asked what actually motivated him to start a Roti Bank, he said he saw a dishevelled man next to a garbage bin on one side of a tented marriage reception venue, waiting patiently for the food leftovers to be dumped there. “The man rushed to the spot to grab every morsel of food in his both hands when food leftovers were dumped there by the catering staff member. He ate as if he had forgotten when he had taken his last meal,” he said.

“It hurts and shakes the heart and mind too. I felt ashamed and started thinking in this direction for setting up a Roti Bank for the destitute. Just days after the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about Roti Bank and how this concept could help in mitigating hunger from the society. This inspired me and I held talks with the volunteers of Youth Force to go ahead with the plan” he said.

Rishikesh, who is a research scholar at AN Sinha Institute in Patna, said that he launched the Roti Bank on June 15 with the supports of 50 odd men and women on the principle of collecting food from citizens and distributing it among the needy people especially at the railway station, hospitals and footpaths of the city. “Our service is just a drop in the ocean as I have read somewhere that 14 crore people of India go to sleep hungry.

But I am happy that Roti Bank is gaining momentum as at present we are serving 100 people, and in near future, we could be able to feed more needy people”, he said with confidence.

G Ulaganathan

I

t is quite common for civilians to get scared to enter any court, with all those lawyers in black robes and men in khaki wielding lathis and guns hovering around. The scenario can get even worse in juveline courts which deal with offences by children.

Now Bangalore will have the first childfriendly courts in the south. These courts have been built to create a comfortable atmosphere for victims who might be scared of seeing the police. In order to fullfil the statutory mandate that special courts are required to be set up in all districts as per the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, the Karnataka High Court has established two such child-friendly courts in the city civil court complex. These courts began functioning last week.

The two courts - one for Bengaluru Urban district, where around 1,400 cases are pending, and the other for Bengaluru Rural district which is tackling 150 cases - will try the cases pertaining to crimes against children registered under POCSO Act. Justice Madan B Lokur, Supreme Court judge and Chairman, Juvenile Justice Committee, inaugurated both the

How are these courts different?

A separate entry for the victims and their parents An exclusive elevator for judges, children and their families A one-way glass box so that the victim is not seen by the accused Video conference facility between waiting room and court room Waiting room equipped with toys and story books for children Attached bathroom and pantry with water purifier, snacks and toffee

courts in the presence of Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and High Court judge Justice Ashok B Hinchigeri, state member of Juvenile Justice Committee, who were instrumental in setting up these courts.

As one enters, it is difficult to believe that they are courts as we know them.

The child-friendly courts look a lot like play homes with toys and toffees. There is an attached bathroom and pantry, a refrigerator, a microwave oven, an induction stove and a cabinet.

Justice K M Radhakrishna, Registrar, City Civil Court, has taken a keen interest in establishing the courts. A judicial officer said that the intention of establishing these courts is to create a comfortable atmosphere for the victims, who might be scared on seeing the accused, police officers, lawyers and the crowd. The system is put in place in such a way that the victim does not face the accused during the trial. There is an exclusive entry and a lift for the judges, children and their family members.

The officials visited Goa and New Delhi to study such courts which have already been set up there. The High Court has plans to set up such special courts in all the districts in a phased manner.

26 Health

August 14 - 20, 2017

hiv drug

Mylan to market HIV drug in india

It has received authorisation from the Drug Controller General of India for its Avonza antiretroviral drug

battery saliva solution

Spit Power

The battery generated reliable power with one drop of saliva could be used by the next generation of disposable, point-of-care diagnostic platforms

IANS

M

ylan Pharmaceuticals Private Limited, a subsidiary of Mylan N.V., a leading global pharmaceutical company, has received marketing authorisation from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for its Avonza antiretroviral (ARV) drug. Avonza is a fixed-dose combination comprised of Efavirenz, Lamivudine and Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate tablets. It is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an alternative first-line regimen for people being treated for HIV/AIDS, the company said in a statement last week. Commenting on the launch, Mylan President Rajiv Malik said Avonza will be available to patients at a cost that is lower than that of other current first-line ARVs. “Mylan is the first to offer this combination in India, making it another example of the innovative spirit that runs throughout our company to adapt our medicines, accelerate access and improve treatment outcomes,” he said.

Traditional Meds coming

T

he centres of tradition medicine system have developed drugs for various health issues such as fibroid uterus, lymphatic filariasis and diabetes mellitus, Parliament was informed last week. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik said that traditional medicines have also been developed for mosquito-borne diseases like dengue. The Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Science has developed medicines like Rasayan A & B for geriatric health, AYUSH-A for Bronchial Asthma, AYUSH-D for Diabetes Mellitus, C1 oil for wound healing and AYUSH-SL for Lymphatic Filariasis.

IANS

R

esearchers have shown that a battery activated by spit has the potential to power point-of-care diagnostic applications in extreme conditions.

In a paper published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies, the researchers described how they created a high-performance, paper-based, bacteriapowered battery which generates power within minutes of adding saliva.

They created the battery by building microbial fuel cells with inactive, freezedried exoelectrogenic cells.

“On-demand micro-power generation is required, especially for point-of-care diagnostic applications in developing

countries,” said Seokheun Choi, Assistant Professor, Binghamton University, State University of New York.

“Typically, those applications require only several tens of microwatt-level power for several minutes, but commercial batteries or other energy harvesting technologies are too expensive and over-qualified. Also, they pose environmental pollution issues,” Choi added. The battery generated reliable power with one drop of saliva, supplying on-board power that could be used by the next generation of disposable, paper-based point-of-care diagnostic platforms.

On-demand micro-power generation is required, especially for point-ofcare diagnostic applications, in developing countries

Quick Glance The scientists have created a highperformance, bacteria-powered battery Those applications require only several tens of microwatt-level power The proposed battery has competitive advantages over other power

“The proposed battery has competitive advantages over other conventional power solutions because the biological fluid for on-demand battery activation is readily available even in the most resource-constrained settings, and the freeze-drying technology enables longterm storage of cells without degradation or denaturation,” wrote the researchers.

Choi now wants to improve the batter’s power density so that more applications can be powered. “Now, our power density is about a few microwatts per centimetre square. Although 16 microbial fuel cells connected in a series on a single sheet of paper generated desired values of electrical current and voltage to power a light-emitting diode (LED), further power improvement is required for other electronic applications demanding hundreds of milliwatts of energy,” Choi said.

brain prefrontal cortex

Women More Controlled The higher activity of the prefrontal cortex allows them exhibit greater strengths of empathy, intuition and appropriate concern IANS

T

he brains of women are significantly more active in many more areas of the brain than men’s, especially in the prefrontal cortex, involved with focus and impulse control, and the limbic or emotional areas of the brain, involved with mood and anxiety, new research has found.

“This is a very important study to help understand gender-based brain differences.

The quantifiable differences we identified between men and women are important for understanding gender-based risk for brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease,” said lead author Daniel Amen, Founder, Amen Clinics, Newport Beach, California. The study findings of increased prefrontal cortex blood flow in women compared to men may explain why women tend to exhibit greater

strengths in the areas of empathy, intuition, collaboration, selfcontrol, and appropriate concern. The study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, also showed increased blood flow in limbic areas of the brains of women, which may also partially explain why women are more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, insomnia, and eating disorders. The visual and coordination centres of the brain were more active in men. The researchers surveyed the results of more than 45,000 brain imaging studies involving single-photon emission computed tomography, or SPECT. SPECT can measure blood perfusion in the brain.

Images acquired from participants at rest or while performing various cognitive tasks show different blood flow in specific brain regions. “Using functional neuroimaging tools, such as SPECT, are essential to developing precision medicine brain treatments in the future,” Amen said. A total of 128 brain regions were analysed for participants at baseline and while performing a concentration task. Understanding these differences is important because brain disorders affect men and women differently.

Women have significantly higher rates depression, which is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, and anxiety disorders, while men have higher rates of attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct-related problems.

August 14 - 20, 2017

cancer targeted drugs

Quick Glance

IBM’s ‘Watson’ Cancer Detective This will greatly help very targeted administration of drugs, which otherwise tend to become a broad spectrum

A single variation of the BRAF gene is present in fifty percent of the melanomas Watson can rapidly identify multiple variations in BRAF Watson can make unprecedented information immediately available

ssb bureau

I

BM’s Watson artificial intelligence system could help persons with cancer by providing a rapid, comprehensive report of the genetic mutations at the root of their specific disease and the therapies that target them, says an Indian-origin pathologist.

“We have to change our whole behaviour in looking at tumours.

We are missing too much and too often treatment does not work for patients,” said Ravindra Kolhe, breast and molecular pathologist at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University in the US. “With Watson, all oncogenes become targets,” said Kolhe, who is giving an update on Watson Genomic Analysis during the international Cancer Genomics Consortium being held in Denver from August 7-9.

As an example, today a pathologist would analyse a melanoma biopsy for a single variation of the BRAF gene, which is present in about 50 per cent of melanomas.

There are drugs that directly target that mutated gene but if they do not find BRAF, the patient will receive a more broad-spectrum chemotherapy regimen.

Watson, on the other hand, has the ability to rapidly identify multiple variations in BRAF along with variations in nearly a dozen other genes known to contribute to the skin cancer as well as the

therapies to target them, Kolhe said.

“The majority of the time, we just tell patients they have a cancer,” Kolhe, an alumnus of Mahatma Gandhi Medical College in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, said.

“Watson can help us provide more comprehensive, personalised care to patients,” Kolhe added.

Kolhe sequences DNA and RNA

games future threats

Alert: Action Videos Dangerous This challenges the previously held notion that it may boost brain power, reduce stress and aid in improving symptoms of depression make use of another part of the brain IANS

I

s your teenaged son addicted to playing action video games?

Beware, it can reduce episodic memory and spatial navigation, and increase the risk of developing brain disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, researchers have warned.

The findings showed that habitual players of action video games had reduction in grey matter in the hippocampus a key brain area for memory. This challenged the previously held notion that it may boost brain power, reduce stress

and aid in improving symptoms of depression, the researchers said.

“Video games have been shown to benefit certain cognitive systems in the brain, mainly related to visual attention and short-term memory,” said lead author Greg West, associate professor at Universite de Montreal (UdeM) in Canada.

Further, the study showed that instead of the hippocampus, 85 per cent of players tend to increasingly

called the striatum to navigate their way through a game.

Striatum has an area known as the caudate nucleus that acts as a kind of “autopilot” and “reward system” and also helps us form habits and remember how to do things like ride a bicycle.

However, the more the players use the caudate nucleus, the less they use the hippocampus, and as a result the hippocampus loses cells and atrophies, the researchers rued, in the paper detailed in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. “If action video

Health

27

from a patient’s tumour, feeds the information to Watson, a questionanswering computer system that, unlike traditional search engines, can gather evidence and analyse data but also generate knowledge.

“In about 20 minutes, Watson looks at what is abnormal in the sample, then takes the abnormalities and looks all around the world to see what are the drugs already used against them, what studies are underway against them, even other drugs out there that might be useful,” he explained.

Decisions about treatment clearly are still in the hands of physicians and patients, but Watson can make unprecedented information immediately available to make decisions about what treatment is best for an individual patient, Kolhe said.

As an example, as one of many test runs, Watson provided Kolhe a 30-page assessment of a patient with a rare soft tissue sarcoma, that included mutations on seven genes, where the mutations are, what they are known to do and options for targetting them.

There also was a list of gene alterations that have no known therapies as well as gene mutations that were present, but their contribution to disease aren’t currently known.

It is those unknowns Watson comes across that might help researchers like Kolhe also identify new genetic contributors to a variety of cancers and make Watson a valuable scientific tool as well.

Quick Glance Depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease could result Most players tend to increasingly use another part of the brain - striatum Action video games lead to decrease in grey matter in the hippocampus

games lead to decreases in grey matter in the hippocampus (of young adults), caution should be exerted when encouraging their use... (by) children, young adults and older adults to promote cognitive skills such as visual short-term memory and visual attention,” West suggested.

According to the study, patients with Parkinson’s disease combined with dementia, as well as those with Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, depression or PTSD all of whom have less grey matter in their hippocampus should “not be advised to (follow) action video game treatments.”

28 North East

August 14 - 20, 2017

northeast relief

FLOOD PACKAGE FOR NORTHEAST PM Modi announced Rs 100 crore for carrying out a study to synergize efforts towards finding time-bound long term solutions to recurrent floods in the region Quick Glance Rs 2,000 crore has been announced for the five flood-ravaged states of the northeast of India Assam will get an additional Rs 400 crore for improving the water-holding capacity of the Brahmaputra River Unprecedented damage has affected 58 districts in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur and 80 lives lost

Raj Kashyap

P

rime Minister Narendra Modi has declared an aid of Rs 2,000 crore for the five states of the Northeast affected by floods in the past few months.

An additional allocation of Rs 650 crore for Assam has also been sanctioned which includes Rs 400 crore for improving the “water holding capacity of the Brahmaputra river” and Rs 250 crore for relief.

The Prime Minister visited Assam on 1 August and declared the package after detailed discussions with chief ministers and officials of Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur besides receiving a memorandum from the chief minister of Mizoram who could not make it to the meeting in Guwahati.

Modi also announced Rs 100 crore for “carrying out a study to synergise efforts towards finding time-bound long term solutions to recurrent floods in the region.” Assam claimed that this amount was set aside to study the Brahmaputra river’s changing

Assam was the worst hit by the floods among all the states which claimed 83 lives and affected over 20 lakh people in 29 of the state’s 32 districts

course and behaviour which has already affected millions of people living in the state.

A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) SAID that over Rs 1,200 crore of the Rs 2,000 crore of the undivided aid for the five states will be for the infrastructure sector alone.

Union minister of state for development of north eastern region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh said that the floods have affected as many as 58 districts across Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

“The damage caused by the rainfall is unprecedented and a total of 58 districts have been affected due to floods/landslides in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur. Around 80 lives have been lost,” Singh said recently after chairing a meeting to take stock of the damage in

the Northeast due to floods a few days ago. Assam was the worst hit by the floods among all the states which claimed 83 lives and affected over 20 lakh people in 29 of the state’s 32 districts.

Around 77 per cent of Kaziranga National Park which is also a World Heritage Site, including 134 anti-poaching camps, have been inundated. According to officials in the park, 58 animals, included three one-horned rhinos have died as a result of the flooding. Authorities are also concerned that animals fleeing flooded areas might fall prey to poachers, but no cases of poaching have yet been reported.

According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, the floods have affected more than 17.43 lakh people across Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Darrang, Nalbari, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Chirang, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, South Salmara, Goalpara, Morigaon, Nagaon, Karbi Anglong, Jorhat, Golaghat, Majuli, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Cachar, Karimganj, Kamrup and Hailakandi districts.

The situation in the state took

August 14 - 20, 2017

a turn for the worse after 19 breaches have been reported in the embankments of the rivers in eight districts. The dykes in Assam have not been repaired for the last six decades or so which are essential to check floods. A delegation led by chief minister Sarbananada Sonowal and comprising several Members of Parliament had called on the prime minister ahead of his visit to the state and sought a package of Rs 1138.5 crores to repair embankments that has a length of over 5000 kms under the Flood Management Programme (FMP). The delegates argued that the amount sanctioned in the last financial year had lapsed.

Arunachal Pradesh has also taken a major hit to its road infrastructure with the capital Itanagar getting virtually cut off from the rest of the state. Many district headquarters in the border state had also remained cut off from the rest of the country for several days. In Nagaland, it was flash floods that caused devasatation after torrential rains swept the state continuously for several days. Officials said that crops and plantations have been destroyed, livestock has been swept away and many families have been rendered homeless.

Landslides affected road transport in several parts of the hill state. The Dimapur-Kohima National Highway-29 has been badly damaged near Kiruphema village.

After the prime minister’s visit, Assam state water resource minister Keshab Mahanta said that Assam would likely get Rs 1,200 crore as the infrastructure damage has been maximum in Assam, which means that four states would have Rs 800 crore to share among themselves. His colleague and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma explained that a detailed break-up of the funds sanctioned by centre was expected soon. He added that Assam should be getting 75% of the amount since the other affected states were asking roughly about Rs 300 crore each.

Sarma said that for the first time the Prime Minister is lending help to the northeast as a whole. “. We had impressed upon the PM to view the flood problem as not just a problem of Assam but of the region as a whole. It is BJP’s idea of one identity-as one region and as one country.”

North East

29

Guwahati spiritualism

University of spiritualism CM Sonowal stated that the Adhyatmik Vishvavidyalaya has been established on the teachings of Krishnaguru – a noted spiritual leader of Assam ssb bureau

A

ssam government has set up an university which would impart contemporary education blending it with spiritualism in line with ancient universities like Nalanda and Takshashila.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated the Krishnaguru Adhyatmik Vishvavidyalaya in Barpeta district.

Academic activities of the university would start from this month itself in Assamese, Political Science and Mathematics, and other disciplines would be introduced shortly. Chief Minister Sonowal stated that the Adhyatmik Vishvavidyalaya, which has been established on the teachings of Krishnaguru – a noted spiritual leader of Assam - would set an agenda in the field of higher education and would stimulate intellectualism of a student in sync with spiritualism.

He also said that Krishnaguru set

an ideal example of humanity and the Adhyatmik Vishvavidyalaya would be functioning based on the tenets of humanism. Although the university has started functioning from Barpeta in Assam, it would definitely spread all across the country and world as well, Sonowal added.

Taking the cues of the state’s rich legacy of spiritualism, Sonowal said that Assam could take lead in the field of modern education blended

with spiritualism to build a strong connection between tradition and modernity.

Chief Minister Sonowal also announced that his government would help to introduce e-learning as an essential component of this university so that this higher educational institution could build a truck with other universities of repute.

Minister of Education Dr. HimantaBiswaSarma while speaking on the occasion termed the inauguration of the academic session of the university as a path breaking event in the field of higher education in the state. He also hoped that the university would be functioning in line with our ancient universities like Nalanda and Takshashila.

He also said that state government would give Rs. 5 crore to set up three centres as a part of the university which will be Yoga Centre, Skill Development Centre and Nursing Training Centre.

meghalaya solid waste

How Shillong’s getting swachh Meghalaya government would provide colour-coded dustbins to residents of Shillong as part of a systemic initiative to make the city litter-free Raj Kashyap

U

nder a solid waste management project funded by the Asian Development Bank, Meghalaya government would provide colour coded dustbins to residents of Shillong as part of a systemic initiative to make the city litter-free.

The project aims at collecting and disposing of waste by segregating waste at the source.

Around 50,000 households will get the blue and green dustbins meant for segregation of biodegradable and nonbiodegradable wastes.

Village localities of the capital city – locally known as Dorbar Shnongs (village councils) – have signed agreements to implement the garbage waste management project, officials said. The government also plans to

distribute 52 vehicles to collect the garbage. Of them, 25 have already been distributed among the localities.

Government sources said many as 1.3 lakh people in the city have also been trained about the solid waste management and majority of them are now practicing segregation of wastes. Traders and shopkeepers have been asked to procure the colou coded dustbins themselves. The government

has formed a special task force to ensure that the waste management initiative is implemented in toto, especially in the market areas.

“The task force has already issued notices to traders who are yet to procure the colour coded dustbins.

The task force also has the power to penalize anyone who makes the place dirty by throwing garbage,” the officials said.

The Urban Affairs department is helping the Shillong Municipal Board and the task force to implement the rules strictly and to come up with a micro plan for Police Bazar, the business hub of the capital city where majority of the shops and business establishments are concentrated.

The Shillong Municipal Board is now deploying its teams three times a day for garbage collection in Police Bazar and other important roads.

30 Convict’s Durga Puja

August 14 - 20, 2017

west bengal jail art

durga puja: convicts to dress maa and her pandals

Since a long time, inmates of various state jails have shown their mettle in the arts. And this year, they will lend their skills in decorating four Durga Pujas by committees in Kolkata and Chinsurah Prasanta Paul

T

hat their talents can flow from behind the walled cells have been proved several times on earlier occasions; this year, they are going a step further. They have decided to provide the community puja organisers with themes of Devi despite continuing their humdrum existence in those condemned cells.

This happens when convicts turn creative artists. Meet the behind-the-cellconvicts-cum-creative batch in the Presidency Jail in Kolkata who have taken upon themselves the task of unfolding themes of Durga Puja this year to some of the community puja organisers.

Their continued walled existence has failed to put out the fire in them. Govind Rana, Izazul Dorji, Sabir Ali, Sheikh Minajur, Tarak Kotal, Maharaj Halder, Tapan Chatterjee - each of them has been serving varying sentences of six, seven or eight years; some are even undertrials as their cases are still being heard and judgements are yet to be pronounced.

Some would even swear that they had never known or touched a sewing equipment before beginning their life behind the bars. Some of them might have tried their hands at zari work though, before being hurtled into some crimes that landed them in jail.

Four community puja organisers from the city and Hooghly district have come forward with a proposal before the West Bengal prison authorities to involve some of the convicts with the year’s greatest occasion for mirth and celebration – Durga Puja. The organisers have requested the Presidency Jail authorities to enable some of the convicts to lend their `ideas and touch’ to decorate their respective puja pandals. The authorities could hardly say no. For, West Bengal has been leading among the states that have actively strived

Quick Glance Jails in West Bengal have been good correctional homes since long Four Durga Puja committee organisers requested the help of convicts One such pandal by convicts will have the theme of Bahubali II

to turn major prisons of the state into correctional homes nearly a decade back and it is no longer a secret that several convicts languishing behind bars have already proved their talent in creative fields. Hence, the puja organisers have thought it fit to tap into these talents in the Presidency Jail this year.

Says Joydeb Adhikari of Babuganj Community Puja of Chinsurah in Hooghly district, “We’ve decided to replicate, as far as possible, the sets of the popular movie Bahubali-II in our pandal. After a series of discussions in our committee, the proposal to hand over the job to the inmates of the Presidency Jail was finalised. Our proposal has been readily accepted by the jail authorities too.” But why the jail inmates and not professionals in this field? Adhikary tries to steal a smile at the question. “Most organisers deploy professionals to attract crowds. However, this year, we’ve looked at designing our pandal differently. We’d like to present the talent and skill of those inmates in the jail who are making an honest effort to change themselves. People outside will come to know about these people who might be behind the bar, but not miles behind those professionals who impress puja viewers with their work of art.” Already, danseuse Alokananda Roy who is often called `Ma’ (mother) by the inmates of the jail, has demonstrated the talent and dancing skill of some of the inmates of the Presidency jail through her staging of `Valmiki Pratibha’ at Rabindra Sadan . She has even made it a point to impress with the jail authorities that given

The convicts will not only

be paid for their works for the pandals and dressing but those who get the highest ‘Likes’ will get special awards a proper chance and encouragement, several hardcore criminals have shown a zeal to change themselves and begin life anew. But for her, they would have lived a life, unnoticed and unsung.

“She (Roy) is indeed, a great motivation and the dedication with which she works, needs to be seen to be believed. She is the inspiration of many hardcore convicts who have expressed themselves positively after attending her dance and other workshops,” said a senior jail official who has been working with her for more than six years.

The official who spoke on a condition of anonymity, conceded that she was instrumental in effecting a major psychological change among many a criminal. Not only that, when Alokananda Roy took them to perform in a repeat show of `Valmiki Pratibha’ by Rabindranath Tagore at New Delhi couple of years ago, there was not a single armed guard aboard the train they travelled. “She commands an unbelievable respect among these convicts.

In fact, one of them who is a murder convict, has now been acting in several

Bengali films,” the official pointed out.

Currently, the Presidency Jail has earmarked sections where various trainings on art and craft to the inmates are being provided under the active guidance of professionals. Designer shirts and other clothings for men crafted and stitched by the inmates have already hit the market.

Plans are on the anvil to enlist the services of women inmates in a big way. “ They (inmates) have already produced some works of art and craft. However, involving them with as big a work as decorating Durga Puja pandals with such themes as Bahubali II calls for massive labour and seriousness. Amazingly, they’ve been working so hard that the puja crowd won’t believe how mature these inmates have become after undergoing trainings in the jail,” claimed Ashish Das, a professional arts specialist, in charge of training the inmates in the jail.

“They can also restore peace” is the theme of a club in downtown Kidderpore where the inmates would drape the pandal with various themes suggesting peace and communal harmony. What is equally important and a praise-worthy exercise is the decision by these club puja organisers is to compensate them for their wonderful efforts. “We’ll not only pay them, but will organise gifts for their family members,” Adhikari says. Another club will be organizing a `Viewer’s Choice’ category where the best craft/ work of art of an inmate that will receive the highest number of `Likes’ , will receive a cash prize.

sulabh sanitation

Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, New Delhi is organizing a Written Quiz Competition that is open to all school and college students, including the foreign students.

All those who wish to participate are required to submit their answers to the email address contact@sulabhinternational.org, or they can submit their entries online by taking up the questions below.

Students are requested to mention their name and School/College along with the class in which he/she is studying and the contact number with complete address for communication

First Prize: One Lakh Rupees Second Prize: Seventy Five Thousand Rupees

PRIZE

Third Prize: Fifty Thousand Rupees Consolation Prize: Five Thousand Rupees (100 in number)

500-1000) ti on (W or d Li m it: ti pe m Co iz Qu en tt Qu es ti on s fo r W ri nounced? rt was ‘Swachh Bharat’ an Fo d open Re the m fro y da ich uses and there should be no ho 1. On wh the all in d cte tru ns co by 2019, toilets should be 2. Who announced that l. defecation? Discuss in detai Toilet?

3. Who invented Sulabh ovement?

Cleanliness and Reform M 4. Who initiated Sulabh t? ve features of Sulabh Toile t?

5. What are the distincti used in the Sulabh compos r ise til fer of ge nta rce pe d an 6. What are the benefits of the Sulabh Toilet? ’?

7. What are the benefits be addressed as ‘Brahmins to me ca g gin en av sc al nu ople freed from ma If yes, then elaborate it by s?

8. In which town were pe ste ca r pe up of s me ho take tea and have food in the 9. Do these ‘Brahmins’ person. discussing story of any such entions of Sulabh?

10. What are the other inv

Las

ritten Quiz Competition W of on si is bm su r fo te t da

: September 30, 2017

For further details please contact Mrs. Aarti Arora, Hony. Vice President, +91 9899 855 344 Mrs. Tarun Sharma, Hony. Vice President, +91 97160 69 585 or feel free to email us at contact@sulabhinternational.org SULABH INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SERVICE ORGANISATION In General Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council Sulabh Gram, Mahavir Enclave, Palam Dabri Road, New Delhi - 110 045 Tel. Nos. : 91-11-25031518, 25031519; Fax Nos : 91-11-25034014, 91-11-25055952 E-mail: info@sulabhinternational.org, sulabhinfo@gmail.com Website: www.sulabhinternational.org, www.sulabhtoiletmuseum.org

U

August 14 - 20, 2017

Riddhiraj Kumar

Young mind thinks big, donates prize money to Army welfare

G

32 Unsung Hero

NSUN

POSTAL REGISTRATION NO. DL(W)10/2240/2017-19

HERO

Riddhiraj Kumar, a Class 3 student and an NRI from Kuwait, donated to the Indian Army Welfare Fund the entire prize amount of Rs 18,000 he won recently

R

iddhiraj Kumar, a Class 3 student and an NRI living in Kuwait, donated to the Indian Army Welfare Fund the entire prize amount of Rs 18,000 that he won in an international test.

Kumar, along with his mother, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Thursday and presented a cheque for the amount, the PMO said.

He had won 80 KD (Kuwait Dinars), equal to Rs 18,000, as prize money in the International Bench Mark Test for Improving Learning Award for Excellence conducted by the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER).

A student from Indian Educational School, Kuwait, Riddhiraj excelled both in Mathematics and Science, for Middle East, to win the prize money.

The prime minister congratulated Riddhiraj for his generosity and excellence in academics, the PMO said in a statement.

The prime minister also learnt that the boy has several innovative projects to his name, the PMO said.

The student’s mother Krupa Bhatt told the prime minister that she is working on ‘Every Child is Genius Project’ and organising free seminars for the teachers in India, on identifying talents of the children,” she said.

Modi also congratulated her for the commitment showing in spreading innovative learning projects. Several people have so far donated their various money, including retirement funds, to army welfare, but what a little boy with a massive heart has been able to do for his country’s protectors.

er N eNw ma ssm ew akk esr s

T

Malala Yousafzai

the autobiography Malala Yousafzai debuts her first picture book Malala’s Magic Pencil, on Twitter

he Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s Malala Yousafzai mother Toor Pekai, who is learning English, is the first one who gets to read her new book.

She posted a beautiful picture with her mother and the book on social media which has received more than 28,000 likes and 3,306 re-tweets.

According to the book’s publisher, Hachette, it is about the 20-year-old activist’s wish for a magic pencil that could make people happy, sleep in a little longer in the morning and not have to smell the powerful stench of garbage in her city. As she got older though, she began to wish for something more important when she discovered what really needed to be fixed in the world.

The book will be released October.

It seems a lot of people can’t wait to have a read themselves. The social media followers of Malala have been tweeting madly stating their desire to get their hands on the book, which people feel will be a hot seller.

Malala was just 17 when she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, making her the youngest-ever Nobel laureate ever.

I

ndian actress Priyanka Chopra, who has found a foothold in Hollywood, is reportedly executive producing a comedy series about Bollywood’s dancing diva Madhuri Dixit’s life for US network ABC. According to an exclusive report by variety.com, the yet untitled series is based on the real life of Madhuri, who will also executive produce the project. The story would follow how Madhuri settles down in the suburbs of the US with her bi-cultural family and tries to bring her colourful lifestyle to an otherwise dull town.

In reality, Madhuri had taken a break from showbiz when she married Sriram Nene, who was based in US back then and shifted to Denver from Mumbai to start a family. The mother of two sons returned to showbiz around five years ago, and continues to be one of the most charming beauties in the Hindi film industry.

Sri Rao, a writer for shows like “General Hospital: Night Shift”, will pen the pilot and executive produce the series, as will Madhuri’s husband.

Just last month, Madhuri had teased something new and exciting was going to be announced.

priyanka chopra

tribute to madhuri The former star herself is co-producing a biographical comedy serial on herself

RNI No. DELENG/2016/71561, Joint Commissioner of Police (Licensing) Delhi No. F. 2 (S-45) Press/ 2016 Volume - 1, Issue - 35 33 Printed by Monika Jain, Published by Monika Jain on behalf of SULABH SANITATION MISSION FOUNDATION and Printed at The Indian Express Ltd., A-8, Sector-7, NOIDA (U.P.) and Published from RZ 83, Mahavir Enclave, Palam-Dabri Road, New Delhi – 110 045. Editor Monika Jain