Sulabh Swachh Bharat - VOL: 2 | ISSUE 45

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Sanitation in Gambia

Vidiadhar S Naipaul

More toilets = More girlforce

The making of a legend

Outspoken but a master storyteller with flair of weaving unforgettable stories

The number of dropouts amongst girls ncreased by almost 70 per cent in upper classes

Steering wheel of INS Vikrant handed over by PM Modi to PM Sheikh Hasina

Efforts to access safe drinking water have been there over the past years

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A Good News Weekly

Vol - 2 | Issue - 45 | Oct 22 - 28, 2018 | Price ` 10/-

United Nations

The UN – Beacon of Hope The world organisation is turning out to be the ideal leader in combating climate change

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United Nations

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

Quick Glance The UN was started with the failure of the League of Nations on mind

India has played a big role in the UN peace commissions

There is the UN General Assembly now has a members of 193 countries

SSB Bureau

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hen 50 countries came together in San Francisco in 1945 at the end of the Second World War to form the United Nations, and India was among them, the major preoccupation in the minds of the national representatives was how to prevent another large scale war like the one that had just ended. The United States dropping two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9 of that year was the culmination of the horrors of war. The UN was not the first of its kind. At the end of the First World War in 1918, United States President Woodrow Wilson through his famous 14 Points had mooted a world organisation to prevent war. It was called the League of Nations, and it was headquartered in Geneva in Switzerland. But the League of Nations turned out to be weak because even the United States did not become a member. The UN was started with the failure of the League of Nations on mind. No one wanted the UN to fail.

The United States had offered to house the UN headquarters in New York and marked out land, which is considered to be international treaty. Many leaders who do not have friendly relations with Washington attend the UN General Assembly annual meetings in New York. One of the examples was Fidel Castro,

the communist leader of Cuba, who would visit the UN sessions in New York though the US and Cuba were at loggerheads and there were no diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The UN had intervened in all the conflicts that broke out after the Second World War, starting with the Israel-Arab war of 1948, the first India-Pakistan war of 1948, followed by the Korean War of 1953. The

intervention was in the form of UN observers who were supposed to monitor the ceasefire. The critics are right when they point out that the UN has not been able to resolve the conflicts, and it has proved ineffective.

The criticism is however unfair because the UN is only as strong as the member-countries want it to be.

Many of the members are quite defiant when the UN decision goes against their own interest. For example, one

Indian troops have been part of the UN peacekeeping forces in Africa.The UN peacekeeping troops, wearing blue berets, have become symbols of peace and reconciliation in a world divided by war

of the conditions that the UN set for Pakistan should withdraw its troops from the territory it had occupied in Kashmir and that Indian troops will remain there before the plebiscite can be conducted. Pakistan refused to abide by the UN condition. But the UN has been successful in monitoring the armistice and there has been peace for 65 years in the Korean peninsula.

India has played a big role in the UN peace commissions, starting with Korea. Indian troops have been part of the UN peacekeeping forces in Africa, right from the Congo conflagration in 1961 to the Bosnia crisis in 1992. The UN peacekeeping troops, wearing blue berets, have become symbols of peace and reconciliation in a world divided by war.

An important task that the UN has carried out in different parts of the world in the last 60 years and more is to take care of the refugees, whether they be Palestinians who fled their homeland in 1948 and who have been living in refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon since 1948, or the Syrian refugees in Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon since 2011, or the Afghan refugees in Pakistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has won laurels across the world for its admirable humanitarian work among the refugees.

There is the UN General Assembly, which now has members of 193 countries, from the very big in size to the very small, from Canada and Russia with their large land masses to the Vatican, which is a city representing the capital of the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church to the tiny South Pacific islands. In the same way, there are the most populous countries like China and India to the most economically powerful countries like the United States. The UN holds them all together. There is also the UN Security Council, which have five permanent members, four of

United Nations

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

which were the victors in the Second World War – the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union (now Russia), and Taiwan (now People’s Republic of China), as constituted in 1945. There are also 10 non-permanent members, who are elected every two years. All decisions are to be through consensus, and the permanent members enjoy the veto power. Any one of them can oppose a particular decision of the Security Council, and then it falls through.

India has been a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC), and it has been winning the election each time with greater majority than before.

For the last 20 years, there is pressure from India, Japan, Germany, Brazil for reforms in the UN and the expansion of the Security Council.

India, Japan, Germany and Brazil have been demanding permanent membership for themselves, and there has also been talk about doing away with the veto power. Each member-country holds the office of the president of the UNGA, and it is by rotation. Though the resolutions passed in the UNGA are by majority vote and reflect the democratic opinion in the world, it is different in the UNSC where the power is with the Permanent Five with their veto power.

India and other countries are pushing to make the UNSC democratic like the UNGA. The UN has been most successful in dealing with the biggest challenge facing the world – climate change.

This is something that no single country is in a position to handle on its own. It needed the coordination of all countries, and UN was the most suitable platform for it. For decades now it had been organising the annual climate summits and

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‘Mission Sanitation’ - a fashion show - for a cause. The trainees of Sulabh International’s Nai Disha Centre, Alwar, assemble on the dias after walking the ramp with prominent India models, in the United Nations at New York on July 2, 2008

When former scavengers walked the ramp at UN Sulabh’s quiet social revolution gets a nod from the world organisation

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n July 2008, the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs was invited to interact with other NGOs to mark ‘The Year of Sanitation’. As part of the conference, 36 women from Alwar in Rajasthan, who were manual scavengers rescued and rehabilitated by Dr Bindeshwar Pathak’s Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, walked the ramp wearing textile creations by Indian designers.

It was a unique and remarkable act of social transformation, and Dr Pathak had rightly pointed it has been achieving incremental success from the Kyoto Protocol limiting carbon emission to the Paris climate agreement of keeping the rise of temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius, and ideally at 1.5 degrees Celsius.

out that this change was accomplished ‘without any agitation or demonstration’.

He had also emphasised the need to provide toilets which do not require manual scavenging so that the function ceases to exist.

The women also visited the New York’s iconic landmark, the Statue of Liberty, to declare and celebrate their emancipation from the socially degrading and humiliating task of manual scavenging. When they returned to Delhi, they visited the Raj Ghat, the place where Mahatma Gandhi, who strived for the betterment of the lives of the scavengers, was cremated, to pay their tribute. It is nothing short of The Paris Agreement of 2015 states: •Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 Degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 Degrees Celsius above pre-industrial

a miracle for these women to have moved from their oppressed state to one of complete freedom, and participating at an international forum.

For the women it was an exhilarating experience because they have not only come out of the age-old clutches of manual scavenging, but they were able to celebrate their freedom in a creative fashion.

It was also an assertion of their sense of equality with the rest of society. It has been the mission of Dr Pathak that it was not enough to rescue the manual scavengers but it was necessary to bring about a change in their social status as well. levels, recognising that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.

•Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low green house emissions development,

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United Nations Nation

in a manner that does not threaten food production; and •Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low green house gas emissions and climateresilient development.

•This Agreement will be implemented to reflect equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances.

The Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, Patricia Espinosa, said at the opening ceremony of the New York Climate Week on September 24, 2018: “Seventy-three years ago, nations – ravaged by war, weary of its costs – pledged to achieve what had, for the first half of the century, been impossible: a lasting peace.

The signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco was more than an agreement to get along.

It established a rules-based international order, championed

multilateralism over self-interest, and clarified that the path forward was not through conflict but collaboration.

We bear the fruit of that work.

Today, many are healthier, better educated, and more peaceful than at any point in history.

But humanity faces a new challenge; one that threatens current and future generations.

Climate change is an opponent we shaped with our own hands, but whose power now threatens to overwhelm us.

Throughout the world, extreme heat-waves, wildfires, storms and floods are leaving a trail of devastation and death.

Developing countries suffer the worst, but climate change affects all nations – directly and indirectly.

It’s a challenge that a rules-based international order is customdesigned to address …”

Espinosa is absolutely right that no single country can meet the challenge of climate change on its own. All the

The UN is turning out to be the most effective organisation to deal with a common global problem like climate change, bring countries and governments and leaders on to a single platform and formulate a common action plan

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

countries have to come together, form a common strategy and coordinate their individual efforts.

The UN is turning out to be the most effective organisation to deal with a common global problem like climate change, bring countries and governments and leaders on to a single platform and formulate a common action plan.

It seems that the UN has really come into its own, and it has assumed the global responsibility without

much fuss, and even the most powerful leaders of the powerful nations have no option but to fall in line, sooner than later.

Idealists like the second president of India, Dr S Radhakrishnan, dreamed of a world government. There may not be a world government yet. But the UN has turned out to be the ideal organization to lead the world at a time of unprecedented crisis like that of climate change. It is functioning like a world government.

United Nations

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

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The UN System

International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the judicial organ of the

UN. It settles disputes between countries, but they will have to approach it voluntarily. The countries will have to agree to abide by the verdict of the court.

The court, like the UN, does not have the means to enforce its verdict. There are 15 judges of the ICJ, and the attempt to is provide representation for the major regions and civilisations. India and Pakistan have on many occasions approached the ICJ. The court is situated at The Hague, capital of The Netherlands. The official languages of the court are English and French.

International Labour Organisation (ILO) was set up in 1919 but it became part of the

UN system in 1946. It is a unique organisation as it has representatives of the workers, of the employers and of the governments. The tripartite arrangement at the international level helps in giving the big picture of industry the world over. The modern world, starting from the 19th century and into the 21st, has been an industrialised world, creating an inter-connected global economy. The ILO is headquartered at Geneva in Switzerland. It will be celebrating its centenary next year – 2019.

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is a specialised agency of the

UN, and its main aim is to create food security for people across the world. The new target of the FAO is Zero Hunger by 2030, where no person anywhere in the world will have to go without the basic necessity of food. Headquartered in Rome, FAO coordinates efforts of member-countries and to provide assistance in trouble-spots of the globe where farm crisis creates a situation of hunger. The creation of FAO is a recognition on the part of governments worldwide that farming and production of food remain the basic function of societies everywhere.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), established in November, 1945 with its permanent headquarters in Paris had initially worked towards rebuilding schools and libraries destroyed during the Second World War in Europe, but it expanded its scope to include fighting illiteracy in the less developed countries. In the 1960s, UNESCO turned its attention save cultural monuments, when it relocated the ancient Egyptian temples which were getting submerged due to the construction of the Aswan dam. Later on, UNESCO undertook the task of world heritage sites across the world and it has prepared a list of 1000 monuments.

World Health Organisation (WHO) was first mooted at the time of the formation of the United Nations in 1945. It came into existence in 1948.

Its aim is to bring all the countries together to fight diseases globally, both communicable diseases like influenza and AIDS as well as incommunicable diseases like heart problems and cancer. The WHO, headquartered in Geneva, has an International Classification of Diseases and a WHO Essential Medicines List which any national health system needs to maintain minimum health standards in a country. WHO gathers medical experts from all the countries and it has proved its worth in fighting pandemics which know no national boundaries.

United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) was created in 1972 and it is

headquartered at Nairobi in Kenya.

It has emerged as an authoritative global agency which is able to raise pertinent issues in relation to the quality of environment and quality of life. It has helped in forging international agreements like The Convention on Biological Diversity, The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, The Vienna Convention for the Protection of Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol.

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Sanitation

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

Gambia

We World Soto Koto

Efforts to Build a Conducive Environment The Gambia plans to mobilise stakeholders in the water and sanitation sectors to improve governance of resources

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Quick Glance Efforts to access safe drinking water have been there over the past years

SSB BUREAU

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ural development is a process that aims to improve the standard of living of people living in rural communities.

Increasing the population’s access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, dramatically reduces their susceptibility to water-borne diseases and increase their likelihood, especially for women and children, from incurring additional expenses related to treatment.

In The Gambia, efforts to ensure access to safe drinking water have been effective over the past years, according to Government records.

The proportion of the population with access to safe drinking water increased to 85.8 per cent in 2010, from 69 per cent in 1990, exceeding the MDG target of 84.5 per cent by 2015.

Unreliable electricity supply

Looking at the sub-national level in general, the water supply situation improved in all six regions of the country – Banjul, Central River, Lower River, North Bank, Upper River and Western.

However, water supply depends on available electricity. Therefore, the issue continues to be a major problem in rural health and education facilities as well as at the household level. Sanitation can only progress with adequate quality water and reliable electricity supply. The Gambia is endowed with groundwater resources. However, water reserves can be assessed across the country, to rationalise its usage in forthcoming years.

In addition, climate change poses a great threat to national development, and its effect is felt primarily in the water and sanitation sectors.

People express happiness and satisfaction in various forms regarding their newly found freedom in having access to improved water supply and sanitation

However, factors like electricity and climate continue to be the obstacles

The Gambia RWSSP has shown positive trends, alongwith people’s satisfaction

Realising Govt Plans

The steps Government is undertaking in the area of water and sanitation includes the provision of portable water to all, education and health facilities across the country, as well as to the entire population.

Government plans to improve the operation and maintenance arrangements for water and sanitation facilities and mobilise stakeholders in the water and sanitation sectors so as to improve governance of water resources and address climate change issues.

Capacity building activities in this area are being carried out to produce more engineers and managers, to ensure the realisation of Government’s plans.

We World Soto Koto”, is a Gambia-Swedish project, formed by Swedish technology experts Magnus Hellbom and Oko Drammeh. It aims at meeting the immense need of sanitation facilities in Africa and especially in Gambia; to assist Gambia in its modernisation process by designing and fabricating a sanitary unit, which is affordable to poor people; have a hand washing basin, a shower and a more comfortable toilette than normal WCs and furthermore is easily applied in huts in the countryside as well as in cities with piped water and sewerage.

This sanitation concept presumes that local people are engaged and educated to take care of the recycling process. Such a sanitation facility, according to the officials of the project, is environmentally prudent and shows the desire for Gambia to enter a road to cleanness, which is seen as a prerequisite, along with education and economic development, to do away with poverty and make Gambia a true welfare state.

Special attention should be dedicated to increase equitable access of the entire population of the country and, particularly, in the rural areas, to safe drinking water and sanitation services. This was the report given by the former Government regarding the MDGs. However, rural dwellers continued lamenting on the hardship they encountered due to scarcity of water in villages, despite Government claims that the proportion of the population with access to safe drinking water, increased to 85.8 per cent in 2010 from 69 per cent in 1990.

Kolkata

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

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Gundlubari

This School Hardly Sees Any Dropout Two Bengal teachers make an example out of their village school The Gambia RWSSP

The Gambia Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (RWSSP) was jointly funded by the African Development Bank and Government of the Gambia in 2012 as a five-year operation plan.

The project was designed to establish 18 new multi-villages solar water facilities with public stand-taps, rehabilitate and upgrade four water supply facilities to solar powered units, construct 50 Public Sanitation facilities in schools, rural health centers, markets and 1000 house hold latrines. Whilst some of the water supply systems will serve single villages, others are meant to meet the domestic water requirements of a cluster of villages.

RWSSP was implemented by the Department of Water Resources, with the support of other partners such as the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Women’s Bureau, Department of Community Development, National Environment Agency, NGOs and the Private Sector.

Justification of RWSSP

The main justification for the RWSSP, which is still valid, lies in the need to tackle the key sector challenge of sustainable development and management of water resources to meet the ever increasing demands for domestic water supply, sanitation, and other uses. Hence, improving access to portable water and sanitation will lead to better health, reduce the time for fetching water and enhance efficient reallocation of productive activities.

The physical implementation of The Gambia RWSSP project has been rated as successful. The 2013 Levels and Trends in Child Mortality Report showed a much lower trend in 2012 for both infant (49.2/1000 live births) and under-five (72.9/1000 live births) mortality rates, respectively.

In fact, there has been a lot of jubilation and celebrations in almost all the villages where people express happiness and satisfaction in various forms regarding their newly found freedom in having access to improved water supply and sanitation and for many of them, this was the first time ever.

Binita Das

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hey spend a part of their salary to beautify the school premises, come up with novel teaching ideas, try and make the ambience education-friendly and, above all, ensure the holistic development of their students whose numbers have quadrupled from 20 to 79.

Meet Pratap Mahato, the headmaster, and Rupali Mahato, the only assistant teacher, of a “unique” primary school in West Bengal’s Purulia district.

“Since I joined the school in 2014 I endeavoured to make it unique to attract students and give them all-round development. For this, I and the assistant teacher have been spending Rs 4,000 from our salary every month,” said Pratap Mahato, the headmaster of Gundlubari Primary School in Hura block.

Once you step inside the attractively clean school premises laced with greenery, beautiful flowers and wall graffiti, you come across little personalities like ‘Prime Minister’, ‘Health Minister’ and so on.

“As per Right to Education Act, schools must form a child cabinet. Other schools make it, but it’s mostly on pen and paper. I selected students as ‘Ministers’ to include them in our activities and make them responsible,” Mahato told.

Taking his duty seriously, Pratik Mahato, 9, a student who assists the ‘Health Minister’, said: “We see to it that every student washes their hands properly before eating.

We take care of the garden with medicinal plants.”

Pratik said neem can help fight germs and aloe vera is good for the

skin.

The headmaster recalled that when he joined the school, the infrastructure was not up to the mark and hardly 20 students used to turn up. He held meetings with the villagers and motivated the children to come to school. Now, the student strength has gone up to 79.

“Most of the families are poor daily wage-earners. Previously they stayed away for six months in search of jobs taking their children along. Now they leave their children with other family members because they see a future for their children and themselves in a better school environment.

Hence there are hardly any dropouts here,” he added.

The library is stocked with books and handmade crafts made by the students from reused material. The healthy mid-day meal kitchen employs cooks from self-help groups (SHGs)who are never seen without masks and

“To make the wash basin student-friendly I suggested the taps be placed at various heights,” said Mahato, whose mind seems to be brimming with new ideas

aprons. The meditation room is a big draw among pupils.

These features make the school stand out.

“To make the wash basin student-friendly I suggested the taps be placed at various heights,” said Mahato, whose mind seems to be brimming with new ideas.

The walls are painted with picture stories, quotes and the like. One of the two classrooms has a projector. One corner of the school premise has a tank that is used for rain-water harvesting.

Talking about other activities, Rupali Mahato, the assistant teacher, said: “Through our own initiative, we have arranged for extra classes like dancing, drawing, singing and gardening. All the extra expenditure is borne out of the fund that both of us contribute every month.”

“I am thankful to our BDO for helping us with a computer, an LPG gas connection, fire extinguisher and for always supporting us. The teachers and students take care of the garden and all the things.

If there is any other work the villagers have also helped us,” the headmaster said.

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Education

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

Mobile Schools

Schools That Come To Children Karnataka Government is all set to turn defunct KSRTC buses into mobile schools

G Ulaganathan

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he Department of Education, government of Karnataka, has requested the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to give its old and out-ofuse buses to them so that they can be converted to mobile schools.

In a country where every child between six and fourteen years of age has the constitutional right to free and compulsory education, 17,66,294 students do not have access to it in Karnataka. But all that is set to change.

Very soon, the state government will give these children access to mobile schools, schools that will come to them.

Every year, surveys find that children living in remote areas and children of construction workers and nomadic labourers, don’t have access to education. Poverty, lack of nearby schools and a number of reasons keep children from getting access to education.

Last year, the Department of Education says they identified around 8,000 children and admitted them to the schools.

Shalini Rajneesh, IAS, principal secretary to the State government (Primary and Secondary education department), says, “Twice a year we do a survey to identify children who have not been enrolled in schools.

This year we will be doing one more round before December to see how many are still out of schools. These are mostly children of construction labourers who drop out of school for obvious and various reasons.”

She added that most children are from the Malnad districts which are quite remote. Under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), these children are identified and admitted to a bridge course. Special teachers are deployed to enable their return to mainstream education.

According to the Education department’s data, 7,683 children were provided with transport facility (bus, auto or jeep) to shuttle them to schools in the academic year 2017-18. This was carried out in 12 districts (Bengaluru Rural, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Chamarajanagar, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Kodagu, Mysuru, Shivamogga, Tumakuru/ Madhugiri, Udupi and Uttara Kannada/Sirsi) where a total of 3,417 habitations were covered.

For the proposed activity this year, the department has identified 3,201 habitations in the districts of Bengaluru Rural, Belagavi,

Chamarajanagar, Chikkamagaluru, Chikkaballapur, Hassan, Kodagu, Mysuru, Shivamogga, Tumakuru/ Madhugiri, Udupi and Uttara Kannada/Sirsi. A total of 9,254 students will be covered in both primary and upper primary sections.

Rajneesh adds, “We have identified children who will be provided transport facility to reach schools this year as well. We provide transport facilities and send them to the nearest school.”

In addition to this, the department is also thinking of bringing the school in a bus to the students’ doorstep.

The Department of Education has requested the KSRTC to give its old and out-of-use buses to them so that they can be converted to mobile schools.

Rajneesh says, “I have written to the KSRTC officials and asked them to provide defunct buses so that these buses can be used as classrooms in a particular area or they can shuttle these students to a school in an accessible location.”

This is to ensure that no child is deprived of education. “Recently, the real estate developer Embassy group agreed to provide a bus to shuttle a few students in Bengaluru area to schools.

I have asked officials to use this bus for the out-of-school children’s program,” adds Rajneesh.

KSRTC managing director S R Umashankar agrees wholeheartedly.

“We are ready to give as many buses as they want. We have more than a thousand defunct buses across the State and we can design them as per their requirements and hand it over to the department,” he says.

Umashankar also said that he has had a round of discussion with his team of engineers to re-design the buses to look like classrooms.

Rajneesh added that regular classes would be conducted in these buses.

“We will give children an opportunity to learn vocational courses which will increase the aptitude of the child,” she says.

“If skilling comes to the doorstep, students will be more than happy to take it up,” says Neeti Sharma, senior

vice-president of Team Lease

Quick Glance 17,66,294 children do not have access to education in Karnataka

But very soon it is all set to change with the help of out-of-use buses

The state government will give these children access to mobile schools

Speaking about the vocational training in these mobile schools, Neeti Sharma, senior vice-president of Team Lease, who looks after vocational training said, “If skilling comes to the doorstep, students will be more than happy to take it up. When there is so much learning to happen, we also need to create awareness and an opportunity for students to enhance their skills, so that they are employable in future.”

By bringing in the concept of mobile schools, the State will achieve greater heights in imparting education, adds Sharma.

The Department of Education will conduct a comprehensive survey throughout the state in October, to get the number of children out of schools.

The officials said that students from NCC, Scouts and Guides and people from Child Welfare Committees will be involved in this survey.

After the recent floods in Kodagu, several schools have been washed away. Land has been washed away too and roads destroyed, making it difficult for the students to reach schools.

These KSRTC bus schools will go to Kodagu, too. Rajneesh says, “As per data from the Deputy Director of Public Instruction, Kodagu, hundreds of schools have been affected by the rains. We have released funds to reconstruct these schools. But it will take at least a year’s time for the construction to be complete.”

Till then, officials say, buses will be converted to resemble classrooms and will reach areas without schools.

Education

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

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Beti Padhao

Govt Clerk Opens Up His Purse for Poor Girl Students Basavaraj Mantage has embarked upon the noble crusade in memory of his elder daughter G Ulaganathan

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e has opened up his purse for poor girl students. He is not a rich philanthropist but a clerk at a government college with a big heart.

Basavaraj Mantage, a first division assistant in Government Composite Junior College, Kalaburagi, which offers high school and pre-university education, has embarked upon the noble crusade in memory of his elder daughter.

Basavaraj who has been helping education of the poor girl students by providing notebooks, pens, instrument boxes and other stationery for the last few years , has now taken up the responsibility of even paying the fees for all girls taking admission for the preuniversity course in the institution from this year.

In the present academic year 2018-19, he has paid the fees of 70 girls who got admission to PUC 1st year by totally paying Rs 20,000 to the Principal. He says that next year too he will pay the fees of all these 70 girls to continue their studies in PUC 2nd year as well as pay the fees of all girl students who get admission in PUC 1st year in this institution.

He is the father of two daughters, Dhaneshwari and Bhuvaneshwari.

Mantage says he has always empathised with his daughters’ classmates.

In December last year when a health issue snatched away Dhaneshwari, who was then a student of PUC II at Sharanabasaveshwara College, it took months for the devastated family to overcome the grief.

It was then that Basavaraj decided to pay the fees of girls joining Government Composite Junior College “as fees that I used to pay for

my elder daughter’s studies”.

Dhaneshwari, it turns out, was worth a full class for the loving father.

With encouragement from his wife who is a teacher, he is determined to pay for the education of all girls seeking admission in the college who cannot afford to.

Basavaraj says the “special attachment” he has for Government Composite Junior College is because it is here that “I studied high school and PUC. Also, I have been working in this college for over a decade now.”

The family has no ancestral property to fall back on. “Like me, most children who study in government institutions come from poor backgrounds. I never even had footwear when I attended high school,” he says.

Most girls discontinue education after SSLC, and the primary reason for this is the inability to pay fees,

Most girls discontinue education after SSLC, and the primary reason for this is the inability to pay fees, according to Basavaraj

according to Basavaraj.

“As the government provides free education, along with books and uniforms for girl students up to 10th standard, I decided to do at least some of that for those willing to continue their studies,” he elaborates.

“My parents were not in a position to continue my education. The credit for me joining college should go to Basavaraj sir,” says Sushmita, PU I year student.

Dhaneshwari Trust

Basavaraj Mantage says that wellwishers have suggested forming a Trust in his daughter’s name, in order to extend the good work to more needy girls, which he plans to do soon.

This will provide an opportunity for those interested in joining hands to expand and sustain the endeavour.

Fee structure

The students have to pay 2 types of fees in Govt Junior Colleges. The government pays the first type of fees of Rs 85 which includes application fees, registration fees documentation

Quick Glance Basavaraj is a first division assistant in Government Composite Jr College

In December 2017 a health issue snatched away his elder daughter

So he decided to pay the fees of girls as the fee he used for her

fees. The students have to pay Rs 250, which includes sports fees, special sports fees, union fees, home exam fees, etc.

Basavaraj deserves some recognition at the national level and he is role model for implementing Prime Minister Modi’s “Beti Bachao” programme. He is not expecting any financial grants but at least a letter of appreciation from the Prime Minister and the HRD minister.

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Health

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

It’s not pretty

Sleep Deprivation Can Be Deadly Here’s What Sleeping Less Than 7 Hours Per Night Does To Your Body And Brain

n KEVIN LORIA

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leep deprivation has serious consequences for your brain and body.

Many people think they can get by on less than seven to nine hours a night – the amount of sleep doctors recommend for most adults – or say they need to sleep less because of work or family obligations.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently acknowledged in an interview with The New York Times that his long work hours were taking a toll on his well-being and raising concerns among his friends.

That prompted Arianna Huffington to post an open letter to Musk about his sleep schedule, telling him that he was “demonstrating a wildly outdated, anti-scientific and horribly inefficient way of using human energy.”

Musk posted his response on Twitter at 2:30 a.m. ET. “I just got home from the factory,” he said.

“You think this is an option. It is not.”

Musk seems to understand that working 120-hour weeks is harmful.

As Matthew Walker, a neuroscientist who’s an expert on sleep told, “The shorter your sleep, the shorter your life.”

Most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep, and kids have to get even more, though needs do vary from person to person. Some incredibly rare people can actually get by on a few hours of sleep per night, while others on the opposite end of the spectrum are sometimes called “long sleepers” because they need 11 hours nightly.

But regardless of your body’s clock, a lack of sleep will cause your physical and mental health to suffer.

Here are 30 health consequences of sleep deprivation.

•Sleep deprivation is linked to a higher risk for certain cancers.

•Skin doesn’t heal as well from

Most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep, and kids have to get even more, though needs do vary from person to person

damage when you are tired, leading to skin ageing.

•Tired people have a harder time controlling their impulses, potentially leading to unhealthy behaviour and weight gain.

•People feel lonelier after sleepless nights — and being lonely makes it harder to sleep well.

•Being sleepy makes it harder to learn and disrupts short-term memory.

•Long-term sleep deprivation also seems to damage long-term memory.

•A growing body of evidence links bad sleep with signs of Alzheimer’s in the brain.

•Heart disease risk rises with sleep deprivation.

•Sleepiness leads to irritability.

•The longer people go without sleep, the harder it is for them to see clearly. People sometimes experience hallucinations when they’re sleep-deprived.

•Sleep-deprived people have slower reactions.

•So it’s no surprise that sleepiness makes people clumsier.

•The immune system doesn’t work as well when you’re tired.

•Similarly, over-tired people are more susceptible to colds.

•Being tired drains your sex drive and makes it harder to perform.

•Sleepy people express more unhappiness and signs of depression.

•Risk of Type 2 diabetes rises when people are over-tired, even for people who aren’t overweight.

•Tiredness is associated with bad decision-making that can put lives and finances in danger.

•Sleepy people are more easily distracted.

•Tiredness makes it hard to speak normally.

•Like driving drunk, driving tired can lead to more car accidents.

•Tiredness is connected to urine overproduction.

•You need sleep for muscles to get stronger. Without it, muscle atrophy occurs.

•Sleepiness makes pain harder to cope with.

•Tiredness leads to gastrointestinal issues.

•Sleepiness is associated with headaches.

•Disrupted sleep cycles lead to more inflammation, which could worsen asthma, arthritis, and cardiovascular disease.

•If snoring or sleep apnea is causing sleep disruption, it could lead to serious health problems.

•Poor sleep disrupts genetic activity, which may explain some of the health risks of getting too little rest.

•At any given time, people who haven’t gotten the right amount of sleep are more likely to die.

Inspiration

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

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Babar Ali

Zeal Of 9-Year-Old Brought Education to Bengal's Poor Determined to share his education as a fifth grader at a state-run school at Beldanga town, he turned teacher to his poor friends in the backyard of his own home Bhavana Akella

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alking home from school in a small town in West Bengal, a nine-year-old boy saw some of his friends work as rag-pickers. The thought that his companions were unable to study like him because they were poor so agonised the young Babar Ali that he decided to do something about it and bring school to those who could not afford it.

Determined to share his education as a fifth grader at a state-run school at Beldanga town in Murshidabad district, about 200km north of Kolkata, he turned teacher to his poor friends in the backyard of his own home. With a dream to make India’s children have access to quality education despite their economic backgrounds, he has been, over these many years, a silent crusader imparting education to hundreds of povertystricken child labourers in the state.

“I couldn’t tolerate my friends picking garbage while I attended school. So I asked them to join me in the roofless backyard of my home, so I could teach them how to read and write,” Babar, now a 25-year-old youth, recalled in an interview.

That backyard became Babar’s school, Ananda Siksha Niketan (meaning Home for Joyful Learning), in 2002, making him possibly the world’s youngest headmaster.

“My school began with a total of eight students, including my five-yearold younger sister Amina Khatun. We sat together under a guava tree for three hours every afternoon learning to read, so that the children who worked as ragpickers or ‘beedi’ (handrolled cigarettes made of unprocessed tobacco) rollers could continue to work in the mornings,” recalled Babar.

With a population of about eight million, Murshidabad district has a large section of its adults and children working as daily-wage labourers in farms and rolling beedis. The district is among the largest manufacturer of beedis in the country. Collecting used-up chalk

“The focus is on holistic education at Ananda Siksha Niketan, as I want the students to positively impact the society through whatever professions they choose in the future” pieces from his school, Babar continued to teach children in his neighbourhood how to read and write in Bengali along with basic math, science and geography, completely free of cost, while he was in school himself.

“Teachers at my school thought I was stealing chalk to scribble on the walls, but after they learnt that I was teaching other children at my home, they began to offer me a box of chalk each week,” shared Babar.

The support from his mother Banuara Bibi, an anganwadi worker, and father Mohammad Nasiruddin, a jute trader, both of whom were school dropouts, allowed him to pursue his vision to create an educated neighbourhood, he said.

“The children I have been teaching receive very little support from their families and are often left to fend for themselves. With help from my family and teachers at school, I have been able to run my school and provide the kids with uniform, books and other reading material,” added Babar.

Admitting that it was a difficult task convincing families to send their children to his home school, Babar said he gradually won the trust of parents as students grew fond of him and enjoyed his classes.

Donations from teachers at his school, district officials, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers from the region and other individuals has kept Babar’s institution running through the years -- and in 2015, it shifted into a building near his home, with a recognition as a private school from the West Bengal School Education Department.

“The focus is on holistic education at Ananda Siksha Niketan, as I want the students to positively impact the society through whatever professions they choose in the future,” he stressed.

In a span of about 16 years, from 2002 till date, Babar has taught more than 5,000 children from Classes 1 to 8 -- a few of whom have have returned to his school to work as teachers.

“Six of my former girl students have

returned to the school as teachers after finishing their under-graduation courses,” said Babar, who holds a MA in English literature from the University of Kalyani, about 50 km from Kolkata.

Pursuing another Masters in History from the same university, Babar remains an ambitious headmaster who wants to bring about change in the district’s poor female literacy rate, which stands at just above 55 per cent, according to data from the district administration.

“Several families are still reluctant to send their girls to a school and prefer to marry them off in their teens, but through continuous effort we are seeing a change in their attitudes. Parents are realising the need for education as children are in turn helping them read, make a signature on paper and write,” he added.

The co-education school currently has 500 students, 10 teachers and one non-teaching staff, with classes from 1 to 8.

“We require more classrooms and infrastructure as our building can accommodate only 350-400. I also want to expand the school up to Class 10 so that kids do not have to go to other towns for education.”

Babar, who is also a motivational speaker, offering talks across the country inspired by venerated Hindu monkphilosopher Swami Vivekananda’s (1863-1902) teachings, wants to set up more such schools catering to the poorest sections across the country.

“Education for all will remain my life mission and, to realise that, several institutions and individuals need to come together,” he reiterated.

Babar’s inspiring journey has also made it to the first year English text book of pre-university (Class 11) in Karnataka’s state board and Class 10 communicative English text of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

“Governments alone cannot change the system. We need people of all sections to come forward and work together to bring in quality education for all our country’s children, irrespective of their social classes,” stressed Babar.

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Durga Puja

Oct 22 - 28, 2018 Young Talents

Art Students Make Hay at the Puja Pandals Things changed dramatically when the organisers got in touch with students to give ‘a different taste’ in the pandal

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Prasanta Paul

quiet curtain has been drawn on the fun, frolick and festivity called The Durga Pujas. Kumartuli in North Kolkata, the hub of master iconographers, has expectedly gone in hibernation for a very brief while before the buzz of activity is back, prior to Deepavali. What is quite interesting is that there has been a new pluck of artists who have really made hay while the sun shone. They made the best of their available talent, working almost 24X7 to finish their latest ‘assignment’ – decoration of the pandals they had been assigned with. Their design, their artifact, their intricate craftsmanship literally drew hundreds of ‘Wows’ from the puja crowd that thronged the pandals.

Meet a group of students of the Government College of Art & Craft who had begun lending their lovely touch in one of the biggest cultural and religious extravaganza in India, much like the famous annual carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

Swasta Bhattacharya, Souvik Das, Nirupama Majumder and Pinaki Bose are among those in the art college to have bagged a lucrative deal from the organisers this year to help them turn the respective puja pandals as innovative as possible with their touch of brush and paints.

Besides cash, they will be getting certificates from these organisers for their contribution which, in turn, will embellish their CVs. These certificates, the students agree in unison, would benefit them when they would seek for job or official engagement later in their career.

“This is a great opportunity for us. Apart from getting practical experience, not only we’ll be able to show our talent and work to

a large number of viewers, our future employers will also get a handsome idea about what we are capable of,” says Souvik Das who was engaged by a club in Tollygunj at a mutually agreed remuneration.

As one steps into the pandal-inthe-community and comes close to the sanctum sanctorum, one would discover Souvik having sunk himself in his myriad tools – paint brush, thin bamboo sticks and a themed Patachitra.

His plans are simple – before the organisers dismantle the pandal, he would endeavour his best to recover part of his creation as much as possible. But what will he do with them? Souvik won’t reveal them though.

“Not only we’ll be able to show our talent, our future employers will also get a handsome idea of our capability” -Souvik Das, Art student

The trend of engaging the students of the art colleges in enhancing the beauty of the pandals is not new.

In localities where these students used to live, organisers used to sort of do everything – from coaxing to promise of some endowments – in order to involve them in the beautification of the pandals. And the students would obviously chip in with their might. It was a voluntary work and they would hardly get due payment for their labour because the organisers used to tag them with local decorators and their talent used to go unrecognised. Plus, when these students used to apply for jobs later, they were hamstrung, for they would fail to mention their experience in absence of any concrete record.

Souvik apparently would loathe missing this opportunity. At several places in the decorated stuff, he left his initials in a manner that would be hardly amiss to the discerning eyes.

Quick Glance This year’s Durga Puja pandals were decorated by new pluck of artists

The Art students made the best of their talent, working almost 24X7

From this year, the practice of giving an official recognition has begun

The art school students, who first started chipping in for some quick cash, felt the need as well to become a part of the puja preparations because this not only gave them some engagement, but also some hands-on experience beyond the corridors of the college. Hence, the

Agriculture

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

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Arunachal Pradesh practice had been going on for about a decade or so. Most students began bunking classes at least two months prior to Pujas though their work would never be recognised officially.

Things changed dramatically this year when the organisers of SB Park Puja got in touch with Nirupama for offering them with ‘a different taste’ in the pandal that would have more of an aesthetic appeal than anything else.

“I didn’t waste a second to accept the proposal. The only thing that took just a few minutes to be sorted out is the remuneration part because I alone could not have done this. Naturally, I would have required help from the art college students and I can’t ask them to work for free,” explains Nirupama who didn’t crib at the remuneration offered to her. “I’ve paid all the students for assisting me”.

The long queues before the Park pandal and two ‘Sharad Samman’ awards bagged by the organisers under the category of pandal have only gone to prove that the city and adjoining clubs will increasingly start using the art college students in future.

This will definitely make their job hunting process much easier, they agree unanimously.

What do the students feel about it? First, they feel decorating a Durga Puja pandal offers them a huge scope for learning several domains of art. The portfolios they work on and the hands-on work at the pandals are, indeed, a huge difference because Durga Puja needs a holistic approach and a student who is good at painting may require to know something about sculpting and a student deft at sculpting would need to know painting as well. Hence, the work on the pandals is an added qualification in the students’ CVs. Secondly, making a quick buck is less important as far as the career prospects are concernced. Any artist would feel obliged to be a part of Durga Puja. From this year, the practice of giving it an official recognition has begun and this is what the students have been forward to as this will enable them to get a handsome package when they seek a corporate entry.

Two Farmers’ Schemes Launched The CMKSY will aim at empowering farmers through a cooperative approach

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Raj Kashyap

runachal Pradesh has launched the Chief Minister’s Sashakt Kisan Yojana (CMSKY) and Chief Minister’s Krishi Samuh Yojana (CMKSY) for farmers to increase production and enhance their income.

Inaugurating the schemes, agriculture minister Dr Mohesh Chai told the media that their objectives were to fulfill the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to double farmers’ income by 2022.

He added that under these initiatives, all the allied departments would be involved under the District Agricultural Development Society which is responsible for planning and implementation of farmers oriented development schemes.

The minister informed that the state government will come out with

more policies for the enhancement of the farmers’ income. The government plans to link farmers with markets, and develop scientific and integrated ways of farming. He also launched the web portal of the department.

The CMSKY will have three features – CM’s Employment Generation Scheme, CM’s AgriMechanisation Programme and CM’s Flagship Programme on Tea and Rubber. The CMKSY will aim at empowering farmers through a cooperative approach, by providing them with timely support and marketing intervention for better price realisation and income.

Arunachal Pradesh is the largest state in the Northeast with over 70 per cent of its population dependent upon agriculture which includes both shifting and sedentary cultivation.

The Statistical Abstract of Arunachal Pradesh, published in 2008, shows that

Arunachal Pradesh is the largest state in the Northeast with over 70 per cent of its population dependent upon agriculture which includes both shifting and sedentary cultivation

about 58.44 per cent of the population belongs to the category of cultivators, 3.85 per cent agricultural labourers, 0.86 per cent workers in household industries, and 36.85 per cent other types of workers.

Although settled agriculture has been spreading in the hill state, the methods of cultivation are backward.

Several policies have been unveiled to diversify the agriculture economy by encouraging the cultivation of cash crops like potatoes, and horticulture crops like apple, oranges, guavas, pineapples, etc. Besides two centrally sponsored programmes for agriculture, as many as 13 schemes are being implemented by the state government. Many important projects such as Regional Seed Foundation Potato Farm at Tawang, Regional Apple Nursery at Dirang, and State Horticulture Farm at Sheragaon have been set up with the financial assistance of North Eastern Council to boost agro-horticulture activities.

The twin programmes also come close on the heels of the organic mission launched last year in Arunachal Pradesh by Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh with the objective to shift to organic farming in a phased manner. During the launch of the mission, the government has also outlined measures to discourage use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in state and gradually substitute plant nutrients by organic manures and bio-fertilizers and manage control of diseases and insect pests by biological control measures along with creating markets for organic food products of the State.

Terming Arunachal Pradesh as an agriculture heaven, the minister said that the residents in the hill state have been abundantly blessed with all of nature’s resources and opined that organic farming would ensure the state’s fast progress towards becoming a major agro-tourism destination.

He made a case for value addition to agriculture and horticulture products by changing the raw product into something new through different processes.

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International Personality

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

V S Naipaul

The Unapologetic Author Who Gave Equal Doses of Love & Hate V S Naipaul was cold, unapologetic for his views, outspoken but a master storyteller with flair of weaving unforgettable stories

Swastika Tripathi

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great writer of the English sentence, a master stylist and story-teller, keeping a cold, clear eye for the ironies, tragedies and sufferings of mankind, whilst painting unflattering pictures of the societies – be it Caribbean, African, Indian or European – Nobel Laureate and renowned author V S Naipaul was known for never mincing his words. And for that his works attracted both vicious criticism and acclaims.

V S Naipual, or ‘Sir Vidia’ as often called, was born on August 17, 1932, as Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul to indentured Indians in colonial rural Trinidad. Vidiadhar was named for a Chandela king, the dynasty which built the temples at Khajuraho. His name means ‘giver of wisdom’.

Of Nobility & Failing

The island of his birth was a complicated post-colonial hodgepodge of racial tensions and subtle hierarchies. His grandparents had been labourers (part of the great nineteenth-century Indian diaspora who had settled in the Caribbean).

The young Vidia was raised as a Hindu, part of a displaced community within a plantation society. It was a blend of histories, customs and ethnic identities which later formed an important part of his work.

Naipaul’s father, Seepersad, was a journalist for the Trinidad Guardian who revered Shakespeare and Dickens. He would read the great works of European literature aloud to his children - giving the young Vidia a burning ambition for writing, a fantasy of nobility and a panic about failing.

A Career of Critical Praise

When he arrived in England as a teenager armed with a scholarship to Oxford, he was a man apart. It was a step on a journey that earned him a career distinguished by extravagant critical praise for works. From there he rose to become one of the giants of the 20th

Know Naipaul Born: Trinidad, 17 August 1932 Died: London, 11 August 2018 (aged 85) Educated: Oxford University Literary Awards: Somerset Maugham Award (1961), WH Smith Award (1967), Booker Prize (1971), David Cohen Prize (1993) Nobel Prize for Literature (2001) Notable Works: A House for Mr Biswas (1961), A Bend in the River (1979), Among the Believers (1981) His first published novel, The Mystic Masseur, written in 1955, century – writing, publishing over 30 books, ranging from comic novels set in his homeland to memoir and travel writing.

He made visible a landscape beyond the canon that held sway when he began writing. His life experiences frequently appeared as thinly disguised vignettes

was poorly-received at first but the following year won the first of his literary awards, the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize for young authors.

“When I learnt to write I became my own master, I became very strong, and that strength is with me to this very day,” he said in 2010.

His powerful writing dealt with the cultural confusion of the Third World.

Naipaul pulled no punches in books which were often as bleak and in his writing, and his references to Trinidad added diversity and depth to his work.

Breakthrough

Naipaul’s breakthrough came in 1957 with his first published novel The Mystic Masseur, a humorous book about the

penetrating as his conversations.

While that brought him fans in the West, it attracted criticism in the post-colonial world he chronicled, often from other writers who had stayed behind and accused him of preferring England and the colonial masters over his own heritage.

The committee which awarded him the Nobel Prize praised his work “for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories”. lives of people in Trinidad.

He caught people’s eye with Miguel Street (1959), a collection of linked short stories that tend to focus on a character living on Miguel Street. This book was a success and earned him the 1961 Somerset Maugham Award.

Naipaul mined his childhood

International Personality

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

Quick Glance V S Naipual was born on August 17, 1932, to indentured Indians in colonial Trinidad He mined his childhood memories and family history for his early novels He wrote what he saw without mincing words, attracting both criticism & acclaims

memories and family history to feed his early novels: The Mystic Masseur (1957), The Suffrage of Elivra (1958), Miguel Street (1959), and, his acknowledged and undoubted masterpiece, A House for Mr Biswas (1961).

His other most notable books include: A Bend in The River (1979), In a Free State (1971), The Enigma of Arrival (1987), The Loss of Eldorado (1969), Guerillas (1975), etc. He altogether wrote about 16 works of fiction, novels and collections of short stories, and an almost similar number on non-fiction work.

The Questions of Belonging

After his first three comedic novels, he explored the questions of identity and belonging to a family, a place in A House for Mr Biswas, which was inspired by his father’s life.

This was his fourth novel which took more than three years to write, and by the time of completion he knew much of it by heart. Beneath the masterful comic writing lay such a series of raw emotions, he barely ever looked at it again.

It was a sprawling, Dickensian family chronicle about one man’s dreams of independence. Mr Biswas was from Trinidad, continually striving for elusive success. He marries into an overbearing family but, without a house, cannot be the author of his own destiny. He struggles to build it – casting off his decaying relations, creating his freedom and establishing self-respect. Above all, it was the writer’s attempt to come to terms with his own identity and

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the pivotal figure in his life: his father.

Biswas represented Seepersad while the character’s son, Anand, stood for himself.

Describing What He Saw

A House for Mr Biswas was a sensation, published to global acclaim in 1961.

But Naipaul felt exhausted and done, for now, with writing literature. He spent the next few years travelling in the Caribbean, India and Africa – describing what he saw and reaching for a greater understanding of his own, displaced identity.

Naipaul used to travel extensively in his endeavours. His writings offer a personal notion of history as a series of tragic and haphazard upheavals, leaving “half-made” developing worlds in their wake.

In Africa, he took up a writer-inresidence fellowship at a university in Uganda, writing The Mimic Men (1967) which won him the WH Smith Award in the same year. He travelled widely about the continent, often depicting its life as “bleak and its people “primitive”.

His In A Free State (1971) won the Booker Prize with its portrayal of a violent, post-colonial continent attracting young, idealistic whites in search of sexual freedom.

Its first line captures Naipaul’s belief that the world is what man makes it; responsibility for its failings impossible to escape: “The world is what it is”, he wrote. “Men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place it.”

India – A Civilisation, a Culture In An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization, and India: A Million Mutinies Now, Naipaul commented extensively on subjects varying from politics to religion, from business to films in the country.

In these books, he tried to describe the best and the worst of India as it changed between the 1960s and the 1990s. His conclusions were insightful, even when they were harsh.

For Naipaul’s views of the nation, senior translator and critic Harish Trivedi has described him as an author with “heartless compassion” for India.

The Indian Influence

Of learning from the writings of action leaders

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peaking about the Indian influence on his life and approach towards writing, Naipaul in his Nobel speech had said he was greatly influenced by the short stories his father wrote on the Indian community in Trinidad and Tobago.

“If it were not for the short stories my father wrote I would have known almost nothing about the general life of our Indian community. Those stories gave me more than knowledge.

Naipaul, whenever he talked about India, was not ready to accept it as just a geographical and political entity. In his view, India is a civilisation, a culture, which has gone through many struggles for its survival.

Nobel Laureate ‘Sir’ Naipaul

It was the year 1990 when V S Naipaul was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001 for “having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories”.

To win the Nobel Prize for Literature and receive a knighthood is the pinnacle of international recognition for exceptionalism.

The World Is What It Is

Naipaul never attempted his autobiography saying it can distort facts. According to him, fiction never lies and reveals a writer totally, but an autobiography ‘can distort; facts can be realigned’.

They gave me a kind of solidity. They gave me something to stand on in the world. I cannot imagine what my mental picture would have been without those stories,” he said.

In the speech, Naipaul also described as to how he learnt a lot about India from the writings and actions of leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, along with British-Indian writers like John Masters and Rudyard Kipling.

However, in 2008, Patrick French came out with The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V S Naipaul, in which he examined among other things the legendary author’s life within a displaced community and his fierce ambition at school.

A Life Full of Wonderful Creativity Naipaul passed away at the age of 85 on August 11, 2018. In the words of his wife, Nadira Naipaul, he was “a giant in all that he achieved and he died surrounded by those he loved having lived a life which was full of wonderful creativity and endeavour”.

Cold, unapologetic for his views, outspoken but a master storyteller with flair of weaving unforgettable stories, Naipaul cared little what people said about him. He rather wondered only how his writing might fare in time. He was a boy from nowhere, who had made a way in the world with the power of his words alone. In the process, he built a magnificent edifice of letters, which have stood the test of time.

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Oct 22 - 28, 2018

Mayank Chhaya

Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin; to say that you are weak, or others are weak

VIEWPOINT

Mayank Chhaya is a Chicagobased journalist and writer whose documentary ‘Gandhi’s Song’ explores the theme of this article

‘Vaishnav Jan To’

Swami Vivekananda

Song that fuses spirits of Gandhi and Narsinh Mehta

After Being broken When man is broken his horizons expand vastly

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he atom is the final unit of matter, just as the individual is the final unit of society. If one succeeds in breaking an atom one does not destroy it; rather one converts it into a greater force, known as atomic energy. Matter is energy in a solid form and energy is matter in a dispersed form. When the atoms of matter are broken and converted into atomic energy, they are transformed into a force much more potent than in their material form.

A locomotive consumes two tons of coal in seventy miles; a motorcar uses up a gallon of petrol every twenty to forty miles. But when uranium, weighing just twelve pounds, is converted into atomic energy, it is able to convey a highspeed rocket on a 40,000 mile journey into space. That’s how great the difference is between ordinary material energy and atomic energy.

So it is with that unit of society known as man. When man is ‘broken,’ his horizons expand vastly. Just as breakage does not destroy matter, so defeat does not ruin man.

Matter increases in strength when broken up. So man, when defeated, gains new, increased strength.

When man is beset by defeat, his inner forces are released.

His senses are aroused. His concealed strength comes to the fore and he sets about redressing his setback. Spurred on with new resolve and determination, he devotes himself to the task of regaining what has lost. An irresistible spirit arises within him. Nothing can arrest his advance. Like a river flowing into the sea, he surmounts every obstacle in relentless pursuit of his goal.

The occurrence of an atomic explosion in matter turns it into a vastly more powerful substance. The human personality, too, contains huge, latent potential. This potential burst out into the open when there is an eruption within one’s soul. It breaks free when some shattering disaster afflicts one. The strings that have held one down are torn apart and begin to vibrate to the tune of life. (Maulana Wahiduddin)

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: +91-120-2970819 Email: editor@sulabhswachhbharat.com, ssbweekly@gmail.com

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orn over four centuries and 300 kilometres apart, a single song fused the spirits of Narsinh Mehta and Mohandas Gandhi.

By the time Gandhi was born in 1869, Narsinh had already been a figure of great reverence in Gujarat for over four centuries.

Regarded as Gujarat’s “Adi Kavi” or pioneering poet, he not only invented the Gujarati poetic form but raised it to the level of the highest musical and philosophical expression.

Although much of what Narsinh wrote as poetry, songs, ballads and verses was popularly known, his one particular creation, “Vaishnav Jan To” (The Truly Righteous One) became widely feted, celebrated and embedded into the popular consciousness of the people of Gujarat. There was no way Gandhi could have been living in Porbandar, some 300 kilometres west of Narsinh’s birthplace of Talaja, and not known about it. The bhajan had pervaded the air of the Saurashtra region for centuries, handed down the generations as a collective treasure that was never guarded but somehow always secure.

The idea of who a truly righteous person is, without ensnaring its definition in religious dogma, was something that was likely to have appealed to Gandhi. While there is not much on record from his very early life that may have drawn Gandhi to the song, it is clear that it was

during his long years in South Africa that it really became a moral marker for him. Perhaps the earliest recorded reference to the song was sometime in 1907, when Gandhi had already been a resident of the country for close to 14 years.

He was a very well-known figure not just to South Africa’s Indian community but also far beyond its English rulers at home and in England.

Gandhi’s 1907 calendar reads like that of a seasoned political campaigner operating on an unusually broad canvas as someone who had already become a leader of extraordinary consequence. From pushing for civil rights for Indians to malaria relief for the larger Durban community to being immersed in the activities of the Natal Indian Congress and to opposing the discriminatory Asiatic Registration Act, he led a wide variety of campaigns. It was in that political, legal and cultural hubbub that he began to turn to “Vaishnav Jan To” as his moral compass.

Narsinh may not have travelled much more than a few hundred kilometres in his life but one of his songs was now in the heart of a man who was at the heart of an increasingly significant political campaign over 7,000 kilometres away. The song became an important part of a collection of medieval and other poetry that Gandhi prescribed as a set of hymns to be sung in his commune in Phoenix.

“Vaishnav Jan To” never really left Gandhi from his childhood but it became truly intrinsic to his worldview in South Africa. After he returned to India in 1914, his preoccupations became much larger as he went about planting himself into the country’s independence movement against colonial British rule.

There is no specific record of Gandhi making any particular public reference to the song for quite some time until he came to Ahmedabad to first establish an ashram in Kochrab village in 1915 and then finally on the banks of the Sabarmati river at its current

The song became an important part of a collection of medieval and other poetry that Gandhi prescribed as a set of hymns to be sung in his commune in Phoenix

Oct 22 - 28, 2018 location in 1917.

The anthology of medieval and other devotional songs, whose singing was the daily ritual at his ashram in Phoenix, South Africa, also became a part of the Sabarmati Ashram. It was sometime around 1920 when the song was set to a tune that became the fountainhead of dozens of other versions that have been sung for 95 years now.

The original composition by an inmate of the Sabarmati Ashram is rendered austerely with a single-string instrument and a pair of Manjeera or small hand cymbals playing along. It has the feel of dawn breaking with the singer voicing Narsinh’s immortal words with a touch of stirring rusticity. It was this version that was heard throughout Gujarat and beyond for the better part of over four decades after 1920, even though its many reworked versions had also started gaining popularity.

The way Mehta composed the words orally -- he was reputedly an unlettered man -- has the metric cadence that necessarily lends itself to being sung by its creator, whose penchant it was to sing anywhere and everywhere without any inhibition. Although born in the Nagar community, which even today is regarded as the top of Gujarat’s social totem pole by those who believe in such absurd ideas, Mehta chose to defy its conventions with such abandon that he was cast out by the orthodox leadership of the community. That did not prevent him from pursuing his noble impulses and, in fact, intensified them.

“Vaishnav Jan To” is a remarkably modern, non-religious and nondogmatic benchmark for human conduct that prescribes in simple terms how to lead a dignified, compassionate life. It was hardly surprising that Gandhi, not known to engage with great literary figures with any particular scholastic passion, recognised the extraordinary quintessence of this great song. Although before Gandhi it was widely revered in Gujarat, it was his patronage from 1907 onward that resulted in it becoming one of the world’s most widely sung songs.

Apart from “Vaishnav Jan To”, Gandhi also assimilated another term coined

by Mehta -- Harijan. Although Harijan has largely fallen from political grace in recent decades, in its original Gujarati coinage “Hari na jan to…” (Children of God…) it encapsulated what was most noble in humanity. Given Mehta’s more obscurantist times and the often ugly community pressures he was up against, it was historically remarkable that he used it to emphasise equity among people.

As India prepares to celebrate the onset of the 150th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth, it might do itself well to also acknowledge Narsinh Mehta (14141480), the profoundly philosophical articulator of the values he stood for.

OpEd

17

Avinash Saurabh Avinash Saurabh is the founder of Aware, a technology-backed mindfulness trainer app

Opinion

Mindfulness An ancient remedy for the modern world’s stresses

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odays world is full of an unprecedented number of distractions and anxieties. The cities we work in are denser than ever.

Our workplaces move at a faster pace than before. The devices we own and use for work and leisure are always awake and always hungry for more of our attention and time.

Is it any surprise then, that our stress levels are rising and are expected to rise in the near future? Not really, just as it is no surprise that we are increasingly more anxious.

Sleep quality has gone down in the past few decades. And our subjective enjoyment of the little pleasures of our day, be it a beautiful sunrise or the simple gratification of a good meal, seems to have evaporated, little by little, without us noticing.

While we know that our minds are constantly rushed, and that this push and pull is not very conducive to a healthy life, it might seem like the problem is too difficult and intractable to solve. Not so.

Mindfulness is what we should look to for permanent, holistic solutions to our modern malady. Mindfulness is an old technique, developed by the Buddha in the 6th century BCE. But it is not for just the spiritual or the ascetic among us. Everyone can adopt and benefit from it.

Before describing the technique and its benefits, one must understand what mindfulness really is. Mindfulness is the process of bringing our attention to what we are experiencing in the current moment. This definition may seem banal when read for the first time.

But when we stop to think about the moment-to-moment turmoil of the mind, the utter uproar we experience within our minds every second, we

realise that the breath. Start with Mindfulness is the practice can process of bringing only five minutes bring about a our attention to what of this practice. powerful change we are experiencing in Mindfulness during in our daily day will come the current moment the experiences. much easier to To focus on the you once you have current moment, to stay attentive established a routine that includes in the present, means that instead of a few minute sessions. A workday thinking about the problems of the brings several recesses where a small future or the disappointments of the session can be fitted in. After lunch, past we stay calm and responsive to perhaps. Or in the evening. And the current moment. the amount of time spent focusing All of this -- the calm on the breath can be increased as responsiveness, the stress-reduction one becomes more fluent with the -- sounds quite attractive, doesn’t it? practice.

You would be quite right to wonder if Once begun, the practice of the technique is very difficult to learn mindfulness brings several benefits. or to practice. But as it happens, the Being really present is a great one, but trick to beginning with mindfulness there are many others. Several recent is to start slow. One way to learn to studies have found significant stress centre yourself in the present is to reduction among the practitioners begin observing your breath. of mindfulness. They also sleep Nothing complicated, just better. And better sleep has long observe the inhale and exhale of the been correlated with longer and breath. The mind will always try to healthier lives. The practice has even escape the confines of the present. It been shown to help in weight-loss will get bored or agitated and move and long-term weight maintenance. away from the breath. But all one It does not seem like an exaggeration has to do, when the mind moves to say that a distracted world could away, is to bring it back to observing benefit greatly from practising this the inhalation and exhalation of the wonderful technique.

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Photo Feature

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

The Insects Museum Besides the collection of dead insects there is also a collection of living insects. (Jakarta) PHOTO: Sipra Das

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

Photo Feature

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Environment

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

eco-friendly

Railways to use ‘green’ composite sleepers As a lightweight, high-strength, environment-friendly product, FFU composite is a cost-effective alternative to timber or concrete

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Anand K Singh

iming to become more ecofriendly, Indian Railways has decided to replace wooden sleepers with composite sleepers that are not only lighter but also stronger.

“The Railways has decided to use the composite sleepers in a limited way. It is being used mainly on girder bridges,” a senior Railways Ministry official told.

Composite sleepers were first used by the Railways in the Muradabad division in 2003. They have an edge compared with the strength of wooden and channel sleepers.

The official said that no complaint has been received till date about the use of these sleepers, which were deployed on a bigger scale from 2016 in over 10 zones.

The official also pointed out that

composite sleepers, comprising a mixture of steel and fibre plastic, costs more as compared to the other sleepers. “The cost of a composite sleeper is about Rs 25,000, whereas a channel sleeper costs about Rs 7,000,” he said, adding that cost is the big factor.

He said the Railways preferred

them over wooden sleepers because of environmental issues that cropped up over the cutting of trees.

“This decision has been taken in the wake of a Supreme Court order imposing restrictions on cutting trees. If successful, all wooden sleepers will be replaced with composite sleepers.”

In June 2016, the Railway Board Executive Director (Track), in a letter to all the zonal offices, said that the Research, Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) was planning to replace wooden sleepers with those made of composite material. It would initially be tried on bridges.

The primary function of a sleeper

is to grip the rail to the gauge and to distribute the rail load to ballast with acceptable induced pressure.

Pavwan Droliaa, Managing Director of Asterix Reinforced Limited, which deals in manufacturing of composite materials, said that fibre-reinforced foamed urethane (FFU) composite sleepers are made of rigid polyurethane reinforced with glass fibre.

“As a lightweight, high-strength, environment-friendly product, FFU composite is a cost-effective alternative to timber or concrete,” he said.

Droliaa said that synthetic sleepers are currently widely used on different types of rail transport systems, particularly on switches, turnouts, bridges or viaduct and other projects in high-speed railway and metro railway construction across the globe.

“I think, initially, the green and sustainable element is what attracts people, but people now realise its durability is beneficial because there’s no maintenance with this product once it’s installed,” he said.

“It doesn’t have to be repainted, re-oiled, re-sanded... and it will last between two and three times longer than timber.

“Generally it is a much lower cost over that period of time; that is what appeals to councils and park authorities.”

100% organic state

Sikkim wins gold at global Future Policy Awards Sikkim is 2018’s winner of the “Oscar for best policies”, beating 51 nominated policies from 25 countries

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Agency

ikkim has been awarded the prestigious gold prize at global Future Policy Awards for promoting agro-ecology through policies and laws that have made it a “100 per cent organic farming” state.

Sikkim is 2018’s winner of the “Oscar for best policies”, beating 51 nominated policies from 25 countries, the international non-government body World Future Council (WFC) announced.

The award is co-organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Future Council (WFC) and IFOAM Organics International. It was announced

simultaneously at Hamburg and Rome. Policies from Brazil, Denmark and Quito (Ecuador) were awarded silver.

FAO Deputy Director-General Maria-Helena Semedo said: “A transition to sustainable food and agriculture systems is critical to achieving sustainable development, and the 2018 Future Policy Award is unique as it highlights policies that advance such a transition.

“FAO is proud to honour, along with the World Future Council and IFOAM - Organics International, such leadership and political will.”

The organisers said by scaling up agro-ecology and through effective policy making, it was possible to tackle

malnutrition, social injustice, climate change and loss of biodiversity.

“Gold Prize winner Sikkim is the first organic state in the world. All of its farmland is certified organic. At the same time, Sikkim’s approach reaches beyond organic production and has proven truly transformational for the state and its citizens,” the WFC, a Hamburg-based body consisting of 50 eminent global change-makers from governments, parliaments, civil society, academia and business, said in the release.

“Embedded in its design are socioeconomic aspects such as consumption and market expansion, cultural aspects as well as health, education, rural development and

sustainable tourism.

“The policy implemented a phase out of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, and achieved a total ban on sale and use of chemical pesticides in the state. The transition has benefited more than 66,000 farming families,” it said while explaining why Sikkim was chosen for the top award.

It noted that Sikkim’s tourism sector had benefited greatly from the state’s transition to 100 per cent organic.

“As such, Sikkim sets an excellent example of how other Indian states and countries worldwide can successfully upscale agro-ecology,” it added.

The winners of Future Policy Award 2018 will be celebrated in a ceremony on October 15 at FAO headquarters during the World Food Week in Rome.

Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling, who as Founder-President of the Sikkim Democratic Front has been ruling the state for a record 25 years, is expected to receive the award personally in Rome.

Miscellaneous

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

The Canvas code

UIDAI

Indian Oil’s art exhibition to open in Mumbai

AADHAAR ENROLMENT BEGINS IN ASSAM

The six-day event will be inaugurated by painter Bose Krishnamachari

A total of 1,241 Aadhaar enrolment centres have been set up, including 42 in Guwahati in the country. Last year, in a written statement in Parliament, the government had informed that around 2 crore of illegal Bangladeshi migrants were living in the country.

In Assam, the ruling BJP and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) had earlier demanded that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) must first publish the complete list of citizens before Aadhaar cards are issued. The same views were also expressed by the All-Assam Students’ Union (AASU), which has Raj Kashyap series of campaigns has also been consistently making a been planned by the general case for identification and nrolment for administration department expulsion of illegal migrants Aadhaar has once again (GAD) of the government from the state. begun in Assam after a with the help of UIDAI. The project was started gap of almost four years. The The 12-digit Aadhaar card last year by the government process was halted owing to can be used while opening a and the home department concerns that illegal migrants bank account, applying for a was asked to monitor the could avail the facility to claim passport, booking e-tickets process. More than a thousand citizenship. and at other places where locations were identified A total of 1,241 Aadhaar there is a need to establish across the state as Aadhaar enrolment centres have identity.

Kendras for the distribution of been set up, including 42 In Assam, Aadhaar had cards. Deputy Commissioners in Guwahati. The deputy fuelled a controversy with of all the districts were commissioners have been civil society groups raising directed to supervise the designated as the enrolment concerns that its benefits process and appoint “verifiers” authorities at the district would be reaped by foreign at every centre. Some banks level. Every centre will have nationals.

But following a had also begun the process of an officer for verifying all series of meetings between Aadhaar enrollment for their the documents on proof of the state government and the customers. But the process identity, birth and address. A ministry of home affairs, it was was again stalled following vendor will be responsible for decided to issue Aadhaar in the objections raised by the civil taking biometric details of the state since some core services society groups. applicants. would be linked to the card According to data given by The government has also and a large chunk of residents the government in the state asked banks to increase their will avail the facility including Assembly, only about eight per manpower and begin the declared foreigners. cent of the total population of process of enrolment at all The government feels Assam has availed Aadhaar so the branches so that process that gathering biometric far in the districts of Sonitpur, can be completed soon. For details will help track the Nagaon and Golaghat. In publicity and awareness, a movement of illegal migrants March 2017, the state government had also informed the Supreme In Assam, Aadhaar had fuelled a controversy Court of its inability to stick to the March with civil society groups raising concerns that 31 deadline for linking its benefits would be reaped by foreign nationals Aadhaar with other core services.

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Agency

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ndian Oil Corporation’s biennial art exhibition - The Canvas Code - will open in Mumbai on October 24, officials said.

The exhibition, an initiative to promote young artists, will showcase a wide array of paintings by over 90 artists from all over India at the Jehangir Art Gallery.

The six-day event will be inaugurated by painter Bose Krishnamachari. IOC first organised this exhibition in 1987 to encourage young artists in the early stages of their careers. “We are delighted that it continues to be such an important exhibition for artists, giving them a platform to share their voices, art, and to introduce new ideas to the ever-increasing audience in the world of art,” said Subodh Dakwale, IOC’s Executive Director (Corporate Communications & Branding).

The display will feature a diverse range of artworks from different age groups, styles and categories and 10 per cent of the sale proceeds would go to an NGO, Nanhi Kali.

Dakwale said that for the first time, specially-challenged artists like Sudarshan Manse and Gaurav Dhamija will display their works. Besides, creations by IOC employees will also be put up at the gallery.

Some of the artists whose works would be displayed include Suhas Bahulkar, Achyut Palav, Shobha Broota, V.G. Andani, David Prem, Mohammad Iqbal, Pankaj Gehlot and Niti Yogi.

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Science

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

Cotton doctor app

Farmers Use Smart Phones to boost cotton yields With the help of a tap, farmers can now feed in the time and duration they want the cotton saplings to be watered and then activate the water pump automatically phone, he can activate the pump from anywhere.

“I also get an SMS that the command has been successfully carried out,” he said, adding: “Apart from this, I receive regular SMS alerts with weather updates and how to monitor soil nutrient throughout the growing stages of the cotton crop.”

The infestation of pink bollworm, a common pest that attacks cotton plants, devastated cotton production in the state last year.

“Cotton farmers lost between 60 to 90 per cent of their total produce last year,” claimed Ghule. “But with this app, we are informed when pink bollworm is likely to attack our plants and at what temperature the infestation can occur. The SMS alerts I receive recommend appropriate medicines/ sprays I should apply to eliminate the pest.

Advisories relating to adverse weather conditions have been especially helpful to the farmers. “Earlier, I would delay cotton picking, but with alerts that rains are coming, we pick the cotton on time and store it safely indoors. I also used too much water earlier which destroyed the crops, but with the information provided by this app, I have cut down tremendously

corn

Nitin Jugran Bahuguna

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orty-year-old cotton farmer Nivrutti Ghule feels more in control of his crops today. If he has to leave his village on urgent work, he doesn’t have his earlier misgivings on whether the plants will be tended to properly in his absence. Now with a simple tap of his android phone, he can feed in the time and duration he wants the cotton saplings to be watered, automatically activating his water pump.

The “Cotton Doctor” app, an Android and web-based Decision Support System (DSS), has been

introduced by World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) in collaboration with Swedish multinational IKEA and is enabling cotton farmers in Maharashtra’s Jalna district to derive the maximum benefits and returns from cotton cultivation.

The app alerts farmers about weather vulnerabilities and assists them in making informed and effective decisions on cotton growing.

Ghule, who hails from Wakhari village, some 25 km from Jalna, explains that a sim card has been fixed in an Automatic Irrigation Switch (AIS) attached to his motor pump. With the Cotton Doctor app uploaded on his

motor that can be turned on and off for the detection of moisture content in soil on earth. The ASM sensors have been installed in seven villages including on Ghule’s farm.

“This precise system has huge potential to save excess water,” Roy stressed.

At the start of the project, 6,000 cotton fields were geo-tagged to start the weather-based advisories.

Geo-tagging is the process of adding geographical information to various media in the form of metadata. The data usually consists of coordinates like latitude and longitude and can include altitude, distance and place names.

Ramesh Wajge, 23, also of Wakhari village, narrated how he started receiving advisories on his phone from July this year after the geo-tagging was conducted on two acres of his land devoted to cotton cultivation.

“I am getting so much information on soil moisture conditions and better management practices which will enable me to make more informed choices while cultivating cotton,” he said.

With his Android phone, Wajge can also paste and upload pictures and videos of his plants with queries on instructions or advice regarding the growth of his saplings or information on effective manure and pesticides.

After collecting basic data on the farmers’ lands, crop variety and sowing date, this information is sent to a Weather Risk Management Services (WRMS) company and captured on satellite and subsequently relayed in the app’s dashboard.

Farmers can access the dashboard for information relating to mandis and crop, farm and water management.

“So far, we have registered 4,864 farmers on the dashboard,” Mukesh

The “Cotton Doctor” app, an Android and web-based Decision Support System (DSS), has been introduced by World Wide Fund for Nature-India on water wastage, besides unnecessary manpower.”

Ghule’s wife Shashikala, 38, enthusiastically seconds her husband.

“The biggest plus factor of this app is that we use water only when it is necessary. We have saved between 52 to 70 per cent of water by following the Automatic Soil Moisture (ASM) alerts,” she added.

Sumit Roy, Associate Director of WWF-India’s Sustainable Agriculture Programme (SAP), which is implementing the project, said AIS is a smart switching device consisting of a micro-controller and soil and water moisture sensors. It has a pumping

Tripathi, WWF’s Coordinator in Jalna district, said.

The dashboard is being managed

by Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), a renowned Indian NGO and WWF’s partner in the project. Though off to a promising start, the long-term success of the Cotton Doctor app will depend on how the cotton community own, operate, manage and maintain this system. If farmers like Ghule continue to set the example, better days are surely ahead for this cotton community.

“I give my one hundred per cent to all new technological advances in the hope that it will help me increase my cotton yields,” Ghule stated firmly.

Sanitation

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

Support my school

More Toilets = More skilled ‘Girlforce’

The number of dropouts amongst girls in upper-primary and secondary classes increased by almost 70 per cent as compared to the dropouts in primary classes

Mridula Narayan

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et us look at how a simple step can make a big difference in empowering girls to achieve their dreams.

“I advised my sister not to leave school because I’ve already made that mistake,” says Ruby with her head bowed and her steady yet moist eyes fixed on the floor. The 20-year-old from a slum in Agra dropped out of school in the third grade as there were no toilets.

Like other children, she was forced to defecate behind the school building in the open or she had to walk back home just to use the toilet. Most girls didn’t feel safe defecating in the open area due to the fear of being watched.

They preferred to walk back to their respective houses, about a kilometre away, to use the toilets and return to school. But the walk was risky, due to violent incidences on the lonely streets.

Ruby’s younger sister, 15-year-old Nisha, an ambitious girl who aspires to be a doctor, also had a similar experience but luckily not for too long.

As per statistics released by the Ministry of Human Resource Department in 2016, the number of dropouts amongst girls in upperprimary and secondary classes

increased by almost 70 per cent as compared to the dropouts in primary classes. Even the enrollment of girls to every hundred boys decreased from 95 to 85 from upper primary to higher secondary classes.

A World Bank report published in July 2018 said that the lack of educational opportunities and barriers in completing 12 years of schooling for girls is costing countries anywhere between $15 trillion and $30 trillion dollars. It also pointed out that nine in ten girls complete their primary education, but only three in four complete their lower secondary education across the world.

According to the study, the first among six primary reasons for this is that “schools are not equipped with necessary infrastructure” for girls to continue their education. If they have to continue in schools equipped with good resources, the cost is well beyond their means.

Nisha’s and Ruby’s struggle and fears were real and it is still a reality for thousands of girls between ages 10 to 17, living in poor and vulnerable conditions. Yet, Nisha’s story illustrates the fact that change is possible.

Four years ago, in 2013, World Vision India, through the “Support My School” campaign, built separate toilets for girls and boys in Nisha’s school.

“Now I don’t need to go home during school hours. Earlier, I missed school regularly due to lack of a toilet in the premises. I used to score less and felt extremely bad,” she says.

It was during those initial years until 2013 that Nisha used to repeatedly miss school due to lack of a sanitation facility. But Ruby’s words of wisdom and the relentless support of her father, a traditional shoemaker, and mother, a homemaker, inspired the younger daughter of the family to not to give up on school.

“We used to get scared about Nisha coming home alone repeatedly, especially because there are several drunken men in this area. But now that the problem is solved, we are at peace,” says 40-year-old Pushpa, Nisha’s mother.

Nisha now has the means to achieve her dreams. A classroom where she can be educated and develop her knowledge and skills in a safe and hygienic environment. She has her space to participate and engage in cocurricular activities and friends with whom she can learn, share and grow.

And she has all of this because of one small change -- an accessible toilet in her school.

“Since the installation of toilets, girls have outnumbered boys present in some of our classrooms,” says Rakhi, a teacher from the school.

Like Nisha, several other girl students have been restored their right to education -- a right that was taken away due to lack of child-friendly spaces for girls.

“The stability in the attendance of girls, that wasn’t present earlier, is now visible,” says Snehalatha, Nisha’s class teacher. “Before the toilets were built, nearly 40 per cent of female students dropped out of school. Now there are hardly any dropouts,” she adds.

The World Bank reports highlights that “globally, women with secondary education earn twice as much as those with only primary education”.

To build a skilled workforce of girls, it is important that we help them complete secondary education -- and a toilet in school is all we need to make the much-needed difference.

23 07

SBM

Shinzo Abe Offers Support To Swachh Bharat Mission In a written message, Prime Minister Abe said that Japan will cooperate with India

Agency

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apan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has offered his government’s support to the Swachh Bharat Mission, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation said.

“In a written message, Prime Minister Abe said that Japan will cooperate with India, which promotes the Clean India initiative under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership,” said the Ministry.

He further underscored Japan’s commitment to realize healthy societies in Asia and congratulated India on the success of the Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention (MGISC).

“Securing clean water and improving sanitary conditions is a common challenge in the world. We hope for the further progress of each country’s efforts to address the challenge through active discussions at this convention (MGISC),” Abe said in the message.

MGISC was a four-day international conference that brought together ministers for sanitation and other leaders in WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) from around the world.

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excerpts from the book: “NARENDRA DAMODARdas MODI: the making of a legend”

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

Bangladesh India and Bangladesh opened a new chapter in their ties by settling a 41-year-old boundary dispute and promising to do more in other areas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a fresh line of credit of $2 billion to the neighbouring country

Main steering wheel of INS Vikrant handed over by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in Dhaka, on June 6, 2015.

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rime Minister Modi undertook a two-day visit to Bangladesh on June 6 and 7, 2015, during which he held wide-ranging discussions with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina. The focus of the visit was to give a broad and forward thrust to existing bilateral relations and to

India’s “Look East,” now “Act East” strategic orientation.

Their joint statement declared that bilateral ties had entered a new phase involving a “pragmatic, mature and practical approach”.

Twenty-two bilateral agreements were signed, and the most significant was the decision to

implement the pending and much vexed Land Boundary Agreement (LBA). Under the LBA, both nations agreed to simplify their 4,000-km-long border through the swapping of some 200 border enclaves. It was agreed that India would receive 92 enclaves, while Bangladesh would get 106. The

LBA was originally signed between Indian and Bangladesh Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1974, but successive Indian governments failed to implement it due to opposition pressure.

Eventually, a political consensus was reached in the Indian

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

excerpts from the book: “NARENDRA DAMODARdas MODI: the making of a legend”

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PM Modi and PM Hasina at the delegation-level talks in Dhaka.

Prime Minister Modi presents a transcript of the parliamentary debates on Land Boundary Agreement to his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Begum Khaleda Zia, at a meeting in Dhaka.

PM Modi meets with President Hamid of Bangladesh.

Parliament in May 2015 to ratify the LBA, keeping in mind the larger geopolitical interests of the nation.

Both governments also signed a coastal shipping agreement to boost trade and connectivity, and agreed to work closely on the development of an ocean-based “Blue Economy and Maritime Cooperation” in the Bay of Bengal.

The other bilateral agreements covered cooperation in civil nuclear energy, petroleum and power. It was agreed that two Indian companies would invest over 4.5 billion dollars in developing six power plants in Bangladesh. Modi also promised to double power exports from India to Bangladesh. India announced a new two billion dollar line of credit facility for Bangladesh. In return, Dhaka offered to establish two exclusive economic zones for India in Mongla and Bhermara.

These were clear moves by India to counter China, which has heavily invested in Bangladesh and has several exclusive economic zones.

Modi and Shekh Hasina also flagged off the long-awaited IndoBangladesh international bus services (Agartala-Dhaka-Kolkata, Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati), which would reduce land travel between the two countries by more than 1000 kilometres. Faster trips henceforth will enable New Delhi to tighten its grip over strategic border areas in the north-east.

India and Bangladesh discussed the issue of sharing of waters of 54 common rivers and also pledged to maintain zero tolerance against terrorism. Prime Minister Modi was also receptive to the issue of a growing trade deficit and assured his government’s cooperation to make it more balanced. However, no agreement was reached on water sharing of the Teesta River, as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who accompanied Modi on his visit to Dhaka, maintained her opposition to the deal.

Flagging his concern that the protracted water sharing dispute

could hamper Delhi’s efforts to secure closer economic and security ties with Dhaka, Modi said: “Our rivers should nurture our relationship, not become a source of discord. Water sharing is, above all, a human issue.”

The other highlights of the visit to Bangladesh included an exchange of memorabilia; visits to the historical Sree Sree Dakheshwari Temple and the Ramakrishna Mission Math; inauguration of six grant-in-aid projects in the new chancery complex of the Indian High Commission; receiving the Liberation War Honour Award on behalf of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee; participation in an Indo-Bangladesh cultural programme at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka; calling on Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid; interacting with Leader of Opposition Begum Raushan Ershad and the presidents of various Bangladesh chambers of commerce and industry.

This day is a matter of great pride for all Indians that a great leader like Atal Bihari Vajpayee is being honoured. He dedicated his entire life to the service of the country and he fought for the rights of the common man, and from a political point of view, he was an inspiration, for political workers like myself.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on receiving the Bangladesh Liberation War honour on behalf of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bangladesh for a mere 36 hours, but left an impact big enough to wipe away the mistrust that had crept into the IndoBangladesh relationship over decades.

The credit for such a short sojourn leaving such a big impact and raising such high hopes goes to both leaders, Narendra Modi and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

K Anis Ahmed Bangladeshi writer and publisher Continue in next issue

26

Urdu Poetry

Oct 22 - 28, 2018 A dying art

Learn the language or use one of the sites offering transliterated versions, but don’t let it happen Vikas Datta

“Q

uidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur” (“Whatever is said in Latin seems profound”), they say, and the language’s sonorous tones aren’t confined to religion, but law and medicine too. In the South Asian millieu, Urdu has the same position with its assimilative nature and its courtly pedigree giving it refinements as well as ability to express elaborate, sophisticated concepts. Its poetry is the vanguard.

And once we avoid the trap of confining Urdu poetry to its romantic aspect – though that is the area where it is fairly prolific and popular – we find that, like any other long-standing literary tradition, it also spans a wide expanse of life beyond love and longing, and in a variety of styles.

In fact, there are few issues of the human condition or for the natural world that Urdu poets have not covered in the few centuries the language has existed so far, beyond the usually known motifs of the pining lover, the cupbearer or the tavern, the flame and the moth, and so on. Let us see something new.

Take the sky and Jaleel Manikpuri, in an eloquent negation of manmade borders and divisions, writes: “Main kis sar-zameen ki qadr karun/ Asmaan saath saath chalta hai”, and on wind, Nawaz Deobandi brings out its misuse as agency for human depredations: “Yeh jala diya, yeh bujha diya, yeh kaam kisi aur ka hai/Na hawa kisi ke saath thi, na hawa kisi ke khilaaf hai.”

Other human emotions and traits also figure. On wisdom, Allama Iqbal says: “Guzar ja aql se aage, ke ye noor/Chirag-e-raah hai, manzil nahi hai”, Saqib Lakhnavi on the “pleasure” of difficulty, observes: “Bu-e-gul kaliyon mein rahi thi magar reh na saki/Main to kaanton

mein raha aur pareshan na huya” and Shad Azimabadi, on “sharafat” (integrity), says: “Gulon ne khaaron ke cherhne par siva khamoshi ke dam na mara/Shareef uljhe agar kisi se, to phir sharafat kahan rahegi.”

Likewise, there are many more, and let’s take up a few more unexpected topics and issues, with an attempt to give “shaairs”, who are not well known outside committed

Tassavur mein bhi in ke kuch ajab aalam nikalta hai/ Isi par to meri hairaniyon ka dam nikalta hai

connoisseurs or scholars, their place in the sun – as far as possible.

What could be a better topic to begin with than “hamdardi”, or empathy, with Ameer Meenai telling us: “Khanjar chale kisi par tadapte ham hai ‘Ameer’/Saare jahan ka dard hamare jigar mein hai”, or “himmat”, which conveys more than courage, as Pandit Brij Narayan Chakbast brings out the difference between its possessors and others: “Ahl-ehimmat manzil maqsood tak aa bhi gaye/Bandahe taqdeer qismat ka gila karte rahe.”

Or take human breath, which Arzoo Lakhnavi advises: “Ae saans!

Na aa ke dil mein hai zakhm/Thes abhi hai jab hawa lagti hai” and Fani Badayuni looks on offered medicine with some trepidation: “Fani! Davaye dard jigar zahar to nahi/Kyun haath kaanpta hai mere charah-saaz ka.”

On advice, Bebak Shahjahanpuri wryly holds: “Kami wafaa mein

agar ho to voh jafaa na kare/Salah dete hai kya kya salaah kar mujhe” and for effort, who can better Mirza Ghalib himself, making good use of shared religious imagery, with: “Kuch farz hai sab ko mile ek sa jawaab/Aao na, ham bhi sair karen Koh-e-Toor ki.”

Akbar Allahabadi makes a definitive stand on human nature with: “Tarkeeb-o-taklif lakh karo fitrat kahi chupti hai, Akbar/Jo mitti hai voh mitti hai, jo sona hai who sona hai”, while Bahadur Shah Zafar, the emperor of poets more than subjects, has some frank advice on on’’s good and bad points: “Na thi haal ki jab hame apni khabar, rahe dekhte auron ke aib-o-hunar/ Padi aapni buraiyon pe jo nazar, to nigaah mein koi bura na raha.” But despite all, love however can crop up -- though in various unexpected guises -- and Jigar Moradabadi likens it to a story being told to some eager listeners with: “Koi hadd hi nahi shahd mohabbat ke fasaane ki/Sunta ja raha hai, jisko jitna yaad hota hai.”

On the other hand, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, whose ghazal of a former romance that still pricks the heart (“Chupke chupke raat din..”) has never been bettered, gives tassavur or imagination a new spin with, “Tassavur mein bhi in ke kuch ajab aalam nikalta hai/Isi par to meri hairaniyon ka dam nikalta hai” and Asr Lakhnavi tries the same with dreams: “Gulon ki god mein jaise naseem aake machal jaaye/Isi andaaz se in par khumaar aankhon mein khvaab aaya.”

There are much more, specially on the overarching issues of life and death, and love which may cause and also transcend them, but the habit of quoting an apt Urdu couplet on any occasion – on the pattern of a Biblical or Shakespearean reference -- is dying out. Learn the language or use one the sites offering transliterated versions, but don’t let it happen. .

Development

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

27 07

Days for girls

Social Enterprise Launched For Menstrual Health In India, more than 40 per cent of women report lack of access to sanitary pads Agency

H

appy Smiles Foundation, in partnership with Days for Girls International (DfGI), announced launch of a social enterprise in Hyderabad aimed at providing affordable, environmentally-friendly menstrual health solutions for women and girls.

DfGI Founder and CEO, Celeste Mergensm, who was on a visit to Hyderabad, met with various organisations and government officials to discuss menstrual health management and the needs of Indian school girls and women when

managing their menses.

She told a news conference that Days for Girls is a global movement breaking menstrual stigma while improving access to quality, reusable menstrual care products. The USbased non-profit organisation has a 10-year successful history of delivering menstrual supplies and health education to women and girls around the world.

It has so far reached over 1 million women and girls in over 120 countries with Days for Girls Kits, which include beautifully-patterned, comfortable washable sanitary pads that are ecofriendly, and designed to manage

menses without stigma or shame.

DfG uses a multi-tiered approach to menstrual health challenges that involves a global network of over 50,000 volunteer chapters and teams. A DfG has more than 80 social enterprises globally, like the one launching in Hyderabad, with a mission to increase access to menstrual care and education.

In India, more than 40 per cent of women report lack of access to

sanitary pads, and many social and cultural taboos leave women and girls feeling uncomfortable discussing their menses or purchasing sanitary products. One in five girls drops out of school after starting menstruation.

Stephanie Stewart Schmid and A Starry Laurie from Days for Girls International; Reetu Rai, CoFounder, Happy Smiles Foundation, and others addressed the news conference.

investment

ADB To Lend $100 mn For Kolkata’s Sewerage, Drainage India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed $100 million loan agreement to strengthen the capacity of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Agency

I

ndia and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed $100 million loan agreement to strengthen capacity of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for resilient urban services, an official statement said.

The $100 million loan is the third and final tranche under the $400 million Kolkata Environmental Improvement Investment Program and is aimed at expanding sewerage

and drainage coverage and providing sewage treatment in Kolkata.

It will target expansion of sewerage and drainage services in selected peripheral areas of KMC to at least 3,000 additional households and provide sewage treatment for at least 1,00,000 households, the Ministry of Finance said in the statement.

The agreement was signed by Ministry of Finance Additional Secretary Sameer Kumar Khare for the Indian government and ADB’s India

Resident Mission Country Director Kenichi Yokoyama for the multilateral lending agency.

Khare said it will supplement the efforts made in previous phases that aim to provide affordable access to water supply, sewerage and drainage services in Kolkata.

Yokoyama said that the current financing will be used to construct 43 km of additional sewer drain pipes, four pumping stations, 13 km of pumping mains and three sewage treatment

plants to improve sanitation service and climate resilience.

The overall goal of the programme, approved in 2014, is to restore water production capacity to 1,478 million liters per day and ensure leaks on 700 kilometers of water pipes are repaired by 2023, the statement said.

It aims to install 40,000 water meters in pilot areas, 170 kilometers of sewerdrain pipes and provide new sewerage connections to 27,000 homes, it said.

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Sports

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

Swapna Barman

From Pain And Penury to Pinnacle of Success Her story began in a narrow lane between paddy fields that leads to Ghoshpara village where Swapna ran for the first time in her life

n Debayan Mukherjee

U

ntil that evening in Jakarta when the country celebrated her success with much fanfare, everything about heptathlete Swapna Barman spelt hardship. From extreme poverty to physical deformity of the kind that threatened to time and again derail her ambition, Swapna pushed every odd to its limits on course to become the first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold.

But by the 21-year-old’s own admission, getting a government job, and certainly not a gold medal, was her priority when she set sail.

“When I started with a high jump in my locality and used to take part in local competitions back home, my target was to somehow get a government job. That was my dream then,” Swapna told.

Swapna is the youngest among four children of her parents, who even now struggle to make ends meet. Belonging to the Rajbongshi tribe in North Bengal, Swapna’s mother worked as a maid and doubled up as a plucker in the tea gardens.

Her father, Panchanan Barman, pulled a van rickshaw until he became bedridden following a stroke seven years ago.

“My other three brothers and sisters struggled to make a living.

I am the youngest. So my father thought if I eke out something from sports, that would be helpful for the family.

“All I wanted was a small-time job,” said Swapna, who besides financial hurdles had to overcome the hurdle of having six toes in both her feet to produce her careerbest performance by logging 6,026 aggregate points from the gruelling seven events spread across two days in August.

“My dream now is to take my country further ahead and make all of you proud,” added Swapna, while continuously stressing that

she should not be treated differently now as the journey has just begun.

In Jakarta, she competed with a tape on her right cheek to lessen pain arising out of a tooth infection.

“I could not eat anything before my event. I was so ill I cannot tell you. I only knew I had to do this. All these years of struggle rested on this.”

Her story began in a narrow lane between paddy fields that leads to Ghoshpara village where Swapna ran for the first time in her life.

“I got a glimpse of Swapna Barman for the first time in 2011 in Jalpaiguri, which is also my native place. I have a few students there and they told me, ‘Sir take her along with you to Kolkata, she is very good’,” recalled her long-time coach Subhas Sarkar who, among others, has also trained track and field athlete Hari Shankar Roy. A Sports Authority of India (SAI) trainer since 1992, Sarkar said Swapna’s diminutive stature and stocky built did not impress him initially. It was Raikot Para Sporting Association secretary Samir Das who pushed Sarkar to take her along with him. Swapna used to train here before moving to the SAI Eastern Centre in 2012.

According to Sarkar, Samir -- who

“When I started with a high jump in my locality and used to take part in local competitions, my target was to somehow get a government job” passed away in June this year -- had warned that she would soon start working in the tea garden with her mother if she did not get proper exposure. In a 2011 school meet in Ludhiana, Swapna bagged gold in the high jump. Coach Sarkar was still not impressed, but Swapna started to show meteoric growth in the next few years.

“I was surprised to see her talent.

In 2012, she scored 57, 61, 63, 67, 71 in high jump. Within two years, she made 2-3 junior national records in the high jump. One extraordinary quality she had was her adaptation and following the technique part.

She was above average,” Sarkar said.

Sarkar then made the shift for Swapna from high jump to the heptathlon.

“Her height was a worry in the high jump and, seeing her potential, I was sure she had it in her to win an Asian Games medal. So I decided to shift her to the heptathlon.”

In her first event, after the shift, Swapna racked up 4,431 points and got silver at Guntur in 2013.

From then on, Sarkar said,

Swapna took off and never looked back.

At the age of 17, Swapna took part in the 17th Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships and qualified for the Icheon Asian Games in South Korea, scoring 5,400 points in the heptathlon.

In the 2014 Asiad, Swapna finished in fifth place with 5,178 points and coach Sarkar felt she was on track to achieve a podium finish in the future.

But as fate would have it, social problems and a career-threatening back injury stretching from 2015 to 2016 forced her to return home and contemplate never taking the field again.

Brought back into the fold by coach Sarkar, Swapna clinched gold in the Asian Athletics championships in 2017 with 5,942 points but performed poorly while aggravating her injury at the World Athletics Championships the same year in London.

Before the Asiad, when all was going according to plan and Swapna was confident of hitting the 6,200-point mark, a spate of injuries ranging from ankle, hamstring, lower abdomen and a Grade 3 meniscus tear during the national camp in Patiala threatened to derail her campaign once again.

But this time, as coach Sarkar said, both of them were determined to not let it go. So Swapna skipped going under the knife, travelled to Indonesia even as Athletics Federation officials were not sure of her fitness, and achieved what she had not set out for in her initial years.

Swapna will have to do it all over again as she targets hitting the 6,300 plus point zone ahead of the 2020 Olympics. In 2019, she is unlikely to participate in any major competition as she needs to recuperate fast.

“If I can win gold despite an excruciating toothache, I am sure I would do better in future when fully fit,” Swapna declared.

Entertainment

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

29 07

Q at e e l S h i f ai

The Lyricist who gave a new lease of life to Urdu poetry The path of Mohammad Aurangzeb Khan to become “Qateel” was scarcely obvious or smooth

T

n Vikas Datta

he ultimate test of a language’s survival is how it is chosen by its users to express their innermost feelings.

This yardstick could well explain the case of Urdu, especially when it struck up its enduring partnership with films. And a standard-bearer among those responsible for bringing the ghazal out of courtly soirees to become an eloquent expression for everyman was this failed businessman.

Consider these songs: “Milkar judaa hue to na soya karenge ham/ Ek dusre ki yaad mein roya karenge ham”, “Zindagi mein to sabhi pyar kiya karte hai/Main to mar kar bhi meri jaan tujhe chaahuunga”, “Ye mojeza bhi mohabbat kabhi dikhaaye mujhe...”, or even “Mohe aayi na jag se laaj/main itna zor se naachi aaj/Ke ghunghru toot gaye” or “Chaandi jaisa rang hai tera sone jaise baal/Ik tu hi dhanvan hai gori baaqi sab kangal”.

“Qateel Shifai” penned the lyrics of some of the most heard songs rendered by some of the subcontinent’s best-known voices -- Mehdi Hasan, Jagjit Singh, the Sabri Brothers, Pankaj Udhas and more. And he is one of the rare lyricists who has written for both Lollywood and Bollywood.

But the path of Mohammad Aurangzeb Khan (1919-2001) to become “Qateel” was scarcely obvious or smooth, given that there was no tradition of poetry in his family; nor for that matter was Urdu his mother tongue (he was actually a speaker of Hindko, the western Punjabi dialect prevalent across a huge swathe of highland Punjab and stretching into both present Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and

Kashmir).

Born in a businessman’s family in Haripur in Hazara Division of what was then North-West Frontier Province of British India, he had to stop his studies when 16 as his father died and begin earning for his family. He started his own sporting goods shop in Haripur but as it didn’t prove very successful, Aurangzeb Khan decided to move to Rawalpindi, where he started working for a transport company at the (then) princely sum of Rs 60 per month.

However, his chance to adorn the literary firmament came in 1946, when, out of the blue, he was called to Lahore and offered the post of the assistant editor of a decade-old literary journal “Adab-e-Latif”. His first ghazal was published in Lahore weekly “Star”, edited by Qamar Jalalabadi, the poetic takhallus of Om Prakash Bhandari, who would later become a prominent lyricist in Bollywood.

It was in January 1947, that Qateel -- as he had become while adopting the second part of his takhallus from his literary mentor Hakeem Yahya Shifa Khanpuri -was approached by Lahore-based film producer Dewan Sardari Lal to write lyrics for his upcoming film.

This was “Teri Yaad” (1948),

starring Dilip Kumar’s brother Nasir Khan, and the first film released in Pakistan.

While it is tempting to say that there was no looking back with this, it was not the case yet. For over a decade, it was slogging as an assistant lyricist before he achieved high status in his own right, and it was then we can say that there was no looking back.

Noted for the exquisite

“Main apni zaat mein nilaam ho raha hoon ‘Qateel’/Gam-ehayaat se kah do khareed laye mujhe”

simplicity of his loveimbued lyrics, which didn’t remain confined to ghazals, but extended into nazm and geet, Qateel -- with “Raat chandni maiin akeli” from “Zehar-e-Ishq” (1956), “Nigahe mila kar badal jaane vaale/Mujhe tujh se koi shikayat nahi hai” from “Mahboob” (1962) or “Dil ke viraane mein ik shamma hai ab tak roshan/Kii parvana magar ab na idhar aayega” from “Naila” (1965) -- soon made a name.

But if we are take one particular song as representative of his ability as an incomparable poet of romantic expression at its most sublime, then it has to be “Zindagi mein to sabhi pyaar karte hai...”

from film “Azmat” (1973).

With “Apne jazbaat mein nagmat rachane ke liye/Maine dhadkan ki tarah dil mein basaya hai tujhe/Main tasavvur bhi judaai ka bhala kaise karun/Maine qismat ki lakeeron se churaya hai tujhe..” or “Teri har chaap se jalate hain khayaalon mein charagh/Jab bhi tu aaye jagata hua jaadu aaye/ Tujhko choo loon to phir ai jaane-tamanna mujhko/Der tak apne badan se teri khushbu aaye..”, it deserves a place among the most impressively love lyrics in the Urdu poetical tradition.

But Qateel, who wrote over 2,000 songs in over 200 Pakistani and Indian films, also was lucky, unlike quite a few counterparts on both sides of the border, to be as famous for his “non-filmy” work -- be it Jagjit and Chitra Singh in “Milkar juda huye”, declaiming “Aansu chhalak chhalak ke sataayenge raat bhar/moti palak palak mein piroya karenge ham” or Mehdi Hasan warbling “Vo mera dost hai saare jahan ko hai maaloom/Dagah kare vo kisi se to sharm aaye mujhe” and several other classics.

Here he was also not confined to love -- the rather ironic “Apne liye ab ek hi raah nijaat hai/Har zulm ko raza-e-khuda kah liya karo” and much more in nearly 20 collections showing his versatility.

And like many others, he could pen an epitaph for himself: “Main apni zaat mein nilaam ho raha hoon ‘Qateel’/Gam-e-hayaat se kah do khareed laye mujhe”. His fear, happily, was misplaced.

30

Sulabh Parivar

Oct 22 - 28, 2018 Among the general visitors today, CA Anubha Rastogi, Partner, Pawan Puri and Associates, CA Ruby Sachdeva and CA Neeraj Joshi visited Sulabh Campus. The guests saw different branches of Sulabh Gram.

It was a great day for the Sulabh volunteers as they had the opportunity to welcome Jai Prakash Mishra, Journalist, India View, New Delhi, Rakesh Singh Parmar, Chairman, Purvanchal Samaj & CoManaging Editor, Suryotsav, New Delhi, SK Singh, President, Purvanchal Foundation,

Faridabad and Vikramaditya Parmar, Student, Noida Institute of Engineering & Technology . The guests attended the morning prayer where they were welcomed with shawl.

The guests were impressed with Sulabh hospitality and expressed to have enjoyed the tour.

The distinguished guests from German Embassy, New Delhi, and some other visitors visited Sulabh Campus. The guests were warmly received and welcomed by Sulabh Senior executives with garland and shawl. They highly appreciated the multi-purpose table top toilet, used by British while going out on hunting trips.

Moral Story

The Brahmin’s Dream

S

wabhavakripna was a poor Brahmin who lived alone in a small village. He had no friends or relatives, and used to beg for alms for his living. He was also a miser, and kept whatever little food he received as alms in an earthen pot that he hung beside his bed.

He kept a watch on the pot, and ate from the pot only when he was

very hungry.

One day, he recieved a large quantity of rice gruel (porridge). He filled his pot with the rice gruel, and ate the remaining. He was so happy to have his pot full; he could not take his eyes off the pot as he lay awake in his bed.

After a long time, he fell asleep and started dreaming about the pot

full of rice gruel.

He dreamt that there was a famine in his village. He sold his pot full of rice gruel for hundred silver coins.

With this money be bought a pair of goats. His goats gave kids in months and he traded all goats for some buffaloes and cows.

Soon, even the buffaloes and cows gave kids, and they gave a lot of milk.

He started trading milk and milk products like butter and curd in the market. This way, he became a very rich and popular man.

He kept dreaming that he then bought some horses and a large rectangular house with four buildings.

He became popular, and another wealthy Brahmin was so impressed that he offered his beautiful daughter for marriage. Soon after, they got married in a lavish ceremony.

His wife gave birth to a son, who was named Soma Sharma. But his son was very naughty. He would play and make noise all day.

One day, the Brahmin asked him to stop but he would not listen. Even his mother could not hear him shout as she was busy with her chores.

Swabhavakripna became very angry, he kicked his wife.

As he was in a dream, he kicked in air and his leg hit his earthen pot.

The pot broke and all the rice gruel spilled down. This woke him up.

At once, he realized that he had been dreaming. He also realized that all the rice gruel he had saved and was happily dreaming about was lost.

He was shattered.

The wise indeed say: One should not build castles in the air.

Events

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

events & more...

Across

3. Which of the following states has become partner state at 2018 Goa International Film Festival (GIFF)?

6. India’s first ‘Methanol Cooking Fuel Program’ has launched in which state?

10. India’s first state to give legal protection to good samaritans?

11. The team of scientists has recently identified regions in the wheat genome responsible for density of which micronutrient in wheat grain?

15. The nationwide Action Research Project of Gram Panchayat development scheme has been launched from which city?

16. Which city has launched India’s first Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System (FFEWS)?

18. Which of the following cities is the venue of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) of Indian Region?

20. The world’s largest dome has recently inaugurated in which country?

SSB crossword no. 45

events

Save The Dates For North East Festival Venue : Indira Gandhi National Centre For Arts

Down

MANSINGH ROAD 11, Mansingh Road, Rajpath Area, Central Secretariat, New Delhi 26 Oct 11:00 AM - 28 Oct 10:00 PM

Maine Karna Hai Ye - With Parvinder Singh Venue : Comedy munch

Dramebaaz 2624, 1st & 2nd Floor, Hudson Lane, Hudson Lane, GTB Nagar, New Delhi, Delhi Mon, 29 Oct 8:00PM - 9:30PM

SOLUTION of crossword no.44

#ColourMeAutumn: Serendipity Delhi Is Back Venue : Serendipity JUANAPUR 238/4, Jonapur Village, Mandi Road, Juanapur, New Delhi 27 Oct 11:00 AM - 28 Oct 11:00 PM

1.Bilingual

11.Yugoslavia

2.Hawkins

12. Three

3.Homicide

13.Russia

4.Juneau

14.Reticent

5.Volunteer

15.Polyandry

6.Oligarchy

16.Prithvi

7.Finland

17.Theist

8.Philatelist

18.Celibate

9.Matricide

19.Synonyms 10.Colleagues 20.Tarapur

solution of sudoku-44

Guitar Clinic with Guthrie Govan Venue : Furtados, Lajpat Nagar Furtados, Lajpat Nagar, Delhi October 31 | 5PM

31

1. The first-ever Regional Conference on ‘Women in Detention and Access to Justice’ has recently held in which city?

2. Which country will organise the 19th Asian Games?

4. The 10th Biennial International Exhibition & Conference “India Chem 2018” was held in which city?

5. India’s first AICTE Training and Learning (ATAL) Academy is to be set up in which city?

7. Which alcohol control initiative has been launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO), recently?

8. Which new initiative has been launched by the Government of India (GoI) to promote use of Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG)?

9. Which state government has decided to set up antiterrorist force ‘Kavach’?

12. Which Indian organization has won the ‘ISSA GOOD Practice Award, Asia & The Pacific 2018’?

13. the venue of the 17th edition of Old World Theatre festival 2018?

14. Where were the first Asian Games held?

17. Which state government has recently launched the Nirman Kusuma programme?

19. India has signed $150 million loan pact with which international organisation to establish its first-ever Global Skills Park (GSP) in Madhya Pradesh?

sudoku-45

ELP- Eat Love Party Festival Venue : ELP Food Fest

International Trade Expo Centre Limited A-11, Expo Drive, NH-24, Sector-62, Noida, Uttar Pradesh Sat, 1 Dec 12:00AM - Mon, 31 Dec 1:00AM

on the lighter side by DHIR

Please mail your solution to - ssbweekly@gmail.com or Whatsapp at 9868807712, One Lucky Winner will win Cash Prize of Rs 500/-. Look for the Solution in the Next Issue of SSB

32

Newsmakers

Oct 22 - 28, 2018

Abhay Ashtekar

Prestigious Einstein Prize for Indian American Professor The prize to Abhay Ashtekar is the highest honour bestowed by APS in the broad area of gravitational science

Unsung Hero Gurbachan Singh

Punjab Farmer Turns Eco-Warrior The Punjab farmer Gurbachan, leading the crusade against stubble burning

O

ver four decades after he began his scientific engagement with gravitational science, Professor Abhay Ashtekar is set to receive the prestigious Einstein Prize conferred by the American Physical Society (APS).

The prize for 2018, which carries an award of $10,000, is scheduled to be announced on October 23. Its citation reads: “For numerous and seminal contributions to general relativity, including the theory of black holes, canonical quantum gravity, and quantum cosmology.”

Ashtekar is professor of physics, Evan Pugh Professor, Holder, Eberly Chair, and director of the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos at the Pennsylvania State University.

“The prize is special because it is the highest honour bestowed by APS in the broad area of gravitational science. The

first Einstein prize was awarded jointly to Peter Bergmann and John Wheeler, who introduced general relativity to American universities by creating research groups.

Perhaps because the first award often sets the tone, subsequent prizes have come to recognise ‘lifetime achievements’. So the news was deeply satisfying,” said Ashtekar.

Ashtekar’s passion for physical sciences started while he was in high school in India. What he found most remarkable was that, unlike art and literature, which are “so tied to human conditions”, Newton’s laws transcend both.

Poonam Guha

IAS Officers Rescue 1000+ People from Danger Guha is ensuring that the citizens stay safe while the situation outdoors calms down

C

yclone Titli, which hit the states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, has caused a lot of damage in both states.

The torrential rains and flooding caused due to the cyclone have put thousands of people who live in low-lying areas in direct danger of getting affected by the natural disaster - whether as a shortage of resources, as physical damage to their property or themselves.

Poonam Guha, an IAS officer in Odisha, has shouldered the responsibility of providing safe shelters to such victims in the Rayagada district.

Guha is the District Collector (DM) of Rayagada which was severely affected by

the cyclone.

DM Guha and Amit Rituraj, the subcollector of Gunupur division, sprung to action and after surveying the damage, they led the district administration into evacuating over 1000 people living in the low-lying areas in Gunupur and relocating them in rehabilitation centres.

Guha said that about 200 pregnant ladies were shifted to Maa Gruha and other hospitals for safety. Some infants have also been housed in Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres in Gunupur and Rayagada.

The IAS officers are ensuring that all the people taking shelter in the rescue shelter are provided with enough food and other provisional care.

T

he gravity of the Delhi fog situation from 2017 is still fresh in our minds. The air was unfit to breathe and causing respiratory problems.

Well, levels of particulate matter (PM) are spiking again, bringing back the spotlight on air pollution in the national capital.

Crop stubble burning, among other things, has been blamed for the dipping air quality, not only in Delhi but as far as the Booh Havelian village, in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district.

A lone farmer in the state has been fighting the battle against crop burning.

Tarn Taran’s Gurbachan Singh has been taking a proactive approach, trying to instill awareness among his fellow farmers about the gravity and after-effects of stubble burning.

It was during his son’s wedding that he started implementing this practice. The ever-considerate Singh first cancelled the baraat, not wanting to impose a huge entertainment cost on the bride’s clan.

And for his second condition, he asked the bride’s father, Satnam Singh, to stop burning paddy stubble.

This way, Gurbachan hit two birds with one stone.

His son had a waste-less wedding, and he had another ally in Satnam Singh on his side, in his battle against paddy stubble burning.

Gurbachan realised the harms of stubble burning to the environment, long before the practice was criticised for causing air pollution in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

Hence, around two decades ago, the wise Punjabi farmer stopped burning paddy stubble in the 40 acres of land that he owned in Punjab’s Burj Deva Singh village along with his brother Gurdev.

He bought a zero-tillage machine, and then switched to a new technology called ‘Happy Seeder’, in 2007. A Happy Feeder can sow seeds without the need to clear the existing stubble.

Not only that, Gurbachan further persuaded at least 40 farmers in the village to put crop residue to good use, instead of burning it. His efforts made him famous and the mascot for an anti-stubble burning campaign in the district.

Gurbachan’s efforts have borne fruit. His fertiliser-free paddy fields are harvest-ready, and over time, helped improve the soil quality so much so that the farmer no longer needs to use fertilisers and insecticides.

RNI No. DELENG/2016/71561, Joint Commissioner of Police (Licensing) Delhi No. F. 2 (S-45) Press/ 2016 Volume - 2, Issue - 45 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