Jamia Students Showed Their Skill...........

It is only you who makes your image.
Yesterday I attended a programme 'Mahfile Qawwali" organised by 'Old Boys Association of Jamia Millia Islamia.' I had never got an oppertunity to experience the mahfil of Qawwali. So when I had come across the news I was a little bit enthusiastic. Despite of pressures of exams at hand I pulled out some amount of time to attend the programme.
The programme was sheduled at 6:pm. But I was so excited that I reached the Auditoriam before time, at 5:30 pm. Unfortunately I had to wait more than half an hour. The qawwali started at 7:00 pm. But in the mean time there was another Qawwali..........Qawwals were none other than our frienmds; brillient students of Jamia............Not only in the mean time but also after the Qawwali started, the intelligent students of Jamia continued their Qawwali.
The student at their best strieved to show off their actual image among guests, dignitaries and invited qawwals. They made lewd comments on their own girl students very decently. They left no stone unterned to make the auditorium full of voice. They showed their expertise in sizzling. They even did not leve the their old boys. They welcomed them with their skilled 'SITY'. Why should they leave wives of their teachers. They did not miss to exhibit their speciality for which they are known. They did pass their faviourite comments on them with beautifull hissings as they entered.
Moreover, they made the qawwals also much 'happy'. They continously made interruptions with their 'appreciating' grumbles while they (QAWWALS)were presenting their kalam. The students tried utmost to applaud the kalam of qawwals with their screaming, roar, cry and fuss.
Eventually they compelled the odd audiences, who were willing to listen the qawwali, to leave the auditorium so that they (student) could not face any sort of hurdle while making hue and cry of appreciations.................................

My Role Model

Untill a few months ago I was in illusion that a role model must be someone who is a great personality or highly educated. But I am happy that now I am out of that illusion.
Recently I attended a group discussion class where the topic for debate was 'YOUR ROLE MODEL". As usual nearly all students named the different personalities of the World or India.
I got confused when my tern came. I had no name in my mind. But it does not mean I was not interested in designating any one as my role model. In fact befor that class I had never thought about this. I had never considered any one as my role model.
However, at that time I was deeply interested in calling some one my role model. After putting lots of effort suddenly a name came into my mind. But despite of naming him in the very next moment I kept my mouth silent. I could not speak out his name. But again since I had no option other than him I was tempted to ask my teacher whether a role model must be a highly educated or great personality.
"No, it can be any one.", the teacher replied me. I was so happy that i could not wait for a moment and screamed with enthusiasm by calling his name Waquar Ahmad.
But, unlike others, since my role model was not a great personality i was suppossed to speak much about him.
What I said there about him i would try to tell you now.
Yes, he is not a great personality or highly educated. But for me, he is more than that. He is, for me, not less than a great scholar.
To me, at the same time, he is an elder brother, a scholar, a guardian and a best friend.
Despite of all impossibilities it is he who encouraged me to gather courage for seting out to Delhi. Always he is like a source of inspiration.
In every discussion he has the quality to pull out some amount of encouraging stuff. He has an extra ordinary quality to make every chat interesting and source of knowledge. When he speaks it seems he is making a garland with lots of tiny flowers. He speaks not a single discouraging word. I have never seen him in angry mood. Even I have never seen him without smile.
You will be surprised to know when the most interesting topic of youth 'the love' comes up he speaks lot on that. He does not forbid to do so. He says youth must love but......the love which was done by Faiz Ahmad Faiz. A man can become a true human being if he loves. A man starts loving poors, downtrodden, orphans, hungers, thirsty and all the creatures of God if he loves truely.
It would be far better if you read some Ghazals of Faiz which is directly concerned to love.
I would not make more garland of praise because it might irritate you.But I am sure at least you would have imagined how interesting he is. You might have surprised to know that a role model can be a man other than a great scholat, highly qualified or a celibirity.

Justice Delayed Justice Denied

Normally every human being faces some puzzles which always roam around him/her. No doubt, I am also normal and the puzzle which roams around me is in the form of question.
I never understand why an accussed, in a case, gets bail after so many years? And, why another accussed, in another case, gets bail very next day? Why an accussed is found innocent and freed from bars after languishing there many years?
What kind of justice system is this? It is totally ridiculous when you keep an man behind bars for years and suddenly one day you find him innocent and thus ask him to go out. Why do you not check whether he is guilty or not expeditiously? Does a court or investigating agency enjoy a right to spoil the precious time of an accussed? Can any sort of court return his or her precious time which he or she spends inside the jail?
It is very common to read news like some body has been found innocent while he has been behind bars for years in India.
We know that recently seven accussed in the Malegaon blast case have got bail after spending 5 long years in the jail. They have got bail means that still accusation has not been proved against them. Thus they remained in jail for doing nothing. Can the court return them their 5 years? In case they are found innocent in trials; will it not be an irony?
The thing which is more important here in the above case is that only after Swami Asemanad's confession about the alleged involvment of right-wing Hindu fundamentalist the line of investigation changed. After the confession of Swami the investigation is under NIA. Earlier ATS and CBI were handling the case. Here it is clear that had Asemanand not confessed the case would have been in wrong direction and moreover investigaters might have convicted the accussed people.
ATS and CBI had accussed them because they were the members of SIMI. Whether SIMI was a terriorist organisation or not is a question of debate. I would not go into that. But I must say that just being a member of any organisation does not prove that you are involved in the activities that the organisation does. Recently, a Supreme Court ruling has also argued that membership of an organisation does not proves his or her involvement in a case.
As far as SIMI and ban on it is concerned I am not saying that it was not a terriorist organisation. I do not know whether it was or not. But an organisation which was involved in the killing of father of nation must be called terriorist organisation. It is the biggest irony of India that the organisation which killed Mahatma Gandhi, father of nation, is not banned in the country. It openly spread its philosophy of hatred in the country. It propagates its idiology of hindu nation in the world's largest democratic and secular country.

Root Cause of Maoism

Again one more incident of violence by Maoists has reminded us that Maoism is the biggest threat of internal security in India.
But the question is whether Indian government is tackling this efficiently or not. The movement started in 1967. Since then the Indian government has been involved in putting lots of effort to erradicate the evil.
But, unfortunately, over the years, maoism has not only increased tremendously but also it has become the biggest threat.
The question which is important here is that what is the reason; why government has been failure in tackling this. The reality is that Indian government has always been hypocrite while tackling maoism. India has always been ignoring the root cause of the movement.Inception of Maoism is deeply concerned with land issue. The land of poors which is the only livelihood has always been vulnerable. For them, land is a very strategic socio-economic asset. Their survival is measured by control and access of land.
For industrialisation, mining and building dams, government acquires lands.
In returns,while the entire community gets affected the compensation only goes to the big lanlords. The unfortunate is that the tribals who have been living on a certain plot for years but do not have any formal title paper to the land which results into no compensation. So the poors are fighting against lanlords and government as well.
Thus we come to know that land destribution is crucial for the Maoist conflict. Indian land reforms had sought to directly improve the access to land of the poor households. However, analysis of various studies shows that the implementation was hardly homogenous across the states. Distribution had highly skewd. It was too unequel and dominated by a few large landlords.
It is shocking that over 30 million people have been displaced due to development projects in the last five decades. Many have been subjected to the repeated displacement. There are large numbers of people who are left without any rehabiliation and resettlement (R&R).
I have highlighted only the land issu concerned with Maoism which, in my opinion, is the root cause. However, no doubt,there are lots of other reasons too which must be addressed. But again I would say that unless and untill the root or basic cause is not addressed the evil of maoism will not end.

Maulana Azad: An Eminent Educationist

MAULANA AZAD: AN EMINENT EDUCATIONIST
Syed Kashif
Maulana Mohiuddin Ahmad Abulkalam Azad, born on 11November 1888 in Mecca, was a great scholar, freedom fighter, revolutionary journalist, leader and advocate of secular and undivided India.
He had gained popularity by his journalism in his early age; however he remained away from active politics till the beginning of twentieth century. But the partition of Bengal in 1905 compelled him to enter into active politics. He considered the partition as an attack on the unity of Hindu-Muslim. Thus, he began his political career by opposing the partition of Bengal and ended it by opposing the partition of India. He joined the movement against Bengal partition with Arvind Ghosh and Shyam Sunder Chakarvarti. Since then he remained an active and enthusiastic leader of India till the last breath of his life in 1958.
He became the first education Minister of independent India and held the post until his death. From 1952, he also assumed the charge of Ministry of National Resources and Scientific Research. Maulana, an eminent educationist, contributed to the laying of a strong foundation for education in India. He designed the education policy of the country. His firm belief in providing secular, liberal, modern and universal education is apparently relevant even today. It obviously continues to guide us for achieving education for all. The corner stone of his education policy was his conviction that democracy cannot function without the eradication of illiteracy. He realized that the introduction of adult franchise needed a national programme of mass education. He was of view that citizens of free and independent India had to be different from the colonial subjects of a foreign empire. So, he immediately set up a section of Social Education in his ministry to conduct the programme of mass education.
On January 16, 1948, Maulana Azad, while addressing the conference of ‘All India Education’, emphasized, “We must not for a moment forget, it is a birth right of every individual to receive at least the basic education without which he cannot fully discharge his duties as a citizen”. In other words, he was convinced that education is a tool of social transformation. Very importantly, as chairman of the Central Advisory Board of Education, he gave thrust to adult literacy, universal primary education, free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14 and girls’ education. He favored a diversified secondary education. Here, it is worth describing that India has recently achieved a key vision of Maulana Azad in the name of ‘The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009’. To fulfill his vision Indian government has also launched the ‘Saakshat Bharat Programme’ focusing on women’s literacy.
No doubt, he was a great educationist. It was demonstrated in molding the educational system of the country in the immediate post-independence years. It was he who established the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) which are now playing significant role in academics. For the promotion of art, music and literature he came with the idea to establish three Academies; Sahitya Academy, Lalit Kala Academy and Sangeet Natak Academy. Azad assisted Jawaharlal Nehru in setting up the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and many a chain of Science Laboratories in India. As the Minister of Education he insisted that both the Union and States must share responsibility in the promotion of education. He appointed University Education Commission in 1948 and Secondary Education Commission in 1952.
It is interesting to know that such an eminent educationist never attended a formal educational institution. He was schooled at home, and was later self-taught. Yet, he is known as a great scholar.
Maulana Azad, first felt that there was a need for careful prioritization in planning. He first emphasized the universal primary education and then set out for secondary education. While Maulana envisioned a modern India built through strengthening higher and technical education, he also held the belief that along with training engineers and technicians for the development of industries, it is equally necessary to spread general education for raising the general level of economic activities in the country.
Maulana Azad was purely a secular leader. However, his definition of secularism was very different. He believed in multiculturalism and interfaith understanding. So, he advocated religious teaching in schools, not from a narrow sense but from a liberal and open perspective. He was of view that the solution to the problems created by religious fanatics was not in rejecting religious instruction in elementary stages but in imparting sound and healthy religious education so that children in their formative stages would not be misguided to fanaticism and intolerance of other religions.
Text books and reading materials, especially history, geography and civics are very important for the promotion of national unity on the basis of rich diversity of cultures and belief. He advocated that cultural content of education and some knowledge and appreciation of the main tenets of all religions could elevate the mind and enrich the sprit. For him, true secularism calls for tolerance and sympathetic understanding of beliefs and cultures other than one’s own.
Immediately after independence, in his speeches, he argued that our Five Year Plans is not for the production of more material wealth and resources but the creation of a new mind and a new character for which right education is more important than the development of agriculture, industries, trade or other projects. According to Maulana, education must contribute to the individual realizing his immense potential. On one occasion, he stressed the importance of seven values which contributed to the making of man and his society in pursuit of excellence. Those are truth, justice, enlightenment, co-operation and unity, courtesy, chivalry and humility.
Having said all, the question still remains unanswered whether we have acknowledged Maulana Azad’s contributions to our nation or not. I would like to leave this question to my readers. Dr Syeda Hameed says, “It is ironic that the country neither recognizes Maulana Azad’s contributions to the nation nor is it willing to work on the values the great leader had stood for.”
In 2008, Indian government has declared 11 November, Maulana Azad’s birth day, as ‘National Education Day.’ He has been posthumously awarded India’s highest civilian honor, Bharat Ratna, in 1992.
The eminent educationist and first education Minister of independent India died in 1958. Unlike Raj Ghat, Shanti Van and Kisan Ghat, his soul rests in an ordinary place near Delhi Jama Masjid.





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Struggle is not over

I congratulate Mr Anna Hazare for holding fast till twelve days for the sake of common interest. His movement has, no doubt, awakened the citizens. However, its obvious that the movement against corruption has not ended. Struggle is far from over. We have not got victory. Though government has agreed to include the demands of Team Anna in the Lokpal bill, I doubt the bill will become law soon. Its sure we will not see the fruit in this session of parliament. I wonder how the government as well as civil society left the main issue of the agitation; taking the PM under the ambit of Lokpal. Issue of conducts of MPs within the parliament should also not have been left. Apart from all that, what is important is that whatever we have got in the name of assurance must be achieved in concrete form. For that, we have to continue our struggle. We should not take rest until and unless the bill becomes law. We should not forget that the issue of Lolpal is 42 years old. A little rest can take another 42 years.

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Oportunist Paswan

Ramwilas Paswan's demand of reservation in Lokpal is totally absurd. Its very much clear that he is trying to cash this issue. Its well known that he is the most
opportunist leader of this country. Therefore, according to his nature he is
just trying to get some benefit by politicising the issue of Lokpal. Lokpal is
to deal with corruption charges. It would be an autonomous body. Reservation
would make it political.
Mr Paswan should see some other issue to politicise if he wants to revive
his party or his own personality. In fact, he is very eagerly looking for a
MASALA that would help to rebuild his figure

Hue and Cry on Anna

Today, Ms Arundhati Roy has written an artile "I'd rather not be Anna " in The Hindu. The way in which she has written it shows that she lives in supremacy. Her article is not issue based. Here the issue is whether Jan lokpal bill is right or Sarkarkari Lokpal bill. Niether the bad impact of Jan Lokpal bill nor the good impact of Sarkari Lokpal bill has been written in the article exhaustively. It would have been much better had she written the differences between civil society bill and Sarkari lokpal bill. Besides, she has criticised the whole team Anna. In other words, she is not happy with the personalities involved in the agitation. It is well known the people of same proffession always have some kind of jeolousy for each other. Her article carries this very much.

Here is the link-www.thehindu.com/opinion/article/23790704.ece

second freedom struggle

The question that anti corruption movement led by Anna Hazzare is whether second freedom struggle does not carry much weight. the question is here whether his agitation is right or not. I very clearly argue that his movement is hundred percent right. It is clear that he has open public support which is also being seen these days. People protesting all over the country against his arrest proves this. world's largest democracy has stood against the democratic rights of citizens. this is no doubt shocking for common people. people ofg country like india are afraid of this stand of governmen.......................

second freedom struggle