Nasheman

India's largest selling Urdu weekly, now also in English

You are here: Home / Archives for Nasheman

Easy win for Sunrisers over Royal Challengers

by

david-warner

Bengaluru: Skipper David Warner blasted a 27-ball 57 (6×4, 4×6) to help Sunrisers Hyderabad notch their first success in two outings with an eight-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League T20 tournament here on Monday.

Warner and fellow-opener Shikhar Dhawan (50 not out, 42b, 4×6, 2×4) put on 82 runs in 7.2 overs as Sunrisers hunted down RCB’s total of 166 all out, posting 172 for two in 17.2 overs.

Dhawan played a mature innings as he along with Lokesh Rahul (44, 28b, 4×4, 1×6) added 78 runs for the unfinished third wicket to carry Sunrisers over the finish line in style.

Warner thus justified his decision of opting to field on winning the toss on a damp night following heavy rains in the evening. Fortunately, the rains stayed away, but the large partisan crowd was left disappointed by RCB’s limp performance.

Warner’s power-packed innings took much the pressure off the chase as the visitors took control while Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers turned increasingly disheartened as Sunrisers made light of the target.

The closest that RCB came to checking the chase was when leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal removed Warner, who was trapped leg-before and Kane Williamson (5), stumped by Dinesh Karthik, but Dhawan dropped anchor to guide Sunrisers home.

Earlier, RCB promised a lot but delivered little as their frontline batsmen, openers Chris Gayle (21, 16b, 3×4, 1×6) and Kohli (41, 37b, 4×4, 2×6), and AB de Villiers (46, 28b, 5×4, 2×6) failed to build on good starts.

Once the Sunrisers got rid of Gayle who chanced his arms once too often, it was a gradual downhill ride for the home team although Kohli and de Villiers raised visions of a big total.

Sunrisers kept their composure to strike telling blows at vital moments with Boult claiming three wickets in the 19th over and fellow-seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking two in the 20th to peg RCB after Ravi Bopara, the former England star, had removed Kohli and Mandeep Singh off consecutive deliveries, in the 12th over.

RCB never quite recovered from these body blows to crash to their first defeat in two outings while the Sunrisers, who played better cricket, emerged deserving winners.

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 166 all out in 19.5 overs (Chris Gayle 21, Virat Kohli 41, AB de Villiers 46, Trent Boult 3 for 36, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2 for 30, Ravi Bopara 2 for 31) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 172 for 2 (David Warner 57, Shikhar Dhawan 50 not out, Lokesh Rahul 44 not out, Yuzvendra Chahal 2 for 28) by 8 wickets.

(IANS)

Government notifies new law on judges' appointment

by

Supreme Court India

New Delhi: Government on Monday brought into force a controversial law to appoint members to the higher judiciary, two days before a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court hears a clutch of petitions challenging the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act.

The notification bringing into effect from on Monday the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act along with a Constitutional Amendment Act (99th Amendment Act) to give constitutional status to the new body was issued by Department of Justice in the Law Ministry.

A bunch of petitions moved by the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association (SCAORA), Bar Association of India and some individual lawyers challenging NJAC and the Constitition amendment will come up for hearing before the Constitution Bench on Wednesday.

Functionaries in the Law Ministry said with the notification, technically the collegium system has come to an end. But, at the same time, they said the new body may take some time to come into into being.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will now have to call Chief Justice of India H L Dattu and Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of single largest opposition party in Lok Sabha, to nominate two eminent persons to the NJAC.

The NJAC will have to ratify the rules governing its functioning in the first meetings before they are notified. The draft rules are ready with the government.

Under the collegium system, which came into existence in 1993 after a Supreme Court judgement, five top judges of the apex court recommend transfer and elevation of judges to Supreme Court and 24 High Courts.

The government can return the recommendation to the collegium under this system. But it has to accept the recommendation if it is reiterated by the collegium.

The collegium system had come under fire for lacking transparency by politicians and some eminent jurists, who contended that judges appointing judges without any say of the Executive has led to complaints of nepotisim and favouritism.

But successive CJIs have defended the system saying it has stood the test of time and was working without any hitches.

On April 7, a Supreme Court bench while referring the matter to a larger bench had refused to stay the implementation of the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act.

Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda had last week said the government would like to have a “united show” in running the new body to recommend appointment and transfer of Supreme Court and High Court judges with the judiciary as it will be headed by the Chief Justice of India.

He said from nominating two eminent persons to the NJAC to ratifying the rules, the CJI has an important role.

NJAC was signed into an Act by President Pranab Mukherjee on December 31, 2014.

According to the new Article 124 A inserted in the Constitution, two eminent persons will be nominated to the Commission as members by the committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha or where there is no such LoP, then the leader of single largest Opposition party.

One of the eminent persons will be nominated from among the persons belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, minorities or women.

The eminent persons will be nominated for a period of three years and will not be eligible for renomination.

The NJAC will be headed by the Chief Justice of India. Two senior-most apex court judges, the two eminent persons and the Law Minister will be the members of the high-level panel. Secretary, Justice in the Law Ministry will be the convenor of the NJAC.

President Mukherjee’s signing the two bills into a law paved the way for the scrapping of the 20-year-old collegium system.

Once new system comes into place, the task of selecting and transferring Supreme Court and high court judges will finally shift from the collegium to a committee headed by the Chief Justice of India.

The NJAC Act provides for the procedure to be followed by the NJAC for recommending persons for appointment of judges of the Supreme Court, and Chief Justice and other judges of the 24 high courts.

The Constitutional Amendment Act grants constitutional status to the composition of the proposed commission. It was done following demands by jurists and judges who felt that without a constitutional status, the composition could be altered by a future government by an ordinary legislation.

A government bungalow at Mathura Road here has already been earmarked for NJAC and there are plans to appoint initial staff from the existing strength of the three departments — Legal Affairs, Legislative and Justice — of the Law Ministry.

An earlier attempt by the then BJP government in 2003 to scrap the collegium system had failed. The then Law Minister Arun Jaitley had moved a bill in this regard but the Lok Sabha was dissolved when the bill was pending with the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

(PTI)

Haryana govt to give Cabinet Minister status to Ramdev

by

Baba Ramdev

Chandigarh: The Haryana government today decided to give “status equivalent to Cabinet Minister” to Ramdev, who has been appointed as the state’s brand ambassador to promote yoga and ayurveda.

“Ramdev, Brand Ambassador for promotion of yoga and ayurveda in Haryana, will be given status equivalent to Cabinet Minister,” Haryana’s Health and Sports Minister, Anil Vij tweeted today.

Vij had earlier said a herbal forest would be developed in the state where plants of thousands of species of ayurvedic herbs would be grown under the supervision of Ramdev.

The emphasis on yoga and ayurveda would lead to an amalgamation of tradition and modernity and inclusion of yoga in the school syllabus would turn Haryana into a model state based on Indian values and traditions, Vij had said.

Yoga would be made a compulsory subject in Haryana’s schools for which ‘yogshalas’ will be constructed in all the towns and about 6,500 villages of the state under the guidance of Ramdev, he said.

Notably, last month, Haryana Assembly had witnessed uproarious scenes as the BJP government came under sharp attack from opposition Congress for allegedly “going out of way to please Ramdev by making him the brand ambassador” for promotion of yoga and ayurveda in the state.

(PTI)

Remembering Babasaheb: Dr. Ambedkar and The Annihilation of Caste

by

ambedkar

by Sukumaran C. V.

There is no code of laws more infamous regarding social rights than the Laws of Manu. Any instance from anywhere of social injustice must pale before it. Why have the mass of people tolerated the social evils to which they have been subjected? There have been social revolutions in other countries of the world. Why have there not been social revolutions in India is a question which has incessantly troubled me. There is only one answer and it is that the lower classes of Hindus have been completely disabled for direct action on account of this wretched system of Chaturvarnya.—B. R. Ambedkar.

April 14th 2015 is the 125th birthday of Ambedkar, the man who was the greatest crusader against the inhuman caste system of India, the man who sincerely wished to annihilate the monster called caste. I have often and again felt that, in the history of the whole humankind, the two most draconian human ‘inventions’ are the slavery that was prevalent in the U.S. and the caste system of India. As slavery was abolished and it doesn’t exist now, caste system of India is the only draconian human invention that exists today.

It was while I was in the 9th standard I happened to know about Ambedkar. The Malayalam Supplementary Reader for class 9th was a short biography of Ambedkar and the portion which described that the people who belong to Ambedkar’s caste have had to wear a small pot around their neck to spit in order not to defile the path they walk on by spiting on the path really disturbed me. And when I hear that even today there are people in our country who are not allowed to drink tea in glasses and tea shops reserve coconut shells for them, I am not only disturbed but also ashamed!

In his ‘Annihilation of Caste’ which was published in 1936, Ambedkar said: “…turn in any direction you like, caste is the monster that crosses your path. You cannot have political reform, you cannot have economic reform, unless you kill this monster.” (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter III)

Still, nearly 80 years after, we have not been able to kill the monster and the monster continues to kill and maim and insult the people. Even in Kerala, the most ‘educated’ and the most ‘progressed’ state, people subscribe to caste prejudices and bias. The ‘forward’ class colleagues of a government department head, the day after his retirement, applied cow-dung water inside his cabin and on the chair he used to sit to ‘purify’ them as he belonged to a scheduled caste! It happened in Kerala four years ago. Mentally it happens every day. The ‘forward’ caste people who are down in the official hierarchy of the government civil service machinery, are irritated when their superior belongs to SC/ST category. Even OBCs join hands with the ‘forward’ class in sharing this prejudice.

One of my Dalit friends recently told me that he didn’t vote for the Dalit candidate who was fielded by the Left in the 2014 Loksabha election. The Dalit candidate, who won, is a highly qualified one and the Constituency in which he was fielded was one that was reserved for SCs. My friend’s question is: Why does even the Left field well qualified SC candidates in the reservation seats? Why can’t even the so called progressive parties field educated and qualified SC/STs in the general seats and make them win?

The irony is that even those who are supposed to fight the monster called caste don’t want to kill it. The question Ambedkar asked 80 years ago—‘Can you have economic reform without first bringing about a reform of the social order?’—is still relevant, but conveniently forgotten by every political party.

In the following words of Ambedkar, we can see the reason why secular democracy failed in this country and the religious fundamentalism of RSS and BJP thrives: “Why do millionaires in India obey penniless Sadhus and Fakirs? Why do millions of paupers in India sell their trifling trinkets which constitute their only wealth and go to Benares and Mecca? That, religion is the source of power is illustrated by the history of India where the priest holds a sway over the common man often greater than the magistrate and where everything, even such things as strikes and elections, so easily take a religious turn and can so easily be given a religious twist.” (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter III)

The struggle against caste has not come forward even a step further from where Ambedkar has led it. After Ambedkar nobody is as serious and dedicated as he has been in annihilating the caste system, the most draconian social set up in the world. Therefore caste and caste bias still thrive in our country and the humans and humanity fail.

And the most pathetic development in our country today is the competition between Congress which has never tried to annihilate the caste system and the BJP which doesn’t even dare to question caste system, to ‘own’ Ambedkar in relation with his 125th birth anniversary! Both the BJP and Congress should do justice to Ambedkar’s legacy if they can assimilate his spirit against caste system which still drags India back as far as social progress and equality are concerned. How can the Congress ‘own’ Ambedkar who said that ‘every Congressman who repeats the dogma of Mill that one country is not fit to rule another country must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class’? (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter II)

And how can the BJP ‘own’ Ambedkar who said that ‘the Hindus criticize the Mohammadans for having spread their religion by the use of their sword. …But really speaking who is better and more worthy of our respect—the Mohammadans and Christians who attempted to thrust down the throats of unwilling persons what they regarded as necessary for their salvation or the Hindu who would not spread the light, who would endeavour to keep others in darkness? I have no hesitation in saying that if the Mohammedan has been cruel, the Hindu has been mean and meanness is worse than cruelty’? (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter IX)

Both the BJP and Congress don’t want the Ambedkar who fought the most draconian system in the world—the caste system. Both want Ambedkar as bait to garner Dalit votes. They want to ‘own’ the form of Ambedkar sans the spirit. They know full well that the spirit of Ambedkar will annihilate the very base and foundation of such parties— religion and caste.

As Ambedkar says, ‘…Hindu Society is a myth. The name Hindu is itself a foreign name. It was given by the Mohammedans to the natives for the purpose of distinguishing themselves. It doesn’t occur in any Sanskrit work prior to the Mohammedan invasion. …Hindu society as such does not exist. It is only a collection of castes. … Castes don’t even form a federation. A caste has no feeling that it is affiliated to other castes except when there is a Hindu-Muslim riot.’ (‘Annihilation of Caste’, Chapter VI). The BJP used this ‘feeling of affiliation’ in the Gujarat riots, in the Muzafarnagar riots and in almost all communal riots. People who are in the bottom of caste hierarchy are turned against the Muslims and both the caste oppression and religious fundamentalism which don’t allow the people to annihilate castes and religions thrive oppressing the very people who help religious fundamentalism to grow and rule the country. (Minority fundamentalism, the other side of the same coin, and the so called ‘secular’ politics of the Congress and other parties for whom secularism has always been a meaningless word only to catch the votes of the minorities, provided sufficient fuels for the majority fundamentalism to spread over the country and swallow the entire nation.)

Caste oppression in India is as worst as the European slave trade and the slavery prevalent in the United States. We can only read with horror the details about the slave trade of the people who were ‘burdened’ with the duty of ‘civilising’ the world. Howard Zinn writes in ‘A People’s History of the United States’:

“The conditions of capture and sale were crushing affirmations to the black African of his helplessness in the face of superior force. The marches to the cost, sometimes for 1,000 miles, with people shackled around the neck, under whip and gun, were death marches, in which two of every five blacks died. On the cost they were kept in cages until they were picked and sold. …Then they were packed aboard the slave ships, in spaces not much bigger than coffins, chained together in the dark, wet slime of the ship’s bottom, choking in the stench of their own excrement….The height, sometimes, between decks was only eighteen inches; so that the unfortunate human beings could not turn around, or even on their sides, the elevation being less than the breadth of their shoulders; and here they are usually chained to the decks by the neck and legs.”

This cruelty and meanness towards the humans by the humans was abolished, but in India the oppression and discrimination in the name of caste still continue and when will we the Indians be free from the oppressive and denigrating caste system which applies cow-dung water to ‘purify’ the official seat of an educated human being on account of his ‘lower’ caste origin? Will Ambedkar’s 200th birth anniversary see an India in which caste is annihilated totally?

Sukumaran C. V is a former JNU student now working as clerk in the Kerala State Government service. Emai: lscvsuku@gmail.com

Uruguayan Writer Eduardo Galeano Dies Age 74 in Montevideo

by

The famed Uruguayan writer and journalist authored over 35 books, including the “Open Veins of Latin America.”

Uruguayan writer and journalist Eduardo Galeano died of lung cancer at age 74 in Montevideo. | Photo: teleSUR

Uruguayan writer and journalist Eduardo Galeano died of lung cancer at age 74 in Montevideo. | Photo: teleSUR

by teleSUR

Internationally awarded Uruguayan author and journalist Eduardo Galeano died Monday of lung cancer at age 75 in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, according to local newspaper Subrayado.

The writer of about 35 books, including the “Open Veins of Latin America,” which became a bestseller overnight after the late President Hugo Chavez handed the book over to his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama during the fifth Summit of the Americas in 2009, was born Sept. 3, 1940.

The confirmation of his death was also covered by Spanish daily El Pais and Europe Press.

Galeano is considered to be one of the most notable authors of Latin American literature.

Among his many works are “Memory of Fire Trilogy,” “The Following Days,” and “Guatemala, an Occupied Country.”

Galeano distinguished himself as a writer by transcending orthodox genres and by combining documentary, fiction, journalism, political analysis and history.

He once proclaimed his obsession as a writer, saying, “I’m a writer obsessed with remembering, with remembering the past of America and above all that of Latin America, intimate land condemned to amnesia.”

He began his career at a very early age. At 14, he was already drawing political cartoons and began his career as a journalist as an editor for the weekly Marcha and later for the daily Epoca. After the 1973 coup in Uruguay, Galeano was briefly jailed and immediately after fled to Argentina, where he founded a cultural magazine called Crisis.

According to The Most Famous People website, Galeano is one of Latin America’s most cherished and admired literary figures, particularly because he raised his voice incessantly for human rights and social justice.

He was a severe critic of globalization and highlighted the dehumanizing facets of globalization in the contemporary world, the website added.

He was a severe critic of globalization and highlighted the dehumanizing facets of globalization in the contemporary world, the website added. “One of South America’s most renowned writers, he has been an ambassador of Latin American history and has provided the world an insight into their culture, heritage and struggles, through his passionate and honest writing,” they said.

On July 23, 2013, British newspaper The Guardian wrote an extensive story on Galeano, saying he had “become the poet laureate of the anti-globalization movement by adding a laconic, poetic voice to non-fiction.”

The Guardian quoted him as saying that, “This world is not democratic at all. The most powerful institutions, the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and the World Bank, belong to three or four countries. The others are watching. The world is organized by the war economy and the war culture.”

His 1971 book “Open Veins of Latin America,” which is considered fundamental to understand regional politics, was translated to over 20 languages.

Many critics have said his books are a distinctive balance of Latin American history, while his fictional stories also have elements of Latin American culture and antiquity.

In 1978, he published the award-winning book, “Days and Nights of Love and War,” which revolves around the dictatorial regime in Uruguay in the 1970s.

Between 1982 and 1986, he came up with the “Memory of Fire Trilogy,” a collection that consisted of the books “Genesis,” “Faces and Masks” and “Century of the Wind.”

He latest book, “Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History,” was published in 2012 and was shaped like a calendar and had a story for each day. The objective of this book is to reveal moments from the past while contextualising them in the present. According to the Guardian, with this work he achieves “a kind of epigrammatic excavation, uprooting stories that have been mislaid or misappropriated, and presenting them in their full glory, horror or absurdity.”

His entry for July 1, for example, is entitled “One Terrorist Fewer,” and it reads, “In the year 2008, the government of the United States decided to erase Nelson Mandela’s name from its list of dangerous terrorists. The most revered African in the world had featured on that sinister roll for 60 years.”

His entry for Oct. 12 is entitled “Discovery” and starts that, “In 1492 the natives discovered they were Indians, they discovered they lived in America.”

Eduardo Galeano received many prizes for his works throughout his life. His book, “Days and Nights of Love and War” was the recipient of The Casa de las Americas Prize, which is one of the oldest and most prestigious literary awards given in Latin America.

Galeano was also a strident critic of Obama’s foreign policy. However, when he was voted in as president of the U.S., the Uruguayan author said, “I was very happy when he was elected, because this is a country with a fresh tradition of racism.”

In 1976, when he married for the third time to Helena Villagra, the regime of dictator Jorge Rafael Videla (1976-1981) took power in Argentina in a bloody military coup and Galeano’s name was added to the lists of those condemned by the death squads, forcing the Uruguayan writer to flee again. On this occasion he went to Spain, where he wrote his famous trilogy: “Memory of Fire.”

In early 1985, Galeano returned to Uruguay and founded yet another publication, the weekly Brecha. And following the victory of Tabare Vazquez (who recently won the presidential elections again) and the Broad Front alliance in the 2004 Uruguayan elections marking the first left-wing government in Uruguayan history, he wrote a piece for The Progressive titled “Where the People Voted Against Fear.”

Following the creation in 2005 of TeleSUR, a pan-Latin American television station based in Caracas, Venezuela, in 2005 Galeano along with other left-wing intellectuals such as Tariq Ali and Adolfo Perez Esquivel joined the network’s 36 member advisory committee.

His anthology “Women” is scheduled to be publicly presented in Spain on Thursday.

India claim Sultan Azlan Shah bronze beating South Korea on penalties

by

hockey-india

India continued their dominance over South Korea and claimed a podium finish at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia with a 4-1 win on penalties in the bronze-medal playoff.

After the regulation period ended in a 2-2 draw identical to the result of the league phase encounter between the two, India outclassed the Koreans in penalty shootout, where PR Sreejesh once again turned out to be the hero making as many as three saves.

For India, Akashdeep Singh, Sardar Singh, Rupinderpal Singh and Birender Lakra scored in the shootout to give India the win.

Earlier, the last two quarters following half-time failed to produce any goals as the teams went into the breather at the end of 30 minutes locked 2-2.

Nikkin Thimmaiah (10th min) and Satbir Singh (22nd) were the scorers for India during the regulation period. South Korea drew level twice through goals by Hyosik You (19th) and Hyunwoo Nam (28th) to take the match to a shootout.

India scored both their goals though field strikes while Korea scored from penalty corners.

For India, who had earlier drawn 1-1 with Korea in the league stages, the victory came on the back of a stunning 4-2 win over world champions and title holders Australia yesterday at the Azlan Shah Stadium.

India’s vice-captain and goalkeeper Sreejesh had a fantastic day under the bar as he not only made numerous saves in the entire 60 minutes, but also turned out to be India’s hero in the shoot-out, denying two Korean efforts to help his side register the much-needed victory.

The only blemish for India was penalty corners. The Sardar Singh-led side failed to secure a single set piece but their back-line as usual crumbled under pressure and gave away seven short corners.

Both the teams were slow to get off the block and were sloppy in the initial few minutes.

It was India who had the first shy at the goal in the sixth minute but Akashdeep Singh shot wide after a scramble inside the circle.

Three minutes later, Korea secured their first penalty corner but Nam Hyunwoo’s effort couldn’t get past the defence of an agile Indian goalkeeper, Sreejesh.

The Indians took the lead in the next minute through last match’s hero Nikkin. Dharamvir Singh started the move and passed the ball to SK Uthappa, who beat a few Malaysian defenders to enter the circle from the right flank and then neatly pushed the ball towards Nikkin and he made no mistake in slapping the ball home from close range.

After a relatively sedate start, the Indians started to get into the groove as time passed by.

Five minutes into the second quarter Korea got their second penalty corner and You Hyosik scored from a rebound with a reverse shot after Jang Jonghyun’s dragflick was well saved by Sreejesh.

India restored their lead two minutes later through Satbir’s fine field effort. After stealing the ball at the midline, Satbir played a delightful one two with Dharmvir Singh before tapping in the ball pass Korean keeper Hong Doo Pyo.

But an unnecessary foul by Ramandeep Singh reduced India to 10-man in the last two minutes of the second quarter and that cost them dearly.

With India one man short, the Koreans piled on the pressure and managed to earn three penalty corners in succession, the last of which was converted by Hyunwoo with a powerful flick that beat Sreejesh all ends up as both the teams went into halfway break locked a 2-2.

After the change of ends, Korea had the first shot at the goal but Hyosik’s reverse hit sailed over the bar.

Then Satbir was denied in the 39th minute when his reverse hit was blocked by the Korean goalkeeper.

Korea went on the offensive in the fourth and final quarter and earned two more penalty corners but India custodian Sreejesh was up to the task.

In the 50th minute, Satbir once again came close to ensuring the lead for his side but his gentle touch from Birendra Lakra’s cross was well anticipated by the Korean goalkeeper.

It was nerve-wrecking final three minutes as Korea went all out in search of the winner, but the Indian defence did enough to hold the rampaging Koreans and take the match into shoot-out.

In the shoot-out, the Indians were clinical and converted their tries with consummate ease.

But credit should go to Sreejesh as he pulled off two brilliant saves to deny Kim Kihoon and Kim Juhun, and secure the third place finish for India.

(Agencies)

Renowned German author Günter Grass dies, aged 87

by

Nobel Prize winner and taboo breaker: The German writer was an unruly spirit throughout his life. Grass was an engaged citizen seen by some as a “moral authority,” by others as a hypocrite. He passed away on April 13.

Gunter_Grass

by Cornelia Rabitz, Deutsche Welle

Günter Grass died of a lung infection on Monday, April 13, in the northern German city of Lübeck, the Steidl publishing house announced.

His life, full of ups and downs, moments of triumph and turmoil, began on October 16, 1927. Günter Grass grew up in a rather humble home: His parents ran a grocery store in Gdansk (then known as Danzig), but their customers were so poor that they couldn’t always pay the bills. The Catholic family lived in a very small apartment.

“A childhood between the Holy Spirit and Hitler,” is how biographer Michael Jürgs sums up the environment in which Grass spent his childhood. At the age of just 17, he witnessed the horrors of World War II as a member of the Hitler Youth. He later joined the Waffen-SS, a Nazi special forces unit. It would be decades until he would be able to talk openly about these experiences – which later caused a scandal. During his years as a teenager and a young man, he focused on how to survive the war.

Beginnings of a bestselling author

1952: the Federal Republic of Germany was still in its infancy, and so was the intellectual development of Grass. He was interested in art, studied sculpture and graphic design, joined a jazz band, and traveled a lot. In 1956, he settled down in Paris for some time, where he lived a rather modest life together with his first wife.

That’s where his brilliant career as an author began. Grass produced his first novel “The Tin Drum” in 1959, sparking an uproar in the rather conservative society of the former West Germany before it became a huge international success. The book was translated into numerous languages and adapted into a movie. Exactly four decades later, its writer received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Creative and productive

Günter Grass wrote dramas, poems, and especially fiction, the list of his works is very long, among them “Cat and Mouse” and “Dog Years,” which, together with “The Tin Drum” were part of his famous “Gdansk Trilogy;” “Local Anesthetic,” “The Flounder,” “The Rat,” “The Call of the Toad,” and “Crabwalk.” Most of his works dealt with political conditions and social upheaval, like the sinking of a refugee ship in the Baltic Sea in 1945, the role of intellectuals in the uprising in former East Germany in 1953, the student protests of 1968, federal election campaigns and political relations between the East and West.

As a native of Danzig, reconciliation between Germany and Poland always remained a particularly important topic to Grass. Despite some critics lamenting that Grass’ books were too heavy and political in nature, all of his works became very successful and sparked heated debates among literary circles in Germany. Yet none of them ever managed to match the enthusiasm created by the drumming Oskar Matzerath of Grass’ very first novel, “The Tin Drum.”

Morality and politics

Günter Grass was a multi-talented artist, not only a novelist and poet, but also a sculptor and designer who occasionally also designed the covers of his own books. Considered by some as a moral authority and by others as a radical leftist, his political views divided the nation. Since 1961, he committed himself to the Social Democrats (SPD) without being a party member, and he supported Willy Brandt in his election campaign in 1969. Later on, he did join the SPD – only to give up his membership a few years later in a row over alterations of the right to asylum.

Grass always remained a very critical observer, an independent leftist who, making use of his reputation, interfered in political issues now and then. He spoke out against the deportation of Kurds, for the compensation of former forced laborers during the Nazi era, for human rights, for persecuted writers and against wars.

In 2006, he saw himself forced to admit that, during the Second World War, he himself had not been altogether innocent. His former membership in the notorious Waffen-SS, mentioned in his 2006 autobiography “Peeling the Onion,” caused a stir both in Germany and abroad, besmirching his reputation as a moral authority. Suddenly he who had always advocated stringently dealing with Germany’s Nazi past was accused of being a hypocrite.

A poem as a provocation

A rift seemed to grow between the writer and the public, a moral authority holding up a mirror to the Germans was no longer needed. Grass caused yet another international uproar in April 2012 after publishing a text entitled “What must be said.” The text, which he labeled a poem, contained thinly veiled criticism of Israeli policy with Grass warning of an Israeli nuclear strike against Iran and calling the state of Israel, its nuclear capabilities and its occupation policy a threat to world peace.

The pamphlet sparked outrage. Grass, accused of anti-Semitism, became persona non grata in Israel. Nevertheless, he remained a role model throughout his lifetime – not least for his younger fellow writers. Author and critic Uwe Tellkamp considered him “one of the strongest narrative powers in German literature,” while fellow author Moritz Rinke casually referred to him as “perhaps the most interesting and most versatile dinosaur.”

Four policemen die as Maoists trigger blast in Chhattisgarh

by

dandewada

Dantewada: Four policemen were killed and seven injured on Monday when Maoists triggered a massive explosion in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district, police said.

The terror strike took place just hours after a trooper was killed when armed Maoists attacked a BSF camp in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district.

In the latest attack, four Chhattisgarh Armed Forces (CAF) personnel were killed and seven others were wounded in the deafening blast that targeted their anti-landmine vehicle.

The attack took place at Cholnar camp of the CAF in Dantewada district, some 400 km south of state capital Raipur.

“It’s a massive blast. I guess it could be about 50 kg IED (Improvised Explosive Device) used to trigger a blast near a bridge. The anti-landmine vehicle was shaken up by the blast and 4 CAF jawans succumbed to injuries,” Kamal Lochan Kashyap, superintendent of police, Dantewada, told reporters at the attack site.

The policemen were returning back to the Cholnar camp after area domination drive. The injured policemen were rushed to NMDC Ltd-owned hospital at Bacheli.

Chhattisgarh has witnessed a string of attacks since April 11.

(Agencies)

Indian growth engine re-energised: Modi

by

narendra-modi-angela-merkel

Hannover: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said his government had “re-energised” the Indian growth engine and that the country wants to become a manufacturing hub to serve its domestic market as well as exports.

“We have re-energised the Indian growth engine. The credibility of our economy has been restored. India is once again poised for rapid growth and development. It is the only emerging economy where growth rate is rising. The prospects are even better,” Modi said in an Op-Ed piece in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

He said that “Make in India” requires urgent creation of new infrastructure. “The substantial enhancement in financing in the federal budget for highways, railways and energy is a step in this direction. Work has begun on the development of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.”

Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Germany, said that through “our ‘Act East’ and ‘Link West’ policy, India has the potential of becoming the middle ground for East and West as a manufacturing hub that serves both our vast domestic market and becomes a base for global exports and general well-being”.

He said: “My government has pledged a stable and transparent tax regime, reducing corporate taxes and implementing a single Goods and Services Tax in 2016.”

The prime minister said he visualised India as a “key engine of global growth”.

Modi said: “Our democratic principles and practices are guarantors of stability. We have a free media and an independent judiciary that allows all opinions to be aired without fear.”

The prime minister said that India believed in “Rahein Saath Badhe Saath” (stay together-grow together).

“There is no other way forward. Mankind’s progress in this century depends on cooperation and collaboration. Conflict is unthinkable. So is poverty which (Mahatma) Gandhi called the worst form of violence,” he said.

The Indian prime minister, who is in Germany as part of his three-nation sojourn, said: “Our focus is not merely economic growth but an inclusive development.”

Observing that international support and collaboration are equally critical to achieving India’s objectives, he said: “I have therefore sought to build a foreign policy which is an integral part of our national development strategy.”

“My interactions with leaders of United States, Russia, France, Japan and China have all aimed at creating enduring partnerships with shared stakes in global development and well-being.”

(IANS)

Hillary Clinton announces 2016 US Presidential bid

by

Former US secretary of state announces 2016 White House bid to become the first female president of the country.

FILE: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Admitted To Hospital Hillary Clinton Gives Speech On Energy Diplomacy

by Ted Regencia, Al Jazeera

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has declared that she is running for president in 2016, seeking to become the first female to occupy the seat that her husband Bill Clinton held for eight years, and setting up what could be the most expensive campaign in history.

Clinton made the announcement on Sunday in a video published on her website, saying “the deck is still stacked in favour of those at the top” as she sought to highlight the theme of economic inequality.

It is the second time that Clinton has run for presidency.

On Saturday, President Barack Obama, who defeated her in the 2008 Democratic nomination, said Clinton “would be an excellent president”.

“She was an outstanding secretary of state. She is my friend. I think she would be an excellent president,” Obama said from Panama, where he attended the Summit of the Americas and held a historic meeting with the Cuban leader Raul Castro.

With her first candidacy in 2008, Clinton made history as the first ever spouse of an American president to seek the highest elective office in the US.

In the biography section of her website, Clinton, a Democrat, talked about her bipartisan record as senator, crossing party lines to work with Republicans, who now control the US Congress.

But during her husband’s presidency from 1993 to 2001, both Clintons repeatedly clashed with the Republicans, who tried to remove the 42nd president from office. She became a lightning-rod for Republican criticism, from her handling of the Clinton administration’s failed healthcare reform to the investigations into their private lives.

$2.5bn campaign

Although a native of Chicago, Clinton has set up her campaign headquarters in New York, where she served as senator after her husband left office.

Clinton is expected to make her first campaign stop in the US state of Iowa, which will hold the first nominating process in early 2016.

Clinton is not the only high-profile US politician in the running for president. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, son of the 41st US President George HW Bush and brother of another former president, George W Bush is also expected to declare his candidacy for the Republican Party.

Not long after Clinton announced her bid on Sunday night, Jeb Bush responded on Twitter, saying: “We must do better than Hillary.”

That sets up a potential Clinton-Bush matchup and a repeat of the 1992 elections, when the elderly President Bush lost to Bill Clinton, then a governor of the small southern US state of Arkansas.

According to a New York Times report, Clinton and her allies are trying to raise as much as $2.5bn to finance her campaign. The eventual Republican candidate is also expected to match that amount.

In anticipation of her announcement, the Republican Party posted on its website a 31-second video questioning Clinton’s candidacy, from her role in the deadly US consulate attack in Benghazi to her decision to delete a large cache of emails from her time as the US top diplomat.

While Clinton tries to steer her campaign mostly on domestic issues, it is likely that her foreign policy record as the secretary of state during Obama’s first four years, would be put under scrutiny.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Ibrahim Sharqieh, foreign policy fellow at Brookings Doha Center, said that as secretary of state, Clinton “lacked serious commitment” in resolving many of the issues affecting the Middle East, particularly the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Given her record, Sharqieh said that he is “not very optimistic that she is going to make a difference on US foreign policy towards the Middle East”.

He said that Clinton “failed miserably” in putting pressure on Israel and the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to address the Palestine issue.

However, he said that he expects Clinton to be more “hawkish” than President Obama, whom he called as “the most passive American president in decades” on Middle East issues.

KNOW US

GET INVOLVED

PROMOTE

Archives