Nasheman

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

You are here: Home / Archives for 2017

Archives for 2017

Hundreds march to ‘save DU’, ‘reclaim’ space to dissent

by

save DU

New Delhi: Hundreds of students and teachers of Delhi University, JNU and Jamia today hit the streets with a call to “save” the varsities from the “onslaught” of ABVP and “curbing” of dissent.

The students held posters with messages like “Your nationalism is not above our democracy”.

The protesters, mainly comprising students of left forums like AISA, shouted slogans “ABVP Go Back” and “Azaadi” as the march made its way through the roads of North Campus towards the Arts Faculty building.

The gates of the colleges falling on the route of the march, which began from the gates of Khalsa College, were shut.

“We are marching to reclaim the space to debate and discuss. It is about the freedom to coexist, yet disagree,” a student said.

There was heavy police deployment to prevent a rerun of the clashes that were witnessed between ABVP and AISA last week following cancellation of an event at Ramjas College after activists of the RSS-backed students’ wing objected to the invitation to JNU student leaders Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid.

One of the faculty members, marching with the students, alleged that the university has been “taken over” and that authorities were not acting to prevent it.

Earlier, LSR student Gurmehar Kaur withdrew from her social media campaign against the ABVP after allegedly receiving threats from the members of the RSS-backed outfit and being trolled by the ruling BJP leaders and ministers.

Yesterday, the ABVP had taken out a ‘Tiranga march’, “to save the nation”, from Ramjas College to the Arts Faculty.

(PTI)

After rape and death threats from ABVP supporters Gurmehar Kaur withdraws from Save DU campaign

by

Gurmehar Kaur

New Delhi: Gurmehar Kaur, daughter of Kargil martyr, who kicked up a row due to her stand against the BJP’s student wing ABVP has withdrawn from Save DU campaign on Tuesday morning.

Kaurs’ tweet says she is withdrawing from the campaign.

She says ‘the campaign is about students and not about me’. She asks students to go to the March in huge numbers.

Kaur’s social media campaign against ABVP went viral after the alleged violence by the student group on Ramjas Colllege campus in Delhi University north campus.

(Agencies)

Fanatic BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj spews venom again, says Muslims should be cremated and not buried

by

sakshi-maharaj

New Delhi: Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his infamous ‘qabristan-shamshaan’ remarks at an election rally in Uttar Pradesh, BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj has taken a leaf out of his book and suggested Muslims should also be cremated since there is not enough land for graveyards.

“Whether it is named qabristan (graveyard) or shamshaan (crematoriums), nobody needs to be buried. There are 2-2.5 crore Hindu saints in this country who should have a memorial after their death. That will require land. There are 20 crore Muslims, all of them need a grave. Where is the land in Hindustan?” Maharaj said today.

At a rally in Fatehpur earlier this month, Modi had said, “If you create qabristan in a village, then a shamshaan should also be created. If there is uninterrupted electricity in Ramzan, it should also be given during Diwali. There should be no discrimination.”

The statement had triggered a storm, with the Opposition accusing Modi of trying to communalise the crucial three-cornered Uttar Pradesh contest.

Maharaj, 61, however, has a reputation for shooting his mouth. He has repeatedly blamed Muslims for India’s population. Last month, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed against him by the Meerut Police for saying those entitled to “marry four times and have 40 children” are responsible for the country’s population explosion.

Since the statement was made while Uttar Pradesh is voting, even the Election Commission had pulled up Maharaj and sought a report from the Meerut administration.

(Agencies)

Film on Syrian rescue group bags Oscar on politically charged night

by

‘White Helmets’ wins best short documentary in ceremony marked by reaction to Trump immigration policies.

The director of The Salesman chose to boycott the ceremony [EPA]

The director of The Salesman chose to boycott the ceremony [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

A film celebrating the White Helmets, a volunteer rescue group that operates in rebel-held parts of Syria, has scooped an Oscar for best short documentary on a night marked by politics.

The eponymously titled White Helmets, a 40-minute Netflix film, gives a window into the lives of the group’s volunteers as they scramble to pull people from the rubble of buildings flattened in bombing raids.

Accepting the Academy Award, director Orlando von Einsiedel urged the audience to get out of their seats and call for an end to Syria’s six-year civil war, which led to a standing ovation.

Von Einsiedel read a statement from White Helmets founder Raed al-Saleh in which he thanked the academy and said the group had saved tens of thousands of lives since it was formed in 2014.

“We are so grateful that this film has highlighted our work to the world. Our organisation is guided by a verse from the Quran: to save one life is to save all of humanity,” Saleh’s statement said.

“We have saved more than 82,000 Syrian lives. I invite anyone here who hears me to work on the side of life to stop the bloodshed in Syria and around the world.”

Rescue workers in Syria are at risk of being killed in so-called “double tap” air raids that target them as they arrive at the scene of a strike. The group says that many of its volunteers have been killed.

Syrian cinematographer Khaled Khatib, who worked on the documentary, was unable to attend after being barred from entering the United States despite being granted a visa .

US officials reportedly discovered “derogatory information” about him, according to a document seen by the Associated Press news agency .

The film’s producer, Joanna Natasegara, told AP on Sunday that the decision was “sad and confusing”.

The incident happened after US President Donald Trump’s now halted temporary travel ban that targeted seven Muslim-majority countries, including Syria.

Iranian win after protest

An Iranian film, The Salesman, won the best foreign language film award after its director, Asghar Farhadi, refused to attend the ceremony as a protest against Trump’s immigration policies. Iran was on the list of seven countries.

A female Iranian astronaut, Anousheh Ansari, accepted the award on his behalf.

“I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight,” Farhadi said in a statement read by Ansari. “My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the US.

“Dividing the world into the US and ‘our enemies’ categories creates fear – a deceitful justification for aggression and war.”

It was the second Oscar for Farhadi, who won in the same category for A Separation in 2012.

Trump quietly looming

Though Donald Trump’s name was rarely mentioned during the ceremony, his policies were a running subtext throughout proceedings.

Several actors and actresses, including the Ethiopian Irish Ruth Negga who was nominated in the best actress category, wore blue ribbons in support of the American Civil Liberties Union, a high-profile civil rights group.

Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, MC for the evening, did mention Trump several times.

“I want to say thank you to President Trump,” Kimmel said as the ceremony opened. “Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist?”

In 2015, criticism swirled around a lack of diversity among nominees, stirring a campaign that became known by the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. That criticism continued into 2016, with several people, including actor Will Smith, boycotting the ceremony.

A record six black actors were nominated this year, though, and a person of colour was nominated in each of the main acting categories – the first time that has happened.

On Friday, the directors of all five Oscar-nominated foreign language films, including Farhadi, had condemned what they described as a “climate of fanaticism and nationalism” in the US and elsewhere in a joint statement.

They said that, whoever won, the award would be dedicated to people working to foster “unity and understanding.”

“Tonight is proof that art has no borders, no single language and does not belong to a single faith,” academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who has worked to diversify its membership, said.

Mahershala Ali, an Ahmadi Muslim, won the best-supporting actor award for his role in Moonlight, which also won best picture. In his acceptance speech, he announced the birth of his daughter and thanked his wife as well as “many wonderful teachers”.

Celebrities had used the spotlight at earlier award shows to denounce the Trump administration’s stance on immigration, transgender rights and the media.

The Oscars is the highlight of the Tinseltown calendar, and wraps up two months of glittering prize galas.

Red faces as wrong winner read out in Oscars fiasco

by

Moonlight bags the best picture after an astonishing flub in which La La Land was initially named the winner.

Moonlight wins best picture Oscar

by Al Jazeera

The coming-of-age drama, Moonlight, has won the Academy Award for best picture, in an extraordinary Oscar upset and an unprecedented gaffe that saw one winner swapped for another.

While announcing the top honour of Sunday’s event, an apparent mix-up of cards created uproar and confusion in which presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty initially declared smash hit musical, La La Land, the winner.

But as La La Land’s producers were accepting the award, they were interrupted for a highly unusual correction: La La Land was not the winner, Moonlight was.

A chagrined Beatty blamed the flub on the envelope, which he said had contained a duplicate of the card for the best actress trophy.

“I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone, La La Land,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to be funny.”

Host Jimmy Kimmel had come forward to inform the cast that Moonlight had indeed won, showing the inside of the envelope as proof. “I knew I would screw this up,” said Kimmel, a first-time host.

“I promise to never come back.”

Producer Jordan Horwitz then graciously passed his statue to the Moonlight producers.

Al Jazeera’s Andy Gallacher, reporting from Los Angeles, said there was a complete chaos after the error and people were confused.

“This was not exactly the Hollywood ending,” he said.

“As the La La Land crew got on stage to receive the award, one of the members of the La La Land put up the card to the camera and said this is not a joke, Moonlight won.”

“The mistake has overshadowed the entire awards night. Now the only thing people will remember is this monumental mistake, which was … great news for Moonlight and bad news for La La Land,” Gallacher said.

The best picture award was the third Oscar for Barry Jenkins’ film about an African American boy growing up gay in a poor neighbourhood in Miami.

Moonlight also won best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali – the first Muslim actor ever to win the Oscar – and best adapted screenplay for Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney.

The film has won plaudits as a vital portrait of contemporary African American life and is praised in equal measure as a groundbreaking and personal meditation on identity, family, friendship and love.

Besides La La Land, Moonlight beat seven other films, including alien thriller Arrival and family dramas Manchester by the Sea and Fences for best picture honours.

La La Land, however, still collected a leading six awards, including honours for cinematography, production design, score, the song “City of Stars” and best director for Damien Chazelle, who at 32 became the youngest ever filmmaker to win the category.

La La Land star Emma Stone also won best actress for her portrayal of an aspiring actress forced to endure the indignities of failed auditions, while Manchester by the Sea star Casey Affleck was named best actor for his performance as a taciturn janitor with a troubled past.

“Man, I wish I had something better and more meaningful to say … I’m just dumbfounded that I’m included,” said Affleck, a first-time Oscar winner.

Viola Davis, meanwhile, won her first Oscar for her supporting roles in Fences. The wins of Davis and Ali marked the first time in more than a decade that multiple Oscar acting honours went to black actors.

Poking fun at Trump

Earlier in the show, US President Trump had been the target of numerous jokes, capping an awards season marked by fiery protests by celebrities at his policies.

Kimmel fired off political zingers and even tweeted at the Republican president, getting no immediate response.

Insisting he was at a loss for words to help unite a divided country, the host exhorted viewers to make their own efforts at reconciliation by reaching out to political adversaries they knew personally to “have a positive, considerate conversation, not as liberals or conservatives, as Americans.”

“If we could all do that, we could make America great again,” he said, an allusion to Trump’s own campaign slogan.

Kimmel also showed a willingness to tweak the motion picture academy for its own shortcomings, drawing a sly parallel between the criticism both the president and the Oscars have taken for a perceived lack of racial sensitivity.

“I want to say, ‘Thank you, President Trump,'” he said. “I mean, remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist ?” he asked rhetorically in a reference to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy that clouded the Academy Awards in 2016.

Several celebrities wore blue ribbons on Sunday in support of the American Civil Liberties Union advocacy group that worked to get Trump’s bid to ban travellers from seven majority Muslim nations blocked in US courts.

But for the most part, speeches at the ceremony were mild or made general pleas for tolerance rather than directly attacking Trump.

Large turnout as fifth phase polling ends in UP

by

bihar-polls

Lucknow: Millions voted on Monday in the fifth phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls spread across 51 constituencies in 11 districts, officials said.

An estimated 60 per cent of the 1.8 crore electorate exercised their franchise between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. in the country’s most populous state, the Election Commission said.

Barring minor incidents of violence and technical problems in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the balloting concluded peacefully, the poll panel said.

Amethi and Sultanpur saw healthy voting, with more than 60 per cent of the electorate voting.

One official said the voting percentage was set to surpass the turnout of 2012.

The voting ranged from 52.4 per cent at Siddarthnagar to 65 per cent each in Shravasti and Ambedkarnagar.

It was 53 per cent in Gonda and Balrampur districts, 58 in Faizabad and Sant Kabeernagar (58), 60 in Bahraich and 61 in Basti district.

As it has happened in the first four rounds that began on February 11, polling opened in the morning slowly but picked up speed as the day progressed.

There were long queues of men and women voters at all polling stations in Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

BJP’s first timer Garima Singh is pitted against Gayatri Prajapati of the ruling Samajwadi Party and Congress’ Ameeta Singh in Amethi besides 21 other candidates.

It is one of those constituencies where the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance hasn’t worked.

Voting took place in 18,822 booths to decide the fate of 607 candidates. Amethi had the maximum number of 24 contestants.

At many places, people were still standing in queues even after the 5 p.m. deadline. Officials said people already in the lines would be allowed to vote.

Election has been cancelled in Alapur in Ambedkarnagar district following the death of the Samajwadi Party candidate.

In 2012, the Samajwadi Party won 36 of the 51 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress five each, the BSP three and the Peace Party two.

A total of 262 of the 403 assembly constituencies voted in the first four rounds of the elections. The last two rounds will take place on March 4 and 8.

The results of the elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab will be known on March 11.

(IANS)

Nine bank unions to go on strike on Tuesday

by

bank-strike

Chennai: An umbrella body of nine bank unions has called a day-long strike on Tuesday to protest the government’s “anti-people banking reforms” and to press for compensation to employees for extra work done on account of demonetisation and booking loan defaulters.

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), comprising nine unions — AIBEA, AIBOC, NCBE, AIBOA, BEFI, INBEF, INBOC, NOBW and NOBO — will observe the strike, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) General Secretary C.H. Venkatachalam said in a statement here.

The strike will cover employees and officers in all public sector banks, including SBI, all old-generation private banks, foreign banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks.

Venkatachalam told IANS: “The real menace affecting the Indian banking industry is the rise in bad loans and the number of wilful loan defaulters.

“Fixing accountability for bad loans and taking action against the bank officials and wilful defaulters are the need of the hour and not formation of a ‘bad bank’.”

The Economic Survey 2016-17 suggested establishment of a “Bad Bank” to deal with the non-performing assets (NPA) or the bad loan issue.

According to Venkatachalam, the idea was nothing but transferring the bad loans from one government entity to another.

“The unions have been fighting for more than two decades against the reform measures of the government as these are against the interests of the general public and labour force in the country,” the AIBEA said.

“Further, every effort is being made to outsource permanent jobs in the banking industry, which is fraught with risks,” it added.

He said around 10 lakh bankers — ranging from officers to clerks — belonging to the nine unions will join the strike.

Venkatachalam said the strike call comes after all attempts to find a solution to the demands raised by the unions yielded no results.

The conciliation meeting before the Chief Labour Commissioner on February 21 failed to break the deadlock as the bank management body — Indian Banks Association (IBA) — did not agree to the union demands.

Most state-run banks have informed customers that functioning of branches and offices will be hit if the strike is observed on Tuesday.

Top private lenders — ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank — are not part of the union and will continue to function normally but cheque clearances would not take place.

Besides, cash transactions will also be hit and the ATMs are likely to be emptied early during the day.

(IANS)

Book ‘Alyosha, A Blaze…like a shooting star’ release by Arnab Goswami

by

Alyosha, A Blaze

Mumbai: “We hear of so many heinous crimes everyday and it happens because some people think they can get away with it,” said Arnab Goswami, during the release of the book ‘Alyosha, A Blaze…like a shooting star’ on 25th Feb 2017 at Entertainment Store, ‘Title Waves’,St Pauls Media Complex, Bandra (West), Mumbai.Written by Cmde Arun Kumar, AVSM, NM (Retd), the biography is a fathers tribute to his brave son Alyosha Kumar and functioning of “The Brave New World Foundation’ for education of underprivileged and willing children. “I know the spirit in which you are naming it ‘The Brave New World Foundation’. You are showing fortitude and saying there is a never give up spirit in you. But that must not stop us from questioning that must not stop us from campaigning, and acting and confronting. Because we can’t take it lying down anymore”, said Arnab Goswami. Speaking about his new venture, Arnab Goswami informed the audience that Republic TV should start airing in two months.

“I will in my way, I am promising you today, I am starting a new media and we will actively work with you. I don’t make false promises. When I go back, I will institutionalize this. So while we fight for what is wrong, we also work to repair the injustice that has been done to this wonderful family. I will remain connected to ‘The Brave New World Foundation’, through my journalism or whichever way we do, so that we can campaign on behalf of the people. If we institutionalize the spirit of Alyosha, we will create many more like him,” he said.

Alyosha lived a short life, which he lived to the fullest following his convictions, with utter honesty and showing compassion to his fellow beings. His simplicity and positivity of outlook endeared him to those who came in touch with him whilst his brutal forthrightness quite often brought him into conflict with those in authority. Ever since his birth, it was apparent that Alyosha was a special and exceptionally gifted child. He excelled in sports and academics with equal ease. He was also very perceptive of the human nature. His friends knew him to be a daring and brave boy, who stood up against odds and injustices in life with dignity. In the wee hours of 30 Sep 2007, he was fatally stabbed at Bangalore whilst defending his friend from molestation. His parents, Cmde Arun Kumar, Ms Deepa and his paternal aunt Ms Prabha Rao have set up a public charitable trust “The brave New World Foundation’ as per Alyosha’s desire, to help the disadvantaged sections of the society.

Cmde Arun Kumar, AVSM, NM (Retd) said, “A Blaze…like a shooting star is the story of Alyosha Kumar, whose life was short lived like that of shooting star. In that short span, Alyosha blazed his unique trail of brilliance. As a classmate he said Alyosha Kumar was amongst a rare concoction of talent that combined a brilliant mind with fine sportsmanship. Even as a school kid most wondered how he managed to excel in so many fields. Yet his most fine qualities were his uncompromising honesty and his faith in people. His Headmaster from Lawrence School thought Alyosha was too wise a head for so young a body and epitomised all that is brave about ‘The Brave New World”.

The name Alyosha signifies ‘Defender of Man’ and true to it, Alyosha Kumar died defending the honour of his friend. In the country that he was born in ‘Russia’, a monument to ‘Alyosha’ stands in the city of Murmansk as the defending spirit of the Russian people in ‘ The Great Patriotic War (1940-45)’. In most ways, the story of Alyosha Kumar depicts that very spirit.

Alyosha’s compassion for fellow beings was manifest in a will he wrote at the tender age of nine years wherein he foresaw with great equanimity and clarity his own end and expressed his desire wanting his monies to be used to start a charity forum to help the poor and the needy. Even though short, Alyosha lived his life to the full doing in his way, uncompromising in his convictions and yet experiencing the full spectrum of human endeavour. He leaves behind a rich legacy which most falls short of even in a full lifetime.”

The book is published under the imprint Frontier India and the foreword has been written by Dev Lahiri, ex headmaster at the Lawrence School, Lovedale.

Aircel awards its Super Achievers of Lakshya 2.0

by

Over 250 Trade partners across circles rewarded for their contribution to the business

Aircel

Bengaluru: Aircel, one of the leading innovative mobile service providers in India, successfully executed ‘Lakshya 2.0’ program for the year 2016 to reward its top performing trade partners in India. Under this trade partner engagement program, 256 channel partners across circles were flown/taken for a 3 days fully-paid trip to ‘land of beaches’ Goa. ‘Lakshya 2.0 was aimed to acknowledge partners such as Sales Employees, Distributors and FOS, who achieved over 100% target in a period of 3 months.

The program offers its winners comprehensive line up of benefits including International Travel, Domestic trip, Gold/Silver Coins & Laptops among other things, while maintaining strong relationships with retailers and distributors.

Commenting on the program, Anupam Vasudev, Chief Marketing Officer, Aircel said, “We ensure that we maintain strong bonds with our trade partners by spending considerable time with our retailers and distributors in motivating, educating, training and addressing their queries as they are a vital link between us and the consumers. In order to establish and build relationships with the channel and partner community, we organize a variety of programs and offers, one such initiative is Lakshya2.0”.

He further added that, “We are pleased with the results of Lakshya 2.0 and would like to thank our trade partners for their endless support. We value the relationship we share with them and appreciate their commitment towards the Aircel family. We are happy that the program was welcomed with a lot of enthusiasm by our trade partners”.

Aircel has always strived to engage and bond with its trade partners through different measures. The program was aimed to connect with the trade partners and inspire them to work hard and achieve their targets. It was one of the most appealing initiatives of Aircel which motivated the trade partners to outperform themselves and raise the bar for quality performance. Aircel is committed to the growth of its partners by empowering the trade community to provide customer rich experience.

Indian boxers bag three medals at Strandja Memorial

by

Mohamed Hussamuddin

Sofia: Mohamed Hussamuddin went down fighting in the final of the men’s bantamweight (56kg) category as India finished with three medals at the 68th Strandja Memorial boxing tournament here.

Hussamuddin put up a spirited fight against 2013 European Championship silver medallist Mykola Butsenko of Ukraine before going down 2-3 to settle for the silver late on Sunday evening.

Among other Indians in the fray, Amit Phangal lost in the semi-finals of the men’s Light Flyweight (49kg) division and Meena Kumari Maisnam went down in the last four stage of the women’s 54kg class to settle for the bronze.

A total of 15 Indian boxers — 10 men and five women — took part in the event.

Meanwhile, China won two gold medals during Sunday’s finals.

Yin Junhua, silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, defeated European champion Denitsa Eliseeva of Bulgaria 5-0 in the final of the women’s 60kg class here on Sunday evening, reports Xinhua news agency.

Rio 2016 bronze medallist Li Qian won the women’s 75kg category by beating Rio silver medallist Nouchka Fontijn of the Netherlands 3-2.

China’s Hu Jianguan, bronze medallist at Rio, lost to European champion Daniel Asenov of Bulgaria in the final of the men’s 52kg division.

Two other Chinese boxers took bronze medals, including Wen Yinhang and Huang Jiabin in the men’s 75kg and 81kg categories, respectively.

The six-day competition, the oldest and one of the toughest international boxing tournaments in Europe, featured more than 280 male and female boxers from 35 countries and regions.

(IANS)

KNOW US

GET INVOLVED

PROMOTE

Archives