Mangalore Old Port will once again start receiving Cargo and Passenger Ships, courtesy Lakshadweep
New Mangalore Port deservedly comes into media focus because of establishing new records in its operations. But not so Old Mangalore Port at Bunder which had gone out of public view like the non-lactating first wife withdrawing to the anonymity of the kitchen, leaving the second young, glamorous wife to adorn the drawing room and hog the limelight. But, the old port has now got some Viagra injection, courtesy Lakshadweep Islands in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)signed between the Government of Karnataka and Union Territory of Lakshadweep in Mangaluru on August 26, 2015. But, first the facts and background.
The MOU signed by R Mohan, Director of Ports, Karrnataka and Karanjit Vadodaria, his counterpart in Lakshadweep, provides for the construction dedicated jetty for Lakshadweep at a cost of Rs 60 crores, financed by the Union Territory and constructed by Karnataka. It involves a 300-metre long wharf for cargo and passenger vessels, waiting lounge with amenities for passengers, a godown, dredging of the channel up to 7 metres draft and other ancillary works.
This will infuse new life into the old port which has (now forgotten) history of its own.
Before New Mangalore Port became functional in 1980, Mangalore Port was an important sea link with a large staff and a busy Customs House located across the road from the Port Office – which is off the wharf. The Port’s staff has now shrunk to 24 employees while the ghost of a Customs House has only a token presence of one inspector. Mangalore Port’s ancestry goes back to Tippu Sultan’s time. Till 1954, it came under Madras Province and then under Mysore State. The Port Trust Board
managed its affairs till 1979 – eve of New Mangalore Port commencing business. Now it is managed by a Port Officer under Karnataka State Ports and Inland Water Transport Department.
Before the New Mangalore Port came on the scene, Mangalore Port was an anchorage port. Large ships anchored on the high seas, about 5/6 KM from the coast depending on their size and tonnage. Lighters or smaller tonnage boats transshipped men and materials using the two wharves of the port – 900-metre North Wharf and 225-metre South Wharf. For many decades two passenger ships of Scindia Steam Navigation Company provided regular service between Mangalore and Mumbai. This was well patronised in the era when railway via Kadur was the only other link to Mumbai. Taxis, luxury buses, planes and Konkan Railway came in much later.
The Port Office complex is located between the two wharves. The port has covered and open storage and loading and unloading tackle. Labour contractors and port agents use these facilities. The port provides safe anchorage for vessels in the lagoon or backwaters 5 KM long and 700 metres wide, separated by a sand pit with an average width of 300 metres. It is a seasonal port not being functioning from May to September 15.
Mangalore Port handles coastal trade dominated by sailing vessels. The bulk of the boats are in the range of 100 / 300 tonnes. There are also coastal ships, specially those carrying pig iron, which have a tonnage of nearly 2000. Pig iron is accessed from the Kudremukh Plant at Kulur to destinations in Gujarat. Though such cargo can be shipped from New Mangalore Port in larger vessels, such ships cannot go upriver for unloading at destinations. The main cargo coming into the port is soda ash and cement, also from Gujarat. About 500 mechanised and non-mechanised vessels are registered with Old Mangalore Port. In 1971/72 it handled about 500,000 tonnes of import/export cargo which has declined since the commencement of New Mangalore Port. In 2014/15 it handled 12,000 tonnes of imports and1,16,000 exports with a revenue earnings of Rs 2.58 crores. Thus, Old Mangalore Port is more than a relic of a bygone era. It soldiers on to play an important role in sustaining coastal trade.
There is an interesting episode regarding Old Mangalore Port dating back to mid-1970s. With New Mangalore Port on the anvil, the question of merging Old Mangalore Port with it cropped up. More than that, there was a move to rename it as “Kudla”. The Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry opposed this move. Even the Mangalore Port Trust Board, an autonomous body constituted under the Mangalore Port Trust Act, 1953, in its meeting on April 24, 1974 passed a unanimous resolution which said: “The Board very strongly feels that the name of the Mangalore Minor Port under no circumstances be changed. The proposed name of “Kudla” is not at all acceptable to Mangalore Port Trust Board under any circumstances Government can give any name it feels to the new Harbour which is coming up at Panambur. The proposed name of the major port as “ New Mangalore Port” will not come in the way of the present name of the ‘Mangalore Minor Port’” The rest is history as the port retained its name.
Now, to Lakshadweep to which Old Mangalore port had been providing a sea link for supplying provisions sourced from Mangaluru from the time of the British Raj. Lakshadweep, formerly known as the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Aminidiv, is a group of islands in the Laccadiv Sea, 200 to 440 kilometres off the south western coast of India. The archipelago is a Union Territory and is governed by the Government of India. The islands form the smallest Union Territory of India: their total surface area is just 32 square kilometres The lagoon area covers about 4,200 square kilometres, the territorial waters area 20,000 square kilometres and the exclusive economic zone area 400,000 square kilometres. The region forms a single Indian district with ten sub divisions. Kavaratti serves as the capital of the Union Territory.
Ten of the islands are inhabited. At the 2011 census the population of the Union Territory was 64,473. The majority of the indigenous population is Muslim. The islanders are ethnically similar to the Malayali people of the nearest Indian State of Kerala. The islands are served by an airport on the Agatti island. Seven passenger ships operate between Cochin and Lakshadweep taking about 14/20 hours for the voyage. A one million per day barge-mounted desalination plant is the main source of potable water. The main occupation of the people is fishing and coconut cultivation, with tuna being the main item of export. Now it is a tourist destination. Its provisions come from the mainland, including Mangaluru.
Lakshadweep’s imports into Mangaluru are mainly copra. Exports from Mangalore include construction materials, foodstuff and stationary items. Three/four sail-boats leave Mangaluru each day and cover the 400/500 nautical miles distance in 24/36 hours depending the destination island – the closest being Androth island. These link boats can be used only by the islanders. Mainland tourist, including from Mangaluru, have to go via Cochin from where seven ships operate – apart from air connectivity. According to Mohammed Faisal, Lakshadweep’s MP, who was present at the MOU signing, there are moves to accelerate tourism, including Issuing online permits for prospective visitors and prospects of visitors directly sailing from Mangalore. But, that is another story for another time.
Veteran journalist and author, John B Monteiro now concentrates on Editorial Consultancy, having recently edited the autobiography of a senior advocate, history and souvenir to mark the centenary of Catholic Association of South Kanara and currently working on the history/souvenir to mark the platinum jubilee of Kanara Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He is also Editorial Consultant and content provider for Vishal Jagriti, the English monthly of All India Catholic Union, now published from Mangaluru.
Centre unveils list of 98 smart cities; Mangalore makes it to the list!
The Hindu Minister of Urban Development, M. Venkaiah Naidu announces the list of 98 Smart City nominees, in New Delhi. Photo: Sandeep Saxena
The government on Thursday released a list of 98 cities, including 24 state capitals, which are to be developed as smart cities.
While Bengaluru has fallen out of the list, cities like Mangaluru, Shivamogga, Belagavi, Davangere, Hubbali- Dharawad and Tumakuru from Karnataka have made it to the list.
However, UP, with 13 cities, leads the states in number of smart cities. Names of two cities — one from Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh each — are yet to be revealed.
The selected 98 cities together have a population of 13 crore, accounting for 35 per cent of India’s urban population.
The metros with a population of over 50 lakh each on Smart Cities list include Chennai, Greater Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Greater Mumbai. Some of the other important urban local bodies that have been included in the list are the New Delhi Municipal Council, Vishakhapatnam, Chandigarh, Surat, Kochi, Bhopal, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Bhubaneswar, Amritsar, Jaipur, Allahabad and Lucknow.
The Smart Cities mission, launched by PM Narendra Modi in June this year, will provide central funding of Rs 48,000 crore to the selected cities for improving their infrastructure and service delivery through application of better technology and e-governance.
Here is the list of smart cities released by the government today:
India’s first woman pro surfer turns dream into startup
https://www.facebook.com/TheShakaSurfClub
https://twitter.com/surfingindia
https://theshakasurfclub.wordpress.com/
For Ishita Malaviya, moving from metropolis Mumbai to Manipal in Karnataka was an impulsive decision, given the crowded and polluted spaces in the big city. Little did she know she would be living her dream and emerge as the India’s first woman professional surfer.
Malaviya, who co-founded The Shaka Surf Club with school friend Tushar Pathiyan in a small fishing village of Kodi Bengare, some 20 minutes from Manipal, has also initiated change in the lives of the local community through a symbiotic alliance with them.
The club currently offers customised packages to people seeking a getaway or training and provides camps to stay right at the beach while outsourcing the food to local families who get free surfing lessons in return. Malaviya is part of the industry, little heard of in India and belongs to a growing number of surfing enthusiasts.
The 26-year-old said she was in her the first year of university pursuing journalism when she and Pathiyan had a chance meeting with a German exchange student and was awestruck by his surfboard.
“I always was in love with water. I always dreamed of surfing… but like many others, I wondered where do we have waves in India?” Malaviya said.
The student told the two about ‘surf gurus’ and a ‘surf ashram’, where one could learn surfing besides indulging in a complete ‘ashram experience’.
They gradually received training there on weekends by sharing a skateboard, which they bought second-hand for Rs 10,000. Interestingly, the urge for a separate skateboard led them to establish a club that is now fully equipped for 16 people.
At the 6th edition of the ‘Adventure Stories’ held here recently presented by Taj Safaris in association with ‘The Outdoor Journal’ and Ibex Expeditions Malaviya shared stories about her journey.
With almost 7,000 km of relatively unexplored coastline in south of India, Malaviya urged people especially women to take the plunge.
The surfer said her personal experience of growing up in India, where many girls are forced to limit their interaction with boys after reaching puberty, made her want to break the barriers all the more.
“Surfing for me is meditation. As long as I have that sense of peace and satisfaction, that is my purpose in life,” she told a gathering at The Taj Mahal Hotel that included people from all walks of life, including businessmen, naturalists and architects.
From a pushcart to a chain of plush restaurants…the author gets a whiff of Y. Aasife Ahmed’s success
Y. Aasife Ahmed was not much for bookish learning. “I knew what I was passionate about, and I set about pursuing my dream,” he says. And so at 18, he apprenticed with a biryani cook and later started his own wedding catering business.
Even then, he had his eye set on something much bigger, something he hardly dared to dream of, but he set about working towards it anyway.
What started with five kg of biryani on a thallu vandi (pushcart) on Butt Road in St. Thomas Mount 15 years ago has now grown to 500 kg of biryani per day, served out of four Aasife Biryani Centre outlets all around the city, the latest one being on Anna Salai.
“From the pushcart we moved to a hole-in-the-wall. We still serve take away from that shop. We then expanded across the road,” says Aasife, seated in the well-appointed lobby of the Alandur branch one evening.
I tell him I have fond memories of cycling down the road on my pink Ladybird to pick up biryani and kothu barotta for lunch.
His face lights up as he says, “You must have seen me there then; I was always behind the counter! It is good to meet old customers. In fact, there is one person who has been a regular from the beginning, and he still dines at our outlet frequently. It is the most satisfying feeling.”
While the shop was established as Aasife and Brothers, they have now parted ways. “My two brothers have diversified into other businesses. They do not share the same love for biryani or the potential I see here,” he shrugs, gesturing to the restaurant filled with chattering diners and customers waiting for their take-away orders.
He has hired the same architect and design firm to work on all his upcoming restaurants. They open in Kilpauk this month and in Nungambakkam the next.
But his pet project is the one on OMR. The 39-year-old’s soft-spoken and calm demeanour is replaced by a palpable excitement when he talks about it: “We have five floors, each with a different concept. The kitchen will take up an entire floor, and another will have a floating restaurant. There will also be a large play area for children. I want it to be the biggest restaurant in the country when we launch in May or June this year.”
Aasife’s mantra for both his cooking and his business is quality. “The ingredients should be of the best quality; even if one ingredient is not good, it will ruin the taste. Also, diners want to see a well-maintained restaurant. They care about the ambience, and so my staff are trained to ensure that every nook and corner is cleaned throughout the day. I am lucky to have such a great team of managers who know exactly what my expectations are and carry it out to perfection,” he says.
It is a good thing his favourite food is biryani, mutton in particular, and although he does not cook as much as he used to when he started the business, he does several taste tests a day.
“I go to the gym for an hour every morning. After that I visit the centralised kitchen in Guindy, and each of the outlets. I ask for whatever negative feedback has been received, and we set about rectifying them as quickly as possible,” he says.
Walking around the Anna Salai branch just before opening time on a weekday afternoon, Aasife draws my attention to the wall.
“Our speciality is that we use wood fire to make our biryani. As a tribute to that, we cut up our firewood logs and incorporated that into our decor,” he says proudly, running a hand over the now varnished wood.
“Although this is the newest branch, I feel like I have arrived on the scene with this restaurant. It is just the beginning for me.”
Apart from biryani, Aasife’s other love is cars. “Right now, I drive an Elantra. I would love to get some of the best and fastest cars available,” he says with a grin. But those can wait: right now, his plan is to take over the Chennai biryani market by 2016.
He does, of course, talk of his three children — a girl and two boys — with a lot of tenderness.
“I hope that one day they will take over what I have started here. I want this to be my legacy to them. Although it is my passion, I am doing this for their future as well.”
Remembering Khan Bahadur Haji Abdullah, the generous founder of Corporation Bank
Today, March 12, is being celebrated as 110th Founders Day by Corporation Bank by opening 110 new service outlets, including new branches, ATMs and e-lobbies. Against this background it is interesting to go back to 110 years and highlight the life and role of the founder – Khan Bahadur Haji Abdullah Haji Kasim Saheb Bahadur.
This is an excerpt from the first official letter, dated February 19, 1906, written by Khan Bahadur Haji Abdullah Haji Kasim Saheb Bahadur under his signature sent to the public, mainly of Udupi. The bank was projected to start, and did, on March 16, 1906 under the title of Canara Banking Corporation (Udupi) Ltd – the first such bank in Tulunadu. The only other bank functioning then was the Mangalore Branch of Bank of Madras opened in 1868, the predecessor of today’s State Bank of India. That bank was elitist catering mainly to the whites and leading locals. Udupi was served through the visit of British Agent of the bank’s Mangalore Branch once a fortnight. The local system of raising loans comprising Holy, Kuri and Hundi was marked by high interest rates. It was in this context that Abdullah took the initiative to start a bank in Udupi.
Though a Muslim, Abdullah was highly regarded as a leading merchant and landholder. That is how he could carry with him the 12 first Directors of the bank which had only one other Muslim. He was the only Muslim among the 10 signatories to the Memorandum of Association sent for registration on May 13, 1906. But, he walked tall as Founder President of the bank from 1906 to 1929, with short breaks during his Haj pilgrimage. Abdullah brought to the bank not only his prestige and resources but also the participation of fellow Muslims, rich traders of the time, as shareholders of the bank. In 1908, community-wise, Muslims were the largest shareholders – 251 in number representing an amount of Rs 57,609. The other leading shareholders were Saraswaths, 850 (Rs 33,273); Gowd Saraswaths, 376 (Rs 33,003); Shivali, 299 ( Rs 16,704); Catholics, 66 (Rs 6,172); and Protestants, 33 (Rs 1,309). Thus, at its very inception the bank had acquired a cosmopolitan character.
It is significant to note that the first office of the bank was started in a portion of Abdullah’s palatial mansion in Udupi. The shareholders in 1908 totalled 2,661 compared to 29,725 at the end of March 2006 -100 years after its founding. A century after the founding, it had 835 branches, 901 ATMs and 11,325 employees. Abdullah lives on through these statistics. The founders of banks are so gratefully remembered that some banks, like Central Bank, have the portrait of the founders displayed in their offices. As for Abdullah, a street next to his mansion is named after him and to mark the centenary of Corporation Bank, his statue has been unveiled in Udupi.
According to the late M V Kamath, who wrote the bank’s history, Corporation Bank – A Corporate Journey, Abdullah was a Deccani Muslim and possibly of Turkish origin whose ancestors had migrated from the Deccan to South Kanara. His father, Haji Kasim Haji Budan Saheb, was a rich landlord. Abdullah had no children. His family owned large tracts of agricultural land in the district. His share of wealth was about 1,000 murrahs of rice annually. He was the sole distributing agent for Wimco matches for the whole of the then Madras Presidency. He traded in dried fish in partnership with the head of the fishing community of Malpe (Madhwaraj). He also traded in dry fruits imported from Arabia. His family lived lavishly. Kamath, quoting (also the late) A. Wahab Doddamane in his book Muslims of South Kanara, refers to how Abdullah’s father celebrated his eldest son’s batna (circumcision ceremony) by feeding members of all communities with their own special brand of food. Brahmins were given dakshine (monetary presents) on the occasion. Abdullah’s father had the reputation of distributing one murrah of rice every day to the poor and needy.
Abdullah was the first in Udupi to own a car. He was said to be the first one to introduce coffee as the breakfast drink. This fashion started by Abdullah has taken Udupi (a brand name now) far as hoteliers to the nation and beyond. Unlike Muslims of the time, he attended regular schools and passed SSLC. He was a well-read man, enjoyed Hindusthani classics and patronised Hindusthani musicians. He lived a disciplined life going out for walks in the morning and playing tennis in the evening. He presided over a meeting addressed by Mahatma Gandhi, during his visit to Mangalore on August 19, 1920, at the Central Maidan. He held public offices from Panchayat level to Madras Legislative Council. He was a member of Central Legislature and visited Delhi often. He was conferred by the government the title of Khan Saheb in 1909 and Khan Bahadur in 1920.
Abdullah’s generosity knew no bounds. But, at the end, his unbound charity was his undoing. After he relinquished his Presidentship of the bank in 1929, hard times overtook him and he went deeper and deeper into debt. Some said that Abdullah’s generosity exceeded his wisdom. Abdullah, who once lived like a king in a palatial house and bestowed his generosity on others, had gone broke. The turn of events had unnerved him completely.
On the morning of August 12, 1935, he was found lying unconscious in his bed. Doctors tried to revive him in vain. He was 53 years at the time of his death. People from all over the district rushed to Udupi in their thousands to pay their homage. Many had been at one time or another recipients of his largesse or witness to his kindness. Brahmins and untouchables mixed freely on that day. Shopkeepers voluntarily observed a hartal on two successive days. It was a spontaneous tribute to Udupi’s most loved and highly respected citizen.
CBMR Research: Reading Urdu passages helps in brain development
Reading an Urdu couplet is not only a delight for your soul but also an elixir for your brain. A recent study by the Center for Bio-Medical Researches (CBMR), Lucknow, suggests that reading Urdu passages helps in brain development.
The work, which has made it to the recent edition of international journal 'Neuroscience Letters', has shown that reading the language involves predominant involvement of the frontal brain which controls a number of cognitive functions like decision making, the ability to determine good from bad, emotional control, coping with stress, processing information and analysing. Learning Urdu also has a role in delaying the onset of dementia, besides helping children with learning disabilities.
Uttam Kumar, a faculty member in the department of neuroimaging at CBMR, who conducted the research on subjects from the city, said the conclusion was drawn on the basis of mapping the brain of subjects when they read Urdu text for a stipulated time. The mapping was done using functional magnetic resonance imaging technique, a world-class technology used to study structural and functional aspects of the brain.
Learning of a language creates a certain pattern in the brain which can be identified by linking different neurons involved. Joining all dots refers to mapping. Though the basic contour of this pattern for all languages is the same, the structure tends to differ at a micro level because of scripts and subsequent speech sounds (phonetics). Languages are also differentiated on the basis of orthography or difference between grapheme (seeing written letters) and phoneme (encoding and translating the written into spoken letters) mapping.
"We used grapheme-phoneme mapping which divides languages into 'transparent' (easy to learn) or 'deep' (difficult to learn). For example: Hindi and German are transparent while English and French are deep. Urdu is the deepest language and therefore reading it involves more areas of the brain, which is good for mental health," said Kumar adding, "Urdu has two more advantages over others — visual complexity of letters and direction of writing."
The study found that reading Urdu involved dominant participation of the middle and superior regions of the frontal part of the brain. "Both these areas control majority of cognitive functions of the brain such as decision making, emotional control, coping with stress, analying things and processing information," he said adding that its role in decision making was most important. "It governs the ability to determine the good from the bad along with consequences of action," he stated, citing the Journal of Cognitive Neurosciences.
The work examined effects of graphene-phoneme mapping over neural regions in bilingual people and suggested that Hindi and Urdu made a good combination. "This works very well because they are mutually comprehensible languages and have a shared vocabulary," Kumar said. Researchers at Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, have already shown that bilingualism delays the age of onset of Alzheimers and other dementia. It also found that the Urdu-Hindi combo was beneficial for children with learning disabilities, particularly dyslexia, as it improves functioning of the visual cortex.
Is Narendra Modi a secret admirer of brand Kejriwal?
At a rally in Seemapuri in Delhi on November 30, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal of backstabbing anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare for his own political gains. "They are all for sweeping everything with the broom (AAP's election symbol)," Modi had said.
AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal (Right) and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi
The broom did the trick and swept the Delhi Assembly polls on December 8.
Kejriwal's surprise haul of 28 seats in Delhi, second only to the BJP's 31, proved the saffron party's calculations at projecting AAP as a vote-cutter party were far off the mark.
But behind the outward vitriol perhaps lies a deep admiration which reflects in the BJP's following in the footsteps of the newcomer party surreptitiously - perhaps more like the lame boy who followed the rodents scurrying in thrall of Hamlin's Pied Piper.
It began with the party following in the footsteps of activist-turned-politician Kejriwal's novel ways right at the hustings. Breaking away from its decades-old practice, the BJP decided to go the AAP way in inviting suggestions from netizens before it finalised its manifesto for the Delhi Assembly elections.
After the initial shock at the Delhi poll results, the saffron party decided to say no to the lure of power despite having spent a good decade-and-a-half in Opposition. That, too, when it had bagged the highest number of seats in the national capital.
Such a move by the party is in sharp contrast to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee leading the shortest ever 13-day government in the aftermath of Lok Sabha elections in 1996.
The party must have thought its saying no to power would put it at par with the AAP on the moral pedestal.
However, its trump card in challenging the AAP to accept the people's mandate and fulfil the tall promises it made to the voters came a cropper when Kejriwal announced his decision to form the government with outside support from the Congress.
The party decided to salvage some of its face in the quick turn of events by crying hoarse at the Congress-AAP understanding calling it an "unholy alliance" and that Kejriwal had betrayed the people of Delhi by deciding to form the government with Congress's support.
These allegations hardly made for a sound argument and instead betrayed the growing sense of alienation within the party in a fast-changing axis of power in the national capital.
In the third incident of the saffron party being a secret admirer of the AAP's political game-plans, the BJP incorporated the new entrant's practice of inviting public donations in the recent announcement of its 'One Vote, One Note' drive.
Under the programme, believed to reach more than a crore people, hundreds of BJP workers will go to households, pitch for Modi as PM and seek donations of a minimum Rs.10 to a maximum of Rs.1,000. The drive was finalised at a brainstorming session of five BJP chief ministers and the party's central election committee on Tuesday.
At the session, while the party's PM nominee Narendra Modi urged BJP workers not to be distracted by new issues or factors (a reference to the AAP) and instead focus on the inner strength of the party's network; it appears he is steadily trying ways to assimilate the winning points of Kejriwal's brand of politics.
Given the Gujarat chief minister's incredible acumen at image-building, he might very well succeed at amalgamating the best of brand Kejriwal into brand Modi and emerge stronger than ever. It will be interesting to see how the former IRS official stands up to this sly challenge.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/narendra-modi-arvind-kejriwal-aap-bjp/1/333024.html
In the late 1990s Indian entrepreneur Pramod Bhasin had an idea: why couldn't English speaking Indians answer the customer calls coming into US businesses on the other side of the world and charge a fraction of the price of home grown services.
Mr Bhasin set up India's first call centre in 1998 with just 18 employees taking calls in an office where the booths were divided by saris hanging from the ceiling.
Today, although India faces stiff competition from countries such as the Philippines, its call centre industry is still huge and employs hundreds of thousands of Indians.
Pramod Bhasin spoke to Witness about his ground-breaking business.
What lies ahead for a cricketer past his best? If you are Munaf Patel, the pacer from Gujarat undazzled by fame and riches, all you need is a village, and the art of chilling
Couple of us journalists are at his home in his village Ikhar in the Bharuch district of Gujarat. Seven years down the line, Patel’s fortunes have swung the whole arc. He has been a part of a team that lifted the World Cup in 2011, and now, as the team heads for another World Cup, his name doesn’t even figure in the list of probables. But the 31-year-old remains a hero at Ikhar — and remarkably, for someone who has seen both fame and riches come and go, at peace with himself, in this village from where he started his dream run.
Hailed by India’s then bowling coach Eric Simons as the “unsung hero of the 2011 World Cup win”, Patel had ended the tournament as India’s third-highest wicket-taker, behind Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh, with 11 wickets. He could have been the fastest Indian bowler ever but a shoulder injury in 2004 forced him to forsake pace. He played just 13 Tests but starred in 70 ODIs, picking up 86 wickets, and was indispensable to the team between 2009 and 2011. These days, when he is not playing Ranji Trophy for Baroda, he is at Ikhar, probably leaning against a well in a kheth (field) with his friends or lolling at the swing in his home.
It’s a fairly big house. A kilometre or two past a railway gate, beyond the cotton fields, it is caressed by a gentle breeze on a warm but pleasant day. A bike approaches from behind and Patel gets down. Dressed in track pants and a T-shirt, he welcomes us with an earthy smile: “I was chatting in the field.” We walk down the pathway, lined by trees and shrubs, to a small six-pillared portico with a swing. Patel understands and can speak English but we mostly converse in Hindi. Often philosophical, and with an ever-present smile even when talking about struggle, the man who says he just likes to have fun — “Masti chahiye bas” — opens up on his journey.
It’s the 1990s and Patel is in the ninth standard at the village school. He is already the fastest bowler but doesn’t want to play cricket anymore. Guilt is in the air. His father works on someone else’s farm, there isn’t much food at home. The children get new clothes on Id, but only in a good year. For the last couple of years, during vacations, young Munaf has been at a tile factory choosing the best “export-quality” tiles, packing them in boxes and going home with Rs 35 for an eight-hour shift. “Dukh hi dukh tha lekin jhelne ki aadat ho gayi thi. Kisi ko sunaon toh lagega kya din tha but when you are used to it, and there is no other option, then you feel kya yaar, yeh to roz ka kaam hai. Paisey nahi hai to kya kar sakte hain? Father akela kaam raha hai and we were in school. (It was a hard life, but it had become a habit. There wasn’t enough money, but what could we do? Father was the only one earning, and we were in school),” he says. A friend urges a teacher to intervene: “What’s your age? You can work once you get out of school. Now just play.”
A few years on, Patel receives his first ehsaan (favour), a constant theme in our chat. He requests a well-connected person in the village, Yusuf Bhai, to take him to Baroda to get his cricket career going. Yusuf even buys a pair of shoes for Patel, who used to play in chappals till then. “He bought me Rs 400-worth shoes, and introduced me to a cricket club. Ehsaan rahega zindagi bhar.” (Even today, whenever Yusuf comes down from UK, Munaf hops over to his house. “Kuch bhi kaam hai toh bata dena, bhai.”)
Meanwhile, his father isn’t happy. Every day, at dinner, young Munaf is asked to quit playing cricket and join him at work. And eventually go to Africa. “I would just stay silent; my mother would tell him to let me play.” For Ikhar, a village of poor cotton farmers, Africa was the passport out of poverty. Every year, a youngster or two would land up at a friend, relative or acquaintance’s house in Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa or Zimbabwe to find work in a factory or a shop. Patel had an uncle in Zambia and so his future seemed set in stone. “You can’t blame my father. No one here really knew that cricket had this kind of scope. That I can even earn money from this.”
But the doors kept opening, through the kindness of strangers who spotted talent in the gangly youth. Former India wicketkeeper Kiran More, “who hasn’t taken a single paisa from me and even bought me my first branded cricket shoes (Gunn & Moore)”, trained him at his academy in Baroda, also sent him to the MRF pace school in Chennai. A city where “they never spoke Hindi” and “auto drivers matlab fight” but a place close to his heart. He recounts a tale that captures his personality then. An English batsman, along with Sajid Mahmood and Simon Jones, had come down to the school. Patel can’t remember his name. “Gora tha (He was white), left-handed and the pitches were fast then. I bowled four-five bouncers; one hit his shoulder, one his helmet and other his gloves. He started to come towards me, saying something in English. Mujhe toh English aati nahi tab. But I see that he is angry. So I slip away quickly and dive into the swimming pool. I thought he will complain to Sir, who will throw me out of the academy!”
Patel started to learn the ways of the world at MRF. “I lived there for five-six months. I learnt how to wear good clothes, how to speak, kuch bhi nahi aata tha. Dennis Lillee (Australia’s legendary fast bowler who coached at MRF) would say something and I used to look at someone else’s face! Kya bol raha hai? Lillee Sir always used to laugh, and ask someone to translate.”
Around this time, Australian cricketer Steve Waugh dropped by the academy, saw Patel in action and was impressed. He told as much to Tendulkar, who convinced Patel to join the Mumbai Ranji team. “I learnt a lot about cricket but not its lifestyle,” he says. The Mumbai cricketers would invite him to parties but Patel wasn’t ready. Only later, on a foreign tour, did he go to a club. “I thought I had to drink if I go there. Only after Gautam Gambhir (Patel’s closest cricketing friend) told me that there is no need to drink, and that even he doesn’t drink, did I go. I still don’t drink to this day.”
Patel with friends in his village, no one with a request is turned away from his house
Early on in his life, Patel had learnt to live with an unshakeable sense of right. Principled, unwilling to bend, quick on temper and willing to take seemingly rash decisions. Like in South Africa in 2009, when he shut the door on his captain Shane Warne and threatened to quit. Piqued at not being given any over in an IPL game, which the Rajasthan Royals eventually lost, he stormed to his hotel room and asked team owner Manoj Badale for his passport back. Soon, a knock on the door. Patel peeped through the eyehole to see Warne. “Please open the door”. ‘Shane Sir, I won’t’. “Let me explain.” “I don’t want to hear a thing. Bye.” Of course, he had admiration for Warne’s captaincy. “He was magic. He had the ability to get the best performances from everyone.”
Always frank, he once fobbed off a national selector because of perceived mockery. A day before a game after he was already selected, the selector asked him, “Are you fit?” Patel lost it. “How did you select me then? Tu khila raha hai toh cricket hi nahi khelna mujhe (If you think you are a doing a favour to me by selecting, then I don’t want to play).” The selector disappeared into the lift. “Tu yeda hai kya?” (Are you mad?) said Wasim Jaffer, who was with him then.
Patel was a man often criticised, at times even for his sartorial choices. A furore broke once about him not tucking in his shirt on the field with former players criticizing him on air. The dressing room too reflected the difference in personalities. Rahul Dravid, the captain, suggested he tuck in his shirt to end the controversy. “Voh ekdum sincere, padhe-likhe type (educated man) “ On the other side, Sehwag, Harbhajan, Yuvraj said, ‘Chodna yaar, hum bhi tuck in nahin karenge kal sey! ( We also won’t tuck our shirts in)’. I was not doing it on purpose. I hadn’t come from a school where kids wear white shoes, and tuck in their shirts!”
It set him off from the others, the straight talk, the no-nonsense attitude that anchored his feet to the ground. It would make him tick off young boys who would let fame get to their head— “Stop acting silly. Cricket hai bhai, anything can happen. Ek injury and sab khatam, finish. Then what will you do?” And it allowed him to look at the transformation of diffident young boys into celebrities with detachment. “See it’s the atmosphere you grow up. If you live in a city, are well-off, and more importantly, play for the country, your group will change. Where is an ordinary man, a poor man, going to be in that group?”
Here, in Ikhar, away from the adrenaline rush of victory and fame, the bright lights of the city and its lures, he knows that playing for India is many worlds away. “After the 2011 World Cup, I was injured for five-six months and by then, the selection approach had changed. They wanted to look beyond me and Nehra and give youngsters a chance. Which is fine. I will probably play for Baroda for two more years. Let’s see how long the body holds,” he says. But he also knows he is free of the favours and the ehsaan that has powered his run. “Bahut logon ka ehsaan mujh pey chada. I used to wonder how I shall pay them back. In between I thought I will even quit. Jitne logon ka ehsaan chadta hai, aap utne neeche jaate ho (The more you people oblige you, the lower you slip).”
He has found a way now. The Patels never turn away a man who comes to their house, looking for help. It could be a request for Rs 50,000 for a wedding or money for hospital expenses. People come in, ask for the keys and take his cars for a ride. His father encourages him to do more. “If I ask any question to anyone who comes to home, my father will say, ‘Why are you asking questions? That won’t feed him. Just give him the money’.” The village has a trust which helps people in need. “We all know each other in the village. People always take care of each other.” And that’s why Patel doesn’t see himself leaving Ikhar. “Shaanti hai idhar, peaceful. Why will I go anywhere else?”
Two sources within the government confirmed to The Hindu that the change, which will be a fundamental departure from India’s support to the cause of a Palestinian state, was under consideration.
“Like other foreign policy issues, the Modi government is looking at India’s voting record at the United Nations on the Palestinian issue,” a government source told The Hindu. The change only needs an administrative nod, the second source said.
Despite the growing defence and diplomatic ties with Israel, the UPA government, which junked traditional ally Iran to vote with the United States at the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2005, had baulked at making any change in India’s support to the Palestinians.
Even former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee’s government, which invited Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to India in 2003, did not amend India’s voting record at the U.N.
India’s stance at the U.N. has been an irritant in Indo-Israeli relations, with Tel Aviv frustrated that close bonds had not resulted in any change in the stance on Palestine.
A senior Israeli interlocutor told a visiting Indian External Affairs Minister some time ago that New Delhi treated Tel Aviv like a “mistress” – by keeping the bilateral relationship away from the public gaze. This re-examination of India’s voting stance will come as sweet music to Israeli ears just as it will raise concerns in West Asian capitals about the future course of Indian foreign policy.
Against all odds: Gaza is now home to a promising startup scene
Some of the most talented, enthusiastic, and hungry entrepreneurs are popping up in the isolated strip where daily struggles are overcome through creativity and collaboration.
With a total population of around 1.7 million in Gaza, the startup scene is relatively small, but you would never know it from the frenzy surrounding mentorship and tech education events over there. Thanks to programs like Mercy Corps accelerator Gaza Sky Geeks, Google Developers Group in Gaza, and others, buzz is building around entrepreneurship.
As a result of all these constraints, technology is seen as one of the main doors to access the rest of the globe. Software applications, business services and solutions, mobile technologies and applications, digital Arabic content, online marketing and e-Commerce are just some examples that make the ICT sector Palestine’s main economic gateway to the rest of the world. Adapting and learning to use the Internet and the Cloud quickly, to transfer digital productions out of Palestine, has been, and still is key to success.
Entrepreneurship, innovation, technology transfer, business incubators and accelerators are attractive words amongst countries in the Middle East, especially in recent years. The Palestine ICT Incubator (PICTI), established in 2004, with headquarters in Ramallah and a branch in Gaza, was the first Palestinian ICT-specialized business incubator. Since then PICTI has made enormous progress in spreading a technology, entrepreneurship and innovation culture through the area.
A Start-up Accelerator
Gaza Sky Geeks (GSG) is the Strip’s first and only start-up accelerator, launched in 2011 after Google, keen to promote the tech sector and start-up ecosystem in the West Bank and Gaza, approached the NGO Mercy Corps. The conflict-torn Gaza Strip produces more than 2,000 young graduates with technical degrees each year. Gaza Sky Geeks helps them launch their own high-tech businesses.
Mercy Corps has also helped run Startup Weekend (SW) – the global grassroots entrepreneur movement aimed at generating early interest in start-ups and bringing teams together, in Gaza since 2011. This year’s SW Gaza drew over 650 applicants; over 150 were ultimately selected to participate.
Gaza Sky Geeks does not give aid money to startups as they don’t believe it would be beneficial for the startup ecosystem in Gaza. The company connects start-ups to outside investors who invest in the start-ups for equity because they believe they will receive a return on their investment. These investors are looking for investment opportunities throughout the region and they find the opportunities in Gaza to be very compelling.
The GSG office, near a seaside stretch of seafront hotels and restaurants, is also a source of reliable electricity and wifi, serving a vital need in the power cut-plagued Strip. The walls of the GSG office are emblazoned with Google, Android and Facebook logos. There’s a chill-out room with multi-colored bean bags and plans for an X-box and Playstation to help the entrepreneurs loosen up.
“Gaza Sky Geeks serves as an accelerator program to take on start-ups after incubation,” explained GSG program assistant Hazem al-Habib. “The start-ups have already started working on their ideas and products, so we give them an investment of about 31,000 dollars, 14,000 as cash and the rest as client services. We started with a boot camp event and about 40 companies signed up. It’s about giving them training in business models.”
GSG also focuses on arranging mentoring sessions, using Skype or Google Hangouts meetings with mentors from Facebook or Google, and other successful entrepreneurs from the Arab world.
Not just a boys club
According to a post on Mic.com: The cultural bias against women entering technological fields simply doesn’t exist in the Arab world. Despite political instability in Gaza, entrepreneurship is budding and women entrepreneurs will soon outnumber men.
“Gaza has an incredibly high percentage of women involved in technology at early stages,” said Iliana Montauk, director of Gaza Sky Geeks – a #40Forward partner (Google’s initiative to support women-led tech companies). “Women study computer science at higher rates than men and they attend Startup Weekend competitions at nearly the same rate as men.”
Gazan women have a difficult time explaining the startup world to their friends and families.
“Through focus groups, we learned that women’s families in Gaza often do not support their efforts to launch a startup because they do not see women returning home with income or a certificate,” said Montauk. “Gazans typically consider those as signs of accomplishment. The concept of a startup isn’t yet understood by most of the population.” To address this obstacle, Gaza Sky Geeks is providing stipends to some of its female participants, “so they can show their families that they are bringing money home.”
What’s on the horizon?
Arab youths are looking for a ‘change’. The “Arab Spring” sheds the light on their role in the coming period with all the economic and political implications that drive the eventual success of our efforts. Start-ups may not be the answer for all Gaza’s myriad political and economic troubles, but its proponents hope a more immediate impact will be to empower the Gazan youth.
While Gazan entrepreneurs are facing unique and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, they clearly have tremendous will to overcome those obstacles. That passion means that in just a few short years and with a bit of polish, we’ll see those diamonds shine. We’re going to see some great iteration and growth from Gazan startups. Keep an eye on these teams as they further validate their ideas and begin building viable companies.
(Photo: A message got while trying to access a site on the Airtel network on 18th July 2008)
It looks like India’s going to get a web filter. In fact, In a recent meeting held by Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Telecom Minister of India the discussion was not about IF there should be censorship of the Internet, but HOW to to censor the Internet.
Objectionable content is objectionable. China blocks it, and it looks like India will soon set up a web filter too.
In fact, when NASSCOM raised the issue of blocking legitimate content, the Telecom Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, who chaired the meeting, said that the “larger issue of respecting cultural values of the country and sentiments of the Indian society need to be considered and all possible ways and means may have to be devised in this context.”
In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that, along with CERT-In , they are “working together to block websites containing objectionable contents having the potential to create communal violence and law and order problem as well as sensitive from the national security point of view. He further added that Ministry of I&B has set up National Media Centre to monitor contents of various websites on the Internet on 24 x 7 basis.”
The CRAC (Cyber Regulation Advisory Committee) meeting was looking to filteration of the web, following the filing of a writ petition by Kamlesh Vasvani in the Supreme Court of India, alleging that “easy access to porn websites results in illegal activities like rape, harassment, molestations of women.” The filter is likely to be created for censoring porn online, but as we pointed out earlier, this itself is tricky.
Read: The Tricky Thing About Fighting Blocking Of Porn In India
Why we’re worried
1. It’s not about porn alone: The problem with blocking pornography is the collateral damage that comes along with it. In the minutes of the meeting, Gulshan Rai, DG, CERT-IN, refers to a letter from Sharad Pawar, MP and leader of the NCP, to the Prime Minister, which raises the issue of incidents “of communal and related violence in Maharastra triggered by objectionable profiles posted on the social networking sites, hurting sentiments of certain sections of society.”
2. Once a filter is in place, it’s mandate will increase: The last line of the minutes of the meeting: “Regarding the misuse of social media for disturbing social harmony in the country, MCIT requested MHA to look into the matter and evolve steps to prevent misuse.”
If we set up a filter, and politicians want content blocked because it hurts certain sections of society, the government will start blocking everything. The mandate will expand to blocking other content as well.
3. We won’t know what is blocked: We’ve seen from the Department of Telecom in the past, there is lack of transparency on what all is being blocked, why it is being blocked. The Department is yet to even acknowledge an RTI filed by MediaNama, for copies of orders related to blocking content, that do not pertain national security concerns. We’ve filed an appeal with the appellate authority. But we never know what is blocked or why it has been blocked.
4. We won’t know how to get content unblocked: Today, if the government blocks a site, whether because of a court order or because a political party doesn’t like criticism, we don’t know how to get the blocks removed. There is no recourse.
5. Filters will make blocking easier: which means more blocks, implemented more quickly, and with lack of transparency, things can get crazy and whimsical.
Comments made at the meeting:
1. Rajesh Chharia of ISPAI: Content blocks are most effective at the source, but porn sites are outside india, and only child pornography is banned in those countries. China has firewalls at the ISP internet gateways to filter and block content, but proxy servers are used to bypass.
“It was suggested that repository of blacklisted pornography sites by autonomous bodies / NGOs may be required to be built for blocking such sites and media campaigns would also help in containing the menace.”
2. Subho Ray of IAMAI: “filtering of pornographic content at the level of cable landing stations before such content reaches ISPs may be explored.” “a mechanism with hot lines for reporting objectionable sites may need to be created. Also complaints may be registered to police regarding such sites.”
We checked with Dr Ray on his statement, and he clarified that what he had said at the meeting was that the filtration of content was not possible at an ISP level, and more consumption of data is taking place on mobile devices, so the COAI (telecom industry organization) should have been a part of the meeting, and any filtration can only happen at the cable landing station level.
3. Dr. Bajaj, representing NASSCOM: said that since servers are outside the country, “MLAT mechanism needs to be employed, which is time
consuming and may not to be successful always. Unintended consequences of filtering of legitimate traffic need to be taken into account when blocking is carried out. ”
4. Secretary, Ministry of Legal Affairs: “the legality of viewing pornography content in private need to be examined, though hosting and transmission such content is punishable. He also expressed that it is not desirable to submit the plea to Supreme Court that it is difficult to filter / block pornography sites and we must try to evolve a solution.”
5. Secretary, MHA: mentioned that MHA and CERT-In are working together to block websites containing objectionable contents having the potential to create communal violence and law and order problem as well as sensitive from the national security point of view. He further added that Ministry of I&B has set up National Media Centre to monitor contents of various websites on the Internet on 24 x 7 basis.”
A copy of the Minutes of the Cyber Regulation Advisory Committee meeting held on 5th September, 2014 in DeitY. Download them here, but we’re publishing this here for archival purposes, in case it gets removed from the ministry website.
The meeting of the Cyber Regulation Advisory Committee was held on 5th September, 2014 in the Conference Room No. 1007 at DeitY under the Chairmanship of Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Minister of Communications and IT. The other members who attended the meeting are:
1. Shri Anil Goswami, Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs
2. Shri P.K. Malhotra, Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs
3. Shri R.S. Sharma, Secretary, Department of Electronics and IT
4. Shri Rakesh Garg, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications
5. Dr. Sanjay Singh, Secretary, Legislature Department
6. Shri Ravikant, Addl. Secretary, Ministry of Defence
7. Shri Sudhanshu Pandey, Jt. Secretary, Department of Commerce
8. Shri O.P. Galhotra, Joint Director, Central Bureau of Investigation
9. Shri Niket Kaushik, IG ATS, Maharashtra
10. Dr. Kamlesh Bajaj, CEO, DSCI, NASSCOM
11. Shri Rajesh Chharia, President, Internet Service Providers Association of India
12. Shri Ajay Sharma, Sr. Director, ASSOCHAM
13. Shri Babulal Jain, ASSOCHAM
14. Shri Sujit Haridas, DDG, Confederation of Indian Industry
15. Shri Akanksha Kumar, Confederation of Indian Industry
16. Shri Vijay Madan, Chairman, Cyber Security Committee, FICCI
17. Ms. Sarika Gulyani, Head – IT & Telecom Divn., FICCI
18. Shri R.K. Vyas, Computer Society of India
19. Dr. Subho Ray, President, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI)
20. Dr. Gulshan Rai, DG, CERT-In, DeitY. : Member Secretary
21. Shri A.S.A. Krishnan, Sr. Director, DeitY.
22. Shri. Gaurav Gupta, JD, DeitY
2. Hon’ble Minister extended warm welcome to the members. After introduction of the members, DG(CERT-In) briefly presented the background for convening the Cyber Regulation Advisory Committee meeting. It was informed that a writ petition has been filed by Shri Kamlesh Vasvani in Supreme Court. The objective of the writ petition is to block pornography websites and related contents. The petitioner has submitted that easy access to porn websites results in illegal activities like rape, harassment, molestations of women. The respondents in the writ petition are DeitY, DoT, Ministry of I&B, Home Affairs and Internet Service Provider Association of India. DeitY, DoT and Internet Service Provider Association of India have filed their counter affidavits. The case was listed number of times before different benches in the Supreme Court.
The last hearing was on 29th August 2014 before the bench headed by Hon’ble Chief Justice of India. The Additional Solicitor General suggested that the issue of availability of Pornography material and the filtering of the same is a social matter and cuts across all the sections of Society.
The Supreme Court was also apprised of the technical issues and challenges involved in blocking the pornographic content and websites. The Supreme Court in its Order directed that it would be appropriate, if the Government places the copy of the writ petition and interlocutory applications before the Cyber Regulation Advisory Committee, which has members from all sections of the Society including Government, Industry, Civil Society and Academy, for its consideration. DG(CERT-In), further, mentioned that there are approximately 40 million pornography sites on the Internet and these sites keep changing name and IP address to avoid blocking. He also brought out the existing provisions in Information Technology Act 2000 and Indian Penal Code to deal with pornography as well as the provision of IT Act through which objectionable sites are blocked as and when reported by various agencies. He also presented the mechanism through which countries like UK and European Countries & USA propose to address the challenge. UK and Australian Governments are working with NGOs to spread education and awareness to control the menace of pornography. Further, UK Government freely distributes filtering software which can be installed at homes by parents to make Internet browsing safer for the children.
It was also pointed out that these countries are largely focusing on child pornography as it is classified as crime, while pornography is not crime in many of the countries. Countries like Saudi Arabia and some Middle East Countries have installed filters at Telecom / ISP level, which has been reported to be not adequately effective. He also informed that we intimated Shri. Kamlesh Vaswani through letters & phone calls. He, however, could not be present in the meeting. The petition was placed before the Advisory Committee. A copy of the presentation
made by DG, CERT-In in the meeting is at Annexure. Regarding the second agenda point for the meeting, Dr. Gulshan Rai informed that Shri Sharad Pawar, Hon’ble member of Parliament and Leader of the NCP Party, in his letter to the Prime Minister has raised the recent incidents of communal and related violence in Maharastra triggered by objectionable profiles posted on the social networking sites, hurting sentiments of certain sections of society.
3. Secretary, Deity explained that proxy servers are used to bypass filters deployed by ISPs. He added that “https” websites with encrypted content are also used to transmit the pornographic material which makes filtering difficult as the data is encrypted. He added that Deity
takes prompt action under Section 69A of IT 2000 for blocking of web sites with objectionable contents whenever requests are received from law enforcement agencies. With regard to pornography sites, he suggested that, to start with list of child pornography sites for blocking may
be obtained from sources of other countries, where such sites are banned strictly.
4. Secretary, Ministry of Legal Affairs brought out that pornography is a social problem and apart from legal provisions to tackle the issue, cooperation is required from all sections including public for restricting the availability. Further, he mentioned that the legality of viewing
pornography content in private need to be examined, though hosting and transmission such content is punishable. He also expressed that it is not desirable to submit the plea to Supreme Court that it is difficult to filter / block pornography sites and we must try to evolve a solution.
5. Secretary, DoT informed that orders for blocking are implemented through ISPs immediately when orders are received for blocking. However, when large number of pornography sites are to be blocked, the latency for Internet access would increase, which would
slow down the Internet. The infrastructure at ISPs end need to be upgraded to deal with such large number of web sites for blocking. He expressed that incremental efforts in phases can be considered for implementation for filtering at gateways by upgrading the infrastructure at Internet gateways and distributing filtering software for installation at homes / offices. 6. Secretary, MHA mentioned that MHA and CERT-In are working together to block websites containing objectionable contents having the potential to create communal violence and law and order problem as well as sensitive from the national security point of view. He further added that Ministry of I&B has set up National Media Centre to monitor contents of various websites on the Internet on 24 x 7 basis.
7. Shri. O.P Galhotra, from CBI felt that help from Interpol may be sought with reference to illegal sites hosted outside the country. He also mentioned that there is a need for awareness creation among agencies with regard to blocking provisions and procedure to be followed when
such sites need to be blocked. Further, after blocking, Ministry of Home affairs may need to be approached for possible prosecution, he added.
8. Shri Rajesh Chharia of ISPAI mentioned that the websites are located outside India; in US, UK and Australia adult pornography is legal and only child pornography is banned in these countries. China deploys firewalls at the ISPs’ Internet gateways to filter and block objectionable contents. However, proxy servers are used to bypass such filters. In addition most of the sites, including payment based sites employ “https” based encryption, due to which ISPs are not in a position to block such sites. Blocking at the source is one of the effective solutions to control viewing of pornography. However, pornography sites are located in countries where such content is legally allowed, due to which blocking may not be possible at the source. It was also brought out that sites containing pornography contents enable spreading Malware. Since payment is involved for viewing some of the sites, financial crimes are committed by students for accessing pornography on Internet. It was suggested that repository of blacklisted pornography sites by autonomous bodies / NGOs may be required to be built for blocking such sites and media campaigns would also help in containing the menace. He informed that ISPAI is already conducting education & awareness programmes in schools and colleges to sensitize the matter.
9. Shri Subho Ray of IAMAI stated that filtering of pornographic content at the level of cable landing stations before such content reaches ISPs may be explored. However, it was clarified that identifying the content for filtering at the IP packet level is difficult to implement at the cable landing stations. It was suggested that a mechanism with hot lines for reporting objectionable sites may need to be created. Also complaints may be registered to police regarding such sites.
10. Dr. Bajaj, representing NASSCOM, brought out that since servers with objectionable contents are located outside the country, MLAT mechanism needs to be employed, which is time consuming and may not to be successful always. Unintended consequences of filtering of
legitimate traffic need to be taken into account when blocking is carried out. However, the Chairman stressed that larger issue of respecting cultural values of the country and sentiments of the Indian society need to be considered and all possible ways and means may have to be devised in this context.
11. Shri Sujit Haridas of CII indicated the importance of maintaining repository of blacklisted pornography sites by autonomous bodies / NGOs. It was also brought out that simultaneously creating awareness among home users / citizens encouraging them to install filters to block porn content on individual machines may be an effective step towards controlling objectionable content. 12. Shri. Vijay Madan, from FICCI also reiterated that education and awareness among public regarding ill effects of viewing pornography available on the Internet should be undertaken by the Government with the help of NGOs. Further he endorsed the views expressed by others with regard to making available filtering software free of cost by Government for installation at homes.
13. Dr. Arvind Gupta, who was invited for the meeting, could not attend the meeting due to prior commitments. However, he conveyed that a solution may need to be worked out to prevent availability of pornography on Internet considering the cultural sensitivities of the country.
14. MCIT emphasized that the matter is to be viewed in the context of Indian culture and moral obligation towards society. Capturing the essence of discussions and views expressed by members, he said that NGOs will have to play a lead role and work together with Government in creating awareness & education for sensitizing ill effects of the subject matter. He requested IAMAI, being an Association of members from content providers to lead the effort, as social responsibility, to monitor and collect the list of pornography sites from various sources, which can be provided to ISPs to enable blocking. IAMAI may set up a group to prepare list of such sites and provide the same to DeitY who will take further action for their blocking. Govt. will provide necessary support to IAMAI to carry out the task. IAMAI agreed to take up the task as requested by MCIT. Further, MCIT directed DeitY and DoT to work together to upgrade the blocking infrastructure at ISPs in order to implement blocking effectively. He reiterated that the mechanism followed by UK for distributing filtering software for installation at home computers through ISPs may also be studied and replicated with necessary modification for Indian context.
Regarding the misuse of social media for disturbing social harmony in the country, MCIT requested MHA to look into the matter and evolve steps to prevent misuse.
Meerut 'love jihad': Girl's father permits marriage to Muslim youth
The girl had alleged that her family had forced her to cook up a story about gang-rape and forcible conversion at the instance of a political leader who was giving money to them.
In a latest twist in the alleged “love jihad” case in Meerut, the father of the girl at the centre of the controversy has said she can marry the Muslim youth she claims to love.
The statement by the 52-year-old Narendra Tyagi comes two days after the girl ran away from her parents with her Muslim lover and claimed that her family had forced her to give false statements of gang-rape and forcible conversion against him.
But Mr Tyagi makes it a point that his daughter should withdraw the case of assault and threatening to murder against him and his wife. The girl, who is staying in a government shelter house for women in Meerut city, had registered the case alleging that her parents were planning to kill her.
“We are her parents and do not want to harm her or publicise her personal life. It is the political parties which approached us and created a controversy in order to draw mileage out of this issue,” he told The Hindu.
“She should not punish us for wanting good for her. She want to see her happy and if she is happy with Kaleem, let that be. She should withdraw her complaint against us because we won’t harm her at all,” he added.
The members of Hindutva groups like Meerut Bahan Beti Bachao Andolan, however, had reached Mr. Tyagi’s house in Sarawa, asking him not to change his stand over her daughter being lured by a 'love jihadi Muslim'.
Ajay Tyagi the chief of the Hindutva outfit said that he won’t allow a Hindu girl to marry a Muslim man. “ It is a conspiracy hatched at a big level. But let me tell you that we won’t allow the girl (Mr. Tyagi’s daughter) to marry that ‘love jihadi’,” he told The Hindu on phone.
“We are trying to convince Tyagi ji not to think like that. No body can harm him by any complaint because she is her daughter and also our izzat. It is a matter of Hindu asmita,” reinforced the chief of the right wing outfit.
He talked about the case as a text book instance of “love jihad” which he claimed is an ‘’Islamist conspiracy’’ to lure Hindu girls, convert them and thereby “emasculate” Hindu society.
Mr. Tyagi, who has a small plot of farming land to earn his livelihood, accepted that the convenor of the UP BJP Traders Cell and a senior BJP leader Vinit Agarwal Sharda, had given Rs. 25,000 to his family and had promised to give more in future. Mr. Sharda too denied influencing the family and the probe.
“Vinit Agarwal Sharda had given us money but it was to help and not given to pressurise us to change her statement,” he said.
The girl had alleged that her family had forced her to cook up a story about gang-rape and forcible conversion at the instance of a political leader who was giving money to them.
The present state of Jewish-Muslim relations is an inversion of the friendly relations that had lasted through the last 20 centuries
Source of terror
Islamic terror has become the popular topic of drawing room conversations in the last decade. The doings of Hamas and Hezbollah, the Taliban and most recently of the Islamic State have provided much fuel to the fire. There is little reference, however, to the state as the source of terror of which Israel is currently the prime example.
Anti-Semitism has plagued the Jews for two millennia and is often invoked to justify Israeli impunity. Ironically, the Arabs have historically not been participants in this history of racial hatred. On the contrary, it was in Arabia that the Jews sought refuge after they fled Jerusalem following the destruction of Second Temple.
“The solution to Hamas lies in a sustainable Palestine and not in death in Gaza”
In his story of a small Moroccan town Dammate in the High Atlas Mountains, anthropologist Abdellah Hammoudi describes a ritual exchange of yeast between Jews and Muslims staged each year in a celebration called Mimouna held during the last day of the Jewish Passoves (Pessah). The exchange shows how despite there being hierarchy and inequality for Jews in Muslim dominated polities, there was civility, hospitality and even friendship. There is substantial historical evidence available to show how Jews were thriving in the Abbasid and Ottoman Empires. The present state of Jewish-Muslim relations, therefore, is an inversion of the friendly relations that had lasted through the last 20 centuries.
The Palestinians, through sales of their land to migrant Jews actually made the state of Israel possible on the ground. Israel is, quite literally, as I have argued in a forthcoming book, a “gift” of the Arabs even as the land transfers occurred without Palestinians realising that a “Jewish State” was in the making.
Tragically, the state of Israel seems to have learnt more from its persecutors than its benefactors in the calculated precision of its targeting and killing. But the problem is not just the most recent round of the war in Gaza. The deeper problem is that Israel has made impossible any viable statehood for the Palestinians.
There is little doubt that both the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Hamas have contributed to the Palestinian predicament. The PLO wrote off East Jerusalem in the Oslo Agreement in 1993 and compromised on the right to return of Palestinians in return for its recognition as the official Palestinian authority. The Oslo peace process itself enabled the rise of Hamas, since the PLO had lost legitimacy with many Palestinians. For the West, Hamas was an effective counterbalance to the PLO. Since then Hamas’ own violent politics has gone hand in hand with Israel’s metamorphosis into an expansionist, settler state.
The old secular left that had dominated Israeli politics has been marginalised. A new wave of religious nationalism holds sway, some sections of which advocate a Greater Israel and would like to annex the West Bank as the Biblical Judea and Samaria. There are suggestions that paying Palestinians to emigrate would be less expensive than the costs of maintaining the two-state solution.
Stand in India
What then should be our stand in India? Though India has become hugely dependent on Israel for small arms and India-Israel relations have strengthened, it must stand for peace and justice in Palestine if it aspires for leadership in global politics. Fortunately the official Indian statement at a special session of the UN Human Rights Council criticised the heavy airstrikes in Gaza, the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestine Territory including East Jerusalem and emphasised the need for a sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Palestine. Citizens all over the world must press for stronger action in favour of Palestinian statehood including the resort to economic boycott of Israel if required. The solution to Hamas lies in a sustainable Palestine and not in death in Gaza.
(Shail Mayaram is author of Israel as the gift of the Arabs: A Tel Aviv Diary, Yoda, in press).
Al Jazeera responds to ‘fabricated’ Sholay tweet, says it can only laugh at these ridiculous stories
We can only laugh at these ridiculous stories about #AlJazeera... They could have al least gotten our logo right, says Al Jazeera
New Delhi: Al Jazeera was the butt of all jokes when a ‘fabricated’ tweet representing ‘Jai and Viru’ from Bollywood’s iconic film Sholay as Gaza victims went viral on twitter.
However, Al Jazeera has refused to endorse the picture, even as it is being lambasted for ‘yellow journalism’ by Twitteratis. Movie buffs remember the iconic Sholay scene as the death scene of Jai, played by superstar Amitabh Bachchan.
Text alongside the photograph reads "More horrific images of seriously injured as a result of Israeli shelling."
For those of you who loved the fake #Bollywood image as our #Gaza coverage, here are some more lies about @AlJazeera http://t.co/Y8OJdDdmVp
The screenshot of the article believed to have been posted on Al Jazeera’s website has been shared many times. Users have also accused the broadcaster of fake coverage portraying actors Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan as victims of Israeli airstrikes.
Al Jazera has denied all such allegations and issued a clarification on Twitter, saying that the incident is now in a list of ‘funniest rumours at Al Jazeera’.
In another tweet it said, "We have enjoyed the fabricated #Bollywood picture depicting our Gaza coverage but sadly @SrBachchan does not work for @AlJazeera."
We can only laugh at these ridiculous stories about #AlJazeera... They could have al least gotten our logo rightpic.twitter.com/6oRrXPzxk8
Dutchman returns Holocaust medal after family deaths in Gaza
A Dutchman honoured by Israel for hiding a Jewish child during World War Two has handed back his medal after six of his relatives were killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza.
Henk Zanoli, 91, wrote to the Israeli embassy in The Hague to say he could no longer hold the honour.
He said an Israeli F-16 had destroyed his great-niece's home in Gaza, killing all inside, in the recent offensive.
The Israeli embassy has declined to comment on Mr Zanoli's action.
'An insult'
Mr Zanoli and his mother were awarded the "Righteous Among the Nations" honour by Israel in 2011 for helping to shelter a Jewish child from the Nazis in their family home from 1943-45.
The award is accorded to non-Jews who risked their lives to protect and save Jews during the Holocaust.
However, Mr Zanoli said in a letter published by Israel's Haaretz newspaper that "to hold on to the honour granted to me by the State of Israel under these circumstances, would be an insult... to those in my family, four generations on, who lost no less than six of their relatives in Gaza."
The UN says more than 2,000 people - mostly Palestinian civilians - have died in recent fighting between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants in Gaza
"The great-great grandchildren of my mother have lost their grandmother, three uncles, an aunt and a cousin at the hands of the Israeli military," he wrote, referring to an air strike by the Israeli military on 20 July.
His great-niece is a Dutch diplomat who is married to Palestinian economist Ismail Ziadah, who was born in a refugee camp in central Gaza.
Mr Ziadah's mother, three brothers, a sister-in-law and nine-year-old nephew were all killed after their family home was hit by Israeli aircraft.
Mr Zanoli, a retired lawyer, offered sharp criticism of Israel's Operation Protective Edge offensive, warning that such actions could lead to possible convictions of "war crimes and crimes against humanity".
Israel has defended its offensive in Gaza, saying its forces had gone to "unprecedented lengths to keep Palestinians out of harm's away" by issuing warnings via text message, telephone and leaflet dropping.
Mr Zanoli has faced his own share of family tragedy after losing his father at a Nazi concentration camp and a brother-in-law who was killed for his role in the Dutch resistance during World War Two.
"Against this background it is particularly shocking and tragic that today, four generations on, our family is faced with the murder of our kin in Gaza. Murder carried out by the State of Israel," he wrote in the letter addressed to Israeli ambassador Haim Davon.
He was reportedly too frail to hand the medal back in person, but instead sent it to the Israeli embassy in the Netherlands.
