Lucknow. A national conference, “Unpacking the 12th Plan”, was held on the 17th of March. The conference was an effort to understand as to why goverment initiated welfare schemes do not reach out to the masses, and to find a way out so that the objectives of the schemes are truly realised. It was presided over by Dr Maulana Saeed-ur-Rehman Azmi Nadvi. Also present on the occassion were Salman Khurshid, External Affairs Minister, Pallam Raju, Minister for HRD, and Mrs Sayeda Hameed, Member of Planning Commission. Continue reading “Muslim conference on the 12th Plan”
The President and other dignitaries at the release function.
“PATLAA hai haal apnaa, lekin lahuu hai gaaRaa Phaulaad se banaa hai, har naujavaaN hamaaraa Mil-jul ke is vatan ko, aisaa sajaayeiNge ham Hairat se muNh takegaa, saaraa jahaaN hamaaraa”
THE President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, released a commemorative postage stamp on late Sahir Ludhianvi on March 8th. The occasion was his birth anniversary.
Born as Abdul Hayee, Ludhianvi was a popular Urdu poet and lyricist of the Hindi film industry. He passed away on October 25, 1980, at the age of 60.
Speaking on the occasion, the President said that Ludhianvi was widely acclaimed as a people’s poet who wrote on the trials and tribulations of the everyday life of the common man with great intensity and deep empathy. He was recognised as the poet of the young because of his writings on love and beauty. He wrote with great sensitivity on the values and social concerns of the contemporary period.
The President added, “One of Sahir’s greatest contributions was to converge Urdu poetry into film songs.” He also fought for recognition for lyric writers through the Film Writers Association.
In recognition of his services, The legendary poet was awarded the Padma Shri in 1971.
I CHANCED upon two well researched articles in Awadhnama late last year. One was by Dr Mohammad Saani and the other by Ms Razia Majeeda. As per those articles, during the last 20 years, in India alone, some 80 to 100 million infant girls were killed in their mother’s womb. Reading the articles, some other figures crossed my mind.
The World War II resulted in some 50 to 70 million casualties, the partition of India saw one million people killed on either side of the border, more than a million perished during the Vietnam war, and Saddam’s terror reign followed by the Iraq war saw a million people losing their lives. The list goes on with Bosnia, Palestine, Afghanistan, Syria, and others. So much bloodshed! Is this all in the name of Islam? Compare these figures with the female infanticide in India alone! Continue reading “The Message of Islam”
