A true blue Dogra Lala Ram was born in Parol near Jullundur in Punjab on 20 April 1876. As there were no schools in that area then, he had no formal education. However, he could read and write Hindi. He enlisted in the newly raised 41st Dogra Regiment in 1901. He was a good sportsman. He served initially on the Suez Canal defences and then went to France, where he was wounded and was nursed in the converted Brighton Pavilion, adapted as a hospital for Indian soldiers. On recovery, he joined his regiment in Mesopotamia. British and Indian forces had landed…
Author: shubhangi
Bharat Dogra finds that the scheme meant to benefit rural poor is not meeting its avowed purpose with wage cuts and delays, and the authorities showing callous neglect. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA), earlier known as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) stands disrupted in its present form. The Act aimed aims to provide at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to at least one member of every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. NREGA has seen frequent disruptions due to budget cuts and the arbitrary introduction of attendance and…
Bharat Dogra asserts that the government does not walk the talk when it comes to empoweringpoor women. He cites the relentless exploitation of mid-day meal cooks, most of whom are womenwho are not only grossly underpaid, but also asked to do other menial work. Government authorities frequently talk about the urgent need to empower women, especially those in India`s hinterland. However, they turn a Nelson` eye to the continual exploitation within the government system of over two million mid-day cooks. Most of these are women from poor households. Many are single; several widows with no option but to suffer these…
Shoma A. Chatterji says ‘Abhi Raat Baki Hai’ and ‘Pashmina’ not only keep the audience riveted, they also have the potential to make viewers introspect with their spell-binding and powerful themes. With the staging of these two plays, the Hindi theatre group lives up to the reputation of its founder-mentor. Rangakarmee has been among the very few Hindi theatre groups performing in Kolkata and beyond for over four decades with great success. Founded by the late Usha Ganguly, the group has come together with determination, passion and discipline that their mentor and guru passed on to them after she passed…
“Education ought to be geared towards sustainability” Arvind Kaul is instilling the Quality Circle (QC) spirit in villagers of Uttar Pradesh by opening Shiksha Kendras in the rural areas. An innovative methodology is adopted in imparting education to the village kids. Besides this, he is also promoting organic farming. Tuhina Banerjee speaks to him and finds out about his campaign. You started Quality Circles in Imamganj in the late 1990s. What difficulties did you face initially and how did you surmount them? My first exploratory visit to Imanganj was on January 26, 1993. The initial challenge was gaining personal acceptance…
Chitkul is a sheer token of Mother Nature’s blessing, away from the cacophony of maddening, bustling city life. The serenity that its scenic locales offer is just the solace one craves for. A mesmerised Shikha Hazarika sketches the majesty of a place that is not just about the regulation landscapes and tranquility but also about its people. The credit is to its responsible and hospitable inhabitants who jealously guard its glory. After two years of being cooped up inside the four walls of the house, the intensity of people travelling with a vengeance – ‘revenge travel’, as the phenomenon is…
Harshita Singh emphasises that the role of academia and educational institutions is important. Education is like a safeguarding measure that is very effective in conserving heritage. As she explains with examples, education can enable and strengthen individuals and institutions to ensure transmission of history and heritage to the next generation. Elephanta Caves Recently, a debate took the country by storm when news spread like wildfire that the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has decided to remove certain chapters from CBSE Class XII History textbooks on the Mughal Empire in India. As would be the case, the…
With India being home to some very ancient heritage structures, Nandini Rao argues it won’t be wrong to say that the country’s rich history and heritage is closely intertwined with nature and its elements, so much so that many such practices and designs are still used today and adopted for contemporary use, in architecture, landscaping, design, construction, etc. Rani ki Vav (The Queen`s Stepwell) in Patan, Gujarat — one of the largest and finest example of stepwell architecture In India, some of the most ancient heritage structures and elements have incorporated elements of nature in concept, construction, design and sustenance.…
Noting that the job of a historian is tough, since it involves processing and verifying past events, Ruchi Verma likens it to that of a journalist except that a historian documents or reports on past events. It is a work fraught with risk and responsibility as reliability emerges as a key factor while confirming records and a historian ought to exercise due diligence. M G S Narayanan is an Indian historian and academician (left) and Indologist Ram Sharan Sharma contributed significantly to Indian history (right) The role of historians in documenting and recording events, lives of people even correcting history…
April being the month of World Heritage Day, Anushka Singh dwells on how India is home to 40 properties that have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Other than these, there are more than 3,600 centrally-protected monuments which are administered by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Interestingly, most of these monuments are in India’s northern and western states. Bhimbetka Rock Shelters and cave paintings – A UNESCO world heritage site in Madhya Pradesh India’s cultural heritage is one of the oldest and richest in the world. Home to ancient civilisations and ancient cities that were centres of…