NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court will hear on August 20 a plea by a group of serving Army officers against the dilution of AFSPA that gives immunity to military personnel from prosecution for actions in disturbed and insurgency-hit areas.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra agreed to hear the plea after advocate Aishwarya Bhati sought an early hearing.

The petitioners have sought specific guidelines to protect military personnel from criminal proceedings for bona-fide actions done in the discharge of official duties in areas infested with insurgents and witnessing proxy wars against India.

The petitioners range from Section Commanders to Commanding Officers who lead section, platoon, company, battalion made of 10 to 1,000 men each.

They contended that the protection provided by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) does not confer any special right to a soldier for himself, but facilitates his functioning and operations in extraordinary circumstances of proxy war, insurgency, armed hostility, ambushes, and covert and overt operations.

Drawing a distinction between routine policing and military operations in disturbed areas, they contended that absolute protection for bona-fide actions of soldiers in extraordinary situations is imperative to enable them to carry out their duties effectively and efficiently.

This protection from criminal prosecution for bona-fide actions of a soldier in the course of military operations in disturbed areas, the petition says, is sine qua non for the protection of the country’s sovereignty and integrity.

The officers sought a court direction that “protection of persons acting in good faith under the AFSPA is sacrosanct with the sovereignty and integrity of the nation” and that “no prosecution, suit or other legal proceeding shall be instituted, except with the previous sanction of the Central government….”

They further averred that it was the Army alone which is familiar with the dynamics of these operations, and was capable of probing into allegation of criminality, misuse, abuse, or of excessive use of power by men in uniform.

“Civil police or even the Central Bureau of Investigation can’t even be expected to be in the know of complete picture,” they claimed.

The petition by Col Amit Kumar and others is rooted in a spate of complaints and FIRs against military personnel deployed in disturbed areas of the northeast and trouble- torn Jammu and Kashmir and the same being entertained by courts.

In a virtual election speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday projected himself as an impatient agent of change against the backdrop of “docile and inefficient” governance during the Congress-led UPA rule and promised housing, power, water, sanitation and healthcare for all in his mission to take the country to new heights.

He also announced that the ambitious Prime Minister’s Jan Aarogya Abhiyan (PMJAA), dubbed “Modicare”, for health insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh each to 10 crore families will be launched on September 25 on the 102nd birth anniversary of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the BJP’s predecessor.

Making his last Independence Day address to the nation ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Modi said there was “senseless” criticism against him but asserted he was impatient and restless to take the country ahead of many others which had overtaken India. 

And breaking his silence in the context of recent cases of rape and sexual exploitation in welfare homes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Modi said there was a need to attack such a mindset by putting the fear of the law that had been made stringent. He said law was supreme and no one could take it into their hands. 

Referring to Jammu and Kashmir, Modi repeated the lines from his last year’s August 15 speech that the Kashmir problem can be resolved only by embracing its people, not with bullets or abuses. He recalled former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s line `Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat, Insaniyat’ (eclectic Kahmiri culture, democracy and humaneness) and said this was the only way forward.

Reaffirming his mantra of “sabka saath, sabka vikas” (take everyone along, development for all), the Prime Minister said there would be no discrimination against any section and there would be no nepotism and favouritism.

“I want to reiterate my pledges – housing for all, power for all, cooking (gas) for all, water for all, sanitation for all, skills for all, insurance for all, connectivity for all. We want to go ahead with these programmes.

“People make senseless criticism against me. But whatever may be said, I want to publicly acknowledge that I am restless because several countries have marched ahead and I want to take the country ahead of them. I am impatient because children are still suffering from malnutrition. I am eager to provide quality of life and ease of living to country men. I am impatient to provide health cover to each of the poor so that they can fight against diseases. I am eager because we have to lead knowledge-based fourth industrial revolution,” he said.

Modi turned poetic before winding up his nearly 80-minute speech, saying that the country’s fortunes were being transformed.

“We have to make a new dawn and create a new India. We want to move ahead with the dream of reaching the crescendo of development.”

Attacking the Congress but not by name, he said if comparison was made of the speed of governance in the last four years, people would be surprised.

“If toilets were built at the speed of 2013, several decades would have gone to reach the present stage. Rural electrification would have taken two decades. Taking LPG connection to poor women would have taken 100 years. Generations would have gone to take optical fibre to its present levels. There are a lot of expectations, a lot of needs. The country is feeling a change in the last four years. There is new awareness, new enthusiasm.”

He said four times more rural houses had been built, there was a record number of mobile manufacturers, record number of aeroplanes had been procured and record number of tractors sold. 

“The demand for higher MSP (minimum support price) for farmers was pending for years. From farmers to political parties to agriculture experts, everybody was asking about it but nothing happened. The decision was taken by our government to provide the MSP of 1.5 times of production cost.”

Modi said the Army, which reaches out to people in case of natural calamities, also conducts surgical strikes to give a befitting replies to its enemies, an apparent reference to the surgical strike conducted on terror launch pads across Line of Control in 2016. 

In a strong election pitch, Modi reached out to Dalits, poor, youth, farmers, women, fishermen, security forces, middle class and upper middle class by referring to the work done by his government and his endeavour to improve their lives.

Modi also attacked the opposition over the non-passage of triple talaq bill in the just-concluded monsoon session of Parliament and promised to do justice to Muslim women by getting it passed early. 

Alleging that the previous governments had allowed a climate of corruption to thrive, the Prime Minister said his government had eliminated power brokers from Delhi and plugged loopholes in various schemes like Public Distribution System that had led to savings of Rs 90,000 crore. “The corrupt will not be forgiven.”

The measures initiated by the government had also led to near doubling of direct tax assesses from nearly four crore to 6.75 crore and indirect tax assesses from 75 lakh to 1.16 crore on account of introduction of GST apart from barring over three lakh suspicious companies in the anti-black money drive. 

He announced that India would launch a manned mission in space by 2022 — it could be a man or woman — and a satellite dedicated to help fishermen.

The Prime Minister said India was earlier seen among the fragile five nations because of policy paralysis but now it had turned itself into a “land of reform, perform and transform”.

“We are all set for record economic growth. India’s voice is being heard effectively at the world stage. We are integral parts of forums whose doors were earlier closed for us.”

NEW DELHI : Asserting that India was at the cusp of achieving many of its long-awaited goals, President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday said “contentious issues and extraneous debates” should not distract the people.

In his address to the nation on the eve of 72nd Independence Day, he referred to various issues and said these may have held true 10 or 20 years ago or even earlier to some extent but “even so we are at a juncture in our history that is different from any period that we have so far experienced”. 

“We are at the cusp of achieving many of our long-awaited goals. Universal access to electricity, the elimination of open defecation, the elimination of homelessness, the very elimination of extreme poverty is achievable and attainable. We are at a pivotal moment. Let contentious issues and extraneous debates not distract us,” he said.

Kovind said if freedom was defined in narrow political terms, then August 15, 1947 marks a closure. 

“But freedom is a broader concept. It is not fixed and finite. Freedom is a constant and relentless endeavour. Even decades after 1947, each one of us can contribute in the manner of a freedom fighter. We can do so if we expand the frontiers of freedom and of opportunity for our fellow Indians and our beloved India.”

Referring to the resolve of various sections in nation building, the President said that the reality was that every Indian who does his or her job with sincerity and commitment, who contributes to society by being true to a professional ethic, be it the doctor’s ethic, the nurse’s ethic, the teacher’s ethic, the public servant’s ethic, the factory worker’s ethic, the business person’s ethic, the ethic of those who have to care for ageing parents – each of these and many others are in their own way upholding the values of freedom. 

“They are providing the fruits and goods and services of freedom to fellow citizens. Every citizen of India who does his or her duty sincerely, fulfils a personal and professional obligation and keeps to a given word is, at a fundamental level, upholding the principles of our freedom struggle,” he said. 

“I would argue that every Indian who does not jump the queue and respects the civic space and rights of those ahead in the line also lives up to the principles of our freedom struggle. It’s a very small gesture. Let us try and abide by it.” 

Kovind said the freedom that came at midnight on August 14-15, 1947 was the result of years and decades and centuries of sacrifice and valour on the part of India’s ancestors and freedom fighters. 

“They could easily have compromised and settled for some personal benefit, but they did not. Their commitment to India – to a free, sovereign, plural and egalitarian India – was absolute. It was my privilege to honour these freedom fighters on the anniversary of ‘Quit India Day’ on August 9 in Rashtrapati Bhavan.”

The President said after four years India would be marking the 75th anniversary of Independence and in less than 30 years the people would celebrate the 100th anniversary of India as a free nation. 

“The decisions we take today, the foundations we lay today, the projects we undertake today, the social and economic investments we make today – whether for the immediate future or for the medium term – will determine where we stand. The pace of change and development in our country is rapid and appreciable. And as per our civilisational traditions, it is driven by our people, by civil society and by a partnership between citizen and government. Its focus, again in keeping with the essence of Indian thought, is on a better life for the less fortunate,” he said. 

He also referred to the beginning of commemoration of the 150th birthday on Mahatma Gandhi on October 2 and said Gandhi did not just lead India’s freedom struggle. 

“He was and still is our moral compass. In my capacity as the President of India, I have been fortunate to have travelled around the world, particularly to a few countries of Africa. Everywhere, across continents, Gandhiji is mentioned, cherished and remembered as an icon for all humanity. He is the embodiment of India,” he said.

Recalling Gandhi’s cleanliness campaign along with his wife Kasturba in Bihar’s Champaran even in the middle of struggle for freedom, the President quoted him as saying: “Struggle was not just for political power but for empowering the poorest of the poor, educating the uneducated and ensuring the right to a dignified life.”

He also referred to Gandhi’s principle of non-violence and said each Indian should adopt his ideas and maxims in everyday work and conduct.

“Together we can eliminate, illiteracy and inequality. We can and we must do this together. The government has a leading role but not the sole role. Let us use the government’s programmes and projects to further our own efforts. Let us make that sense of ownership our motivation,” the President said.

It is often said Chhattisgarh lives in two eras—modern and traditional. The North and the South of the State are dominated by indigenous groups who preserve their culture fiercely, and the fast developing Central plains. 

To give a glimpse into lives of the tribal communities of Bastar, Southern part of the State, and Surguja, the northern part, the Chhattisgarh government has created an open air museum in the heart of Naya Raipur.  

Purkhauti Muktangan, a creation of artisans portraying the cultural heritage of Chhattisgarh, has become a centre of attraction for the locals, particularly the youth, with hundreds visiting the place every day. 

Visitors are greeted to a huge entrance Singh Dewdi—a replica of the Jagdalpur palace– leading to Maria Path depicting the rich tribal art and culture. There is an ornamental Chhattisgarh Park and an entertainment park dotted with statues of freedom fighters.

Once completed, the museum will have two distinct parts depicting the rich richness of Bastar and Surguja regions. Purkhauti also has space for a workshop for demonstrations of living traditional knowledge system of the State.

The exhibits created so far include a traditional dwelling of Rajwar community of Surguja with clay walls painted in bright colours.  The boundary wall of the museum depicts local and traditional myths. 

“We are in the process of developing Aamcho Bastar (Our Bastar) to showcase the cultural heritage of tribal communities. Aamcho Bastar is being developed to display the glimpses from the life-style of the tribes of Bastar– the region known for its indigenous groups people and culture, not just only in India, but also throughout the world,’’ says Ms  Niharika Barik Singh, Secretary, Department of Culture. 

Till a few years back, Bastar district was larger than Kerala in area, but now it has been divided into seven administrative districts — Bastar, North Bastar (Kanker), Kondagaon, Sukma, Bijapur, South Bastar (Dantewada) and Narnyanpur. This division has been done more for better administration, otherwise as far as the cultural spectrum is concerned, Bastar still remains a singular cultural region. 

Aamcho Bastar is being developed with the co-curation of the tribal and folk artisans of region. In the first phase, nearly one and a half dozen exhibits have been created including those of archaeological importance. Traditional tribal dwellings, youth houses, and tribal shrines exhibiting the traditional and cultural patterns of the folk and tribal communities of Bastar give a real life experience of the tribal living. 

The world’s longest celebrations of Bastar Dussehra – spread over 75 days–has also been created, with the area landscaped by baked clay tiles made by the traditional potters of the region.

“We want to develop Muktangan as an important tourist destination in the coming years,’’ Ms Singh says adding that this would not only help to keep the tribal art and craft alive but also promote it. 

All the exhibits put up at the museum have been prepared on the basis of the myths, epics, traditional folk-history and knowledge-system as known and expressed by the respective folk and tribal artisans who have created these. 

Of particular interest at the museum are Ghotul – Maria youth house—where young girls and boys informally received knowledge on economic, social and cultural life. This is particularly common among the Maria tribes in Kondagaon and Narayanpur districts of Bastar region. Ghotul is also used as a place for night stay. 

The Ghotul has also promoted the artistic creativity of the Maria artists and artisans. There are two rooms and one veranda in this structure, which is made of wooden pillars. The roof is of the clay tiles. Gedi dance stilts and musical instruments used by the inmates have also been displayed at their respective places.

The Bastar Dussehra festival is one of the finest examples of the mutual affection and collaboration between the king of Bastar and his subjects. The kings have attached the local people from various parts belonging to different social communities of this area with this festival, basically a ritual devoted to the Bastar royal family’s deity, Danteshwari. 

This festival is believed to be festival running for 75 days –longest duration anywhere known in the world. This festival is not only famous as a festival of the king, but also as the festival of entire Bastar region. Various rituals of Bastar Dashahara have been displayed at the museum by artisans from Kondagaon as per the folk beliefs and myths known to them, and to their other community members. 

The annual budget for the years 2015-16 & 2016-17 was Rs. 3.25 crore that was increased to Rs 5.10 crore in the current financial year. 

The Department of Culture is now focussing on the northern part of Chhattisgarh known as a Surguja region. Surguja has five districts — Surguja, Koria, Balrampur, Surajpur and Jashpur. These districts are famous for their tribal culture, heritage, forests, high lands and various festivals. The replica and models are prepared by the artisans from these regions which ensures that the money goes to them. 

Uraon, Pando, Korwa, Kudukh, Majhwar, Birhora are some of the primitive tribe of Surguja. They live in the forest and high land villages of the district. Rajwar and Kanwar are famous for their terracotta craft. 

They decorate their houses with different kind of terracotta work such as decorated frame work and terracotta figurine of animal and birds in their residents.

It is, perhaps, unthinkable in today’s internet age to visualise bringing out a newspaper in the early 60s from a place without any connectivity –no roads and no telephones.

The newspaper not only came out, it flourished and is running into its 60^th year now. Dandakaranya Samachar, often referred to as the spokesman of Dandakaranya, was started by a young journalist Tushar Kanti Bose whose family had migrated to India following Partition.

Given land in the Dandakaranya to settlea, Mr Bose was a journalist who had worked with several newspapers such as Jugantar and Amrit Bazaar Patrika before he started his own publication on January 12, 1959.

At that point Dandakaranya was a tribal populated areas comprising of , undivided Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh, Koraput and Kalahandi districts of Orissa and Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh as well as Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. It was spread over 80,000sq miles with Jagdalpur the district headquarter of Bastar in then Madhya Pradesh. Bastar is now in Chhattisgarh.  

“We started as a multi-lingual weekly newspaper in Hindi, English and Halbi (local dialect of Bastar) making it a unique production of its type. It was particularly popular among the people working in different projects under the erstwhile Dandakaranya Development Authority and Dandakaranya-Bolangir-Kirandul (DBK) Railways and people in the adjoining areas,’’ explains Mr Bose, who is now the Editor-in-Chief. His wife, Manikuntala Bose is now the Editor.     

“It was the first newspaper of the region started amidst the lack and shortage of fundamental amenities needed for a newspaper such as infrastructure, skilled manpower, raw materials and many other things. Inspite of all these hurdles, we have managed to sustain the newspaper for 60 glorious years,’’ the couple point out while recalling the difficulties they encountered while bringing out the publication as there were no telephones, electricity and other infrastructure. 

“But we have brought out the newspaper for 60 years without a break,’’ they say. 

What started as a bi-weekly in 1980 and then to a daily on 12^th January, 1985. “We had to discontinue the Halbi and English editions because of lack of readership and even writers were difficult to find. So we stuck to Hindi which became very popular as it was the only newspaper of the region at that time,’’ Mr Bose says. 

On 15^th August 1994 Dandakaranya Samachar became the first daily to be printed in Web Offset Machine in any tribal district of the country and Manikuntala Bose who took over as the Editor of the newspaper became the first lady Editor of any daily newspaper in the country. Mr.Tushar Kanti Bose became the Editor in Chief from the day. 

On 12th January 2015 after playing various roles at various levels, the couple’s son Bishwaroop Bose assumed the role of Executive Editor of the newspaper. Today Dandakaranya Samachar is being published simultaneously from Jagdalpur (Bastar) and Raipur with multi colour supplements covering whole of Chhattisgarh and Orissa, and competes with many other publications in and outside of Bastar. The publication has brought out special numbers to commemorate the history of the newspaper.  

“Dandakaranya Samachar has followed the motto “Independent Thought, Impartial Expression” ever since it came into existence. We have kept ourselves free from political influence though most Chief Ministers – of undivided Madhya Pradesh and now Chhattisgarh—do call on me and take my advice. But all this has never influenced my brand of journalism,’’ says Mr Bose.

Dealing with the Left Wing Extremists was not easy for the newspaper. “There were pulls and pressures from the naxalites with threats to life also, but we have always tried to strike a balance and stand with the truth,’’ the couple explain. 

Dandakaranya Samachar has never limited itself to news articles only but has always highlighted and encouraged the educative and social awakening programmes to enlighten the people of the region. It has also encouraged the literary beginners by providing space for their writings etc. and thus paving a way for many of them to earn state and country wide fame. 

A teacher at heart, Mrs Bose became the Principal of a girl’s school in Jagdalpur when she came here after marriage, but gradually started her own school in the town. “I had nothing to do with journalism when I came here. I learnt writing from my husband. I began with writing articles and then tried my hand at editorials,’’ she says while recalling how the couple had sold the newspaper themselves outside their office on the morning following former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s death.

“I used to cycle several kilometres to gather news and it was a struggle to get the telephone line through,’’ Mr Bose says. “Lots of things have changed since the time we came here. There were no colonies, no infrastructure worth its name and people were so simple,’’ he says while narrating an incident when his car broke down on the roadside. Since it was late, he could not arrange for a mechanic, so he asked a local to keep an eye on the vehicle in the night. When the couple went to the spot with the mechanic, he saw the person at the same spot where he was the previous night. He the person took just Rs 20! Such was the sincerity. 

Now, the next wave of change will happen when the Nagarnar Steel Plant becomes functional in a couple of months from now as it is likely to bring jobs and would result in development. “However, I hope it doesn’t kill the traditional art and craft of Bastar.’’

Muthuvel Karunanidhi was one of the last links to the Dravidian movement that ushered in the rise of backward classes in politics and the end of Congress rule in Tamil Nadu five decades ago on the plank of social justice.

A five-time Chief Minister, the 94-year-old Karunanidhi, who strode the public life of Tamil Nadu like a colossus, also played a key role in national politics when he aligned with Indira Gandhi in 1971 and reaped rich rewards in elections. 

But he staunchly opposed the Emergency of 1975-77 during which his government was dismissed on corruption charges. He was banished to the opposition ranks till the death of his friend-turned-foe and iconic film hero M.G. Ramachandran or MGR in December 1987.

Under Karunanidhi, the DMK occupied a prime position in the UPA governments at the Centre in 2004 and 2009 and earlier in the NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpyee, an alignment that surprised many given the party’s Dravidian moorings.

He was a wily politician who succeeded his mentor C.N. Annadurai or ‘Anna’ as Chief Minister in 1969 and kept a stranglehold on the party and government. He remained the President of the DMK for nearly 50 years, a rare feat in any democratic country. 

Always sporting dark glasses, which became his trademark identity, and in later years a yellow stole, which critics said was against the atheism he preached.

With the death of his arch rival J. Jayalalithaa in 2016 and his departure now, Tamil Nadu is left with a void.

Born in Tirukkuvalai in the erstwhile Thanjavur district on June 3, 1924, Karunanidhi was a multifaceted personality — journalist, playwright, script writer — whose fiery dialogues as an iconoclast in films unleashed changes in Tamil Nadu’s social scene.

He joined the Dravidian movement as a teenager under the tutelage of the late social reformer ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramasamy and Anna. 

‘Kalaignar’, as Karunanidhi was called for his proficiency in arts and literature, fashioned theatre and cinema in a way that gave a fillip to the Dravidian movement and the rise of DMK as a major pole in Tamil Nadu. 

Karunanidhi’s political fortunes rose when Anna broke away from the DK to float the DMK in 1949. The box office hit of Tamil movie ‘Parasakthi’ for which he wrote the script and a ‘rail roko’ agitation in Kallakudi near Tiruchirapalli made him known throughout the state.

He ascended to the DMK throne and the Chief Ministership following the death of party founder Annadurai in 1969.

Karunanidhi had the party in his strong grip till the end despite presiding over two major splits and being out of power continuously between 1977 and 1989.

Born in a poor Isai Vellalar (a backward caste) family, he was named Dakshinamurthy by his god-fearing parents Muthuvel and Anjugam. He later changed that to Karunanidhi, a Tamil name shorn of any Brahminical or Sanskrit tinge.

He also took part in the anti-Hindi agitations of 1937-40 and published a handwritten newspaper ‘Manavar Nesan’ (Friend of Students) and later formed the first student wing of the Dravidian movement, Tamil Nadu Manavar Mandram.

The anti-Hindi agitation was revived by the DMK in 1965, leading to massive anti-Congress sentiments amid much violence. 

Karunanidhi also published ‘Murasoli’, a monthly which grew to become a weekly and the DMK’s official daily. Last year it celebrated its platinum jubilee. 

He contested his first Assembly election in 1957 from Kulithalai successfully and since then has not lost any of the 13 elections he contested.

His fortunes gained further strength when the DMK won the 1967 elections and Annadurai made Karunanidhi the Minister of Public Works.

After Anna’s death in 1969, Karunanidhi became the Chief Minister. He led the DMK to a landslide win in 1971. 

Bad times started soon after. Perceiving the popularity of movie hero and party leader MGR as a future threat to him, Karunanidhi began sidelining him and ousted him in 1972.

MGR floated the AIADMK that took power in 1977. He cultivated the Congress well — sharing liberally the Lok Sabha seats while retaining his hold on the Assembly — to effectively consign the DMK to the opposition benches.

DMK’s fortunes revived in 1989 when it won handsomely assisted by a split in AIADMK, with one faction led by its founder’s widow Janaki Ramachandran and the other by Jayalalithaa.

However, in 1991, the DMK government was dismissed in the wake of heightened activities in Tamil Nadu of Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers whose vocal supporter he was. After Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination by a LTTE suicide bomber in May 1991, the AIADMK under Jayalalithaa swept to power.

The DMK suffered a second split in 1993 when Karunanidhi saw fiery speaker Vaiko as a threat to his son M.K. Stalin’s ascendancy in the party and expelled him.

After that it was a see-saw battle with people choosing DMK and AIADMK alternatively. In 2006, the DMK was voted back to power for its populist promises.

In 2011 Karunanidhi promised more, but the DMK lost the battle. In 2016 too, it suffered the same fate.

A staunch opponent of Congress and its dynastic rule during earlier days, Karunanidhi later changed tact and paved the way for his progenies’ progress within and outside the party.

He brought his sons — through his second wife Dayalu – M.K. Alagiri and M.K.Stalin — into the party. Alagiri became Union Minister while Stalin was declared the political heir. However Alagiri was dismissed from the party later for anti-party activities.

Karunanidhi made Kanimozhi, his daughter by his third wife Rajathi, a Rajya Sabha member.

After the death of Murasoli Maran, his nephew, conscience keeper and the party’s face in Delhi, Karunanidhi got the former’s second son Dayanidhi Maran a Cabinet post in the central ministry in 2004 and 2009.

With coalitions becoming the norm at the Centre, the DMK started siding with BJP and Congress to get cabinet berths.

It was the Sarkaria Commission which first stamped Karunanidhi as corrupt in the matter of allotting tenders for the old Veeranam water project. 

Though Karunanidhi was jailed several times during his long political innings, what shocked many was his midnight arrest by the Jayalalithaa regime in 2001 on corruption charges.

His wife Dayalu and daughter Kaimozhi were questioned by the CBI over corruption charges. 

When the Sethusamudram Canal Project got mired in controversy, Karunanidhi shocked the nation by wondering aloud whether Lord Rama was an engineer to build bridge across the sea. 

Karunanidhi donated his home at Gopalapuram to a trust to convert it into a hospital for poor after his and his wife Dayalu’s lifetime.

Karunanidhi is survived by his two wives Dayalu and Rajathi, sons M.K. Muthu, Alagiri, Stalin and M.K. Tamilarasu and daughters S. Selvi and Kanimozhi and grandchildren.

(Agency)

Meghna Jain’s father drives the car of the District Collector. But he has bigger dreams for Meghna. He wants her to be a Collector one day. 

“I am here to fulfil my father’s dream,’’ says Meghna who is studying in the Prayas Residential School for Girls at Kanker.  A Class X student, she wants to make it big in life. She got admission here after clearing an entrance test. “I want to change the things in my village.’’

Another student, Muskaan is from Sukma. She also left her village to enrol herself here as there was no good school back home.  A topper in school, Muskaan wanted to study further so when she heard about the Prayas Schools from someone in the village, she lost no time in applying. 

“I have always wanted to do something for my village. There are no good schools and when I grow up I really want to bring in development in my village,’’ she says with steely resolve. 

Like Meghna and Muskaan, there are many more academically bright students here who have left their homes to shape their lives. They want to become engineers, doctors, crack civil services and some even want to become journalists. 

“We ensure physical and emotional well-being of the students here. Each one of them is brilliant who has cleared entrance to get into Prayas. Here, we not only help them do well in their Board exams but also groom them to crack entrance exams,’’ says Ashalata Sharma, Superintendent of this school in Kanker. 

Prayas schools were started by the Chhattisgarh government in 2010 for the students from the Left-Wing Extremist affected areas where there were no or little possibilities for higher education. Run by the Tribal Affairs Department, the schools provide free boarding, lodging, education and health facilities. 

“We love it here. I have made lots of friends and we enjoy studying, sports, dancing and singing,’’ says Varsha Patel, also from Sukma. 

The first such school was opened in Raipur in 2010 under the Mukhyamantri Bal Bhavishya Suraksha Yojana. In 2017-18, the scheme was allotted a budget of Rs 1510.90 lakh. `The scheme is proving to be a blessing for the students, both boys and girls, from the LWE-affected regions.

The initial schools were meant for Class 11 and 12 students but over the years, students from Class 9 and 10^th were also included. The students are coached for cracking all-India entrance exams. At present, there are 6 Prayas schools one each in Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Ambikapur, Jagdalpur, and Kanker.

The first school in Raipur had a capacity for 300 students but there are 1,700 students enrolled at present. In 2017, as many as 8 students cracked the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), 8 went to medical colleges and 40 to NIIT. Since 2010, as many as 23 Prayas students have made it to IITs, 117 to NITs, 27 to various medical colleges and 52 to other engineering colleges. 

Just a few months away from the Assembly elections, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Dr Raman Singh says his effort now would be to ensure maximum utilisation of infrastructure and to take the benefits of social development to the last person. 
“We have made major investments in the health and education sectors. Our effort now would be to ensure maximum utilisation of the infrastructure created over the years and to ensure that its benefits of social development reach all,’’ he says. 
All set to contest the elections for the fourth successive term, Dr Singh firmly believes that people would appreciate the welfare work done by his government over the years, and vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming elections. 
“The kind of development that has been done in tribal-dominated Bastar and Surguja will certainly have a positive impact on the outcome. People are now clear that development is the only way forward,’’ he says in response to the measures taken by his government to reverse the losses suffered by his party in the Bastar region in the 2013 elections. He goes on to explain that Darbha ghati attack near Sukma (that had wiped out the entire Congress leadership in May 2013) did result in people kind of losing faith in the party. Another factor was anti-incumbency since most of the candidates had been MLAs for over 10 years.
Admitting that the new party floated by the former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi has a presence in the central Chhattisgarh, Dr Singh said it could not be ignored and that it had been taken cognisance of though traditionally the fight has been the BJP and Congress. 
“But look at the kind of work we have done in the past years.  Naxalism is now confined to the hilly regions of Sukma and Bijapur. Even there, they do not have the courage to fight face-to-face with the security forces. They indulge in occasional attacks which makes national news. Otherwise, you will find young girls moving around on their scooty’s in the night in Sukma. The region has become so safe, and the credit for this goes to development and the will of the people who have realised the futility of the movement,’’ the Chief Minister says.
Road connectivity, telecommunication, power, education and health have pushed the naxal supporters back. “You will be surprised to know that the percentage of institutional deliveries in Dantewada district has crossed 90% which is much more than the state average. Over 60,000 students are being taught in porta-cabins which in itself is new model of education launched by the Chhattisgarh government when the naxals started blowing up schools. This was backed by Livelihood Colleges which skills students to earn a livelihood. We are now opening the region to tourism, local agriculture and industry which would give immense job opportunities to the educated local youth,’’ Dr Singh says adding that the government had received local support for all. 
One major source of employment would be the NMDC Steel Plant at Naagarnar in Dantewada that should become functional in another 3-4 months. “The 3 MT Steel Plant will change the face of Bastar region. It will do what the Bhilai Steel Plant did to Chhattisgarh and the Bokaro Steel Plant did to Bokaro.’’
Bastar region is now being connected through a rail network from Durg to Jagdalpur via Raoghat. Forty kilometres of the track is already complete. Air service between Raipur and Jagdalpur has also been launched though it is yet to be opened for public.  
Dr Singh goes on to say that Chhattisgarh is the only State where the government helps farmers in production by offering free loans; procurement by giving a bonus of Rs 300 and distribution by milling and distributing rice to 55 lakh families. And, now with the new MSP announced by the Prime Minister, farmers stand to gain more, he goes on to explain. All payments are made online and there is complete transparency in the entire process.Similarly, the State government is all set to launch the Ayushman Bharat Health Protection Scheme on August 15 that would cover 37 lakh poor families. This would be in addition to the State’s Universal Health Scheme which covers the entire population. “Every family has a Smart Card for health and they can get themselves treated even at designated private hospitals. ‘’
The State has also focused on women empowerment. Ration cards and houses are registered in the names of the women who also have 50% reservation in the Panchayati Raj Institutions. The latest scheme of distributing 50 lakh smart phones to the people has also focused on women as the beneficiaries are 40 lakh women. “We have not confined women’s empowerment to slogans only. It is a reality in Chhattisgarh.’’
The next big thing in connectivity would be an efficient rail network in Chhattisgarh that would connect Bemetara, Durg, Bhilai and Raipur. “The State has good roads now but we do not think Metro is a good idea at the moment as the population density is low. Metro should have high density as is in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore. For Chhattisgarh, an efficient traditional rail network would be more beneficial. We are also keeping in mind the environmental concerns. 

[Produced Directed & Edited: Raj Kapoor/ Story &Screenplay: K. A. Abbas / Cinematography: Radhu Karmakar/ Lyrics: Neeraj,Shailendra, Shaily Shailendra & Hasrat Jaipuri /Music: Shankar Jaikishan/ Playback: Manna Dey, Mukesh, Mohd.Rafi and Asha Bhosle/ Starring: Raj Kapoor, Simi Garewal, Manoj Kumar, Rishi Kapoor, Dharmendra, Dara Singh, Kseniya Ryabinkina, Padmini and Rajendra Kumar/Release date: 18th December, 1970]
           Raj Kapoor was one of the biggest international stars from the early 50s till early 70s. In 1967, while in London he and Krishna Kapoor attended the evening show of Fiddler on the Roof featuring Chaim Topol at West End. Chaim Topol, an ardent Raj Kapoor motioned for silence after the play was over and requested Raj Kapoor to come on to the stage saying that there was a misconception that he was Israel’s most popular actor, in actuality he was the second most popular man after Raj Kapoor! Raj Kapoor was hailed by a standing ovation. 
It was sometime then in 1964 that he had begin pondering on his pet project that turned in to an obsession bringing near ruination and calumny. Mera Naam Joker was six years in the making, with Raj Kapoor investing much of his own personal fortune and himself. It was distributed under the RK Films banner, marked the debut of Rishi Kapoor and was shot on location in India and Russia. The film sank at the box office brought Raj Kapoor close to total bankruptcy and the famed RK studios faced the peril of auctioneer’s hammer in order to pay off the debts.  The film however has garnered critical praise in later years, and film experts now label it a ‘misunderstood masterpiece’! At the Filmfare it gathered trophies for  Best Music Director( Shankar Jaikishan),  Best Cinematographer(Radhu Karmakar),  Best Male Playback Award (Manna Dey; Ae bhai zara dekh ke chalo),  Best Director Award (Raj Kapoor) and Best Sound Recordist ( Allauddin Khan Qureshi).
Raj Kapoor exposed four and a half lakh feet of film for Mera Naam Joker. Many different cuts of the film are known to exist, the movie’s censor certificate certifies the film’s length as being 6989.50 metres or 255 minutes. At four hours and fifteen minutes Mera Naam Joker was the second Hindi film to have two intervals, the first one being also another Raj Kapoor production, Sangam (1964). 
Simi’s big break came with Raj Kapoor’s Mera Naam Joker where she was the object of desire of the young Rishi Kapoor, the Anglo-Indian teacher Miss Mary,.  The role was powerful but it created a furore as Simi dare to bare her derriere in a conservative India. It has been rumoured that Simi and Raj Kapoor were more than director and muse during the making of Mera Naam Joker. Simi was hesitant about Conrad Rook’s Siddhartha because of the bold scenes but it was Raj Kapoor who convinced her to accept the role. Satyajit Ray met her at Raj Kapoor’s house during the preview of Mera Naam Joker and cast her in his Aranyer Din Ratri (1969). 
Raj Kapoor liked his sagas long was not a secret lost to anyone, the showman of Bollywood outdid himself with this melodramatic story of a circus clown whose brief unspoken love with the three women was full of shy smiles and coy glances. It was for all to see that after Sangam, the actor engrossed in his magnificent obsession never gave two hoots to his looks and the cardinal truth that as lead he should have been eating and drinking less. To compensate for his rotundness and do justice to a marathon like script Raj Kapoor packed dollops of oomph to titillate the audiences of 70s! Besides the so called ‘bold scenes’ of Simi he locked lips with the Russian actress Ksiena Rambiankina. 
Sharmila Tagore was the original choice for the role of Marina in Raju’s life. But later this role went to the Russian beauty Kseniya Ryabinkina, a 21 year old professional ballerina with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Kseniya Ryabinkina admits that she got thousands of letters as fan mail for years for the movie and despite 15 to 16 films to her credit she’s still remembered as the Marina of Raj Kapoor.
The third actress that co-starred with Raj Kapoor in the film was the buxom south Indian beauty Padmini, with whom he was allegedly involved since their sojourn in Moscow in 1957 right till the making of Jis desh main Ganga Behti hai (1960). Raj Kapoor made the screen sizzle in the song Ang Lag ja Balma, Padmini shed the male disguise for a flesh colored saree without a blouse and went searching for Raj Kapoor in the middle of the night drenched to the bone in the torrential rain! Raj Kapoor’s songbird Lata unhappy with the lyrics of Ang lag ja balma refused to sing for Raj Kapoor’s Mera Naam Joker (1970) and after the film flopped, he had no choice but to go back to her to sing for Dimple Kapadia in Bobby (1973).
Shailendra had written three songs of Mera Naam Joker plus the opening verse of its theme song- Jeena yahan, marna yahan. Raj Kapoor had been given the first line by Shailendra years ago but the lyricist just would not sit down and finish the song. After Teesri Kasam bombed and an ailing Shailendra just before being hospitalized went to Raj Kapoor’s “Cottage” and wrote the entire song and signed at the bottom of the page, which meant that it was final and unchangeable. 
The song, Ae bhai zara dekh ke chalo by Neeraj which fetched Manna Dey his second Film-fare award, was six-minute-long song and one of the most poignant numbers in Indian movie history. Manna Dey later said that he thought that the song was not challenging enough as it was more like a talking song and had to imagine very hard how Raj Kapoor would enact it on screen and make his singing attuned for the great actor! However it is a tribute to Neeraj that the Song remains evergreen due to the lyrics rather than singing style! Neeraj and  Hasrat Jaipuri also contributed three songs each. 
Raj Kapoor was an icon in USSR on account of his bubbly optimism his characters brought, a soothing balm that the people needed after the Second World War. In the mid-1960s while in London during negotiations with a Russian circus to be part of the film he realized that he had to be in Moscow to seal the deal. Raj Kapoor landed in Moscow comfortable in thought that he had the visa. And despite the valid documents Raj Kapoor was welcomed. He waited outside the airport unannounced for a taxi! But by then Muscovites had realized that Raj Kapoor was in their midst. He boarded his taxi which did not seem to start, a befuddled Raj Kapoor to his pleasant surprise found that the Muscovites had lifted the car on their shoulders!
A special sweet box called the ‘Joker Assortment was made by famous confectionery JB Mangharam & Co in Gwalior for the Russian release of Mera Naam Joker with the markings in Hindi, English and Russia. Raj Kapoor’s Mera Naam Joker and Sangam were the last two movies to be shown at Delhi’s 85-year-old Regal cinema hall that closed down in 2017. Raj Kapoor used to visit the theatre regularly and host premieres of several films released under the banner of RK films. And six months later ironically the iconic Mera Naam Joker mask and costumes worn by Nargis to Aishwarya were among the memorabilia lost in a fire at R K Studios.
The clown lives with an inherent certain dichotomy; on the outside he is funny, gregarious and happy, a consummate performer. But just scratch him a bit and we find on the inside he lives with definite sadness, departing only temporarily, when he is on stage making audiences laugh. Mera Naam Joker was the most earnest ode of Raj Kapoor to this dichotomy, the lifeline of any entertainer!
(The famous poet Gopaldas Neeraj (1925-2018) wrote three songs in this film. The most famous ditty that got Manna Dey the Filmfare- Ae bhai zara dekh ke chalo- was written by Neeraj)

It has rightly been named after Nalanda—India’s ancient centre of learning that existed long before the world’s best universities came into being. 

The Nalanda Parisar in the heart of Raipur is Chhattisgarh’s latest innovation in the education sector that has taken the city by storm.  This 24×7 library, opened to the public in June, already has 600 members with 900 applications in the waiting.  

That such a unique concept emerged from Chhattisgarh – which is only 18 years old—is not surprising for the State has come up with out-of-the-box innovations in the education sector including an Education City in the Left-Wing Affected Dantewada district. 

Spread over 6 acres of land, the Nalanda Parisar is a green education hub for youth with indoor and outdoor reading facilities. The fully air-conditioned double-storeyed building, also known as the Youth Tower, has a huge landscaped open space where students can study. It has a capacity to accommodate 1000 students at a given point. 

On the ground floor are stacked 50,000 books many of which were collected during a donation drive. The first floor is a well-equipped virtual library with 112 computers. The roof-top is also being developed to accommodate the members. 

According to Mr Kedar Patel , Nodal and Employment Officer at the Nalanda Parisar, the focus is on preparing the students for cracking competitive examinations. The Youth Tower not only provides books and other facilities for the aspirants to prepare themselves but also an enabling environment, he adds. 

The library has books in Hindi and English published by NCERT, Chhattisgarh Board and those for cracking competitive examinations for civil services, railways, GATE, IIT, banking, and PMT among others. It has a collection of biographies of well known personalities including Prime Ministers and Presidents of India. A small section has been dedicated to Chhattisgarhi books as well. 

Brainchild of Mr O.P.Choudhury, District Collector of Raipur, the library has come up in a record time of 10 months at a cost of Rs 18 crore, of which Rs 15.21 crore came from the District Mineral Foundation and Rs 2.44 crore from Raipur Smart City Limited. The project is financially self sustaining as some portion of the complex will be run commercially that would generate enough funds to run the library.

Having lost his father at a very early age, Mr Choudhury remembers the struggles his mother had to face even to get a basic entitlement like family pension. He studied in a government school in village in Raigarh district with limited resources. Even when he was preparing for his civil services examinations between 2000 and 2002, Mr Choudhury had to struggle to find reference books even in Raipur and Bhilai. Of the 50 reference books he needed, he could find only 5 to 7. He also recalls his days in the Delhi University where preferred to study in the open air on the roof-top.

All these real life situations have made him resolve that things must change. The library is run by the Nalanda Parisar Prabandhan Society chaired by the District Collector and the CEO Zila Panchayat as its vice chairperson. 

The open space has 18 gazebos and canopies, and LED lights while the entire complex is free wi-fi enabled. Adequate security arrangement has been put in place. At present, outdoor reading is allowed only until 10 p.m. The open area is being developed as a biodiversity park with a artificially created water body as well. The Youth Tower is made of glass so that those inside can see the outside. 

There is a one-time fee of Rs 2,500 for the members and a monthly fee of Rs 500. But the monthly charge is only Rs 250 for the members from the disadvantaged sections. The library subscribes to 19 newspapers daily and 34 magazines every month, and allows senior citizens inside the premises. Members of the library include 20 MBBS and some IIT students. Proximity to Ravi Shankar Shukla University, Indian Institute of Technology, Government Science College and National Institute of Technology has made Nalanda Parisar a popular destination for the youth.

“The idea is to provide an enabling environment to the students and develop a knowledge society,’’ says Mr Choudhury. “If we have to reap the demographic dividend, then we must provide them with opportunities and environment, and India has had a culture of Gurukuls and knowledge hub as Nalanda. Hence, we have named the library as Nalanda Parisar,’’ he explains. 

Similar projects are being planned elsewhere in the city so that students do not have to travel far to access libraries. In fact, the Chief Secretary has directed all District Collectors to identify spaces for replicating similar models.