Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Demands Creation Of 'Special Education Zones' In Muslim Concentrated Districts
India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, AUGUST 8—Stating that India cannot become ‘global knowledge leader’ without giving proper education to 25 crores of Indian Muslims, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind(JIH), India’s leading socio-cultural organization, has suggested setting up of ‘special education zones’ in Muslim concentrated districts across the country along with making proper arrangements for teaching of Urdu and Arabic languages that would open up huge job opportunities in the Gulf and Arabic-speaking African countries.   The suggestion was made at a press conference addressed by JIH Education Board chairman Mr Nusrat Ali in connection with the New Education Police-2020 released by the Central government recently.   Referring to NEP talking about developing e-content in Eight Indian languages of the country, Mr. Ali expressed his displeasure over excluding Urdu from it. He said that whenever the governments, the Centre or the States, talked of ...

Karnataka 'Drops' Class 7 Chapter On Tipu Sultan
India Tomorrow  BENGALURU, JULY 28—After the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) recently dropped several subjects like “Democracy”, Citizenship” and “Secularism” etc from Class X and XII syllabi, Karnataka has dropped a chapter on Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan from the history textbook for Class 7 students to reduce their syllabus, as reopening of schools has been delayed due to Covid crisis this academic year.   This was confirmed to mediapersons the Karnataka Text Book Society Director Madde Gowda here on Tuesday.   "The chapter on Tipu Sultan for Class 7 has been dropped to reduce the syllabus by 30 per cent for this academic year due to delay in reopening of schools due to no let-up in coronavirus spread," Godwa told reporters.   The society, however, retained the chapter on the 'Tiger of Mysore' for Classes 6 and 10.   "As Class 7 students would have read Tipu in Class 6 and will read more o...

Covid 19 and Promoting Sectarian Agenda in Education
Ram Puniyani   As Covid 19 has created havoc all rounds, the rulers of certain countries are using it to further intensify their set agendas. The democratic freedoms are being curtailed in certain forms, the reaction to which has come in America in the form of a campaign, which is opposing “stifling” cultural climate that is imposing “ideological conformity” and weakening “norms of open debate and toleration of differences”. In India similar intimidations have been intensified. In addition, the occasion has been used by the sectarian forces first to link the spread of Corona to Muslim community and now in the name of reducing the burden of curriculum certain chapters on core concepts related to Indian nationalism are being deleted from the text books.   It has been reported that chapters on federalism, citizenship, nationalism, secularism, Human Rights, Legal Aid and Local Self Government and the like are being ...

CBSE’s Deletion of Subjects Like Secularism, Citizenship From School Syllabus Is To Fulfil Old RSS Agenda of Hindutva: Experts
Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JULY 9—The decision of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to cut its syllabus for Classes IX to XII for the current academic has come under a strong criticism from various quarters, including educationists, political leaders and student community.   Among the topics that have been dropped are “Democratic Rights” and “Food Security in India” for Class IX,  “Democracy and Diversity”, “Gender, Religion and Caste”, “Popular Struggles and Movements” and “Challenges to Democracy” in Social Sciences for Class X , “Federalism”, “Nationalism”, “Citizenship” and “Secularism” for  in Political Science in History for Class XI , “Social and New Social Movements in India”, “Regional Aspirations” and “Understanding Partition” for Class XII.   The syllabu...

Aligarh Anti-CAA Protest: AMU Student Sharjeel Usmani Arrested From His Native Place In Azamgarh
 Syed Khalique Ahmed | India Tomorrow  NEW DELHI, JULY 9—Continuing its drive against activists who played a leading role against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the UP police on Wednesday evening arrested Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) student Sharjeel Usmani from his parental house in Sidhari area of Azamgarh town in East UP.Confirming his arrest Aligarh Additional Superintendent of Police(Crime) Arvind Kumar, told India Tomorrow, "Sharjeel was wanted in five criminal cases registered against him,including the one on firing and stone-pelting on police during anti-CAA protest at the AMU main gate on December 15". Sharjeel was produced before the aligarh court at the time of filing this report. Kumar said that police had not demanded his police remand. "It is for the honourable court to send him to juidicial custody or to police custody. We are not demanding his police custody", said Kumar.   His family members in the village...

Delhi HC Asks Faisal Farooq To File Reply On Police Petition On July 1, Orders To Expedite Compensation Claims of Riot Victims
Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JUNE 23—The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked Rajdhani Public School owner Faisal Farooq to submit his reply on the Delhi police petition seeking cancellation of his bail.   The next hearing in the case is scheduled on July 1.   Farooq was granted bail by the trial court on June 20 on the ground that the police in its chargesheet has failed to provide his links with the Peoples Front of India (PFI), Pinjra Tod group and Muslim clerics of Deoband.   But the high court on June 22 stayed the bail orders.   The high court order came on a petition filed by the Delhi police challenging the trial court’s order.   The Delhi government counsel Rahul Mehra had opposed the petition filed by the central government counsel on behalf of the Delhi police. He had submitted that the central government had no powers to file the present petition against the bail orders of the trial court.   But Soli...

Faulty NIRF Data Brings Down AMU's Ranking, Varsity Urges Accreditation Board To Rectify The Blunder
Syed Ali Ahmed| India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JUNE 17—Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has written a letter to the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry, drawing their attention towards a serious discrepancy in computing the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) data that has resulted in AMU falling to 31st position in the ranking of the universities in the country in 2020. The AMU has demanded to rectify the error and issue a fresh ranking list.   The ranking of the university is done by the NBA on the basis of the data pertaining to research activities of universities which was used to compute NIRF rankings. It was started in 2015.   The letter has been sent by vice-chancellor Prof. Tariq Mansoor after the ranking list was released about 10 days ago.   It stated that the number of students pursuing full-time PhD were 2911 and part time PhD candidates were 219 till 2017-18 and the number of student...

70-yr-Old Woman Drags 100-Year-Old Mother On Cot To Bank For Pension In Odisha
  BHUBANESWAR, JUNE 15—In a shocking incident, a 70-year-old elderly woman had to drag her 100-year-old bedridden mother on a cot to the nearby bank to withdraw pension money of Rs 1,500.   The incident came to light after a video of the woman dragging her bedridden mother on a cot to a bank in Odisha's Nuapada district went viral on social media.   The woman from Bargaon village dragged her mother on the cot after the bank official allegedly asked for physical verification. The incident took place on June 9.   "I went to the bank several times in last three months and requested the bank official to release the pension amount. However, the official informed that they would release the pension if I bring my mother to the branch," said Punjimati Dei.   Bank manager Ajit Pradhan allegedly asked Dei to bring her bedridden mother Labhe Baghel to the bank.   Her mother is an account holder under Jan Dhan Yojana of the Central governmen...

Delhi Minorities Commission for 15% Job Quota For Minorities In Delhi, With 10% Exclusively For Muslims
Syed Khalique Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JUNE 8—While stating that representation of Muslims in Delhi government services is “very low”, the Delhi Minorities Commission has asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for 15 per cent reservation for minorities, including 10 per cent for Muslims alone, excluding the creamy layer, in Delhi government services, and boards and corporations within its jurisdiction.   The recommendation, in the form of a letter to the CM, was sent on March 20 last year. However, the CM is yet to reply.   His demand is based on the recommendations of the Justice(retd) Ranganath Misra Commission report in 2007.   Meanwhile, the Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC), in its Annual Report 2018-19, released on Monday, has revealed that representation of Muslims in Delhi government services is less than two per cent.   The report released by DMC chairman Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan also points out that there are...

Supreme Court Questions Government On Action Taken Against Media Houses for 'Communal News Reporting' on Coronavirus
Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow    NEW DELHI, MAY 28—In a significant action, the Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Central government, Press Council of India(PCI) and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) asking them what action they had taken against the print, electronic and digital media as also social media circulating news that had the potential to communalise the society and create disharmony among various sections. The notices are returnable on June 15.   The notices were issued on a petition filed by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind’s(Arshad Madani faction) legal secretary Gulzar Ahmed Azmi through advocate Ejaz Maqbool, requesting the court to direct action against those who were circulating the fake news, particularly with regard to the Markaz Nizamuddin of the Tablighi Jamaat in connection with the coronavirus outbreak and the false propaganda by a section of the print, electronic and digital media holding Muslims responsible for sprea...

After Outrage, Bihar Law College Restores Its Name in Urdu on Entrance
Masihuzzama Ansari | India Tomorrow   PATNA, MAY 22— A law college in Bihar’s Darbhanga district on Thursday reinstalled its name in Urdu on its main entrance after facing outrage by Urdu lovers on social media. The C.M. Law College had removed the Urdu name on Monday allegedly under pressure from its students union currently ruled by a saffron student outfit.   Till May 13, the name of the college on the main entrance was only in Hindi. On May 14, the name in Urdu was also erected on the board along with Hindi. Some Maithili students groups objected to it. Later the students union made it a big issue. Succumbing to the pressure, the college authorities removed the Urdu name. However, this rollback led to outrage among Urdu lovers and students. On social media, several journalists and Urdu lovers raised the issue and demanded Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to intervene as Urdu is the second official language of the state.   On May 21, the Vice Chancellor...

'Vision 2026': A Muslim NGO's Multi-Faceted Program Working as Change Agent for Thousands of Unprivileged
India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, MAY 21— 1.8 lakh patients treated, poor of them got support worth Rs 60 lakh; 3 new schools were opened and capacity of 7 others was enhanced with construction of 27 new classrooms; 106 drinking water points started; 68 low cost houses were constructed and delivered to the beneficiaries. This is just a snapshot of the vast work done by the Human Welfare Foundation (HWF) under its flagship program ‘Vision 2026’ during the financial year ending March 2020.   ‘Vision 2026’ covers diverse areas like education, healthcare, community development, social welfare, orphan care, economic empowerment, women empowerment, medical service, civil rights protection and microfinance.   “Our mission is to serve the poor and deprived sections of the society by providing them the basic amenities like education, healthcare, food and shelter that equip individuals to become an equal partner in the progress of the nati...

JNU Violence: Court Says Only 'Urgent' Matters To Be Heard Due To COVID-19
India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, MAY 20—A Delhi court has refused to grant an early hearing on a petition filed by JNU professor Sucharita Sen seeking registration of FIR against the masked mob which had allegedly attacked her during the campus violence on January 5.   Duty Magistrate Vasundhra Chhaunkar, in an order passed on Tuesday said that only "urgent matters" will be taken up due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.   "The reasons for preponement of the application...of the complainant are not found to be plausible. Further, in the present condition posed due to Covid-19 pandemic, the courts are to take only the urgent matters," the judge stated.   The court added, "It is beyond the comprehension of the court as to what prejudice will be caused to the complainant if already pending application...is not preponed."   The Delhi Police had recently filed a status report asserting that investigation of the FIR already reg...

Two AMU Students Win First Prize for Their Design Idea on Remote Monitoring of Coronavirus Patients
India Tomorrow   ALIGARH, MAY 18— Two computer engineering students of Aligarh Muslim University took part in a competition on design idea for remote monitoring of COVID-19 patients and jointly won first prize worth Rs 30,000. Around 800 students from across the country had participated in the competition.   Mohd Asif Zameer (team leader) and Danish Asad Khan, students of computer engineering at Zakir Hussain College of Engineering and Technology, AMU, had taken part in the contest.   “In the challenging time of COVID-19 pandemic when we are facing lockdown, the Aligarh Muslim University continues to steal the show as its students team comprising Mohammed Asif Zamir (Team Leader) and Danish Khan, (Department of Computer Engineering, ZHCET (AMU) participated in DE-COVIDETHON and presented their design idea on "Remote Monitoring of Patients and applying Deep Learning on the collected Dataset to predict COVID-19" organized by Dare2Compete (...

Government Silently Supports Conspiracy To Give A Religious Colour To COVID 19 : Maulana Arshad Madani
Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow    NEW DELHI, MAY 16—Releasing the statistics of the foreign Tablighi Jamaat members stranded in the country owing to lockdown due to coronavirus crisis, Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind( Arshad faction) president Maulana Arshad Madani has said that “the government’s silent support to give a religious colour to the coronavirus through biased media is regrettable”.   Stating that there were only 1640 foreign Tablighi members from 46 countries and only 64 of them were found Covid-19 positive but all of them recovered and later on tested to be negative, the media and the government made a mountain out of the molehill.   As for the death of Tablighi members from Covid-19, only two of them died and the reasons for their death are also contested. While the government says that they died of coronavirus, their colleagues and social workers working at quarantine centres said the two died of lack of food and medicines. Besides ...

Jamia Asks Stranded Students To Vacate Hostels, Students Request Varsity To Reconsider Its Decision
Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow  NEW DELHI, MAY 4—The Jamia Millia Islamia university has asked its students stranded in its hostels, who could not go back to their homes earlier and stayed back, to vacate their rooms and leave for their native places as the university is making transportation arrangements as per the directions of the central government in this regard.   The excuse given for getting the hostels vacated is that the areas in neighbourhood of the university like Zakir Nagar, Jamia Nagar, Abul Fazal Enclave and Shaheen Bagh have been declared corona hotspots and no movements are being allowed in those areas.   The order to vacate the hostels have been issued by university registrar A P Siddiqui on May 1. The registrar in his order, also said that the “hostels are also required for sanitisation, maintenance and for contingent quarantine facilities”.   “Therefore, the hostels are required to be vacated completely with no ex...

Disgraced DySP Case: NIA Arrests 'Former BJP' Leader For Terror Links
  Ishfaq-ul-Hassan | India Tomorrow   SRINAGAR, MAY 3—National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a `former’ BJP leader for his links with disgraced Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Davender Singh who was arrested in January this year on terror charges.   Tariq Ahmad Mir, 36, a former BJP leader and Sarpanch, was arrested by NIA on Wednesday. His name came up during an ongoing investigation into Singh’s nexus with Hizbul Mujahideen.      Singh, who was posted in an anti-hijacking wing at Srinagar Airport was arrested along with Hizbul commander Naveed Babu and Altaf when they were traveling in a car from Shopian district of South Kashmir on January 11.     Police sources said Singh was trying to drive Hizbul commanders out of the valley. Two AK-47 rifles were recovered in a subsequent raid at Singh’s house in Srinagar.   Nicknamed `Torture Singh’, he was notorious for tormenting pe...

AMU Sending Students Back Home in Buses, 1200 Students of UP to be Sent in First Phase Today
Mumtaz Alam | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI/ALIGARH, MAY 1— The Aligarh Muslim University is starting evacuation of around 3,000 students from today and sending them back to their homes in buses in view of the rise in cases of Coronavirus in the Aligarh district and likely extension of the nationwide lockdown 2.0.     Through its order on April 29, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had allowed states for transportation of stranded students and other people to their homes.   “As the students and other people stranded in different parts of the country owing to the ongoing nationwide lockdown have been allowed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt of India, to move to their hometowns, the Aligarh Muslim University has taken up the matter with the Uttar Pradesh government and started the process to safely transport the students to their respective homes,” AMU Vice Chancellor’s office said on Thursday.   The university is starting to se...

COVID-19 Killed By Sunlight, Warmer Temperatures, Humidity: White House
 NIKHILA NATARAJAN | IANS  NEW YORK, APRIL 24—Sunlight kills COVID-19 while warmer temperatures and humid weather significantly damage the virus, measured in terms of the virus' half-life or the time it takes to cut its potency in half, according to the latest breakthrough research from the US Department of Homeland Security's most advanced bio containment lab, released at the White House here on Thursday.   The coronavirus outbreak in the US has killed nearly 50,000 Americans and infected more than 860,000 till date. Research around the effect of temperature and humidity has been gaining traction for weeks. These are the most downloaded papers on research websites but this is the first time the US government has put an official stamp on initial results of temperature tests on COVID-19.   "Our most striking observation to date is the powerful effect that solar light appears to have on killing the virus, both on surfaces and in the air. We've seen...

AMU Medical College & Hospital Gets Another COVID-19 Testing Machine, 200 People Can Be Tested Daily
More than 3000 free tests of COVID-19 samples have been conducted so far at AMU medical college, said the Principal Prof Shahid Ali Siddiqui   India Tomorrow   ALIGARH, APRIL 22— With the installation of another RT-PCR testing machine today, more than 200 patients can be tested for COVID-19 daily at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College & Hospital of Aligarh Muslim University, one of the frontline hospitals of the Western Uttar Pradesh.   The machine costing nearly Rs 15 lakhs has been given by the Uttar Pradesh government and it will enable the hospital to speed up the testing.   “With the coordinated efforts of district administration including Commissioner, the District Magistrate, the Chief Development Officer, and Chief Medical Officer, JNMCH got another RT-PCR testing machine,” said AMU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Tariq Mansoor.   The Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital of AMU is one of the accredited centres for testin...