Latest news with #Urdu
Hindustan Times
5 hours ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Delhiwale: This way to Kucha Nahar Khan
Jun 28, 2025 05:18 AM IST Even as the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is enjoying his big fat wedding in Venice, his company is actively seeking 'illiterate to graduate boys' for 'packing and scanning' in Purani Dilli's Kucha Nahar Khan street. The poster is plastered on a peeling wall, beside a flyer offering tuition classes in 'computer, Punjabi, abacus, divinity course.' The street is punctuated with a couple of old doorways. One is in fading blue—a shade so fragile that it might wash away in the first monsoon shower. (HT Photo) This afternoon, the pre-monsoon air in Kucha Nahar Khan is unbearably hot+humid. Nevertheless, the cook at Yaseen Bawarchi is sombrely braving the heat in his street-facing kitchen crammed with pots and ladles. While the adjacent stall's poker-faced Yusuf Chai Wale is preparing one more round of chai. Close by, electric appliance repairer Yaseen is trying to revive a battered toaster. His tiny establishment is filled with dozens of household utilities in varying states of deterioration. The busy Yaseen condescends to utter only a single short sentence, but in it he discloses everything he knows about the historical figure who gave his name to the Kucha—'Nahar Khan was accha aadmi.' (Kucha, of course, refers to a lane whose dwellers share the same occupation.) The street ahead is punctuated with a couple of old doorways. One is in fading blue—a shade so fragile that it might wash away in the first monsoon shower. This door is ajar, revealing three more doorways within, coated in the same dreamy blue. A limp dog hobbling along the lane confidently enters the beautiful portal and promptly disappears from view. The other doorway is crowned with a marble plaque bearing the name of the residence (Hasan Manzil), and the year of its built (1956). The black paint on the plaque's Urdu inscription has partly faded. The lane in fact is eclectically kaleidoscopic. Every turn of the gaze reveals an altogether new character. Look this side: that's a workshop manufacturing juice machines. Look the opposite side: that's the bookstore Kitab-Bu-Shifa specialising in books on the Unani school of medicine. And over there: a balcony decked with potted flowers, too close to a tangle of overhanging power cables. The street ends beside an anonymous man's grave, a landmark revered by the street dwellers as a sacred mazar. That's why Kucha Nahar Khan is also called Gali Mazar Wali.
Hindustan Times
5 hours ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Standing committee clears key layout plans for Delhi govt projects
In its first meeting in over two years, the standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Thursday approved layout plans for several major government projects. These include revised layouts for Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) group housing colonies in Shadipur and Hari Nagar, a Delhi University complex in Dhaka, the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade campus in Maidangarhi, and updated plans for St Stephen's College, Shri Ram College of Commerce, and the National Physical Laboratory in Pusa. The panel also cleared layouts for a housing project for the Rajya Sabha secretariat at RK Puram and revisions to a plan on Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Marg. MCD Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh with MCD standing committee chairman Satya Sharma and deputy chairman Sunder Singh. (Sonu Mehta/HT Photo) Several large-scale infrastructure projects in the city had been stalled for over two and a half years due to the standing committee's prolonged absence, owing to political and legal disputes. The 18-member body is empowered to approve all proposals involving financial implications of ₹ 5 crore or more, changes in layout plans, audits, and other key financial policy matters. At Thursday's meeting, a total of 57 layout proposals were presented, of which nine—mostly government-related—were approved. The remaining proposals, largely from private property owners and companies, have been deferred to the next meeting. The committee also cleared 16 other non-layout-related items, including the hiring of gardeners across six administrative zones, sanitation and housekeeping staff for municipal hospitals such as Kasturba and Hindu Rao, and the bulk procurement of insecticides and larvicides by the public health department ahead of the monsoon. The meeting, which lasted over three hours, saw members raise issues from their respective zones and wards. These included the stray cattle menace, sealing of commercial establishments, drain de-silting delays, road damage due to rain, and poor sanitation. AAP member Rafia M highlighted the declining number of Urdu medium schools in Old Delhi, citing serious infrastructure and staffing issues in the few that remain. A short-notice question on monsoon preparedness was also taken up, in response to which the MCD stated it had exceeded its silt removal target. The civic body said it had cleared 156,148 metric tonnes (MT) of silt from drains over 4 feet wide, against a target of 126,474 MT. MCD commissioner Ashwani Kumar, addressing concerns over waterlogging, said the city may still see localised flooding despite the silt clearance. 'We are neither god nor do we have control over Lord Indra. Some low-lying areas may still face waterlogging,' he told the committee. The meeting also saw journalists being barred from entering the committee chambers—a break from longstanding convention. AAP leader of opposition Ankush Narang criticised the decision, saying, 'This is the first time in MCD's history that the BJP has not allowed media access to a committee meeting. AAP strongly opposes the move.'
New Indian Express
10 hours ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Language row: Whose tongue is it anyway?
Language remains an attractive business opportunity in Indian politics. Union Home Minister Amit Shah joined a long line of political entrepreneurs when he recently said, at the launch of a book by Hindi poet and administrator Ashutosh Agnihotri, that the days of English are numbered, and that English-speakers in India would soon 'feel ashamed'. But what exactly was the venture about, and was it a losing proposition? In the language business, north Indian politicians usually propose to replace English, the working language of the British Raj, with Hindi, the language in which governments after independence hoped to bind together the states, which were demarcated on linguistic basis. Indira Gandhi established the department of official language in the 1970s to give teeth to the Official Language Act, 1963. Its core project was to promote Hindi in the work of the Union government. The first step was to create vocabularies to describe the functions and processes of government. Words like nyayalaya (court) were not in common use in the 1970s. The Urdu adalat prevailed. And newfangled terms like urja mantri (minister for energy) sounded unnatural. Delhi's governments had always relied on English, Urdu and Persian to conduct affairs of the state. Now, a new Hindi vocabulary had to be assembled quickly―and awkwardly. The news on state-controlled media baffled millions. State-sanctioned school curriculums featured monstrosities like vismaya dibodhakchinh, Hindi for the exclamation mark. Only a language bureaucrat could have dreamed that one up. But yesteryears' monsters are now familiar friends. Across the land, we know what a nyayalaya is. Sporadically, political leaders from Devi Lal to members of the present government have even sought to make technical education accessible in Hindi, But the task of making up a fresh vocabulary is challenging. What's the Hindi for albedo? For the sternocleidomastoid muscle? It's better to teach children English, the language in which most of the world's useful knowledge is encoded today. The children of so many people in government have been educated in precisely that language, often overseas, and they do not want to be ashamed.
The Hindu
14 hours ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Bangalore University to close down PG courses with less than 10 enrolments
The Bangalore University has decided to close down postgraduate (PG) courses with an enrolment of less than 10 students. Following the decision taken in the recent Syndicate meeting, the university has closed down three PG courses for the academic year of 2025-26: Molecular Biology, Solid Waste Management and Disaster Management. Jayakara S.M., Vice-Chancellor of the university, said, 'The majority of departments have guest faculties and there is no question of shifting those faculties to other departments.' Regarding the conventional PG courses in Arts subjects like Sanskrit, Urdu, among others, the Vice-Chancellor said that the admissions to these courses have seen an improvement in the last two years. 'As per the decision taken in the Syndicate, we will decide about continuing the course after scrutinising the applications. If the applications are less than 10, we will take a call,' he explained. 'The university is already suffering financially. When this is the case, what is the need to nurture courses that have lost demand? If we retain the departments, we need to cater even if we get a single admission and pay the salary and provide infrastructure,' said a senior official of the university. Meanwhile, the faculty members suggested that the university should freeze admissions instead of closing the course. There are over 52 postgraduate departments in the university, of which some lack demand, with single-digit admissions, and some receive applications three times more than the seats available. It can be recalled that the university had constituted a Syndicate subcommittee to decide on the closure of the courses which were not in demand in the year 2017-18. As per the details available, some of the PG programmes which have lost demand gradually are: Sanskrit, Telugu, Audiology, Speech and Language, Hindi, Corporate communication, Constitution and administration, Labour employment, International Business, Urdu, Dance, Music, Geographical Information, and Life Science.
The Hindu
14 hours ago
- Science
- The Hindu
Will instruct schools on water bell initiative, says Minister
School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on Friday said that circulars will be sent to all the schools on introducing the water bell initiative in Tamil Nadu, like in Kerala. Speaking to reporters, the Minister praised the Kerala government initiative, the water bell, which ensures students drink water at regular intervals. 'The Kerala government has implemented the scheme for the past two years. The Tamil Nadu government is providing morning breakfast to the students. We will send circulars to all the schools in Tamil Nadu regarding the water bell initiative,' the Minister added. Earlier at a function organised at Hosur Government Urdu Higher Secondary School in Krishnagiri district, the Minister inaugurated STEM Innovation and Learning Centres at 16 schools in the district at a cost of ₹4.44 crore under Corporate Social Responsibility funds. Mr. Mahesh said that there are 83 STEM Innovation and Learning Centres across India. Of those, 33 are in Tamil Nadu and 16 centres are in the Krishnagiri district. The American India Foundation, in collaboration with the School Education Department, has set up these centres with the aim of promoting hands-on, inquiry-based learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Students are provided with robotics kits, 3D printers, coding skills, and digital tools to develop critical thinking and innovation skills. Aiming to address early literacy challenges through the Literacy Training Centre, it focuses on basic literacy development among primary school students. It uses structured teaching methods and individualised support to help children achieve grade-level proficiency in reading and writing, he added. Stating that technology is not equal to a teacher teaching a lesson in front of 40 students in a classroom, the Minister said that teachers use various learning tools to make the subjects easy for students to understand. Therefore, students should listen to the instructions given by the teachers and follow them. Parents should not compare their children with other students. Since every student has different talents, teachers and parents should discover and bring out the talents they have, he added. Speaking at the Urdu Teachers' Conference, the Minister said that, as per the 2001 census, in India there are 52 million Urdu-speaking people, which is 6% of the country's population. Urdu is one of the oldest languages. There are many literary works and poems in Urudu. Many Urdu poems explain life's philosophy. Former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had said that Urdu was an Indian language. Government will always protect Urdu-speaking people, the Minister said.
