RSS UP functionary asks Yogi government to repent on Gorakhpur ...

NEW DELHI: An RSS functionary in Uttar Pradesh has taken the Yogi Adityanath authorities to task over the Gorakhpur deaths announcing the nation authorities cannot break out moral duty of the same. Whoever can be the offender the state authorities can't break out moral duty. For this all ministers inside the country government and participants of the BJP business enterprise should do prayaschit (repentance) Prabhu Narayan the RSS Prant Sanghchalak of the Awadh region wrote in a put up on his Facebook page. He asked the authorities to maintain a Repentance Day and requested why one need to not repent on this sensitive issue for an afternoon when politicians have a good time a Shaurya Diwas or Protest Day. By handiest making a few people a scapegoat after a probe will no longer serve the motive he wrote. Narayan said he turned into saddened by using the feedback made by means of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh at a press conference regarding the Gorakhpur deaths. It is right that the intentions of the present Chief Minister are good but it became not proper to quote facts of preceding deaths within the press conference Narayan has written in his Facebook submit. He said the complete united states of america have been stunned by means of the deaths in Gorakhpur. Over 60 children died in Gorakhpur s BRD Hospital ultimate week over 5 days consisting of a few allegedly because of oxygen shortage. As the nation continues to deal with the surprise of the dying of over 70 children in BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur Uttar Pradesh an problem being raised is whether Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had discussed the difficulty of poor health and encephalitis earlier as a Member of Parliament.File photograph of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. PTIOn Monday former Union fitness minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had accused Adityanath of not taking any step as an MP of Gorakhpur to get the primary resource to enhance facilities on the BRD clinical college hospital.Azad become responding to Adityanath s allegation that after Azad turned into Union health minister he had said he can't do something (approximately Japanese Encephalitis in Gorakhpur) considering fitness is a state concern. The Congress leader had stated that he had in no way seen Adityanath all through his tenure in the Health Ministry inside the preceding UPA authorities.The reality is that Adityanath had in fact raised the problem of deaths because of encephalitis numerous times inside the Parliament in advance.However this increases the query of why Adityanath as chief minister couldn't do much about the problems he himself had raised as an MP.According to PRS Legislative Research out of the fifty seven debates which MP Adityanath had taken component in 3 had been related to encephalitis.In 2011 while UPA turned into in power Adityanath in a speech in Lok Sabha on encephalitis and mind fever have been mainly important of the Central authorities. I have been raising this trouble regularly but the government has achieved little... Don t the innocent people of jap Uttar Pradesh have the right to stay a healthy lifestyles? He had requested.On four August 2014 he had taken component in a debate at the situation arising out of unfold of encephalitis in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Then on 22 December that 12 months he had once more raised this problem.As MP the final time he raised this trouble become on eleven August 2016.When he had spoken on the issue in 2016 Adityanath had expressed astonishment on how the graph of deaths due to encephalitis had continuously been growing. He had also criticised the then country government in Uttar Pradesh for now not doing sufficient towards the sickness. Adityanath had compared the way the then government become dealing with encephalitis to humans demise of thirst in a specific region and the authorities constructing wells for water at other locations as an alternative.He had additionally spoken of the excessive wide variety of encephalitis instances and deaths due to the equal in BRD Medical College.Adityanath had additionally raised the issue of encephalitis in his farewell speech in Lok Sabha in March this year. He had stated that he were consistenly raising this issue within the Parliament but folks who maintain on speaking of Dalit and Muslim communities did no longer bother to do anything to fight the disease .An article in The Indian Express also mentioned that Adityanath as MP had raised the difficulty of death of youngsters in Gorakhpur as a minimum 20 instances among 2003 and 2014. He had mentioned the poor quality of infrastructure on the BRD Medical College the need of an AIIMS in Gorakhpur importance of vaccination and the dearth of involvement from the Centre and the then state government.With inputs from PTI Written through Lalmani Verma 5:36 am UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (File) Related News Gorakhpur health center deaths: What PM Modi Yogi Adityanath said of their I-Day speechesPath to India s improvement is going through Uttar Pradesh: CM Yogi Adityanath on Independence DayGorakhpur tragedy: Akhilesh says probe by BJP executive can not be trusted Babbar accuses ministers of converting statementsWhile the kingdom authorities is facing complaint over deaths of kids at the kingdom-run Baba Raghav Das Medical College Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had planned to wait the Janmashtami party in Gorakhanth temple. The proposed visit but changed into cancelled due to waterlogging inside the runway of Gorakhpur airport. Adityanath is the top priest of the temple and he had been performing Janmashtami puja there for the past several years. The CM visited Gorakhpur on Sunday to inspect the scientific college and held meetings with officials over the difficulty. It turned into knowledgeable this (Monday) morning that the leader minister will go to Gorakhnath temple to wait the Janmashtami puja. But the programme changed into cancelled at 4 pm after Gorakhpur airport government stopped operation of flights and knowledgeable that touchdown of chartered plane could not be allowed due to water in the runway. Also helicopters could not land in the night there. The CM was knowledgeable approximately the situation and he cancelled the plan stated an legitimate. If Adityanath had gone to Gorakhpur Monday he had to return either the identical night time or early Tuesday as he needed to attend the Independence Day occasion inside the state capital. Dwarika Tiwari in-rate of Adityanath s workplace in Gorakhnath temple advised The Indian Express CM needed to perform aarti in Janmashtami puja. But airport government did no longer allow flight operation due to water-logging inside the runway. Puja has started out and every other priest will carry out the aarti now in place of CM delivered Tiwari. Adityanath earlier on Sunday in a statement had directed the police branch to have a good time Janmashtami on a grand scale and in a dignified way. A press statement from the government stated that such celebrations have been stopped inside the beyond. CM within the assertion had said that Janmashtami was an crucial pageant and it have to be organised inside the police branch with zeal in line with the Indian subculture. For all the state-of-the-art India News down load Indian Express App More Related News Gorakhpur tragedy: Varun Gandhi pledges Rs 10 crore for constructing paediatric wing in his constituency Gorakhpur tragedy: CM Yogi Adityanath faces questions MP Yogi asked 20 times in 12 years Tags: Gorakhpur tragedy Yogi Adityanath SsatyajitaAug 15 2017 at nine:04 amWith this one incident and similarly more the responses thereafter Yogi has lost all his sheen. The responses of BJP Chief are more terrible. He reminds you of the the Mah HOme Min whose later become well-known declaration aise bade sheheronmein chhote chhote hadse hote rehte hain observed vicinity in movie dialogues as well. But such responses do now not cover the insensitivity of the ruling class. They talked of Sushaasan good governance but leave on my own sushasan they have now not yet were given grip on Prashasan management. The complacence of the birthday celebration is reeking thru its poresReply SsatyajitaAug 15 2017 at 6:04 amSee how clever we are! The actual motive is backlash which may result but the ostensible motive is we cant attend independence day right away after Janmashtami. Does one must keep in mind that the CM office is so naïve now not to recognize the difference in time and area beforehand?Reply His name is Kafeel Ahmed Khan. So how may want to he had been a hero?The sustained attack on Khan hailed as a hero through the media for looking to keep lives of youngsters at Gorakhpur s BRD Medical College once again underlines the bigotry burning the soul of India. It tells us how the conflict for imagined grievances settling communal rankings has numbed our senses. We have come to a point wherein for a few the sound of applause for an Indian Muslim is so insufferable that it right away desires to be buried below louder chants of traitor thief and criminal .We will look at some of the baseless and fictitious charges hurled at Khan later; dissect them on the premise of proof on record. But first the demands for Khan s evisceration and public shaming want to be understood for what they may be: a diseased phase s refusal verging on hysteria to allow whatever counter the propaganda that India s religious minorities are incapable of being conscientious residents of India (or anywhere within the global).File image of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. PTIFor some it isn't important what people do but who they're. It shows on the eve of seventieth anniversary of our Independence heroism is not earned via karma however bestowed and denied on the basis of religious identification.It is of course a traditional crimson-herring a diversionary tactic. The Gorakhpur tragedy is a blot on India. More than 70 (and counting) infants died within per week because the Uttar Pradesh authorities and BRD Medical College administration allowed it to show right into a loss of life trap by way of no longer paying in time for preserving the deliver of oxygen. In another united states with a conscience morals and a rule of regulation this would had been unequivocally referred to as homicide with the aid of dereliction of obligation. Instead its aftermath tells us as Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes we've become a kingdom without commonplace decency common practicality and basic compassion.The reaction of the government has been each appalling and mind-boggling. Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledged for well timed tweets on tragedies even in Europe has been strangely silent. In April 2016 when a hearth had engulfed a temple in Kollum the top minister had for my part led a group of docs to the web site. But Gorakhpur has to this point had been disadvantaged of even a sympathetic tweet. Perhaps nothing focuses the thoughts better than an drawing close election.Uttar Pradesh leader minister Yogi Adityanath has been a look at in irony. Just some days in the past he had for my part visited the health center in Gorakhpur which turned into his constituency for nearly two decades. But by hook or by crook he didn t learn of the unfolding tragedy. When deaths had been suggested within the media Adityanath refused to simply accept shortage of oxygen was the reason in the back of the catastrophe. He as a substitute blamed it on poor hygiene and lack of sanitation paradoxically in his personal constituency for almost decades within the age of Swacch Bharat.Other reactions were similarly confounding. The state s health minister Siddharth Nath Singh claimed such deaths are not unusual in August. And BJP president Amit Shah argued that such things manifest in a country like India that they have got been going on in Congress-dominated states too.When toes are being put in mouths reputations are at stake and Hindutva icons are within the dock what higher manner to divert attention than goal a Muslim hailed for heroism? Why not do a Navika Kumar and turn the talk on real troubles like if Khan is genuinely the hero in preference to speaking about the villains of the tragedy? Why no longer replay Peepli Live?File photo of Dr Kafeel Ahmed Khan. Image courtesy: News18The case towards Khan of course is shallow. On the day of the tragedy he became hailed for seeking to arrange oxygen cylinders with his own cash to keep the infants inside the clinic. But within hours hearsay-mongers reality-distorters and haters started out a smear campaign in opposition to Khan on social media platforms like Twitter and on WhatsApp.This is the age of post-truths and submit-lies. In deference to the trend the crux of this smear marketing campaign is the allegation that Khan was accused of rape. Now if accusations have been the measure of a person s morality half of Indian politicians need to were banished from public existence. Many stalwarts of BJP and Congress had been accused of murder rape graft and other serious crimes. Some of them have a history of being jailed and were even externed.Khan in comparison become given a clean chit by the police. In its final report dated three April 2015 at the FIR (see underneath) against Khan the Gorakhpur police stated the costs in opposition to him are baseless. That the investigations monitor the prices towards Khan were a part of a few conspiracy against him.Khan has also been accused of stealing oxygen from the BRD Medical College. But where is the evidence? Where is the grievance? Did the health center discover this theft only after he became hailed as a hero? Also how does a doctor steal liquid oxygen flowing through the ducts in a medical institution? Does he fill it up in bottles like water from a tap and take it lower back home? Or did he take oxygen cylinders from the sanatorium to his health center 15 kilometres away? Did no one observe for some of these years? Did the robbery come to mild only after the incident?Khan has additionally been accused of running private practice. This is laughable. Almost every government physician in India has a personal practice. And it's miles allowed under the united states of america s law. In August 2011 the Supreme Court had dominated that private practice by using government medical doctors is not any crime. It said authorities doctors defying the ban on jogging personal exercise and charging session rate from sufferers in a health center at some stage in spare time may want to neither be accused of indulging in exchange nor be booked under the anti-corruption regulation. So what exactly is Khan s crime although he had a private exercise?There are different unsubstantiated accusations dug up from the beyond to tarnish his picture such as an outlandish allegation that he turned into part of a conspiracy to defame the Adityanath authorities. Only within the creativeness of bigots could such malign fantasies have existed.Even if Khan had skeletons in his cupboard does it take away from what he did that day? Can a sinner no longer be a hero? Is the legend of Ashoka the myth of Angulimaal not primarily based on the idea that compassion has the power to change every one folks?A document in News18.Com charges eyewitnesses that Khan certainly attempted his best to arrange oxygen cylinders for the medical institution. News18.Com now has enough evidence to impeach the authorities s motion in opposition to Khan. This evidence has come from the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) one of the significant military of India.According to OP Sahu public members of the family offficer SSB It changed into an unparalleled disaster situation at the BRD Medical College on 10 August. Khan got here to DIG SSB and asked for a truck in order that oxygen cylinders may be gathered from various places and be taken to the medical college. The DIG also provided eleven jawans of the scientific wing to help the personnel at BRD Medical College. For hours our truck collected oxygen cylinders from diverse places inclusive of a godown in Khalilabad and ferried them to the clinical college where it become a state of affairs of acute crisis Sahu stated.It is a disgrace that Khan is being shamed and his image is being tarnished. In any other u . S . A . He could have been hailed as a role version. But the assault on him indicates the potent keyboard warriors of Hindutva are so insecure that they just can t stand up to the truth that when their heroes failed a Muslim proved that he's a physician and an Indian first.A society reflects its beliefs and morals through its attitude in the direction of youngsters and heroes. Gorakhpur has proven us the mirror. GORAKHPUR: Dr Kafeel Khan the evicted nodal officer of BRD health center where 30 kids died in days final week has alleged that personal exercise by means of medical doctors of the hospital turned into rampant with a few even working towards from their homes inside the campus. On Monday he stated via a textual content message from his wife s cellular phone Almost each medical doctor even the newly-appointed nodal officer Dr Bhupendra Sharma and different senior doctors are engaged in private exercise. Dr Khan too has a personal exercise. The health practitioner has been speaking with the media through his wife Dr Shabista Khan. The list of individuals who conduct non-public practice at their campus home internal BRD Medical College is lengthy. But because of this controversy the practice is on keep his message to the media stated. Dr Bhupendra Sharma but instructed TOI: If a affected person comes home for remedy at night I can not deny him that possibility. If that s what he is calling non-public practice so be it. On Monday the authorities introduced that non-public practice via medical doctors at BRD medical institution could now be scrutinised. As many as 14 medical doctors across paediatric gynaecology medication and pathology departments are underneath lens. This includes a pathology lab Purti Priya allegedly run by way of suspended BRD predominant Dr RK Mishra. According to the phrases those docs who are commissioned at the medical institution with a everyday task aren't allowed to exercise. Only the ones on agreement who draw an average Rs 60 000 salary are excluded from the no private exercise clause. Dr Shabista Khan in her messages also tried to dispel costs towards her husband. Some defamation cases were filed towards Kafeel Khan due to commercial enterprise rivalry along with his circle of relatives. But all have closure reviews from the police and courts. On charges that Khan might have used oxygen cylinders of the medical institution Shabista stated: It is not in any respect feasible to thieve oxygen from scientific college as alleged due to the fact supply is through pipe line. Cylinders are used only at some stage in an emergency. ALSO READ Gorakhpur tragedy: NHRC notice to Yogi Adityanath executive seeks document Seeking accountability Gorakhpur deaths: Wake up name for Yogi as officers disguise statistics from him UP orders probe into Gorakhpur toddler deaths span.P-content material div id =div-gpt line-top: 0px; font-length: 0px; This metropolis in eastern Uttar Pradesh with a population of extra than 600 000 came into limelight a few months in the past as chief minister Yogi Adityanath s constituency. Last week it became a few of the most searched places on line for the death of over 60 kids in much less than a week at the most important health center of Gorakhpur. While the scene of tragedy Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College is underneath the global scanner for negligence the locals are nevertheless capable of include their anger although a few are screaming murder amid an air of suspicion all round. As VIPs (primarily politicians from the ruling BJP in addition to Opposition) criss-pass the city at regular intervals both for harm manipulate or mileage whilst blocking off arterial roads parents and loved ones of the lifeless youngsters grieve typically omitted by the authorities. While Adityanath surveyed the sanatorium on Sunday it turned into the turn of former leader minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday. Zaid Khan one of the unlucky mother and father broke down on the burial site of his 5-12 months-old daughter Kushi who allegedly died of encephalitis on Friday a day after oxygen supply snapped at the pediatric department of the BRD Medical College. Kushi turned into the various over 60 youngsters who died inside the beyond five days in the clinic. Kushi acquired oxygen for a brief-time. But when the deliver snapped the medical doctor requested us to use the ambu (self-inflating luggage). She died two hours later. They say it changed into encephalitis Khan remembers the night while he lost her daughter on mattress range 38 of ward 12. He witnessed demise of two greater girls within the same ward due to lack of oxygen. It is homicide of our kids and the government is suppressing the fact says Khan who desired his daughter to take a look at in an English medium school. Now his handiest wish for justice lies with the media which has been camping outside the sanatorium since the information of tragedy broke on Thursday. At the hospital medical doctors and state management are seeking to persuade human beings that shortage of liquid oxygen become now not the reason of dying. But there s a buzz in the town doubting the suspension of former BRD Medical Principal Rajeev Mishra and police hunt of the gasoline supplier at a time while the state government is claiming the deaths are due to vector-borne diseases specifically encephalitis. Everything appears fishy here says Rakesh Sinha a 28-12 months-antique driving force from neighbouring Bettiah district in Bihar. Sinha has been staying outside the pediatric branch part of it positioned on the floor ground and the final on the first floor of this 950-mattress sanatorium for the past one month for the treatment of his 3-year-antique son Ankush. Despite the Swachh Bharat mantra piles of rubbish will be visible out of doors the medical university. Photo: Sahil Makkar Sinha factors http://revistas.upr.edu/index.php/prhsj/comment/view/7952/0/2273 at the absence of enthusiasts and non-operational centralised air-conditioning for the past one month. How will a affected person recover in this kind of condition? Asks Meena Kumari a resident of Kushi Nagar who like Sinha has been staying outside the pediatric branch for numerous days for remedy of his son. Things have now not modified no matter many high-profile visits inclusive of the ones from Adityanath and Union Health Minister J P Nadda. The sanatorium looks as if a run-down constructing with rubbish strewn all across no matter the Swachh Bharat mantra. Poor drainage has made things worse inside the rainy season. In fact many medical doctors have already taken sick due to contamination. It is a low-lying vicinity and is liable to many diseases. I will look into all aspects says P K Singh the newly-appointed primary of the BRD Medical College. But neither the deaths nor the shortage of centers has stopped patients from searching for admission in the medical institution. Even from neighbouring districts. Around 50 kids were admitted to the pediatric department on Friday an afternoon after the first information of demise due to shortage of oxygen made headlines. The pediatric department has a electricity of 210 beds and it maintains round 250-280 kids at any given factor. At the sanatorium scientific workforce at the neonatal intensive care changed into found hustling from one mattress to the alternative to arrest the growing demise toll. Mahim Mittal in-charge of drugs branch says encephalitis is endemic in this area and the months of July August September and October are the height time for this vector-borne ailment. The encephalitis virus is determined in pigs and useless birds from in which it receives into mosquitoes and then into humans. The region of BRD Medical College is such that it caters to the demand from both city and rural areas. About 4 500-5 500 sufferers come to the OPD (outpatient departments) daily. The sanatorium additionally receives everywhere between 2 500 and three 500 sufferers of encephalitis each 12 months from 16 adjoining districts inclusive of Basti Azamgarh and Kushinagar. It is considered one of the most important territory hospitals in the place and people simplest come to us when they have attempted each other manner to get treatment. We normally don t get plenty time to deal with them Mittal says regarding the excessive mortality rate due to encephalitis. The remaining outbreak of encephalitis in Gorakhpur changed into reported in 2005 whilst round 1 000 humans died. Back at the sanatorium a high-degree group probing the incident is busy collecting files on deaths over the years expenditure and numerous tenders floated by the medical college. I am deliberating transferring all workforce of the clinical college because they may be now not giving us the applicable files for research says a visibly disappointed K K Gupta director fashionable scientific training of Uttar Pradesh hinting at rampant corruption. The organization concerned inside the supply of liquid oxygen at Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Hospital in Gorakhpur has claimed that it never stopped the supply notwithstanding first-rate dues of Rs 69 lakh The Times of India has reported. The enterprise Pushpa Sales Pvt Ltd has said that the college turned into defaulting at the charge for liquid oxygen supply which changed into a violation of the contract however no matter that the employer never interrupted the deliver.Meenu Walia of Pushpa Sales told the newspaper Liquid oxygen deliver through Pushpa Sales to BRD health center no matter past due price turned into duly maintained. First supply for this month became made on 4 August and the following intimation for refilling request from the BRD sanatorium came on 11 August which become fulfilled on 12 August. . She introduced that the employer had additionally issued a felony word to the hospital but had in no way stopped deliver.The MD of the business enterprise Manish Bhandari suspected that a huge oxygen cylinder theft caused the depleted supply. He become quoted by The Times of India as announcing Since April this trouble of put off in price by using the health facility had compounded. There were three situations as a part of our settlement according to which liquid oxygen oxygen cylinders and Ambu luggage have been to be gift on the BRD in abundance. But the health facility became too dependent on us while not refilling their cylinders. The government need to locate why there have been just around 50 cylinders in place of 400 on that particular day whilst deaths happened. I suspect a big oxygen cylinder theft or racket which they have to find it out. File photograph of the encephalitis ward at BRD health facility. PTIIt had earlier been mentioned that the vendor had stopped supplying oxygen due to non-fee of Rs 70 lakh. This were confirmed with the aid of Gorakhpur district magistrate Rajeev Rautela. However he stated that the college important had informed him that opportunity arrangements had been available for emergency use. Rautela additionally said that a charge of Rs 35 lakh has been made to the seller and that he had been asked now not to disrupt the oxygen supply.A letter addressed to the health facility leader and written by using the seller had suggested that an extraordinary payment of Rs 63 65 702 turned into the reason at the back of the disruption of the oxygen supply. We are informing you beforehand that the INOX corporation (the producer of the oxygen cylinders) has knowledgeable us (it) will now not supply fuel for the cylinders in the future to avoid financial losses the letter read.Over 60 children have reportedly died at BRD Hospital since 7 August. At least 30 children were mentioned useless in the remaining two days on my own. Many of the sufferers have been toddlers who perished in the neonatal intensive care unit.The kingdom government had ruled out lack of oxygen as the cause behind the deaths. State fitness minister Siddharth Nath Singh stated After the first degree of investigation we are able to declare that the deaths did no longer take area due to disruption of gas deliver. The discussions passed off in detail but problem of gas supply that need to ve come to light didn t arise said Singh.With inputs from companies NEW DELHI: The team of medical doctors despatched from Delhi to Gorakhpur found no relation of oxygen shortage to the deaths said at BRD Hospital and talked about that fewer kids died at the sanatorium from August 1-12 than a year in the past. We have given an period in-between record to the Union health ministry. We did not find any relation of oxygen to the deaths mentioned right here. Once we've more information and records which we have asked for we can be able to remark further Dr Harish Chailani the top of Department of the Paediatrics Wing of Delhi s Safdarjung Hospital instructed ET. Chailani has been in Gorakhpur considering the fact that Sunday morning at the side of Dr Sushma Nangia the head of Department of Neo-Natal department at Lady Hardinge Hospital and Dr MK Agarwal the deputy commissioner (immunology) of the National Immunisation Programme. While 134 deaths were reported at BRD Hospital from August 1-12 this year 138 deaths were said at the hospital at some point of the 12 months-ago length Chailani said. In July this 12 months the demise remember at BRD became 2 hundred whilst the dying count number ultimate 12 months in July became 292. The range of deaths or graph of mortality has in truth come down he said. Chailani stated the mortality pre and post that day (August 10) was comparable and there was no abnormality in dying figures on these days. Our crew is doing an in depth demise audit of every of the 36 deaths stated from August September 11 to establish the causes of demise and wherein the now deceased baby have been taken before being added to BRD he said. The crew of docs from Delhi is helping the doctors at BRD Hospital to attend to encephalitis patients and improve the scientific protocol involved in their remedy. Most of the kids who died between August 9 and August eleven had been below two years of age. The UP government has marked a pinnacle-stage probe underneath the UP chief secretary to probe the exact motive of 60 deaths in 5 days at BRD Hospital closing week. The document is anticipated to be out in every week. The UP health minister Siddharth Nath Singh had told ET in an interview on Sunday that no deaths came about between 11:30 pm and 1:30 am at the night of August 10 whilst an oxygen scarcity become pronounced.

Chandigarh Girl, 12, Raped On Way To School For Independence Day Event

CHANDIGARH: A 12-12 months-vintage lady on her way to highschool to have a good time Independence Day changed into kidnapped and raped in Chandigarh on Tuesday. The Class eight scholar had taken a brief-cut to highschool via the youngsters s visitors park in Chandigarh s Sector 23 while a person stopped her pulled her apart and raped her. Initial facts had indicated that the girl turned into returning from school. She changed into on her manner to highschool and entered the park from the lower back gate said Chandigarh s senior police officer Eish Singhal. Based on the assertion of the traumatised lady the police said only one character armed with a knife became involved.The police are checking CCTV photos in the neighbourhood for clues.The gruesome crime comes simply days after women in the city at once administered by means of the Union Home Ministry held a candle-mild march to assert their right to get right of entry to public spaces without having to fear approximately their protection. The procession had exceeded thru stretches taken into consideration unsafe for women after darkish.The young female became raped at round 8.15. There wasn t a whole lot visitors on the street on Tuesday due to the Independence Day celebrations and there have been fewer humans within the park.The police stated she became taken to the neighborhood clinic for a clinical examination which confirmed sexual assault. She turned into later produced before a Justice of the Peace to document her assertion to strengthen the case.A case of kidnapping wrongful restraint and rape has been registered.The girl advised her family about the crime whilst she reached home who referred to as the police.Considered for lengthy as certainly one of north India s safer towns for ladies and youngsters crimes against kids have long gone up in current years.According to the National Crime Records Bureau statistics Chandigarh s crime price against kids - crimes for each 1 lakh children - become 3 times the country wide common. The kidnapping price for youngsters inside the union territory is 4 times the country wide average of 9.Four baby abductions for each 1 lakh kids. CHANDIGARH: While the global climate alternate is predicted to reduce production of rice in Punjab and Haryana on the same time it's miles possibly to growth potato output inside the states. The changing climate is also anticipated to enjoy bad effect on milk production inside the area predicts the parliamentary status committee on agriculture in its report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The file says that the climate change could surge manufacturing of potato in Punjab Haryana and western and relevant Uttar Pradesh through 3.46% to 7.Eleven% by means of 2030 but in rest of India potato production may also decline by means of 4% to 16%. The 31-member committee headed through Bihar MP and former Union minister of kingdom Hukumdev Narayan Yadav of BJP additionally submitted that irrigated rice in north-west India comprising Haryana and Punjab is projected to lessen by using 6% to eight% by means of 2020. Whereas in different components of the u . S . A . The loss could be beneath 5%. Northern India inclusive of Punjab and Haryana is predicted to revel in extra poor effect of weather exchange on milk manufacturing the committee has observed. It might be higher in crossbreds (zero.63%) observed via buffaloes (zero.5%) and indigenous farm animals (0.4%). The committee noted that studies imply that converting weather will lower yields in predominant crops like wheat rice and maize. On the other hand the impact may be neutral to high quality in plants like groundnut soybean and chickpea. More range of generations of insect pests are predicted to arise at some point of future climate exchange intervals due to extended temperatures. The committee observed that greater extreme droughts are especially determined over north and northwest India. The report says that during 2050 it is estimated that maximum and minimal temperature will go up by means of 2.Forty degrees Celsius and forty degrees C respectively. Southern peninsula northwest India and the southern components of Punjab Haryana and Bihar can be the critically affected because of the upward push of minimum temperature. Apart from this massive shift in monsoon months reduction in number of rainy days boom in rain intensity and excessive frequency of cyclone would further irritate the troubles of agrarians. The committee become additionally of the taken into consideration view that coverage of minimum help price (MSP) is promoting farming practices which are not appropriate to neighborhood biographical and climatic conditions thereby inflicting issues along with depletion of groundwater assets degradation of soil and lack of local biodiversity. The report says that absence of an alternative and economically remunerative cropping strategy is forcing farmers to choose prevailing water-intensive cropping pattern. It has also come to fore that paddy fields and Rumen fermentation are essential sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in farm sector. Studies showed common methane emission of 40-70 kg/ha from rain-fed rice field and 100-180 kg/ha from irrigated rice fields. The nitrous oxide (N2O) emission having high international warming ability ranged 0.6-0.Nine kg/ha under lowland irrigated situations reads the file. The document reads However the committee is distressed to be aware that despite efforts being made by using the government private sector dominates in seed manufacturing contributing to 50-fifty seven% of general seed production of the us of a. The essential attention of personal seed companies has been on the excessive-value and low-extent seeds. The committee additionally mentioned that groundwater stage has been reducing in Punjab. With declining water desk farmers are deepening present bore wells and shifting from inexpensive floor set up centrifugal pumps to luxurious submersible pumps. This is growing the value of pumping inside the agriculture sector. The report says that the exceptional of groundwater deteriorates with excess groundwater exploitation due to increased diffusion of contaminants from industrial and concrete effluents to the groundwater. Written with the aid of Published:August 14 2017 4:59 am Varnika Kundu together with her father Varinder Singh Kundu at Panchkula near Chandigarh. PTI Photo Related News Chandigarh geri route: Where boys mechanically observe ladies and no eyebrows are raisedPCR gets over 300 calls every night time in Chandigarh and their reaction time is 3 to 5 minutesChandigarh stalking case: We have constructed watertight case will make certain conviction in courtroom said DGP Tajender Singh LuthraVARNIKA KUNDU wrote on her Facebook page of her chilling ordeal at the night of August 4 phrases that couldn't be more true. I m lucky it appears to now not be the daughter of a common man due to the fact what risk could they've in opposition to such VIPs? I m additionally fortunate due to the fact I m now not lying raped and murdered in a ditch someplace. Her presence of mind that made her dial one hundred and her courage in no longer backing down from creating a criticism and looking for a case in opposition to her tormentors that night and the guide of her https://cie.asu.edu/ojs/index.php/cieatasu/comment/view/1223/0/3419 family are unusual. But ladies in maximum such instances aren't lucky enough to have this conjunction of circumstances. Chandigarh has witnessed many other incidents that started as stalking and led to ugly crimes inclusive of outraging the modesty of the victim in complete public view chemical assault or even a murderous attempt these days. Most these days a 15-yr-old female who commenced attending a self-defence schooling path at Police Lines Sector 26 narrated her awful experience to her martial artwork instructor how she turned into stalked chased and molested by way of her former residence proprietor Gurpreet Singh for the final three months. The education path changed into specifically designed for faculty students. Inspector Gurjeet Kaur incharge of Woman and Child Helpline said We patiently listened to the plight of sufferer and have been surprised to recognise that her tormentor Gurpreet had been stalking and harassing her for the final 3 months. When Gurpreet saw that girl did now not boost her voice towards him for stalking her he got emboldened and went to the next level and molested her. We took the formal grievance from the victim and lodged an FIR at Sector 26 police station and arrested Gurpreet an employee of a main jeweller of Chandigarh in July 2017. Gurpreet was stalking the victim from her residence to her school at the market and on every occasion she took her younger brother out to a public park. The victim and her parents were tenants of the accused for four years earlier than they shifted to every other residence in Sector 28. In some other case an estranged lover threw chemical on the two-wheeler of a lady acquaintance who had became down his marriage request. But before that Jatinder Singh of phase 11 Mohali stalked his sufferer an employee with a leading immigration company for 3 months. Then he threw a chemical on her two-wheeler which was parked outside her house in Sector 39 on April 19 detrimental the paint at the scooter. Clearly it changed into meant as a caution to the lady. Inspector Rajdeep Singh who interacted with the victim and interrogated the accused said We slapped charges of stalking and destructive the belongings with the intention of making scare in the thoughts of victim in opposition to Jatinder. The victim knowledgeable us that he had been stalking her for the closing months. This count number is underneath research and soon a chargesheet might be submitted in a local court docket. A female police officer who was part of the counselling group that interacted with Varnika Kundu stated It is a set system that whenever we acquired a criticism of stalking molestation and different girls-associated crime we usually engage and recommend the sufferers. In a majority of cases we have a look at that victims neglected the stalkers in the starting and this emboldened the culprits to commit the crime again and in a more violent manner. The female police officer stated that Ashok Kumar 25 son of an ex-sarpanch of Hallomajra village near Sector 31 turned into arrested for molesting a student of Dev Samaj College Sector forty five at a bus stop in full public view in February this year. After the counselling the sufferer discovered that Kumar have been stalking her for 15 days from her house to college. When she eventually protested Kumar had already been emboldened enough to grab her hand and hug her on the bus stop. Advocate Shweta Sharma practicing on the district courts Sector 43 stated Women have to no longer ignore stalking within the first instance. They have to enhance their voice on the very moment when they see they may be being stalked. By doing that they decrease the possibilities of further harassment in the destiny. A girl can without difficulty apprehend a person s bad intentions. Contrary to these incidents in which sufferers initially omitted the stalking and later have become the sufferers of extra heinous crimes there are numerous instances of women complaining right now to the police. SSP (UT) Eish Singhal stated Ideally the victims ought to not tolerate such behaviour and need to hotel court cases within the first instance. Ignoring such behaviour of people can prove very dangerous for ladies. Chandigarh has recorded approximately 50 instances of stalking inside the final six months. As many as ninety five instances have been said in 2016. Cyber stalking Instances of cyber stalking also are being stated in Chandigarh. Cyber expert Manpreet Singh said Cyber stalking covers chasing the actions of a person through his/her online fame sending repeated messages forcing someone to meet him and even chasing a person after placing a few hidden gadgets within the belongings of sufferers and inside the motors. This offence is also blanketed under Section 354-D of Indian Panel Code. Sources in Chandigarh cyber mobile stated There are numerous court cases approximately stalking via social networking sites and we forwarded those court cases to the area police stations. Only some cases have been lodged through cyber crime cellular on those proceedings. For all the state-of-the-art India News down load Indian Express App More Related News Chandigarh stalking case: Vikas Barala Ashish Kumar despatched to judicial custody till August 25 Chandigarh Stalking Case: Varnika have to be honoured demands Congress Tags: Chandigarh Stalking Case Subhash Barala Varnika Kundu Vikas Barala DdcAug 14 2017 at 2:11 pmLooks like DJs primary motive turned into to ship bjp goon in the back of bars because of some type of personal enimity. Shes sayin my faith in gadget has been restored but y recovery comes so early? Let the court determine whats right wats no longer. And her father is part of gadget and where was she whilst different unpriveleged ladies faced identical state of affairs.Dis she fought fot their rights too?ReplyJJoeAug 15 2017 at nine:50 amdc By that logic you also are part of the gadget whether you are privileged or now not you can't claim to no longer have contributed in any manner to corruption massive or small so that you can't comment on anything. Even being a center magnificence commoner you're privileged in comparison to the massive majority of Indians. When someone is going via a personal nightmare you're taking some petty glee and inside the equal breath are measuring her person scenario towards some summary idea of g justice.Reply Aapollo hospitalAug 14 2017 at eleven:33 amwe are urgently in need of A B O POSITIVE K1DNNEY ORGAN D0NOR for the sum of 450 000.00 USD touch us for more info Call or whatsapp 7899360979Reply Chandigarh: Haryana BJP leader Subhash Barala s son Vikas and his pal Ashish Kumar were these days despatched to the judicial custody until August 25 through a court in Chandigarh inside the alleged stalking and attempted abduction case of an IAS officer s daughter.Amid tight police safety both were offered before the courtroom of responsibility Justice of the Peace Gaurav Dutta. Defence suggest Surya Prakash stated: each the youths were sent to 14 days of judicial custody .Vikas Barala and his buddy had in advance been remanded in police custody for two days until nowadays.The two accused have been re-arrested on August nine and were charged with tried abduction beneath section 365 of the IPC and section 511 which relates to an try to commit an offence punishable with life or other imprisonment.Police reconstructed the crime scene on August 10 -- six days after the incident came about -- in reference to the stalking and attempted abduction incident.The defence attorney had in advance claimed that Vikas Barala (23) and Ashish (27) had now not dedicated any offence and said that a media trial changed into taking place inside the case.They were arrested ultimate week following the grievance of the IAS officer s daughter but released on bail as they had been booked beneath bailable sections of the IPC and the Motor Vehicles Act.The stalking incident - and their launch - brought on a nationwide outrage and a spate of protests.Last night time numerous humans in Chandigarh held a march Bekhauf Azaadi in support of the victim and to raise consciousness on the girls safety difficulty. CHANDIGARH: The kingdom patron disputes redressal discussion board in a mixed order has directed Manohar Infrastructure and Constructions Private Limited to refund money greater than Rs three crore to eleven complainants for the delay in giving ownership of the residential plots and additionally for violating Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act 1995 (PAPRA). They have been additionally directed to pay litigation price of Rs 2.Sixty four lakh as well as reimbursement of almost Rs 15.50 lakh. Since the issues involved eleven complainants a consolidated order became handed to dispose them. They had been also directed to refund money along side 13% hobby per annum to each complainant in conjunction with compensation and litigation price As consistent with the complainants they'd purchased residential plots underneath the mission named Palm Garden situated at Mullanpur New Chandigarh Punjab. The realtors insured that possession of the fully advanced plot below the stated task may be exceeded over by way of December 2014 to the clients. However the equal became now not provided to them on time as promised. It turned into alleged that there was complete violation of the provisions of Section 6 of PAPRA which prohibits sale of any plot and so on. In a assignment website before necessary permissions are available in the hands of the undertaking proponent. As consistent with provisions of PAPRA in no case more than 25% of the sale attention can be received by using the assignment proponent earlier than signing the buyer s settlement. It changed into in addition said that warranty given through the opposite party in 2011 while challenge was launched that it had all necessary permissions changed into fake . It was also said that the project turned into not accepted via the competent authority. As in step with terms and conditions the relators moved utility on September 12 2011 to the equipped government so that their undertaking may be exempted from the provisions of PAPRA and additionally different essential clearances might be received. However the equal changed into not on time by means of the competent authorities as a result of political and business contention . It became stated that the project was authorized on March 22 2013. A formal settlement changed into signed with the government on June 14 2013. Thereafter a few more land turned into brought to the project for which crowning glory period become given as much as June 13 2018. It become said that exemption from the applicability of provisions of PAPRA already stood granted through the authorities worried in favour of the opposite birthday celebration on January 25 2017. It was further brought that delay in transport of ownership of plots took place because of scarcity of constructing cloth and ban on mining by using the authorities which might be termed as force majeure circumstances as such time cannot be taken to be the essence of the settlement. The discussion board after hearing both facets held that it's miles obvious from the records noted above that when the assignment in question become sold neither CLU nor any other permission became to be had. It changed into brought that not anything has been placed on document by the realtor to show that it was not able you bought the said construction material in adequate amount. CHANDIGARH: A minor woman who changed into returning domestic after attending the Independence Day function in her college turned into allegedly assaulted and raped at knife point within the Children Traffic Park in Sector 23 on Tuesday morning. The 12-12 months-antique woman is a scholar of sophistication VIII in a central authority college of the town. Police officials investigating the case stated that whilst returning home she turned into overpowered by using a middle-aged guy close to the isolated region of the park at around 9.30 am. The accused took the girl behind the timber and raped her said a cop at the crime scene. Police officials said that the accused additionally attacked the lady with knife and injured her. After raping her the accused fled the scene leaving her in the park. The sufferer reached domestic and informed her parents who approached the police. As soon as the information became obtained by means of the police senior officials including SSP Eish singhal reached the Children Traffic Park. The SSP inspected the spot and later the declaration of the woman become recorded. A canine squad become also called to the spot. Singhal called up the all the DSPs and SHOs at site visitors park and greater than 5 hours they had been immediately. During the investigation police locked the both gate of the visitors park and did no longer permit media inner. Meanwhile the scientific examination carried out on the civil health facility in sector 16 has confirmed that she turned into sexually exploited. SSP Singhal advised TOI that on the assertion of the girl sector 17 police station has registered a case of rape and kidnapping against the unknown individual and started the research. Sources stated that at the time of incident there had been law enforcement officials on responsibility in the park. Police have additionally called up the school foremost and instructors together with the watchman for wondering. Police have additionally round up few drug addicts of the region for interrogation. Meanwhile in some other incident a quarter forty resident complained that three car borne miscreants stalked her and attempted to kidnap her in zone 37 on Monday overdue night time. The woman changed into returning home after paintings on her scooter while the incident took place. The youths within the automobile started out following her and attempted to drag her inside the automobile. She controlled to reach domestic and instructed their parents about the incident. Based on her grievance police have registered a case of stalking and wrongful restraint towards the miscreants at region 36 police station. CHANDIGARH: The day while Haryana BJP president Subash Barala s son Vikas Barala and his friend Ashish Kumar had been produced in a district courtroom as accused in the Varnika Kundu stalking case a similar case being heard in the contrary court fetched no one s interest. There the defence recommend become arguing that the complainant had misused the regulation. The prosecution stated that at the same time as character assassination of the complainant became clean in this case the victim had approached police handiest while the accused had barged into her residence and injured her parents. Otherwise she had tolerated the stalkers for long. In court docket three close to (and yet faraway from) the media glare of court docket 2 the accused in addition to the complainant on this low-profile case of stalking and trespass are professional fashions. The depend goes again to November 14 2016 when Burail s Vishavjeet Kapoor turned into booked below Sections 354 (criminal pressure to outrage girl s modesty) 354-A (sexual harassment) 354-D (stalking) 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) 320 (inflicting grievous damage) and 452 (house trespass after education for attack or wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The complainant had accused him of stalking her every day and even coming to her with marriage notion. Even after she declined it the guys allegedly stored following her a lot in order that in the future he got here over drunken to hit her father with iron rods. She then approached police and filed a criticism. During the trial and arguments for anticipatory bail defence recommend Manish Dewan argued that Kapoor were framed by way of a misuse of law. The defence submitted some files to show it was a rely of love affair and not stalking. The prosecution countered it with argument for the complainant s right to privateness and peace. The prosecution argued that the accused had made complainant s lifestyles intolerable and simplest while he had crossed all limits that she had picked up the braveness to record and it says plenty about what the victims of stalking undergo. GURDASPUR : While issuing an emotional attraction to the debt ridden farmers of nation not to devote suicides leader minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday distinctive several measures taken by using his authorities for farmer s welfare and additionally reiterated to fulfill his pre poll promise of presenting task in each home . Addressing a gathering on the event of Independence Day celebrations after unfurling the country wide flag he said his government had already waived off crop loans up to Rs. 2 lakh for all small and marginal farmers except extending debt relief as much as Rs.2 lakh supplied to marginal farmers having overall debt of over Rs.2 lakh each. He also appealed to farmers now not to commit suicide or take some other intense step to get away their debt burdens. The mortgage waiver scheme may be carried out in about a month s time and the government will ensure that the loans of the farmers are paid with out necessitating any fee from them he said. Amarinder also announced the launch of a recruitment marketing campaign Ghar Ghar Mein Naukri for the government area to fill all important vacant posts quickly to offer employment to the jobless within the kingdom. Rozgar Melas could be held across the state to put into effect the election promise to provide employment to the unemployed teens he stated adding that his government has decided to offer jobs to 50000 adolescents inside the first section of the Ghar Ghar Mein Naukri scheme. He also introduced a Rs 2500 crore Annual Repair Programme for all link roads. The programme can be launched rapidly with the laying and repair of 22870 kilometers of such roads within the nation he stated. Each and each family within the country can have a lavatory before December 31 2017 he said adding that Rs 2100 crore have been set apart to ensure entire face carry of colleges except providing considered necessary infrastructure whilst any other Rs 806 were allotted for up gradation of fitness infrastructure. He stated his authorities changed into devoted to offer justice to the innocent human beings booked allegedly in false instances beneath the previous regime and the judicial fee installation to probe all such cases would soon submit its report. A similar fee is set up to investigate instances of sacrilege became also running to identify the culprits whom his government could soon convey to ebook he brought. Referring to the struggle on drugs by way of the Special Task Force (STF) chief minister claimed that the force were given a unfastened hand which had resulted within the registration of as many as 6018 cases beneath the NDPS Act to date. A total of 6933 people including a few police officials who have been abetting such sports had been arrested and extra than 97 kilogram heroin were recovered besides other banned substances he stated. Prominently amongst others who were gift on the occasion included Amarinder s media advisor Raveen Thukral Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa Barindermeet Singh Pahra Fatehjung Singh Bajwa Balwinder Singh Laadi MLA s Chief Secretary Karn Avtar Singh DGP Suresh Arora ADGP Border-cum-STF Chief Harpreet Singh Sidhu Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar and SSP Bhupinderjit Singh Virk and so forth.

Partition of India – what happened in 1947, why was Pakistan created and where is the border between the two ...

India is celebrating its 70th anniversary an event shot through with both national pride and memories of the trauma of the partition that created it. In keeping with that major event which is being celebrated and remembered across the world here are 70 facts to mark the anniversary from its horrifying beginnings to its more stunning achievements. Partition is the dividing line struck to divide India and create the Muslim nation of Pakistan which then included what is now Bangladesh. The decision to divide India came against the backdrop of the Second World War and the drive for Indian independence the Crown was losing control of its jewel. On 20 February 1947 British prime minister Clement Attlee announced British rule would end before June 1948. Nobody really knows why it happened so quickly Lord Louis Mountbatten who had arrived just months before to serve as Britain s last viceroy decided in June 1947 that power would be transferred within a couple of months 10 months earlier than expected. It s thought that the hurry might have been to force the two groups taking part in negotiations to sort themselves out. Both India and Pakistan became new independent states in August 1947. Pakistan celebrates its independence day on 14 August a day before India this timing allowed Lord Mountbatten to attend both ceremonies. On the night of 14 August 1947 as a nation was being split into two Lord Mountbatten was reportedly enjoying a screening of the Bob Hope film My Favourite Brunette. Mounbatten was far from the first viceroy to keep to eccentric habits as India was headed for chaos. Lord Linlithgow who served in the job from 1936 to 1943 liked to walk into dinner each evening to a band playing The Roast Beef of Old England an especially unusual choice in a country that venerates the cow. It took until two days after Partition 17 August for the borders of Pakistan to be drawn up and established. When those borders arrived they were as divisive as they might appear. Following work by a British-led commission the Radcliffe Line was drawn on a map though it was supposed to split the country in such a way as to keep Muslims in Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs in India it crudely cut communities in two and forced families across borders. In 1941 Karachi was nearly half Hindu by the end of that decade almost all of those people had fled. Delhi was designated the capital of India but one one-third Muslim. This soon changed too as Muslims left. That displacement and movement led to horrific outbreaks of violence and death. Governments hadn t been equipped to cope with them and in large parts of both countries the entire population of certain religions were wiped out. British soldiers were stationed in the country but were told not to do anything except act to save British lives. The effects are still being felt today. The border is still difficult to cross and families are left either side of it with no way of reuniting. For all that the Muslim population of India is still huge at 160 million people. That makes India the place with the third largest population of Muslims after Indonesia and Pakistan. And the lines are still unclear. Both countries claim the Himalayan region of Kashmir for instance. The dispute over Kashmir adds tension to the relationship between the two states. They have fought three wars since 1947. Those wars are especially worrying nowadays given the fact that both countries have nuclear weapons. And the borders are still being contested in such wars. In 1971 the two countries fought over East Pakistan which seceded to become Bangladesh. All of that work to decide where the countries would be split was done by Cyril Radcliffe a British lawyer who hadn t actually been to India before the Partition process began. He is one of the central controversial figures of Partition but he just drew a line behind it was the political impetus led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah hailed as a hero in Pakistan the country he created but a villain in India. Partition was shocking in its specifics with individual families being torn apart and separated. But it is shocking in its sheer scale too: more than 10 million people were displaced during the transition making it easily one of the biggest movements of people in history. Up to two million people died during the move. Many of them simply went missing including huge numbers of people who left western India but never knowingly arrived in Pakistan. The movement of communities especially in Punjab and Bengal led to numerous other crimes. People were kidnapped forced to convert and killed and tens of thousands of women were subjected to sexual violence and murder. Partition didn t happen immediately at least not in clear ways. For instance until 1948 Pakistan used Indian bank notes which had the name of the country stamped over them. The Pakistani rupee arrived in 1948. The Indian tricolour represents courage truth and peace and faith and chivalry. Its spinning wheel logo was replaced after Partition by the ashoka chakra a wheel-of-life design connected to the Buddhist dharma chakra. India s other major symbol the Bengal tiger was once seen throughout the country. But they are gradually dying out and there are now fewer than 4 000 of them left in the wild. British filmmaker Gurinder Chadha whose own family was affected by Partition examined its painful effects this year in her film Viceroy s House which was released in March. Chadha s film leaps into the midst of this conflict when Mountbatten was tasked with ensuring a smooth transfer of imperial power. India makes more than 1 100 films per year twice as many as Hollywood. And though Bollywood is famous it s only a small amount of that total: it refers specifically to Mumbai s Hindi film industry which only makes about 200 films a year. Its immense output makes it the world s most productive film industry. The first Indian to win an Academy Award was Bhanu Athaiya in 1983 for designing the costumes in Richard Attenborough s Gandhi. Ravi Shankar was nominated that same year for the film s score but did not win. Satyajit Ray director of 1955 s Pather Panchali is the only Indian to have received an Honorary Academy Award. The ravanahatha is a musical instrument believed by some to be the ancestor to the violin. Its sound box is usually either a gourd a halved coconut shell or a hollowed-out cylinder of wood with a membrane of stretched goat or other hide. The neck is then produced out wood or bamboo with the strings created out of gut hair or steel. India s theatre tradition goes back at least 5 000 years starting out in narrative form comprised of its main elements singing and dancing. The plots were initially based on history folk tales and legends with the emphasis placed on visual representation as opposed to vocal. Its representation of the epic is what Bertolt Brecht used to evolve his own creative theories surrounding the art form. The highest-grossing Indian film of all time is the Disney-produced Dangal a 2016 biographical sports drama directed by Nitesh Tiwari. The film stars Aamir Khan as an amateur wrestler who trains his daughters to become Commonwealth Games medallists. It s the fifth highest grossing non-English film of all time with takings of around 240m. Television was first introduced into India in September 1959. There was only one national channel for more than 30 years: DD National. This was part of the All India Radio studio in Delhi where it stayed until 1965 and began life as an experimental telecast with just a small transmitter and makeshift studio. It began regular transmission as DD1 Channel in 1982. The people of India are the world s biggest bookworms reading on average 10.42 hours a week almost twice as much time as the average Briton. As a result Indians spend far less time watching TV and listening to radio. Over half the books sold in India are in English making the country the second-largest marketplace for books in English in the world second only to the US. Overall India is the sixth-largest book market in the world it s worth more than 3bn. During the 1800s Indians used theatre as a means to protest the colonial rule. In 1876 the British Raj implemented the Dramatic Performances Act which dictated that each play would have to meet certain criteria set out by the government the main one being that they didn t excite feelings of disaffection towards the law. Even after Independence India partially kept the law the new government keeping some control over the performing arts. However come 1993 the act was labelled obsolete. India s first election took place in 1952 under the auspices of an Electoral Commission that was established just two years after independence. It was a progressive election encouraged by its first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. He made sure that the election happened as early as possible and that it didn t use systems like the electoral college or exclude women or poor voters. That was a tough ask: the size of the electorate was 176 million. To allow all of those people to vote the country had to build 224 000 polling booths fitted out with a total of two million steel boxes. Now the electorate is four and a half times as big with 814 million people getting a chance to vote. And there are 1.2 billion people in the country in total who live in 29 states and seven union territories. More of those people have access to a phone than they do a toilet. Between them they speak 22 official languages though the national languages are Hindi and English and hundreds of dialects. India marks six seasons: summer autumn winter and spring but also the summer monsoon and winter monsoon. Cricket is the country s most popular support after it was introduced during British rule. But it s not officially the national sport which is actually hockey. The national fruit of India is the mango. (And it s also the national fruit of Pakistan as well as being the national tree of Bangladesh.) The national bird of India is the Indian peacock. It was chosen in 1963. The country even has its own national microbe. It s the lactobacillus delbrueckii and was picked in 2012 during a biodiversity conference that was held in Hyderabad. It was picked out by schoolchildren. India uses the Rupee as its national currency issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The symbol which looks like the letter R is derived from the Devanagari consonant र but Latin letter was adopted in 2010. The Indian economy is 27 times larger than it was at the time of Partition in 1947. India s average annual GDP growth rate since 2006 has been 7 per cent. There were 420 million people in India prior to in 1946. That fell to 350 million at Partition. Today there are 1.3 billion. A sixth of Indians 218 million people are estimated to live in extreme poverty today. India has more individual people in extreme poverty than in China Bangladesh Pakistan Indonesia combined. Indian GDP per capita (at Purchasing Power Parity) in 2016 was 4 900 12 per cent of the UK s GDP per capita. The dollar-value of the Indian economy this year is 2.25 trillion. It is expected by the IMF to overtake the dollar value of the UK economy in 2018. India is the world s biggest tea producer. (Tea is also by a long way its most popular drink.) It may be no surprise that the country produces 70 per cent of the world s spices. London has more Indian restaurants than even the biggest Indian cities. India is the most vegetarian place in the world with the fewest meat-eaters. Despite being so large all of India uses a single timezone. India s rail network is the fourth largest in the world with more than a million employees. The country has the world s second-biggest road network only the US s is larger. Exhaust fumes make New Delhi s air the most polluted in the world. Just breathing it for one day during Diwali is reportedly like smoking 113 cigarettes. India has the most post offices in the world: nearly 155 000 including a floating post office on Dal Lake in Srinagar. The country is known for the heights it has climbed in international cricket. India s Himachal Pradesh region is home to Chail a hill station that was once the summer retreat of the Maharaja of Patiala. There sits the highest cricket ground in the world at 2 250 metres. Howzat! And that s not the only claim that India has to being very very tall. Khardung La a pass that can be found in the state of Jammu and Kashmir is also said to be the tallest motorable road in the world. But unfortunately that doesn t appear to be true: satellite observations show the pass to be slightly less high than previously thought and that another Indian road might in fact be the tallest one. India is home to the man with the world s biggest family Ziona Chana with around 180 people including 39 wives and 94 children. The game today known as snakes and ladders began in India and was originally called moksha patam. Inside its rules can be seen some of the philosophies that are part of Indian thought to this day particularly in its emphasis on destiny and karma. (When it was imported into England the Victorians changed some of the virtues and vices to suit what they suggested were more western values.) Played around the 7th century AD the Indian game chaturanga is regarded as the precursor to chess. The Kumbh Mela is a huge Hindu religious festival that s held every 12 years in India. It is regularly referred to as the biggest gathering of people in the world though it can be very difficult to actually work out the size of such a huge gathering. As such it s not clear how many people attend but it s in the tens of millions. World news in pictures 100 show all World news in pictures 1/100 14 August 2017 The Chattrapathi Shivaji Terminus railway station is lit in the colours of India s flag ahead of the country s Independence Day in Mumbai. Indian Independence Day is celebrated annually on 15 August and this year marks 70 years since British India split into two nations Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan and millions were uprooted in one of the largest mass migrations in history AFP/Getty 2/100 13 August 2017 A demonstrator holds up a picture of Heather Heyer during a demonstration in front of City Hall for victims of the Charlottesville Virginia tragedy and against racism in Los Angeles California USA. Rallies have been planned across the United States to demonstrate opposition to the violence in Charlottesville EPA 3/100 12 August 2017 Jessica Mink (R) embraces Nicole Jones (L) during a vigil for those who were killed and injured when a car plowed into a crowd of anti-fascist counter-demonstrators marching near a downtown shopping area Charlottesville Virginia Getty 4/100 12 August 2017 White nationalists neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right clash with counter-protesters as they enter Lee Park during the Unite the Right in Charlottesville Virginia. After clashes with anti-fascist protesters and police the rally was declared an unlawful gathering and people were forced out of Lee Park Getty 5/100 11 August 2017 A North Korean flag is seen on top of a tower at the propaganda village of Gijungdong in North Korea as a South Korean flag flutters in the wind in this picture taken near the border area near the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas in Paju South Korea Reuters 6/100 11 August 2017 A firefighter extinguishes flames as a fire engulfs an informal settlers area beside a river in Manila AFP 7/100 10 August 2017 A rally in support of North Korea s stance against the US on Kim Il-Sung square in Pyongyang. AFP 8/100 10 August 2017 Rocks from the collapsed wall of a hotel building cover a car after an earthquake outside Jiuzhaigou Sichuan province Reuters 9/100 9 August 2017 People in Seoul South Korea walk by a local news program with an image of US President Donald Trump on Wednesday 9 August. North Korea and the United States traded escalating threats with Mr Trump threatening Pyongyang with fire and fury like the world has never seen AP 10/100 8 August 2017 A Maasai woman waits in line to vote in Lele 130 km (80 miles) south of Nairobi Kenya. Kenyans are going to the polls today to vote in a general election after a tightly-fought presidential race between incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta and main opposition leader Raila Odinga AP 11/100 7 August 2017 Pro-government supporters march in Caracas Venezuela on 7 August Reuters 12/100 6 August 2017 Children pray after releasing paper lanterns on the Motoyasu river facing the Atomic Bomb Dome in remembrance of atomic bomb victims on the 72nd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima western Japan. REUTERS 13/100 5 August 2017 Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) accompanied by defence minister Sergei Shoigu gestures as he fishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. AFP/Getty Images 14/100 4 August 2017 A family claiming to be from Haiti drag their luggage over the US-Canada border into Canada from Champlain New York U.S. August 3 2017. Reuters 15/100 4 August 2017 A disabled man prepares to cast his vote at a polling station in Kigali Rwanda August 4 2017 Reuters 16/100 4 August 2017 ATTENTION EDITORS -People carry the body of Yawar Nissar a suspected militant who according to local media was killed during a gun battle with Indian security forces at Herpora village during his funeral in south Kashmir s Anantnag district August 4 2017. Reuters 17/100 4 August 2017 A general view shows a flooded area in Sakon Nakhon province Thailand August 4 2017. Reuters 18/100 3rd August 2017 A plane landed in Sao Joao Beach killing two people in Costa da Caparica Portugal August 2 2017 Reuters 19/100 3rd August 2017 Hermitage Capital CEO William Browder waits to testify before a continuation of Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election on Capitol Hill in Washington U.S. July 27 2017 Reuters 20/100 3rd August 2017 TOPSHOT - Moto taxi driver hold flags of the governing Rwanda Patriotic Front s at the beginning of a parade in Kigali on August 02 2017. Incumbent Rwandan President Paul Kagame will close his electoral campaigning ahead of the August 4 presidential elections which he is widely expected to win giving him a third term in office AFP 21/100 3rd August 2017 TOPSHOT - Migrants wait to be rescued by the Aquarius rescue ship run by non-governmental organisations (NGO) SOS Mediterranee and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in the Mediterranean Sea 30 nautic miles from the Libyan coast on August 2 2017. AFP 22/100 2 August 2017 Two children hold a placard picturing a plane as they take part in a demonstration in central Athens outside the German embassy with others refugees and migrants to protest against the limitation of reunification of families in Germany on August 2 2017. AFP 23/100 2 August 2017 Flames erupt as clashes break out while the Constituent Assembly election is being carried out in Caracas Venezuela July 30 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins Reuters 24/100 2 August 2017 People in the village of Gabarpora carry the remains of Akeel Ahmad Bhat a civilian who according to local media died following clashes after two militants were killed in an encounter with Indian security forces in Hakripora in south Kashmir s Pulwama district August 2 2017. REUTERS/Danish Ismail Reuters 25/100 2 August 2017 - Incumbent Rwandan President Paul Kagame gestures as he arrives for the closing rally of the presidential campaign in Kigali on August 2 2017 while supporters greet him. Rwandans go the polls on August 4 2017 in a presidential election in which strongman Paul Kagame is widely expected to cruise to a third term in office. AFP 26/100 30 July 2017 Soldiers of China s People s Liberation Army (PLA) get ready for the military parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the army at Zhurihe military training base in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region China. REUTERS 27/100 29 July 2017 Cyclists at the start of the first stage of the Tour de Pologne cycling race over 130km from Krakow s Main Market Square Poland EPA 28/100 28 July 2017 Israeli border guards keep watch as Palestinian Muslim worshippers pray outside Jerusalem s old city overlooking the Al-Aqsa mosque compound Ahmad Gharabli/AFP 29/100 28 July 2017 A supporter of Pakistan s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif passes out after the Supreme Court s decision to disqualify Sharif in Lahore Reuters/Mohsin Raza 30/100 27 July 2017 Australian police officers participate in a training scenario called an Armed Offender/Emergency Exercise held at an international passenger terminal located on Sydney Harbour Reuters/David Gray 31/100 27 July 2017 North Korean soldiers watch the south side as the United Nations Command officials visit after a commemorative ceremony for the 64th anniversary of the Korean armistice at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas Reuters/Jung Yeon-Je 32/100 26 July 2017 Bangladeshi commuters use a rickshaw to cross a flooded street amid heavy rainfall in Dhaka. Bangladesh is experiencing downpours following a depression forming in the Bay of Bengal. Munir Uz Zaman/AFP 33/100 26 July 2017 The Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft for the next International Space Station (ISS) crew of Paolo Nespoli of Italy Sergey Ryazanskiy of Russia and Randy Bresnik of the U.S. is transported from an assembling hangar to the launchpad ahead of its upcoming launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur Kazakhstan Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov 34/100 25 July 2017 A protester shouts at U.S. President Donald Trump as he is removed from his rally with supporters in an arena in Youngstown Ohio Reuters 35/100 23 July 2017 Indian supporters of Gorkhaland chant slogans tied with chains during a protest march in capital New Delhi. Eastern India s hill resort of Darjeeling has been rattled at the height of tourist season after violent clashes broke out between police and hundreds of protesters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) a long-simmering separatist movement that has long called for a separate state for ethnic Gorkhas in West Bengal. The GJM wants a new separate state of Gorkhaland carved out of eastern West Bengal state of which Darjeeling is a part. Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images 36/100 23 July 2017 Demonstrators clash with riot security forces while rallying against Venezuela s President Nicolas Maduro s government in Caracas Venezuela. The banner on the bridge reads It will be worth it Reuters 37/100 22 July 2017 The Heathcote river as it rises to high levels in Christchurch New Zealand. Heavy rain across the South Island in the last 24 hours has caused widespread damage and flooding with Dunedin Waitaki Timaru and the wider Otago region declaring a state of emergency. Getty Images 38/100 22 July 2017 A mourner prays at a memorial during an event to commemorate the first anniversary of the shooting spree that one year ago left ten people dead including the shooter in Munich Germany. One year ago 18-year-old student David S. shot nine people dead and injured four others at and near a McDonalds restaurant and the Olympia Einkaufszentrum shopping center. After a city-wide manhunt that caused mass panic and injuries David S. shot himself in a park. According to police David S. who had dual German and Iranian citizenship had a history of mental troubles. Getty 39/100 21 July 2017 Palestinians react following tear gas that was shot by Israeli forces after Friday prayer on a street outside Jerusalem s Old City Reuters/Ammar Awad 40/100 21 July 2017 Ousted former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra greets supporters as she arrives at the Supreme Court in Bangkok Thailand Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha 41/100 20 July 2017 Marek Suski of Law and Justice (PiS) (C) party scuffles with Miroslaw Suchon (2nd L) of Modern party (.Nowoczesna) as Michal Szczerba of Civic Platform (PO) (L) party holds up a copy of the Polish Constitution during the parliamentary Commission on Justice and Human Rights voting on the opposition s amendments to the bill that calls for an overhaul of the Supreme Court in Warsaw Reuters 42/100 20 July 2017 A firefighter stands near a grass fire as he prepares to defend a home from the Detwiler fire in Mariposa California Reuters 43/100 19 July 2017 Michael Lindell CEO of My Pillow reacts as U.S. President Donald Trump attends a Made in America roundtable meeting in the East Room of the White House Reuters 44/100 18 July 2017 Giant pandas lie beside ice blocks at Yangjiaping Zoo in Chongqing China. Yangjiaping Zoo provided huge ice blocks for giant pandas to help them remove summer heat Getty Images 45/100 18 July 2017 People ride camels in the desert in Dunhuang China as stage 10 of The Silkway Rally continues AFP/Getty Images 46/100 18 July 2017 17th FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest Hungary. Team North Korea practice under coach supervision REUTERS 47/100 17 July 2017 IAAF World ParaAthletics Championships - London Britain - July 17 2017 Reuters/Henry Browne 48/100 17 July 2017 Workers check power lines during maintenance work in Laian in China s eastern Anhui province AFP/Getty Images 49/100 17 July 2017 Russia Kamaz s driver Dmitry Sotnikov co-drivers Ruslan Akhmadeev and Ilnur Mustafin compete during the Stage 9 of the Silk Way 2017 between Urumqi and Hami China Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images 50/100 17 July 2017 Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull talks with Special Operations Command soldiers during a visit to the Australian Army s Holsworthy Barracks in western Sydney AAP/Brendan Esposito/via Reuters 51/100 16 July 2017 Men in traditional sailor costumes celebrate after carrying a statue of the El Carmen Virgin who is worshipped as the patron saint of sailors into the Mediterranean Sea during a procession in Torremolinos near Malaga Spain Reuters/Jon Nazca 52/100 16 July 2017 People participate in a protest in front of the Sejm building (the lower house of the Polish parliament) in Warsaw Poland. The demonstration was organized by Committee for the Defense of Democracy (KOD). Members and supporters of the KOD and opposition parties protested against changes in the judicial law and the Supreme Court EPA 53/100 16 July 2017 People prepare to swim with a portrait of late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong on the bank of the Yangtze River in Yichang Hubei province China to celebrate the 51st anniversary of Chairman Mao swimming in the Yangtze River. REUTERS 54/100 15 July 2017 A woman takes a selfie picture with her mobile phone next to the statue of Omer Halisdemir in Istanbul in front of a memorial with the names of people killed last year during the failed coup attempt . AFP/Getty Images 55/100 14 July 2017 French President Emmanuel Macron gestures next to US President Donald Trump during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris. AFP/Getty Images 56/100 13 July 2017 Philippine National Police chief Ronald Bato Dela Rosa holds an M60 machine gun during a Gun and Ammunition show at a mall in Mandaluyong city metro Manila Philippines Reuters 57/100 13 July 2017 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker embrace before the EU-Ukraine summit in Kiev Ukraine Reuters 58/100 13 July 2017 US President Donald Trump (R) and First Lady Melania Trump disembark form Air Force One upon arrival at Paris Orly airport on July 13 2017 beginning a 24-hour trip that coincides with France s national day and the 100th anniversary of US involvement in World War I Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images 59/100 12 July 2017 Iraqis walk on a damaged street in west Mosul a few days after the government s announcement of the liberation of the embattled city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters Getty 60/100 12 July 2017 Iraqi boys wash a vehicle in west Mosul a few days after the government s announcement of the liberation of the embattled city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images 61/100 11 July 2017 Afghan policeman pour fuel over jerry cans containing confiscated acetic acid before setting it alight on the outskirts of Herat. Some 15 000 liters of acetic acid often mixed with heroin were destroyed by counter narcotics police Hoshang Hashimi/AFP 62/100 10 July 2017 Police from the anti-terror squad participate in an anti-terror performance among Acehnese dancers during a ceremony to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the Indonesian police corps in Banda Aceh AFP/Getty Images 63/100 11 July 2017 Residents stand amid the debris of their homes which were torn down in the evicted area of the Bukit Duri neighbourhood located on the Ciliwung river banks in Jakarta Bay Ismoyo/AFP 64/100 11 July 2017 Boys play cricket at a parking lot as it rains in Chandigarh India Reuters/Ajay Verma 65/100 10 July 2017 Turkey s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the 22nd World Petroleum Congress (WPC) in Istanbul AFP 66/100 10 July 2017 New Mongolia s president Khaltmaa Battulga takes an oath during his inauguration ceremony in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia Reuters 67/100 10 July 2017 US army 1st Division US air force US Navy and US Marines march down the Champs Elysees with the Arc de Triomphe in the background in Paris during a rehearsal of the annual Bastille Day military parade AFP 68/100 9 July 2017 Participants run ahead of Puerto de San Lorenzo s fighting bulls during the third bull run of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona northern Spain. Each day at 8:00 am hundreds of people race with six bulls charging along a winding 848.6-metre (more than half a mile) course through narrow streets to the city s bull ring where the animals are killed in a bullfight or corrida during this festival immortalised in Ernest Hemingway s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises and dating back to medieval times and also featuring religious processions folk dancing concerts and round-the-clock drinking. AFP/Getty Images 69/100 8 July 2017 Iraqi women who fled the fighting between government forces and Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in the Old City of Mosul cry as they stand in the city s western industrial district awaiting to be relocated AFP 70/100 8 July 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives for another working session during the G20 summit in Hamburg northern Germany AFP/Getty Images 71/100 7 July 2017 People climb up on a roof to get a view during riots in Hamburg northern Germany where leaders of the world s top economies gather for a G20 summit AFP/Getty Images 72/100 6 July 2017 Anti-capitalism activists protest in Hamburg where leaders of the world s top economies will gather for a G20 summit. AFP/Getty 73/100 7 July 2017 A military helicopter rescues people trapped on the roof of the Ministry of Finance by an intense fire in San Salvador AFP/Getty Images 74/100 6 July 2017 Donald Trump arrives to deliver a speech at Krasinski Square in Warsaw Poland. AP 75/100 6 July 2017 A firefighter conducts rescue operations in an area damaged by heavy rain in Asakura Japan. Reuters 76/100 6 July 2017 Crowds gather for the start of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona Spain. AFP 77/100 5 July 2017 A member of the Iraqi security forces runs with his weapon during a fight between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants in the Old City of Mosul Iraq. 78/100 5 July 2017 A U.S. MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile is fired during the combined military exercise between the U.S. and South Korea against North Korea at an undisclosed location in South Korea A.P 79/100 4 July 2017 North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un looks on during the test-fire of inter-continental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 Reuters 80/100 4 July 2017 Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during a signing ceremony following the talks at the Kremlin Reuters 81/100 3 July 2017 Belarussian servicemen march during a military parade as part of celebrations marking the Independence Day in Minsk Belarus Reuters 82/100 3 July 2017 Ambulance cars and fire engines are seen near the site where a coach burst into flames after colliding with a lorry on a motorway near Muenchberg Germany Reuters 83/100 28 June 2017 An aerial view shows women swimming in the Yenisei River on a hot summer day with the air temperature at about 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 degrees Fahrenheit) outside Krasnoyarsk Siberia Russia June 28 2017 Reuters 84/100 2 July 2017 Protesters demonstrating against the upcoming G20 economic summit ride boats on Inner Alster lake during a protest march in Hamburg Germany. Hamburg will host the upcoming G20 summit and is expecting heavy protests throughout. Getty Images 85/100 27 June 2017 Investigators work at the scene of a car bomb explosion which killed Maxim Shapoval a high-ranking official involved in military intelligence in Kiev Ukraine June 27 2017 Reuters 86/100 1 July 2017 Protesters carry a large image of jailed Chinese Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo as they march during the annual pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong. Thousands joined an annual protest march in Hong Kong hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up his visit to the city by warning against challenges to Beijing s sovereignty. AP 87/100 30 June 2017 Jockey Andrea Coghe of Selva (Forest) parish rides his horse during the first practice for the Palio Horse Race in Siena Italy June 30 2017 Reuters 88/100 30 June 2017 A man takes pictures with a phone with a Union Flag casing after Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) inspected troops at the People s Liberation Army (PLA) Hong Kong Garrison as part of events marking the 20th anniversary of the city s handover from British to Chinese rule in Hong Kong China June 30 2017 Reuters 89/100 29 June 2017 A protester against U.S. President Donald Trump s limited travel ban approved by the U.S. Supreme Court holds a sign next to protesters supporting the ban in New York City U.S. June 29 2017 Reuters 90/100 29 June 2017 Israeli Air Force Efroni T-6 Texan II planes perform at an air show during the graduation of new cadet pilots at Hatzerim base in the Negev desert near the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva AFP/Getty Images 91/100 28 June 2017 A woman gestures next to people spraying insecticide on a vehicle during a mosquito-control operation led by Ivory Coast s National Public and Health Institute in Bingerville near Abidjan where several cases of dengue fever were reported AFP/Getty Images 92/100 27 June 2017 A Libyan coast guardsman watches over as illegal immigrants arrive to land in a dinghy during the rescue of 147 people who attempted to reach Europe off the coastal town of Zawiyah 45 kilometres west of the capital Tripoli on June 27 2017. More than 8 000 migrants have been rescued in waters off Libya during the past 48 hours in difficult weather conditions Italy s coastguard said on June 27 2017 AFP/Getty Images 93/100 26 June 2017 A man leaves after voting in the Mongolian presidential election at the Erdene Sum Ger (Yurt) polling station in Tuul Valley. Mongolians cast ballots on June 26 to choose between a horse breeder a judoka and a feng shui master in a presidential election rife with corruption scandals and nationalist rhetoric AFP/Getty Images 94/100 26 June 2017 People attend Eid al-Fitr prayers to mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at a play ground in the suburb of Sale Morocco REUTERS 95/100 25 June 2017 A plain-clothes police officer kicks a member of a group of LGBT rights activist as Turkish police prevent them from going ahead with a Gay Pride annual parade on 25 June 2017 in Istanbul a day after it was banned by the city governor s office. AFP/Getty Images 96/100 25 June 2017 Pakistan army soldiers stands guard while rescue workers examine the site of an oil tanker explosion at a highway near Bahawalpur Pakistan. An overturned oil tanker burst into flames in Pakistan on Sunday killing more than one hundred people who had rushed to the scene of the highway accident to gather leaking fuel an official said. AP 97/100 24 June 2017 Rescue workers search for survivors at the site of a landslide that occurred in Xinmo Village Mao County Sichuan province China REUTERS 98/100 23 June 2017 Student activists shout anti martial law slogans during a protest in Manila on June 23 2017 AFP/Getty Images 99/100 23 June 2017 A diver performs from the Pont Alexandre III bridge into the River Seine in Paris France June 23 2017 as Paris transforms into a giant Olympic park to celebrate International Olympic Days with a variety of sporting events for the public across the city during two days as the city bids to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Reuters 100/100 23 June 2017 Debris and smoke are seen after an OV-10 Bronco aircraft released a bomb during an airstrike as government troops continue their assault against insurgents from the Maute group who have taken over parts of Marawi city Philippines June 23 2017 Reuters Follow the Independent s coverage of India here. More about: India Reuse content The partition of India led to one of the largest mass migrations in modern history with millions seeking sanctuary from violence in ancient tombs and forts which were transformed into sprawling refugee camps. More than 15 million people were displaced after India gained independence from Britain in 1947 with Muslims heading towards the newly formed Pakistan as Hindus and Sikhs moved in the opposite direction. New Delhi Queen s Road near Lothian Bridge Queen s Road near Lothian Bridge in New Delhi Shacks where refugee families lived on a pavement along Queen s Road near Lothian Bridge in September 1950 and an auto rickshaw on the same road in June 2017.Photographs: Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting/Prakash Singh/AFP Amritsar Chowk Bijli Wala Chowk Bijli Wala area of Amristar Indian soldiers walk through the debris of a building in the Chowk Bijli Wala area in August 1947 and a bustling scene at the same location in June 2017.Photographs: Stringer/Narinder Nanu/AFP New Delhi Kamla Market Kamla Market in New Delhi A few people gather in Kamla Market in November 1951 and traders pile up their wares at the same location in June 2017.Photographs: Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting/Prakash Singh/AFP New Delhi Humayun s Tomb Humayun s Tomb in New Delhi Displaced Muslims camp in front of the tomb in around 1947 and a man and a woman explore the same location in June 2017.Photographs: Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting/Prakash Singh/AFP Amritsar Khalsa College Khalsa College in Amritsar Sikhs eat at a relief camp in around 1947 following unrest during the partition and labourers have lunch at the same location in June 2017.Photographs: Stringer/Narinder Nanu/AFP Amritsar Katra Jaimal Singh Katra Jaimal Singh area of Amritsar A destroyed building in the Katra Jaimal Singh area in August 1947 and a busy street full of shops and adverts in June 2017.Photographs: Stringer/Narinder Nanu/AFP New Delhi Humayun s Tomb Humayun s Tomb New Delhi A view of a refugee camp near the tomb and the same grounds empty of people in June 2017.Photographs: Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting/Prakash Singh/AFP Humayun s Tomb New Delhi Muslim boys look out from their camp in front of the tomb in around 1947 and the tomb pictured in June 2017.Photographs: Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting/Prakash Singh/AFP New Delhi Minto Bridge Minto Bridge New Dellhi Displaced Muslims including a family on a cart pass under Minto Bridge on their way to camps at Purana Qila and Humayun s Tomb and somewhat heavier traffic at the same location in June 2017.Photographs: Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting/Prakash Singh/AFP Seventy years have passed since the partition of India and Pakistan. But its imprint on my life and how I think persists taking different forms as time moves on. Strangely I don t think it bothered me so much when I was young and its memory was fresher. My parents had lost everything but they rarely wanted to talk about the break the partition had caused in their lives. That was the general mood during the 1950s. Follow Al Jazeera s coverage of the 70 years of India-Pakistan partition The partition must have cast a shadow over Jawaharal Nehru the then Indian prime minister and his government as well. But national reconstruction was all that we the children of that era heard about. Our nation-building was focused on the distant future and didn t include teaching the young about the then-recent history of our country. Filmmakers and song writers had spotted the great value of neighbourly hostility and suspicion. Bollywood picked up the idea of gaddars (the unfaithfuls) and continues to cash in on it. So when war broke out with Pakistan in 1965 nobody was supposed to be surprised or upset. Endangered liberal values Our countries post-independence histories are mutually ignored while the partition is no more than a memory poster featuring gory details and little else. Understanding it and moving beyond it is nobody s priority. Neither the leftist nor the rightist view permits you to accept the partition. In neither Punjab nor Bengal - two states directly and brutally affected by the partition - is the history of it taught in schools in any depth. In other states it has been reduced to a piece of information passed from one generation to the next with a bunch of statistics about rapes and murders. In Pakistan school children are taught about the thousand-year-old roots of the partition and how Indian leaders tried to stop Pakistan from being born. A flat narrative centred on the inevitability of the partition is followed by melodramatic stories of wars with India and the sacrifices Pakistan made to protect itself. UPFRONT: India and Pakistan: Forever rivals? (25:21) Children studying in high-end elite schools have the advantage of better-quality textbooks so are somewhat protected from the heady brew served to those attending government schools. Joint declarations were made in the early days of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) about the importance of examining textbooks but no major effort has been made in that regard. As Pakistani researcher author and columnist Rubina Saigol has shown in her work the nationalist fervour instilled in Pakistani schools is imbued with masculine militarism. Until recently India has done better in shaping its nationalism around the humanist vision of the writer composer and artist Rabindranath Tagore who condemned political nationalism worldwide. But in some parts of the country that ethos is changing. Of late it has changed a great deal in the north. Attempts to imbue nationalism with militaristic fervour are currently in fashion. One example is the decision by M Jagadesh Kumar the vice chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru Universty (JNU) to install a tank on the campus. He argues that it will enable students to overcome the effects of the critical pedagogy they have been subjected to for years. The idea of displaying an old battle tank at JNU sits well with the current wave of majoritarian politics. It is the outcome of many decades of propaganda against secular liberalism. This is not the first time that Hindu majoritarian ideology has met political success. But each time it regains dominance it triggers anxiety about the future of liberal values like tolerance for diversity and minority rights. This animated map shows how the borders of India Pakistan and Bangladesh have evolved since partition https://t.co/LaQGoVFsDV pic.twitter.com/1RSEqvyp1z Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 10 2017 Moral objectivity The partition remains relevant as a moral reference point in popular memory in India and Pakistan. It enables each to essentialise and stereotype the other. The images of the two fit nicely together thereby keeping both stuck in the past. In India Pakistan is seen as a culturally monolithic society based on fanatic religiosity. That image is nicely scaffolded by the term communal which has a specific meaning in South Asia conveying religious separatism as opposed to liberal secularism. As an ideology secularism also has a specific South Asian connotation. It means respect for all religions and at the same time serves as a quasi-religion among the older English-educated elites. They see themselves as secular and view others particularly the rural population as a mass steeped in religiosity and superstition. The English language serves as a watershed between the two blocking the circulation of ideas including the idea of secularism itself. What is politically more significant in this context is that the English-educated elites lack the linguistic repertoire to counter the appeal of Hindu revivalist majoritarian propaganda. An English-educated elite is common to both countries but the space available for liberal deliberation is more narrow in Pakistan. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that Pakistan s electoral democracy has failed to accommodate religious actors and the second is the active involvement of the armed forces in maintaining the civil state. Since the separation of Bangladesh in 1971 a religio-militaristic state ideology has gained dominance in Pakistan. This ideology treats India s secular democracy as a convenient delusion. The essentialised India that lives in Pakistan s nationalist imagination is a majoritarian Hindu country. This image enables the Pakistani state to find continued retrospective justification for the partition as if a justification is still needed. Learn more about the creation of India and Pakistan: #PartitionAt70 Geopolitical factors also contribute to keeping both nations emotionally entangled in their shared past. When other nations equate the two neighbours and talk about the risk of military conflict between them Indian ruling elites dislike this. They treat Pakistan s obduracy with contempt. When Pakistan refers to the unfinished business of the partition the Indian response is shaped by the popular image of Pakistan as a wicked home-wrecker. The political rulers of both countries recognise that war is not an option. But they cannot resist the temptation to use a Cold War ethos to maintain their hold on the popular mind and imagination. In any case neither side has the will to disrupt established continuities in their relations. A glaring example is the show put on every evening at the Wagah border for the entertainment of cheering onlookers on both sides. A few years ago it seemed as though it would be stopped but neither side could sustain the maturity of such a decision. Far too many interests are invested in the maintenance of hostility and suspicion under a teasing veneer of warmth and vernacular conviviality. Both remain respectable customers in the global arms bazaar. The heavy investment they make in military preparedness costs them dearly in a chronic under-funding of crucial social sectors like education and health. Moving on from the past It is difficult to say how much longer it will take for India and Pakistan to put aside the shadow of their past. This kind of assessment is both hard to make and largely pointless because India and Pakistan are not isolated entities. They are members of a complex world in which their competitive military preparedness serves useful objectives for more powerful nations. They need far greater capacities than they have at present for introspection and deliberation. They also need to rebuild their public education systems which have been injured by the effect of neo-liberal economic policies. Ultimately both nations need to inculcate an educated imagination to their children to enable them to make sense of the past and the ways it is shaping the present. The partition cannot be forgotten but it needs to be understood. A small initiative has recently been taken to set up a partition museum in Amritsar India. This is a great step forward. It has already begun to attract contributions from countless people who witnessed the horror of the partition and others like me who were born after that horror was over but who have lived in its shadow. It will not be easy for the museum to maintain its focus on reconciliation and peace while it documents raw violence and brutality. Hopefully it will receive support and participation from the other side of the border. It will add to the fledging effort made by a handful of schools and colleges in India and Pakistan to make partition studies a means of attaining peace with the past. The common tendency is to live in the past while keeping yesterday s battles raging. Professor Krishna Kumar is the author of Prejudice and Pride: School Histories of the Freedom Struggle in India and Pakistan (Viking/Penguin 2001) and Battle for Peace (Penguin 2007). He is a former director of India s National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).The views expressed in this article are the author s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera s editorial policy.Source: Al Jazeera News The scrubby lowlands of Jammu are stuck between the Himalayas and the dusty plains of Punjab and home to 19 000 families stuck in time. West Pakistan no longer exists on world maps but in the north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir clustered in poor villages along the Tawi river there are still West Pakistanis. Like at least 14 million others they fled their homes during the hasty British retreat from India in 1947 when the division of the subcontinent into one Hindu-majority country and another Muslim-dominated triggered religious violence. Unlike those millions the West Pakistanis and their descendants are still officially refugees: citizens of India but stateless inside its borders barred from local government jobs colleges and welfare and unable to buy property or take out loans. They are living embodiments of the lingering scars of partition 70 years on. Map: Pakistan/India border My home village is 8km from here in Pakistan says Melu Ram perched on a woven cot outside his concrete house on the outskirts of Jammu city. A sheet of paper nearby attests that he is a West Pakistan refugee. He has lived in India for seven decades. In West Pakistan now just called Pakistan after the country s eastern wing became Bangladesh in 1971 he spent just a few horrifying days. We had to leave our houses on 15 August 1947 Ram remembers. The day before Pakistan had come into existence. The violence against Hindus started that evening he says. Empty handed wearing only a shirt and lungi Ram his mother and sisters took shelter with other Hindu families in a nearby village. His father had fled to India earlier carrying their most important possessions in a trunk. His grandfather too frail to make the journey stayed behind. He was not touched Ram says. But our valuables cows and clothes were taken by our neighbours and other villagers. Others among the Hindu refugees were less fortunate. Families had chopped limbs their noses had been cut off or their breasts. Many male family members were killed he says. He saw similar violence once the family crossed the river into Jammu Indian territory. I have walked on dead bodies says Ram 86 his cloudy eyes widening. Whoever tried to cross from Pakistan was killed. Muslims killed Hindus. And hearing the stories of those who migrated from West Pakistan people already living here became angry. Mobs from Hindu villages started killing Muslims. Ram joined the column of refugees gradually making their way south through Jammu and Kashmir state towards Punjab. Trailing them on the path was a man known as the Lion of Kashmir . Sheikh Abdullah a towering politician was by then running an emergency administration in the state. He was going from here to the Punjab border motivating those migrating towards the relief camps in Punjab to stay here Ram says. He assured our family and other migrants that the land was empty no one was cultivating it and we should remain. Ram and his family made the decision to turn back to Jammu. I regret it more than anything he says. Jammu and Kashmir is a unique Indian state. It maintains its own flag and constitution. Successive wars have left it divided between Pakistan India and China. It is India s only Muslim-majority state. Most crucially for refugees from West Pakistan when the state s leaders agreed to join the Indian union in 1947 they demanded special guarantees of autonomy including to restrict other Indians from becoming citizens of the state. Its relationship with the rest of India is still uneasy. In the northern Kashmir region separatist movements and armed militias have fought for 30 years to join Pakistan or become independent. Central governments in Delhi have also spent decades eroding the state s political autonomy. In this combustible atmosphere no state government has shown an appetite for integrating hundreds of thousands of overwhelmingly Hindu refugees. Among the cruelest consequences of the limbo West Pakistanis inhabit is that it also extends to their children. Roop Lal was 15 when he discovered he was a refugee in the country where he was born and had lived his entire life. I was not allowed to apply for scholarships for my last years of schooling. I asked my parents why. They said we were West Pakistanis he remembers. Until a recent legal change any woman he married would also have become a refugee surrendering her state citizenship. We don t get daughters for marriage from permanent residents he says. Several times families have approached him to marry their daughters. Later they learn about my status and the engagements are broken off. It often happens he says. No West Pakistanis own their homes. Many live on the properties of Muslims who were killed or fled Jammu in 1947 which they rent from the government for a token sum. Moving elsewhere is a constant temptation. Lal and the estimated 19 960 West Pakistan families living in Jammu are Indian citizens and in a state without autonomous status would be granted their complete rights. A few of my relatives are in Punjab he says. There the tag of West Pakistani is forgotten. Only we are still called that. But we have established our house our social circle here. We don t have the finances to move or anywhere to live there. We ve been here for 70 years. Perversely just as in 1947 politicians continue to encourage West Pakistanis to stay. Every election the central government and local politicians of all parties assure us we will soon get our rights says Labha Ram Gandhi the president of the West Pakistan Refugee Action Committee. India and Pakistan prepare for 70th anniversary celebrations Read more It s due to these hollow assurances we ve been suffering. If they just told us clearly we would get no rights we d have thought otherwise about staying. The fate of the refugees is front-page news again. India s supreme court is hearing arguments in favour of scrapping Jammu and Kashmir s political autonomy. In Delhi the official position of the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi is also for extinguishing the state s special status. Gandhi met Modi last year. He says he begged the prime minister to move his community en masse to other states. He told me you have a duty to stay. You are living on the border areas with Pakistan. If you shift these areas will become abandoned. In 1979 West Pakistanis protested for their citizenship by trying to cross the border back into Pakistan. They were stopped by Indian troops. Nearly four decades later Gandhi is threatening another dramatic step. We are hopeful about this government he says. But if they fail to fulfil our wishes we will take up arms. On the outskirts of Jammu Melu Ram is watching his grandchildren arrive home from school. They are still too young to know they are different from their classmates. He hopes never to have to tell them. Before my last breath I want to see my children getting their rights he says. That s my only desire. They used to talk about the Hindu rate of growth . This was the idea that the post-Partition centrally planned Indian economy was destined to eke out a GDP expansion of no more than 3.5 per cent a year due to its stifling bureaucracy and some said the slovenliness of the population. Adjusted for fertile India s population growth this was translated into a miserable 1.5 per cent of economic growth a year. While the economies of other formerly poor Asian Tigers such as South Korea Singapore Taiwan and Hong Kong took off in the 1950s and 1960s the sluggish giant of India seemed destined to remain forever in the slow lane with most of its people languishing in poverty. Read more How the horrors of Partition shaped independent India How Partition happened and why its effects are still felt today Partition 70 years on: the violence that created Pakistan and India Or so it was thought. The Hindu rate of growth is now history another silly stereotype exposed. For the past 25 years the Indian economy has grown at an average rate of 6 per cent. They used to talk of the new emerging market power houses of the BRICs Brazil Russia India and China. But the economies of Brazil and Russia have slumped into crisis in recent years. And even mighty China has faltered at least from its own ultra-high growth rates of recent decades. The IMF estimates that India outpaced China in 2015 (7.9 per cent growth versus 6.9 per cent) and will continue to outstrip the GDP growth rate of its enormous eastern neighbour over the next five years as well. The Fund expects the raw dollar-size of the Indian economy to outstrip that of the UK the old colonial master which delivered Partition in 2018 making it the world s fifth largest economy. And some now talk of the possibility of India rather than China emerging as the world s largest economy later this century. Beating the rest of the BRICS IMF Could it happen? India has unquestionably made great and surprising economic strides in recent decades. The economic reforms of Manmohan Singh first as finance minister in the 1990s and then as prime minister between 2004 and 2014 are the primary reason India finally started to motor. (Singh incidentally was born in in Gah now in Pakistan but migrated to India at Partition.) Unlike in China where the population is ageing rapidly due to the baleful legacy of Deng Xiao Ping s one child policy demography looks likely to provide a powerful tailwind to Indian growth over the coming half century. Around a quarter of all the people entering the global workforce between now and 2025 are projected to be Indian. Read more How the horrors of Partition shaped independent India Inside Cellular Jail: the horrors and torture inflicted by the British There were hopes that Singh s successor as prime minister Narendra Modi (who had a reputation as a friend of business) would take up the baton of liberalisation and take India to the next stage of economic achievement. But the Hindu nationalist s record since 2014 has been disappointing overall. Some fuel subsidies have been scrapped. A major new bankruptcy law introduced last year was welcome and may help the business environment but the jury is still out. A new nationwide sales tax is certainly an improvement on what it replaced but also a major missed opportunity for radical simplification. The elimination of most bank notes overnight was unquestionably bold but has probably done less to rein in the black economy than the government claims. Surpassing the old colonial master IMF Meanwhile the land market remains unreformed. The national labour law is still a brake on hiring. Dominant state-owned banks are sitting on a mountain of bad loans. And despite pockets of quality the education system needs an overhaul. A fall in the global oil price (India is a major energy importer) has flattered the country s growth rate in recent years dulling ministers appetite for politically difficult reforms. On the surface India the last BRIC in the wall is standing tall and proud. But beneath the façade a great deal of maintenance and refurbishment more than is commonly perceived is needed if the country is to fulfil its economic potential let alone reach the top spot in the global rankings. More about: Partition India GDP economy growth Narendra Modi Reuse content Written by Divya Goyal | Ludhiana | Updated: August 14 2017 2:32 pm Made in 1915 and 1924 by UK-based company Garrard one of them was gifted by a British man in Toba Tek Singh of Pakistan and the family has made sure that it is in working condition till date. Top News Amit Shah resigns as MLA says Congress will be reduced to half in next pollsToilet: Ek Prem Katha box office collection day 5: Akshay Kumar s film is on the up and upGujarat Fortunegiants Puneri Paltan win first Inter Zone fixtures: Match HighlightsWith the rare sound machines radios gramophones and spool machines at display the city of Ludhiana on Sunday witnessed a musical throwback to the Partition of India and Pakistan which completes 70 years coming Tuesday. Of the most prized possessions at the exhibition organised by The National Numismatic Society were the two gramophones belonging to the Puri family. Made in 1915 and 1924 by UK-based company Garrard one of them was gifted by a British man in Toba Tek Singh of Pakistan and the family has made sure that it is in working condition till date. A gramophone made in 1915 which was the oldest one at the exhibition was in a working condition despite being a 100 years old. The family had turned down all offers to sell the 1924-made machine as they say it is the treasure of their grandfather who shifted from village Sarabha Chak of Toba Tek Singh to Sarabha village in Ludhiana. Bablu Puri 40 his grandson said This is not merely a gramophone for us. It is a treasure that my grandfather Lala Raunaki Puri carried with him as he shifted to India. Later when our family had internal division it is this gramophone which was given to us as a token of his memory. He worked as a haqeem in Toba Tek Singh. He had once treated a Britisher and in return he gave him this gramophone. It also had one record of 1905 in it which plays English songs. No matter how much money is offered to us by antique collectors we will never sell it. My grandmother listened to it till her death. Rare British India half-anna Mint coin from Lahore Seeing the gramophone of my grandfather I developed interest in this field and started collecting colonial-era music machines records and cassettes. I bought 1915 made gramophone in 1995. Till now I have 80 machines and 26 000 records in my collection which also include those of speeches of Jawahar Lal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi said Puri. We have kept my grandfather s gramophone safe since more than 70 years when he got it as gift in 1940s. There is no question of selling it now added Puri who was flooded with the offers to sell it. The family which now runs a tyre shop in Vishal Nagar of Ludhiana has put its partition history collection of gramophones and records at the shop for the visitors to see. Among another rare possession on display was a coin of British India which never got circulated. It has His Majesty Mint half anna Lahore and a crown embossed on it. It came out from coin factory of British India in Lahore and was part of special series of tokens said Narinder Pal Singh who also displayed his rare radio-cum-camera of General Electric Company (GEC) of England. The antique collectors from across Punjab displayed their collections which also included coins of Patiala princely state first radio licenses issued after Independence 30-inch long wooden radio set of Phillips made in Holland among others. For all the latest India News download Indian Express App More Top News PM Narendra Modi reaches out to Valley: Gaali goli can t fix problem embrace Kashmiris Toilet Ek Prem Katha box office collection day 4: Akshay Kumar film earns Rs 63.45 cr No Comments. New Delhi: A collection of horrific and emotional tales of the Partition of India with over 4 300 witness interviews is set to go public for the first time this week it was announced on Sunday.A portion of the complete oral history interviews will be released online on 10 August from Stanford University Library s Digital Repository US-based Guneeta Singh Bhalla founder of The 1947 Partition Archive told IANS.Representational image. Getty ImagesBhalla said the remaining collection deemed too delicate or sensitive for open accessibility would be available to researchers and interested parties only by visiting select university libraries in collaboration with the project including Ashoka University University of Delhi and Guru Nanak Dev University in India; and Lahore University of Management Sciences and Habib University in Pakistan.The archive contains more than 4 300 oral history interviews and over 30 000 digital documents and photographs collected from 12 countries in 22 languages making it the largest oral history archive on any topic in South Asia said the founder of The 1947 Partition Archive.It is among one of the largest video based oral history archives in the world. The end goal is to record at least 10 000 oral history interviews from surviving witnesses. We are excited to be releasing this work into the public domain so that it is accessible to all giving each of us an opportunity to discover our rich history for ourselves Bhalla 37 was quoted in an official statement as saying.Stanford University librarian Michael Keller said the project is tremendously important as part of the historical record and to make readily available for deeper discovery and research.The material is of particular interest to Stanford as research efforts are underway at the Center for South Asia and the Handa Centre for Human Rights and International Justice.According to Bhalla this archive is the world s first and the largest attempt at documenting the people s history and memorialising Partition.A pilot adoption of the collection into the three Indian university libraries is being supported by Tata Trusts. The 1947 Partition Archives of oral histories is of particular interest in this 70th year of India s Independence as time erases direct testimonies so vital in firsthand authenticity Tata Trusts arts and culture head Deepika Sorabjee said.Historian Priya Satia of Stanford University said: It s important because for the last 70 years we have been telling the story of Partition through the lens of high-political negotiations among figures like Jinnah Gandhi Nehru Mountbatten. But none of these political elites foresaw the shape that the Partition would take. We can only understand it by looking at the stories of the people who gave it that shape Satia added. Breaking News