Surendra Tiwari

Hindi story writer and playwright Surendra Tiwari died due to brain haemorrhage on 7 May 2013. He was 64 years of age. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.

About Surendra Tiwari

• Surendra Tiwari wrote and edited 25 books in all.

• He also edited 51 stories of Nobel Prize winners as well as 10 volumes of stories of 251 female storytellers.

• He wrote various plays during his career, which included Deewarein, Ek Aur Raja and Chabutra.

• In 1974, his first story collection called Doosra Footpath, was published.

• In the year 1975, his play called Deewarein was published.

• His renowned novels included Agniparv and Antatah.

• He also served in the Indian Information Service.

• He served in AIR Publications Department as well as Registrar’s Office of the newspapers.

• He was born on 8 October 1948 in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh.

Sarabjit Singh

Sarabjit Singh, the Indian national and a death row prisoner in the Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail died on 2 May 2013 at the Lahore’s Jinnah Hospital in Pakistan. He was on the life-support system since 26 April 2013 after being attacked by the inmates in the jail.

49 years old Sarabjit Singh is an Indian national who was born in Bhikhiwind Province of Punjab and had spent 23 years in Pakistani jail, after being convicted of involvement in the serial bomb blasts of 1990 in Lahore and Faisalabad that killed 14 people. He was arrested from Kasur Border for illegal crossing the border in Pakistan in August 1990. In May 2012, his fifth mercy petition was dismissed.

Sanaullah Ranjay

Sanaullah Ranjay, the Pakistani prisoner who was attacked by a jail inmate in Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu died due to multi-organ failure at the PGI Hospital in Chandigarh on 9 May 2013.
Sanaullah was attacked by a fellow inmate on 3 May 2013 after the death of Sarabjit Singh an Indian Prisoner in Jinnah Hospital Lahore after he was assaulted and attacked by his jail inmates in Kot Lakhpat Jail in Pakistan. Sanaullah was in prison for the past 17 years on militancy related charges.

He was attacked by a former Indian army soldier. Sanuallah was a resident of Sialkot, Pakistan and was serving a life term in India after being convicted under the TADA provisions. He was arrested in 1999.

Asghar Ali Engineer

Asghar Ali Engineer, a noted Islamic scholar died on 14 May 2013 after a prolonged illness in Suburban Santa Cruz, Mumbai. The 73 year old Asghar is survived by his son and a daughter.

About Asghar Ali Engineer

• For communal harmony, he received Dalmia Award in 1990

• He was honoured with three doctorate degrees

• He was the Chairman of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS) founded in 1993 after the 1992 Babri Mosque destruction

• He edited Indian Journal of Secularism

• He also edited a monthly paper named Islam and Modern Age and published Secular Perspective, a fortnight paper

• He received the National Communal Harmony Award in 1997

• `He won the USA Award from the Association for Communal Harmony in Asia in 2003

Steve Miller

Steven Miller, the acting director of the Internal Revenue Service on 15 May 2013 had resigned amid the criticism over the tax agency’s handling of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. The Scandal came into highlight when it was found that officials studying tax exempt status applications singled out groups with names including phrases like Tea Party or Patriots, which could thus be expected to be fiercely opposed to US President Barack Obama. Steven Miller, said in a message to colleagues there was a strong and immediate need to restore public trust in the nation’s tax agency. The scandal has been one of several to enervate the White House in recent days. Analysing the situation President Barack Obama asserted that had reviewed the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report on the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups and found the misconduct uncovered was inexcusable.

Queen Beatrix

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicated the throne in favour of her son Prince Willem-Alexander. She was the queen for the last 33 years. At present, she is 75 years old. Willem-Alexander has now become Netherland’s first king since 1890. Queen Beatrix had announced her decision in January 2013 to step down stating that her son was ready to reign.

Pervez Musharraf

The High Court in the northwestern city of Peshawar on 30 April 2013 imposed a lifetime ban on former President Pervez Musharraf from contesting elections. It was the first time a court in Pakistan had declared a citizen ineligible from contesting elections for life. Musharraf returned in March 2013 after nearly four years of self-imposed exile to contest May 11 general election. The court observed that Musharraf abrogated the Constitution twice.

The first was when he carried out a coup to oust a democratically elected government.The second time when he declared emergency in 2007 and detained 60 judges. Musharraf had filed nominations from four constituencies namely Chitral, Karachi, Kasur and Islamabad.

PK Bansal and Ashwani Kumar

Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Union Law Minister of India Ashwani Kumar submitted their resignation to the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh on 10 May 2013. Railway Minister PK Bansal resigned from his office after a week’s time since his nephew Vijay Singla was arrested for his alleged involvement of bribery of 90 lakh rupees from the Railway Board Member, with a promise of promotion.
Ashwani Kumar the Union Law Minister submitted his resignation after being into attack by the opposition and the CBI affidavit submitted to Supreme Court for vetting up the CBI report in the Coal Block allocation scam.

Raja parvez Ashraf

The former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Raja Pervez Ashraf on 13 May 2013 was barred from Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), of Pakistan from leaving the country over allegation of corruption in setting up the Rental Power Projects. His name has been placed on the Exit Control List.

The immigration authorities and airports of the country were ordered by FIA to ensure that none of the accused in the Power Project Scam case including Raja Parvez Ashraf leaves Pakistan. Earlier, the National Accountability Bureau of Pakistan (anti-corruption agency) has decided to file a case over the Rental Power Projects after the 11 May 2013 polls. The charges against Ashraf dates back to his tenure as the Power Minister of Pakistan.

BOOKS

Understanding Bhagat Singh

Understanding Bhagat Singh a book by Prof. Chamanlal was released in the on 3 May 2013. Professor Randhir Singh, Eminent Thinker released the book at School of Social Sciences (SSS- I) Auditorium, JNU in New Delhi. There exist more than 400 votes on the martyr, Bhagat Singh who lived for just 23 years on this earth. The book Understanding Bhagat Singh has tried to explain the soul or spirit of Bhagat Singh like his principle of achieving objectives with dignity, honesty and fearlessness. Chamanlal is an Indian author and scholar, who is a professor in Hindi translation at centre of Indian languages of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Prof. S. K. Sopory and Sheila Bhallan, JNU economics professor were the Guest of honor on the occasion of the book release.

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia was released in April 2013. The book is written by a Pakistani writer, Mohsin Hamid. His other books include Moth Smoke (2000) and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007). The book is a tale of the man who takes his journey from a poor rural boy to the corporate magnate. The book takes the outline from the self-help business books which are read by youth all across the rising Asia. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is a tale of contemporary life amidst crushing upheaval. The book brings out characters that develop a sense of intimacy amidst shattering changes. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia in published in various languages in different countries. These languages include Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Chinese, Danish, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Malayalam, Marathi, Russian, Spanish and many more. Mohsin Hamid’s first novel, Moth Smoke reached to the final stage of PEN/Hemingway Award, which is given to best first novel in the US. His second novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, became an international bestseller and was shortlisted for Man Booker Prize. This book won various awards which included Anisfield-Wolf Book Award as well as the Asian American Literary Award.

An Ardent Patriot

Hamid Ansari, the Vice President of India on 30 April 2013 released a book titled An Ardent Patriot – Dinesh Goswami, compiled and edited by Kumar Deepak Das, Member of Parliament. The book is compilation of Parliamentary Speeches of veteran parliamentarian from Assam- Dinesh Goswami. The book comprises of the Parliamentary speeches made by him in the Parliament during his tenure of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha from 1971 to 1990. Dinesh Goswami was an eminent political leader from Assam who was a distinguished parliamentarian. Apart from this, he was also a reputed legal luminary, a skilled orator and an ardent champion of public service. His work includes that as the Chairman of the Committee on Electoral reforms in 1990, popularly called the Dinesh Goswami Committee. The Dinesh Goswami Committee played a key role in relevant recommendations on reforms of our electoral system which remain valid even today.

Inferno

Inferno a novel written by Dan Brown in the third week of May 2013 came into attack by the Philippines authorities for its portrayal of Manila as - the gates of hell. In the novel Inferno, Brown has included a character a doctor, who describes Manila as a city of horrible traffic jams, poverty, child sex-trade and crime.

In Inferno, the character described by Dan Brown states I’ve run through the gates of hell about her experiences in Manila. Francis Tolentino, the Chairperson of the metropolitan Manila wrote a letter to Dan Brown and its publishers showcasing his disappointment regarding the inaccurate portrayal of the capital city and defining it for the terrible description of poverty and pollution. Dan Brown is the writer of the famous novel, Da Vinci Code, the book, whose film adaptation was banned from screening in Manila City in 2006 by stating it as an offensive act against Catholic Church.

About Dan Brown

Dan Brown is the author of number one bestselling novels like Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, Angels & Demons, Deception Point and Digital Fortress. Da vinci Code was a novel that created a huge debate among the readers and scholars and renewed the interest of people in Leonardo da Vinci and the early history of Christianity. His novels are published in 52 languages around the world with 200 million copies in print. In 2005, Time Magazine named him among one of the top 100 most influential people in the world.

Fida-e-Lucknow

The Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari released a book entitled Fida-e-Lucknow -Tales of the city and its people on 1 May 2013. The book is authored by Parveen Talha, former Member UPSC. It is important to note that a lot of authors as well as poets have also penned down about Lucknow and its culture. Cultural civilization grew in the city because of its rich tradition and specialty.

Fida-e-Lucknow -Tales of the city and its people is the collection of 22 short stories. It peeps into the flavours and textures of life in Lucknow. The book takes its readers through the history of its Ganga-Jamuni culture and the changes which came over the city and its people in the post-Independence period. The book also describes about the story of Lucknow’s women.

A Leaf Turns Yellow: the Sufis of Awadh

Hamid Ansari, the Vice-President of India on 26 April 2013 released a book entitled A Leaf turns Yellow: the Sufis of Awadh edited by filmmaker and social worker Muzaffar Ali in New Delhi. The book depicts the cultural history of the Awadh in totality and highlights the rural culture of Noth India especially the Awadh in its composite form. The book is researched well and is a thorough account of the Sufism in (erstwhile) Awadh. It has introduced the history, traditions, sub-cultures, poetry and institutions of Awadh. Every Chapter of the Book is in the form of essay and revolves round the expressive traditions and socials backgrounds that are responsible for the way of living and unique thinking in the people of the region.