Home Blog Page 49

Venu ISC – The Poet of Light

Faisal Saleem
-
0
Venu ISC – The Poet of Light

“Cinema is a collaborative art, each and every person has their own role to play so has the cinematographer” – Venu ISC

Venu ISC, born to a middle class family in Trivandrum when the first ever democratically elected communist ministry was formed in Kerala, during the late 1950’s.  His grandfather Sri Karoor Neelakanda Pillai, is one of the well known writer in Malayalam literature and a Sahitya Academy Award laureate. Karoor and Vaikom Muhammad Basheer are considered to be the pre-eminent storytellers in Malayalam literature. His Mother B. Saraswati is also a writer in Malayalam literature. But according to him he was never in to writing or any creative activities till the time he enrolled in FTII Pune. “I was confused after my college, was not sure that I will get admission in film institute, that changed everything for me” Venu said in an interview.

The film culture of Kerala is rooted in the film society movements. Before that the KPAC, Kerala People’s Arts Club movement (theatrical movement) and social and political renaissance of Kerala formed the cultural realm of Kerala. Venu’s generation was the first beneficiaries of all these movements, later by doing the cinematography for John Abraham’s magnum opus ‘Amma Ariyan’ which is considered as one of the best movies made about emergency and a great piece of cinematic art, He paid back. It may be a poetical justice of the history.

The craft of John and visuals of Venu made ‘Amma Ariyan’ a milestone in the Malayalam film history. Amma Ariyan was an experimental film and paved the road for avant-garde film movement in Malayalam. Venu and John followed a documentary style in shooting of Amma Ariyan. They interviewed actual people and politicians. The film portrays journey of ‘Hari’ (the protagonist) so the camera follows him throughout. There was lots of hand held shots, different angles and all neo methods of avant-garde were used in Amma Ariyan.  According to Venu “John can’t just be called a film director; I mean he is not like that. He himself had very clearly said, “I don’t need to make film… I am the film.” My only regret about Amma Ariyan  is that we had the choice of shooting in 16mm colour and 35mm black & white. The 16mm camera available was a 16 BL which I thought would be not work with all the handheld work. So I thought I will use the 35mm… I mean it could have been impossible that I could have been able to take shots like the ones I took, definitely not, Arri IIC is beautifully nice. For handheld work it’s fantastic, really nice – what is it called – ergonomics? It’s foolproof in that you can use one hand… no problem. So finally we had all this talk and John said ok we will do it in black and white, and after that we went to KSFDC and he signed all those things and he said “You know it was my dream to make a colour film…” So that I regret. But now Amma Ariyan  is unthinkable in color, The shooting process did not have any limitations. To me it was a good production. May be it had some limitations when you really think about it, but I never thought that may be if could have a crane I could take a better shot, No way. You know we had a whole unit of stuff, we had lights, we had everything, but they were all lying and we never used them.” There is no wonder that he grabbed his first National Award for Best Cinematographer at the 34th National Awards in 1987 for Amma Ariyan. The award committee cited his work on Amma Ariyan as “For his powerful and disturbing black and white photography”.

Mati Manas (1985)

After graduating from film and television institute of India Pune, he started assisting cinematographers like Shaji N Karun. His first film was of  M. P. Sukumaran Nair’s “Bhavi”. It was a one-hour film, and not a feature film. They shot it on 16mm. The first feature film Venu did as an independent cameraman was, Lenin Rajendran’s ‘Prem Nasirine Kaananilla’ a political satire. His first major work was happened with Mani Kaul. Mani Kaul’s ‘Mati Manas’ a docu-drama about the art of pottery, the film poetically observes the ancient art of pottery and its deep cultural significance. It was the real learning on film making for him; In an Interview Venu remembered working with Mani Kaul as “Till Mani’s film I realized was till then, like most people, thinking that cinematography meant lighting. After doing Mani’s film I realized that lighting is just a part of it and there are a lot of other factors to it. I think one major mistake is, I don’t know about other film schools but I can say about my experience, that about 90% emphasis was on light which is quite wrong because I think a lot of things have to click and jell or else your lighting has no value. So you have to learn to look at other factors like lensing, choreography or what one calls framing…When I was a student I always thought of a frame as one where you have a tree on your left and a face on your right. Well, I didn’t know what the difference between still photography and static cinematography was. I think if you look at a cinematographer’s job, lighting is not an unimportant part. It’s a major part but it’s only one portion and it’s has to be assimilated with lots of other things. I didn’t know lensing existed before I did Mani’s film ‘Mati Manas’. I thought before that lensing was used for image magnification or reduction. Now these things are difficult to explain but I think I know it’s important. I don’t know the right word but there is something called ‘dynamism’ of lenses. I am very bad at expressing theory!”

Namukk Parkkan Munithiri Thoppukal (1986)

During his career as a cinematographer he did more than 75 films in various languages including, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, English, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. He won three National Film Awards and three Kerala State Film Awards for Best Cinematography. He is one of the leading cinematographer of the country and he worked with eminent film personalities of the country like, Mani Kaul, MT Vasudevan Nair, Bharatan, Padmarajan, Bhuddadeb Dasgupta, Aravindan and Pamela Rooks.

Amma Ariyan (1986)

His association with Padmarajan was not just a director-cinematographer relation, they are good friends and that friendship resulted in their movies. Padmarajan’s almost all movie’s camera was done  by Venu. Venu’s first national award in 1987 was for his two movies one was Amma Ariyan and the second was Padmarajan’s ‘Namukk Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal’. The award jury commented his work on Namukk Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal as, “For the lyrical and brilliant visual presentation”.  The film became a cult in Malayalam film history and Venu’s visuals were appreciated among cinephiles in Malayalam. In an interview he talked about his association with Padmarajan as, “I think Padmarajan is one of the most underestimated filmmakers we have. I personally believe that his films are far, far better than the so-called better films”. Last film of Padmarajan ‘Njan Ghandarvan’ was a fantasy genre movie treated in a magical realism way. Venu as a great admirer of Latin American writer Gabriel Garcia Marques, got to do a fantasy genre film with Padmarajan was a great combination. The famous ‘Butterfly shots’ in this film was achieved without any special effects and Venu talks about this scene as “There was this fantastic guy who could do these things and I just had to shoot it…So to make it like a little less obvious, I had used diffusion on the lens and smoke and all that, and I lit it accordingly. There must have been a 100 strings around… And even the fireflies, they were all LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). There was not a single shot that was optically done in the lab…That is one film I regret actually for its failure.”

Venu grabbed his second silver lotus, National Film Award for his work in Pamela Rooks’s ‘Miss Beatty’s Children’, the film and Venu’s work were critically acclaimed. The story of the film sets in a 1936 South Indian village. To get that period in camera he used lighting and color palette accordingly. He didn’t use the mix lighting instead use tungsten lights more. The national award committee cited his work for ‘Miss Beatty’s Children’ as “For his masterly, unobstrusive and technically excellent camera work.”

Venu’s third national award for best cinematography happened in 1994 at the 41st national film awards, through T V Chandran’s ‘Ponthan Mada’ which is the only Malayalam film in which Nasirudheen Shah acted. Ponthan Mada set in the British era of a Kerala village, where a Dalit worker and a British man become friends. This is one of the rare films that portray the life of a Dalit in Malayalam Cinema. Venu’s brilliant frames in the movie acclaimed in various stages and National film award jury cited his work on Ponthanmada as, “For the masterly use of camera, in order to capture the feel of the background, setting, atmosphere of the subject and making use of striking visuals to communicate the theme.”

What is good a cinematographic work? In an interview Venu answered this question as, “Good Work! It would be good concepts in scripting and filming… only that will work. Nothing else! Cinematographers have no chance without it.” He takes the same question in another interview and adds, “…not just beautiful frame can be considered as good cinematography work, whatever the film demands giving that mood, color, and frames is a good cinematographic work”. He adds, “…you can’t do brilliant cinematography in a not brilliant or bad movie, there will be no sync.”

Ponthanmada (1994)

Venu belongs to the pre-digital era of cinematography he learned and worked extensively on celluloid camera, he prefers cameras of ARRI, stock of EASTMAN and Prasad lab for processing. He uses filters like, ‘Polariser’ and ‘SFX’. Later after the dominance of digital cameras in the industry he turned to the digital as well, his last movie ‘Carbon’ was shot on ARRI Alexa and ARRI Alexa Mini. He uses other equipment like, steady cam etc. if the mood of the film demands. According to Venu, “Steadicam is a very nice piece of equipment but it is only a piece of equipment.” He doesn’t believe in the ‘Post-Gimmicks’ like CG or special effects, he wants to physically shoot whatever the script demands.

Venu was one of the founding members of ISC, Indian Society of Cinematographers, the first ever union of cinematographers in India. According to the official website of ISC, “Indian Society of Cinematographers is a creative congregation of similar minds to foster the art of cinematography and to struggle for the authorship rights of cinematographers. We are a creative collaboration, fostering the artistic discoveries of each members and the whole group as one entity. We at ISC believe that cinema will be the prime cultural force in the next millennium, unifying the world. Yes, “Cinema is love 24 per second”. We also want you to be aware of the new philosophy of ‘Imagology’. It will be IMAGES that which is going to shape our civilization of tomorrow.”

Carbon (2018)

Venu’s first directorial debut was M T Vasudevan Nair written, ‘Daya’ in 1998 he himself shoot the film. He grabbed the Best Debutant Director award in Kerala state film awards. His second Directorial venture happened after 16 years in 2014 ‘Munnariyipp’ which was critically and commercially successful. His latest movie Carbon released this year(2018), cinematographer K U Mohanan did the camera for ‘Carbon’. Carbon is fantasy adventure movie.

Venu married to famous Indian film editor Beena Paul and he settled in Trivandrum, Kerala. His filmography is very rich and wide like the number of films he did and he worked with many legends in Indian film history. His works and recognition as a cinematographer is a great chapter in Indian motion picture history.

He is a legend, He is truly a poet of light..!

References

  • Venu and Jhon Abraham on one of the location of ‘Amma Ariyan

Evolution of Hindustani Music; Patron and Patronage

Ihsanul Ihthisam
-
0
Evolution of Hindustani Music; Patron and Patronage

The nation got divided in 1947. Many of the musicians and music families got displaced between two nations. The Hindostani Films narrowed down the frontiers. Muhammed Rafi, Mannade, Kundan Lal Saigal, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, Hemanth Kumar, Thalat Mahmood, Ustad Mehdi Hassan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Saheb, Noor Jahan, Shamshad Beegum, Surayya, Beegum Akthar, Neyyar, Neyyara Noor, Iqbal Bano, Faritha Khanam, Sabri Brothers, Lata Mangeshkar, etal conceived the Hindustani music in their own perceptions within the limit of films and diffused among people.

Once Miyan Tansen was asked by Akbar to take him to meet Tansen’s Guru for listening his music. Tansen took Akbar to his teacher, Swami Haridas. After intense waiting of three long days, the Guru created a magic of  mesmerizing music infront of Tansen and Emperor Akbar who disguised himself. Days after returning from Guru’s residence, Akbar asked Tansen to sing a song that reminds him of the Guru. However, dissatisfied with the song, the King shared his concern with the gifted singer. The way Tansen replied to Emperor Akbar was quite interesting. “O Lord! What comes out of my heart is all for the King of Hind, but my Guru sings for the King of Universe (1). Thus one can conclude that Music is influenced by both patronage and the audience.

Music, like all other creations of God, is one of the specimens of his creativity. God asked the spirit to move into the body of Adam, which he had created from the Earth. The spirit after getting inside the body complained about how dark it is and how impossible is to live in it. God then adorned the body with lights and the spirit got in.It complained then about the absence of a soothing thing that could keep it in the body. It is then God created the music. Thus lost in the magic of music, spirit then rested in the Earthern  cage of Adam. Sufis of East has noted about this (2). Reciting Quran while mourning the dead among Muslims can be taken as a resembling practice of deporting the spirit out of the body.

Fragment of stone carved relief with musicians playing music of gods. 12th century South Indian temple. Halebidu heritage, India.

According to Hindu mythology, Music is the divine knowledge that Shiva passed to Narada, Narada  to Gandarvas, Gandarvas passed to Apsaras, Apsaras to Kinnaras and finally to humans.But in Persian mythology, Moses by the order of God taps on a rock which got split into seven pieces, further originated  into seven springs, and this revealed the secret of seven surs to the mankind. David and his music which is mentioned in the Holy Bible can be read in this context.

Music did exist in its initial form in India , long before man began his settled life. The musical instruments found in the sites of Harappan civilization are better evidences to substantiate the same. The Indian musical legacy which evolved through Keerthanas, Samaganas, Vachanas, Bhajans, Buddha-Jaina Mantras and Sopansangeeth got branched into two main classifications by the influence of Persian rule(Mughal-Sulthanate). The branch of music which was untouched by the Persian influence developed under the patronage of South Indian kingdoms (Bijapur, Vijayanagara) got renowned as Carnatic music/South Indian musical tradition. And the other branch which was influenced by the Persian musical culture, under the Mughal patronage came to be known as the famous Hindostani music/ north Indian musical tradition (3).

Initially, Darghas, Temples, Royal Courts, Buddha-Jain viharas, Sikh Gurudwaras and Sufi- Bhakti followers were the main patrons of music. However, after the Mughal and Sultanate period, the petty-native rulers/ kingdoms took it up (it was in this patron-client relationship the Indian musical project excelled and assimilated). In this period, Gharana tradition came into the scene and was coined from the root word ‘Ghar’ in hindi which means Home. The musicians of respected Gharanas practiced and propagated new styles of singing  (Gayana customs) according to (North Indian ) spatial and patronal features. This diverse branches of Gharanas were preserved by  contomparary native rulers, musicians and their family chains (khandan). 

Gharanas influenced the ideologies, thoughts, way of practice and performance of music. Gwalior Gharana (Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, Pandit Omkarand Takur) Kirana Gharana (Abdul Karim Khan, Begum Akthar, BimSen Joshi, Prabha Athre), Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana (Ghulam Ahamed ‘Allah Diya’ Khan, Mallikarjun Manzoor, Kishori Amonkal), Agra Gharana( Haji Sujan Khan, Faiyyaz Khan) Patiala Gharana (Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Bade Fateh Ali Khan, Ghulam Ali, Kaushika Chakraborty), Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana (Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan, Ustad Rashid Khan) Mewati Gharana ( Gagge Naseer Khan, Pandit Maniram Ji, Jasraj Singh) Bandi-Bazar Gharana (Ustad Aman Ali Khan, Farukh Ali Chand) Sham-Chaurasya Gharana (Salamat Ali Khan, Nazaqat Ali Khan, Shafaqat Ali Khan) , Qawwal-Bachhon-Ki Gharana (Ustad Tanras Khan, Munshi Raziuddin r.a, Farid Ayaz) etal are major Gayaki Gharanas.

Maihar Gharana (Ustad Alauddin Khan, Tariq Ali Khan, Anapoorna Devi, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Anoushka Shankar, Ashish Khan, Hatiprasad Chaurasya, Neeladri Kumar) are for Sitar and Sarod, Punjabi Gharana (Ustad Allah Rakha Khan, Zakir Husain) is renowned for Tabla  Gharanas.

During thirteenth century, when Alaudhin khilji marched to western India ,and a group of low caste Hindus in the opposition accepted Islam for the hands  of the -writer, sufi saint and musician- Amir Khusru who then  given them  the Permission/Ijasa  to practice and lead musical life instead of  Military profession. Today they are . known  as ‘Mirasis'( The word originates from  Arabic language which means Hereditary) who did  spread over the areas of Delhi, UP, Rajastan , Bihar and Haryana by giving life to music.(4)

The musical families were the only patrons of music when it was in crossroad. Similarly the Maihar musical family that was found by Ustad Allaudhin Khan and exists through Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan and their offsprings, Ustad Zia Muhiudin Dagar family who traditionally peserve and practice Rudra Veena and Drupad style, Kalawant Family which gave birth to Ghazal, Maestro, Ustad Mehdi Hassan Saheb (Kalawant was a special status assigned to Moghul Court singers ) his disciples like Tari Khan, Talat Aziz, Hariharan and Ali Khan family of Pakistan are still living examples.

By the end of the former half of the twentieth century, kingly states doomed and spatio temporal surroundings were transformed to democracy. This was a period of hardship  for music, musicians and their families. During this bleak situation, AIR(All India Radio) and the Film Industry lend a helping hand to them and democratized music. AIR gave jobs and opportunities and helped in reinstating the normal lives of musicians and their music. To appear for a programme in AIR and keeping a board naming “ AIR ARTIST” became  a dream and reason of pride for many, as Sitar Sarod Maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan says in an interview.(5)  The morning musical concerts in AIR were listened by people from all doors of the society and Indian music got inevitable place in popular mind.

The nation got divided in 1947. Many of the musicians and music families got displaced between two nations. The Hindostani Films narrowed down the frontiers. Muhammed Rafi, Mannade, Kundan Lal Saigal, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, Hemanth Kumar, Thalat Mahmood, Ustad Mehdi Hassan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Saheb, Noor Jahan, Shamshad Beegum, Surayya, Beegum Akthar, Neyyar, Neyyara Noor, Iqbal Bano, Faritha Khanam, Sabri Brothers, Lata Mangeshkar, etal conceived the Hindustani music in their own perceptions within the limit of films and diffused among people. When Allah Jilayi Bhai, Mehdi Ustad and Farid Ayaz sang “Padharo mahre desh re” ( We welcome you heartily to our country) (6), They transcended the boundaries and took people to a land beyond the concept of India and Pakistan.

It could be seen that the changes in the pattern and patronage of music  transformed  the language used in  music. Sanskrit was the official medium of Indian music, or it was a mix of Sanskrit and the colloquial languages, before the influence of Persian Music. Same was the condition with all the musical texts of that time. This includes Bharata Muni’s Natya Shastra, Dattila Muni’s Dattilam and Matangan’s BrahaDesi.

Music (Gayan) was considered as one of the factors of the triads “ Gayan- Vadyan – Nritya” of Natyakala. Sangeetharatnakara of Sharankara Deva gave music its own identity for the first time. The then change in language of music happened in Sultanate period. The common tongues like Urdu, Braj, Khadi Boli, Hindustani- Hindvi and foreign languages like Turkish, Arabic and Persian were used by Hazrat Amir Khusru made the  Hindostani music diverse. The tributary Gayana forms of Hindostani music like Khayal, Tarana, Ghazal and Qawwali were the contributions of Amir Khusru. The Indo- Persian musical instruments like Sitar which was made by combining Satar and Rudra Veena, and Tabla from Pakvaj were designed by him.

Qawwal Ustad Aziz Mian says “ Qawwali performances were earlier known as Mehfil- e – sama”( Listening Congregation). One day Ustad Baba Faridudhin Ghanj Shakar visited his mureed ( disciple) Nizamuddin Auliya . Nizamudhin Auliya quickly called for a Mehfil- e – sama. Ustad instructed to start’s sama with a ‘qaul’ (which contain the sayings of the prophet). When nobody start singing even after having instruments at hand , Ustad signalled Amir Khusru with a Ishara ( gesture). “Dara dil dara dil dhardani … ham tum tana nane tane tanaare …ya lali ya lali yalalalare …” Amir Khusru sang this Tarana in a way that was never heard before and  Auliya who liked this new form of singing named it Qawwali and appointed Khusru to flourish it. Under this approval and grace, Khusru taught his twelve disciples and They were known as “Qawwal Bachon” and later  followed   It into shape Qawwal bachon ki Gharana, and even  the origin of Dilli Gharana  is from this. Today, from Tanraz Khan, Miraj Ahmed Nizami, Aziz warsi, Munshi RaziUddin, Ustad Farid Ayaz, Abu Muhammed to Chand Nizami, Qawwal bachon ki Gharana Gharana has a legacy of 800 years.

Centre of Qawwalis were Dargas, where people from different spheres of life can meet, thus makng it accessible and enjoyable to a wider section. But the Ghazals were confined to palaces and darbars. Ghazals are Urdu- Persian poetic pieces which delivers independent meaning in each couplets. Ghazal singers, through their music, deciphered  the secrets hidden in the written pieces of Mirza Ghalib, Dag- Dehlavi, Mir Taqi Mir, Bahadur Shah Zafar. Later it was fulfilled by singers like Rafi sahib ( Muhammad Rafi), Talat Mahmood, Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali, Mehdi Hassan Saheb.

Hindustani music became more academic during Mughal Era with translations, literary works, compilations etc, especially during the reign of Shah Jahan and Aurengazeb. The Drupad compilations of Nayak Bhakshu called ‘Sahasras’, the collection of Biographies  of preceded  and contemporary musicians by Inayak Khan called ‘Risalaye -Zikre- Mughanniyan-e- Hindustan’,  ‘Ghunyathul Munya’ written in Persian,  ‘Jawahirul Musiqat-e- Muhammadii’ by Sheikh Abdul Karim the ‘Miftah-ul-sarud’ by Khasi Hassan translated from Sanskrit , Faiz Khan Fakkirullah’s ‘Raag Darpan’, Ahobala’s ‘Sangeet Parijatha’s translation by Mirsa Roshan Samir called ‘Tharjumane Kitab-e -Parijathaka’ are some of  them.

V D Paluskar

The beginning of the twentieth century saw music becoming a part of the academic curriculum. The contributions of Vishnu Narayan Bhadkante and Vishnu Digambar Paluskar are commendable here. The first Sangeet Academy of Paluskar at Lahore – Gandharva Sangeeta Maha Vidyalaya is one of the biggest musical academic centre in the sub continent. Ragas were codified as “ Dhats” and a standardized profile was given to the various musical components by Vishnu Narayan Bhadkante who also made it an academic curriculum in nature.

Now, Musical education, it’s listening and patronage has changed a  lot in form and manner. The position and fame of songs and singers gets determined by the number of viewers and likes he gets in social media. Yet the Music and musicians appreciated through the shows like Idea Jalsa, HCL Concerts, Coke Studio are more of hope than that of disappointment.

Reference

1. Romance of The Raga- Vijaya Murthy; Alaap, A Discovery of Indian Music – Times Music

2. Qanoon-e-Islam (Customs of the Moosulmans of India) – Jaffur Shurreef

3. The Emergence of The Hindustani Tradition; Music, Dance and Drama in North India, 13th -19th century – Madhu Trivedi 

4. Encyclopedia of the World Muslims; Tribes, Castes and Communities, Volume I – Nagendra Singh, Abdul Ma’bud Khan; Mirasis; some thoughts on Hereditary Musicians in Hindustani Music – Adrian Macneil   

5. Indian Classical Music in search of Patrons – Asian Age

6. Sufi Music of India and Pakistan – Regula Qureshi

Trump expected to tout North Korea progress, but concrete moves lacking

The Compass
-
0
Trump expected to tout North Korea progress, but concrete moves lacking

UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A year after Donald Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea in his first speech at the United Nations, the U.S. president will return to the podium in New York this week to tout diplomatic efforts that have reduced the risk of war.

But even if Trump’s rhetoric at the annual United Nations General Assembly is expected to differ sharply from his 2017 address in which he mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as “Rocket Man” on a “suicide mission,” some U.S. officials and analysts say Pyongyang has yet to take concrete measures to show it is prepared to give up a nuclear arsenal that threatens the United States.

The change of mood was sealed when Trump and Kim met for an unprecedented summit on June 12 in Singapore, and in the past week, the North Korean leader promised South Korean President Moon Jae-in to dismantle a missile site and also a nuclear complex – if the United States takes “corresponding action.”

While appearing to set a positive tone, the commitments fell far short of Washington’s demands for a complete inventory of North Korea’s weapons programs and irreversible steps towards denuclearization.

Trump is to meet Moon on Monday to get a first-hand account of the Korean summit before delivering his U.N. address on Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, has proposed a meeting with his North Korean counterpart, Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, and plans to chair a Security Council meeting on the denuclearization effort on Thursday.

Trump called last week’s joint declaration by Moon and Kim “very exciting” and has previously said he is willing to meet Kim a second time, in spite of a lack of obvious progress from their first meeting in Singapore.

One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the worry was Trump might offer Kim “too much too soon” to score a win ahead of the Nov. 6 congressional elections, which will decide whether Trump’s Republican Party maintains control of Congress.

Reuters

France ‘did not choose Reliance in any way’: Hollande

The Compass
-
0
France ‘did not choose Reliance in any way’: Hollande

Montreal, Canada: Former French president Francois Hollande said that France did not choose to partner with Indian businessman Anil Ambani’s company in “any way” and added that only Dassault can comment on the Rafale fighter jet deal.

Hollande was responding to a question by the French news agency on the sidelines of an event in Canada on Friday.

“That is why, moreover, this group (Reliance) did not have to give me any thanks for anything,” the former French president added.

In an article published by French journal Mediapart, Hollande to a question about who selected Reliance as a partner and why, said it was the Indian government that proposed Reliance’s name and Dassault had no choice but to take the company given to it.

“We did not have a say in that. The Indian government proposed this service group, and Dassault negotiated with Ambani. We did not have a choice, we took the interlocutor we were given,” said Hollande. The interview was published in French and excerpts of Hollande’s interview were tweeted by French newspaper LeMonde’s journalist Julien Boissou.

His reported statement contradicts Indian government’s claim that the agreement between Dassault and Reliance was a commercial pact between two private parties and the government had nothing to do with it.

ANI

Financial constraints and rise in cesarean deliveries push poor women in Delhi to give birth at home

Intifada P Basheer
-
0
Financial constraints and rise in cesarean deliveries push poor women in Delhi to give birth at home

Delhi: A tiny maternity clinic in Zakir Nagar, is packed with women. With all the waiting chairs occupied, the men accompanying the women, stand up and make space for other women. One of them, Poonam Gujjar, is talking with the receptionist after her appointment with the local gynecologist. Gujjar is currently six months pregnant with her second child. Coming all the way from Govind Puri, Gujjar prefers to have her checkup here in this clinic instead of going to any government or private hospital. Her reason- the doctor here promises a normal delivery just like she did with Gujjar’s first daughter.

“I went to a hospital for my first delivery, but in the beginning itself, that doctor said you have this problem, that problem etc.  Even if I had a swelling in my leg, she used to exaggerate it. She said it will have to be a cesarean delivery”, says Gujjar.

She also says that it came to a point where they started troubling her with what kind of room she would take, a deluxe room or a normal room and so on, when all she wanted was to deliver her baby. “I couldn’t afford all that. That’s why I left that hospital and came to this clinic here. My daughter was born through a normal delivery”, says Gujjar.

However, not all women are as lucky as Gujjar. The rise in cesarean deliveries in India is tremendous. According to the fourth National Family Health Survey (2015-2016), 17.2% of registered births in India, took place through cesarean section. This is twice compared to the previous National Family Health Survey (2005-2006), where the percentage was almost half at 8.5%.

Even though the numbers are higher in urban areas than compared to rural areas, it is the poor who are getting more affected. While under the Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram scheme, a normal delivery or a cesarean delivery has to be free of cost in government hospitals throughout India, the NITI Ayog’s Healthy States Progressive Report tells another story. The out of pocket expenditure per delivery in a public health facility in the national capital costs 8719 rupees. And so, unable to afford such exorbitant prices, these days many women are going back to home deliveries.

For instance, Neetu Devi (30), a domestic help in Okhla says that she gave birth to all her three children at home. “We are poor and we were scared of going to the hospital. In the hospitals they just end up operating on you. There’s also the risk of children getting switched, so that’s why we chose to have our children delivered in our home itself, with the help of a dai (midwife). They were all born sound and healthy and did not fall prey to any disease as soon as they were born.” Neetu says its common in households like hers for women to deliver at home without going to a hospital. “Even my elder sister Mala (35) and my sister-in-law gave birth to all their children at home through a midwife”, she says.

Also, it is interesting to note that, despite daily advancement in technology, more and more women are preferring to deliver their children, the old way, i.e. at home. Renu (40), who has been working as a midwife for the past 15 years says that there has been a steady rise in people opting to deliver at home. “These days the doctors charge for everything. Right from taking a scan to see if the child is in the correct position or not, to delivering the child. Those who have money they can afford all this, those “who don’t, they prefer to deliver at home”, she says. “I have delivered 20-25 children in the last 15 years, and all of them were born healthy”, she says. 

However, not all such home deliveries are safe or successful. 

Slutana Begum, who also chose to deliver at home lost her son in 2005. While her first two children were born and delivered safely by a midwife, her third child died soon after being born. “Everyone at our place delivered at home and so did I, but something went wrong and my son died within a week after he was born”, she says. 

Such tragedies are bound to occur while giving birth at home, claims gynecologist, Dr. Charu Latha. “Many problems and complications can arise both in the mother as well as the child. Fetal problems like malformation in the babies and big size babies can occur while the mother may miss out on being diagnosed for anemia, pre-eclampsia and diabetes. Even multiple pregnancies and various conditions of the heart could be missed,” she says.

With the persisting exorbitantly high out of pocket expenditure figures in public health facilities, and the outrageous cost of delivering a child in private hospitals, one can expect this trend of the poor reverting to delivering at home to continue.  

Imran Khan withdraws Censorship from State Run Media in Pakistan

Intifada P Basheer
-
0
Imran Khan withdraws Censorship from State Run Media in Pakistan

Recently Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party announced the removal of state censorship on all state run media outlets. Pakistan’s Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain took to twitter to announce the newly elected government’s move to grant “complete editorial independence” to PTV and Radio Pakistan.

“As per vision of @ImranKhanPTI Ended political censorship on PTV, clear instructions issued for a complete editorial independence on PTV and Radio Pakistan, drastic changes ll be visible in Information Dept in coming 3 months Inshallah”, the tweet read.

While it is still unclear as to how effective this move would be in practice, it is still a giant leap for Pakistan which occupies the 139th spot in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index Report, just one spot below India.

In his inaugural address, Imran Khan had said that it was high time to change Pakistan’s destiny, with a need for “peace in the region”. Khan also mentioned the need to address a range of issues from corruption to numerous institutional reforms to “improve Pakistan’s situation”, and this move to lift censorship is one of the earliest announcements.

Pakistan Information minister, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain also asked the Information Ministry to “play a proactive role in promoting a positive image of Pakistan globally and directed concerned organisations to make earnest efforts to generate revenue by improving their programming and content”.

As many would compare this move to be in stark contrast with the latest developments in India, especially after the Indian Government revoked the security clearance of Aljazeera, many in Pakistan would agree that it is too early to celebrate and only time will tell as Khan’s first 100 days will be heavily scrutinised.

1...474849Page 49 of 49
© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv