Monthly Archives: October 2018
‘Hinduism was a colonial construction to create common market for capitalism’
N. Anjaiah, Director of Centre of Scientific Socialism, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, on Sunday argued that the very idea of Hinduism as a religious faith was a colonial construction that the British floated as part of their bid to create and expand a common market for European capitalists in India. He said that though the word Hindu was found in many texts such as Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, it is nowhere referred to as a religion.
He was delivering the inaugural address at the 100th birth anniversary of Marxist philosopher Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya in the auditorium of Hyderabad Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.
“Different religious groups such as Muslims are clearly defined. But the British defined all those people who were not following any other religions such as Islam, as Hindus. They began to list such people as Hindus in all official records, even right from the first Census of India held in 1872. The effort was clearly intended to project the majority of Indian population as Hindus, their land as Hindustan and their language Hindi and create and expand their market. So much so that even the Constitution too continued the colonial legacy of calling the majority of Indian population having diverse social, cultural and religious traditions, as Hindus. Now, we have reached a point where one who refuses to accept this colonial construction is termed as anti-national,” he said.
Referring to a survey report, he added that of the 85 % of Indian population that was labelled as Hindus, over 61 % follow family deities and over 31% follow clan deities and they have nothing to do with Brahminical Hinduism. He also pointed to the recent movement for religion status to Lingayat, to say that the original independent status of Lingayat that emerged in its fight against Brahminical Hinduism was obliterated during the British period.
Terming the way that the Indian cultural past was divided into three major parts — the Hindu India of ancient time, the middle-age of Muslim India and modern British India, as an oriental perspective, Mr. Anjaiah said that it was also a notion constructed by market-driven colonialism.
“It should be noted here that only the first two parts are made on the basis of religion and the third one was called as modern British India and not Christian India,” he observed.
He stressed on the need to revisit Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya’s works on the philosophical front with a critical outlook to make them more relevant today and use them as instruments to deconstruct colonial notions.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Staff Reporter / Kalaburagi – October 15th, 2018
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ICFA Policy Leadership Award for Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will present the award to Naidu at a function in New Delhi on October 24.
Vijayawada :
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will be honoured with the Policy Leadership Award of the Indian Council of Food and Agriculture (ICFA). Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will present the award to Naidu at a function in New Delhi on October 24. The award jury is headed by Prof MS Swaminathan, Father of Indian Green Revolution.
In a communique to the Chief Minister’s Office, the ICFA said the Agriculture Leadership Award was instituted in 2008 to recognise excellence and leadership role played by individuals and organisations for empowerment of farmers and promotion of rural prosperity.
The ICFA awards are presented in 15 categories, including Policy, Industry, Research, Farming, Development Leadership, Best Agriculture State and Lifetime Achievement. The National Awards Committee has selected Chief Minister Naidu for the Policy Leadership Award in recognition of his vision and endeavour to accelerate growth of agriculture sector and his initiatives for rural prosperity in Andhra Pradesh.
The past recipients of the prestigious award are former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in 2015, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in 2016 and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in 2017.
A great honour
Home Minister Rajnath Singh will present the ICFA award to CM Naidu in Delhi on Oct 24
Past recipients
Former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in 2015
MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in 2016
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in 2017
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service / October 09th, 2018
A.P. mountaineer scales Mt.Kilimanjaro
23-year-old climbs 5,895 metre peak
Ace mountaineer from Ongole, Sk.Himmamsa, turned euphoric as he set foot, holding the national flag, on the Uhuru peak, the highest point in snow-capped Mt. Kilimanjaro, to score a grand treble of summits in quick succession.
It was a dream come true for the 23-year-old as he summited the 5,895 metre Uhuru peak, the highest in the African continent, to achieve a string of triple successes in mountaineering. He scaled Mt. Everest this summer and Mt. Elbrus in Russia last month.
With guides from the Kilimanjaro National Park, Mr. Himmamsa began the trek from Kibo hut (Camp 3) on the midnight of October 3 and reached Uhuru at 7.40 a.m. (local time). “I did it under the most trying situation, with contrasting day and night temperatures,” he said proudly.
He now wishes to summit Aconcagua in South America, Denali in North America, Vinson Massif in Antarctica) and Kosciuszko in Australia.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Ongole – October 08th, 2018
Pootharekulu: The Paperlike Sweet from Andhra
The village of Atreyapuram in the coastal district of East Godavari is an important location on the food map of Andhra Pradesh.
Hyderabad :
The village of Atreyapuram in the coastal district of East Godavari is an important location on the food map of Andhra Pradesh. Its traditional sweet pootharekulu is quite popular in the two Telugu states and is gaining recognition nationally due to its signature looks and taste. The name of the sweet literally means “coating of sheet”. The sweet is wrapped in a wafer-thin rice starch layer resembling paper and is stuffed with sugar, dry fruits and nuts.
The traditional sweet has a history of a few centuries. It is said that a village lady first prepared the sweet by adding sugar and ghee to the leftover rice starch.
The making of the “reku” or sheet is quite interesting and provides livelihood to hundreds of women in Atreyapuram village. A special type of rice batter is used for pootharekulu. The variety of rice locally known as ‘Jaya’ is soaked for a few hours and then ground into a fine batter. An inverted earthen pot is heated before a fine cloth is dipped into the batter and quickly spread of the pot surface. It is taken away in a jiffy leaving a thin film of the starch on the pot.
This forms the paper-thin outer cover of the sweet. The sheet is then taken off and stuffed with powdered sugar, ghee, dry fruits, nuts and other ingredients and finally expertly folded into a roll. There are variations in the sweet where jaggery is used instead of sugar. The village folk of Atreyapuram are experts in making the paper-like sheet and they supply them to sweet manufacturers all over the two Telugu states.
Recently Pootharekulu was in the news, when under the patronage of AP Tourism Development Corporation a group of chefs in Vijayawada prepared a 10.5-metre long version of the dish, catapulting them in the record books. The state of Andhra Pradesh is in the process of applying for Geographic Indication (GI) tag for the sweet. The sweet is extremely popular for festivals, religious occasions and weddings.
In Hyderabad, many sweet shops prepare Pootharekulu. Almond House, the premier dessert manufacturer with multiple outlets have three versions of it – sugar, jaggery and jaggery with dry fruit. The rice paper is obtained from the locals in Athreyapuram as part of the social responsibility of the organization. According to Chaitanya Muppala of Almond House, they get frequent requirements for the paper sweet from outside Hyderabad, too.
Sabyasachi is a food enthusiast and blogs at www.foodaholix.in
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Sabyasachi Roy Chaudhari / Express News Service / October 06th, 2018
Native flavours rule in cookery contest
Delicacies with telagapindi, watermelon seeds draw attention
Talk of recipes of a State and only a few popular ones come to mind immediately. Most of the traditional and authentic dishes that our ancestors tasted are fast disappearing from the dining spaces in modern kitchens.
But the AP Heritage Cookery Contest, being conducted by The Hindu in association with the AP Tourism Department in every part of the State, is bringing to the fore some of the most delicious delicacies that are on the brink of oblivion.
At Kaikaluru, where the competition was held on Saturday, home-makers participated with great enthusiasm showcasing their cooking prowess that reflected in the myriad flavours that enveloped the venue.
Telagapindi-pachchi royyala curry (prawn and sesame seeds powder) emerged the best dish fetching the first place to K. Lakshmi. The first runner-up was U. Satyawathi who dished out ragi thopa, while M. Lakshmi was declared the second runner-up for her putcha ginjala pachchadi (watermelon seeds’ chutney). Other dishes that vied for attention were potato halwa, pachchi royya-kakarakayi (prawn and bittergourd), ravva gulab jamun, nethi (ghee) cake and paakam garelu. Senior Civil Judge Y. Anuradha was the chief guest for the event.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – October 06th, 2018
Differently-abled youth in squad for Special Olympics
Anantapur youth make it to the Indian squad for the Special Olympics
Their determination and achievements dwarf their disabilities with which Balakrishna and Kullaiamma were born. Hailing from remote villages in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, the two have won laurels for the country many times at the Special Olympics.
Four boys and two girls from Anantapur have found a place in the national badminton team to represent India at Andorra Special Olympics to be held this month. Balakrishna and Kullaiamma are part of the team that left for Barcelona on Tuesday, en route to Andorra. The team includes: Shameela Dhanekula, Assefa Pendekanti, Ganesh pasuvula, Sreenivasulu Chakali, Sivaiah Komalli, and Balakrishna Nallabothu.
Player to coach
Daughter of a farm-labourer couple of Kothapalli village, Kullaiamma was born with Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability, short of hearing and visual disability with extreme squint. But has won gold medals in badminton at Los Angeles in 2013 and in Australia in 2015. Unable to afford studies, Kullaiamma began working at a juice centre and took to tailoring to supplement the family income, but the Community-Based Rehabilitation Centre of Rural Development Trust (RDT) at Bathalapalli gave her a new lease of life.
Her talent was spotted by the RDT coaches and she began training in 2011. Today, Kullaiamma has graduated to assistant coach accompanying a six-member badminton team, part of the Indian contingent at the Special Olympics at Andorra and Spain.
Differently-abled Balakrishna (short of hearing and needs trainer to explain in sign language) from Marrireddipalli, is the son of a farm-labourer couple. The shuttler has three gold medals so far in his kitty. Studying at Industrial Training Institute, he wants to make it big in the international badminton arena. Their cradle is the state-of-the-art indoor badminton court at Bathalapalli and stadium at Anantapur which have produced several world-class players. After its inception in 2008, it produced gold medallists in 2009 Athens Special Olympics. Baba Fakruddin won a gold and a silver in athletics, while two girls were also there in the country’s contingent. They were born different but they made a big difference.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Ramesh Susarla / Anantapur – October 04th, 2018