THE UNSUNG MUGHAL HERO

By Arun B Chandran

I came across an often forgotten story from the annals of Indian History, which touched my heart and soaked my eyes and I would like to share it with you. The human emotions that are depicted in the story, like jealousy, thirst for power, opportunism etc. still holds good in our society. It also underlines the statement that ‘History is written by the victors’. It forces us to rethink on our perceptions about many historical personalities. I also wonder why this story has not caught the imagination of our major writers and film makers. I also hope to call their attention to this chapter of history through spreading it through this post.

                            Origins of this story can be traced to the times of the Great Mughal emperor Akbar. Towards the end of his reign Akbar was deeply concerned about his successor because two of his three sons died of addiction to alcohol and opium. His 3^rd son Salim(later known as Jahangir), was also addicted to these and was notorious for his mood swings. Several revolts lead by him also angered Akbar. Akbar’s mind turned to the young son of Jahangir – Khusrau, the hero of our story. Khusrau was equally loved by the courtiers and the clergy. He had an admirable personality, was efficient, talented and brave and was a brilliant commander. With time, he became the favorite prince of the countrymen.

The 'BLOODY' Mughal Throne

                       

                   The time just prior to Akbar’s death (1604-1605) saw a lot of political struggles inside the palace between Jahangir faction and Khusrau faction. It was so intense that Rajput princess ManBhai(Jahangir’s wife and Khusrau’s mother) committed suicide. Though Khusrau was favored by many influential nobles like Man Singh, the Jahangir factions led by Akbar’s senior wives were successful in influencing the senior umra on a decisive meeting. Thus, Jahangir came to throne.

                        Khurram was in house arrest after Jahangir’s ascendance, and only his wife, the daughter of Aziz khan Koka was allowed to meet him. During this period Jahangir tried to spread false allegations about his son, but his popularity did not decrease.

                        Meanwhile, Khurram escaped with a small band of his loyal soldiers and went to Lahore where he tried to raise an army. But, Jahangir was quick to react for the first time and perhaps for the only time as he send a big army under the able Dilwar Khan to fight Khusru. Khusru had to fight with a small army and was subsequently captured.

                        Khusru’s popularity was still so high that killing him would evoke anger among the masses. This was adviced to Jahangir, even by Khusru’s strongest critics. After capturing, Jahangir treated Khusru very cruelly. He was dragged between the cries of his soldiers whose skins were peeled off. Khusru was blinded by inserting a wire in to his eyes!

                        Later, Jahangir too felt affection for his son and tried to regain his vision but it was of little use. But, he was still afraid of Khusru’s popularity and used to tie or imprison Khusru when he moves out of the palace. Khusru’s wife was allowed to do anything freely due to Khusru’s ailing condition, but she stayed with him and gave him all support she could.

                        In 1615, Nur Jahan, Jahangir’s wife and the real head of Mughal Empire then, again looked to the still popular Khusru to oppose the rising status of Prince Khurram(later known as Shah Jahan). Shah Jahan was the son of Jahangir, but was born to his another wife. To continue her dominance, Nur Jahan asked Khusru to marry her daughter Ladli Beegum. Khusru knew that this was his ticket to get everything that he lost. If he marries her, he could eventually become the Mughal Emperor. He also knew that refusing it was the end of even all the little status that he enjoys now. But, he refused it, even after repeated attempts of persuasion by Nur Jahan and her brother Asaf Khan, who was a powerful noble then. For Khusru, his wife was his only love. She was the only one who supported him during all his bad times and he could not think of anybody else as his wife. It may be noted that this was a time when polygamy was very common and even kings of small kingdoms had large harems.

                        Later in 1617, Shah Jahan requested Jahangir to send Khusru to Deccan to assist him for a political mission there. But, his real intention was to not to allow Khusru to be at the Palace or capital as he knew that Khusru can be a threat to his ascendence to the Mughal throne.

                        In 1622 the conspiracy to kill Khusru was fully planned. A slave of Shah Jahan-RazaBahadur, asked permission to enter Khusru’s chamber at mid night. Khusru felt awkwardness in this and he refused permission. But,Raza forcefully entered the chamber and attacked Khusru. Khusru, inspite of his blindness fought him bravely and shouted at his soldiers to come, who did not come. After killing him, he was arranged well in the bed to make it feel as a natural death. Nobody appeared to know about Khusru’s death until his wife’s cries told them.

                        Shah Jahan reported that Khusru’s death was a natural one and so was the official statement. But, people knew that their favorite prince was murdered and sentiments in his support came from far extremes of the Empire like Gujarat and Lahore.

Khusru's Tomb

                        Khusru’s story forces us to rethink on our perceived images of the historical personalities.

Jahangir- a person notorious of his mood shifts and useless after thoughts (showing lack of vision) is known as “Great” Mugahal. The Mughal Empire decreased during his time and the practice when the wives and their relatives became the real head also started during his time. If Jahangir was “GREAT”, WHAT WAS KHUSRU?

Shah Jahan, who conspired to kill Khusru is known as a “Great Lover”, as he made the beautiful Taj Mahal fulfilling his wife’s last wish, which also banned him to marry any more. But, Shah Jahn had relations with many women till his death. But the love between Khusru and his wife is more pious. His wife thought that she married a future Emperor but stood selflessly with him during his periods of difficulties. Khusru also was completely loyal to his love. This can be observed when he refused to marry anyone else even when all the prosperity was offered to him against it. If Shah Jahan was a “GREAT LOVER”, WHO WAS KHUSRU?

                        It may also be added that fate struck both Jahangir and Shah Jahan cruelly, later in their life, as both of them had to suffer from the hands of their own sons.

                        We also need why a brave commander, admiring personality and a popular hero does not get a space of more than a paragraph in our common history text books, in spite of all his heroics. History should not be just about the chronology of kings and their achievements; it should move forward to look at things from people’s eyes to learn more about personalities like Khusru.

THE GO GREEN MOVEMENT

                                       BY Ravin Chandra

With the advancement of time, we experience swifter and safer journeys, new technology, comforts and luxuries of yesterday transforming to today’s necessities etc... But are we missing something in this rapid development drive? I think we do. I honestly believe it’s important to pursue with the idea of ‘sustainable development’; not forgetting the comforts of nature and its gifts in the form of flora and fauna.

We, humans have been gifted with a green and pure environment, with which we stay healthy and fit. If we analyze, we will find that, Global Warming poses many health problems. We must mingle with nature and must protect it; by this I never mean we should be cavemen and live in a jungle. Even if one lives in the 100^th floor, he/she can still have a green thumb.

This surge of technological advancement demands a basic need for the operation of machines, lighting the buildings, powering transportation etc... Yes! We need Energy. More specifically, ‘Green Energy’ is what we need, in this era.

I think it might be wiser, if I put forward the concept of Green Energy with the help of a movement, shortly opening its services. While browsing the internet about Green Energy, I came across The Go Green Movement   , an initiative by Mr. Marc Jones. I contacted Mr. Jones, who was glad to share with me, the implication of his work.

MARC JONES SPEAKS ABOUT HIS INITIATIVE.....

The Green Vision Plan

 The Go Green Movement is a non-profit organization on a mission to help...

 Save our world by doing everything in our power to reverse the effects of global warming, to prevent future and expose current man-made pollutions, to preserve life on our planet, and the life of our planet as well. 

 Educate the world, while being educated by the world on how we can build a smarter, cleaner, and greener tomorrow together. 

 Evolutionize the green industry into The Peoples Industry by assisting our members with creating green jobs for themselves and others; thereby helping to solve our energy crisis and other environmental problems, while providing job opportunities for everyday people. And last but not least...

 Revitalize the only city in the world that's currently capable of serving as the hub of The Peoples Industry, Detroit Michigan.

                                 The Stage Is Set

  The stage is already set for Detroit to become The Green Capital of The World. As of right now, there's no other city in the world that's more ready and willing to serve as the hub of The Peoples Industry as we are here in The Motor City.

•  There's no secret that Detroit has an abundance of available factories that are just waiting to be retro-fitted, re-tooled, and re-opened to produce the green products and create the green jobs that are vital to building a smarter, cleaner, and greener tomorrow. Thereby positioning Detroit to spearhead The Peoples Industry the same way we have done and continue to do with several of the world's greatest industries. 
•  The whole world can see that our city has a vast array of available properties with structures that are capable of being retro-fitted to serve a more eco and economic friendly purpose (e.g. generating our own energy via. wind, solar, and/or geothermal). That coupled with the fact that we're surrounded by over 20% of the world's fresh water, and we also possess plenty of fertile land, there's no question that Detroit is ready to become the city that will set the standard for other cities to follow in order to serve a more smart, clean, and green purpose in our world.
•  And most importantly, Detroit has the greatest resource of them all...a skilled workforce who are more than ready and willing to once again exercise our expertise in manufacturing, the arts, the sciences, entrepreneurship etc...Along with help from the rest of the world working towards achieving the common goal of saving our planet, we will build a smarter, cleaner, and greener tomorrow together. 

  The effects of global warming can and will be reversed, the current energy and unemployment crisis can and will be solved, and the city that first felt the burden of this recession can and will be revitalized to perform yet another industrial miracle by evolutionizing the green industry into The People's Industry, and here's how... 

              

                           The Nature Of Our Plan

 The nature of The Green Vision Plan is to build a network of members who all believe in our mission and are willing to take part in helping to build a smarter, cleaner, and greener tomorrow together; thereby evolutionizing the green industry into The Peoples Industry.

 Facebook & Twitter will serve as "Our On-Line Office." By clicking on

We're on Facebook & Twitter members can interact on-line by participating in discussions on our Facebook Fan Page discussion board. Search for our fan page under "The Go Green Movement" and there you will find the following...

• Our Open Books Our books are always open for our members and the rest of the world to see. Every gift given to The Go Green Movement will be posted on our discussion board titled "Open Books" We are not 501-C3.
• Current Projects Our current projects will be posted on our discussion board and updated as we make progress. Members are welcome to take part in any project they want to. Current projects will be titled "Current Projects/name of project"
• Future Projects Our future projects will be posted on our discussion board and members are welcome to take part in our discussions by providing their input on future projects. Future projects will be titled "Future Projects/name of project"
• Ideas Members are welcome to share their ideas with the rest of the world on how we can all help to build a smarter, cleaner, and greener planet together. Ideas are the first step towards creating green jobs, green jobs create green businesses, green businesses create green careers, and green careers will create The Peoples Industry. The idea discussion boards will be titled Ideas/etc...

  We'll be using our Twitter Page (@gogreenmovement) to keep our members who follow us informed on the latest news and developements.

  For those who are not on Facebook &/or Twitter, please email us (info@thegogreenmovement.org ) and request for our monthly newsletter. Subject title “News Letter" and please be sure to include your name and by what means do you want us to send you our newsletter. 

                                     In Closing

 Just a little over two scores ago, a Movement was born that raised the ethical standards of man-kind by exposing the world to the evils of oppression and injustice that thrived in a country that was founded on the promise of liberty and justice for all. Since then, every successful movement has in some way, shape, or form incorporated the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of The Civil Rights Movement into their Movement... The Go Green Movement is no exception.

 Since founding our organization, I've been relentlessly pursuing remedies to what ails our environment and economy, while at the same time devising and promoting a plan that will help bring the cure we need. But to say that I've been working on The Green Vision Plan since our inception back on Earth Day '09 wouldn't be true. The fact of the matter is that I've been working on this plan my whole life. As far back as I can remember, I've been imagining and entertaining thoughts and ideas of a system that would help the have-nots with a job so they can provide for their families until they were in a position to return the favour. That was long before I knew anything about capitalism, the environment, or even the American Dream for that matter.

  As everyone else who has, by the grace of God, endured a life of trials and tribulations, I too continue to hold fast to the vision that has shaped and moulded me to tackle environmental, economic, and social issues with the vigour of a lion. This is because I know in my heart that green jobs are the cure-all for many of the world’s problems. And with that said, I must make mention of the countless glass ceilings, the lack of resources, the nay-Sayers, and every other senseless opposition I've encountered while establishing The Movement.

  Thankfully, all that opposition has given me a broader understanding of why these issues that the world now suffers from exist, as well as given me ideas of how we can solve these problems. And I tell you what, until Artists, Scientists, Entrepreneurs, and skilled workers have access to the resources needed to express their visions, man-kind will not continue to evolve at the rate we have witnessed over these past few decades. That understanding is what brought me to the conclusion that we must start pooling our resources together to create green jobs in order to make a meaningful change in our world today... and I'm looking forward to working with you...

Peace,

Marc Jones

Founder & CEO/CGO of

The Go Green Movement

I hope, more initiatives like The Go Green Movement would sprout up in the near future; all over the world to make this planet a heaven to live in. Initiatives like this create numerous job opportunities too.

http://www.thegogreenmovement.org/

KNOW MORE ABOUT MARC JONES:                       

Marc Jones Founder, C.E.O., & C.G.O. (Chief Green Officer) of the Go Green Movement

HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA - NEED FOR AN IMMEDIATE INTERVENTION

Article By - Arun B Chandran

India spends only 1.9 percent of its GDP on higher education, the lowest among any nations with GDP higher than $500 billion.

As I thought of writing the first post in the blog, I felt that writing on the higher education of India would be a good idea as this is a field that is unarguably one of the greatest pillars of the development of the country and wide discussions are held on this subject these days.                                                                                                          

Image Source : c2clive.co

                                      Though the problems associated with this sector are multilayered, I had divided it broadly in to administrative and academic problems, with few subtitles under these as I feel that all other problems like, social, psychological etc. associated with this sector comes in the backdrop of these broad problems. Let us first look in to these problems before going in to the reforms required.

             CONCERNS                                                                                        

        I) ADMINISTRATIVE—

i)                      Reservation- Reservation and Privatization are perhaps the most debated topic in our higher educational sector, and hence I have listed it first in the list. Increased concern over reservation has negatively affected our higher educational system as it has taken away lime light from many other major concerns. Reservation in any sector (&especially I educational system), causes loss to society, as the brightest do not reach better institutes; but we still continue with it thinking  it would bring more good to the society than its losses. Though the need for a reservation still exists it is time to think of its re-allotment for more effectiveness. Sam Pitroda ,the chairman of National Knowledge Commission, “Reservation has probably set us back several years in our ability to carry out the reforms we need to.”

             The popular support that reservation gets had prompted many of our politicians to o on further with reservation (with a need for Supreme Court to intervene in the matter and cap reservation limit to maximum of 50Percent). The social tensions faced by the authorities against this policy is mainly managed by increasing the total number of seats and also because many among the upper class pursue foreign education.

              The proper implementation and gradual reduction of reservation in a democratic country like ours need strong political will, free of prejudices.

ii)                  Political intervention in universities- This takes place both in policy formation and implementation. Bureaucratic sluggishness, misconceptions and prejudices retard the growth of our higher education sector. The denial of visa for prominent global educationalists to come to India, the slow moving files in government offices on matters concerning collaboration of industry and institutes, the delays in allocation of new courses etc. are the finest examples of this aspect.

      Among the policy matters too, the absence of Political visionaries had been a problem while there were 5 IITs established during Nehru’s period, only 1 IIT was established prior to the recent establishment of5 new IITs. Unhealthy political among the teaching and the student community and the inefficient funding has also retarded the growth of this field. A prominent educationalist tells, “Our deans and administrators now hang on the spoken word of our politicians, and student unions and teachers beat to their drum. It’s so entrenched that asserting independence in appointments and day to day decision turns you in to a radical, a rebel in the system.” 

      As political elite and the government receive benefits of these negative aspects, they prefer a status-quo. Thus, in our higher educational system, we have this uncomfortable condition, as Nandan Nilekani puts it “the state interferes, rather than guiding; (play) politics rather than policy”.

iii)         Regulation-   In the regulatory aspect of higher education, we have a dual problem. On the one hand, we have a confusing array of different regulatory bodies like UGC and AICTE and on the other hand, neither the government, nor UGC or AICTE has an effective control over our Universities. The rating system of the UGC and AICTE is also one with many loop holes.

      Due to absence of good legislation, UGC and AICTE had reduced to regulatory bodies that stand helplessly by, as India’s university system crumbled, and thus half of India’s expanding colleges, as a Vice-chancellor remarked, “are intellectual and social slums”.

iv)         Funding-  India spends only 1.9 percent of its GDP on higher education, the lowest among any nations with GDP higher than $500 billion. Its spending on research activities at universities is also very low compared to both the developed and the emerging nations. Even the funds that are presently allotted are not efficient enough. But, it should be noted that higher funding or investment in higher education can lead to better results only with reforms in the total system.

II)                ACADEMIC-

i)         Quality of the Higher education-   India is the 3^rd largest in the number of higher educational institutes after China and USA and is one of the largest degree producers in the world.

          But, quality of these is quite unsatisfactory. No worthwhile invention has been made here. Rote learning can identified as one of the factor behind this. India’s engineering and medical colleges, management schools and universities are facing a serious shortage of quality academic faculty by about 20 percent. Global competitiveness of Indian students is comparatively small and is still smaller if the top 10 institutes of India are taken out. India does not have more than 5 universities in the top 500 bracket of the academic ranking of world universities.

ii)      Number of Institutions for higher education-   Though India is one of the largest in terms of number of institutes for higher education; it is still short of them. This shortage is expected to be more by 2015, thanks to the efforts to improve the enrolment ratio. By 2015, we need at least 1500 universities, against 350 we have today. 

iii)     Research-  The research standards of our country has been poor, both in terms of quality and quantity. If we consider a particular area, say Computer Science, where we are assumed to be strong, we can see that annual PhDs in this field in our country is 25, while it exceeds 800 in USA and 2500 in China. IIT is granted 3-6 patents in a year, where as it is 64 for Stanford and 102 for MIT! We haven’t seen any technological adaptation after 1970s and 1980s and not a single major invention emerged from India over past 50 years!!!

iv)     Employability-   “75 percent of the Indian graduates are  unemployable for the work they are trained for”, was said by Shri. Narayana Murthy of Infosys. Many people prefer sub-standard engineering degree than good vocational skills, where as 90 percent of the employment opportunities require vocational skills. McKinsley estimates that only 10 percent of Indian students in arts and humanities and only 25 percent of Indian engineering graduates are globally competitive. 12 percent of the 41 million unemployed are either a graduate or a postgraduate!        

                               REFORMS                                       

       It is an agreed fact that reforms are required in the area of higher education. Many suggestions on this matter address many of the problems mentioned earlier. Some of them are a panacea for more than one of those problems.

       A ‘super regulator’ which forms a single independent regulatory body would eliminate the confusion prevailing over multiple arrays of regulatory bodies. This would also bring more transparency, setting up of uniform controls and better quality in higher education. We need independent regulatory body free from government or political intervention.

      Private participation, if properly propelled can bring out both qualitative and quantitative improvement in our higher educational sector. It is neither possible nor sensible for the government to invest the huge amount that is required for, in our higher educational sector. Private participation, from both inside and outside the country should be encouraged to make more institutes in our country. This will take away the deficit between the demand for higher education and the availability of institutes. This will avoid the instances like that which happened in Delhi University this year, when a 100percent cut-off was announced in a college under the university. Institutes like TISS, BITS, Lady Sriram College, Sriram Collge of Commerce, Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), CMC Vellore, St.Stephen’s College, etc. has taken away our doubts on the quality of private institutes.

      The interactions between industries and institutions should be encouraged, taking necessary precautions, as this can increase the employability of the students.

                                   

                                                                                     

      Reforms have taken in our country when visionaries came in to action, like it happened during Nehru’s times. When visionaries like M.S.Swaminathan, Vikram Sarabhai, Sam Pitroda, Verghese Kurien etc. acted, reforms required happened with direction. In the higher educational sector of our country, we have “ a Niagra of reports and a Sahara of actions”. Reforms required in higher educational sector requires controversial steps, as we are in a democracy. Infact, the market economy has been pushing us to the necessary reforms, to an extent. The question is, whether we can bring about these reforms fast enough to avail the opportunities that our country has today- domestically and globally???