New Delhi: In the bustling heart of Old Delhi, Indian bookseller Mohammed Mahfooz Alam sits forlorn in his quiet store, among the last few selling literature in a language beloved by poets for centuries.
Urdu, spoken by many millions today, has a rich past that reflects how cultures melded to forge India’s complex history.
But its literature has been subsumed by the cultural domination of Hindi, struggling against false perceptions that its elegant Perso-Arabic script makes it a foreign import and a language of Muslims in the Hindu-majority nation.
“There was a time when, in a year, we would see 100 books being published,” said 52-year-old Alam, lamenting the loss of the language and its readership.
The narrow streets of Urdu Bazaar, in the shadow of the 400-year-old Jama Masjid mosque, were once the core of the city’s Urdu literary community, a center of printing, publishing and writing.
Today, streets once crowded with Urdu bookstores abuzz with scholars debating literature are now thick with the aroma of sizzling kebabs from the restaurants that have replaced them.
Only half a dozen bookstores are left.
“Now, there are no takers,” Alam said, waving at the streets outside. “It is now a food market.”
Urdu, one of the 22 languages enshrined under India’s constitution, is the mother tongue of at least 50 million people in the world’s most populous country. Millions more speak it, as well as in neighboring Pakistan.
But while Urdu is largely understood by speakers of India’s most popular language Hindi, their scripts are entirely different.
Alam says he can see Urdu literature dying “day by day.”
The Maktaba Jamia bookshop he manages opened a century ago. Alam took over its running this year driven by his love for the language.
“I have been sitting since morning, and barely four people have come,” he said gloomily. “And even those were college or school-going children who want their study books.”
Urdu, sharing Hindi’s roots and mingled with words from Persian and Arabic, emerged as a hybrid speech between those who came to India through trade and conquest — and the people they settled down among.
But Urdu has faced challenges in being viewed as connected to Islamic culture, a popular perception that has grown since the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi took power in 2014.
Hard-right Hindu nationalists seeking to diminish Islam’s place in India’s history have opposed its use: in the past decade, protests have ranged from the use of Urdu in clothing advertisements to even graffiti.
“Urdu has been associated with Muslims, and that has hit the language too,” said Alam.
“But it is not true. Everyone speaks Urdu. You go to villages, people speak Urdu. It is a very sweet language. There is peace in it.”
For centuries, Urdu was a key language of governance.
Sellers first set up stores in the Urdu Bazaar in the 1920s, selling stacks of books from literature to religion, politics and history — as well as texts in Arabic and Persian.
By the 1980s, more lucrative fast-food restaurants slowly moved in, but the trade dropped dramatically in the past decade, with more than a dozen bookshops shutting down.
“With the advent of the Internet, everything became easily available on the mobile phone,” said Sikander Mirza Changezi, who co-founded a library to promote Urdu in Old Delhi in 1993.
“People started thinking buying books is useless, and this hit the income of booksellers and publishers, and they switched to other businesses.”
The Hazrat Shah Waliullah Public Library, which Changezi helped create, houses thousands of books including rare manuscripts and dictionaries.
It is aimed at promoting the Urdu language.
Student Adeeba Tanveer, 27, who has a masters degree in Urdu, said the library provided a space for those wanting to learn.
“The love for Urdu is slowly coming back,” Tanveer told AFP, adding that her non-Muslim friends were also keen to learn.
“It is such a beautiful language,” she said. “You feel the beauty when you speak it.”
Fading literature: Delhi’s famed Urdu Bazaar on last legs
https://arab.news/cmtru
Fading literature: Delhi’s famed Urdu Bazaar on last legs
- Urdu, spoken by many millions, has rich past that reflects how cultures melded to forge India’s complex history
- But its literature has been subsumed by the cultural domination of Hindi, struggling against false perceptions
China says top military official Miao Hua suspended, under investigation
- Latest senior apparatchik to fall in a sweeping crackdown on graft in the country’s armed force
- Unconfirmed reports say defense minister Dong Jun was also placed under investigation for corruption
The ruling Chinese Communist Party “has decided to suspend Miao Hua from duty pending investigation,” Wu Qian, spokesman of China’s Ministry of Defense, told a press briefing.
Wu did not provide further details about the charges against Admiral Miao, a member of Beijing’s powerful Central Military Commission.
But “serious violations of discipline” are commonly used by officials in China as a euphemism for corruption.
The announcement follows reports, unconfirmed by Beijing, that Defense Minister Dong Jun has been placed under investigation for corruption.
If confirmed, Dong would be the third Chinese defense minister in a row to be probed for graft.
India’s parliament suspended temporarily after row over allegations against Adani group
- The problem is that India’s states are unprepared for the rapid rise in renewable generating capacity, lack adequate transmission infrastructure and storage
NEW DELHI: Both houses of Indian parliament were suspended temporarily on Thursday within minutes of opening as opposition lawmakers disrupted proceedings for the third day this week seeking a discussion on allegations against the Adani Group.
US authorities have accused Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and managing director of Adani Green, Vneet S. Jaain, of being part of a scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure Indian solar power supply contracts, and misleading US investors during fund raises there.
“We want a discussion on this in parliament. It is going to be the third day that we are demanding a reply from the prime minister” on the Adani issue, Manickam Tagore, a lawmaker from the main opposition Congress party, which has been leading the protests against the business group, told news agency ANI.
Many of India’s opposition parties accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of favoring Adani and blocking investigations against him in India, accusations both have denied.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been a vocal critic of Adani, said Gautam Adani, 62, should be arrested.
While the government has not made any comment on the indictment, Modi’s BJP has said it had no reason to defend Adani, adding that the party was not against industrialists and considered them partners in nation-building efforts.
“Let him defend himself,” BJP spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal said on Tuesday, adding that the law would take its course.
Landslides in Indonesia’s Sumatra kill at least 27, rescuers search for missing
- Torrential rain in the province since last week had caused flash floods and landslides in four different districts
- Extreme weather is expected in Indonesia toward the end of 2024, as the La Nina phenomenon increases rainfalls across the tropical archipelago
JAKARTA: Indonesian rescuers are searching for passengers trapped in a minibus buried in mud after flash floods and landslides hit several locations in North Sumatra province, killing at least 27, an official said on Thursday.
Torrential rain in the province since last week had caused flash floods and landslides in four different districts, Indonesia’s disaster agency has said.
A landslide in a village in Deli Serdang on Wednesday killed seven and injured 20, Hadi Wahyudi, North Sumatra police spokesperson told Reuters.
Rescuers were looking for missing people, including those trapped in a minibus and other vehicles on a hilly interprovince road hit by a mudslide, he said, adding he could not give an estimate for the number of affected people.
In other places, rescuers have found 20 dead during a search that started over the weekend. They are still searching for two missing.
“Today, we’re focusing our search to find missing people and clearing the roads affected by the landslides,” said Hadi, adding excavators were deployed.
The landslides and flash floods damaged houses, mosques, and rice fields.
Heavy rains also triggered floods in the provincial capital of Medan, forcing a delay in votes for a regional election in some polling stations.
Extreme weather is expected in Indonesia toward the end of 2024, as the La Nina phenomenon increases rainfalls across the tropical archipelago, the country’s weather agency has warned.
The Australian Senate debates the world’s first social media ban for children under 16
- The bill that would make social media platforms liable for fines of up to $33 million for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts
MELBOURNE: The Australian Senate was debating a ban on children younger than 16 years old from social media Thursday after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly supported the age restriction.
The bill that would make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts.
It is likely to be passed by the Senate on Thursday, the Parliament’s final session for the year and potentially the last before elections, which are due within months.
The major parties’ support for the ban all but guarantees the legislation will become law. But many child welfare and mental health advocates are concerned about unintended consequences.
Unaligned Sen. Jacqui Lambie complained about the limited amount of time the government gave the Senate to debate the age restriction, which she described as “undercooked.”
“I thought this was a good idea. A lot of people out there thought it was a good idea until we looked at the detail and, let’s be honest, there’s no detail,” Lambie told the Senate.
Opposition Sen. Maria Kovacic said the bill was not radical but necessary.
“The core focus of this legislation is simple: It demands that social media companies take reasonable steps to identify and remove underage users from their platforms,” Kovacic told the Senate.
“This is a responsibility these companies should have been fulfilling long ago, but for too long they have shirked these responsibilities in favor of profit,” she added.
Sen. David Shoebridge, from the minor Greens party, said mental health experts agreed that the ban could dangerously isolate many children who used social media to find support.
“This policy will hurt vulnerable young people the most, especially in regional communities and especially the LGBTQI community, by cutting them off,” Shoebridge told the Senate.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly carried the bill 102 votes to 13.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland urged senators to pass the bill which she said reflected the Australian community’s view.
“The ... government is on the side of supporting parents and protecting young people,” Rowland told the House.
Once the legislation becomes law, the platforms would have one year to work out how they could implement the ban before penalties are enforced.
The platforms complained that the law would be unworkable, and urged the Senate to delay the vote until at least June next year when a government-commissioned evaluation of age assurance technologies made its report on how young children could be excluded.
Critics argue the government is attempting to convince parents it is protecting their children ahead of general elections due by May. The government hopes that voters will reward it for responding to parents’ concerns about their children’s addiction to social media. Some argue the legislation could cause more harm than it prevents.
Criticisms include that the legislation was rushed through Parliament without adequate scrutiny, is ineffective, poses privacy risks for all users, and undermines parental authority to make decisions for their children.
Opponents of the bill also argue the ban would isolate children, deprive them of the positive aspects of social media, drive them to the dark web, discourage children too young for social media to report harm and reduce incentives for platforms to improve online safety.
Explosions heard in Ukraine’s Odesa, Kropyvnytskyi – media reports
- Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper urged residents to stay in shelter in a message on the Telegram app
Explosions were heard in the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odesa and the city of Kropyvnytskyi in central Ukraine on Thursday morning amid reports of a Russian cruise missile attack, Ukrainian news outlet Zerkalo Tyzhnya and other local media reported.
Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper urged residents to stay in shelter in a message on the Telegram app.
