INDIAN PEASANTS PRIOR INDEPENDENCE

Describe the efforts and achievements of the Indian peasants prior to independence in 1947

The Indian peasants were the worst sufferers under the British rule. It has been rightly said that the worst result of the British rule in India was extreme poverty of the Indian people and among them, the worst sufferers were the Indian peasants. Indebtedness, fragmentation of holdings, increase in the number of agricultural labor, destruction of handicrafts, low production food grains, etc., were the problems which concerned the peasants directly. Besides, the government, the landlords, intermediaries, the local Bantas and Pakwaris exploited them to the maximum. The peasants were scattered over a vast area, were poor, lacked mobility and being culturally backward depended more on their fate than their self-efforts.

Their sufferings however forced them to rebel against the government, landlords or the Bantas many times. Mostlry, their uprisings were violent and as they were not organized, were suppressed by violence. In 1870, the Bengal tenants refused to pay the revenue, obstructed their eviction from their lands and fought against the government officers. They were suppressed. The only result of their uprising was the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885. In 1875, the peasants in Maharasthra attacked the houses of Sahukars (money lenders), burnt the documents of debts and killed many Sahukars at several places. These, the so-called Deccan riots were suppressed. However, the Deccan Agriculturalists Relief Act was passed in 1879. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, the peasants revolted in Punjab at many places. The government passed the Punjab Alienation Act in 1902-02 to ease the situation. In 1917-18, the peasants at Champaran in Bihar sought the support of Gandhi against their masters, the indigo planters. They were provided some relief. Gandhi also organized the Satyagraha movement of peasants in Khaira against the collection of land revenue which they could not pay due to the failure of crops. It gained some success.

Thus, prior to 1918, the peasants fought at many places against the injustice done to them but as tehri efforts were not organized they could get only meagre concessions from their exploiters. The Indian National Congress also paid only scanty attention to the welfare of the peasants. N. G. Ranga, the leader of the peasants even criticized Gandhi’s agitation in Champaran, which according to him, failed to solve the main problems of the peasants, viz. the excessive rents and exorbitant debts.

It was only after 1918 that the Indian peasants developed political consciousness, participated int eh national movement and gradually formed their own organizations. When in 1919, the Indian National Congress launched the noncooperation movement it gave the slogan of nonpayment of land revenue. Many peasants, therefore, felt that the struggle for swaraj (independence) meant struggle against the heavy land revenue and they cooperated with the noncooperation movement. It was their first participation in an organized movement.

The struggle of the peasants, however, continued even outside the fold of the Congress during this period. The peasants struggled against their landlords in Guntur District and at many places in Karnataka and Dudh. The Moplah rebellion in 1922 was largely a revolt of Muslim peasants against their landlords, the Namboodni Brahmins of Malabar. But all these movements were suppressed.

The process of the formation of independent peasant’s organization started after the Non Cooperation Movement. Some peasants’ organizations were formed in Andhra in 1923. Kisan (Peasants) Sabhas (Organizations) were started in some parts of Punjab, Bengal, Bihar and UP in 1926-27. The Andhra Provincial Ryots’ Association was started in 1921. In 1928, the relatives of Bihar and UP Kisan Sabha also presented a memorandum consisting of their demands to the All-Parties Conference presided over by Motilal Nehru.

But these organizations were not very effective. Most of them accepted the leadership of the Nationalist leaders of the Indian national congress and put-up resistance to the government under them. Kisan movements of Bardoli district in Gujarat in 1928-29 and 1930-31 were led by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Mahatma Gandhi respectively. Other movements of the peasants in UP, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, etc., were also led and inspired by the Indian National Congress. The peasants also participated in large numbers in the Civil Disobedience Movement led by Gandhi though he had not included a single specific demand of the Kisans in his eleven-point demand put before the government.

However, after the Civil Disobedience Movement quiet a large section among the peasantry realized that the Congress would not fight for their specific grievances because capitalists and big landlords were more influential in it. It pointed out to them the necessity of having independent organizations of their own. The communists, the Congress Socialists and even the Left Nationalists like Jawaharlal Nehru emphasized the need of forming such associations. It gave momentum to independent Kisan movements in the thirties of the twentieth century. It resulted in the formation of Bihar Kisan Sabha in 1927, the Provincial Kisan Sabha in UP in 1935, the Madras Presidency Ryots Association in 1935, the Madras Presidency Agriculturalists Association in 1937 and a Kisan School at Nidubrole in 1938 to train the Kisans in organizational work. Some peasants organisations took their birth on communal basis also. Sir Abdul Rahim and Fazl-ul-Haq organized the Praja Party with a view to mustering the Muslim peasants in Bengal. Many Kisan Sabhas gradually sprang in all other parts of the country as well.

In some cases, the government yielded to their pressure resulting in the passing of a few laws like Debt Relief Act in UP in 1934, the Regulation of Accounts Act in 1934 in Punjab, the moneylenders Act in 1939 and the Relief of Indebtedness Act in 1935 in Bengal.

Yet, there was no All India Organisation of the peasants prior to 1935. The first All India Congress of peasants met at Lucknow in 1935 and it founded the first All India Organization of Peasants named the All-India Kisan Congress. The All-India Kisan Congress carried on wide educative propaganda work among the Indian peasants and attempted to harmonize their efforts. It also sought collective affiliation to the Indian National Congress but was refused. It, however, provided a united platform for the Indian peasants to express their grievances and put-up joint demands.

The peasants, in general, supported the Indian National Congress in its struggle for independence. Therefore, when in 1937 the Congress ministries were formed in most of the provinces, they expected that something would be done for their welfare. But they felt disappointed as was the case with the Indian labor class. The Congress governments did not do much except passing a few legislative measures which failed to touch the root causes of the troubles of the Indian peasants. The peasants protested against the indifference of the government to their interests. The government then banned their meetings, arrested their leaders and used police force against them.

Thus, the fate of the Indian peasants did not improve much by the time India was granted independence. But certainly, they were better organized by that time.

FRENCH CINEMA

The French film in the first decade of sound may have been the most imaginative, the most stimulating of its generation: a subtle blend of effective, often poetic, dialogue, evocative visual imagery, perceptive social analysis, complex fictional structures, rich philosophical implication, wit and charm. The maturation of the French film mind in the decade between 1930 and 1940 was partially the result of the growth of the French film mind in the previous decade between 1920 and 1930. The final ten years of the silent film laid the foundations for the great sound structures that would follow in the next ten.

Rene Claire, Jean Renoir, Jacques Feyder, Julien Davivier and Jean Epstein all conquered purely visual expression before they began combining picture and word. The sharp chasm that divided the two Hollywood film worlds before and after 1928 was less apparent in the Paris film world. The innovative, experimental minds of the French twenties energetically accepted the artistic challenge of the new talking machine. Although many French plays and playwrights found a welcome on the new French sound stages, just as American plays and playwrights had in America, the French sound film never turned its back on visual expression. The French filmmakers of the silent twenties has learned some very powerful and convincing visual lessons.

Paris of the 1920s was the avante-garde capital of the world in art, music, and the drama. It was the city of Picaso and Dali, of Stravinsky, Milhaud, Poulin and Satie, of Cocteau and Stein. The urge to experiment, to invent new forms, to challenge the established artistic norms in music, painting, poetry and drama also dominated the new motion art of the motion picture. Paris was the city of many modern isms – surrealism, cubism, Dadaism. Painters exulted in manipulating the pure shapes and textures and colors of paint on a canvas. The painting did not need to mirror life’s extended reality; it could mirror its moods, its feelings, its tones, its dreams. The world was irrational; art could mirror that irrationality. Plays did not tell logical stories of rationally motivated actions; playwrights exulted in the irrational, the non sequitur, Jean Cocteau wrote a drama about an absurd wedding party at the top of the Eiffel Tower; Gertrude Stein and Tristan Tzara wrote plays whose value was in the sounds of the words rather than in their meaning. Colonies of artists would gather at parties to show each other little works they had sculpted or painted, or written – works devoted to form and sensation rather than to logic and meaning. At these parties some of the artists would show little movies, created on the same formal principles, to their gathered friends. They discovered that of all the arts, the moving picture was capable of the most bizarre tricks with form; a series of purely visual images, of shapes, of lights, of double exposures, of dissolves, a series of worlds out of focus, moving too fast or too slow, upside down or inside out. The lens and crank could be even more devoted to pure irrational from than chisel or brush.

Ironically, the great experimental leap forward of the French film in the 1920s was also a step backward into the past. In 1919, at the dawn of this avant-garde decade, Louis Delluc and Ricchiuto Canudo, two zealous film buffs, founded the first of many subsequent French societies for the presentation and preservation of great films of the past. Delluc and Canudo canonized the movies as the Seventh Art and urged attention to the directors of an earlier era: to Melies, Zecca, Cohl, Max Linder, Jean Durand, Louis Feuiilade. The Seventy Art Adventists leaped back into the film past about ten years, ignoring the theatrical stagey, Comedie-Francaiseish, Film d’Arty pictures of the decade of the war. This first generation of Cineastes urged a return to the irrational fantasy of Melies, to the action-filled chases of Zecca and Sennett, to the tricks with camera speed and motion of Jean Durand’s Onesome Herloger (1916), in which a magical clock makes the world dizzily speed up or lethargically slow down. Like the French cineastes of the sixties – Godard Truffaut, Malle – the paris film maker of the twenties not only used film history to pack movies with historical echoes but also to embellish earlier film ideas with the filmmaker’s own distinct and personal extensions of them. The Parisian avant-garde filmmaker of the 1920s used one hand to rip up accepted film conventions and assumptions and the other to pull the traditions of the film past into the movies of the present.

The experimental French films of the twenties were of three approximate types:

Films of pure visual form

Surrealistic film fantasies in which tricks with visual form create the surrealistic-symbolic-irrational film universe

Naturalistic studies of human passion and sensation in which symbols and surreal touches help to tender elusive human feelings.

The three types were far from distinct. A film could begin as an essay in pure form and then change into a surreal dream-fantasy (Rene Claire’s Entr’acte, 1924). Sometimes the film would begin as a surreal journey and change into a study of form (Man Ray’s Mysteries of the Chateau De, 1929). Or the film could begin as an impressionistic study of human emotions and relationships only to end as a dream (Jean Kenoit’s Little Match Girl, 1928). Dadaism, surrealism and poetic naturalism flowed into one another to create new and surprising compounds in the moves.

The films of Man Ray are the purest examples of movie dada – of a collage of visual shapes and patterns with no meaning other than the interesting forms themselves. Ray’s films began quite literally as collages: he randomly scattered paint, nails, glue, scraps of paper over strips of film, and then exposed the littered film to light, leaving shadows of the objects imprinted on the celluloid. Ray gradually abandoned such accidental methods for more controlled essays in form: Return to Reason (1923), a highly ironic title since the film consciously rejects reason, and Emak Bakia (1927). In these films a pair of spinning dice become a pair of spinning lights which become a pair of spinning sticks which become a pair of dancing legs. And so forth. Visual similarities and differences of form control Ray’s choice of images. Fernand Leger’s rhythmic Ballet Mecanique (1924) and Marcel Duchamp’s comic jest of spinning spirals and nonsense words, Anaemic Cinema (1926), also begin with a promise of using a succession of visual images related in form, shape and rhythm rather than in meaning.

The most famous of the surreal films is the Salvador Dali Bunuel fantasy, Un Chien andalou (1929). Like the title, the film is a series of non sequiturs, scenes that seem to be related logically and yet are not related. The film teasingly suggests thematic unities and some kind of structural logic. Its action consistently pairs the same man and woman; sexual desires and tensions clearly dominate their confrontations. Dali-Bunuel seem to contrast sexual desire and social convention: the stigmata and ants in the man’s hand suggesting Christian sin and human mortality, the man fondling the woman’s breasts, the two puritans laboriously being dragged along with the equally heavy burdens of pianos and burros, the doorbell in the shape of a cocktail shaker, the asocial bawdiness of the man in his jester’s costume. Despite the whiffs of consistent meaning, Un Chien andalou is pure dream, irrational, a series of daring and imaginative vignettes with no rational paste between them. From the opening sequence in which Bunuel slits a lady’s eyeball with a razor (in intentionally gruesome closeup) to the final one in which the man and woman wander inexplicably on a rocky beach “in the springtime”. The film’s goal is to excite to shock, to tickle, to surprise, to make us “see” differently rather than to preach or explain.

On the other hand, Jean Epstein’s The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) uses surreal dream effects to create the atmosphere for his lucid Poe plot. Epstein uses the tools of cinematic surrealism – slow-motion effects, out-of-focus lenses, multiple exposure, contrasts of light and shadow, distortion, cavernous, dream-world sets – as a means of rendering Poe’s eerie tale. Dada and surrealism become a means of Epstein, not an end – the means of turning the House of Usher into a house of mirrors.

 

Ref: France Between the Wars – A Short History of the Movies p.193-195

CULTURE AND MASS MEDIA

 RELATION BETWEEN CULTURE AND MASS MEDIA

There is a very close relationship existing between culture and mass media. Both these influence each other to a great extent. On one hand, culture determines the content matter of mass media. Example: the different films and tele soaps are based upon and greatly influenced by some or the other kind of culture.

On the other hand, mass media also influences culture. It is generally believed and often asserted that the Mass Media is a very powerful means of spreading culture, determining and controlling thoughts and actions of people to a very great degree in society.

Mass media is an important tool of reinforcing the existing culture and values of a particular society. Example: The latest trend amongst people, to have many ceremonies relating to marriage, this has been popularized by the media, which in turn reinforces the traditional cultural heritage.

Culture also influences people’s choice of a particular kind of media. Example: The different economic and social strata of people in a society select and prefer to access different convenient forms of mass media. The lower income groups prefer audio-visual forms of media compared to the print media.

The impact and influence of persuasive mass communication is tremendous on the minds of the younger generations. No wonder then, Mass Media has radically altered the attitudes, thoughts and lifestyles of the people all over the world.

There is a close connection between the Mass Media of communication and the emergence of mass culture.

Mass culture has emerged as a result of the dynamic revolutionary role played by the modern Mass Media of communications. Example: Movies, radio, television and mass circulation of magazines have extended the mass culture in our country.

NATION

A nation is a body of people, inhabiting a definite territory, share common features such as race, language, a common history, religion, etc. and a common will which leads them to desire a common state. 

‘Nationality’ is the distinctive quality of a group which has a common origin and tradition. The group shares common characteristics and most of all possesses a will to live together as a sovereign group. Therefore when a nationality of people assert their political right to widen – or political determination, they form a nation state.

Thus the feeling of ‘nationalism’ is a subjective one where in the people feel connected to each other because of shared characteristics – it is a sentiment, a consciousness created/nurtured by political, economic, social, intellectual, cultural factors. 

Thus in the 18^th and 19^th century most states were formed on the basis of nationality – groups that shared a common language, religion, etc. formed a nation – state. (Unification of Germany = German speaking; Netherlands = rel.)

Thus the following elements usually constitute the formation of a nation.

(1)  GEOGRAPHICAL UNITY

According to Hertz and Barker, geographical unity leads to the formation of a nation. Thus islands for example are more likely to be nation states.

Eg. Australia, Sri Lanka

But geographical unity is not necessary. Eg. The Jews considered themselves a nation for 100’s of years though they possessed a geographical state only after 1948.

 

(2)  UNITY OF LANGUAGE

Since language is used for expression and communication, a common language helps to promote nation. Ramsay Muir considers language the most important element of a nation.

But nations like India, UK, Switzerland have several languages.

 

(3)  RACE

Political determination on the basis of race was very important in the 19^th and 20^th century. Thus Zummerman, Bryce, Burgess consider it a very important element. It influenced the formation of Poland (1919), Israel.

Today few states are really ‘racially pure’ and hence race is considered less important.

 

(4)  RELIGION

A shared religion indicates not just a shared form of worship but also influences philosophy and determines culture. Hence religion can be a very powerful building force. The creation of  Pakistan was completely dependent on religion.

Today, though most states are religiously heterogeneous, religious conflicts and separatist movements on the basis of religion often surfaces.

 

(5)  SHARED HISTORY

A common past, particularly a traumatic one often leads to the development of nationality or a feeling of oneness. Eg. The common anti-British feeling that resulted from colonization brought Indians together to fight for a separate independent state.

 

According to Hertz, none of these elements are necessarily determinants of nationalism. According to him (1) People should have desire to be one nation

                                            (2) People should endeavour for unity and strength.

 

NATIONALITY                                                                 STATEHOOD

-          Subjective                                                                  - objective

-          psychological                                                             - political / legal cond.

-          cond. of mind                                                             - cond. of law

-          can only be encouraged not forced                            - enforceable obligation

 

Nationalism carried too far can be dangerous. It can lead to an exclusive policy – where only those seen as being of ‘pure’ nationality should be members of the state. Extreme nationalism (like Fascism) can elevate the concept of nation at the cost of its people.

Vladimir Solovyer – “In its extreme form it destroys a nation, for it makes it the enemy of mankind…”

Nationalism when expressed as a single religion/ pure raceetc. Always leads to conflict.

Nationalism also encouraged minorities to demand separate states (sessation)

 

SYMBOLS OF NATIONALISM

Snyder – “Nationalism is not innate instinct but rather a socially conditioned, synthetic sentiment.” Therefore it requires symbols.

Slogans, songs, flags, uniform, emblems, parades.

A NATIONAL CHARACTER – does it exist?

An outsider’s notion of the people of another nation. Greek writers considered the citizens of Sparta to be disciplined – can one really affix characteristics to a nation?

McDougall – Each national group has its own genius and its character is conditioned by geographical peculiarities, religion, etc. He says every race has inherent mental abilities which are permanent and influence its national character. English – reserved; Italians – gregarious; Indians – fatalist. Does that mean that one cannot find reserved Indians or gregarious Englishmen?

Given today’s multiethnic states, it is rather difficult to ascribe a particular trait to a nation. Also every nation changes with its history and therefore its character is also dynamic. Thus is national character only a stereotype?

CIRCULAR LETTERS | CIRCULARS

Circular letters are letters, with identical content, sent to a large number of people. They are used in business when the same information has to be sent to a large number of people, for e.g., customers or clients. The information may be of the following or similar kind:

-          Opening of a new business

-          Establishment of a new branch

-          Expansion of an existing business

-          Moving to new premises

-          Changes in partnership / ownership, etc.

The function of the letter may not be simply to convey information but to do a variety of other things. For example, it may be to

-          Request the customer to take some simple action (e.g., fill in a questionnaire, form, or card)

-          Acknowledge an order

-          Make an inquiry about non-receipt of, or delay in the supply of an order

-          Reply to inquiries (e.g., about job openings) and requests (e.g., for a line of credit)

-          Respond to a complaint letter, etc.

 

Since the content of all the letters is the same, or the function that they perform is identical, the text of the letter is prepared only once. The required number of copies of the text are then made, but the name and address of the recipients are entered individually. The salutation and the sender’s signature are also individualized so as to give the letter a personalized appearance. In modern times, the mail-merge facility provided by word processing programs has made this process very simple. There are also various marketing platforms that enable the email process through their operating system.

 

STYLE OF A CIRCULAR LETTER

The style of a circular letter must reinforce the business impression that every customer is important. The letter must give the impression that the writer is interested individually in each customer and is taking the trouble to approach him or her personally. Some ways to do the same are:

-          Address each customer individually in the salutation. The best way to do so is to find out the name of the customer (from customer database). A letter addressed as ‘Dear Mr. Fernandes’ has a better change of being read through than one which begins with ‘Dear Sir’ or ‘Dear Customer’. However, if the names are not available, use specific salutations like ‘Dear Householder’ or ‘Dear Subscriber’. ‘Dear Customer’ may be used as the last resort the plural forms (‘Dear Customers’) should never be used.

-          Keep the customer’s viewpoint / interests in everything you write. Talk to him / her directly using the pronoun ‘you’ as frequently as necessary instead of the word ‘customers’, ‘clients’, or ‘people’. You will see the difference between the two attitudes in the examples:

Example 1

The writer’s viewpoint – Our business has been so successful that we are opening a new department for cosmetics and shall be stocking a wide selection of articles.

 

The reader’s viewpoint – We are pleased to inform you that, encouraged by the response of customers like you, we are now opening a department of cosmetics in our store. This department will store a wide selection of articles and will make it possible for you to shop for all your daily necessities under one roof.

 

Example 2

The writer’s viewpoint – We regret to inform you that we cannot grant you the line of credit you have requested, as the information provided by you in your letter is not adequate. We cannot take the risk of selling to companies we know very little about.

If you wish to pursue the matter of credit further, we will advise you to have the enclosed form filled by your bank and mailed to us directly. If your claims are supported by the information provided by the bank, we will reconsider our decision and inform you accordingly.

 

The reader’s viewpoint – Thank you for your letter requesting a line of credit with our company.

We are always glad to consider request for credit and have already reviewed the credit information so thoughtfully supplied by you. All that you have to do now is to have your bank fill out the standard form enclosed and return it directly to us in the envelope provided. As soon as we receive this information, we will let you know the status of your new account.

Notice that the inclusion of a self- addressed envelope in the second example shows the importance attached to the reader’s viewpoint.

The difference in tone from the first version is quite marked.

The first version casts a doubt on the truth of the details supplied by the customer and says that only if the details are verified by the bank will the decision be reconsidered.

The second version puts the same thing in an entirely different way, which shows a readiness to accept the details provided, making the bank’s verification appear as a kind of formality that has to be gone through but presenting no big obstacle. This does not mean that the request for credit cannot be denied in case on an unfavorable bank report; what it means is that even if it is, the customer is not permanently lost.

 

While the use of personal pronouns by itself cannot be any indication of the degree of personalization in a letter, in general, letters which use personal pronouns (like I, me, my, we, our, you, your, etc.) will sound more personal than letters which use nouns like our company, our customers, clients, etc. So use the pronouns whenever possible, but do not overdo it. In particular, use the singular ‘I’ only where you must speak for yourself. But avoid using third person nouns which sound cold and distant, and instead use we, our, etc., to refer to the company. In the final analysis, of course, it is how you use these pronouns that will matter more than what pronouns you use. Their use should reflect your eagerness to help the customer do business with you.

Another technique often used to give a personal touch to a circular letter is the use of direct address forms in the text of the letter. The common address form is the name itself, which we often use in face-to-face conversation to show your eagerness, sincerity and friendliness. The same technique can also be used in circular letters. Properly used, the device will lend earnestness to your tone. Consider, for example, the following:

a.    I’m sure, Mrs. Mehra, the foregoing account of our activities will have convinced you that investment in our company will assure you not only of high returns but will also serve the causes of environment protection and women’s welfare which, as an enlightened member of the modern society, must be very dear to your heart.

b.    Meanwhile, Mr. Raut, I look forward to a visit from you to our main store in Central Plaza, where our staff can demonstrate to you the multifarious capacities of the new IVR-2023

 

When not to send a circular letter

We have discussed several ways of making circular letters personal so that the recipient does not feel treated like a number. The need for this arises because a circular letter is a standard text unmodified to meet individual needs or requirements. Therefore, it is fine to use a circular letter for the purposes we have listed: making announcements, providing information, etc. but it would be unwise for a business to send a circular letter where he feels a potential sale is involved. When you receive a request for a catalogue or a brochure seeking more information about a product, a sale may be involved. In responding to such requests, it is desirable to write a letter which makes use of positive techniques of persuasion so that the potential sale can be turned into a real one. This cannot be achieved by a circular letter which at best aims at not turning away a customer. A positive letter of persuasion must do the following: Provide all the information the potential customer has asked for, encourage the potential sale and leave the customer with a positive impression of your firm.

 

EXERCISES FOR PRACTICE

Write a notice (letter) announcing that your company offices are moving from their present location in Bandra West to Bandra Kurla Complex, which is better connected to all parts of Mumbai and will help you to attend to customer complaints more quickly. You are an electronics goods dealer.

 

The bank you work at is opening a new branch in BKC. You want to find out what kind of banking services your BKC customers need most. Write a circular letter to your customers requesting them to fill in the enclosed questionnaire to help you serve them better.

 

As a large engineering company, you receive a large number of enquiries from various young college graduates for job opportunities as well as resumes sent in from time to time. Write a reply thanking the applicants for their interest in the company. Inform that that your company has included their resume details in the company database, and they would hear from you as soon as a vacancy comes up. Your letter should neither turn the applicant away nor give him/her false hope.

MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD | MEDIA ICON

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's real name was Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin. He was popularly known as Maulana Azad.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was one of the foremost leaders of Indian freedom struggle. He was also a renowned scholar, and poet. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was well versed in many languages - Arabic, English, Urdu, Hindi, Persian and Bengali. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was a brilliant debater, as indicated by his name, Abul Kalam, which literally means "Lord of dialogue". He adopted the pen name Azad as a mark of his mental emancipation from a narrow view of religion and life.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was born on November 11, 1888 in Mecca. His forefathers came from Herat (a city Afghanistan) in Babar's days. Azad was a descendent of a lineage of learned Muslim scholars, or maulanas. His mother was an Arab and the daughter of Sheikh Mohammad Zaher Watri and his father, Maulana Khairuddin, was a Bengali Muslim of Afghan origins. Khairuddin left India during tile Sepoy Mutiny and proceeded to Mecca and settled there. He came back to Calcutta with his family in 1890.

Because of his orthodox family background Azad had to pursue traditional Islamic education. He was taught at home, first by his father and later by appointed teachers who were eminent in their respective fields. Azad learned Arabic and Persian first and then philosophy, geometry, mathematics and algebra. He also learnt English, world history, and politics through self-study.

Azad was trained and educated to become a clergyman. He wrote many works, reinterpreting the holy Quran. His erudition let him to repudiate Taqliq or the tradition of conformity and accept the principle of Tajdid or innovation. He developed interest in the pan Islamic doctrines of Jamaluddin Afghani and the Aligarh thought of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. Imbued with the pan-Islamic spirit, he visited Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Turkey. In Iraq he met the exiled revolutionaries who were fighting to establish a constitutional government in Iran. In Egypt he met Shaikh Muhammad Abduh and Saeed Pasha and other revolutionary activists of the Arab world. He had a first-hand knowledge of the ideals and spirit of the young Turks in Constantinople. All these contacts metamorphosed him into a nationalist revolutionary.

On his return from abroad; Azad met two leading revolutionaries of Bengal- Aurobindo Ghosh and Sri Shyam Sundar Chakravarty, and joined the revolutionary movement against British rule. Azad found that the revolutionary activities were restricted to Bengal and Bihar.

Within two years, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad helped set up secret revolutionary centers all over north India and Bombay. During that time most of his revolutionaries were anti-Muslim because they felt that the British government was using the Muslim community against India's freedom struggle. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad tried to convince his colleagues to shed their hostility towards Muslims.

In 1912, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad started a weekly journal in Urdu called Al-Hilal to increase the revolutionary recruits amongst the Muslims. Al-Hilal played an important role in forging Hindu-Muslim unity after the bad blood created between the two communities in the aftermath of Morley-Minto reforms. Al-Hilal became a revolutionary mouthpiece ventilating extremist view. The government regarded Al- Hilal as propagator of secessionist views and banned it in 1914. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad then started another weekly called Al-Balagh with the same mission of propagating Indian nationalism and revolutionary ideas based on Hindu-Muslim unity. In 1916, the government banned this paper too and expelled Maulana Abul Kalam Azad from Calcutta and internet him at Ranchi from where he was released after the First World War 1920.

After his release, Azad roused the Muslim community through the Khilafat Movement. The aim of the movement was to re-instate the Khalifa as the head of British captured Turkey.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad supported the Non-Cooperation Movement started by Gandhiji and entered Indian National Congress in 1920. He was elected as the president of the special session of the Congress in Delhi (1923). Maulana Azad was again arrested in 1930 for violation of the salt laws as part of Gandhiji's Salt Satyagraha. He was put in Meerut jail for a year and a half. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad became the president of Congress in 1940 (Ramgarh) and remained in the post till 1946. He was a staunch opponent of partition and supported a confederation of autonomous provinces with their own constitutions but common defense and economy. Partition hurt him greatly and shattered his dream of an unified nation where Hindus and Muslims can co-exist and prosper together.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad served as the Minister of Education (the first education minister in independent India) in Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet from 1947 to 1958. He died of a stroke on February 22, 1958. For his invaluable contribution to the nation, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honor, Bharat Ratna in 1992.

K. C. MAMMEN MAPILLAI | MEDIA ICON

 Background: K C Mammen Mappillai was born on 4th of May 1873 as the eldest son of Kandathil Cherian Mappillai and Mariamma. He had 2 older sisters 5 younger brothers and 2 younger sisters.

Education: He passed Matriculation from Thiruvalla High School, Intermediate (F A) from C M S College, Kottayam and B A from Madras Christian College.

After passing B A., he wanted to enter the Mysore Civil Service like some of his college-mates. But his uncle Varghese Mappillai, founder of Malayala Manorama persuaded him to come back to Kerala and become a schoolteacher. He joined M D Seminary High School and became its Headmaster. Varghese Mappillai persuaded his nephew to help him in the working of Malayala Manorama.

Varghese Mappillai (his uncle) passed away in July 1904, and the mantle of publishing the newspaper fell on the shoulders of Mammen Mappillai who was just 31 years old.

He resigned his Headmastership in 1908 and took over the publishing of Manorama as full time job. He became its longest Editor. During his time Manorama became a bi-weekly in 1918 and Daily in 1928.

Along with publishing he went into a number of business projects some of which never saw the light of Day. Shipping, Road Transport, Retail Shop, Book Publications etc. were some of them. However, he gave Kerala's economy a new bounce. He used Malayala Manorama to popularise cultivation, particularly rubber, the ‘money tree’ from Brazil. Rubber eventually became backbone of Kerala midlands and continues to be so.

One of the other institutions he had started was Travancore National bank. It was later amalgamated with Quilon Bank started by C P Mathen in 1936. The new name was Travancore National & Quilon Bank.

He took active part in the struggle of the Malankara Church against the Antiochian hegemony.

He was a member of the Modern Legislative Assembly of the Erstwhile State of Travancore. He played a key role in the struggle for Civil Rights and responsible Government.

The various activities of K C Mammen Mappillai were not appreciated by the then Dewan of Travancore Sir C P Ramaswamy Iyer, particularly his political activities, which had the support of his newspaper.

The Dewan of Travancore went all out to break the political activities of K C Mammen Mappillai. He made the Travancore Government seal the newspaper office. Owing to the adverse propaganda by Government the bank closed in 1938.

K C Mammen Mappillai was arrested and put in jail for 2 years.

In 1947 after India became independent, he came back to Kerala and restarted Malayala Manorama on 29th November 1947. He ran it with his eldest son K M Cherian till his death at midnight on December 3, 1953.

His anchor all through the crests and troughs was Mammy, his wife whom he married when he was just fifteen. She inspired him, comforted him and bore him nine children, all of whom made a mark in their chosen fields.

As a mark of respect to his departed soul, the Chief Minister of the then Travancore- Cochin, Sri A J John and his cabinet ministers led the funeral procession, which was a signal honour considering what the previous Dewan-led Government did to Malayala Manorama and K C Mammen Mappillai.

The K. C. Mammen Mappillai Award presented to the best student of the Manorama School of Communication was named after him.

His legacy lives on-in Malayala Manorama's undying love for freedom and in his indelible imprint on Kerala's destiny.