Rest in peace, Budhadeb Bhattacharjee, 80. Chief Minister of West Bengal for 11 years.
Olympics. Bronze in Hockey. Sreejesh bids farewell. Neeraj Chopra gets Silver in Javelin. Aman Sehrwat gets Bronze in Wrestling. Vinesh Phogat calls it a day. The Court of Arbitration for Sports would decide whether she would get a medal or not. In 3-4 days.
Bangladesh. Prof Muhammad Yunus, Nobel peace laureate, took oath as Chief Adviser, head of interim government. There are 16 more advisers. 13 took oath. 3 more may join in soon. These include: Salesh Uddin Ahmed, earlier Governor, Academic, Civil servant; Asif Nazrul, Professor, writer, rights activist; Adilur Rahman Khan, lawyer, Human Rights; AF Hasn Arif, senior advocate; Tauhid Hossain, former foreign secretary; Syeda Rizwana Hasan, environmentalist, lawyer, Ramon Magsasay awardee; Md Nahid Islam, student leader; Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan, student leader; Brig Gen (retired) M Sakhawat Hossain, former Election Commissioner, Military administration; Supradip Chakma, former ambassador, external affairs; Farida Akhtar, socio-economic policy researcher, women empowerment; Bidhan Ranjan Roy, mental health; Khalid Hasan, islamic scholar; Noorjahan Begum, associate of Yunus in Grameen Bank; Sharmin Murshid, non-profit and social initiatives; Farooq-e-zam Vir Prateek, celebrated liberation war commander, independence movement worker. Portfolios for the advisers and chief adviser have been made and announced.
Hope this interim government and these advisers take back Bangla soon to its journey of democracy, governance, well-being, and prosperity.
‘Tribal communities’ were an important Gurukulam for me. 1000 days and nights. Being completely amidst them, 24×7, under their watchful eyes, their life, living, livelihood processes can have only one lasting influence, of becoming a better human being. Grateful to them forever, for this blessing.
Tribal Communities, Indigenous People. Adivasis. Scheduled Tribes. Janjati. 730 STs notified with 12 Crore people in India, 9% today. With their own languages, dialects. 30 lakh of them are in 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, PVTGs. India has the second largest tribal population in the world. Mizoram, Lakshadweep have nearly 100%. Punjab and Haryana have near zero. Most of the tribal communities, 75%, are in the tribal belt from Gujarat to West Bengal. Second largest ST concentration is in the North East. Tribal communities and their habitations may be endowed with natural resources, rich cultural heritage, legacy, etc. On the other hand, their socio-economic condition is the weakest, lagging behind the mainstream in terms of literacy (including literacy of women), health, life expectancy, per capita income, wealth, etc. The ‘original inhabitants’ have been pushed deep into interiors. Their resources have been taken over, or devalued. Their local self-sufficiency and self-reliance is undermined. Their governance structures have been tampered with. Safeguards have not been honoured, or lip-serviced. Their natural sustainable methods have been undermined.
These communities have wisdom, stamina within them. In spirit, they are ahead of us. In material, can they transcend us? Can they have agency, choices, take charge of their destinies? Can the mainstream pay forward? Can we? Can we have more of us with them?
Yes, we can. If we coexist, if we coexist with the spirited, in flow. In N? janaatmikayoga for 7L.
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