International Ostomy Association (IOA) has renamed their International Professional Service Award given out every year in the name of “Dr.Harikesh Buch Professional Service Award”. It’s a recognition to services given by Dr.Buch in the fields of Ostomy Care. A rare achievement by an Indian.
On the occasion of Republic Day, 2020 President has awarded appreciation certificate and medal to Shri Naresh Bhadrakumar Mankad for Specially Distinguished Record of Service.
The award is given to the officers and staff of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs ( CBIC).
Tribute to Shri Ninu Mazumdar on his Janma Shatabdi Year from SVNM Mumbai
Ninu Mazumdar, is known as a pioneer in popular Gujarati light music (Sugam Sangeet) along wih Avinash Vyas. This was a time when, due to efforts of a modern educated middle class, Gujarati music as well as theatre were coming out of the commercial melodrama and historicals. The new "light music" derived from classical Raagaas. Mazumdar's Garbaas and Bhajans became equally popular.
Kaumudi Munshi wed Ninu Mazumdar in 1954.
Ninu was a pet name that he became famous by. His real name was Niranjan, which he later used as a pen name in his Gazals. His father, Nagendra Mazumdar made silent films.
Ninu's mother and grandmother belonged to Surat, which had been at the forefront of the 19th century reforms movement in Gujarat. The family and social background were going to affect his search for music and knowledge that resulted in a secular and creative approach to scriptures, Sanskrit classics and medieval saint poetry.
After the early influence of Faiyaz Khan, Mazumdar's search took him to various routes and he studied different kinds of music before he came into his own to become one of the first GujaratiSugam Sangeet (light music) singer. He soon graduated to composing his own music and writing songs. Apart from classical music, the earlier influence was also of Ravindra Sangeet. This was at the time when Bengali language enjoyed the prestige among Gujaratis of a kind that was comparable to the status of French among the English speaking nations. He grew out of it in a few years.
The more lasting influence on his music was that of folk songs and semi-classical music of Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) like the Hori, Chaiti, Barkha Biraha as well asThumri and Dadra. He learned these during his stint in U.P. where he did farming for some years and also kept in touch through association with people like Satyendra Trivedi, a connoisseur of music and the "Thumri Queen", Siddheshwari Devi, a family friend and his wife Kaumudi's Guru.
Theatre and music critic Kumud Mehta, the first joint Director of NCPA (National Center of Performing Arts) was another friend with whom he had long debates on music and literature. He made several musical presentations during the early years of NCPA.
Ninu's ambition, even when he started his schooling in music at Baroda, was to become a music director in films. From 1937 onwards he participated in light Gujarati musical programmes; he also produced several features for All India Radio. From 1954, Mazumdar worked with all India Radio in Mumbai for over 20 years as Light Music Producer. He would have liked to take part in Hindi programmes too but the shortage of Gujarati artists forced him to concentrate on programmes in that language.
Field experts from the world of music and theatre were invited to join AIR and contribute creatively. Among the other field experts who joined at that time were P.L.Deshpande, violinist V.G.Jog, Ustad Hafiz Ahmed Khan and Anil Biswas. When in charge of music for the newly launched Vividh Bharati, that had to compete with Radio Ceylon without using any film music (film music was not played on AIR for several years due to conflicts over contracts and royalties), he successfully produced programmes inviting Salil Chaudhary, Kanu Ghosh and others from Bombay Youth Choir or IPTA and using voices of Manna Dey and other well known artists. Later when the issue of royalties was settled between the film producers and AIR, Mazumdar was the first to produce the popular Jaymala Programme by interviewing eminent persons from the film industry.
A career in films was also cut out for Ninu Mazumdar, as his father, Nagendra Mazumdar, was a dramatist and film producer. Nagendra was not much of a musician but he imparted his son training in music from the very early days.
Ninu found the field restricted, in way, in films, because of the need of working at a very fast pace and with view to pleasing the majority among the public. Ninu tried to introduce a new trend in film music, that of, adding a classical touch by borrowing from the old masters like Surdas. These attempts met with considerable success in Gopinath, a picture in which Ninu had interest as a producer as well.
It was in films made in the forties that a young Ninu Mazumdar's voice could be heard. He sang with Sardar Akhtar in "Uljhan", with Amirbai Karnataki in 'Paristan" and Meena Kapoor in "Gopinath".
He provided music for Jail Yatra and Gopinath, two of the earliest Raj Kapoor films. It is well documented by now that the Yashomati Maiyase Poochhe Nandlala song in RK movie Satyam Shivam Sundaram is a direct lift from Mazumdar's Aai Gori Radhika in Gopinath.
He also composed music for several Gujarati Films like "Jeevano Jugari", "Okha Haran", "Sharad Poonam" etc.
He sang and penned quite a few of his songs. Amongst others who sang for him were Meena Kapoor, Shamshad Begum, Geeta Dutt, Suraiya, Hameedabanu, Pradeepji, C.H.Atma, Ameerbai Karnataki, Raj Kapoor, Shankar Dasgupta, S.D.Batish, Lakshmi Shankar, Talat Mehmood, Siddheshwari Devi, Rajkumar, Nalini Mulgaonkar, Dilip Dholakia, Ajeet Merchant, Shobha Gurtu, Sarla Bhide, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosale, Manna Dey, Kishori Amonkar, Usha Mangeshkar, Leela Mehta, Premlata Naik, Kishori Ghia, Suman Kalyanpur, Kaumudi Munshi, Nirupama Sheth, Veena Mehta, Shubha Joshi, Rajul Mehta, Purushottam Upadhyay, Ashit Desai, Rekha Trivedi, Malay Banerjee, Uday Mazumdar, Aswini Bhide Deshpande, Shaivangi Desai, Ranjana Joglekar, Falguni Dalal etc.
Vetern composer Ninu Mazumdar passed away on March 3 2000. Some of his songs have become so popular that people often do not even remember who wrote or composed them.
Ninu Mazumdar has three daughters from his first wife Sharda who are achievers in their own right. Eldest daughter Rajul Mehta is a well known singer & has kept alive the legacy of her father's music & his literary compositions. Sonal Shukla is an established social worker & feminist causes and youngest daughter Minal Patel is a prominent theatre & film personality.
Medical Career 1960 to 1970—was in charge of Government Women's Hospital at Morvi in Rajkot district.
In 1979 During the Macchudam Calamity —I worked with late Mother Teresa. For that I received Sadhana Padma Award for Social Service award from Rotary Club.
I was in charge of Ladies Wing of Homeguard in Morvi. There were three platoons under me. I had lead general parade : men and women combined.
In 1956, when I was in dhermendrasinhji. College at Rajkot—l had joined very first Ladies Wing of N. C. C. which changed my life. i have always liked adventurous activities. So I did mountaineering training, Rock Climbing basic and advance at Mt Abu in 1974, then in 1975 ice and Snow Craft Ttraining.—under the late legend—Tenzing Norgay 1 st Everester .advance course at Nim.
Later I did many mountaineering expeditions like Tharkot, Nun, Koteshwar,Kala Pather- Everest base camp. Many tracking — Valley of Flowers. Hem Kund Sahib, Vasundhara Falls, Adi Kailash and Om Parbat.
In 1982 1 shifted to Vadodara. I have my own hospital. I Joined Gujarat Flying Club and got Private Pilot license with R T Ratings, I have 170 hrs. of Flying Experience.
I had been to Kargil and Drass—in 2001 --after the war. At that time I was 65 yrs old and worked with army for six weeks.
At age of 65, I started participating in competitive sports like Athletics and Swimming competitions at State, National and International levels and have got many gold medals. I participated in long distance swimming and open Sea Swimming competitions too.
Harmony Magazine –Published by Ambani Foundation - in 2006 gave me cover page among top Achiever of India like Yash Chopra- Film Director, Shri Madhvan Nair— ISRO, E. Sreedharan- Delhi Metro and many more.
My name was included in Limca Book Of Records in 2009 for sports and social service.
In 2009 the University Grants Commission made a documentary film on my life which was telecast on the Discovery and National Geography channels.
Since last 12 yrs, I am using bicycle as my vehicle. I have stopped using car and two wheelers. For different causes I have pedaled long distances, from Pune To Ahmedabad, Pune To Bangalore, Wagah Border To Agra, Bhuwaneshwar To Kolkata—For Safe Motherhood Bicycle Rally, Saurashtra Sea Coast – From Rajkot To Ahmedabad—Go Green Gujarat, From Mumbai To Delhi—For Environment. In 2011—From Kolkata To Kanyakumari— Go Green Girls - Women Expedition. Daily We Pedalled 1OO k.m. in 2013-“Save River Ganga” cycling expedition - from Gangotri To Gangasagar - 2500 k.m.
I Acted in a short film “We Shall Overcome” which was screened at Goa - International Film Festival On 26-11-2010. This Film received logistic support from Air Force Air Base - Vadodara.
Media— many magazines and newspapers have taken note of my achievements. Many TV channels have telecast my interviews.
I have given motivational lectures in many educational institutions and many organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary and Lions clubs.
At age of 73 yrs. 1 did Scuba Diving Training.
In 2010 - National Swim Competition – Lady Mayor of Hyderabad (A.P.) Facilitated me for Senior most Women Swimmer Of India.
In 2010 - We started project "Bal - Shali Gujarat” along with Retired Defense Personnel We visit Schools and colleges to make students aware about career opportunities in Defense. We Visited GTU Colleges —Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Porbander, Unjha, Vishnagar, Vadodara.
In 2011- December. Selected as Chair Person of Gujarat Chapter of Indian Women Pilot Association.
In January, 30th 2012 My Short Film “We Shall Overcome” was Screened at Jaipur International Film Festival.
Gynaec and Obstretic Society- Bog- awarded “Nova - Women Award " on 8th March- 2012.
Receipient of Bhaskar Women Award – 2012 - in Sports Category.
Limca Book of Records- included My Name in National Record -2013. For Paddling Cycle From Kolkata To Kanyakumari - 3000 K.M. at an Age of 75 yrs.
Indian Mountaineering Foundation -West Zone has Facilitated me and Awarded Trophy on 27th April, 2013 for my Adventures Activities.
Peace March on Cycle was Organized by Delhi University Students From 1st June 2013. I Joined Kanyakumari to Islamabad — “Love Thy Neighbour” them from Vadodara. I was only Women Participant. We could not get Visa for Islamabad so We returned from Wagah Border. We Celebrated 15th August at Wagah border. We Lighted candle there on 14th August Night.
Congratulations to Dr. Abhay Vasavada
Antarctic Experience (Kiral B Ghodadra)
Antarctica – The last frontier of this planet! Extremely remote & hostile frozen continent!
I was fortunate to get an opportunity to take part in the 36th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica for the year 2016-17. I was part of the Indian summer team. The process started quite early in the year 2016 before we headed for the Antarctic expedition. Everyone goes through a thorough medical fitness test at Delhi AIIMS & physical fitness test at Himachal. We too went through the same. We went through a rigorous physical fitness training at Indo Tibetan Border Police Force Training centre at Auli, Uttarakhand. The National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, organizes the Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica & ISRO has been actively participating in the same since years. Many other organizations and universities from the country participate for different research projects. Two women scientists were selected from Space Applications Centre, ISRO to bear the responsibility. One of our objectives was to estimate thickness of snow over land & sea ice using Ground Penetrating Radars (GPRs) and also to verify conditions of snow over sea & land ice. Another objective was to install stakes on ice for Differential Global Positioning System measurements to validate glacier surface velocity derived from satellite data. Expedition team members reported NCAOR, Goa on 16th Dec, 2016. Cape Town, South Africa is the launching point for the Indian expedition to Antarctica. We started our ship journey from Cape Town, South Africa to Antarctica on 27th Dec, 2016. Ship journey was through one of the roughest oceans of the Earth called Southern Ocean. India has two functional research bases in Antarctica – Bharati & Maitri. These are thousands of kilometres apart from each other. We performed our research work at both the research stations throughout our tenure at Antarctica. We returned to India on 6th April 2017 after successful completion of the expedition. Antarctic experiences are vast & hard to put into words. Antarctica is the coldest, driest & windiest continent. We could experience harsh climatic conditions like blizzards, extreme winds & absolute temperatures as low as -26 degrees with the feel of -42 degrees. It was a life time experience. I am thankful to the Director of Space Applications Centre, Shree Tapan Misra for giving me this unparalleled opportunity.
Expedition team members reported NCAOR, Goa on 16th Dec, 2016. Cape Town, South Africa is the launching point for the Indian expedition to Antarctica. We started our ship journey from Cape Town, South Africa to Antarctica on 27th Dec, 2016. Ship journey was through one of the roughest oceans of the Earth called Southern Ocean. India has two functional research bases in Antarctica – Bharati & Maitri. These are thousands of kilometres apart from each other. We performed our research work at both the research stations throughout our tenure at Antarctica. We returned to India on 6th April 2017 after successful completion of the expedition. Antarctic experiences are vast & hard to put into words. Antarctica is the coldest, driest & windiest continent. We could experience harsh climatic conditions like blizzards, extreme winds & absolute temperatures as low as -26 degrees with the feel of -42 degrees. It was a life time experience. I am thankful to the Director of Space Applications Centre, Shree Tapan Misra for giving me this unparalleled opportunity.
