Prince Philip. Duke of Edinburgh aged 99, passes away !!

Prince Philip. Duke of Edinburgh aged 99,  passes away at Windsor Castle

The Queen today announced with 'deep sorrow' the death of her husband Prince Philip at the age of 99, her 'strength and guide' throughout their 73-year marriage and her 69-year reign. The Duke of Edinburgh spent his final days at Windsor Castle with his wife after a 28-night stay in hospital having been admitted in mid-February for an infection and a pre-existing heart condition. Her Majesty announced her husband's death at midday as the Union Flag was lowered to half-mast outside Buckingham Palace and on public buildings across the UK and Commonwealth.

          Philip, born in June 1921, was a Prince of Greece but with no Greek blood and in fact had complex background.  His Family fled Corfu in December 1922 after father, in Greek army, was arrested and charged with high treason. Evacuated on a British warship, he was carried into exile in a makeshift cot made from an old orange box. After fleeing Corfu, Philip's family finally arrived in Paris, and were dependent on relatives for financial help . 

To understand History better, there were Emperors of India.  George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 1895 – 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was the last Emperor of India and the first Head of the Commonwealth.  Though he lived between 1895 to 1952, he was Emperor of India for the period 11.12.1936 till 22.6.1948 i.e., for a period slightly over 11 years 6 months.  For the records,  there were only 5 Emperors : Queen Victoria,    Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII and George VI.

In September 1939, the British Empire and Commonwealth—but not Ireland—declared war on Nazi Germany. War with the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Japan followed in 1940 and 1941, respectively. George was seen as sharing the hardships of the common people and his popularity soared. Buckingham Palace was bombed during the Blitz while the King and Queen were there, and his younger brother, the Duke of Kent, was killed on active service. George became known as a symbol of British determination to win the war.   George relinquished the title of Emperor of India in June 1948 and instead adopted the new title of Head of the Commonwealth. He was beset by smoking-related health problems in the later years of his reign and died of coronary thrombosis in 1952. He was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II.  

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was a member of the British royal family as the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.  After being educated in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, he joined the British Royal Navy in 1939, aged 18.  During the Second World War he served with distinction in the Mediterranean and Pacific Fleets. After the war, Philip was granted permission by George VI to marry Elizabeth. Before the official announcement of their engagement in July 1947, he abandoned his Greek and Danish titles and styles, became a naturalised British subject, and adopted his maternal grandparents' surname Mountbatten. He married Elizabeth on 20 November 1947.  

Philip had four children with Elizabeth: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. Through a British Order in Council issued in 1960, descendants of the couple not bearing royal styles and titles can use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor, which has also been used by some members of the royal family who do hold titles, such as Anne, Andrew, and Edward. A sports enthusiast, Philip helped develop the equestrian event of carriage driving. He was a patron, president, or member of over 780 organisations, and he served as chairman of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, a self-improvement program for young people aged 14 to 24.  He was the longest-serving consort of a reigning British monarch and the longest-lived male member of the British royal family.   

The day before the wedding, King George VI bestowed the style of Royal Highness on Philip and, on the morning of the wedding, 20 November 1947, he was made the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich of Greenwich in the County of London.  Philip and Elizabeth were married in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey, recorded and broadcast by BBC radio to 200 million people around the world.  Philip was introduced to the House of Lords on 21 July 1948, immediately before his uncle Louis Mountbatten, who had been made Earl Mountbatten of Burma.

Elizabeth II (here being referred as wife of Philip) was born in 1926 – and is   Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms. Her father ascended the throne on the abdication of his brother King Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive.  

Homage to Mr Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
9.4.2021

  

IPL 14 - is all set to begin !!

Cricket’s biggest extravaganza – ‘Indian Premier League” is all set to begin a few hours from now .. .. at Chennai but not involving the local yellow brigade CSK!

The 2021 Indian Premier League, (Vivo IPL 14)  is scheduled to be played between 9 April to 30 May 2021 across six different venues.  Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium, the first stop in a tournament that will be played entirely on neutral grounds. This night it will be  Mumbai Indians  and Royal Challengers Bangalore will see a rigorous test of their adaptability.

Of the many things that CSK is proud of - Chennai Super Kings has been the only team that has not changed its captain so far.  .. .. IPL is a great money spinner, a great entertainer, newer situations and rules get challenged – sixes galore and it is no stranger to controversies too – in 2015 Umpire asked Kieron Pollard to remain calm,  and the West Indian came with a tape over his mouth !

It's only been five months since the Mumbai Indians won their fifth title in Dubai, and the IPL is back already. It's back, and it's back home, but the eerie, not-of-this-world feeling that accompanied the 2020 edition of the tournament will persist, simply because the world hasn't changed all that much in the interim. One cannot refrain asking the Q – at a time when India is recording 1 lakh new Covid casea a day since April 4 – is the tournament necessary.  

Looking back in 2007, BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) announced the start of the Indian Premier League and an year later there were matches. The man who honed it was  Lalit Modi, Commissioner of the league – who later fell to infamy moving out of the country. Before IPL, a similar styled ICL (Indian Cricket League) did not take off.   The first match of IPL was played on 18 April 2008 between ‘ Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalroe’ – first ball being bowled by Praveen Kumar (remember him !) to dada Sourav Ganguly. 

 

Life has changed a lot these 14 years and now a resurgent pandemic with new strains, multiple positive cases within teams - including a few inside their bubbles, and the variables thrown up by the logistics: venues spread across India and the need for air travel- all pose very big challenges.  Last year IPL was played outside India at UAE  - in fact  three venues:  Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. The day the tournament began, the UAE had 674 new cases; it crossed 1000 a week into the tournament and stayed at that level right through (1096 new cases on the day of the final). Now perhaps Chennai city not to speak of Mumbai or Delhi has more cases !!

Over the years   BCCI suspended Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, for "alleged acts of individual misdemeanours". The suspension notice was served on him by Rajeev Shukla, BCCI vice-president, and N Srinivasan, the board secretary, sending an e-mail to the same effect.  Later Mr N Srinivasan too fell out.   In May 2012, arising out sting operations 5 players - TP Sudhindra (Deccan Chargers), Mohnish Mishra (Pune Warriors), Amit Yadav, Shalabh Srivastava (Kings XI Punjab) and Abhinav Bali, Delhi cricketer – were accused of involvement in spot fixing.  An year later,   3 players of Rajasthan Royals (Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila) were arrested by Delhi Police on charges of spot fixing. Same year,   Gurunath Meiyappan, a top official of the Chennai Super Kings franchise and son-in-law of BCCI president N. Srinivasan was arrested in Mumbai by Mumbai Crime Branch in connection with illegal betting. Amidst the melee in 2012,   US citizen Zohal Hamid accused, player Luke Pomersbach for molesting her.  In 2013, Chennai erupted with trouble and Srilankan cricketers or match officials were not allowed in Chennai matches !

.. .. .. .. yet in a few hours from now – IPL 14 would start and most of us would be engrossed in seeing the matches !  Gleaning my archives, here is something written and posted by me  a decade back on the start of IPL 4  : 

The WC was won – but it was apparent that there was the might of batting and cool captaincy.  Zaheer was indeed the leading wicket taker, but India lacked a genuine quickie…  do we look to Jharkhand for another solution ? Recently in a domestic match, the red cherry kicked lots of dust, bounced from the soil and went past the batsman – Niraj Patel – the bowler stared at and the batsman smiled back in approval – something unimaginable had happened !!

There certainly is overdose of Cricket but the victory in WC would do more good and reap in more money for the IPL.  Here players won’t complain of fatigue or mental depression.  There could different loyalty bases sans the geographical borders – there sure going to be some buzz of action in the fourth edition of the popular tournament which starts today with a match involving Chennai Super Kings and Kolkatta Knight Riders.  Dhoni Vs Gambhir – KKR had been through it all from glory to humiliation in the previous editions.

The 2011 IPL called IPL 4 is the fourth season of Indian Premier League started by the BCCI in 2007.  The opening ceremony would kick off today at Chepauk, Chennai.  The season will run from April 8th to May 28th.    Different from the previous 3 editions, this season will see 10 teams battling it out – the new teams being Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers – 5 teams are captained by Indians – Dhoni, Gambhir, Sehwag, Yuvraj and Sachin ; then there is Warne, Sangakkara, Mahela, Gilchrist and Vettori.    In this 10 team format, there would be 74 matches.   The ten teams are divided into two groups of five.

In the group stage, each  team plays 14 games: facing the other four teams in their group two times each (one home and one away game), four teams in the other group once, and the remaining team two times.  Whilst every team would play the other in their group twice, they would play the team in their row in the other group twice, rest once.   Thus in the above XL, teams play twice those in their column and row.

In the first edition in 2008, there were 59 matches.  The 8 teams played each other twice.  RR defeated CSK in a last ball thriller.  The 2009 season coincided with general elections in India and was conducted in South African.  Deccan Chargers emerged winners defeating RCB in the final.    In 2010, DC could not play on their own ground due to Telangana trouble  CSK won the finals beating MI.  CSK has added Nuwan Kulasekara and Tim Southee and Aniruddha Srikkanth might walk out with Murali vijay with Raina, Badri, Dhoni and Albie to follow. KKR has Gauti, Ten doeschate, Kallis, Eoin Morgan and Yusuf.

Now coming to the dust at the first para, it was Varun Aaron from Jharkhand who bowled probably the fastest ball in Indian cricket, sadly infront of no spectators at all.   It was in the  Vijay Hazare Trophy final between Jharkhand and Gujarat  with people engrossed in WC, the 21-year-old tear-away quick bowled a delivery at 153 kmph.  Varun Raymond Aaron,  right-arm medium-fast bowler hails from Jamshedpur.  He made his first class debut against Jammu and Kashmir in 2008.   He was selected by Ganguly earlier and eventually has a contract in IPL 2010.  In the Deodhar match against West Zone at Sawai Mansingh Stadium this month, he delivered one at 147 kmph.  He was born in 1989 and is only 21.

In 2008 he along with Shrikant Bhaskar Wagh of MRF Pace foundation, represented Australian Institute of Sport team in the fourth year of the Emerging Players Tournament.  In the recent Deodhar against a strong WZ he took 5 for 47.  May be we see more of him and such new players emerging in the IPL in the years to come which augurs well to Indian Cricket. Meantime, some teams could struggle to have the final eleven, as they made some illogical picks in the auction, despite the fact that they could have only 4 overseas players in the final playing eleven.  

Regards – S. Sampathkumar.
9^th April 2021.

  

CRPF commando - Rakeshwar Singh Manhas, returns !!

Bastar is a district in the state of Chhattisgarh is in news for wrong reasons !  Jagdalpur is the district headquarters. Bastar is bounded   by Narayanpur District,   Kondagaon District,   Nabarangpur and Koraput Districts of Odisha State, and by Dantewada and Sukma. The district possesses a unique blend of tribal and Odia culture. Bastar and Dantewada districts were formerly part of the princely state of Bastar. Bastar was founded in the early 14th century, by Annama Deva, the brother of Kakatiya King Pratapa Rudra Deva of Warangal in Telangana. After India achieved independence in 1947, the princely states of Bastar and Kanker acceded to the Government of India, and were merged to form Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh. The district,   was one of the largest in India when formed.

 

Maoism, is failed principle perhaps but violent one at that.  The philosophical difference between Maoism and traditional Marxism–Leninism is that the peasantry are the revolutionary vanguard in pre-industrial societies rather than the proletariat. This updating and adaptation of Marxism–Leninism to Chinese conditions in which revolutionary praxis is primary and ideological orthodoxy is secondary represents urban Marxism–Leninism adapted to pre-industrial China.  

COBRA (backronym for COmmando Battalion for Resolute Action) is a special operation unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)  proficient in guerrilla tactics and jungle warfare. Originally established to counter the Naxalite problem, CoBRA is deployed to address insurgent groups engaging in asymmetrical warfare.

The Nation was shocked and saddened to read that as many as 22 bodies of soldiers were found from the site of the gunfight that broke out between security forces and Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region on Saturday. While 32 soldiers were injured, 1 was reported missing. Bijapur's superintendent of police Kamalochan Kashyap confirmed the toll.  Since the 2010 Chintalnar massacre, the Dantewada-Sukma-Bijapur axis has claimed the lives of more than 175 security force personnel, besides several civilians. While the Chintalnar encounter saw 76 CRPF men killed, the latest encounter in Bijapur Saturday led to the death of 22 security personnel.

A look at the data on Maoist violence in Chhattisgarh shows that most attacks and casualties have happened between March and July. Sources say this is because the CPI (Maoist) usually launches its tactical counter-offensive campaign between February and the end of June. This campaign involves aggressive military operations against security forces before the monsoons—that make movement difficult—hit the region. The key concern is that security forces are still struggling in this region, known as Bastar, despite the campaign against the Left-wing extremists starting around 15 years ago.

A host of factors—remoteness, jungle terrain, absence of administration and lack of political will—have been blamed for the slow progress there. Sources in the security establishment say the eradication of the movement in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Odisha has led to a concentration of cadre and leaders in the Bastar region—which provides easy movement for the rebels across borders because of its proximity to other states. Most, however, point to absence of roads, communication and proper administration as the main reason for Maoists continuing to hold the area. Some also point to the Chhattisgarh police having been “reluctant” over the years to take the lead in the fight.

The good news is :  Rakeshwar Singh Manhas, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) commando who went missing during a deadly encounter in Chhattisgarh last week, was released after five days in Maoist captivity. 

“Bastar has some good news for the nation,” a police source said. Manhas was released in the presence of social worker Dharampal Saini and Gondwana Samaj chief Gelam Boraiya — they were in talks with Maoists for the jawan’s safe return —  and hundreds of villagers, according to the source. An 11-member team that went to bring Manhas back also featured seven local journalists. Sources said Manhas was brought to a camp in Tarrem — the area where the encounter took place. A CRPF official said Manhas will undergo health checkups and that he did not have any “apparent injury”. The jawan was admitted to Basaguda field hospital for medical examination. Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel congratulated the team that brought Manhas back.

It is time that Governments acted tough and eradicate completely the menace of Naxals.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
8.4.2021. 

Perungamanallur massacre ......... ... Theeran athikaram onru !!

You may have read about ‘Operation Bawari’ or have come to know about it otherwise.  It was a well planned operation by Special TN Police  against organized dacoity, murder and robbery that were prevalent in residential areas near the National Highway during 1995 - 2006 that was carried out by the notorious group of lorry drivers who belonged to Bawaria community. The operation was launched by Tamil Nadu Police in January 2005 soon after the murder of AIADMK Gummidipoondi MLA Sudarsanam when armed dacoits struck affluent houses surrounding the National Highway in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Perungamanallur is a village in Peraiyur taluk, Sedapatti block, Madurai district   and part of Usilampatti (State Assembly Constituency) .. .. .. and this is a post on the massacre that shook the Nation but was never part of our History in school books and elsewhere. !!

History has a way of leaving unfortunate legacies. “If the Local Government has reason to believe that any tribe, gang or class of persons is addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences, it may report the case to the Governor General in Council, and may request his permission to declare such tribe, gang or class to be a criminal tribe.”  quoted from the Criminal Tribes Act (CTA) of 1871.

Various pieces of legislation in India during British rule since the 1870s were collectively called the Criminal Tribes Act (CTA). They criminalized entire communities by designating them as habitual criminals. Under these acts, ethnic or social communities in India which were defined as "addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences" such as thefts, were systematically registered by the government. Since they were described as "habitually criminal", restrictions on their movements were also imposed. Adult male members of such groups were forced to report weekly to the local police.

At the time of Indian independence in 1947, thirteen million people in 127 communities faced search and arrest if any member of the group was found outside the prescribed area. The Act was repealed in August 1949 and former "criminal tribes" were denotified in 1952, when the Act was replaced with the Habitual Offenders Act 1952 of Government of India, and in 1961 state governments started releasing lists of such tribes.

At a glance, it might look like the CTA was brought about to instil order and security by the colonial authorities, but contemporary historians are now seeing the measure as a part of a wider attempt at social engineering which, for example, saw the categorisation of castes as being “agricultural” or “martial” or recognising which groups were loyal to the colonial government and therefore suitable for military recruitment, respectively. 

Perungamanallur killings, took place on April 3, 1920, and in someways can be regarded as the south Indian Jallianwala.  There is a black pillar with a burning torch on top in Perungamanallur silently lamenting  the heartrending story of villagers who fought for their rights against an Act.

It was the unfair Criminal Tribes Act  that triggered the carnage. The British Government introduced the Act in 1870 and implemented it in 1914 on communities like Keezhakudi Kallar and Thogamalai Kuravar. The Act was first implemented on Keezhakudi. In 1919, the whole of Piramalai Kallar community came under the scan of Criminal Tribes Act. According to the Act, the members of Kallar community had to register themselves by submitting their thumb impression at the respective police stations. In addition, male members above 16 years had to spend their nights in police stations and get police permission to visit their relatives.

As a result, villagers who resented being labelled as criminals, disobeyed the order. Residents of Perungamanallur were the first to oppose registration. Residents of Kaalappanpatti and Kaniyampatti joined them in the protest, which resulted in the firing. Soon the resistance spread to nearby villages like Melaurappanur, Poosalapuram and Sorikampatti. In the melee, scores of protestors were killed. “As per Government record, only 12 persons including one woman named Mayakkal were killed,” says Su.Venkatesan, who has authored a 1300-page novel, ‘Kaaval Kottam', dealing with life in Madurai region.

So a century ago,   16 persons were killed in Perungamanallur, near Sedapatti resisting CTA.  Reportedly Kallars who were brought under this black section were compelled to sleep at Police station daily thereby making life of the community stark and difficult.  Refusals to appear for registration saw several armed policemen go to the village of Perungamanallur near Sedapatti, protests by the Kallars resulted in indiscriminate firing where 15 Kallar men and one woman was killed.  Historian David Arnold in his book ‘Police Power and Colonial Rule Madras, 1859-1947' writes, "The police fired 89 rounds of ball and 17 of buckshot at villagers armed only with spears, sticks, stones and sickles, eleven were killed outright and of the eight others seriously injured, three died later."

Sad such outrageous murder went unnoticed and not so well recorded in the History – despite such  heinous crime committed by Britishers, we read merciful Cawning and our rulers were so good, providing so much of good for the Nation and .. the last straw that freedom was obtained without bloodshed –‘freedom obtained by Gandhi and Congresss without knife or war !’. 

Before concluding, the then Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, Ms Jayalalithaa ordered intensive action against the culprits and thereby Operation Bawaria. Director General of Police S. R. Jangid along with Additional Director General of Police Sanjay Arora led a team to investigate.  Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru released in 2017,  written and directed by H. Vinoth with Karthi on lead was based on true events from the Operation Bawaria case. 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
6.4.2021.