Another weekend, another pole for Indian racer Atiqa Mir
Abu Dhabi (PTI): Formula 1 Academy-backed Indian racer Atiqa Mir showed scorching speed for her second pole position in as many weeks before picking up a Heat win in Round 2 of the RMC UAE Karting Championship here.
After a pole and podium finish in the Formula 1-backed COTFA series last week, Atiqa switched seamlessly into a different equipment to set blistering pace at the Al Forsan Circuit. She is the first Indian to be supported by Formula 1.
In the Official Practice sessions, Atiqa topped three out of the four sessions and clocked the fastest time of the day in a highly competitive field of international drivers. She was the only female.
Atiqa, who turned 11 last week, carried that form into qualifying, clinching pole position in the dying minutes of the session with a sizzling time of 60.686 seconds.
Representing Akcel GP, she led from the front in the Heat race for a deserving victory. She lost the lead briefly on Lap 1 before regaining it soon after and pulling away from the field of 18 drivers.
In the pre-final race, Atiqa suffered a big crash while fighting for the lead on the last lap, injuring her elbow.
Her determination and fighting spirit came to the fore when she drove the final lap with the injury and a broken kart. After making up five places on the opening lap, Atiqa's kart developed a technical problem, forcing an early retirement.
”What could have been a dominant weekend ended back in the pits. But that is racing, we are racing so close to each other at such high speeds that crashes are bound to happen.
"I got a hard hit on my elbow and it is bruised quite badly. I wanted to fight and get back to the front in the final but it wasn’t meant to be as my panel broke and due to that I couldn’t drive," said Atiqa.
Her father and former Formula Asia Vice Champion Asif Mir said luck was not on her daughter's side this weekend but at the same time, called the collision part of racing.
“A dominant show by her, a slight touch with another kart changed her entire weekend. She deserved a better result but that is how it goes sometimes in sport. She is driving at a high level week in and week out in different karting championships.
"She has to switch engines, tyres almost every weekend and she is able to adjust well,” said Asif.
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Jai Bhim: Slogan that energised Dalits was first given at this central Maharashtra village
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (PTI): 'Jai Bhim': These two words have come to symbolise the awakening and empowerment of the Dalit community in independent India, but not many people know how it originated.
The slogan, which also encapsulates the immense reverence in which Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is held, was first raised at the Makranpur Parishad, a conference organised at Makranpur village in Kannad teshil of today's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district in Maharashtra.
Ambedkar, the chief architect of India's Constitution, died on December 6, 1956.
Bhausaheb More, the first president of the Scheduled Castes Federation of Marathwada, organised the first Makranpur Parishad on December 30, 1938.
Dr Ambedkar spoke at the conference and asked the people not to support the princely state of Hyderabad under which much of central Maharashtra then fell, said Assistant Commissioner of Police Pravin More, Bhausaheb's son.
"When Bhausaheb stood up to speak, he said every community has its own deity and they greet each other using the name of that deity. Dr Ambedkar showed us the path of progress, and he is like God to us. So henceforth, we should say 'Jai Bhim' while meeting each other. The people responded enthusiastically. A resolution accepting 'Jai Bhim' as the community's slogan was also passed," More told PTI.
"My father came in contact with Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in his early years. Bhausaheb was aware of the atrocities the Nizam state committed on Dalits. He told Ambedkar about these atrocities, including the pressure to convert. Dr Ambedkar was strongly against these atrocities, and he decided to attend the 1938 conference," he said.
As Ambedkar was against the princely states, he was banned from giving speeches in the Hyderabad state but was allowed to travel through its territories. The Shivna river formed the border between Hyderabad and British India. Makranpur was chosen as the venue for the first conference because it was on the banks of Shivna but lay in the British territory, ACP More said.
The stage made of bricks, from where Dr Ambedkar addressed the conference, still stands. The conference is organised on December 30 every year to carry forward Ambedkar's thought, and the tradition was not discontinued even in 1972 when Maharashtra experienced one of the worst droughts in it history.
"My grandmother pledged her jewellery for the conference expenses. People from Khandesh, Vidarbha and Marathwada attended it. Despite a ban imposed by the Nizam's police, Ambedkar's followers crossed the river to attend the event," said ACP More.
"This is the 87th year of Makranpur Parishad. We have deliberately retained the venue as it helps spread Ambedkar's thought in rural areas," he added.
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