Eid al-Adha: Celebration sweeps across the Muslim world

Agencies
August 11, 2019

Dubai, Aug 11: Joy and celebrations are sweeping across the UAE and the Muslim world as residents and visitors mark Eid Al Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, on Sunday.

The annual Islamic festival, which this year begins on August 11 in the UAE, sees Muslims offer a sacrificial animal (typically a goat or sheep) in gratitude for Allah’s blessings.

Eid Al Adha is named after the sacrificial ritual, one of the rites of the Haj in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, where some 2 million Muslims from around the world have gathered for the annual occasion.

Public holiday

In the UAE, Eid Al Adha is being celebrated as a four-day public holiday, from Saturday (August 10) to Tuesday (August 13).

This is the moment when residents visit each other’s homes for Eid greetings and go out for a variety of dining, entertainment and shopping options.

Cattle markets and abattoirs had already prepared days in advance for the Eid rush to buy and sacrifice livestock.

It is common practice to gift some of the sacrificial meat, donate a part to charity and consume the rest at home. The sacrificial rite is preceded by the Eid congregational prayer held in large mosques and open areas shortly after sunrise.

‘Days of Eating’

The days of Eid Al Adha — the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th of the month of Haj — are also known “as the days of eating and drinking”.

Family lunches as well as meals or tea parties with friends at home are a main part of the festivities. Traditionally, Muslims cook some of the meat from the sacrificial animal for lunch or dinner. Many people also like to head out to restaurants.

Sweets, too, are a major flavour of Eid and shops are brimming with treats. As usual, especially in demand are traditional stuffed dates, Arabic sweets, dry fruits and chocolates, shopkeepers said. A salesman at a sweetshop in Diyafah said customers keep shopping till 4am on the eve of Eid.

Richly-decorated special Eid packaging and trays laden with sweets can be seen at the shops. Some non-Muslims are also buying sweets as gifts for Muslim colleagues and friends.

Children are in for a double treat as elders present them cash gifts called ‘Eidiya’ or ‘Eidee’.

Events and attractions
The UAE, like other Muslim countries, has organised a range of Eid events and activities.

Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE) is rolling out its ‘Eid in Dubai — Al Adha’ calendar of events with a focus on family fun.

There will be stage performances and roaming shows at malls, including Ibn Battuta Mall, Mercato Mall, and City Centre Mirdif, among others.

A complete line up of things to do for Eid is available on www.eidindubai.ae and on @dssoscial accounts of DFRE.

There will be fireworks at Dubai Festival City Mall on Sunday and Monday, at 8pm and 10pm.

Also, from Sunday to Tuesday, IMG Worlds of Adventure will be hosting shows between 11am and 11pm. Meanwhile, Modhesh World, a free-to-enter entertainment park at Dubai World Trade Centre, will continue to provide games, rides and entertainment throughout the Eid break and beyond.

Play areas and activations will also be offered at Children’s City, at Creek Park Gate 1, on Monday and Tuesday from 11am to 1pm, and then 4pm to 6pm.

Despite the hot weather, some families will be heading to public parks, beaches and tourist spots for an Eid getaway; while others have planned staycations at UAE resorts for the long weekend.

Online shopping is in
Shopping for new clothes and gifts is also a main aspect of Eid and this year many residents logged in for online deals instead of heading to the mall.

“We start shopping for Eid about 10 days ahead, beginning with the gifts and the new outfits to the groceries,” Alexandre LeChef, a French-Syrian public relations director and father-of-two, told Gulf News.

“I don’t want to miss out on the latest toys and must-haves, so this is what I usually pick up first, including video games, consoles and toys. We’ve also managed to find our Eid outfits, but need to get matching shoes that will please my two daughters.”

LeChef said he likes to finish his shopping early, including picking up ingredients for the traditional sweets and pastries.

Like Le Chef, Ansar Babu, a 39-year-old marketing executive from India, said he prefers to shop with his wife.

“We have families on both sides living here, and Eid is very a family affair. So we spend quite a bit of our time getting clothes for the family, and also to present as gifts to our extended family. There were quite a few sales on last weekend, and we’ve managed to get everything we wanted,” Babu said.

This Eid, Babu and his family are also focusing on renovating their house, and they so ended up making a few household purchases.

Sara Mousa, a 25-year-old Canadian-Egyptian media executive, said she loves to dress to the nines on Eid.

“I love wearing new clothes and accessorising, but had put off my purchases till the last minute. Everything seemed a tad expensive despite the sales. If I don’t find what I’m looking for, online shopping is always an option,” she said.

LeChef agreed, saying he had found a number of bargains online.

“I was able to find a few things that I couldn’t find in stores, and they were delivered the very next day too,” he added.

To ensure the safety and security of residents in the Eid rush, police departments nationwide are deploying extra units and operating special 24-hour patrols. Public transport services have also been extended to meet high passenger demand during the festive season. Meanwhile, public parking has been made free for the Eid holidays.

What is Eid Al Adha?

The Muslim festival marks the completion of rite of sacrifice during the annual Haj pilgrimage to the holy city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Devotees globally also sacrifice an animal, usually a sheep or goat, to show gratitude for the blessings of Islam.

Muslims believe Allah accepted a ram as a sacrifice from Prophet Ebrahim (PBUH) after he had tested him with the order to sacrifice his son Prophet Ishmael (PBUH). When he obeyed, his son was replaced by a ram.

Eid routine

The first day of Eid Al Adha starts with group Eid prayers held in larges mosques and dedicated open spaces in each emirate shortly after sunrise. Many worshippers proceed to purchase a goat or sheep (or a camel or cow, in some cases) from the livestock market so they can offer the Eid sacrifice at abattoirs.

It is recommended to gift some of the sacrificial meat, donate a part in charity and consume the rest at home. Eid dishes are a main part of festivities, as the Eid days are known as “the days of eating and drinking” in Islam.

Muslims put on their best clothes for the occasion. They also gift money to children in a tradition called “Eidiya” or “Eidee”.

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News Network
March 27,2024

IPLbettingsuicide.jpg

Bengaluru: Darshan Babu is an engineer who is fond of betting on cricket matches and has been placing major bets on Indian Premier League (IPL) games since 2021. He often borrows money after losing a bet, or to place one when he is short on funds. His 23-year-old wife, tired of the constant harassment by creditors, died by suicide.

Ranjitha was found hanging at her home in Karnataka's Chitradurga on March 18. According to the family, Darshan had racked up a debt of over Rs 1 crore.

He worked as an assistant engineer in the Minor Irrigation Department at Hosadurga and had been ensnared in the realm of IPL betting from 2021 to 2023. This took a major toll on the couple's finances. Allegedly, he had borrowed over Rs 1.5 crore to place bets after his luck ran out and he lost all his money. While he managed to return Rs 1 crore, cops say that he still has a pending loan of ₹ 84 lakh.

Ranjitha married Darshan in 2020. She realised the truth about Darshan's involvement in betting in 2021, claims her father Venkatesh.

In his complaint, Venkatesh said that his daughter was extremely distressed due to the constant harassment by moneylenders and this led to her suicide. He has also named 13 men who had allegedly lent the money.

He said that his son-in-law was lured into betting with a promise of quick money.

"He (Darshan) was not willing to get into betting, but the suspects forced him saying it was an easy way to get rich. They promised to finance his betting activities against some blank cheques as security," he said.

Cops during their investigation found a suicide note, where she detailed the harassment they faced. Darshan and Ranjitha have a two-year-old son.

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News Network
March 21,2024

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New Delhi: India has now become more unequal in terms of wealth concentration than the British colonial period as income and wealth of the top 1% of the country’s population have hit historical highs, according to a paper released by World Inequality Lab.

By 2022-23, the top 1 per cent income share in India was 22.6 per cent and the top 1 per cent wealth share rose to 40.1 per cent, with India’s top 1 per cent income share among the very highest in the world, higher than even South Africa, Brazil and the US.

Co-authored by economists Nitin Kumar Bharti, Lucas Chancel, Thomas Piketty, and Anmol Somanchi, the paper stated that the “Billionaire Raj” headed by “India’s modern bourgeoisie” is now more unequal than the British Raj headed by the colonialist forces. 

The paper said there is evidence to suggest the Indian tax system might be “regressive when viewed from the lens of net wealth”. A restructuring of the tax code is needed, the paper said, adding that a levy of a “super tax” of 2 per cent on the net wealth of 167 wealthiest families would yield 0.5 per cent of national income in revenues and create space for investments.

“A restructuring of the tax code to account for both income and wealth, and broad-based public investments in health, education and nutrition are needed to enable the average Indian, and not just the elites, to meaningfully benefit from the ongoing wave of globalisation. Besides serving as a tool to fight inequality, a “super tax” of 2% on the net wealth of the 167 wealthiest families in 2022-23 would yield 0.5% of national income in revenues and create valuable fiscal space to facilitate such investments,” the paper said. 

The paper has analysed data based on the annual tax tabulations published by the Indian income tax authorities to extract the distribution of top income earners between 1922-2020.

The share of national income going to the top 10 per cent fell from 37 per cent in 1951 to 30 per cent by 1982 after which it began steadily rising. From the early 1990s onwards, the top 10 per cent share increased substantially over the next three decades, nearly touching 60 per cent in the most recent years, the paper said. This compares with the bottom 50 per cent getting only 15 per cent of India’s national income in 2022-23.

 The top 1 per cent earn on average Rs 5.3 million, 23 times the average Indian (Rs 0.23 million). Average incomes for the bottom 50 per cent and the middle 40 per cent stood at Rs 71,000 (0.3 times national average) and Rs 1,65,000 (0.7 times national average), respectively.
The richest, nearly 10,000 individuals (of 92 million Indian adults) earn on average Rs 480 million (2,069 times the average Indian). “To get a sense of just how skewed the distribution is, one would have to be at nearly the 90th percentile to earn the average income in India,” the paper said.

In 2022, just the top 0.1 per cent in India earned nearly 10 per cent of the national income, while the top 0.01 per cent earned 4.3 per cent share of the national income and top 0.001 per cent earned 2.1 per cent of the national income.

Enlisting the probable reasons for sharp rise in top 1 per cent income shares, the paper said public and private sector wage growth could have played a part till the late 1990s, adding that there are good reasons to believe capital incomes likely played a role in subsequent years. For the shares of the bottom 50 per cent and middle 40 per cent remaining depressed, the paper said, the primary reason has been the lack of quality broad-based education, focused on the masses and not just the elites.

“One reason to be concerned with such high levels of inequality is that extreme concentration of incomes and wealth is likely to facilitate disproportionate influence on society and government. This is even more so in contexts with weak democratic institutions. After largely being a role model among post-colonial nations in this regard, the integrity of various key institutions in India appears to have been compromised in recent years. This makes the possibility of India’s slide towards plutocracy even more real. If only for this reason, income and wealth inequality in India must be closely tracked and challenged,” it said.

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News Network
March 16,2024

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Budget carrier Air India Express has launched a new fare family, offering travelers the option to save on flight tickets by traveling light, with an increased baggage allowance of up to 40kg or no check-in luggage at all.

The new fare categories, applicable to flights to and from the UAE and other international destinations, are:

•    Xpress Lite
•    Xpress Value
•    Xpress Flex
•    Xpress Biz

Xpress Lite offers cabin baggage-only fares, making it the most economical option for passengers traveling with the airline.

Xpress Value fare includes 15 kg check-in bag fares, while Xpress Flex offers unlimited changes with no change fees. Xpress Biz features business class seats, complimentary meals, and priority services.

A subsidiary of Air India and a part of Tata Group, the airline introduced Xpress Lite on February 20 for UAE passengers who prefer traveling without check-in baggage.

Xpress Biz fares are accessible on all the new Air India Express Boeing 737-8 aircraft. Travelers can benefit from increased baggage allowances of 25kg for domestic flights and 40kg for international flights when booking Xpress Biz fares. This fare offers priority check-in, baggage, and boarding services.

Air India Express is already operating aircraft with Biz seats across 70-plus routes in India.

In a previous interview with a news channel Aloke Singh, managing director of Air India Express, stated that the carrier was looking to increase capacity to the Gulf region, including the UAE, as well as to provide better connectivity to Gulf travelers.
 

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