Excelsior... Nation

‘Prasar Bharti sends clerks to cover foreign events’

NEW DELHI, Aug 25: Filing an application in Delhi High Court, a section of programme staff of the Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) alleged that due procedure was not followed by the Prasar Bharti management while assigning jobs and sending staff on foreign assignments.

Filing a rejoinder to the earlier petition in the high court, the Programme Staff Welfare Association (PSWA) alleged that "in absolute disregard of the Supreme Court’s judgement, the management have continued to arbitrarily allot sections and programmes (jobs) in a whimsical manner without taking into account their the staff’s field and specialisation."

"A classic example is that one Vijay Devaria, a clerk grade ii, was sent on foreign tour eight times as a programmer to cover various events," the application alleged.

Even the management sends non-specialists on foreign trips for covering sports, music and political events. An ad hoc programme executive R C Sahu was sent to England to cover tri-nation cricket series ignoring the claims of many senior cricket experts, charged the petition.

When he failed to cover the event properly, a separate team was sent leading to a huge loss to the organisation, it said.

Mr Suresh Chandra Naik was sent on various occasions to cover sports events, even though he did not have enough knowledge about sports, it alleged. The executives recruited for producing programmes in English, Nepali, music and sports were assigned to do Hindi programmes, alleged the petition filed by PSWA, a registered association of the programmers.

"The situation, wherein the specialists were denied the right to produce programmes in their field of selections, resulted in a total disorientation of programmes quality over the years," alleged the petition. "The Doordarshan and AIR were running into a loss of crores of rupees as outside producers were assigned to produce programmes saying that the in-house programme officials did not have talent, training and expertise. It is a matter of record that the Prasar Bharti has a deficit of approximately Rs 1300 crore," it said.

The matter will come up for hearing on October 21. (UNI)

A ‘star’ sibling writes a ‘legendary’ father’s biography

NEW DELHI, Aug 25: "I wish I was no more. I wish I had been up there in heaven watching this day..." said the sitar maestro Pt Ravi Shankar as with moistened eyes released the ‘intimate biography’, his daughter had penned - her first "Of My Own".

Anoushka’s exhaustive pictoral biography of her father ‘Bapi -The Love of My Life’, released last evening among the nostalgia of old friends and the string of concerts that made a ‘legend’ of a ‘star’, dwells into the most "intimate and unexplored facets of Ravi Shankar" as Panditji himself described it.

Speaking on the occasion, 21-year-old Prodigy Anoushka said Bapi (father) asked her to wait until he was no more before writing this book as it would spare him a few shades of embarassment, but I wanted the world to see ‘in flesh and blood’, the person who had so ‘magical yet so natural’ dimensions.

"I wanted the world to see Bapi (Ravi Shankar) through my eyes, though several biographies on him existed. I wanted to give him a bit of myself in some form... Something from the heart."

She added "this is a book which I can call something of my very own as I have toiled myself to see it come up. This is my very first venture which is completely my own - for Bapi," she said in a voice choked in emotion about the child, student, dancer, musician, guru, achiever, joker... In her father.

Blessing Anoushka "as a father and not as a musician or Guru" on this ‘historic day’ the Bharat Ratna awardee said "I bless her as a father for her mature and sincere handling of such a delicate topic which takes a peek at one’s ‘darkest and deepest recesses’." Reminiscising his past and rueing over the declining ‘Guru-Shishya Parampara’ that called for ‘total surrender to learn the finer nuances of an art form, Panditji said "I belong to an era where one needed to surrender completely to his Guru before one could think of learning and assimilating the virtues of the art finesse one wished to acquire and accomplish."

"Since I took to the sitar as an art, not as a profession or to entertain people, Guru Baba (Ustad Allahuddin Khan) and Dada (brother Uday Shankar) brought out all the Rasas (facets) of music from me. The honesty, the devotion and the dedication paid...," he added as if lending a moral lessen to those who wished to pursue any form of ‘Kala’ (art).

Brought out by Roli Books, ‘Bapi - the love of my life’ is the first of ‘intimate, anecdotal biographies’ of well-known personalities to be published in their ‘family pride’ series and written by a member of the family itself.

The book gives us glimpses of Ravi Shankar’s intimate and seldom seen family photographs, extracts from ‘very personal letters’ written to his wife, children and friends, cards made by his daughter anoushka, anecdotal captions that arouse laughter and pathos and some rare shots of Yehudi Menuhin, George Harrison and his concerts interspersed with vulnerable undertones depicting human relationships ‘is it is’.

Also screened at the evening was his film ‘Sangeet Ratna’ where Ravi Shankar philosophically tells George Harrison of beatles fame (who came to learn sitar from him) "in music, which is ‘naad brahma’ and drawn from all the seasons of nature, I feel all the richess of India, its soul, its pulse, its divinity..."

Concluding his note on the book and his daughter’s effort at penning his ‘life and times’ the sitar king said "age is like a cage where youth is imprisoned. And from its bars one can just watch the world. Just see it, not participate with them, not join them... In Anoushka I see my youth come alive. What more..." (UNI)

India hottest destination for top English lexicographers

NEW DELHI, Aug 25: If Samuel Johnson were alive, what would have been he up to? it is unlikely that the first popular lexicographer in English would have joined the gladiatorial contest of dictionary publishers.

But it is possible that Dr Johnson would have been in India looking for Indian words for the new millennium edition of his own dictionary.

Two-and-a-half centuries after Dr Johnson wrote his dictionary, India has become the hottest destination for top lexicographers of the English language.

"There is a particular focus on Indian vocabulary in the present. One reason is Indian culture and Indian language has become popular and trendy in the United Kingdom," says Judy Pearsall, editor of the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English (COED) which is in print for nearly a century.

The new tenth revised edition of COED, launched in India earlier this week, has massed hundreds of words of Indian origin. Leading the list of 600 Indian English entries are ‘Hindutva’ (a very strong sense of Hindu identiy, ‘Dada’ (an older brother or male cousin, a respectful form of address for any familiar older male) and ‘Panchayat’ (a village council). The success of Indian authors in English also has influenced. "People are reading Indian authors in English more widely than perhaps they have done before," says Ms Pearsall, who is credited with entering Indian words in their hundreds for the first time into the New Oxford Dictionary of English (NODE) more than three years ago.

‘Chai’(tea), ‘Pani’ (water), ‘Chawl’ (Marathi word meaning a large lodging house) have become part of the ‘lingua franca’ of the world. Indian cookery, which has spawned an industry in the UK has added words as ‘Chaat’, ‘Puri’ and ‘Dosa’. The words ‘Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes’ also are new entries in the COED which has added SMS abbreviations and new vocabulary like ‘MP3’ and digital divide.

India, which ranks third among the 20 per cent of world English entries, comes before other former British colonies such as New Zealand, South Africa and the Caribbean islands. American English dominates the entries from the rest of the world followed by Australia and India close together. Eighty per cent of the 77,000 entries in COED are from British English. The 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary (OED), first published in 1884, is presently running a programme to enter new words of Indian origin. Its editor John Simpson was in India last year to launch the online version of OED. The editors of the new Macmillan English dictionary, which entered a number of Indian words, too came to India earlier this year.

More than 150 years after Lord Macaulay introduced English education in India to create ‘Babus’ for the British bureaucracy, about 70 million Indians speak English, more than the number in the UK.

The Oxford world reading programme for selecting new words has a specific focus on Indian English. "The readers are specially directed to note Indian expressions," says Ms Pearsall, who dismisses criticism that lexicographers impose their opinion on the people.

"Lexicographers don’t prepare opinions into definitions, that’s just not what a dictionary should be doing. That is what happened when Johnson first wrote the dictionary in 1755. It was about his opinion. If he didn’t like a word or the word had particular associations for you, he told you so," says Ms Pearsall.

Has the dictionary war among the major publishers of dictionaries stressed out today’s lexicographers? "That’s the life of a lexicographer. Look at the language, it goes on and on. It doesn’t stop."

"A lexicographer is a fellow who is always trying to catch the bus, the bus being the language and you are chasing after it. However faster you run it is going to run faster than you because you have to wait for it to move before you can start moving."

But the changes in the language can be quite frustrating. "Just at the point when you think you know what something means it changes. At that point you have to change," says Ms Pearsall, who was involved with the making of the shorter Oxford English dictionary (which contains more than a third of the 20-volume OED’s content in one-tenth of its size) to be launched next month.

English, spoken by 1.8 billion people worldwide, may have several owners around the world today, but there is still an old guard who don’t want anything new to come into the language. They are certainly in a minority, says Ms Pearsall. (UNI)

Bollywood productions turn corporate

MUMBAI, Aug 25: More and more film production houses are getting corporatised in keeping with the changing times and the need to reach out overseas.

A recent example of this are recent hits like ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Devdas’ which made international headlines.

Produced by Aamir Khan Production, a corporate entity set up by filmstar Aamir Khan, ‘Lagaan’ starring Aamir Khan, a period movie on agriculture tax, achieved resounding success and has slowly but surely made its way into the text book of making films the corporate way.

According to a recent study by JM Morgan Stanley, there are several big films in recent years produced by corporatised film production houses.

Besides ‘Lagaan’, of Aamir Khan productions, which narrrowly lost out in the foreign film category at the Oscars, other films produced by corporatised film production houses include Balaji Films (floated by Jeetendra’s daughter Ekta Kapoor) ‘Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai’, Subhash Ghai-floated Mukta Arts’ ‘Yaadein’, ‘Mohabbatein’ by Yash Chopra’s Yashraj Films Ltd, Pritish Nandy Communications’ ‘Style’ and ‘Raju Chacha’ by Devgan Entertainment.

Another period film ‘Asoka’ by Arclights and Filmz Ltd, a production house set up by Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Aziz Mirza, also made headlines.

Industry sources said that while ‘Lagaan’ was the most successful, ‘Gadar’, ‘Mohabbatein’ and ‘Albela’ did reasonably well.

The JM Morhan Stanley report said that with the Government recently awarding industry status to films has led to many large film producers corporatising and even raising money through IPOs.

The success of the movies produced by the ‘corporatised film production houses’ has led several corporate entities to make a foray in film production.

Various corporations, noteably Zee, TIPS and Padmalaya Films have entered the segment.

Examples include Padmalaya Telefilms’ ‘Suryavansh’, TIPS Industries ‘Albela’, Venus Tapes and Cassettes’ ‘Josh’, and Zee Telefilms ‘Gadar’ starring Sunny Deol. The latest to the join the Bollywood bandwagon is the Tata Group which has roped in superstar Amitabh Bachchan for Tata Infomedia Ltd’s ‘Aitbaar’ which will be produced under the banner cutting edge entertainment.

Bipasha Basu and Dino Morea are the other two stars of the film which will be directed by Vikram Bhatt and have music by none other then Rajesh Roshan.

What could perhaps serve as a boost to this trend of corporatisation, the Morgan Stanley report said the IDBI has formally adopted a scheme for financing films and has so far sanctioned Rs 635 million for nine films.

Even film insurance has gained in popularity of late. "The unorganised segment is now in the process of becoming organised," the report states.

It states that the cost of filmmaking varies substantially. Banner films for big production houses — which are slowly taking up corporatisation — can cost anywhere from Rs 150 million to Rs 200 million, whereas low grade films can be completed under Rs 15 million.

‘Devdas’, the recent big budget film financed by diamond magnate Bharat Shah, is estimated to have been made at a cost of Rs 500 million — the cosliest ever in the century-old history of Indian film making.

A FICCI report said that corporatisation was the first step for the industry to gain respectability.

In addition, the report said, players should adopt transparent accounting and financial practises and professional management. This will enable companies to tap formal sources of finance.

"The Government should drive corporatisation by granting exemption from capital gains tax for a limited period of time to players converting from a partnership firm/proprietery concern to a corporate entity," it said.

A rabo India finance-FICCI report said that the Government of several countries had launched financial funding initiatives to promote the motion pictures industry in their respective countries.

Such initiatives focus on either providing direct financial aid through film financing loans or indirect financial aid by providing tax incentives for film production. (UNI)

HC flays Govt’s lackadaisical attitude on use of flyash

NEW DELHI, Aug 25: Expressing concern over the harm caused to environment by flyash from thermal power plants, the Delhi High Court has flayed Centre’s various agencies for not taking appropriate steps to implement Government notification giving preference to the use of flyash-bricks in construction works carried by them.

"The Ministry of Environment and Forest had issued the notification in 1999 and almost three years have passed, but it is not being implemented in letter and spirit," a bench comprising Justices Vijender Jain and Mukul Mudgal said.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the lackadaisical attitute of the Government agencies, the court said they "must act in implementing the notification with promptitude and spirit of urgency."

"We are not satisfied with the Government stand that the 100 per cent use of flyash by Government departments and the Public Sector Undertakings would be achieved by 2005," the bench said adding, the court had earlier given four months’ time to Government to take appropriate steps in this regard.

Directing Government counsel Maninder Singh to submit a comprehensive reply by September 10, it said the Centre should explain why the date for implementing the notification fully was extended up to the year 2005.

The court was hearing two Public Interest Litigations (PILs), seeking direction to the Government to make full use of flyash in manufacturing of bricks and preference for their use in construction work over the traditional clay bricks. The court had earlier sought replies from Central Public Works Department, Defence Ministry, PWD of Delhi Government, Delhi Development Authority, Municipal Corporation of Delhi and New Delhi Municipal Council, why preference should not be given by them in using flyash bricks for the construction works being carried out by them.

The Bureau of Indian Standard report placed before the court had stated that flyash bricks were as reliable and strong as the traditional clay bricks.

The PILs, quoting the reports of some expert agencies had said if the flyash was used for manufacturing of bricks in a large scale, it would not only help in preserving the fertile top soil presently used for making clay bricks, but would also save the environment from the harmful effect of carbon-dioxide and carbon-monoxide contained in the material being dumped in various landfill sites across the country.

According to the petitioners about 60 million tonnes of flyash is generated by various thermal plants in the country every year and it would require a large portion of land for dumping.

Because of its light weight, the dumped flyash was more dangerous as it could be easily blown by winds and flown by rains causing immense harm to the environment both on land and in air, the petitioners said.

If flyash was used in manufacturing of bricks and also as filling up material in road construction, it would help in saving precious top soil for agriculture purposes, which is being consumed every year both for making clay bricks and dumping of flyash, the PILs said. (PTI)

Classy wearable fashion for the middle class
comes to the fore

NEW DELHI, Aug 25: For once fashion came to the Bourgeois, to clothe and embellish and above all to inspire them, literally, in ritualistic shades of earthy tones and traditional palette - all in diffusion mode.

The eight-layered collection of Vandana-Divya duo in their ‘lotus, crystal, Sitara, Chandramukhi, Banjaran, Rang Rasia, Chikankari and Zarkas’ collection spoke the language of haute couture but gave the classical feel of tradition and hence touched the nerve of the ‘large buying class’.

Designer Vandana Sawhney, on her latest ‘Dabiri : fall winter 2002 collection’ last evening, said the house of ‘Dabiri’, meaning golden thread in Arabic, has its roots in traditional Indian outfits.

"In our latest collection we have concentrated on embroideries, formal rich ensembles and Chikankari. Through the cut and style, in blend with ‘Zardosi’, it has been created to give an inner ‘feel good’ attitude besides enhancing the physical beauty of the wearer," said Vandana.

While the romantic ‘lotus collection’, inspired by the lotus flower, "encapsulates the sensuality of an individual" through ‘Resham’ and ‘Zardosi’ work and the shimmery ‘crystal collection’ "brings the ethnic touch to the elegance of the wearer" through its soft pastel colours , the opulent ‘Sitara collection’ "captures the brilliance of the magical eastern skies," she said.

Partner Divya Bindra, elaborating on the second chapter of the show, said "the ‘Chandramukhi collection’, inspired by the sunflower, presents an incredible ethno-chic look to give a stylish and three dimensional blend to one’s wear. On the other hand, the ‘Banjaran collection’ has a tribal nomadic feel about it but in a contemporary finesse."

The ‘Rang Rasia’ and the ‘Chikankari collection’ of the duo, she said, has done "vivacious experiment with colours along with unique embroidery techniques and beads makes ‘Rang Rasia’ oriental in substance and the classic motifs-n-stitches style of Lucknow Chikankari forms the base of ‘Chikankari collection’ through its ‘Mukaish, Zardosi and Parsi’ work to give it traditional grace and elegance."

Talking on the focus of the show, Ms Vandana said, "we are targetting the audience which wants class but at a price that is affordable. Our aim is to reach tradition and fashion at a value that does not burn a hole in the pocket but envelops the wearer with the ‘feel good’ feeling."

On what fashion and ‘Dabiri’ means to her, Ms Vandana said, "something that stands you apart in the crowd but keeps your individuality intact." She added "it is not just a profession, it has taken the shape of a cult in me and i have devoted myself to them absolutely. Need I say more?" (UNI)

Most BJP ruled States not slated for rapid
growth in tenth plan

NEW DELHI, Aug 25: Central planners do not expect a major revamp of economic activities in the States ruled by the BJP and its allies during the next five years.

According to the projections by the Planning Commission for the tenth five year plan ending 2007, there are only three States governed by the BJP and its allies among the first 15 that are expected to have more than seven per cent growth rate during the period.

Going by the findings of the commission, BJP and its allies will have to look for non-economic slogans to draw their vote banks, political analysts say.

Surprisingly, there are six Congress ruled States which are expected to yield more than seven per cent growth during this period -a position not very comfortable for the Congress too.

Heading the table with 10.7 per cent projected growth rate is Pondicherry, whereas the Union Territories (UTs) of Chandigarh and Delhi come next with growth average annual targets of 10.6 per cent.

The only State where the BJP could have gained ground on good prospects of economic growth is Gujarat, which stands at the fourth place with projected growth rate of 10.2 per cent for the tenth plan period, which appears have yielded to the communal card.

Goa which comes next with growth projected at 10.6 per cent per cent is banking heavily on the services sector with a heft growth rate of 12.4 per cent.

Karnataka occupies the sixth position with 10.1 per cent growth rate for the period, also depending heavily on the services sector growth rate of 12.5 per cent.

Interestingly, the BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh stands at the seventh place with 8.9 per cent growth rate for the tenth plan period, primarily due to the high growth of the industrial sector (12.5 per cent).

The Planning Commission envisages more than national average growth rate (eight per cent) from the CPI(M)-ruled State of West Bengal which is known for its anti-liberalisation policies. Industrial growth is targeted for the period at 9.1 per cent and agriculture at 5.1 per cent. The Congress-governed Rajasthan is also expected to grow annually during this period at more than the national average with growth targeted at 8.3 per cent, hinging primarily on expectation of good industrial augmentation of 10.1 per cent.

The only State, which will have a national average growth rate, is the North Eastern State of Arunachal Pradesh, where industry and the services sector are to give a fillip to it.

Nearly 30 per cent of the States and UTs are expected to have more than the national growth target. Twenty two States and UTs will have a growth rate in the tenth plan period less than the national average growth.

More than seven per cent and less than eight per cent growth is expected from the States of Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tripura.

The agricultural sector, projected as the bedrock of growth in the tenth plan period, is expected to grow by more than five per cent in only three states. West Bengal leads this growth with a targeted figure of 5.1 per cent, followed by Sikkim and Karnataka with expected growth rate of five per cent.

Eight States, which are a blend of large and small, are expected to have a growth rate between four and five per cent. These include Uttar Pradesh (4.7 per cent), Rajasthan (4.1 per cent), Punjab (4.1 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (4 per cent) and Harayna (4.1 per cent). The planners appear to be swayed by the Information Technology growth in India and expect major growth in this sector during the next five years. Backing on the growth in IT and telecom they expect major growth impulses to come from these sectors.

The leader in this respect is Karnataka, followed by Goa. The services sector in Andhra Pradesh is expected to clock a growth rate of only 8.4 per cent. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chadrababu Naidu has made much about the IT growth in the State, where IT constitutes most of the services sector.

Another notable feature is 10.8 per cent expected growth with large component coming from the IT sector. More often than not the rapid growth of computer use is labour displacing and it will be interesting to see how the Left Front Government tackles this problem, experts say. (UNI)