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AIR to digitalise its music archives

NEW DELHI, Nov 17: All India Radio’s archives, the treasure house of Indian music, will soon be free of dusty tapes and decadence when it goes digital, with an eye also on its commercial potential.

AIR is in the process of digitalisation of its recordings collected over the past six decades and around 90 per cent of its music archives have been identified for being transferred to the digital mode from the old text for its commercial exploitation.

"Some reputed music companies have shown interest in the music and are looking at the material. But the music is not in the digital mode and has to be transferred on to CDs," Prasar Bharati Chief Executive Officer (CEO) K S Sarma said.

However, the modalities of marketing the music is yet to be worked out and it could be either by throwing the offer open to music companies on a royalty basis or by making the cassettes and selling them.

The AIR archives have over 40,000 tapes including music, poetry, speeches of Indian and world leaders, ‘vedic’ recitations, words and poetry. The spoken words in the archives include speeches of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose and Martin Luther King, A V Magazine, Director, Archives, said.

However, the music companies have apparently evinced interest in music only and not the spoken words.

"We have shifted the focus from the spoken words in the archives to music as we feel there would be a better market for it," said Sarma, who took over as the CEO this year.

With an archive of 11,159 music tapes dating as far back as 1936, Air has before it a massive exercise of transferring them to digital mode.

Some of the oldest music recordings available with in sound archives are those of Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Allauddin Khan, bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Nand Lal Ghosh, Ambadas Pant Agle, Ganesh Ram Chandra Behrebua, Dabir Khan, Ustad Mohd Khan Faridi, Ram Kishan Bawavaze and M S Subbulakshmi.

The collection also includes seven or eight renderings of ‘Vande Mataram’, Rabindra Nath Tagore singing ‘Vande Mataram’ and the national anthem and renditions by maestros like Ravi Shankar, Kumar Gandharv, D V Paluskar, Omkarnath Thakur, Pannalal Ghosh, Buddhatiya Mukherjee and Nikhil Banerjee.

Prasar Bharati sources said though there was no concrete proposal before Air at present, there were plans to commercially exploit the "rich" collection by throwing the offer open to music companies to come forward for the software from the archives through competitive bidding.

Air has been in the process of refurbishing the tapes, several of which had worn out over the years, they said.

This is not the first time that plans of exploiting its treasure trove have been explored by Air. Bids were called in 2001 and once even before that but the offers were "ridiculously" low, sources said.

Air has now undertaken the experiment focusing on its music recordings as the country celebrates 100 years of recorded music. The Government has declared November 11, 2002, to November 10, 2003, as the centenary year of recorded music in India.

Doordarshan is planning a series in tribute to all the great artistes who have contributed to the industry encompassing all genres of Indian music - film, folk and classical.

Plans are also on the anvil to release boxed sets of videos and DVDs of this production. (PTI)

Childhood blindness major problem in India

NEW DELHI, Nov 17: India has 300,000 blind children with prevalence of pediatric blindness being five times more than in developed countries and about 40 per cent of them were preventable or avoidable.

Childhood blindness was a major health problem in India that was largely going unrecognised with most of the secondary and tertiary level eye-care facilities existing only in large urban centres while rural areas have hardly any organised eye-care programmes and facilities for children, according to experts participating in a National Workshop on Childhood Blindness.

They called on the Government and policy makers to take the initiative to control the growing incidence of blindness in children.

"Most of childhood blindness is avoidable and treatable. We must mobilise existing eyecare institutions- Government, private and charitable—to reach out to the children in rural areas to give hope to large number of children who would otherwise spend their whole lives in darkness," said Tamil Nadu Health Minister Thiru S Semmalai while presiding over the workshop organised by Orbis International as part of the ongoing series of its medical training programme in the city.

The experts recommended that basic vision screening of all children through regular screening programme at schools should be made mandatory while primary healthcare system in India need to incorporate eye-care and should be able to develop vision screening centres at the local level.

UN-corrected refractive error was a major cause of avoidable blindness in children, they pointed and said that basic eye-care programmes should be developed at the local level to address the problem, with community participation and collaboration with ngos.

Quality pediatric eye-care services should be developed at medical colleges and leading hospitals to tackle the problem of childhood blindness at the regional level. A comprehensive eye-care programme should be evolved at the national level as the magnitude and economic burden of childhood blindness on society is quite severe, besides the loss of productive quality years of life.

"Children are the most precious resources of families and society at large. A blind child is a tragedy while a child with avoidable blindness is a shame. Blindness prevention agencies like orbis and other NGOs have a significant role to play in building skills and knowledge in the area of pediatric eyecare," said Dr H K Tewari, head of the Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Orbis International President Kathy Sphan said that change in public policy towards children’s eye health was essential for ending childhood blindness in India. The increased attention and investment in children’s eyecare services was essential and driving force behind Orbis.

Dr G V Rao, Orbis Country Director for India, said on the national level existing policies and programmes on childhood blindness prevention need to be strengthened adn financing for community based interventions need to be found. Pediatric eye-care must be integrated into the current health systems, he asserted.

India has few worldclass institutions for eye-care and most of them were based in South India leaving a big gap in availabililty of such services in north India and to fulfil the gap orbis launched its ‘hand-in-hand saving sight’ project with generous support of Ronald McDonald house charities. (UNI)

Porous borders worry Home Ministry

PATNA, Nov 17: The Union Home Ministry has expressed concern over smuggling and other anti-national activities along the porous Indo-Bangla and Indo-Nepal borders as well as the failure of the concerned State Governments to comply with the ministry’s directive to curb such activities.

The Centre had issued guidelines to the border states to take concrete steps following decisions of the Chief Ministers’ conference on November 17 last year to achieve the twin objectives of checking infiltration from across the border and also restricting smuggling activities to the minimum.

In a communication to the administrations in the border states, the Home Ministry noted that the former were yet to submit the compliance reports by November 15, 2002, and that border management system was far from satisfactory in most of the concerned states, official sources said here.

The directives were issued following concern expressed by the Chief Ministers in the said meeting, following growing extremist activities in Jammu and Kashmir, North-Eastern states and left wing extremism, the sources added. Markets in the bordering states have been glutted with smuggled consumer goods markets at the cost of Indian industries, causing huge loss in revenue, the sources said and added that limited strength of customs personnel near the Indian borders with Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar has been proved ineffective to check smuggling.

The Centre had asked the states to deploy sufficient number of police personnel in police stations near the border as well as provide proper training and equipment to policemen to deal with smugglers and alarmingly increasing number of criminals the sources said.

Strengthening intelligence network to gather information about smuggling activities and sharing such reports with customs and other central agencies were other suggestions made by the ministry.

The border states were also advised to expedite criminal investigations and intensify village surveillance system to control crime in the border areas. As a follow up of the Chief Ministers’ conference, the Home Ministry had asked the states to do the spade work for preparation of registers containing names of citizens and non-citizens in the border areas as well for issuing separate multi-purpose identity cards to both the categories with distinctive colour and size.

The measures to maintain record of unauthorised entrants, particularly from bangladesh, had become necessary in view of reports about large-scale infiltration from Bangladesh to the states adjacent to the border, the sources added.

Other suggestions from the centre to the respective state Governments included regularisation of citizenship to the people and their descendents who had illegally migrated to india during two wars with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971 and also regular update in the list of villagers living in border areas.

The Centre had also agreed to imburse the costs incurred by the states for border management and issue of identity cards.

The Home Ministry had also issued directives to the states as well as those providing entry passage into metropolis for contrabands like drugs, opium and ganja. (UNI)

CBI seeks Govt approval for empaneling
Chartered Accountants

NEW DELHI, Nov 17: Amidst growing number of cases of white collar crimes and other financial irregularities, the CBI has sent a proposal to the Government for empaneling chartered accountants for the purpose of investigation into increasingly complex cases like money laundering, insider trading and price rigging in the capital markets.

"We have sent in a proposal to the Government to allow empanelment of chartered accountants into the CBI and are awaiting a response from them," CBI Director P C Sharma told PTI here.

The move by the country’s premier investigating agency comes after the number of financial frauds were on the rise and there was a growing need to untangle the various finance, banking and corporate law related issues that are confronted by their sleuths during the course of their probe.

Once a nod is received from the Government, the CBI is likely to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to this effect with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

An empanelment exercise of CA firms would be undertaken for this purpose so that the work given by the CBI can be allotted to these firms.

CBI, after the liberalisation of the country’s economy, has to deal with many cases involving manipulations of finances and other irregularities which require certain level of skills to understand the fraud committed by an accused during transactions. (PTI)

‘Kalam Uncle’ only next to ‘Chacha Nehru’ in popularity

NEW DELHI, Nov 17: President A P J Abdul Kalam’s clean image, learning and affection for children have put him high on the popularity chart of the future citizens of the country, his unusual appearance nothwithstanding.

According to a nationwide poll conducted by UNI on the occasion of Children’s Day on November 14, the kids’ love for the country’s first citizen is perhaps next only to their love for "Chacha Nehru" and most of them would like to have a one-to-one exchange with him.

On the lines of the endearment of "Chacha Nehru" they use for the former Prime Minister, they told UNI they would like to address Dr Kalam as "Sir", "Uncle", "Great Kalam Sir", "His Highness", and "Man of the nation".

Kids and adolescents from several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat, participated in the poll enthusiastically and their response shows that character and work efficiency, and not clothes and get-up, comprise their yardstick for assessing a person.

And Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, along with Dr Kalam, ranks high in their assessment.

But most other politicians are disliked by children, who believe they are greedy, cheats and only interested in fighting for their own interests, the poll shows.

Children in Uttar Pradesh admire the "Missile man" for his knowledge and decency but are unanimous in suggesting that he gets his long tresses cut.

Fourteen-year-old Gunjan, a student of Class X of Lucknow’s Central Academy, respects Dr Kalam’s efficiency as a scientist and points out that he never makes empty promises, always appears sincere about fulfilling them and doesn’t try to shift blames on others.

She said she would have loved to call him "Uncle" but since he is the first citizen of the country, she would call him "Sir" to give due respect.

Gunjan also offered a piece of advice to the President — to get his hair cut — and similar views were aired by 16-year-old Vibhor Shukla, studying in Class XII of Lucknow Public School.

Vibhor likes "Kalam Uncle" because of his love for children. sixteen-year-old Ruchi and 13-year-old Ankur of Faizabad suggest that "the President should change his hairstyle to military cut".

Both Ruchi, who studies in Class XII of Pioneer Montessori Inter College, and Ankur, a student of Class VIII of Central Academy, like Dr Kalam because "he doesn’t lie and doesn’t make false declarations" and say they would want to address him as "Sir".

Nine-year-old Vibhor, studying in Class IV of Jingle Bell Academy, Faizabad, feels drawn towards the President because of his love for children and he also doesn’t find his hairstyle odd.

Vibhor, who would want to address Dr Kalam as "Uncle", says while he has only heard about Chacha Nehru, he enjoys seeing the President’s pictures with children in newspapers and watching him on television with them.

The President’s dedication to his work has impressed many children, among them being 10-year-olds Kushagra and Nachiketa Vajpayee, studying in Class V of Bishop Conrad Senior Secondary School, Bareilly Cantt.

It is this dedication that has won him premier awards, titles and positions, according to Sagar Vishnoi (12), studying in Class VII at Maharshi Vidya Mandir Public School, Bareilly Cantt, and Keshav Singh (12), also studying in Class VII at Shishu Vidya Mandir, Bareilly Cantt.

Both Kushagra and Sagar like the way the President looks. Sagar even goes to the extent of saying that no one has the right to change the personal preferences of the President and stresses that work is more important than outward appearances.

While Sagar and Keshav would like to call the President "Uncle", Bijendra (14) studying in Class IX at Islamia inter college would like to address him as "his highness".

Bijendra also feels that people should respect the choice and style of the President, "who is so brilliant in his work". Dr Kalam’s image of "Missile Man" attracts Ayushi Saxena (12), a student of Class VII at Carmel Convent School, Bhopal, who feels this would terrify the country’s enemies.

The same image also draws Akash Pandey (13), studying in class VIII at Adarsh Shishu Vihar, Indore, towards the President. Adarsh, who wants to address the President as "Sir", however, doesn’t like his "Grey hair".

Ayushi, who believes half of the country’s politicians are corrupt, suggests that "Kalam Sir" should undergo a change of hairstyle and should keep his shirt tucked-in.

The President’s excellence as a scientist and his affection for children appeal to Aditya (11), studying in Class VII of Aurobindo School, Bhopal, who would like to call him "Dadaji" as he reminds him of his grandfather. Aditya also feels the President’s hair is "A bit too long".

The President would look better if he wears a suit and a tie, according to Anurup Shukla (13), a student of Class VIII at Anand Vihar School, Bhopal, who says he knows that Dr Kalam loves talking to children.

Prachi (11), studying in Class VI at St. Arnold School, Indore, believes that politicians "Ask for money" but holds the President in high esteem because of his knowledge as a scientist and wants to call him "Sir". She, however, feels his tresses don’t let him look like a scientist.

The children also find Dr Kalam very "responsible" and "hard working". Akshat Rawal, studying in Class X of Chouidhram School, Indore, likes these qualities in him and wants to call him "Chacha". He also likes the fact that the President is different from other politicians, most of whom are "Hypocritical" and "Corrupt".

Children in Jaipur appeared especially impressed with the President’s scientific achievements. Tanay Parikh, studying in Class VI at India International School, Jaipur, says he loves "Kalam Sir" because he is a big scientist.

Tanay also doesn’t complain about the President’s appearance and says apart from him, he likes only Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee among politicians.

Anju Sharma, studying in Class X at Prakash Vidya Niketan, Jaipur, also likes the President because he is a "great scientist" and approves of his hairstyle and dress.

Children like Abhinav, studying in Class XII at St Soldier Public School, Jaipur, regard Dr Kalam highly because "he has made the country powerful and contributed to its fame in the world". Abhinav, who would like to address the president as "Sir", feels he would look better in short hair.

For Vishal of Janta Dal Vidyalaya, Jaipur, who likes Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot because "he has got many schools and wells constructed," also likes Dr Kalam "the way he is" and would call him "Chacha", given a chance. In Chhattisgarh too, where school students would like calling Dr Kalam "Great Kalam", "Sir", "Azad Uncle" and "Dadaji", the main reason behind his popularity is his being a scientist.

Children like Ashish Kshatriya (15), a student of Class X at Mata Aundari Kalibari Higher Secondary School, Raipur, feel Dr Kalam’s being a scientist will help the country a lot.

Ashish, who feels Dr Kalam is "perfectly suited" to be the president of the country, wants to address him as "Great Kalam".

India is benefitting because of Dr Kalam being a scientist and is progressing fast in terms of technological development and new inventions, feels Vipul Agarwal (16), a student of Class XI at Pandit Jaynarayan Pandey Government Higher Secondary School.

Vipul, who doesn’t want any change in Dr Kalam’s hairstyle and dress, believes that present day politicians are getting increasingly corrupt and are not bothered about the country at all. But he regards dr kalam as an "able president" and would address him as "Sir", given a chance.

Rajiv Chandrakar (14), studying in Class IX in the same school, believes that Dr Kalam can lead the nation in the right direction, much like Mahatma Gandhi. He is confident that the President will take measures to bring to an end all the illegal activities in the country.

Rajiv would also like to address Dr Kalam as "Sir" and doesn’t have any problems with the way he looks.

Suruchi Mishra (15), studying in Class X at Holicross Pensinwada School, Raipur, likes Dr Kalam because he is a scientist and because he gives importance to the opinions of children. She would like to call him "Dadaji" and believes that he is known because of his intellect and so doesn’t need to change his appearance at all.

Surbhi (11), a student of Class VI in the same school, likes Dr Kalam because "he doesn’t talk nonsense" and "his speech and approach is scientific".

Although she believes that present day politicians are useless, she loves the President and wants to addresss him as "Azad Uncle". (UNI)

Anti-corruption drive, judiciary fail to curb corruption: CMs

NEW DELHI, Nov 17: Amid continuing debate on the menace of corruption in public life, majority of respondents have in a recent survey opined that not only have anti-corruption drives by various agencies failed but also the judiciary has proven ineffective in curbing corrupt practices.

The survey conducted by the Centre for Media Studies in five cities including Delhi and Mumbai with a sample size of 2600 has also revealed that more than 75 per cent of the respondents have never complained about corrupt practices despite their awareness.

"Nearly 90 per cent of the respondents agreed that increase in corruption should be taken very seriously by politicians and officials and genuine efforts need to be made rather than any cosmetic actions," the survey said.

More than two-thirds said the judiciary has been ineffective in solving corrupt practices in departments due to outdated laws and regulation while an equal number also felt that Government departments and public services were not making efforts to educate citizens on redressal mechanisms available.

The survey which also prepared a corruption perception index of seven Government departments and public services rated municipal corporation as the most corrupt followed by Customs and Excise and Licence (Transport) Departments.

While Municipal Corporations rated a high of 8.12 in term of corruption on a scale of 0-10, Customs and Excise Departments had the second highest score of 7.97 per cent followed by licence, electricity, ration cards and PDS, railways and hospitals in that order. (PTI)

Centre confirms starvation deaths in Rajasthan

NEW DELHI, Nov 17: Following confirmation report from a Central team about starvation deaths in Rajasthan, Food Minister Sharad Yadav has asked the State Government to strengthen its Public Distribution System (PDS), ensuring that such a tragedy does not recur.

"Our team has upheld the veracity of starvation deaths, however, making the report public will only politicise the issue needlessly, the matter therefore is being directly taken up with the Rajasthan Government," official sources told PTI.

They said to describe the deaths as due to malnutrition, improper eating habits or stomach related diseases is only a case of semantics.

The fact of the matter is that deaths took place due to lack of access to food which is the raison ‘d etre for a PDS, they said adding in these circumstances if the Sahariyas tribals were compelled to eat grass seeds leading to diseases which proved fatal, it boils down to `starvation’.

"Call the tragedy by any name, `starvation’ or otherwise, the central team has concluded it is due to improper running of ration shops, very low offtake under PDS, deficiency in providing ration cards and few or no food for work programmes," sources added.

Nevertheless, the team led by commercial manager of the Central Warehousing Corporation BB Pattanaik has been on a fact-finding and not fault-finding mission and centre does not intend to polticise a human tragedy.

Therefore, Food Minister Sharad Yadav has sent a missive to the Rajasthan Government to take requisite steps ensuring that Sahariyas tribals have better access to the PDS.

Sources said, Centre is refraining from making the report public as openly pinning the responsibility on the State Government for running the pds might be construed as "passing the buck".

"It is a systemic failure irrespective of who is in power in Centre or states and has to be addressed by taking corrective measures including not only disbursal of ration cards to the tribals but also ensuring that they are neither mortgaged nor used for making bogus entries while the poor do not get their due rations," they said.

Food insecurity and hunger is not restricted to Rajasthan and is an endemic national problem with many families not having money to even purchase wheat and rice at Antyodaya rates of Rs two and Rs three per kg respectively.

As a result, they mortgage their ration cards for a pittance and are deprived of access to the PDS while the Centre on its part is replenishing foodstocks in vulnerable areas using a dedicated rail transport service even at the cost of exports.

Earlier, a report prepared by the People’s Union of Civil Liberties in alliance with Sankalp and Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti found that people in these villages were consuming ‘Sama’ (wild grass seeds).

People are also boiling ‘Phang’ (a wild green vegetation) and eating its leaves as they have nothing else to consume. Others were seen eating meat of dead sheep on account of which many fell ill.

Only a lucky few got two chappatis to eat every two days while the rest did not have more than half kg flour which they boiled to make ‘lapsi’ and ate with one ‘vatki’ of cooked or boiled water.

Offtake of grains under PDS has been very low and has added to India’s food insecurity. During the April-September period this year, the offtake from ration shops for wheat was a dismal 18.09 per cent and only slightly better at 25.75 per cent for rice.

In September, the wheat and rice offtake was a mere 15.3 and 24.7 per cent respectively. The corresponding figures for families above the poverty line is dismal to say the least at 6.2 and 5.5 per cent respectively indicating that the strata is hardly using the PDS.

In case of BPL families the figures are only slightly better at 45.5 per cent and 50.3 per cent for wheat and rice respectively.

Ironically, bulk of stocks lifted from the central pool are for exports while the paradox of hunger within the country cannot be ignored, they added. (PTI)