From fifty rupees to five lakh, Jr Husian’s journey to fame

NEW DELHI Mar 2: His first work went for a measly Rs. 50 in 1968, now it sold for lakhs. It has taken painter Shamshad Husain almost forty years to get out of his illustrious father M F Husain’s shadows.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Triveda art Auction, Jr Husain, reminisced about his struggle to become an artist and how the art scene has drastically changed today.

"The art scene in India has changed a lot as far as I am concerned. People are investing more in art today which was not there earlier."

About his struggle to become an artist, "I left home in 1963 and never went back home. Though I visited home for a day or two, as I was very close to my mother. But never to stay there permanently,"says the Mumbai artist born artist.

He enrolled into a formal professional art course at Baroda Fine Arts College in 1963 because he wanted to get out of his father’s shadow. " The reason that I went to Baroda was because I wanted to get out of house and paint", says the artist candidly.

Fresh out of College in 1963 he stayed at a rented apartment. "My landlady had a heart of gold. My first exhibition was in Hyderabad in 1968 but I did not have any money to go there. My landlady gave me Rs. 100 to go there. I still remember the person who had bought my first sketch for Rs. 50," he says.

His painting was sold for Rs. 4, 80,000 lakh at the Auction. Talking about the the commercialisation of art, the painter says "Commercialisation is there, but I don’t understand what is the problem since an artist will only do number of paintings he can paint. As for myself I paint 2-3 paintings a month."

Talking about the difference in the art connoisseurs of Mumbai and Delhi he says "Mumbai used to be very good but Delhi is better in buying terms. People are investing in art, buying new artists. During the earlier stage of my career I had nothing, no one was buying, they only used to focus on senior artists but now the times have changed."

The growing popularity of Indian artists is being hailed in the international markets, Husian says, Earlier foreign market didn’t accept India art. But now Indian art is coming up in a big way." (PTI)

HC cautions trial courts to verify authenticity of documents

NEW DELHI, Mar 2: The Delhi High Court has asked trial courts hearing matters related to summoning of an accused not to go by oral submission of a counsel and insist on a certified copy of a stay order if passed by the HC in the matter.

The court also directed the trial courts to follow the procedure adopted for bail matters and asked the courts to verify the authenticity of the order passed by the High Court from the registry before passing any order.

"If any ordinary copy is produced, the sub-ordinate court will have to have the order cross verified with the Registry of this court, which is a practice being followed when the bail orders are produced," said Justice S Muralidhar while rejecting the plea of a bank to set aside the Metropolitan Magistrate’s (MM) order issuing non-bailable warrants against three of the bank employees in a complaint case.

"In the absence of such a production of certified copy of the stay order or verification with the Registry of this court of the ordinary copy, the subordinate court would be fully justified in refusing to act on the oral submission by the counsel that there is a stay of proceedings order passed by this court," Justice Muralidhar said in an order.

The Court upheld the MM’s order while hearing an application filed by the Vijaya bank challenging MM’s February 23 order issuing NBW against its employees.

The court also rejected the submission of the counsel that the MM ignored a stay order passed by the HC in February 2002.

The matter has come up for hearing several times and in two initial orders the High Court had expressed the stay order to be continued till further order but in subsequent orders the MM has not indicated any such extension of the stay, the counsel had said.

Rejecting the counsel’s plea Justice Muralidhar upheld the Magistrate’s NBW order and stated that the bank had failed to produce the certified copies of the HC order and as a result, the magistrate issued the NBW against the bank officials. (PTI)

Delhi Police tows away Rs 1.27 crore this year

NEW DELHI, Mar 2: Car drivers and motorcyclists seem to have the least regard for traffic rules in the national capital, with new statistics showing that they are the most penalised group for unauthorised parking.

This year, Delhi Police has collected Rs 1.27 crore from violators till February 15 after towing away a total of 16,364 vehicles, including 10,892 cars and 3,680 two-wheelers, for unauthorised parking.

The number of cars and motorcycles constitute 89 per cent of the total number of vehicles towed away, a senior police official said.

While 1,590 tempos were towed in the first 45 days of this year for unauthorised parking, the figures for three-wheelers were 74 and trucks 68. Thirty-one buses also faced action.

The official said the initial trend suggest that there is an increase in action taken against offending vehicles. On an average, 363 vehicles are towed away every day this year against 311 last year.

Last year, a total of 1,12,934 vehicles were towed away and this included 76,518 cars and 24,637 two-wheelers. The figures for others vehicles are-Tempos: 10,290; Trucks: 629; Three-wheelers: 536; Buses: 165; Other vehicles: 171.

Violators had to cough up Rs 7.37 crore as penalty last year.

"Unauthorised parking of vehicles leads to traffic chaos and we have to take strict action. In busy localities like Connaught Place, we cannot simply allow unauthorised parking," the official said.

Acknowledging infrastructural deficiencies, the official said the increase in parking space does not commensurate with increase in number of vehicles.

"People try to squeeze in their vehicle at any place they find some space. We do not want to create troubles for people but we are forced to tow away vehicles," the official said, advising people to use authorised parking slots in the city.

There was a decrease in the number of vehicles towed away last year (1,12,934) compared to 2006’s figure of 1,20,145 and 1,38,597 in 2005.

However, the amount collected in 2006 was Rs 3.46 crore, which is about Rs 3.9 crore less than the amount collected last year. In 2005, the collection was Rs 3.58 crore.

In 2006 also, the main violators in this segment were the cars and motorcycles (79,071 and 10,394 respectively).

The figures for 2005 were 55,821 cars and 10,002 motorcycles. (PTI)

Focus on SSA alone akin to ‘fooling
ourselves’: FM’s Adviser

NEW DELHI, Mar 2: As the UPA Government grapples to step up spending on education to 6 per cent of GDP, a commitment made by it in its governance agenda, a key Finance Ministry official has said accent on primary education will not yield results if not complemented by focus on secondary schooling.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) tantamounts to "fooling ourselves.. It (focus) should go to secondary education as well," Adviser to Finance Minister Shubhashis Gangopadhyay said at a discussion on Budget 2008-09 organised by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability here yesterday.

SSA is the Government’s flagship programme for universalisation of primary education implemented in partnership with states.

The UPA, in its National Common Minimum Programme, had pledged to raise spending on education to 6 per cent of GDP and at least spend half this amount on primary and secondary sectors.

"Whether it is six per cent or eight per cent or 10 per cent. These are just talking points," Gangopadhyay said, adding that unless the spending gives the desired results it made no sense to talk about percentage alone.

He was responding to a query whether the Government should revisit its commitment to spend 6 per cent on education, considering the fact that the country’s Gross Domestic Product has grown by a robust 8.8 per cent in the last four years.

According to the Economic Survey for 2007-08, the Government has made a provision of Rs 10,671 crore for SSA.

Raising expenditure on education to 6 per cent of GDP was a goal set in 1948 by the Kothari Commission, and reiterated over and again by the National Policy on Education, but successive Governments are yet to fulfil it.

"You need to spend a minimum of eight per cent of GDP for education (considering the GDP expansion)," Economist Jayati Ghosh, who was part of an official committee that looked at spending requirement for education, said.

"It is very very clear you need very significant expansion. Forget the percentages," she said, adding that if any Government has to really look at meeting the minimum goal on education sector, it has to double the spending.

Panelists at the discussion said spending on education has been declining. During the NDA regime, it was 3.6 per cent of GDP and has fallen to 3 per cent now.

According to the Economic Survey 2007-08, the achievements under SSA up to September 30, 2007 include construction of 1,70,320 school buildings, 7,13,179 additional classrooms, 1,72,381 drinking water facilities, construction of 2,18,075 toilets, supply of free text books to 6.64 crore children and appointment of 8,10,000 teachers, besides opening of 1,86,985 (till March 31, 2007) new schools.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in his Budget speech, too had said the focus of SSA will shift from access and infrastructure at the primary level to enhancing retention; improving quality of learning; and ensuring access to upper primary classes.

He proposed to increase the total allocation to education sector by 20 per cent from Rs 28,674 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 34,400 crore in 2008-09. Of this, SSA will be provided Rs 13,100 crore. (PTI)

Indian cities to host Australian film fest

NEW DELHI, Mar 2: Cineastes in Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore can look forward to watch some classy Australian films as 13 of them will be screened in these cities starting next Thursday as part of a travelling film festival.

The "Australian Visions: A Festival of Acclaimed Australian Films" will be held from March six to 17 and is jointly organised by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Australian Film Commission.

The festival opens with screening of the critically acclaimed ‘Jindabyne’ (2006), directed by noted filmmaker Ray Lawrence, at the Siri Fort Auditorium in the national capital.

Based on a short story by Raymond Carver’s ‘So Much Water so Close to Home’, the film is a powerful exploration of insensitivity depicted through a story of a murder and marriage.

‘Jindabyne’ is just the third movie of the 50-year-old director, known for his one take shots and use of natural light for filming, in his over two-decade-old film career. His first film ‘Bliss’ was made in 1985 and it took another 16 years for him to produce his second work ‘Lantana’.

Nine films will be screened in Delhi during the four-day festival.

The screening in Hyderabad will begin on March eight and end two days later while the films will be shown in Bangalore from March 14 to 17.

The films in the package include The Caterpillar Wish (Dir: Sandra Sciberras), Swimming Upstream (Russel Mulcahey), Ned Kelly (Grogor Jordan) and Dirty Deeds (David Ceasar).

‘The Caterpillar Wish’, made in 2005, deals with ordinary people’s courage to believe that they have the power to transform their own lives. It explores the themes of belonging, loss and the need for social contact through the life of a teen-aged girl .

‘Swimming Upstream’ is based on Anthony Fingelton’s book of the struggle to become an Olympic swimmer despite an overbearing, alcoholic father and his long-suffering mother.

Based on Robert Drewe’s novel ‘Our Sunshine’, Ned Kelly deals with the true story of the infamous gangster who carried out a series of robberies with his gang of outlaws from 1878-1890.

‘La Spagnola’, the 2001 film directed by Steve Jacobs is a comic portrayal of a migrant mother and her daughter surviving life in a dusty Australian town in the 1960s. (PTI)

Bird flu can strike again, FAO warns India

NEW DELHI, Mar 2: India may be free from highly infectious bird flu now, but the UN agency Food and Agriculture Organisation has warned the Government that the dreaded disease could resurface again.

The UN agency also asked the Government to maintain intensive surveillance in high-risk areas.

The virus could still be present in the environment despite heavy culling and extensive disinfection of affected areas, or it could be re-enter from other countries, FAO Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph Domenech said on its website.

Commending the country’s efforts in controlling bird flu in West Bengal, FAO said the public awareness campaigns, a strong command chain from districts to villages, compensation payments and an effective collaboration between animal and human health departments at field level, have been the key factors for the success.

FAO suggested to assess the socio-economic impacts of this control campaign in order to better define and apply the necessary mitigation measures regarding the negative impacts of massive culling of chickens and ducks, which belonged mainly to poor poultry farmers.

India had to cull over 3.9 million chickens and ducks, mainly belonging to poor backyard poultry farmers to stop the rapid spread of virus to other states and to avoid the risk of human infections, it said, adding that there have been no new disease outbreaks since February 2, 2008.

"Live bird markets, migration of wild birds and transportation routes of birds and poultry products should be mapped to better understand and control the spread of the disease," it added.

FAO said the public awareness campaigns should continue over the next months introducing rural communities to safe poultry production and basic bio-security measures with the ultimate goal of reducing the risk of human infections.

The recent outbreak of avian influenza in West Bengal, and the ongoing spread of the disease in Bangladesh require close collaboration between affected countries, it said.

The UN body is organising a meeting at Kathmandu, Nepal, in collaboration with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to better coordinate avian influenza control campaigns.

It has invited India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar to participate in a regional meeting. (PTI)

Expert bets on hip replacement as safe option

CHENNAI, Mar 2: Conventional hip replacement surgery is a limousine now, not a bullock cart as widely perceived as it is safer and effective than hip resurfacing technique, according to an expert.

Talking to UNI here, Dr Prithvi Mohandas, Consultant Hip Surgeon at the MIOT Hospitals, who had peformed more than 1,500 primary hip replacement procedures in India and abroad, said both the procedures had developed very well due to rapid strides in medical science and technology.

"However, the perception of people that total hip replacement is a difficult and painful procedure dates back to the 60s. There is a misconceived notion that hip resurfacing is better than replacement which is totally untrue," he said.

"People think hip bone removal is a thing of the past and unreliable. They prefer hip resurfacing as an easy and safer option," he added.

However, there are pitfalls in resurfacing technique as the doctor has to be very selective before deciding on conducting it. He should study the prognosis of the bone.

"The recovery process is longer in resurfacing and cannot be done without incision smaller than 12 cm. The surgery can be performed only if femur head is rock solid," Dr Mohandas, who is also the Director of Hip Arthroplasty at MIOT Hospitals, observed.

"If the femur is strong and cartilage alone is worn out, then resurfacing is the best option. However, if the femur head is weak, hip replacement is the only option," he said, wondering why most of the patients think resurfacing is the only solution.

Besides cracking the reason for the previous hip replacement failures, the medical fraternity does not use cement, metal or plastic for the procedure and the titanium implants used now showed no evidence of anything going wrong. A scientific comparison of this with the results of the worldwide figures for resurfacing proved the superiority of the modern total hip replacement in the long term, Dr Mohandas said.

In the Indian context where patients are not insured, they need an operation which gives them life-long relief, he added.

In resurfacing, in the first year, two in every 100 people have femural head fracture and in three years, three in every 100 will need it redone to a total hip replacement in the first five years following the surgery, Dr Mohandas said.

A recent concern about resurfacing is the rejection of metal on metal implant by the patient. The cause for this is unknown. The Australian Hip Registry puts this risk of implant rejection as being higher among women.

Quoting studies, he said approximately, two per cent of the women will reject the prosthesis in the first year and a half, following resurfacing surgery due to an allergy called ALVAL (asceptic, lymphocyte-dominated, vasculitis-associated, lesion).

In comparison, total hip replacement is far convenient and cost-effective due to advances in medical science. "While it costs Rs 1.1 lakh for implant in resurfacing, the patient had to pay just Rs 70,000 for hip replacement," Dr Mohands added.

"The advances in medical sciences have given a rebirth to total hip replacement. It is no more a bullock cart. It’s a limousine, now. It is a viable and better alternative and a permanent and trouble-free solution," he asserted.

"Since, total hip replacements are carried out using titanium which has great affinity for bone, the results are very good. With the advent of new type of ceramics, the chances of bone prosthesis interface getting disrupted are less likely," he added.

Resurfacing involves shaving the ball or head of the femur, cementing a metal head onto it and making this articulate with an uncemented, hemispherical, metal socket.

"There are concerns about fracture as the metal head has to be impacted onto the ball of the femur to ensure a close fit. Also, with time, there is loss of bone mass within the femural head," Dr Mohandas said.

The movement of one metal on the other produces metal ions in huge concentrations, whose effect is as yet unknown. Chrome Cobalt, the metal used in resurfacing, has very poor affinity to bone.

"Therefore, lack of bony ingrowth into the uncemented socket could result in loosening in the long term," Dr Mohandas, who was closely associated with and trained by the Ortho surgeon to the Queen Sarah Muirhead Allwood, said.

Quoting the guidelines issued by the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA), he said the patient should have strong bone, should not be allergic to metal and attain skeletal maturity. Going by the FDA criteria, only ten out of every 100 patients worldwide under the age of 65 would be able to undergo resurfacing.

"According to the FDA, resurfacing cannot be done on patients suffering from severe osteopenia, family history of severe osteoporosis, severe osteopenia, osteonecrosis or avascular necrosis with more than 50 per cent involvement of the femural head, multiple cysts of the femural head, pregnancy, breast-feeding, skeletal immaturity, vascular insufficiency, muscular atrophy, or neuromuscular disease, moderate to severe renal insufficiency, severely overweight, metal sensitivity, immunosuppressed or receiving high doses of corticosteroids," he said. (UNI)