Four new IITs, six IIMs to be set up

Cost of tax collection in India cheapest in the world: FM

‘Khuda Kay Liye’ opens in Indian cinemas on April 4

Filmmakers lack passion to make women-centric cinema: Dholakia

Ricebran oil rises on increased demand

NEW DELHI, Mar 28:Ricebran oil today gained Rs 50 per quintal on revival of buying by vanaspati mills against low ready stocks position.

Marketmen said fresh buying support from vanaspati mills against restricted supply pushed up ricebran oils.

Ricebran (phy) oil closed at Rs 5,250 a quintal.

However, prices of other oils closed steady in limited trading.

Following are today's quotations per quintal:

Oilseeds: mustard seed 2,325-2,500 and Groundnutseed 2,700-3,000.

Vanaspati ghee (15 litres tin) 885-995.

Edible oils: Groundnut mill delivery 7,400, Groundnut Solvent refined (per tin) 1225-1250, Mustard Expeller 6,250, Mustard Pakki ghani (per tin) 875-950, Mustard kachi ghani (per tin) 930-1025, Sunflower 5,400, Sesame mill delivery 8,700, Soybean Refined mill delivery 6,450, Soyabean degum (Delhi) 6,300, Crude Palm Oil (Ex-kandla) 5,200, Cottonseed mill delivery 6,150, palmoline (RBD) 6,000, Rice bran (phy) 5,250 and coconut (per tin) 915-960.

Non-edible oils: linseed 4900 Mahuwa 4400, castor 5500-6000, Neem 3900-4000, Rice bran 3900-4050 and palm fatty 3125-3200.

Oilcakes: groundnut dehusk 770-820, Sesame 925-1125, Mustard (new) 1000-1025, Mustard 975-980 and Cottonseed 975-1100. (PTI)

CBoP shareholders approve merger with HDFC

MUMBAI, Mar 28: Centurion Bank of Punjab's shareholders today approved the scheme of amalgamation with the private sector lender HDFC.

The shareholders approved the scheme of amalgamation today at the extraordinary general meeting, CBoP said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Subsequently, the bank would seek approval from the Reserve Bank of India to seal the transaction, the filing said.

On February 25, HDFC Bank had approved a share swap ratio of 1:29 to take over CBoP. This means that for every 29 shares of CBoP, the CBoP shareholders would be offered one share of the leading housing lender.

HDFC Bank is the country's second largest private sector lender after ICICI Bank, while CBoP is the fourth largest bank. HDFC Bank has about 746 branches pan-India, while CBoP has 394.

Post merger the combined entity has a market capitalisation of about Rs 58,000 crore, based on their current market values. (PTI)

IDBI approval for change to IDBI Bank Ltd

MUMBAI, Mar 28: Industrial Development Bank of India Limited (IDBI) has informed BSE that the Resolution passed by the Board through circulation on March 12, 2008, accorded to conduct a Postal Ballot to seek approval of the members of the Company by a Special Resolution in terms of Section 21 of the Companies Act, 1956, for changing the name of the Company to "IDBI Bank Limited".

S N Ananthasubramanian of M/s S N Ananthasubramanian & Co., Company Secretaries, who has given his consent to act as Scrutinizer appointed as Scrutinizer for the period from the date of appointment till completion of the Postal Ballot process to conduct the Postal Ballot of the Company.

The last date for receipt of postal ballot forms be fixed as April 19, 2008 and the date for declaration of result of the Postal Ballot by Chairman be fixed as April 25, 2008. (UNI)

Four new IITs, six IIMs to be set up

NEW DELHI, Mar 28: In a bid to give an impetus to the higher education sector, Government today decided to establish four new IITs and six IIMs in various states besides upgrading some of the state universities to the status of Central Universities.

While the new IITs would be located in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh (Indore), Gujarat and Punjab, the IIMs would come up in Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Uttarakhand and Haryana.

These new institutions would be part of the eight IITs and seven IIMs proposed to be set up during the 11th Five Year Plan.

Government has already announced establishment of four IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh and one IIM at Shillong.

The location of the new higher education institutions has been approved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, HRD Minister Arjun Singh told reporters here.

In addition, he said the government proposed to convert the Institute of Technology of the Banaras Hindu University into an IIT. Admission to this Institute was already based on the IIT-Joint Entrance Examination.

Singh said it is also proposed to establish during the 11th five year plan period 14 Universities with world class standards and 16 universities in states which do not have a Central University at present.

Singh said the establishment of new IITs, IIMs and Central Universities was subject to State Governments offering adequate land at suitable locations and free of cost.

The 14 Central Universities aiming at world class standards would be located in Pune, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Patna, Bhopal, Kochi, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Greater NOIDA and Guwahati.

The locations have been decided keeping in mind the connectivity and the infrastructure which such universities would need, he said.

The State Governments would be requested to identify adequate land in or near the selected cities, Singh said adding the contour and shape of such world class universities would be defined shortly.

To a question whether the decision to set up these new institutions was based on political considerations, Singh said the government has decided on them after taking everything into consideration.

Dismissing a suggestion that Kerala has been left out in the exercise, he said the southern state has got a Central University and a world class university. "It is not correct that Kerala is left high and dry", he said. (PTI)

Cost of tax collection in India cheapest in the world: FM

MUMBAI, Mar 28: The Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said that Indian centralised tax collection process is the cheapest practice in the world.

Speaking at the inaugural function of the country’s third ‘Large Tax Payer Unit’ LTPU here, Mr Chidambaram said, the cost of tax collection for the Income Tax Department is the lowest in the world at the rate of 60 paise for every Rs 100 collected as a tax.

Further, with the introduction of the single window LTPU, the cost of collection comes down drastically to 4.5 paise for every Rs 100 collected as tax, Mr Chidambaram said.

He said that the Government is planning to bring all the central tax collection provisions under the single roof of LTPU. This unit of Mumbai was the third one after Chennai and Bangalore, within a time span of two year and two units in Delhi and Kolkata will be functional by the end of this calendar year. (UNI)

‘Khuda Kay Liye’ opens in Indian cinemas on April 4

MUMBAI, Mar 28: Come April and Indian moviegoers would get to see a Pakistani movie "Khuda Kay Liye" (In the name of God), which is being released in cinemas across the country with a record 150 prints.

The award-winning movie, based on post 9/11 scenario, is being released in India by Percept Picture Company.

It may be recalled that there was no exchange of films between India and Pakistan for the last 40 years. Recently ice was broken when the colour version of "Mughal-e-Azam" and Akbar Khan’s "Taj Mahal: An eternal love story" were released in Pakistan. Aamir Khan’s "Taare Zameen Par" is also set to be released in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Government has allowed Aamir Khan’s film to be released on a condition that for each Hindi title released in Pakistan, an Urdu film will be allowed to be exhibited in India.

"Khuda Kay Liye" was screened at the International Film Festival of India in 2007 in Goa last November and was received well by audience as well as critics.

The movie directed by Shoaib Mansoor has music by Rohail Hayat, Javed Bashir, Shuja Haider, Ahmad Jahanzeb, Khawar Jawad and Lagan Band.

Shot in 45 days in 2005-06 on a low-budget, the film covers a vast canvas and stresses on the fact that it is more important to be a true Muslim at heart, than to just proclaim your faith by growing beard or by keeping your women in a veil (purdah) or by wearing a "kurta-pyjama".

The movie revolves around a young Pakistani man (Shaan) who goes to the United States for higher education. During his study years, the tragic event of 9/11 takes place. In a long array of investigations and arrests, the young man gets arrested by the American authorities; while his younger brother is being motivated by an old extremist friend Shershah (Hameed Sheikh) on the path of God.

This record-breaking Pakistani film has very delicately narrated the situation after 9/11 which not only created a rift between the western world and the Muslims but also within the Muslim community. It describes a struggle between fundamentalists and liberal Muslims after the tragic event of 9/11 in which the World Trade Center turned into a tomb of dust.

The whole story is woven around educated and modern Muslims in a difficult situation because of their approach towards life and their western attire as they are criticised and harassed by the fundamentalists. On the other hand, the western world sees them as potential suspects of terrorism just because of their Muslim names which results in great sufferings for a forward looking Muslim.

"Khuda Kay Liye" has Pakistani actors Shaan and Iman Ali in lead roles as Mansoor and Maryam/Marie respectively. The other star cast includes Hameed Sheikh as Shershah and Humayun Kazmi as Maryam’s father. Naseeruddin Shah plays the prominent role of a Muslim cleric named Maulana Wali in a "special appearance" in the film and he was so impressed with his role that he did not charge any fee for working in the film.

The movie won the Silver Pyramid Award at the 2007 31^{st Cairo International Film Festival, Best Foreign Fim Award at Muscat Film Festival and honoured with the Roberto Rossellini Award in Italy. The film was well received in Dubai, London and Pakistan. (UNI)}

Filmmakers lack passion to make women-centric cinema: Dholakia

NEW DELHI, Mar 28: Most Bollywood filmmakers of today either don’t have the passion or the sensitivity to make the heroine centric cinema like the greats of yesteryear, Mehboob or Bimal Roy, says a National Award winning director.

"I don’t think most filmmakers have either the passion or the sensitivity to make the type of cinema like the greats of yesteryear. Earlier issues discussed in cinema were far more relevant to the woman than today. Also, for most producers, woman as a hero is an alien concept. ‘Bandini’, ‘Mai Tulsi’, ‘Saraswati Chandra’, even films like ‘Koshish’ and ‘Chupke Chupke’ had woman on equal standing as men, says Rahul Dholakia, winner of Best Director honour at the 53rd National Awards for the film ‘Parzania’.

"Hindi Cinema still caters to male chauvinism and their egos. This is changing but at a slow pace. I think we still are not writing scripts that are heroine centric or subjects where the heroine is the protagonist,"
he adds.

Los Angeles-based director Dholakia, whose first film ‘Kehta Hai Dil Baar Baar’ was a complete washout, got rave reviews for his next film ‘Parzania’ based on the story of a family ravaged by the Gujarat riots. The leading actress Sarika, also won National Award for best actress for the film.

Dholakia says that the slump in the women oriented roles has a lot to do with makers’ imagination and lack of original ideas. "Most makers today are more concerned with how hot their heroine looks rather than how powerful her character is; its almost as if cinema is nothing more than a trailer and a poster."

"Most of the scripts are rip offs of foreign DVD. And unfortunately by ripping of DVDs, we can get great plot points and story ideas, but can’t incorporate our ethos and identity. This has to be original and for most writers, the women character does not figure very high on that list."

However, he adds that the new breed of directors is experimenting with new ideas and to some extent giving more importance to female roles. "In some of the films like ‘Zindaggi Rocks’, ‘Aaja Nachle’, Jodha-Akbar, Laga Chunari Me Daag and Chak De, stories were built around female characters. But the number still is minimal," he says.

Last year, Yash Raj Films, the biggest film production company in India, produced two women centric films, ‘Laaga Chunri Mein Daag’ and ‘Aaja Nachle’ but Dholakia thinks that the larger budget films and film houses are more emphasising on making formula fims than the real one.

"Their heroines are conservative, not in clothes, but in thoughts. Today the Indian woman has gone into space but the woman in Indian Cinema are still struggling for space," he says.

Disclosing the fact that even some of the top Bollywood actresses do not want to do films based on social issues, he says, "I had written a script with a very strong character for a woman, but a few top actresses turned it down, they would prefer playing a small flimsy part in a big film rather than take the responsibility of the film on their shoulders."

"Sadly its coming down to packaging, and so in the desire to make the project box office viable, both actors and filmmakers have forgotten to take risk". (PTI)