MUMBAI, June 17:
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who is all set to make his fiction debut on the small screen with ‘Yudh’, feels TV has better reach and it needs to be given more importance.
“TV needs to be given more importance, looked at more seriously. I understand content is the king on TV and whoever has the best content is going to succeed,” the 71-year-old actor told reporters here today after ringing the bell at the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Bachchan said with 800 channels competing with each other, it gives actors like him the impetus to do something different.
“I feel TV is better than films. My knowledge on this is very limited but the little that I know is that the turnover of TV in India is three times more than cinema. The reach, effect and the affect of TV has just about started,” he added.
In ‘Yudh’ Bachchan plays a real estate baron. The actor has teamed up with a plethora of talent for the fiction show with big names like Anurag Kashyap and Shoojit Sircar assisting in the creative department, while Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sarika and Nawazuddin Siddiqui appearing as support cast.
When asked if he thinks TV is a safer proposition as compared to films, Bachchan said, “Nothing is safe in this world when you are in a creative field. We take precautions, there are times when you succeed and fail as well. This is a gamble that you have to take when you are in this field of art.”
The actor, who is one of the most successful hosts on TV with ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, says he doesn’t understand the TRP battle of the television world.
“I don’t know how this works. I only know what I need to do when the camera goes on. There are other people who are more professional in this job like the directors and writers, who will come up with content that they feel is right, we just enact,” he said.
Bachchan, who has worked with actress Preity Zinta in films like ‘The Last Lear’ and ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’, chose not to comment on the controversy involving her and industrialist ex-boyfriend Ness Wadia. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 17: With no Indian institute figuring in the top 10 list of QS BRICS 2014 University Rankings, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today favoured evolving an independent India-specific ranking of institutes.

Modi emphasised the need for India to evolve an independent ‘India Ranking’ metric for universities as the existing systems are skewed towards the western nations, said a Government statement.

Such ranking metric can also involve the SAARC nations, the PM suggested.

The first copy of the ‘QS University Rankings: BRICS 2014’ featuring the top 200 varsities was presented to the PM by HRD Minister Smriti Irani, in which six institutes of China figured among the top 10. The top slot was occupied by Tsinghua University of China.

The report, however, reflected a growing interest among the Indian institutes to be ranked among the best in the world.

Twenty Indian institutes feature in the BRICS 2014 ranking, with Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) occupying the top slots among the Indian institutes.

IIT Delhi made it to the 13th place, followed by IIT Bombay at 15th place and IIT Kanpur at the 17th place.

IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Roorkee were placed at 17th, 20th and 37th place respectively.

China had six of the top 10 places, followed by Brazil with two institutes and Russia and South Africa with one each.

The prestigious IIT Kharagpur has a higher proportion of PhDs among its staff than any university in the five countries.

On overall staffing levels, only Manipal University appears in the top 100 among the universities of the BRICS countries.

Other educational institutions from India in the list include University of Mumbai, University of Madras, Banaras Hindu University, Manipal University and Birla Institute of Technology and Science.

University of Pune, Calcutta University, Delhi University, Allahabad University, Amity University, Anna University and Punjab University also figure in the ranking list. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 17:
Pressing for immediate steps to protect Himalayas especially after the Uttarakhand flash floods, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi today mooted setting up a dedicated, central body which would oversee development and ecological conservation works in the mountains.
“The Himalayas are not a different entity for Uttarakhand, J&K, Darjeeling and Nepal. It is one, it is one system. Therefore there should be proper arrangements for its security and we had also mentioned in our manifesto that the responsibility to safeguard the Himalayas lies with the entire country,” said Joshi.
“We need to create a system for Himalayas’ security and there should be funds allocated every year by the Parliament for this. We should create a dedicated unit like Himalaya Development Authority or anything you name it, but a central body should be constituted which can manage Himalayas,” he added.
A body which can identify what kind of technology can be used in Himalayas, what kind of roads and houses can be built and what kind of industrial units can be established, said Joshi who was here at a function organised by Akhil Bhartiya Uttarakhand Trasadi Peedit Manch for paying tributes to the victims of the Uttarakhand flash floods last year.
“If Himalayas are saved, only then the country will be saved,” added Joshi.
Remembering the plight of Uttarakhand tragedy victims, senior RSS leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi, said, “be it a man-made disaster or a natural disaster, the damage can’t be forgotten ever”.
Scientists should study the causes of the Uttarakhand tragedy, so a clear plan of action can be formulated for avoiding such tragedies in future, he said.
“The relief initiatives pertaining to the Uttarakhand tragedy should not be politicised. However, political intervention is necessary too and the government should also be sensitive towards the feelings of the victims.
“Policy makers should be more active. There are many loopholes in our system. We have disaster management committees in place but there should be an active platform where suggestions are made, deliberated upon and accepted,” he said.
Suggesting that India should be taking cue from Japan regarding its approach towards disaster management, Bhaiyaji said, “Japan has dealt with so many natural disasters and they rise from crisis again and again. Their administration is active, so is their governance. We need to follow a similar approach to deal with such tragedies in future.”
BJP leader and Buxar MP Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, who was also stranded with his family when the disaster hit Uttarakhand last year, accused the previous UPA government for of having a “laid back attitude” towards the victims.(PTI)