Thursday, January 23, 2014

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Subhash Chandra Bose’s 117th birth anniversary

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Subhash Chandra BoseUpdated on : 23-01-2014 11:10 AM
The nation celebrated the 117th birth anniversary of legendary freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose who was a shining hero of our war of independence.
The 117th birthanniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the forgotten hero of the Indian independence struggle, celebrated on 23rd January.
Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary is celebrated every year with the great honour by the people including government and non-government organisations in Kolkata, as he was one of the most well-known Indian leaders during the independence movement and has become a great legendary figure in the history of India.
Netaji’s followers have demanded that his birth anniversary be celebrated as ‘Desh Prem Divas’ on a national scale in order to remember his great sacrifice towards the country.
Though the West Bengal government is said to be celebrating the day as ‘Desh Prem Divas’, there still has been no initiative from the Central Government to mark the day as a special occasion.
Netaji’s followers say there are many far lesser mortals whose birthday is being celebrated as someday or the other but not of this man who for long fought a battle for independence on his own.
Government’s apathy towards one of the greatest sons of India, they say, has many a times befuddled the billion plus population of the country, but no headway seems to have been achieved in making the man receive the glory he so rightly deserves.
He doesn’t have a political legacy to advocate his case in the corridors of power, but his actions and patriotism has forever left an indelible imprint in the hearts of the common man who still love for what he managed to do.
Awards and recognition can only externally accentuate the place that he has managed to build in the heart of every patriotic Indian, but the lack of them though immaterial to his followers does indeed present the government and the country in poor light.
Bose, who advocated complete independence for India at the earliest as opposed to the All-India Congress Committee which wanted it in phases, through Dominion status, was born on 23rd January, 1897 in Cuttack.
Right from the very beginning he was a brilliant student and fiercely patriotic.
As was the convention then he appeared for the Civil Services exams and passed out with flying colours. But serving the British was the last thing in his mind.
Serving a house-arrest, he quite amazingly slipped from the ruthless British government and went from Hitler to Mussolini to seek their support in overthrowing the British from India.
He persevered for long, before eventually managing to form the Indian National Army (INA) that consisted of the POWs of the World War.
Limited in resources, his sharp rhetoric inspired thousands to fight for the independence of India.
Such was his oratory skills and the fervour to liberate India that in no time, he managed to raise an army of more than a million who walked all the way from Japan to India forgoing food, water and proper rest.
They had limited ammunition and the daunting prospect of facing a mighty army, but it was Netaji’s sincere dedication that ensured the zeal never wavered.
After initial victory, they gradually began to lose, but not for once did they beat a retreat.
Netaji is then said to have died in aircrash, when he was on his way to Japan to seek arms and ammunition.







Bharti controversy

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: Kejriwal meets Lt Governor
Bharti controversy: Kejriwal meets Lt GovernorUpdated on : 23-01-2014 12:31 PM
Aam Admi Party Leaders led by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday met with the Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung to discuss with him the security situation of the state and brief him on the stand taken by his party on Delhi’s law Minister Somnath Bharati.
The law Minister has come under scathing attack from both opposition BJP and the Congress which has given support to the government.
AAP leadership including Arvind Kejriwal are facing severe criticism for defending Somnath Bharati who has allegedly misbehaved with women and who has been indicted by a CBI court for tempering with evidence in a case of corruption.
Meanwhile, Congress has said that unlike Arvind Kejriwal’s stance that they will not negotiate on the issues for which they were holding the Dharna, he has negotiated with the Lieutenant Governor.
Congress has said that will not rush towards any decision of withdrawing support or seeking the chief Minister’s resignation but are wary of whether to trust Arvind Kejriwal words anymore.
Congress local unit led by Delhi PCC chief Arvinder Singh Lovely and CLP leader Haroon Yusuf will be meeting Jung on Thursday to press for the resignation of some state Ministers including Law Minister Somnath Bharti and Rakhi Birla.
Pressure mounted for removal of Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti after one of the African women assaulted in a midnight raid in south Delhi, accused him of having led the group that barged into her house and attacked them.
Women’s organisations have demanded resignation of Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti for his alleged racist remarks and harrasment meted out to African nationals.
They have written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, seeking action against Bharti for his alleged role in an incident in a south Delhi locality, last week.
Chairperson of National Commission for Women, Mamta Sharma told media in New Delhi that Somnath Bharti should have resigned on moral grounds, for taking law into his hands.
She said, the Chief Minister should also have taken note of the case and asked Bharti to resign from his post.
In another development, Delhi Women Commission has issued summons to Bharti for his role in the alleged harassment of Ugandan women.
Congress Women’s wing head Shobha Oza described Somnath Bharti’s act as irresponsible and sought action against him.






Sania-Tecau sail into semis of Australian Open

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Sania-Tecau sail into semis of Australian OpenUpdated on : 23-01-2014 12:11 PM
India’s Sania Mirza and her Romanian partner Horia Tecau stormed into the semifinals of the mixed doubles event at the Australian Open with straight sets victory over Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Julia Georges, in Melbourne on Thursday.
Sixth seed Sania and Tecau hardly broke a sweat to prevail over the unseeded Aisam-Julia combination 6-3 6-4 in their quarterfinal clash that lasted just 63 minutes.
The Indo-Romanian duo will play Australian pair of Jarmila Gajdosova and Matthew Ebden in the semifinals.
The unseeded Australian pair stunned second seeds Katarina Srebotnik of Sloivakia and India’s Rohan Bopanna 7-5 6-3 in another quarterfinal on Wednesday.
Sania and Tecau got three opportunities to break their opponents in the opening set, out of which they converted one, which was enough for the Indo-Romanian pair to pocket the set in 28 minutes.
In the next set, Sania and Tecau broke their opponents in the ninth game to serve out the set in 35 minutes and book a place in the last four stage.
In veteran Leander Paes, another Indian is in fray in the mixed doubles event.
Paes and his Slovakian partner Daniela Hantuchova will meet Kristina Mladenovic of France and Daniel Nestor in another quarterfinal tie later in the day.






Auction for Sale of Government Stocks

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The Government of India have announced the sale (re-issue) of “1.44% Inflation Indexed Government Stock-2023” for a notified amount of Rs. 500 crore (nominal) through price based auction. The auction will be conducted using uniform price method. The auction will be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India( RBI), Mumbai Office, Fort, Mumbai on January 29, 2014 (Wednesday).
Up to 20% of the notified amount of the sale of the stocks will be allotted to eligible individuals and Institutions as per the Scheme for Non-Competitive Bidding Facility in the Auction of Government Securities.
Both competitive and non-competitive bids for the auction should be submitted in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system on January 29, 2014 (Wednesday). The non-competitive bids should be submitted between 10.30 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. and the competitive bids should be submitted between 10.30 a.m. and 12.00 noon.
The result of the auction will be announced on January 29, 2014 and payment by successful bidders will be on January 30, 2014 (Thursday).
The sale (re-issue) of “1.44% Inflation Indexed Government Stock-2023” for a notified amount of Rs. 500 crore would be issued within the budgeted Government market borrowing programme (about Rs.5,79,000 crore) for 2013-14 and indicative calendar for the marketable dated securities for the second half of 2013-14.
Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs North Block, New Delhi-110001






India and Japan Enter into Memorandum in the Field of Tourism

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India and Japan have entered into a Memorandum for strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism.  The Memorandum was signed between Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and the Japan Tourism Agency, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure , Transport and Tourism, Government of Japan in New Delhi on 22nd January, 2014.  Mr. Parvez Dewan, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism in his capacity as Director General, Tourism and Mr. Shigeto Kubo, Commissioner, Japan Tourism Agency signed the Memorandum.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Shigeto Kubo, Commissioner, Japan Tourism Agency expressed the hope that the Memorandum would facilitate travel and tourist visits and further strengthen the tourism partnership between the two countries.
Mr. Parvez Dewan , Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India said that religious tourism in the form of Buddhist heritage sites is a great attraction for Japanese tourists to India.  He said that Japanese tourists have been availing visa-on-arrival in a major way and the highest number of visas on arrival were issued to the tourists from Japan during 2013, as in previous years.
Japan is an important source market for Indian Tourism.  During 2013, India received 2.20 lakh tourists from Japan.
This Memorandum between India and Japan is intended to serve as the key instrument for greater action oriented cooperation and further strengthening the close tourism partnership between the two countries. The main objectives of the Memorandum are :
a) To expand bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector; b) To exchange information and data related to tourism ; c) To encourage cooperation between Tour Operators and tourism stakeholders including Hotel owners; d) To establish exchange programmes for cooperation in Human Resource Development; e) To exchange visits of Tour Operators/Media/ Opinion Makers for promotion of two way tourism; f) To exchange experience in the areas of promotion, marketing, destination development and management; g) To participate in travel fairs/exhibitions in each other’s country; and h) To promote safe, honourable and sustainable tourism.






Organized retail real estate supply witnesses 78% y-o-y growth in 2013

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Organized retail real estate supply witnesses 78% y-o-y growth in 2013, as retailer demand remained positive

 
 
•   Total mall supply stood at approximately 4.7 million sq. ft. in 2013
•   Global players expanded presence across India’s leading cities in H2 2013
•   Mixed rental trends displayed across cities during H2 2013
 
 
New Delhi, January 23, 2014: Demand from international and domestic brands as well as retailers continued to strengthen throughout 2013; with the second half of the year witnessing an increase in demand for quality retail space in Delhi NCR, Pune and Chennai—according to the findings of CBRE’s latest report, India Retail Market View H2 2013. Demand from global retailers in the Delhi NCR and Mumbai markets remained buoyant, as more retail groups sought space in prime shopping centers, as opposed to standalone high street outlets, says the report.
The total organized retail supply in 2013 stood at approximately 4.7 million sq. ft., witnessing a strong y-o-y growth of about 78%, over the total mall supply of 2.5 million sq. ft. in 2012.  Most of the supply in 2013 was concentrated across Tier II cities; however 2014 is likely to witness supply addition in the key hubs of NCR and Mumbai.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Mr. Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and Managing Director of CBRE, South Asia Pvt. Ltd. said, “Despite ongoing uncertainty, retail real estate witnessed good activity during 2013 with a number of international brands entering and expanding across key cities. The year 2014 is expected to remain positive for the retail sector, with existing brands expected to ramp up operations and new brands look to making their India entries. Although domestic retailers have been performing steadily, they face competition from global retail groups, especially in the apparel and F&B segments.”
Prominent global players—such as Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts, Forever 21, Zara and Superdry—expanded their presence across the country’s leading cities; while retailers in the luxury and bridge-to-luxury segments were particularly active, with brands such as Brook Brothers, Missoni, Michael Kors and Emilo Pucci making inroads into the country’s market places.
Rental values displayed mixed trends across the top cities during H2 2013. While traditional high street markets—such as Khan Market (Delhi) and Brigade Road, Commercial Street (Bangalore) witnessed an increase in rental values, the shopping hubs of Eastern Mumbai and South Bangalore observed a rental decline in H2 2013 compared to first half of the year. Cities such as Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata largely witnessed stability in pricing across most micro-markets; while Pune saw an increase across its high streets, even as its mall rentals remained stable.
Going forward, the limited availability of quality retail space in core locations is likely to pose a greater barrier to new retailer entry in a number of key markets—including Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore—as opposed to prohibitive rentals. On account of such constraints in quality supply, select developments are likely to witness greater than average increment in rentals because of retailer preferences for such spaces.






AVIAREPS LAUNCHES GLOBAL PUBLIC RELATIONS PLATFORM

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AVIAREPS LAUNCHES GLOBAL PUBLIC RELATIONS PLATFORM TAILORED FOR TOURISM, HOSPITALITY AND AIRLINE ENTITIES
- Global industry-related public relations and market awareness now possible and economically viable for all -

AVIAREPS, the global leader in tourism, aviation, hospitality and trade promotion representation, with 46 offices in 38 countries around the world, has launched a Global Public Relations Platform specifically tailored for tourism, hospitality, airline and trade promotion entities seeking economical PR solutions. The platform, launched at the International Tourism Trade Fair (FITUR) in Madrid, Spain, provides effective brand, product and service awareness activities among key industry players around the world, and is unique for the level of professional, multi-lingual PR services provided, the international outreach achieved, and the economic value at which the service can be provided.

Says Michael Gaebler, Chairman & CEO AVIAREPS Group: “The AVIAREPS Global PR Platform now makes it economically viable for all tourism and hospitality entities big or small to have a truly international PR footprint. We are able to offer such a professional yet economical PR service where others can not, as our offices around the world are self-owned, the professional skill sets we hold are in-house and not outsourced, and because of our tourism and aviation specialisation, each of our offices are naturally in regular contact with the local travel trade and industry related media in each of their markets of expertise.”


Through the AVIAREPS Global Public Relations Platform, an organisation’s press releases and key messaging are translated into nine key languages including: English, Arabic, Chinese Mandarin, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian and Spanish, and disseminated to the tourism, aviation and international trade promotion industries’ key media by each of the 46 AVIAREPS offices around the world. Media clippings of the exposure achieved from each of the markets are also provided along with an overview of total PR values achieved on a monthly basis.

PRESS INQUIRIES
Ms. Anna Karina Berels
Tel: +49 89 55 23 33 155
E-mail: aberels@aviareps.com







‘Partnering for Rural Prosperity – Exploring New Agri-business Models,’

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Dear Mr Sagar,
Greetings from OneWorld!
It is my pleasure to invite you to participate in our roundtable discussion on ‘Partnering for Rural Prosperity – Exploring New Agri-business Models,’ at 6pm, on January 28, 2014 at The India International Centre, New Delhi. The discussion will look at and debate new models of fostering partnerships that are emerging in the agri-business sector.
The conferences have been held in collaboration with Shri Jagdamba Samiti (SJS) and with the support of The Netherlands-based Fast Food Technologies (FFT) and the Dutch family foundation, Stichting Het Groene Woudt (SHGW). The SJS, FFT and SHGW  have set up one of India’s most advanced cold storage chains for apple growers in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand in India.
This roundtable discussion follows a series of two conferences and three roundtables that have been held during the past one year. The roundtables are limited to key stakeholders, including the government, corporates and financial institutions, NGOs and people with interest in the fields of agriculture and sustainable development. Union Water Resources Minister Shri Harish Rawat was the Chief Guest at the first conference, while Union Textiles Minister Shri KS Rao was the Chief Guest at the second conference. Shri SK Muttoo, IAS, Chief Investment Commissioner, Uttarakhand, and renowned agricultural scientist Prof. MS Swaminathan addressed the first and second roundtables respectively. The third roundtable, that concluded just last week, had the top PSU banks speaking on the topic of ‘Financing Sustainable Agriculture’.
More information on the earlier conferences can be found at http://partneringforruralprosperity.in
Please feel free to contact me for any information that you may need.

Thanks and regards
Rahul
0-9811329116
————————————————————
 Rahul Kumar Head – Editorial and Emerging Media OneWorld Foundation India www.oneworld.net.in http://southasia.oneworld.net Ph: 41689000 Fax: 41689001
C-1/3, First Floor Safdarjung Development Area, New Delhi-110014




Session on Indian Mujahideen: Computational Analysis and Public Policy

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EVENT DETAILS
DATEFriday, January 24, 2014
TIME5:30 PM  - 6:30 PM (Registration: 5:00 pm)
LOCATIONWWF Auditorium, 172-B, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi – 110003
SPEAKERProf V. S. Subrahmanian, Professor of Computer Science, University of Maryland, USA
MODERATORAmbassador G Parthasarathy, Visiting Professor, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi
ABOUT THE EVENT In his talk entitled Indian Mujahideen: Computational Analysis and Public Policy, Prof Subrahmanian will provide a glimpse of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) from its inception to the present day. Using a data set on 770 variables describing both IM’s environment and their attacks over the years, he will describe how data mining has helped discover conditions that can predict future IM attacks. He will indicate how the data also naturally leads to a possible policy to help rein in future attacks by IM. Though many challenges remain, he will suggest some ways in which this policy may be implemented on the ground.
SPEAKER
 Prof V. S. Subrahmanian – Professor of Computer Science, University of Maryland, USA   V. S. Subrahmanian is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland and heads the Center for Digital International Government, having previously served as Director of the University of Maryland’s Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS). Prof. Subrahmanian is a world renowned expert on big data analytics.
His work has been used extensively by both Industry and Government to shape opinion in social media, influence terrorist group behaviors, and analyze educational outcomes. His OASYS system which works on 8 languages and won the 2007 Computerworld Horizon Award, has been used by several organizations including the World Bank, DARPA, Forbes, US Army, and others for real-time social media opinion analysis.  He is the principal inventor of the CARA Cultural Reasoning Architecture and the SOMA stochastic logical model for building models of group behaviors. He has applied this to modeling over 45 terror groups worldwide. His SCARE system for identifying locations of IED weapons caches in Baghdad and in the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar in Afghanistan was the first system to accurately and efficiently identify locations of weapons caches. He has co-authored Computational Analysis of Terrorist Groups: Lashkar-e-Taiba (Springer), the first book to do a 360-degree analysis of a terrorist group using computational methods.  Prof. Subrahmanian has published over 200 articles in leading international conferences and journals. He was named in ISIHighlyCited.com which lists the top 320 most cited computer scientists of all time. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Development Gateway Foundation (set up by the World Bank in 1999 to use IT to achieve global development goals), on the Research Advisory Board of Tata Consultancy Services and on the Advisory Board of CosmosID (a firm specializing in bioinformatics).
MODERATOR
Ambassador G Parthasarathy – Visiting Professor, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi   Born on May 13, 1940, Ambassador Gopalaswami Parthasarathy is a career Foreign Service Officer who retired from Service on May 31, 2000. After having graduated with a B.E. Degree in Electrical Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy. He has served as Ambassador of India to Myanmar, 1992-95, High Commissioner of India to Australia 1995-98, High Commissioner of India to Pakistan 1998-2000 and High Commissioner of India, Cyprus (1990-92).
He also served in Indian Missions abroad as Second/First Secretary, Embassy of India, Moscow (1970-1973), Deputy High Commissioner to Tanzania (1974-1976), Counsellor, (Political and Press), Embassy of India, Washington D.C., (1978- 1981); and Consul General of India, Karachi (1982-1985). In New Delhi, Ambassador Parthasarathy was Deputy Secretary in the Foreign Secretary’s Office (1976-1978). He has served as Spokesman, Ministry of External Affairs and Information Adviser and Spokesman in the Prime Minister’s Office with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (1985-90). He has been a member of Indian Delegations in several international conferences including summits at United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement and SAARC. Ambassador Parthasarathy is presently Visiting Professor in the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. He is also Visiting Professor for International Relations in the University of Punjab, Chandigarh, a Senior Fellow and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Member of the Mentor Group of the Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies, Member of the Advisory Committee to the Symbiosis University in Pune and a member of the Executive Committee of the Centre for Air Power Studies in New Delhi. He is on the Panel of Experts from India for Track 2 Dialogue with ASEAN. He is also a member of the Indian Delegation to the high level Indo-U.S. Strategic Dialogue organized by the Aspen Institute (India) and the Aspen Institute in the USA. He was a Member of the Task Force to Review India’s National Security Structures, which submitted its Report to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in July 2012.
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