Sunday, May 17, 2015

Bihar elections to be held in September-October

May 17
Assembly elections in Bihar are likely to be held some time in September-October. In an interview to PTI in New Delhi today, the Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said extensive central forces and a reworked expenditure monitoring system will be deployed to curb money and muscle power during the polls in the state. He said the electoral rolls will be ready by July 31st.
1,000 ATMs in post offices —

1,000 ATMs in post offices

May 17
Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravishankar Prasad has said that Centre is planning to open 1,000 Automated Teller Machines, ATMs in post offices all over the country to provide round the clock cash withdrawal facility. Inaugurating the first postal ATM in Bihar at Patna, Mr Prasad said the facility is part of efforts to increase the point of presence for customers, particularly in rural areas. He said, efforts are on to link post offices with the digital India Mission. The Minister said, there are around 98 crore mobile phones in the country at present and 30 crore people are availing Internet facility. He said, the government wants 1.54 lakh post offices in the country to be part of the government’s digital India mission. Mr Prasad said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a review meeting of the Postal Department had said it has to change with times by adopting latest technology and assured nobody would lose jobs but, the employees need to catch up with the latest technology. Mr Prasad said, hand-held devices would soon be used by postmen to ensure last-mile connectivity for banking transactions of India Post across its branches.
Shakuntala Gamlin lobbied for power discoms —

Shakuntala Gamlin lobbied for power discoms

May 17,
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused acting Chief Secretary Shakuntala Doley Gamlin of lobbying for power companies. Talking to media, Mr Kejriwal said that he has proof about this.
The chief minister, who is at loggerheads with the Lt Governor over the appointment of acting chief secretary has sought a meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee on the issue.
Earlier, minister of state for Home Kiren Rijiju accused Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government of indulging in defaming a lady IAS officer from the Northeast.
The Minister’s comments came in the wake of the controversy over Delhi government’s opposition to the appointment of Ms Gamlin as acting Chief Secretary of Delhi. Mr Rijiju said Gamlin’s appointment was made by the Lt Governor as per rules and Delhi government is insulting people from North East by making allegations against her without any proof.
India, Mongolia ink 13 agreements —

India, Mongolia ink 13 agreements

May 17
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Mongolia as part of the 3-nation tour, addressed the Mongolian Parliament, the Great Hural in Ulan Bator today. Mr Modi said that the convergence of Buddhism and democracy provides a path to build an Asia of peace and co-operation, harmony and equality. He said that no other region in the world has seen so much progress in the last half century as Asia and is expected to lead the world in the 21st century.
Highlighting the common cultural heritage of Buddhism, the Prime Minister said that the bond thrives through the monks from Mongolia who come to India each year for spiritual learning; and, the hundreds of others who go there for education and training. He said, mineral rich Mongolia can be a partner to India and as Indian economy grows, it will also benefit Mongolia.
Earlier today, India and Mongolia signed 13 agreements to further strengthen bilateral ties in different sectors, including renewable energy, IT, education, healthcare and cyber security.
It was also decided that India will establish a Cyber Security Training Centre for Defence Ministry of Mongolia.
Other decisions include, Indian and Mongolian National Security Council’s will hold regular consultations on traditional and non-traditional security issues, counter terrorism and intelligence co-operation.
Under the Treaty on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, Indian prisoners convicted in Mongolia can be brought to India to serve the remaining part of their sentence. Similarly Mongolian citizens convicted in India can be sent to their home country to serve their sentence.
Both the countries will undertake joint cooperation activities in the areas of dairy, quality control, modern technical application and other areas.
Both the sides have also agreed to enhance cooperation in the field of culture through organization of exhibitions, film festivals and exchange of experts.
India also announced a line of credit of one billion US Dollars to support expansion of Mongolia’s economic capacity and infrastructure. In his joint press statement with Mongolian Prime Minister Saikhanbileg, Mr Modi said, Mongolia is an integral part of India’s Act East Policy.
The Prime Minister said that India and Mongolia have decided to upgrade their Comprehensive Partnership to ‘Strategic Partnership’ and have agreed to renew their Treaty of Friendly Relations and Cooperation. Mr. Modi also announced to increase the Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation, ITEC training slots for Mongolia from 150 to 200.
India will also establish an India-Mongolia Joint School. He said, the agreements between the two countries will deepen cooperation in border security and cyber security. Mr. Modi said, there is a huge potential in civil nuclear sector, mining, healthcare and other areas.
The Prime Minister also handed over a Bhabhatron equipment to Mongolian authorities for treatment of cancer patients. He also laid foundation stone for an IT Centre.
Play: GHAZAB TERI ADAA —

Play: GHAZAB TERI ADAA

Play: GHAZAB TERI ADAA
Director:Prof. WamanKendre
Language:Hindi
Duration: 1 hour 40 min
The Play
Ghazab Teri Adaa is inspired by Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. The action of the play takes place in an imaginary time and place. It revolves around the never ending aspiration for the expansion of kingdom and is a constant battle for the continuous fights in the battle field. The groups of performers make the king aware about the future of the war. The fearful king rejects to see and understand the situation. All the women, with fear and pain get together to stop the war under the leadership of Laya. They think of various alternatives to stop the war and finally decide that they will not allow their husbands to maintain any physical contact with them until the war stops. The violence-appreciating king and his war-loving soldiers break down in front of this unique, peaceful and non-violent protest by the women.
Director’s Note
While I was studying at NSD, I read Aristophanes’ Lysistrata in which the unusual idea of women in opposition of the war left a great impact on me. The thought of doing this play came across my mind many times in the last thirty years but it remained only an aspiration.
The recent change in the global scenario, especially in the last two decades, in the name of war saddened me. So, the thought of doing this play re-occurred. The central idea of the play i.e. the revolt of the women folk against the king’s ambition of ruling the world and emerging as a supreme power, led to the initiative of creating a new play. Gender equality is another important aspect of the play. Even after sixty five years of independence, the women reservation bill has not been passed in the Indian parliament.
The form of dialogue is poetic, as this play is stylized, not realistic. The language is guided by gender. In various rural dialects of the country, women often speak like men. There is no room for women in the language. Specially, in the plural construct the language remains masculine. While speaking the gender dignity shatters. Besides the narrative style, the audience will experience a varied audio-visual design.
Director & Playwright
Prof. WamanKendre is the Director of National School of Drama.  Earlier he served as Professor and Director, Academy of Theatre Arts, University of Mumbai. His plays have participated in innumerable national and international festivals, and he has written, adapted and directed many plays, has conducted workshops on varying aspects of theatre   Known for doing  theatre that is innovative and meaningful, and for his sensitivity towards social, cultural and political issues.  Prof. Kendre has turned theatre into a potent platform for projecting his concern for the suffering of those sections of society that are often ignored and rarely talked about.
Much awarded Prof. Kendre received the SangeetNatakAcademi award in the year 2012 , the first Manohar Singh SmritiPuraskar in 2004 for outstanding multifaceted contribution to the field of theatre arts The Mumbai Marathi GranthSangrahalaya  award 1989,  NatyaGauravpuraskar 1989, 1996, 1997, 1999,  Sahyog foundation award 1999. MarathwadaGaurav Award 2002 and PadmshriDayaPawarSmritipuraskar 2007, to mention just a few.
The Group
Established in 1964 with a membership of only four persons, the Repertory Company is the regular performing wing of the School. It was set up with the dual purposes of establishing professional theatre on one hand and continuing with regular experimental work on the other. Over the years it has produced a variety of plays ranging from stylized musicals to realistic contemporary Indian drama to translations and adaptations of foreign plays. In addition, several eminent persons of national and international repute have worked with the Company, and it has performed over one hundred and fifty-five plays by ninety-eight playwrights and has worked with seventy-five directors. Quite a few of its actors have emerged as celebrities in theatre, cinema and television. The Company has toured extensively in India and abroad. It celebrated forty years of its existence in May 2004, and continues to create new work and travel extensively.


Cast & Credits

On Stage
Raja                             Deep Kumar/RajibKalita
Pradhan                        Manish Kumar
Sainik                           Abdul Kadir Shah, MotiLalKhare,
Ayaz Khan, Raju Roy, Plash Protim Mech.,
Jagannath Seth, AkhilPratapGautam,
Mohan LalSagar, RaghvendraPratap Singh,
RamakantSakharamBhalerao, Shanawaz Khan
Laya                             Ipshita Singh
Chorus                         Ipshita Singh, Anamika, Sajida, ReenaSaini,
TitasDutta, AmanjeetProch., ShwetaMandarDeshpande
Abla                             SarikaPareek, NiyatiRathod, AnkitaGusain, Sonal
Rani                             Sonal
Dasi                             AnkitaGusain
Ganikayen                    Sajida, AnkitaGusain, SarikaPareek, AmanjeetProch., NiyatiRathod, ShwetaMandarDeshpande, Sonal
Off Stage
Production
Coordinator                  Md. Abdul Kadir Shah
Set  Design                   NavidInamdar
Set Execution               Ram Pratap, Sant Ram, Dharam Singh Bisht, Manoj Kumar
Light Design                 Suresh Bhardwaj
Light Operation            Govind Singh Yadav
Light Execution             Kiran, Mohd. Suleman, PradeepAggarwal, Mukesh, Sunil
Costume Design           Sandhya Salve
Assistant                       Sajida, Jagannath Seth, TitasDutta, RaghvendraPratap Singh
Choreography              Anil N. Sutar
Music Arranger            Subhash M. Kharote
Musicians                     Om Prakash, Subhash M. Kharote, OmkarPrasanna,
Santosh Kumar, DheerajKapoor
Costume Incharge         C. S. Bhatia
Assistant                       Budh Ram
Property Incharge         MotiLalKhare
Singer                           NamrataRawat, PaakhiSaikia
Sound Technician         R. S. GossainMukesh Kumar
Make-up InchargeRaju Roy, ReenaSaini
Photography               S. Thyagarajan, Deepak Kumar
Poster and Brochure
Design                          NeerajSahai
Brochure Material         VandanaVashisht
Exhibition                     Prithvi Singh Negi
Publicity                       Deepak Wadhwa, Sita Ram Yadav, DharamVeer ,
Prithvi Singh Negi,
Assistant Director       SarikaPareek

Associate Director &
Dramaturgy                Asif Ali Haider Khan
Script, Music &
Direction                     Prof. WamanKendre
Kareena Kapoor Khan has the highest number of followers! —

Kareena Kapoor Khan has the highest number of followers!

A leading film report recently conducted a poll on the fanclubs of the stars that online users love to follow and their popularity on a micro-blogging site – After counting the official numbers, the Begum of Bollywood ,Kareena Kapoor Khan emerged on the Numero Uno spot.
Kareena who finds herself consistently on popularity and sex appeal lists, this time around, emerged the most followed superstar on Twitter ! Surprisingly, what makes this an even bigger honor for Kareena is despite not being on Twitter herself , the actress’ fanclub @Kareenaonline placed 1st with the highest number of followers (380K) for a Bollywood celebrity fan club,elbowing out other big names in Bollywood.
The poll further went on to reveal that in a male dominated industry , 3 top actresses surpassed fan club figures of male stars with Kareena leading the way.
Says Kareena Kapoor Khan, “I';m not on any social networking sites as I';m not comfortable constantly updating people on my private life and whereabouts but all credit to my fans who have been amazing. I';m really happy to have their constant love and support.”
Why Can’t Indian Farmers Earn Rs.62.5 Lakh Per Hectare?
May17, 2015 (C) Ravinder Singh progressindia008@yahoo.com

When Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha said ‘Farmers Land Shall Be Worth Rs.20 Crore Per Acre in Future’ perhaps even he had no idea that Farmers in Florida earn$20,000 per acre after processing or Rs.12 lakh per acre, Retail Value of Processed Foods of Rs.25,00,000 per acre or Rs.62.5 per hectare which at 50X market value is well over Rs.12.5 Crore Per Acre.
Way back in 1975 my uncle in Hoshiarpur raised Kinnows and realized World Record Yield but when crop was harvested after 3-4 years of planting realized justRs.0.40 per kg – A kinnow was retailed in Delhi for Rs.1 or Rs.5 per kg but Farmers were paid less than a tenth Rs.0.40.
On Tree Price Rs.50,000/acre India,
Rs.1,60,000/acre > Rs.12,00,000/acre After Processed &
> Rs.25,00,000/acre in Retail in Florida.
Assuming Crop Yield of 10 tones per acre – he was paid Rs.4000 per acre – Florida Farmers earn Rs.12,00,000 Per acreRecently Director of Punjab Agriculture earned Rs.8 per kg after harvest and delivering to Wholesalers or Rs.80,000 per acre when retail price in Delhi was Rs.40 per kg.
Director of Punjab Agriculture got on tree price of Rs.5 Per Kg only for Kinnows raised over four years retailed for Rs.40 per in hours.
Florida Citrus Mutual, a Farmers Cooperative was founded in 1948 to ensure Farmers collective get Assured Price For Their Produce On Farm and Also Ensure 90% of Processing to Realize $20,000 per acre and $40,000 per acre in retail value.
India has Engaged Ambani & Adani to Procure Foods Cheaply
At Lowest Price in The World & Retail It At More Than Price of Processed Foods. Apple Juice is Cheaper Than Apple Fruit.
Land Acquisition is JUST a Fraction of REAL ISSUE of Exploitation of Farmers.Why Can’t Indian Farmers Earn Rs.62.5 Lakh Per Hectare?
The Florida citrus industry creates a $10.8 billion annual economic impact, employing nearly 62,000 people, and covering about 515,000 acres.Founded in 1948, Florida Citrus Mutual is the state’s largest citrus grower organization.
Farmer Can Supply Processed, Hygienic Foods At Less Than Price of Raw, Unhygienic Foods Presently, Generate 200m New Jobs.

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