Thursday, August 17, 2017

INDUSTRIAL FOODS AND CULTURAL IDENTITIES IN INDIA

Aug
24
CPR is pleased to invite you to a talk on
Industrial Foods and Cultural Identities in India
Amita Baviskar
Thursday, 24 August 2017, 3:30 p.m.
Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research
Image Source
‘Industrial foods’ or mass-produced processed food commodities play an increasing part in diets across the world.  However, in India, some of these commodities are invested with a distinctive quality: they are independent of the complex religious, regional, caste and gender codes that govern food and eating.  My lecture will focus on the role of processed foods in the cultural imagination of Indians across regions, classes, and the rural-urban continuum.  I argue that the consumption practices such industrial foods engender are productive sites for imagining citizenship cutting across social hierarchies, creating new identities and diluting stigmatized ones.  Even as poor Indians struggle to secure access to basic food, they also attempt to include more processed foods in their diets – a tendency that shows the significance of these commodities in the politics of social inclusion and exclusion.
Amita Baviskar is Professor of Sociology at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi.  Her research focuses on the cultural politics of environment and development in rural and urban India.  Her book In the Belly of the River: Tribal Conflicts over Development in the Narmada Valley and other publications explore the themes of resource rights, popular resistance and discourses of environmentalism.  She is currently studying food and agrarian environments in western India.  Amita Baviskar’s recent publications include the edited books Contested Grounds: Essays on Nature, Culture and Power; Elite and Everyman: The Cultural Politics of the Indian Middle Classes (with Raka Ray); and First Garden of the Republic: Nature on the President’s Estate.  She has taught at the University of Delhi, and has been a visiting scholar at Stanford, Cornell, Yale, SciencesPo and the University of California at Berkeley.  She was awarded the Infosys Prize for Social Sciences in 2010.
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74TH SENIOR NATIONAL SQUASH CHAMPIONSHIP

HCL and Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) cordially invites you for a Press Briefing
with
Sundar Mahalingam, Chief Strategy Officer, HCL Corporation
and
Harish Prasad, National Squash Development Officer at ‎SRFI
To announce the launch of
74th Senior National Squash Championship
Top ranked squash players Joshna Chinappa India (Rank No 1 and World Rank No. 14) and Saurav Ghosal (India Rank No 1 and World Rank No. 27) will also join to share their stories

Details
Venue: Regency 3 Hall, The Lalit Hotel, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi
Day & Date : Tuesday, 22nd August, 2017
Time : 12 noon onwards (followed by lunch)
R.S.V.P
Pooja Arora – pooja_sikka@shivnadarfoundation.org / 09811708711
Apoorva Verma- apoorvav@sixdegreespr.co.in / 9953797337
Regards,
Maitri Sharma
cohn&wolfe | 6 Degrees
O: 011 43898906 | M: +91 9811503232
Edit"74th Senior National Squash Championship"

EXCERPT FROM THE REPORT TO BE RELEASED DURING THE PRESS CONFERENCE:

We look forward to hosting you on the 17th August, for what we trust will be an interesting and informative discussion.
 
Excerpt from the report to be released during the Press Conference:
 
Political parties are required to submit details of donors who have made donations above Rs 20,000 in a financial year (between 1st April and 31st March) to the Election Commission of India, every year. Parties provide details of the name, address, PAN, mode of payment and amount contributed by each donor who has made donation above Rs 20,000 in their submission.
  • Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), in its earlier report dated 8th January, 2014, specified that various sectors of business houses in 8 years, between FY 2004-05 & 2011-12, donated a total of Rs 378.89 cr to National Parties, constituting 87% of the total contribution from known sources of political parties.
  • This report analyses the donations from corporates to National Parties between FY 2012-13 and 2015-16.
  • Political parties considered for the report are BJP, INC, NCP, CPI and CPM. Though a National party, BSP has not been considered for analysis in this report as the party has declared that it received no voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 from any donor between FY 2012-13 and 2015-16.
Venue: Lecture Room -2, IIC (Annexe), New Delhi 
Date: 17th August, 2017Thursday
Time: Registration at 9:30 AM, Press Conference at 03:00 PM
Yours sincerely, 
Edit"Excerpt from the report to be released during the Press Conference:"

PUNJABI PUTTAR AND VETERAN ACTOR DHARMENDRA TO PLAY A GOD FATHER IN ‘JORA 10 NUMBARIA’

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The story of Malwa region, Jora 10 Numbaria is Amardeep Gill’s first feature film.  The movie will showcase the inner friction amongst the political parties, police and the underworld. The central character hogging the limelight will be Jora, played by Deep Sidhu. Jora 10 Numbaria will prove to be a freshly plucked experience for the Punjabi film viewers.
As all the details and uniqueness of the movie is revealed by the cast of the movie Mukul Dev, Deep and actress Kul Sidhu. Along with director Amardeep while interacting with media in Press Conference held in a café at Cannaught Place, Delhi.
A handful of big names from Bollywood will also be seen making their presence felt in this film. One of them is the special character in the movie of legendry actor, Dharmendra who will be seen playing the role of a godfather.
Whereas, for the same the lead actor Deep shared his views and stated, “Dharam Ji holds a very strong character in the movie, as my character of Jora is kind of rebel who have anger in himself, so he gets guidance from Dharmendra Ji and then Jora get to channelize the right and wrong path.” On the other hand Mukul Dev also reveals about the movie and his character, he said, “As movie is based on politics and mafias, so I have character of Shera Thakur who is having grey shades, he is also a mix of Punjabi and Rajasthani.”
The director Amardeep while interacting with media told, “The essence and the storyline of this film can be summed up in a short sentence that- Politics is the last asylum for any criminal.” He also stated that he has been working on this subject since a long time and a lot has gone into preparing and scripting this story.
Jora 10 Numbaria, under the banner of Bhatinde wale bai Films Presents in association with Ohri productions, will be released worldwide on 1 September 2017.
Edit"Punjabi puttar and veteran actor Dharmendra to play a god father in ‘Jora 10 Numbaria’"

FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVALS GROWS

Foreign Tourist Arrivals grows by 7.4% in July 2017

·         Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) grows by 7.4% in July 2017 as compared to July 2016
During July 2017, the number of FTAs were 7.88 lakh as compared to FTAs of 7.34 lakh in July, 2016 and 6.28 lakh in July, 2015. FTAs during the period January- July 2017 were 56.74 lakh with a growth of 15.7%, as compared to the FTAs of 49.03 lakh with a growth of 9.6% in January- July 2016 over January- July 2015.

 Top 15 source countries for Foreign tourist arrivals in India during  July 2017 (in %)
Top 15 ports in India for Foreign Tourist Arrivals during  July 2017  (in %)
Source: PHD Research Bureau; Compiled from Ministry of Tourism
·         Foreign Tourist Arrivals (on E-visa) grows by 73.3% in July 2017
During the month of July, 2017 total of 1.19 lakh tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 0.68 lakh during the month of July 2016 registering a growth of 73.3%. During January-July 2017, a total of 8.36 lakh tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 5.40 lakh during January-July 2016, registering a growth of 54.7%.

Top 15 source countries availing e-Tourist Visa during  July 2017 (in %)
Top 15 ports in tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa during  July 2017  (in %)
Source: PHD Research Bureau; Compiled from Ministry of Tourism, Government of India

Please contact for any query related to this mail to Mr. Rohit Singh, Research Associate at rohit.singh@phdcci with a cc to Dr. S P Sharma, Chief Economist,  at spsharma@phdcci.in and Ms. Surbhi Sharma, Senior Research Officer at surbhi@phdcci.in , PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry

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12 WAYS THE TECH INDUSTRY IS HACKING FOOD WASTE

Danielle Nierenberg, Food Tank 
To:Nksagar Sagar
Aug 16 at 9:03 PM
Food Tank
At Food Tank, we are constantly amazed by innovative ideas driving food system change.
Food tech focused on combatting and recycling food waste is changing the way we interact with food; reducing waste and hunger while increasing food savings for producers and consumers alike. From analytic software and apps to biologically engineered solutions, food tech is working to more efficiently grow and distribute food to keep it fresh and out of landfills.
Food Tank is spotlighting 12 food tech solutions working to reduce food waste: Bluapple, BluWrap, BT9 XSENSE, CopiaEdipeelFreight Farms, Gebni, IRRI Super Bag, LeanPath, Smart Packing, Wakati, and Winnow Systems.
Click here to read more about these emerging technologies.
NYC Summit
The James Beard Foundation (JBF) will host its eighth annual food summit (JBF) will host its eighth annual food summit, “Consuming Power,” on October 23 and 24, 2017, at the Convene Conference Center in New York City.  
NYC Summit
The NYC Food Tank Summit is now SOLD OUT. You can still apply to the wait list or watch the event live on the Food Tank Facebook page on September 13, 2017.  
MIT Food Computers
Danielle Nierenberg discusses challenges facing the global food system on the International Food Policy Research Institute’s podcast, Nourishing Millions.
OSA MESA Program
IKEA is one of a handful of businesses making commitments to sustainability, from water conservation to small farmer support.
Ethiopian Coffee Endangered
The Trump Administration’s False Promise to Rural America
According to a recent article, the Trump Administration intends to increase pressure on Europe and China to accept food containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Follow Us • Join the Discussion #FoodTank
Food Tank The Think Tank For Food
317 Royal St., #4
New Orleans, LA 70130
United States
Edit"12 Ways the Tech Industry is Hacking Food Waste"

‘INDIA’S UNIQUE ACHIEVEMENT: TRIPLE TRANSITION’ 

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Dear Rajiv Jee,
Prudent mind will not deny that India is making an excellent strides.We are in the age where technology innovations are at an accelerating pace of development. Our younger generations who can lead in this acts, don’t find the right eco-system or rightful environment for them either to work, grow, research, or to be innovating in their creativity in India makes us feel sad. Whereas  globally we get statistics that 38% of creativity is done by Indian diaspora where they are in tune with eco-system of work culture with adequate rewards dignity and grace. You are absolutely rights that ISRO and other organisation like DRDO making some advancements but hear stories from the security chaps and scientist as both have done such wonderful jobs to get the scientist know what is happening around the world when we were put in sanctions.
 You have mentioned all humans statistics to be with us but having younger generation in the family without work culture and inclination towards  Mathematics and science we shall remain at the end of the Q.
In manufacturing if we get quick success get to the study which need India attention for its utility and requirements and how far the technology has moved to be crucified to its maturity.
A complete NGO or government departments need to study latest technology in hybrid form can be drawn to our country for the good of the nation.
We need lot of experts and people to work collectively and intelligently with dedication to rope in select-companies from around the globe, China has done to get to the top. Very simple but need lot of energy.
With regards
dedicated one
to dr rajiv kumar
Dr. Rajiv Kumar 
To:nksagar_1@yahoo.com
Aug 16 at 5:18 PM
 
Dear nksagar_1@yahoo.com
I request your kind attention for my latest op-ed titled ‘India’s Unique Achievement: Triple Transition’ that appeared in “The Economic Times” on 15th August 2017 (Tuesday).
I hope you will be able to spare the time to go through it. I will greatly welcome your feedback.
Warm regards,
Rajiv
India’s Unique Achievement: Triple Transition
The Economic Times, 15th August 2017
Rajiv Kumar
Three scores and ten years after its independence in 1947, India can look back with a fair degree of satisfaction at its economic accomplishments. The most important in my view has been the decisive victory over food shortages, debilitating hunger and famines. Having been witness to the devastating Bihar famine in the mid-sixties and participated in a ‘miss a meal’ movement led by one of our unsung heroes, Lal Bahadur Shastri, I cannot think of a bigger achievement than to have removed the stigma of starvation deaths from our midst.
There have, of course been several other notable successes. Per capita incomes have risen by more than ten times. Poverty has been nearly eliminated with only 12.4% of the population now below the poverty line compared to more than 70% in 1947. Indigenously designed and produced satellites; one of the world’s most successful space programs; vibrant manufacturing sector that produces from pin to rockets; a burgeoning services sector that includes a globally competitive IT industry. Even our staunchest critics will grant that  India has not only proven the Cassandras wrong, it has raised hopes among other emerging economies that democracies can also achieve economic success.
India’s most notable achievement is its success in simultaneously undertaking its Triple Transition- economic, political and social. Independent India inherited an extremely stratified and diverse social order, backward economy and fragmented polity. Indian leaders accepted these daunting initial conditions and launched India’s simultaneous triple transition, which makes for extremely complexity and is perhaps unique in human history.
Other countries have tackled this triple transition sequentially. In England for example the political order was changed well before its industrial revolution. In the US, native Indians were sacrificed and African-Americans given their political or human rights well after the country had completed its economic transition. In the modern period, China has achieved glorious success in its economic transition and pulled a fifth of humanity out of poverty, but its political and social transitions have virtually been left unattended. Korea similarly achieved its economic transition under a dictatorship and only then started on its political transition.
Given our circumstances, India had no option but to adopt the triple transitions simultaneously. Our forefathers had the foresight to realize that pushing forward with only the economic transition could well have implied either a social implosion or a political explosion- that would have mortally wounded the newly independent country. Impatience at our slow economic progress, often displayed by our elite, is simply unwarranted because economic growth has to be in sync with and is constrained by the pace of its social and political transitions.
Enormous challenges remain to be urgently tackled. India’s young population with 65% below 35 years of age and 50% below 25, is increasingly impatient and ever more aspirational. It has to be productively employed. This has to be managed in an economic environment that is characterized by acute uncertainty on account of turbulences generated by the 4th technological revolution that now surrounds us.
India must whole heartedly adopt the latest cutting edge technologies, including AI (artificial intelligence) while simultaneously generating more than 7 million jobs annually. This is a daunting task. Completing them will require bold, innovative and collective thinking by all stakeholders combined with focused implementation. Employment generation, while attaining global competitiveness across sectors and industries must be the exclusive criteria for evaluating government policies and corporate strategies.
With its vibrant democracy and openness to global trends, India does not have the luxury of ignoring critical challenges that emerge as development proceeds. Environment has to be protected; the looming water crisis to be averted; regional and inter-personal inequalities to be reduced; agriculture to be modernized; urbanization to be better planned to avoid slums, squalor and stress; child labour eliminated; better gender balance achieved; and progress made on the entire range of social development goals. The list is long and daunting.
India has the talent, ingenuity and vast reservoirs of entrepreneurial skills to successfully take on these challenges. For harnessing these resources, we have to create an eco-system that will allow our citizens to maximize their potential. The essential condition for this is to put in place a development state that is focused on providing the entire gamut of public services efficiently and equitably.
Therefore, the focus on governance reforms and further deepening them is the right way forward. We have incentivize good performance, discourage laxity and dishonesty and eliminate both petty rent seeking and large scale corruption. First steps have been taken over the last three years. These have to be further reinforced for India to have gotten on to a higher, sustained and inclusive growth trajectory.
Author is Founder Director, Pahle India Foundation, Delhi
Rajiv Kumar
Director
Pahle India
Edit"‘India’s Unique Achievement: Triple Transition’ "

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