India News - Jan 1-15, 2023

Mumbai, Dec 25 (IANS) The highprofile, much-talented, discussed, rewarded, awarded and decorated woman banker with a 'Midas touch', the former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the private ICICI Bank, Chanda D. Kochhar, was finally arrested along with her husband Deepak Kochhar.

It is some seven years after the first of the complaints surfaced that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) bit the bullet to nab the Kochhar couple in connection with the alleged massive Rs 3,250 crore loan fraud involving the defunct Videocon Group.

Among other things, the CBI has accused Chanda Kochhar, 61, of irregularities, flouting banking rules and laws in a series of

loans sanctioned to industrialist Venugopal N. Dhoot's Videocon Group between 2009-2011, when she was lording over the bank.

The CBI earlier in 2019 booked the Kochhar couple and Dhoot, besides naming the companies like Videocon International Electronics Ltd., NuPower Renewables Pvt. Ltd., Videocon Industries Ltd., Supreme Energy Pvt. Ltd., under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.

In an alleged quid pro quo deal, the CBI claimed that after the Videocon Group got the loan of Rs 3,250 crore from ICICI Bank in 2012, Dhoot reportedly diverted a Rs 64 crore to NuPower Renewables where Deepak Kochhar had a 50 per cent stake, raising eyebrows and questions on ethics, as Chanda had set the credit limits for the Videocon Group companies.

The CBI charge sheet said that under Kochhar, the ICICI Bank sanctioned the loans to Videocon Group and others in complete violation of the bank's policies,

and later these were declared non performing assets (NPAs) causing losses to the bank and illegal gains to the borrowers and accused.

The CBI also wanted to investigate the role of other ICICI Bank's senior officers who approved the loans to Videocon Group, among others, allegedly at Chanda's behest.

The loans to Videocon Group companies and others eventually turned into NPAs by 2017, and the CBI said that most were grossly flouting the laws, banking rules and the bank's regulations, and were red-flagged as 'frauds' after the probe.

Independent banking circles say that the ICICI Bank reported the maximum NPAs during Chanda's leadership and as per a RTI reply received by a Pune businessman Prafful Sarda, it had accumulated up to a staggering around Rs 200,000 crore till 2021.

Just last week, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed parliament that among other

Ukraine to dominate UN in 2023, impacting reforms, economic issues

even if changes don't happen next year.

United Nations, Dec 24 (IANS)

The UN's paralysis on its momentous challenge in decades with a permanent member of the Security Council invading a neighbour will be the dominant factor in 2023 and it will also bring the focus on reforming it.

The Ukraine war has emerged as a catalyst for calls to change both the UN as well as the international institutions created after World War II, and there will be renewed efforts next year in that direction

As the long-simmering disenchantment with the functioning of the Council seemed ready to boil over, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: "The possibility of enlarging the Security Council is now seriously on the table."

At the high-level week inaugurating the current General Assembly session leaders of more than 70 countries demanded reforms and it was reinforced at the debate in the Council called by India this month on "New Orientation for Reformed Multilateralism".

While Council reform will move up in the various agendas at the

UN in 2023, realistically it will be nowhere near to achieving it, although may move closer to adopting negotiating text, the main hurdle to progress.

The Ukraine war and its cruel manifestations at the meal plates, petrol pumps and electricity meters around the world, as well as the inflation and the threats of recession, will dominate the discourse at the UN -- and universally.

Guterres said that he does not see an early end to the war, but perhaps later in 2023.

The UN is seeking to ameliorate the most serious consequence outside the theatre of war, the looming famine, through its one

London, Dec 18 (IANS) With parliament in recess, politics is also on vacation in UK in what is deemed in this country to be a Christmas truce. But the threat to Indian-origin Prime Minister Rishi Sunak continuing in office seems to be around the corner, if not already present.

Lord Peter Cruddas, a ruling Conservative party peer in the House of Lords and one of the party's biggest recent financial donors, bluntly told The Observer: "Something's going to come to a head because the members don't want Rishi Sunak. The odds are stacked against him.

Sunak, 42, became head of government on October 25. He has at least avoided the ignominy of a tenure shorter than the dubious record set by his immediate predecessor Liz Truss. But he is hemmed in by trouble from

within his party as well as the biggest epidemic of strikes by unions in the UK since the 1980s.

Cruddas has donated more than 3.5 million pounds to the Conservatives; and strenuously supported a move in October to bring back Boris Johnson as Prime Minister after he had been forced to resign in July.

The plot could therefore be to remove Sunak, perceived to be lacklustre, and reinstate Johnson, who is controversial and allegedly corrupt, but colourful in reaching out to voters.

Cruddas' outburst came as the latest Opinium poll published by The Observer indicated that the extreme right-wing Reform party has increased its support. This is read as a sign that the pro-Brexit and low tax preferring Conservative voters could be drifting away to Reform.

Another pollster YouGov in a survey of national voting intention carried out on December 14-15, put 48 per cent as being with the main opposition Labour party and only 23 per cent remaining with the Conservatives, who won a thumping majority under Johnson only three years ago. This translates to a Labour landslide, if an election is held now.

dies at the age of 100

statement, "Heeraba Modi passed away on December 30 at 3.30 a.m. (early morning) during the treatment at UN Mehta Heart hospital."

New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mother Heeraben Modi passed away at the age of 100 early on Friday morning. She was admitted to Ahmedabad's UN Mehta Hospital after her health deteriorated. UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre said in a

Modi wrote with a heavy heart, "A glorious century rests at the feet of God. In Maa, I have always felt that trinity, which contains the journey of an ascetic, the symbol of a selfless Karmayogi and a life committed to values."

The Prime Minister met his mother for the last time at the hospital where she had been admitted on Wednesday.

Chanda

PM Modi’s mother Heeraben Modi

EDITORIAL TEAM

Dr Ram Mohan, Chairman

Dr Ashutosh Misra, Editor-in-Chief

Ms Priyadarshini Rana, Bureau Chief, Victoria

EDITORIAL BOARD

Amrita Deshpande, Community News Editor

Paras Sharma, Assistant Editor

Dr Uttam Kumar Sinha, Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, India

Mr Shaun Star, Director, Centre for Australia India Studies, Jindal Global University, India

INDIA NEWS TV

Mr Karthik Pratap Singh, News Director

Mr. Agastya Yeturi, Cinematographer

Mr Nishit Chandan, Special Correspondent

WRITERS

Mr Rabindra Mukherji

INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS Institute for Australia India Engagement Australia India Business Council

WEBSITE DESIGN & MANAGEMENT Cosmos Media www.cosmosmedia.info

ADDRESS

India News Unit 49, 391, WICKHAM TERRACE, Ground Floor, Spring Hill, Brisbane, QLD – 4000

WEB: www.indianews.com.au FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/indianewsaustralia

Chanda Kochhar: From Kamath’s angel to jail

Continued from Page 1

banks, the ICICI Bank had written off loans worth Rs 42,164 crore.

As the heat was turned on, in early-2018 Chanda went on leave and then applied for early retirement, which the ICICI Bank accepted, ostensibly as it was kept in the dark on certain facts and non-disclosures on various issues, which came up later.

Rattled by the complaints and media exposures, the ICICI Bank appointed a committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice B. N. Srikrishna in June 2018 to probe all the allegations against Chanda from April 2009-March 2018.

The report damned her for ineffectively dealing with 'conflict of interest' and 'due disclosure or recusal' requirements, violating ICICI Bank's Code of Conduct, lack of 'diligence' with respect to annual disclosures as required by the bank,

After this report, the ICICI Bank decided to treat Chanda's separation as 'Termination for Cause' with severe consequences including revocation of all her existing and future entitlements like unpaid amounts, bonuses, increments, unvested and vested and unexercised stock options, medical benefits and clawback of all bonuses paid to her during the probe period and take any further actions as warranted.

Shaken by the turn of events, Chanda not only questioned Justice Srikrishna's report but also challenged her termination by the ICICI Bank in the Bombay High Court and later Supreme Court, only to face disappointment.

These developments drew the curtains on the Jodhpur-born and Mumbai educated bright babe of Indian banking falling into disgrace - all within 16 years - from 1984 when she joined the ICICI Bank as a trainee and

became the Executive Director in 2001. From there on, she spread her wings and soared up the ladder quickly, to become the all-powerful MD & CEO in 2009, after which the apparent downhill slide started for her and the bank.

Over the years, awed by her perceived calibre and skills, Chanda picked up a string of many national and international awards or honours, was conferred the Padma Bhushan, advised the government on policy issues and was a much-sought after speaker at domestic and global events. Chanda's arrest by the CBI marks yet another grisly end to what could have been a glorious banking career, ranks among several of the high-profile banking scams arising out of the lure of lucre that have rocked the Indian banking industry and she counts among a handful of shining top women bankers to crash under an eclipse of ignominy...

Threat

Continued from Page 1

Sunak is shown as enjoying the confidence of 24 per cent of the electorate, whereas the figure for Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, is 32 per cent. Although Conservative MPs voted overwhelmingly for Sunak to elect him leader and thereby Prime Minister, the party's rank and file - who did not get a chance to have their say - do not believe he can connect with the British masses to win them the next electionwhich can of course be posted to December 2024.

In a centrespread story headlined "Will Sunak blink first?", Sunday Times surmised: "The Prime Minister is determined to face down union leaders this Christmas. But as their threats of more synchronised strikes in the new year harden, some ministers are getting decidedly nervous."

Nurses, teachers, transport workers, post office staff, civil servants, and energy sector

employees have embarked on a wave of work stoppages demanding higher pay and better working conditions. While this is causing considerable inconvenience to the public, they are no more than divided in their sympathies and distinctly empathetic towards nurses.

Meanwhile, Sunak's decision to appoint the quite shrill Suella Braverman, whose mother is a Tamil from Mauritius and her father a Goan, as Home Secretary, continues to haunt him. Nimco Ali, a friend of Johnson and Priti Patel, who is stepping down as an independent government adviser on violence against women, suggested he should sack her.

"He's not going to win (the next election) with Suella as his Home Secretary," she was reported as saying. She accused Braverman of fuelling racism and "normalising" the extreme politics of the Brexit party, which has morphed into the Reform party.

Ukraine to dominate UN in 2023, impacting reforms, economic issues

World Order'.

New Delhi, Dec 24: Riding on large oil shipments and fertiliser purchases, the volume of trade between India and Russia is set to cross $30 billion before 2022 ends next week.

While the 2021 mutual trade turnover between both countries reached 13 billion US dollars, there has been consistent growth of bilateral commerce despite the energy and food security crisis in the world due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

"Already now we can say that we will fulfil the task set by the leaders of our countries to bring the volume of trade to $30 billion ahead of the schedule. This goal was set to be achieved in 2025, but we will reach it by the end of this year," Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov told the 13th Annual Russia-India Business Dialogue Forum.

Organised at the media centre of the Russia Today international news agency in Moscow, the oneday business event on Thursday focused on 'Integral Partnership of India and Russia in the New

Speakers, including Russia's Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dmitry Volvach, Moscow Government's Minister Sergey Cheremin and Indian Ambassador to Russia Pavan Kapoor, discussed the prospects for an economic breakthrough in cooperation between Russia and India in various sectors as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Alipov, who addressed the gathering virtually, noted that over the 75 years of diplomatic relations, both countries have accumulated a solid baggage of outstanding achievements in the fields of nuclear power, education, science and technology.

"We are seeing a huge surge of interest in India from Russian businesses. And, most importantly, across the spectrum - from large to small business. We also see the Indian business's interest in Russia. It is important now to transfer this interest into practice," he said.

Ambassador Kapoor spotlighted the increase in trade from April and also called on Russian businessmen to interact more with Indian entrepreneurs in the pharmaceutical, agro-industry and agriculture, and chemical industries.

"There is a need to conduct more trade transactions in national currencies. It is already possible to open accounts in rupees in some Russian banks," he mentioned.

Cheremin, who is also Chairman of the Board of the Business Council for Cooperation with India, stressed on participation of Russian companies in Indian infrastructure projects.

He also batted for having a representative of major Indian retail chains in the Russian market, as well as expanding the presence of Indian high-tech companies - those that set up industrial parks and business incubators.

"There are a lot of such companies in India today, and when we visit certain regions of the country, we have seen for ourselves how fast the hi-tech sector and engineering industry is developing in India. All this is also in demand in Russia."

Emphasising that there are many opportunities for inter-regional and inter-municipal cooperation, he revealed that plans are afoot on assembling a special business mission from the regions and hold a conference in Bangalore or Mumbai in the first half of next year.

Continued from Page 1

success this year: The Black Sea deal involving Russia, Ukraine and Turkey to allow food grains to travel out of the two countries in the conflict to the rest of the world.

And it will try to replicate it for agriculture and energy.

Pushed to the brink of the economic precipice -- and over it in some cases -- by the war that exacerbated the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic several countries are facing a crisis that will echo in the UN and at international aid and financial institutions.

The war itself has driven the polarisation between the West and Russia and its allies at the UN several notches up.

Numerically a vast majority, 143 countries, have joined in condemning Russia's invasion, with only four joining Moscow in voting against it, while 35 countries including India, abstained.

But Russia's veto at the Council is a force multiplier, and with its uneasy ally permanent member China, which stayed neutral in some of the votes against Moscow, can and do stop the action in other geopolitical areas like North Korea, which is again flexing its nuclear and ballistic missile muscles.

China and Russia may be seen to form a counterpoise to the West at the UN, but their's is an uneasy alliance given that Beijing is more integrated into the global economy.

Beijing is uneasy about Moscow's invasion of Ukraine because of the likely economic consequences for it, as seen in its abstentions on votes critical of Russia.

China has quietly been building its influence among developing countries, especially in Africa and the Pacific, for several years, which helps it to manipulate the UN agenda and try to capture key leadership positions in UNrelated organisations.

This may slowly begin to change as countries like Sri Lanka start to feel the consequences of what had been presented to them as easy project financing with few political conditions.

As India had done several years ago to develop counterweight diplomacy, the US recently launched its own Africa summit diplomacy.

While geopolitical matters dominate the perception of the UN, it has in fact a much broader agenda for development and the environment, both considered to have strategic importance in forestalling fr ameliorating future crises.

With $30 billion bilateral trade turnover in sight, India and Russia plan big for 2023

to Rishi Sunak continuing as UK Prime Minister

Wing and Mirvac team up to transform urban retail spaces into drone delivery hubs

Wing, Australia's first on-demand drone delivery service, is teaming up with Mirvac, one of Australia’s leading property groups, to transform under utilised retail real estate into on-demand drone delivery fulfilment hubs.

Over the next few years, Wing and Mirvac will work together to identify Mirvac-operated retail properties in urban areas where drone delivery can create added value for customers, and run pilot drone delivery programs in these locations. The partnership will kick off with the first drone delivery pilot from the rooftop car park of Orion Springfield Central, Mirvac’s retail

property located in the City of Ipswich, Queensland, and is due to launch in 2023.

Global growth and interest in

drone delivery services has never been greater. In 2021, Wing made more than 100,000 deliveries to customers in Australia, and demand continues to grow.

In the first three quarters of 2022, Wing has already exceeded 120,000 deliveries in Australia.

Simon Rossi, General Manager, Wing, Australia, said through Wing’s partnership with Mirvac, drone delivery would, for the first time, become available to customers in Springfield Central, located in the booming South East Queensland region.

“We’re delighted to be teaming up with Mirvac on our shared vision for the future of urban communities, bringing drone delivery to more Australians, by leveraging underutilised retail spaces, and transforming them into delivery logistics hubs,” Mr

Rossi said.

“Over the last few years, consumer demand for drone delivery has grown rapidly, as people

expect faster, convenient, and more sustainable delivery options. On-demand drone delivery can help address the costly last-mile delivery challenge by reducing road congestion and emissions, while creating new economic opportunities for retailers and communities, and providing consumers with more contactless delivery options.

“While Wing has traditionally provided delivery services directly to residential and business customers, to further accelerate our technology development, and focus on what we do best, over the next few years, we’ll be increasingly working with real estate and logistics partners to

expand their delivery options, making fast drone delivery affordable and sustainable for them, and their customers.”

This latest strategic partnership with Wing further enhances Mirvac’s focus to support its retail partners by driving their in-store and online businesses.

Mirvac Retail’s General Manager, Kelly Miller said, “As a business, we are heavily invested in collaborating with the right people and brands to support the overall growth and success of our retail partners. We’re thrilled to be trialling Wing drone deliveries at Orion Springfield Central, bringing this technology to the community, providing another connection point between customer and retailer, and ultimately delivering a more convenient shopping

experience.”

Springfield City Group Managing Director Raynuha Sinnathamby welcomed the strategic partnership between Mirvac and Wing and its benefits for Greater Springfield residents.

“We’re excited that drone delivery will become a reality in Greater Springfield and we’re looking forward to the first delivery next year,” Ms Sinnathamby said.

“Springfield City Group is celebrating our 30th anniversary of innovation and growth. We’re already looking to the next 30 years when technological advancements such as drone delivery will help solve some of the challenges facing suburban cities.”

The drone delivery pilot at Orion Springfield Central is due to commence in 2023.

Australia India Business Council welcomes landmark trade agreement between Australia and India

Cooperation Agreement in 2023.

“The Agreement that comes into force today (December 29th 2022) means that 85% of tariffs on Australian exports to India will be eliminated, with a phasing down of tariffs on an additional 5% of goods.

“Australia is well ahead on the game when it comes to trade with India and we are the envy of many other economies like the UK.

“India is our seventh largest trading partner – but with the Australia-India ECTA, India will only grow in importance for Australian exporters.

National Chair of the Australian India Business Council, Jodi McKay, today welcomed the finalisation of the AustraliaIndia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) as a “watershed moment” in the history of the economic and commercial relationship between the two nations.

Ms McKay said the agreement was the first step toward a Comprehensive Economic

“This will be looked back on as a momentous day with the social and cultural ties between our two nations now joined by a special trade relationship” Ms McKay said.

Ms McKay, who is in India meeting with key government and business stakeholders, said the AIBC would be working hard throughout 2023 in helping Australian businesses realise the wealth of opportunities that the Agreement has opened up.

“Sectors like education, agriculture, wine, critical minerals, pharmaceuticals – all areas where Australia has natural and competitive advantages –will now have greater access to a market of almost 1.5 billion customers.

“The Agreement also opens up opportunities for 1,000 Indian students to come to Australia to undertake post study work with a bonus year for high performing STEM students.

“This will help deepen the people to people links which is such an important aspect of the relationship between India and Australia.

“I’d like to thank the Australian

Government, particularly the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Trade Minister Don Farrell and key staff at DFAT for securing this historic agreement and picking up negotiations where the previous Morrison Government had left them.

“I also pay special tribute to the former Prime Minister and Special Envoy to India, Tony Abbott, who did so much to secure this critical agreement. And finally, I acknowledge our wonderful Indian Australian community. The diaspora is so important in our relationship with India and I look forward to continuing to support their involvement as a “living bridge” between our two nations.

“To have the ECTA in place by the end of the year shows the determination, confidence and positive atmosphere between our two nations in locking in this landmark agreement,” Ms McKay

said.

Ravneet Pawha, National ViceChair, Australia India Business Council, added, “With its many impactful provisions and significant clauses, ECTA has infused new energy into the India Australia relationship that will pave the way for cooperation across trade, education, and employment.

This visionary deal between the two countries, with its provision of extended post-study work visas, intensifying bilateral research and mutual recognition agreements, will enable students from both countries to realise their full potential.

The agreement will increase investments in both countries, bolster bilateral trade, encourage business growth, foster knowledge exchange, and create new avenues of employment.”

Jodi McKay, National Chair AIBC

2023 India Australia Business & Community Alliance Award finalists announced

The 2023 India Australia Business & Community Alliance (IABCA) award finalists have been announced.

The IABCA Showcase including the Awards Ceremony will take place between 13 -17 February 2023 across Mumbai and Delhi. The winners will be announced on the evening at the IABCA Awards Gala Dinner ceremony taking place on Wednesday, 15 February, 2023 at TAJ Palace, New Delhi.

Established in 2014, IABCA now stands as the leading Alliance that builds awareness and understanding between the peoples and institutions of Australia and India. From strategically channeled leadership initiatives to the celebration of trade and investment operations between India and Australia, IABCA has served its Corporate and Government partners well in strengthening their relations with India as well as the burgeoning Indian business diaspora that reside across Australia. Their annual IABCA Awards initiative strengthens and celebrates the organisations, social enterprises and business leaders from across the globe who are advancing the India-Australia relationship and receives more than 300 nominations each year.

Having partnered with various State and Federal Government agencies across Australia, for nearly a decade, IABCA have moved this platform on a biennale basis to India, across Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai in 2023.

The IABCA Awards Ceremony is a seated plated dinner event and a ticketed event. To purchase tickets, please email awards@ gandhicreations.com.au or call on 0449 786 056.

IABCA Awards - Categories

IABCA Young Professional of the Year

This award recognises outstanding achievements of a young professional in middle or senior management who has built a successful career and is under

IABCA Global Leaders Forum

• Wednesday, 15 February 2023

• 10.00AM IST

• TAJ PALACE, New Delhi, INDIA

The absolute sell out global leaders forum returns with another exciting program in 2023. IABCA invites you to secure your complimentary ticket to this event ASAP. This public forum will navigate the central pillars that underpin Australia's strong relationship with India through a range of engaging panel discussions and workshops that will leverage the expertise of global industry leaders.

35 years of age.

IABCA Business Leader of the Year

This award recognises outstanding achievements of a business leader, professional or researcher in middle or senior management who has built a successful career and is over 35 years of age.

IABCA Managing Director of the Year

This award recognises outstanding achievements of a CEO or managing director who has built a successful career and is over 35 years of age.

IABCA Community Services Excellence Award (Organisation)

This award acknowledges the achievements of an organisation that has enhanced community spirit through initiatives that empower communities including/ or through the promotion and integration of arts and culture in Australia and/or India

IABCA Community Services Excellence Award (Individual)

This award acknowledges the achievements of an individual that has enhanced community spirit through initiatives that empower communities including/ or through the promotion and integration of arts and culture in Australia and/or India.

IABCA Businesswoman of the Year

This award recognises outstanding achievements of a female leader who has built a successful business or career over time.

IABCA Australia India Impact Award (Individual)

IABCA Australia India

Impact award recognises the contributions of an individual, (living or working across our two nations) OR an organisation or project that adds value to the bilateral relationship. The category celebrates projects and organisations that have expanded from Australia to India or India to Australia.

IABCA Australia India Impact Award (Organisation)

IABCA Australia India

Impact award recognises the contributions of an organisational, (living or working across our two nations) OR an organisation or project that adds value to the bilateral relationship. The category celebrates projects and organisations that have expanded from Australia to India or India to Australia.

IABCA Australia India Science, Research & Development Award Central to the purpose of this award is the recognition and support of outstanding contributions to the advancement of science, technology and research made by an organisation or an individual.

IABCA Excellence in Innovation Excellence in Innovation recognizes a start-up or business that has exercised innovation in contriving a new and unique business model.

IABCA Excellence in Trade & Investment

This award recognises the accomplishments of organisations and projects who have generated new trade and investment opportunities between India and Australia.

IABCA Excellence in Partnerships

This award acknowledges the organisational achievements/ outcomes of partnering for prosperity between our two nations.

IABCA SME of the Year Small-to-medium enterprises - defined as economic groups with turnover of $2 million and up to $250 million. This award recognises outstanding achievement and contribution made by an SME.

IABCA Awards Ceremony

• Wednesday 15 February 2023

• 6:30 pm - 10:30 pm IST

• TAJ Palace | New Delhi

The IABCA Awards Ceremony is an experience like none other. At this spectacular 'Meeting of Minds' experience Incredible India first-hand and watch on as a new generation of IABCA Leaders are unveiled and celebrated for their immense contributions to the India-Australia relationship. Arrive dressed in cultural attire and immerse yourself in the very best that Australia and India have on offer. Avail an abundance of opportunities that come when surrounded by brilliant minds that are shaping the India-Australia relationship.

What you can expect at the IABCA Awards Ceremony

The IABCA Awards Ceremony will showcase the diversity and talent of our industry sectors while strengthening and celebrating the organisations and business leaders from across the globe who are advancing the India-Australia relationship.

IABCA Awards is pleased to welcome Australian Artist, Heather Lee, Aria Award Winner and Globally Renowned Opera Singer at the Ceremony

An Artistic First Nations Business Experience by by Indigenous Cultural Ambassador & Brand Partner, Danielle Mate

A red carpet Welcome

An immersive and breath taking India themed venue

Specially choreographed cultural entertainment

A range of high-impact government addresses

A three-course fine dining experience coupled with bottomless beverage service

Opportunities to connect with entrepreneurs, sporting icons, parliamentarians, key influencers and the wider IABCA community

An uplifting celebration of the Australia-India relationship, our diaspora, and it is bilateral heroes.

IABCA Community Services Excellence award: India News among the finalists

India News is among the finalists for the IABCA Community Services Excellence award.

This award acknowledges the achievements of an organisation that has enhanced community spirit through initiatives that empower communities including/ or through the promotion and integration of arts and culture in Australia and/or India.

Finalist

Covax Australia makes the finalists list

Covax Australia have made it to the finalists under category IABCA Excellence in Innovation, which recognises a start-up or business that has exercised innovation in contriving a new and unique business model.

Covax Australia was founded by Mannu Kala and Dr Anuj Gupta in 2020. The idea struck them after they realised most of the clinics and hospitals were unequipped to manage the respiratory illness of the population. This was also the time when there weren’t any adequate access to telehealth and specialist respiratory clinics were fewer in numbers. Moreover, general practitioner clinics started to refuse patients showing symptoms of COVID-19.

Staying away most of the time from media limelight, former MedLab Pathology Queensland general manager Mannu Kala and his co-founder Dr Anuj Gupta were quietly going about their job the results of which were discernible not merely in Queensland, but throughout Australia.

According to Business News Australia report, the highlights of some of their efforts comprise operating specialist respiratory clinics right at the outset of the pandemic, managing drive-thru testing facilities, organising the logistics rollout of the vaccine, and more significantly the recent success in manufacturing PPE.

In all these endeavours Covax Australia stayed away from the limelight, though they were right there in strengthening the nation’s response to the pandemic.

With the pandemic showing no signs of relenting, states and the Federal Government asked them to assist in devising action plans

and procedures for operating respiratory clinics, and to establish drive-thru testing sites. The pair wrote a white paper detailing the logistics processes so as to enable rolling out a COVID-19 vaccine and jabbing as many people as possible. This was the only way out of endless lockdowns. From there on, the Covax Australia began their endeavour to bring on Linfox and Qantas (ASX: QAN) to help move the inoculation nationwide, which was a very difficult task to accomplish.

From September 2020 to April 2022, Covax Australia had about 900 active staff working every day in the company. Though at that time the pandemic was not what it was at its peak, the business of Covax Australia has not declined as it now supports close to 100 aged care facilities with staffing solutions in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, reports Business News Australia.

Besides, the company also runs a manufacturing facility that produces rapid antigen tests, one of them being currently under consideration with the Therapeutic Goods Administration. About the future, the co-founders visualize the business would continue to evolve.

Australia India News Pty Ltd

2023 IABCA COMMUNITY SERVICES EXCELLENCE AWARD (Organisation)

on UNSC resolution on Myanmar

to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj, appealed for the release of political prisoners and the restoration of democracy, but said the resolution will not contribute to achieving those goals.

United Nations, Dec 22: India joined China and Russia in abstaining on a UN Security Council resolution on Myanmar, calling for the restoration of democracy there and the release of political prisoners, foremost among them Aung San Suu Kyi.

The long-awaited resolution received the votes of the other 12 countries in the 15-member body on Wednesday and came 22 months after the overthrow of the democratically-elected government in Myanmar.

It was proposed by Britain, which has responsibility for Myanmar in the Council, after prolonged discussions for a consensus, which it failed to get but softened it to avoid vetoes by Russia and China.

India's Permanent Representative

The resolution may "entrench the parties in their inflexible positions rather than encourage them to pursue an inclusive dialogue," she said explaining India's abstention.

The complex situation in Myanmar requires "quiet and patient diplomacy," she added.

She pointed out that the stabiilty of Myanmar directly impacts the national security of India, which shares a 1,700-kilometre border with it.

The welfare of the people of Myanmar is of "utmost priority" and at "the core of our efforts" there, Kamboj said.

Till Wednesday, the Council had not passed any resolutions on Myanmar's long stints of military rule, starting with the first coup in 1962 and recent efforts were met with threats of Russian and China vetoes.

The junta of the military known as Tatmadaw is not

represented at the UN because the General Assembly's accreditation committee has allowed the representatives of the democratically-elected government led by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to continue in Myanmar's seat.

The resolution also demanded the "immediate and concrete implementation" of ASEAN's five-point consensus, respect for human rights, and accountability for those who violate them and unhindered humanitarian access to those in need.

The ASEAN plan adopted in April also called for mediation by its President's representative and a visit by a special envoy to meet all the parties.

Britain's Permanent Representative Barbara Woodward said, "Today we have sent a firm message to the military, that they should be in no doubt: we expect this resolution to be implemented in full."

"It is also "a clear message to the people of Myanmar" that the UN backs their rights, wishes and interests," she added

New Delhi, Dec 21 (IANS) The CAG's Performance Audit report on "Sabka Vishwas Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme 2019" has revealed certain deficiencies, mainly related to inadequacies in designing the online system, following legal provisions, CBIC instructions, disposal of disputed cases, and keeping the tax evaders in the tax net.

The Comptroller and Auditor General's Performance Audit Report on 'Sabka Vishwas Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme 2019' (Report No. 14 of 2022) on Goods and Services Tax, Central Excise and Service Tax, tabled in the Parliament on Wednesday, found that irregular relief of Rs 109.81 crore in 28 declarations was extended to declarants who sought relief with respect to ineligible goods.

This Performance Audit was conducted in 52 selected Commissionerates.

Committees rejected 14 eligible declarations, also resulting in probable loss of revenue of Rs 8.72 crore, it said.

The CAG report said that irregular processing of 17 declarations under the 'Litigation' category instead of 'Arrears' resulted in excess relief amounting to Rs 5.1 crore to the declarants. In 65 declarations involving tax dues of Rs 90.51 crore, evidence of pre-deposits or deposits had not been verified properly, after due linking with the cases concerned.

The audit report said that the SVLDRS portal accepted multiple declarations in 208 cases involving tax dues of Rs 273.53 crore, which resulted in processing of certain cases multiple times.

Dubai, Dec 24 (IANS) The year 2022 ends on a positive note with regard to India-UAE relations, with business and political ties between the two countries scaling new heights.

The UAE is India's third largest trading partner and the bilateral trade between them surpasses $88 billion. Indians, moreover, constitute 39.9 per cent of the UAE population and their remittances to India add up to more than $17 billion, the largest for any country overseas.

To tell the world what the future will be like, Dubai built The Museum Of The Future, which talks about the possibilities of the future. To advance the vision of

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, to harness the latest technologies in coding, big data analysis, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, and human-machine interaction to drive the future.

"Dubai never ceases to amaze me. It has always been a city of innovation and exploration with endless possibilities," said Shah Rukh Khan while launching the Creating the Future with Shah Rukh Khan campaign.

Today, Dubai is a hub of coders, big data specialists and a different world of Metaverse, i.e., all future activities have started to be in application in the UAE

market now. UAE has started implementing its development planning till 2050 on its own.

In the area of space science, after the Mars and Moon missions, in 2028, the UAE will launch its own interplanetary mission. The spacecraft will travel 3.6 billion kilometres in five years. Its final landing will be in 2033 on an asteroid 560 million kilometres from the Earth. This would make the Emirates the fourth country to land a spacecraft on an asteroid.

UAE also has an agenda to achieve all 17 goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

As per the report, the Designated Committees irregularly processed 21 declarations, involving tax dues of Rs 7.01 crore under the 'Voluntary Disclosure' category, though the declarants were subjected to enquiry, investigation, audit, and filed returns. The Designated

The CAG recommended that the Department may take effective steps to pursue, in a time bound manner, those cases which were rejected under the schem' as well as the 28,825 cases for which Discharge Certificates could not be issued, especially due to nonpayment of the estimated payable amount. In particular, Voluntary Disclosure Cases where liability was not discharged should be vigorously pursued to protect the interest of the revenue. Arrears are confirmed demands and have no expiry date and it is possible that many of the declarants might have migrated to the GST regime as assessees, and therefore recovery actions are pursuable, it said.

festival.

Instructions have been given to make proper boarding and lodging facilities for the delegates, and also to prepare the platforms. "We are thankful to PM Modi and Union Youth Empowerment Minister Anurag Thakur for giving an opportunity to Karnataka to host this youth festival," he said.

The meeting was attended by Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, Karnataka ministers Narayanagowda, R. Ashok, Byrati Basavaraj and Dr. C.N. Ashwath Narayana, Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma, and others.

New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS) Global economic developments, in the new year, are expected to further complicate the economic outlook and therefore, continued vigilance is a critical aspect in maintaining India's external resilience, as per the Finance Ministry's monthly economic review for November 2022, released on Friday.

"No country can afford to sit on its laurels, India included. Continued commitment to macroeconomic stability will underpin both economic performance and investor interest in India. The latter is very high, currently. It

needs to be nurtured.

"Going forward, India needs to focus on medium-term challenges such as securing technology and resources for energy transition and skilling its youth for the 21st-century economy while staying the course on fiscal consolidation at the general government level.

The good news is that much hard work has been done in the last several years and a strong platform has been erected on which the superstructure of a middle-income economy can be constructed," it noted.

It further underlined that "Indian external sector continues to face the headwinds emanating from the global slowdown. However, the downside to a widening current account deficit is expected to be limited by a robust services export performance through the rest of the year and by inward remittances, which are expected to touch $100 billion this fiscal year as per the World Bank.

"Stable foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, resurgent FPI flows, and foreign exchange holdings that provide an import cover of nine months cushion the external

Talking to reporters after a preliminary meeting of the National Youth Festival on Wednesday, he said around 7,500 representatives from all the states will participate in the youth

The CM said the state government has taken a serious note of increasing Covid-19 cases, developments at international level, guidelines issued by the Union Health Ministry, and precautions and preventive steps were being taken up. A meeting has been convened on Thursday to discuss the emerging situation, the CM said.

India, along with Russia, China, abstains

From Mars to Metaverse, as UAE aims high, opportunities open up for India

‘Continued vigilance needed to maintain India’s external resilience’

PM Modi to inaugurate National Youth Festival in K’taka on Jan 12

CAG report on ‘Sabka Vishwas Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme’ discloses deficiencies

Belagavi (Karnataka), Dec 22 (IANS) Twin cities of HubballiDharwad in Karnataka will play a host to National Youth Festival to be organised on January 12 in connection with the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, and it will be declared open by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

Targetted killing a Pak conspiracy to harm brotherhood: J&K DGP

their part have been counselling people and have made possible the return of a good number of misguided youth into the mainstream.

Jammu, Dec 22: Jammu and Kashmir DGP Dilbag Singh during a visit to Tral and Pulwama in south Kashmir on Wednesday cautioned about the continuous attempts of elements from across the border to instigate the youth of J&K and trap them in the shackles of drugs.

The DGP also chaired a security review meeting at Tral wherein he was briefed about the overall security scenario in the area.

The DGP said that the police on

He said that elements from across the border through different media are making continuous attempts to instigate the youth and drag them into the path of destruction, adding that it is the responsibility of the parents to see and monitor the activities of their children.

Singh said that J&K Police are committed to end the drugs menace and anti-peace activities, as he sought cooperation of the people to accomplish the mission.

With regard to infiltration, the DGP said that the border security grid is very strong and all measures are in place to stop

infiltration bids.

A number of infiltration attempts were made, most of which were neutralised on the borders.

Some infiltrators managed to cross over, most of which were eliminated in the hinterlands and manhunts are on to trace the remaining.

Security grids have been further strengthened in view of the winter season, he added.

He also said that targetted killing is a big conspiracy hatched by Pakistan to harm the exemplary brotherhood and harmony of Kashmir, adding that almost all the cases of target killings have been solved.

Singh said that after guns, Pakistan is now supplying drugs to harm the younger generation in J&K.

Odisha reports sharp drop in number of Maoist attacks in 2021

been undertaken like road repair, improvement in health infrastructure, education related projects, rural infrastructure projects etc, he informed.

For educational empowerment, five Industrial Training Institutes and 10 skill development centres have been approved under the Skill Development Scheme in Maoist affected areas of Odisha. The Centre has also sanctioned 64 Eklavya Model Residential Schools for Odisha, of which 18 are functional.

China’s Arunachal Policy is one that exposes its vulnerabilities

New Delhi, Dec 21 (IANS) Chinas Arunachal policy has been one that has significantly strained the two countries bilateral relations over the past decades. Arunachal Pradesh, Indias north-eastern most state, has unilaterally been made to be contentious due to Chinas unprovoked aggressive behaviour. The state shares a critical border with Tibet, another region in which China maintains its hawkish approach.

The contention between both the countries has persisted even after Arunachal Pradesh legal recognition as a part of India's sovereign territory through the Shimla agreement of 1914 signed by Great Britain, China and Tibet.

Although, China in the past has on various occasions accepted the McMahon Line in its desire to settle border disputes with both Myanmar and Nepal, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has more often than not intended to use aggressive means while resolving its prevailing disputes with India. More so it has laid claim over whole of Arunachal Pradesh, which until the 1980's was limited to solely the Tawang region.

inability of the PLA in securing the vital position has provoked the Chinese side into instigating detrimental confrontations with the Indian side throughout the years and the recent clash is also in consonance with one of China's long-standingstrategies in Arunachal Pradesh of unprovoked instigation.

Although the PLA's transgression attempts are not a novel affair, the Chinese ruling elites' intent of changing the status quo has only intensified in the recent years.

As per the Indian government, more than 1,000 transgressions from the Chinese side were thwarted by the Indian Army between 2016- 2018 all along the disputed border; most of these transgressions came during the stand-off in Doklam in 2017.

The pattern to such attempts is revealing in the sense that the Chinese side has always stroked unprovoked tensions at the border when it has felt that the Indian has been gaining an upper hand in the neighbouring regions. Either it be the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh or internal conflicts within China, transgressions into Indian territory have been China's go to strategy to divert attentions of domestic populations as well as to contain the growing superiority of its rising neighbour.

Bhubaneswar, Dec 25 (IANS)

More than 350 persons including security personnel were killed in Maoist attacks or Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) during the last 12 years.

According to official data, 1246 LWE attacks were reported in Odisha during the 12 years, in which 357 people (civilians and security personnel) were killed.

So, on an average, each year 103 LWE incidents occurred in Odisha and 29 persons were killed by the Maoists between 2020 and 2021.

However, the figures suggest that the LWE activities are on a declining trend in the state.

In Odisha, the number of LWE incidents has drastically come down to 32 in 2021 from 218 reported in 2010. Similarly, the resultant deaths (civilians and security forces) have been reduced from 79 in 2010 to 3 last year.

The geographical spread of the LWE activities has also come down in the state. Now, only 10 districts have been covered under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Earlier, 19 districts were covered under the scheme, sources said

The SRE is a non-plan scheme and has been under implementation since April 1,

1996. The objective of the scheme is to supplement the efforts of the states to deal with the LWE problem effectively.

The 10 SRE covered districts are Bargarh, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Rayagada and Sundergarh. Out of these 10 districts only three districts, Kandhamal, Malkangiri and Kalahandi, have been categorized as most affected LWE districts while Koraput has been categorized as a district of concern by the MHA.

Informing about the economic and welfare activities undertaken by the government, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai recently told the Lok Sabha that more than 974 km of roads have been constructed in the LWE affected areas of Odisha under two schemes.

For improving telecommunications, 256 mobile towers have been installed while work orders have been issued for another 483 towers in the state.

A total of Rs 234.33 crore has been released to the most LWE affected districts of Odisha under the Special Central Assistance scheme to fill critical gaps in public infrastructure and services. Under this scheme, various types of projects have

For financial inclusion, 49 bank branches, 95 ATMs and 1144 banking correspondents have been established in the LWE affected districts and 247 post offices have been opened in such areas in two phases in the last seven years.

The recent skirmish in Yangtse located 25 km away from the Tawang region, was evidence of a similar tactics deployed by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of further destabilizing the bilateral relations.

The Yangtse region in particular holds significant strategic value and is located at a height of 15,000 feet and thus offers a clear view of Chinese post across the LAC. The

Prominent scholars and officials have interpreted these attempts as China's growing concern with India's rapid advancement in developing regions adjoining the border areas. In the past years, India has focused on building and improving infrastructure in areas that could provide better connectivity for locals and defence forces alike in the sensitive regions.

INS Arnala, Navy’s first anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft, launched

The first ship will be completed and delivered well within schedule. So will be the others, adding necessary punch to the Navy's capability to patrol coastal areas where enemy submarines could be lurking.

surveillance of coastal waters as well as search and attack operations. They will also be capable of carrying out coordinated anti-submarine operations with aircraft.

Kolkata, Dec 20 (IANS) INS

Arnala, Indian Navy's first antisubmarine warfare shallow water craft (ASWSWC), being built by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd, was launched by Rasika Chaube, Financial Advisor (Defence Services), Ministry of Defence, at the Larsen & Toubro shipyard in Kattipallu, Tamil Nadu, on Tuesday.

This is the first of eight such ships being built by GRSE for the Navy. Eight more ASWSWC are being built by Cochin Shipyard Ltd.

Incidentally, GRSE became the only defence public sector unit (DPSU) shipyard in India to be honoured with the Raksha Mantri's Award 2022 for designing the most silent ship. This silent ship was the ASWSWC that was launched.

Though smaller in size as compared to anti-submarine warfare corvettes of the Kamorta Class built and delivered to the Navy by GRSE earlier, these 77.6-metre-long and 10.5-metrewide vessels pack a punch.

These ships will be capable of full-scale sub-surface

These ships will have combat management systems on board and will be armed with lightweight torpedoes as well as anti-submarine warfare rockets. These ships will have a complement of 57 personnel, including seven officers.

Their three water jets (fitted to marine diesel engines) will provide greater maneuverability and a maximum speed of 25 knots. The greatest advantage is that these vessels will require a draft of only 2.7 metres, allowing them to access the coasts easily in search of sub-surface threats.

How Kota’s coaching centres drive students to depression, suicide

stopped at the earliest," Tiwari asserted.

Recently, a student preparing for the NEET was found hanging in his hostel room. This was the fourth case of suicide within 10 days. So far in 2022, 15 students have committed suicide in Kota.

Jaipur, Dec 25 (IANS) Why do coaching institutes charge Rs 2.5 lakh for the notes made from NCERT books worth Rs 250? Why no authority has ever gone and checked how coaching centres in Kota are discriminating against students on the basis of their performance and placing them in top-grade and below-grade batches?

These are some questions being raised by one Vishal Tiwari who is delivering free-of-cost coaching to around 5 lakh students via digital mediums after he himself faced the blues while being a student at a Kota coaching back in 2013-14.

"In 2013-14, I was one among those who took coaching in Kota," Tiwari said. "The situation was pathetic there as discrimination on performance ruled the roost. Those who were good at studies were given the best teachers and best batch while those who were poor in studies were given admission to below-par batches.

"These were the students who had come to Kota after overcoming serious financial challenges, their parents had taken loans from private lenders at high-interest rates. Also, they (parents) put pressure on their wards to secure

good marks and hence such students collapse under pressure - emotional and financial - while studying in Kota."

Tiwari said that there are "clear instructions from the government that the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and the IIT-JEE syllabus should be based on the NCERT textbooks, which are available for Rs 250. Now, why these coachings charge whopping Rs 2.5 lakh for these courses is a billion dollar question".

He further said that "almost all coaching have a fee of Rs 1.5 lakh for a duration of 7-8 months. They (students) spend around Rs 2 lakh on their hostel fees and food. However, even after spending 3.5 to 4 lakh, the pass percentage is just 1-2 per cent". "Just 20,000 to 30,000 students qualify the entrance tests while others consider themselves as failures," he added.

"Another challenge posed by the coaching institutes here is of poster boys. The posters of top rankers are put up across cities and these are the students who are paid by coachings to get into the coaching. They in fact need no coaching. This in fact deceives aspirants as well as parents and thus (this practice) should be

The deceased Aniket Kumar (17) was a resident of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. He was preparing for NEET from a private institute in Kota and was living in a hostel.

One afternoon, Aniket's brother called him multiple times, but he did not take up the call. Later, when the warden and other students in the hostel checked Aniket's room, they found him hanging from the ceiling fan.

Aniket's brother Abhishek said that his younger brother was preparing for NEET in Kota for three years. He was admitted here in Class 11th.

Based on initial investigations, the police said that the reason for the extreme step seems to be stress.

Earlier, on December 11, three students committed suicide. Two of them were from the same hostel.

Two students who committed suicide were preparing for NEET while one student was preparing for IIT. Of these, two students were from Bihar and one student was from Madhya Pradesh.

Soon after, a guideline was made ready and coaching institutes were asked to implement it, however, the suicide of another student raised many questions about the lapses plaguing the education system in Kota.

BYJU’S meets NCPCR officials, defends itself on student database buying allegation

BYJU's CEO Byju Raveendran to appear in person on December 23 in this regard.

New Delhi, Dec 23: Edtech

major BYJU's on Friday filed a comprehensive response to the notice by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) that alleged the company is buying phone numbers of children and their parents and threatening them to buy its courses.

In a meeting with NCPCR officials, the BYJU's representatives said that the commission issued a summon on the basis of a single report that "makes sweeping generalisations based on unnamed sources which comprise an infinitesimal fraction of its large user base".

The NCPCR had summoned

"As the Commission has come across a news article wherein it has been pointed out that the sales team of BYJU'S is indulging in malpractices to lure parents to buy their courses for their children. It has also been mentioned in the news report that some customers have also claimed that they were exploited and deceived, and had put their savings and futures in jeopardy," the NCPCR had said in a statement.

BYJU'S was represented before the commission by Pravin Prakash, one of its founding partners.

The edtech major with over 150 million registered learners said that "it's not possible for it to verify the authenticity of the article because the said media house has refused to share either the data points it referred to, or the sampling methods it used to select those data points".

The company also said that the question of "mis-selling" does not arise because its sales professionals do not have the authority to close the sale of a product at the point of sale.

"By design, every sale is unapproved until it is verified by a triple-layered audit mechanism that reaches out to the interested customer through SMS, audio and video calls. The completion of a sale happens at the central level," according to BYJU's response.

BYJU'S said it does not encourage, order or incentivise its sales staff and/or managers to pursue customers who are uninterested in or unable to pay for its products.

On the question of financing, BYJU'S clarified that it does not directly offer loans to its users.

BYJU'S also informed NCPCR that it has already provided free courseware to more than 55 lakh children from underprivileged families through its Education For All, the social initiative arm.

Hyderabad, Dec 24 (IANS) In what is claimed to be a path breaking move in education, Telangana's first KG to PG institution has come up in Rajanna Sircilla district.

The state government has built an integrated campus from Kindergarten to Post Graduation and has come up at Gambhiraopet to provide free education to all.

Equipped with modern facilities, the six-acre campus has a built up area of 100,00 square feet and it serves over 3,500 students.

The model campus comprises buildings for Anganwadi kendram, pre-primary school, primary school, high school, junior college and degree college.

The KG to PG campus at Gambhiraopet has come up as part of Mana Ooru Mana Badi programme of the state government. According to officials, the campus provides English, Telugu and Urdu media of instruction.

Authorities have provided facilities for early childhood education for over 250 children. The sprawling campus has over 90 class rooms including digital classrooms, computer and science labs.

Industries and Information Technology Minister K. T. Rama Rao on Saturday said that the government aims to create such facilities in all districts across the state.

"Let

in Telangana," tweeted Rama Rao, who is a MLA from Rajanna Sircilla district.

According to a video posted by him, since the emergence of Telangana as a separate state, the government under the leadership of K. Chandrasekhar Rao has advanced the access and quality of education for all through inclusive policies and state-ofthe-art facilities.

It was in 2014 that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now Bharat Rashtra Samithi) had promised KG to PG free education scheme.

The opposition has been criticizing the government for not fulfilling its promise.

However, the KCR government had denied that it failed to implement the promise and claimed that it built hundreds of residential schools for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and Minorities and improved infrastructure in educational institutions over last eight years to take care of the programme in a different way.

Meanwhile, actor politician Prakash Raj took to Twitter to react to Telangana building its first KG to PG campus. "A leader with a vision.. with an intent for a better tomorrow..thank you KCR garu," he tweeted.

UP Madrasas to continue with Friday as weekly off

calendar, Madrasa Board chairman Iftikhar Ahmed Javed said that the weekly holiday in the madrasas would continue to be on Friday and the suggestion to make Sunday as a week off was unlikely to be implemented because it would cause inconvenience to madrasa people.

He said the annual calendar has been released while the academic calendar would be announced in March 2023.

Lucknow, Dec 25 (IANS) The weekly holiday in madrasas of Uttar Pradesh will continue to be on Fridays as per the holiday calendar for the year 2023 that has been released by the State Madrasa Education Board.

The suggestion to change the weekly off from Friday to Sunday is likely to come up for di scussion sometime in January. Until then, the weekly off will continue to be on Friday. After releasing the holiday

He said in 2023, madrasas would have 75 holidays, including 36 days of Ramzan and Eid-ulFitr.

In a meeting convened by the Madrasa Board last week to discuss amendments to the Uttar Pradesh NonGovernmental Arabic and Persian Recognition Administration and Service Regulation - 2016, several suggestions came up, including shifting the weekly holiday of madrasas on Sundays instead of Fridays.

Telangana builds first KG to PG campus

me introduce you to the changing face of education

MAKE IN INDIA

As world economies restart their engines in a bid to regain lost ground due to the Covid-19 pandemic, India too shows signs of economic buoyancy and promise. India’s Make in India initiative holds a key to the global economic revival, something that should interest Australian government ministries, corporate sector, entrepreneurs, institutions seeking R&D collaborations and Australia Inc in general, among others. India assumes greater importance as several major world economies including American, Japanese, German, British and South Korean look to move out and diversify their businesses from China. India has jumped to 63rd rank in the World Bank’s Ease of Development 2020 report, and has also been ranked as the 9th largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment destinations in 2019 by the World Investment Report 2020 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Japanese firms rank India as top investment destination

Chief Director General (South Asia), JETRO, told India Narrative.

By Mahua Venkatesh

New Delhi, Dec 27: Japan Inc is upbeat about India’s economic growth story despite rising geopolitical uncertainties. More than 72 per cent of Japanese companies said they were keen to expand their business operations in India which topped the chart, a survey by Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) revealed. Notably only 33.4 per cent said that they would be keen to expand their business operations in China, the survey revealed.

Vietnam is a close second with 60 per cent firms opting for the Southeast Asian nation.

Not just that. India also topped the list of countries from which Japanese firms expected to increase their profit margins amid the rising global challenges. According to the survey 63.2 per cent of the companies expected their profitability to increase while the figure was 26.8 per cent for China.

"Most Japanese companies are looking at India to expand their businesses. The experience of the Japanese companies which are already operating in India has been very good. The sentiment here is positive," Takashi Suzuki,

Suzuki added that Japanese companies are also looking at India for their product development for the global markets. "They would manufacture here and then export. Africa and the western countries are the main regions that the companies would be looking to export their products from India," he said, adding that the Aatmanirbhar Bharat programme will be a game changer in this respect.

"It goes with (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji's vision as well that you make in India and then export," Suzuki said.

In May, Prime Minister Modi, who was in Japan to attend the QUAD summit, held a meeting with the top 30 CEOs of Japanese companies. "Make in India for the World" was Modi's message to the Japanese business community.

In August Daikin India announced that it will invest Rs 5 billion over the next three years to establish a research and development centre in Neemrana, in Rajasthan.

The centre will conduct R&D on air conditioners for the Indian market as well as for exports.

The centre is expected to start operations by December 2023.

Suzuki, one of the most trusted brands here, set up Suzuki R&D Center India Private Limited with the aim to strengthen competitiveness in the country by efficiently linking the R&D departments in India and Japan.

Several Japanese majors including Panasonic, Toshiba, Sony and NEC already have their R&D centres in India. In 2021, Fujitsu set up its R&D base.

At present, Japan is the fifth largest investor in India. The cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) stood at $37.7 billion between April 2000 and till June, this year.

In March, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced an investment plan of Rs 3,20,000 crore (5 trillion yen) in India in the next five years.

Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo, which forayed into the Indian market just three years ago, turned profitable this year despite huge Covid related challenges. The company registered a net profit of Rs 21.4 crore in 2021-22 compared to a loss of Rs 36.1 crore in the previous year.

"To turn profitable in just three years is a big thing. Typically a company looks at a 10 year horizon to turn profitable, but Uniqlo has managed to record profits in three years," Suzuki noted.

Suzuki also said that despite the Covid wave, India managed to turn around the situation within record time. "India was the only country to turn around in such a short time," he said.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

New Delhi, Dec 14: In the last few years, India has been focussing a lot on indigenous manufacturing. The Central government has taken up various measures to facilitate manufacturing in the country.

The Centre has undertaken various steps to boost domestic and foreign investments in India as well. These include introduction of Goods and Services Tax, reduction in corporate tax, interventions to improve the ease of doing business, FDI policy reforms, measures for reduction in compliance burden, policy measures to boost domestic manufacturing through public procurement orders and Phased Manufacturing Programme (PMP).

Keeping in view India's vision of becoming 'Aatmanirbhar', Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes for 14 key sectors have been announced with an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore to enhance the country's manufacturing capabilities and exports.

In order to achieve India's vision of becoming 'Aatmanirbhar' and to strengthen its manufacturing capabilities and exports, an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore has been announced in the Union Budget 2021-22 for PLI schemes in 14 key manufacturing sectors, beginning in fiscal year (FY) 202122. With the announcement of PLI Schemes, significant creation of production, skills, employment,

economic growth and exports is expected over the next five years and more. The reforms taken by the Government have resulted in increased Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the country. FDI inflows in India stood at $45.15 billion in 2014-2015 and have continuously increased since then and India registered its highest ever annual FDI inflow of $84.84 billion (provisional figures) in the financial year 2021-22, reported NewsonAir.

The annual growth rate of the manufacturing sector as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), with base year 2011-12, for 2021-22 is 11.8 per cent. The government aims to make India the global manufacturing hub. It also aims to increase the sector's GDP share to 25 per cent from the existing 16 per cent, and create 100 million new jobs by 2022.

‘Make in India' is an initiative that was launched on September 25, 2014, to facilitate investment, foster innovation, build best-inclass infrastructure and make India a hub for manufacturing, design and innovation. It is one of the unique single, vocal for local initiatives that promote India's manufacturing domain to the world. The Indian government focused a lot on improving Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living by simplifying, rationalising, digitizing and decriminalising government to business and citizen interfaces across ministries/states/UTs. The key focus areas of the initiative are simplification of procedures, rationalization of legal provisions, digitization of government processes, and decriminalization of minor, technical or procedural defaults.

Indian smartwatch players gear up to beat Chinese, global rivals

New Delhi, Dec 25 (IANS) The Indian smartwatch market has not only grown exponentially on the home turf, but also performed exceptionally well at the global level. And the domestic players expect to repeat the feat in 2023, with the expectation to overtake both Chinese and global rivals.

In Q2 2022, India overtook China to become the second-largest smartwatch market globally for the first time, growing 347 per cent (year-on-year), according to Counterpoint Research.

China, which ranked second in Q1, was pushed down to the third place with a 10 per cent (year-onyear) decrease in its shipments.

According to Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, homegrown smartwatch brands will seek to raise their domestic value addition to further increase their overall competitiveness, not just against the Chinese, but global smartwatch brands.

"After catering to value-conscious buyers in the affordable and competitive Indian smartwatch market, the smartwatch brands will aim to increase their market pie by targeting higher price tiers," Ram told IANS.

Indian brands such as FireBoltt and Noise took top spots in the global market share in the

June quarter (Q2) amid macro uncertainties such as inflation and geopolitical tensions.

Commenting on the company's growth, Amit Khatri, Co-founder, Noise, told IANS that they have been at the forefront of India's smartwatch market with a 30 per cent share, "also becoming the only homegrown brand to make it to the top 3 smartwatch brands globally".

"We closed FY22 at Rs 850 crore and aim to close FY23 at Rs 2,000 crore. Being one of the first Indian brands to localise the production of smart wearables in India, we are bullish about

ramping up our Make in India efforts by bringing 80 per cent of manufacturing to India by yearend," Khatri added.

According to Arnav Kishore, Founder and CEO at Fire-Boltt, 2022 has been the best year for the company so far.

"We witnessed tremendous growth this year and bagged the No. 1 spot in the smartwatch category in two consecutive quarters (Q1 and Q2). We also climbed up in our global rankings and today we are the fourth largest smartwatch brand in the world," Kishore told IANS.

The company will move towards

100 per cent localisation in the next three months, in terms of its India manufacturing plan, he said. At the moment, Fire-Boltt is at 70 per cent localisation.

In Q3 2022, India's market grew 171 per cent (year-on-year) to become the biggest smartwatch market globally, according to Counterpoint. Noise grew 218 per cent (year-onyear) to regain the top spot in the Indian market, while FireBoltt ranked second.

India going all out to give necessary impetus to indigenous manufacturing

Australian PM supports push for national gun register

for Constables Rachel McCrow, 29, and Matthew Arnold, 26.

Young Australians feel increasingly isolated: Survey

Headspace chief executive Jason Trethowan said the social isolation and stay-at-home orders have had a lasting impact.

holidays can also exacerbate the intense loneliness many people feel," chief executive Colin Seery said.

Canberra, Dec 21: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed a proposed national firearm register in the wake of a deadly police shooting.

Albanese said his government would take advice from law enforcement on how information can be better shared to protect police officers and the general public from firearms, flagging discussions as a priority when he next meets with state and territory leaders at the national cabinet, reports Xinhua news agency.

"I am certainly up for dialogue with the states and territories about how there can be a better national consistency and national information that can serve the interests of police going about their duty," he said.

A public memorial service was held on Wednesday in Brisbane

The pair were shot dead when they were ambushed by Gareth Train, his brother Nathaniel and wife Stacey at a remote property approximately 300 km west of Brisbane while carrying out a missing persons inquiry on Dec. 12.

Fellow officer Constable Randall Kirk was shot and injured while Constable Keely Brough hid in nearby bushland before escaping.

Neighbour Alan Dare, 58, was also killed by the Trains, who all died when police stormed the property.

In the wake of the shooting, police unions across the country have called for the establishment of a national gun owner's register, which was first recommended in 1996.

Currently, police cannot readily access information about whether a person holds a gun license in another state as was the case with Nathaniel Train in New South Wales.

The Police Federation of Australia has also called for mental health checks to be conducted to obtain or renew a gun license.

ATP releases 2023 schedule

Beijing, Dec 26 (IANS) The ATP on Monday unveiled the 2023 season calendar featuring four tournaments in China.

As the first event of the new season, the first edition of the United Cup, a collaboration between the ATP, WTA, and Tennis Australia, will kick off on Thursday in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney, Australia, reports Xinhua news agency.

Starting from September 2023, China will host the Chengdu Open, Zhuhai Championships,

China Open, and the Shanghai Masters.

The two ATP 250 tournaments will start on September 20 next year in Chengdu and Zhuhai, and the China Open will be held in Beijing from September 28 to October 4.

The Shanghai Masters will kick off on October 4, and the event will be extended from one week to 12 days in the upcoming season, with a larger singles draws from current 56 to 96 and increased prize money.

Canberra, Dec 20: A growing number of young Australians feel isolated and left out in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new government survey revealed on Tuesday.

The survey by Headspace, the government's youth mental health support agency, found that 60 per cent of respondents, all of whom were aged between 12 and 25, reported lacking companionship, while 62 per cent said they feel left out, reports Xinhua news agency.

Despite Australia's strict coronavirus lockdowns ending more than 12 months ago,

"We're finding many young people are still feeling cut off from the world and struggling to reestablish relationships," he told the local media.

According to the national mental health organisation Beyond Blue, one in seven Australians, or 3.2 million people, is experiencing an anxiety condition at any given time and one in 16 are suffering from depression.

In the lead up to the Christmas period, suicide prevention service Lifeline has made more crisis support workers available to respond to 4,000 calls and messages every day.

"The idea of togetherness traditionally associated with

The survey's release came a eek after the federal government drew criticism for cutting the number of psychologist visits it will subsidise.

At the start of Covid-19 lockdowns, the then sitting government had increased the number of psychologist visits it subsidised in a year from 10 to 20 for every Australian.

Earlier this month, Health Minister Mark Butler said that the number would return to 10 per year from January 1, 2023.

The Australian Association of Psychologists, a national peak body, described it as a bitterly disappointing decision that would deny people the care they need.

Record spending expected as Australians usher in post-Christmas shopping

Retailers Association (ARA) with Roy Morgan and Salesforce predicted that consumers would spend a record A$23.5 billion during the Boxing Day sales period, an increase of 7.9 per cent over last year.

opportunity for people to bag a bargain but also to support local retailers, many of whom have had a challenging few years through the pandemic and are starting to bounce back," he said.

Canberra, Dec 26: As the annual shopping event of Boxing Day unfolded on Monday, the shopping spree is expected to boost the economic recovery with a record spending and help Australians save their household spending with discounted prices. Shopping malls in Sydney are full of enthusiastic shoppers with long queues waiting outside of some popular brands. Many brands are also offering sales with big promotions, reports Xinhua news agency.

An analysis released by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), one of the country's major commercial banks, had revealed that 42 per cent of Australians plan to shop the Boxing Day sales this year, up from 39 per cent who said they shopped last year.

Forecasts by the Australian

Hospitality venues are predicted to drive the greatest growth with an increase of 30 per cent over last year while clothing is predicted to see double digit growth with 11.4 per cent yearon-year increase.

Department stores are expected to see a growth of 8.9 per cent as well.

ARA CEO Paul Zahra said Boxing Day remains an important milestone in the retail calendar and this year will be no exception.

"It's clear to see Australian's love affair with shopping continues, shopping and dining-out remain some of our most beloved passtimes through the holiday season."

Treasurer of New South Wales (NSW) Matt Kean said the Boxing Day sales are a boost for the state's businesses recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The Boxing Day sales are an

Despite the shopping enthusiasm, many Australians are planning to spend less than they did last year amid rising cost of living.

The CBA research said the average planned spend during this year's Boxing Day sales was A$483.20, down from A$501.60 in 2021.

The cost of living pressures remain top of mind for many savvy shoppers, with eight in 10 (78 per cent) planning to shop the sales to purchase essentials when they are on sale.

"It's great to hear so many shoppers are using the sales to buy things already on their list that they are looking to purchase anyway. Hopefully the discounted prices will provide some relief to many Australians' hip pockets to help them get items they need at a more affordable price," said CBA General Manager for Shopping Rochelle Eldridge.

Aus state to confront decade-high bushfire risk

protect communities from the most significant grass fire risk in more than a decade.

Canberra, Dec 22 (IANS)

The local fire department in Australia's New South Wales (NSW) said on Thursday that it is exhausting all efforts to

According to a statement by Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW), two years of above-average rainfall has increased fuel loads, meaning that any grass fire which breaks out over coming weeks has the potential to be larger and more intense than normal, reports Xinhua news agency.The FRNSW warned that this is particularly the case in the state's west, which bears the brunt of the most recent floods.

"It could only take a few days or weeks of hot and dry weatherto ignite current heavy fuel loads and create a fireemergency in our own backyards," said FRNSW Bushfire and Aviation Unit Commander Scott Donohoe, urging homeowners and landholders to follow firefighters' lead and take precautions.

Meanwhile, farmers are also encouraged to establish firebreaks around paddocks, homes, sheds and equipment to slow a fire's spread.

Australia names ex-PM Kevin Rudd as new US envoy

Rudd has been appointed the country's next ambassador to the US.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday confirmed months of speculation that Rudd, who was in office between 2007 and 2010 and again in 2013, will become the 23rd ambassador to the US, reports Xinhua news agency.

three years.

Making the announcement in Canberra, Albanese said Rudd had extensive connections and experience in the US.

Universities call for Australian migration reset

Canberra, Dec 20 (IANS)

Rudd, a former leader of Albanese's Labor Party, will head to Washington early in 2023, replacing Arthur Sinodinos after

"Kevin Rudd is an outstanding appointment, he brings a great deal of credit to Australia by agreeing to this appointment," Albanese, who served as Rudd's deputy PM in 2013, said.

In a statement on Tuesda,y Rudd said he was honored by the appointment.

Cricket Australia renames annual award for men’s Test player in honour of Shane Warne

time greats, it is fitting we acknowledge Shane's extraordinary contribution to test cricket by naming this award in his honour in perpetuity," said CA chief executive Nick Hockley on the occasion.

turf with family member of the late star present in the crowd.

Canberra, Dec 19 (IANS)

Australian universities have called for a "hard reset" of the visa process for international graduates.

"This is not surprising when our system has more barriers than gateways, including extended wait times, a lack of visibility around application status, and little certainty in general for prospective students and staff," Jackson said in the report.

Melbourne, Dec 26 (IANS) Cricket Australia has renamed its top annual award for best performer in Test cricket in honour of the late spin legend, Shane Warne.

The Shane Warne Men's Test Player of the Year award will be presented annually at the Australian Cricket Awards and will be positioned as the secondmost prestigious award for men behind the Allan Border Medal, given to the top performer of the year across all formats..

The renaming of the award was announced here on Monday on the opening day of the traditional Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against South Africa when tributes were paid to the iconic leg-spinner who died of a suspected heart attack on March 4, 2022, while on holiday at the island Ko Samui in Thailand.

"As one of Australia's all-

"Shane was a proud advocate of test cricket and you only have to look around at all the fans who came out to the MCG in their floppy hats and zinc on Boxing Day to realise what a profound impact he had on the game."

"The whole cricket community continues to mourn his loss and our thoughts, as always, are with Shane's family and friends, particularly his children Brooke, Jackson and Summer."

The announcement comes just ahead of Cricket Austria's awards, including the Allan Border Medal for en and Belinda Clark Women's award, which will be presented on January 30.

Warne played 145 tests between 1992-2007 and his 708 wickets were the record until he was passed by Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

Also on Monday, "Warnie 350" -the spin legend's Test cap number -- was stencilled onto the MCG

On the occasion, Australian Cricket Association CEO, Todd Greenberg said: "I'm proud that the ACA, along with Cricket Australia, is able to recognise the incredible impact Shane had on Test cricket with an award named in his honour.

"While he was a once-in-ageneration player, he was very much a man who understood the important contribution all players made to Australian cricket. He played an important role in the formative years of the ACA and never knocked back an opportunity to promote and grow the gameand once they came, nobody knew how to put on a show quite like Warneyparticularly here at the MCG.

"Our thoughts remain with Shane's family, particularly his children Brooke, Jackson and Summer, and his many, many great friends within cricket."

The Australian Cricket Awards are held on an annual basis to celebrate the performances of Australian players across national and domestic cricket.

Over 200 fall ill in Australia’s food safety incident

"The products have had potential contamination with unsafe plant material which may cause illness.

Consumers have been advised not to eat the spinach and dispose of it immediately," said an FSANZ statement.

at least 42 of whom having sought medical attention as of Monday, according to the state health department.

In a report submitted to a parliamentary committee reviewing the migration system, the peak body representing Australia's tertiary educators said the current complicated system was seeing the country fall behind the rest of the world, reports Xinhua news agency.

Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson said there are currently more than 100 visa subclasses, describing the system as not fit for purpose.

Australian universities are among the world leaders in international student numbers.

However, according to Universities Australia, less than a third of international graduates use their post-study work permits and only 16 per cent become permanent residents.

"Meanwhile, our global competitors are increasing the number of international graduates in their migration mix in recognition of the significant contribution they make. Australia is falling behind."

The body made five recommendations for change in its report, including automatically granting temporary visas to all international students who graduate from Australian universities and upgrading reporting processes to provide applicants with up-to-date information on their visa status.

It also called for a priority system similar to the US Green Card to allow priority workers to receive fast-tracked permanent residency.

The comprehensive review, which was launched by Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil, is expected to hand down its final report in February 2023.

South Australia floods expected to peak at 60-yr high

failed.

Authorities have predicted that up to 4,000 properties will be inundated by the flood.

Malinauskas said that 25,000 overnight bed stays have been prepared for emergency relief and a A$50 million relief fund set up.

As of Saturday morning, 3,620 homes were without power and six out of 11 river crossings were closed.

Canberra, Dec 19 (IANS):

Over 200 people have fallen ill with many hospitalised in a widespread food safety incident across multiple Australian states.

The people are believed to have suffered symptoms after eating baby spinach, and four major supermarket chains across Australia have taken down the contaminated products from the shelves, Xinhua news agency quoted local media reports as saying on Monday.

The Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), the country's food safety authorities, has made a national recall of the contaminated baby spinach products.

It also urged anyone who believes they have consumed the product and are concerned to seek medical advice.

The initial possible symptoms listed by FSANZ include delirium or confusion, hallucinations, dilated pupils, rapid heartbeat, flushed face, blurred vision, and dry mouth and skin.

FSANZ CEO Sandra Cuthbert said the FSANZ is working closely with the relevant state food authorities regarding the recall and active investigations continue.

Authorities in several states have issued health alerts after the national recall.

New South Wales, the most populous state, has seen 164 people reporting symptoms and

NSW Health said anyone who experiences any unusual and severe symptoms should seek immediate medical attention by visiting the nearest emergency department.

Health department of the state of Victoria also advised health professionals to be aware of patients presenting with relevant clinical presentation, and notify the department.

At least 11 Victoria residents have gone to emergency departments after consuming the baby spinach, said report from the Guardian.

In Queensland, the Poisons Information Centre has received 26 calls made by local residents experiencing a range of symptoms.

Malinauskas told reporters that the flow of the River Murray is expected to peak at approximately 190 gigaliters of water per day over the next week, which is at the lower level of projections, before falling to about 100 gigaliters by February 2023, reports Xinhua news agency.

As a result, the river is expected to peak at a level higher than the 1931 flood levels but lower than the 1956 flood event -- one of the biggest disasters in the state's history.

More than 1,000 properties along the river have been inundated by flood waters since midDecember and 14 levees have

"The closer the event comes, the more confidence we have around the data, but we also are very mindful of the fact that it is variable," Malinauskas told reporters.

"That allows people to plan accordingly, but most importantly it provides an opportunity for our emergency services to be in the appropriate state at the appropriate time in the right location."

On Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said thousands of Australians were facing "difficult" Christmas periods amid extreme weather across the country

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin

Canberra, Dec 24: South Australia (SA) Premier Peter Malinauskas on Saturday warned flooding in the state's Riverland region could peak at the highest level in more than 60 years.

Woodford Folk Festival opens to a triumphant return

tourism and generate long-term economic benefits for the wider region.”

Brisbane, 27 December: Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch today celebrated the return of the annual Woodford Folk Festival, welcoming back live performance, artists and audiences from 27 December 2022 to 1 January 2023.

"Woodford Folk Festival brings communities together and delivers arts, First Nations culture, music, dance, circus, ceremony and important conversations in one of Queensland's most beautiful settings,” Minister Enoch said.

“The Palaszczuk Government is investing $4 million over four years from 2021-22 into Woodfordia to grow the sustainability of this signature festival, boost cultural

Minister Enoch said the 2022 festival showcased local talent with a program of notable Queensland artists, including William Barton who was named Queensland Australian of the Year 2023.

“I’m thrilled to see a line-up of local talent and stories set to be celebrated as part of this iconic event, many whose careers were boosted through Queensland Government awards and investment,” Ms Enoch said.

“Toowoomba-based Cloe Terare was named the 2022 Billy Thorpe Scholarship winner while Brisbane-based singersongwriter Hannah Macklin was the 2016 winner of the Grant McLennan Fellowship, and Jaguar Jonze furthered her career with $10,000 through the Individuals Fund.

“Tenzin Choegyal will share his story and the communal story of his people with his performance of Be the Mountain, which toured Queensland this year through the Touring Queensland Quick Response Fund.”

Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the Palaszczuk Government had backed Woodfordia to build back better from the pandemic with yearround visitor experiences.

Founder and Festival Director Bill Hauritz AM thanked the Queensland Government for its ongoing support.

Minister Enoch said the return of Woodford Folk Festival further boosts the state’s reputation for exceptional arts and cultural experiences as we prepare for the significant opportunities presented by the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Modern Microgrids Set To Secure Regional Resilience

Brisbane, 29 December:

Queenslanders living in First Nations and storm-prone regional communities can now apply for funding to improve their energy independence and resilience through stand-alone electricity microgrids as part of the Palaszczuk Government’s Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan.

Announcing the release of guidelines and opening of applications, Energy and Renewables Minister Mick de Brenni said the Palaszczuk Government’s new $10 million Queensland Microgrid Pilot Fund will accelerate work to more new-age, resilient power supply in across Queensland.

“The two-year program offers grants for communities on the edge of the electricity grid to deliver shovel-ready microgrid projects or provide support to develop future projects through feasibility studies,” Minister de Brenni said.

Assistant Minister for the 50% Renewable Energy Target by 2030 Lance McCallum said the program was a huge opportunity for First Nations communities who want to take more ownership over their energy independence.

“One of the program’s objectives is to demonstrate how the

deployment of a microgrid will have unique benefits for First Nations people within the community,” Assistant Minister McCallum said.

Minister de Brenni said programs like this provide real opportunities for our regions to benefit from the Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan’s future of cheaper, cleaner and secure energy for Queenslanders.

Grants from $250,000 are available for feasibility studies and up to $5 million to build microgrid projects that meet the program objectives and eligibility requirements.

Queensland’s new State Disaster Coordinator

Brisbane, 23 December: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced the appointment of a new State Disaster Coordinator.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Shane Chelepy will assume the role from January 9.

He replaces Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski who has been appointed Special Coordinator for Police and Emergency Services reform following the Commission of Inquiry into Police Responses to Domestic and Family Violence.

The Premier paid tribute to both

men.

“One of the strengths of Queensland’s management of natural disasters is having a permanent State Disaster Coordinator,” the Premier said.

“Deputy Commissioner Gollschewski became a familiar face, standing beside Queensland during some of our worst natural disasters including the darkest days of the pandemic when police protected our borders.”

Acting Deputy Commissioner Chelepy was responsible for the establishment and roll out of vaccination clinics that saw the majority of Queenslanders vaccinated before COVID arrived.

“This included pop-up clinics at Rugby League games, door to door operations in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities – wherever the vaccine was needed, Shane Chelepy ensured it was there,” the Premier said.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Chelepy has previously held the role of co-chair of the State Disaster Co-ordination Group. He was also the coordinator of the State Disaster Co-ordination Centre leading responses to cyclones, floods and fires.

Surf safety catches a break ahead of holidays

Brisbane, 22 December: A $150,000 Palaszczuk Government donation to the annual Queensland Lifesavers Appeal will help volunteers save lives at the beach over the busy summer holidays.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the donation would go toward Surf Life Saving Queensland’s $500,000 fundraising goal.

“This will help with training and the tools surf lifesavers to keep Queenslanders safe like inflatable

rescue boats, rescue boards, tubes and first aid kits,” the Premier said.

“From Port Douglas to Rainbow Bay, Queensland has 58 patrols and 36,000 volunteer lifesavers looking out for Queenslanders and our visitors over summer.

“This donation is on top of our $30 million election commitment over four years to support SLSQ to deliver front-line beach safety.

“Our commitment is delivering more roving jet ski patrols, better

communication equipment and drones to keep an eye on Queensland beaches.”

Surf Lifesaving Queensland’s annual appeal coincides with the next phase of SLSQ’s ‘Be a Lifesaver!’ campaign to remind beachgoers to swim between the red and yellow flags and look out for family and friends.

Last summer, Queensland lifesavers and lifeguards watched over 20 million beachgoers and saved 3,101 lives, including 723 kids under 12.

Centenary Bridge upgrade on the way

State Member for Mount Ommaney Jess Pugh said it was a belated Christmas gift for the community.

“I have advocated for this project since I was elected, as I know how desperately our community wants shovels in the ground,” Ms Pugh said.

Brisbane, 28 December: The Centenary Bridge upgrade is a step closer with the awarding of the construction contract.

Premier and Minister for the Olympics and Paralympics, and Member for Inala Annastacia Palaszczuk announced it’s been awarded to Georgiou Group and BMD Constructions, as a joint venture.

“My government has a strong track record of backing Queensland workers, which is why I’m pleased this joint venture will support good local jobs in our community,” the Premier said.

“This upgrade will see a new three lane Centenary Bridge built in Jindalee, as well an upgrade of the existing bridge, meaning you’ll get home safer and sooner.

“More than 85,000 cars use this bridge daily, and that number will increase.

“This is an important step towards busting congestion through our growing region.”

Speaker of the House of Representatives and Member for Oxley Milton Dick celebrated the announcement.

“The Centenary Motorway is the key link between Brisbane and the western suburbs,” Mr Dick said.

“As our community continues to grow, we need transport to service the needs of commuters, holidaymakers, freight transport and business operators.

“I’m proud the Albanese Government is contributing to such a vital upgrade, making a difference in the lives of those who use the motorway.”

“Previous tender submissions came in low, and another even promised to build two new bridges with the funding – both options had to be thoroughly explored to make sure we were getting the best value for taxpayers.

“After consideration, we saw that these tender submissions could not deliver on what was promised. I’m pleased we can now move forward with a reliable, Queensland based joint venture, with over 40 years experience.

“The project will double capacity across the river, as well as improve access to Amazon Place Park while preserving the muchloved Jindalee Skate Park.

“We know how important it is to include safe options for cyclists and footpath users, especially those who travel on two wheels, in a wheelchair, mobility device, or pushing a pram.

“Construction will start next year, and I know locals are just as excited as I am.”

The upgrade includes a new 3-lane northbound bridge, rehabilitation of the existing bridge to 3 lanes southbound, and opportunities for improved active transport.

The Federal and Queensland Governments are jointly funding the $298.5 million project.

This extra capacity will mean greater efficiency and reduced travel-time between the CBD and western suburbs, between local destinations, and along the Centenary Motorway.

Tourism and Sport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the Government had also invested $250,000 to support the 2024 Lifesaving World Championships on the Gold Coast.

“With 50 nations competing and heats livestreamed around the planet, the 2024 Lifesaving World Championships is another a major international event for Queensland,” Mr Hinchliffe said.

Lifesaving’s World Championships will be on the Gold Coast from 20 August to 8 September 2024.

Surf Life Saving Queensland

CEO Dave Whimpey encouraged everyone to stay safe in the surf this summer and support the Queensland Lifesavers Appeal.

The Palaszczuk Government has invested an additional $10.9 million in Queensland surf lifesaving since 2015 including club infrastructure, equipment, programs, FairPlay vouchers, COVID recovery and athlete travel costs.

To donate to the annual Queensland Lifesavers Appeal, visit queensland-lifesaversappeal.raisely.com

WORLD THIS WEEK

In collaboration with National Institute for Advanced Studies, Bengaluru Authored by Avishka Ashok, Apoorva Sudhakar, Harini Madhusudan, Rashmi Ramesh, Akriti Sharma, Ankit Singh, Joel Jacob and Sethuraman Nadarajan

The joint statement affirmed to increased cooperation in bilateral relations, trade and economic issues, consular affairs, climate change, defence and regional and international issues.

What happened?

On 21 December, China’s President Xi Jinping met with Australian Governor-General David Hurley and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as the two countries celebrated 50 years of establishing diplomatic relations with each other. Xi claimed that China was prepared to advance its relations with Australia based on win-win principles and mutual respect.

What happened?

On 19 December, President Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected as the party president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Over 4,000 ANC delegates voted; Ramaphosa secured 2,476 votes against the 1,897 votes won by his only rival and former Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. Al Jazeera quoted one of the contenders for the party’s deputy president: “This win is not only for the ANC perspective or a faction. It is for the country.”

On the same day, the Foreign Ministers of China and Australia, Wang Yi and Penny Wong, held the sixth China-Australia Foreign and Strategic Dialogue. Wang Yi expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the bilateral relations with Australia and said: “China and Australia have no historical grudges and conflicts about fundamental interests, and the two sides should and absolutely can become partners with mutual needs.”

What does it mean?

First, the ANC’s rising unpopularity and divisions pose a threat to the party’s relevance and legacy. Resolving the divide seems a distant solution, as over the years, the competition between the factions has only grown with little space for negotiations.

Second, Ramaphosa’s re-election as party president paves the way for him to contest the general elections in 2024. However, with the current state of affairs,

What does it mean?

Even though the bilateral relations seem to be improving in the second half of 2022, the ties between the two are ridden with many obstacles. Australia may seem prepared to restart relations with China, however Canberra will not be forgetting its national security concerns and its suspicions.

The competition in the IndoPacific, close relations with the US, the fight for influence in the Pacific Island countries, and the impediments to China-Australia trade are yet to be resolved. These issues are a few of the many and will be time-taking when it comes to resolution.

Ramaphosa would have to address the party divide and the public grievances including unemployment, cost of living crisis, and power crisis.

Third, observing South Africa in 2023 would be interesting as the year would culminate in the general elections. The recent developments hint towards an intense political battle, leaving Ramaphosa with many battles to win, be it at the party front or to win the trust of South Africans.

Sitiveni Rabuka narrowly became Fiji’s Prime Minister following a one-vote lead in a secret ballot conducted in the parliament.

Rabuka will rule a western-style democracy. He campaigned to establish dialogues with major world powers and reform Fiji’s economic practices to ensure it does not result in a debt trap.

Rabuka will form a coalition government with the National Federation Party and the Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA).

Indonesia: EU members condemn new law on sex outside marriage

Indonesia: On 19 December, European Union officials responded to Indonesia’s new law banning sex outside marriage as a violation of human rights.

Joko Widodo was in Brussels for the EU–ASEAN summit, and the members questioned the country’s new penal code to the president. They condemned the law as problematic according to fundamental human rights. The EU members questioned the country’s legislation that makes it a criminal offence to insult the president to express views that are against the national ideology.

Indonesia: High delegation meeting with India makes way for maritime initiatives

On 22 December, Netanyahu announced that he had been successful in reaching an agreement with the allies to form a new government, following the win on 1 November. The Likud Party has entered into agreement with ultra-nationalist and orthodox Jewish parties, which ultimately may result in the most right-leaning government in Israel’s history. A statement from Netanyahu’s office confirmed that he had informed President Isaac Herzog by phone that he had “been able to establish a government.”

China: Foreign Minister warns the US against bullying and containing Beijing

On 23 December, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and urged the US to avoid a confrontational approach in containing China’s development. He called on the US to focus on converting the consensus reached by Xi Jinping and Joe Biden into tangible policies and actions. Wang said: “The US should not call for dialogue while at the same time containing China, or talk about cooperation but putting a knife in China… this is not managing disputes but intensifying conflicts.”

On 22 December, China appreciated the ruling by the World Trade Organization ‘s (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body which deemed the US origin marking requirement as unjustified. Furthermore, the Chinese authorities called on the US to respect and abide by the WTO’s ruling and uphold a rulebased multilateral trade system.

China: Scientists discover the evolution code of the coronavirus

On 19 December, a study published in the Nature journal discovered the mechanism for the convergent evolution of the coronavirus’ Omicron strains. The study is expected to broaden the scope and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines and drugs. Scientists had previously discovered that the phenomenon of convergent evolution is the cause behind the Omicron variant’s high level of immunity and capacity to cause breakthrough infections. The researchers said: “We demonstrate that these convergent mutations can cause striking evasion of eutralizing antibody drugs and convalescent plasma, including those from BA.5 breakthrough infection, while maintaining sufficient ACE2 binding capability.” The study found that the antibody-evasive strains were driving up the cases worldwide.

China: President Xi Jinping meets with the Chairman of the United Russia Party and pushes for negotiations on Ukraine

On 21 December, President Xi

Jinping met with the Chairman of the United Russia Party,

On 21 December, India and Indonesia agreed to push a maritime initiative between the Andaman Nicobar Islands and Aceh Islands of Indonesia, which has the Sabang port. The port has a strategic as well as an economic presence in it. The high delegation meeting held in New Delhi also agreed to have interaction between business chambers and potential investors. The two sides also discussed the ways to promote trade tourism and people-to-people contact between the two regions. The location of Sabang port which is 710 km southeast of Andaman Islands and less than 500 km from Malacca strait entrance makes the trade from the Indian side easy and charges less in transportation costs compared to the Chennai and Kolkata ports.

India-China: Seventeenth round of talks held at LAC

Russia: US moving unfinished Bioweapons research away from Ukraine

On 23 December, the head of Russia’s Nuclear Biological and Chemical Defense troops revealed that the Pentagon has been moving their bioweapons research labs to countries outside of Ukraine after Russian operations uncovered labs backed by the US in Ukraine. He said that the unfinished projects are being relocated to Eastern European and Central Asian countries.

Fiji: Sitiveni Rabuka elected as the new Prime Minister

On 24 December, Fiji will instate a new Prime Minister after 16 years of former Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama’s administration.

On 20 December, India and China held the 17th round of corps commander-level talks at the Chushul-Moldo border on the Chinese side. According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, both sides agreed to keep the dialogue open through military and diplomatic channels and work out on mutually acceptable resolution at the earliest. The Ministry said in a statement: “They had a frank and in-depth discussion, keeping in line with the guidance provided by the State Leaders to work for the resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest which would help in restoration of peace and tranquillity along the LAC in the Western Sector and enable progress in bilateral relations,”

According to him, the data on the operations of US-backed laboratories in Ukraine was presented to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons conference in Geneva. The files included lists of several organisations in Kiev and three US contractors and seven high ranking officials of Department of Defence. Moscow claims that the Americans have been boosting cooperation with Cambodia, Thailand, Kenya, Singapore, and other nations in the Indo- Pacific and Africa, that already possess laboratories with existing highlevel bio containment. Russian military has been releasing materials regarding this issue since March 2022.

About the Authors

Harini Madhusudan, Rashmi Ramesh, Akriti Sharma, and Ankit Singh are PhD scholars in the School of Conflict and Security Studies at the National Institute of Advanced Studies. Avishka Ashok, Apoorva Sudhakar, Joel Jacob and Sethuraman Nadarajan are Research Associates at NIAS.

China: Australian leaders’ visit reflects a thaw in bilateral relations

South Africa: Ramaphosa re-elected as party president, amid ANC divisions

Dmitry Medvedev and expressed China’s will to deepen relations with Russia. Xi Jinping also urged Medvedev to push for a diplomatic resolution on the Ukraine issue. Xi said: “China hopes relevant parties can stay rational and restrained, conduct comprehensive talks, and resolve mutual concerns on security via political methods.” Medvedev said that the issue was complicated and expressed that Russia would be willing to carry forth with negotiations.

Israel: Netanyahu finalizes a deal with the allies

Amid Covid resurgence, China’s hospitals seem to be filling up: WHO

ICUs are filling up."We've been saying this for weeks that this highly infectious virus was always going to be very hard to stop completely, with just public health and social measures."

Geneva, Dec 22 (IANS): The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that amid an ongoing resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic in China, hospitals across the country seem to be filling up.

Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, said: "In China, what's been reported is relatively low numbers of cases in ICUs, but anecdotally

The top health official's remarks come despite Chinese authorities saying that the number of people in hospitals due to Covid-19 are "relatively low", the BBC reported.

In the past few days, hospitals in Beijing and other cities have been filling up but official figures show only five people died from Covid on Tuesday and two on Monday.

Also speaking at the same news conference, WHO DirectorGeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he is "very concerned over the evolving situation in China" and appealed for specific data on disease

severity, hospital admissions and intensive care requirements.

In an effort to address concerns over the sudden new outbreak, China's State Council held a news conference on Tuesday in which infectious disease expert Prof Wang Gui-qiang clarified that only pneumonia and respiratory failure caused by the coronavirus were counted as Covid deaths, reports the BBC.

Deaths caused by underlying diseases are not included in the official count, according to the state-owned China News Service reported.

According to official figures by the WHO, China has registered a total of 10,112,335 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 31,431 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020.

Bank of England unveils design of King Charles banknotes

enter circulation by mid-2024.

All polymer banknotes carrying a portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II remain legal tender, and the public can continue to use these as normal, the statement said.

second monarch to feature on our banknotes. People will be able to use these new notes as they start to enter circulation in 2024."

Queen Elizabeth was the first and only monarch to appear on circulating Bank of England banknotes, starting in 1960.

Washington, Dec 22 (IANS) A powerful "once-in-a-generation" winter storm in the US that has brought with it crippling snow and freezing temperatures, may disrupt travel for many during the upcoming holiday season.

The Arctic winter storm began in the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday, and has made its way east through the Rockies as of Wednesday morning, reports the BBC.

It is then expected to hit the Great Lakes later this week, and will become a "bomb cyclone" by early Friday.

Major US airlines like United, American, Delta and Southwest have issued fee waivers to travellers who wish to reschedule their flights in anticipation of the big storm.

More than 70 million people from Washington state to Maryland are also under a winter weather alert,

as well as parts of Canada.

In Vancouver and Seattle, flights were cancelled on Tuesday as the storm began to hit the region. As it moves east, the storm is anticipated to dump heavy snow into major midwestern airports in Detroit and Chicago by Thursday.

It is also expected to cause widespread power outages in the area.

The National Weather Service in Brooklyn, New York has called it a "once-in-a-generation" winter weather event, especially as the storm reaches the Great Lakes region, where its pressure is expected to reach the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane.

Chicago's National Weather Service branch has warned of a "significant threat to life for anyone stranded in the storm", as the wind speed is expected to be greater than 88.5 kph.

The storm will also bring lifethreatening frigid temperatures, with every state in the continental US could see the mercury dip below -6 degrees Celsius on Christmas Eve, the National Weather Service said.

London, Dec 20 (IANS) The Bank of England on Tuesday unveiled the design of banknotes featuring King Charles III.

In a statement, the central bank said the portrait of the King will appear on existing designs of all four polymer banknotes (5, 10, 20 and 50 pounds), with no other changes to the existing designs.

The King's image will appear on the front of the banknotes, as well as in cameo in the see-through security window.

The new notes are expected to

"In line with guidance from the Royal Household, to minimise the environmental and financial impact of this change, new notes will only be printed to replace worn banknotes and to meet any overall increase in demand for banknotes.

"Notes featuring Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III will therefore co-circulate," it added.

Speaking ahead of the release, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said: "I am very proud that the Bank is releasing the design of our new banknotes which will carry a portrait of King Charles III. This is a significant moment, as the King is only the

Notes issued by Scottish and Northern Irish banks do not depict the monarch.

There are about 4.5 billion individual Bank of England notes worth about 80 billion pounds in circulation at present.

Meanwhile, 50 pence coins bearing the image of King Charles III have already entered circulation via post offices across the country.

An estimated 4.9 million of the new coins are being distributed to post offices -- about half of the total number earmarked for circulation -- to be given in change to customers.

S.Korea, US mulling live-fire drills to mark 70th yr of alliance

highlight the allies' combined firepower, reports Yonhap News Agency.

It did not take place during the preceding Moon Jae-in administration keen on interKorean engagement.

Seoul and Washington signed their mutual defence treaty in October 1953, months after the end of the three-year Korean War.

Toronto, Dec 21 (IANS) Canada has processed an all-time high of 4.8 million visa applications in 2022, nearly twice the 2.5 million processed during the same period last year, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

On a monthly basis, Canada is now processing more visitor visa applications reducing its pandemic backlog by nearly half-a-million applications in just four months. In November alone, over 260,000 visitor visas were processed, in contrast to the 180,000 applications that were processed in 2019 at the same time. "Our government has reduced its pandemic backlogs by nearly half a million, while also processing a recordbreaking number of immigration applications this year. Our actions are ensuring that we can continue to welcome and support newcomers who come to Canada to work, study, visit, or settle here," Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, said in a statement.

the 60-day service standard, the IRCC informed. Close to 700,000 work permits were processed by November 30, compared to about 223,000 during the same period in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Canada welcomed a recordbreaking 405,000 new permanent residents in 2021, and with this development, it remains on track to reach its target of more than 431,000 new permanent residents.

Also, permanent residents can now expect shorter wait times when renewing their permanent resident cards as IRCC has reduced its pandemic backlog of applications for card renewals by 99 per cent. Canada welcomed approximately 251,000 new citizens from April to November, as a result of which more than 70 per cent of applications in the citizenship inventory are now within service standards.

To address acute labour shortage, Canada unveiled its ambitious immigration plan last month to welcome half-a-million immigrants each year by 2025.

Seoul, Dec 22: South Korea and the US are considering staging their first large-scale combined live-fire demonstration in six years in 2023 to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of their alliance, Seoul's Defence Ministry said on Thursday.

Such an exercise usually involves thousands of troops as well as artillery pieces and other formidable weapons systems to

"Next year, the allies mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance's founding and on that occasion, we are weighing various ways to show off our military's stature and the alliance's overwhelming deterrence capabilities against North Korea," Jeon Ha-gyu, the ministry's spokesperson, told reporters.

"A combined joint live-fire demonstration can be one of the options."

The 4.8 million applications include 670,000 study permits, 700,000 work permits, and hundreds of thousands of visitor visas, according to IRCC data.

The largest number of applications were processed under the temporary residence category with over 670,000 study permits cleared by November 30, compared to more than 500,000 during the same time period last year. Most new study permits are now being processed within

As of December 2, Canada's immigration backlog came down to just over 2.2 million.

IRCC says it wants to have a less than 50 per cent backlog across all lines of business by the end of March 2023.

To achieve this, the Canadian citizenship body began transition towards 100 per cent digital applications for most permanent resident programs on September 23.

‘Once-in-a-generation’ storm in US may disrupt holiday travel Canada issues record-breaking 4.8 mn visas in 2022

Ukrainian Prez Zelensky comes to the US, dressed in military fatigues

home reassured of continued US support and that of the Western alliance it leads.

Washington, Dec 22 (IANS) US

President Joe Biden received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was dressed in military fatigues befitting a wartime leader, at the White House in an unmistakable reiteration of US support for the beleaguered nation as it continues to defy Russia's superior military prowess.

In remarks from the Oval Office, Biden on Wednesday said he was "delighted" to receive Zelensky, who, in turn, offered "all my appreciations from my heart and from the heart of all Ukrainians".

The Ukrainian President is scheduled to address a joint session of the US Congress, which is considering a nearly $50 billion emergency aid package for Ukraine.

While US aid to Ukraine has received bipartisan support, some Republicans are coming out in opposition of it, and are calling for an end to it. Zelensky will have them in his mind during his address as he seeks to return

This is Zelensky's first visit outside Ukraine after the Russian invasion, and his second to the US. His previous visit to the US was in September 2021, which came after months of testy relationship with the then President Donald Trump, who had held out the promise of a White House in exchange "for a favour", essentially help in implicating Biden's son, who had had business dealings with a Ukrainian company during his father's vice-presidency.

The Ukrainian President did not oblige and Trump denied him a White House visit, though they did meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Trump was impeached for the "favour" request made during a controversial phone call between the two leaders.

A senior Biden administration official, who previewed the visit for reporters did not attach much importance to the timing of the meeting, saying there is "no mathematical formula" behind it and said the two leaders will "have an in-depth strategic discussion on the way ahead on the battlefield; on the capabilities and training that the US and our allies will continue to provide to Ukraine; on the sanctions and export controls

that we have imposed and will continue to tighten and reinforce that have placed significant costs on Russia's economy and defence industrial base; and on the economic and energy sector assistance as well as the humanitarian assistance we're providing to make life better for the people of Ukraine".

US lawmakers on Tuesday had announced a bipartisan deal to provide nearly $50 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine in its battle against Russia. With this, the total US aid to Ukraine in this effort goes up to $100 billion.

There is an urgency to the funding as Republicans, who take charge of the House of Representatives in January, are likely to be less generous. Many Republicans have been opposing increasing aid to Ukraine and they will now have the opportunity to cut it.

Zelensky has not travelled abroad since February but has reached out through video appearances around the world, including the US Congress, parliaments of many Western countries and the UN, both the General Assembly and the Security Council.

He has been an extremely effective advocate for his country's war efforts, rallying and pushing countries to do more.

Kiev, Dec 27 (IANS) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has voiced his hope for a quick implementation of agreements with the US reached during his visit to Washington last week.

In his night video address to the nation, the President said on Monday: "Today I held an extended meeting on the results of my visit to the US and the implementation of the agreements. We will not waste time.

"We will quickly implement everything that was agreed upon in Washington. As much as possible."

On December 21, Zelensky visited the US, marking his first trip abroad since Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

During the visit, US President Joe Biden pledged to his Ukrainian counterpart to offer military aid, mentioning in particular the

Patriot surface-to-air missile battery he just approved for the war-torn nation in a new tranche of security assistance totaling $1.85 billion.

The weapons package approved by Biden, according to a list from the Pentagon, also included "precision aerial munitions".

According to US media reports, they might be the so-called "Joint Direct Attack Munitions," which would transform the unguided "dumb" bombs into "smart" bombs by the addition of fins and a precision guidance system.

Also last week, the House Appropriations Committee released the "Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023", which will provide Ukraine with $45 billion in emergency assistance.

It is contained in a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill to fund the federal government through fiscal year 2023.

That $45 billion sum represents the biggest infusion of Washington's aid to Kiev, surpassing even the White House's request made to Congress last month to ask for a $37 billion appropriation aimed at helping Ukraine in the ongoing war.

N.Korea convenes key party meeting with Kim Jong-un in attendance

of the North, the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Seoul, Dec 27 (IANS) A key meeting of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party convened with leader Kim Jong-un in attendance to discuss next year's policy direction, Pyongyang's state media said on Tuesday.

On Monday, Kim presided over the sixth enlarged plenary meeting of the party's eighth Central Committee to review last year's policies and discuss tasks for 2023 amid "unpredictable difficulties constantly threatening the existence and development"

Five major agenda items were unanimously approved at the meeting, including the review of major state policies for this year, as well as the work plan and draft state budget for next year, reports Yonhap News Agency citing the KCNA as saying.

Kim urged major goals to be attained in key industrial sectors next year, including the metal, chemical, electric power, coal and machine industries.

He stressed that the national power of the North has "remarkably increased in all fields of politics, military, economy and culture" and "successes and

progress have been made in carrying out the gigantic tasks" set forth at the previous plenary meetings.

The meeting will continue, the KCNA said, without providing further details.

Previous plenary meetings were held for four to five days.

Kim could deliver a major speech at the meeting to unveil his country's domestic and foreign policy directions in lieu of his New Year's Day address, usually presented on January 1.

He has skipped the address since 2020 and has instead delivered a speech at a plenary session of the party at the end of the year.

Youth suicide rate in S.Korea up amid Covid

Seoul, Dec 27 (IANS) The youth suicide rate in South Korea increased in 2021 amid the Covid-19 pandemic to remain as their No. 1 cause of death, in yet another sign of a chronic problem that has plagued the country for years, data showed on Tuesday.

The suicide rate per 100,000 people aged 17 and below reached 2.7 in 2021, up from 2.5 a year earlier, revealed the latest report

by Statistics Korea showed.

The rate for the age group from 15 to 17 reached 9.5, slightly down from 9.9 tallied in 2020, the data showed. In contrast, suicides among those aged 12 to 14 shot up 1.8 on-year to reach five in 2021, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The rate for the age group from 15 to 17, meanwhile, earlier soared on-year to 9.9 in 2020, compared to 8.3 tallied in 2019.

The data also showed that 6.5 per cent of children aged from 1 to 9 years old suffered nutritional deficiency in 2020, when schools were closed due to the pandemic, sharply up from 3.4 per cent tallied in 2019.

The nutritional deficiency among those aged 10 to 18 also reached 23.4 per cent in 2020, jumping from 16.7 per cent posted a year earlier.

Washington, Dec 27: Jackson, capital city of the US state of Mississippi, is struggling to return pressure to its water system.

"We are producing significant amounts of water and pushing that into the system but the pressure is not increasing," said a statement from the city authority.

The issue has to be significant leaks in the system that have not been identified yet, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

Officials in Jackson had issued a citywide "boil water" notice on Sunday following water line breaks due to frigid weather.

This summer, torrential rain in the Jackson area caused floodwater to seep into a water treatment plant, leading to the failure of the backup pumps upon which the facility relied.

A resulting system-wide loss of water pressure left Jackson residents, mostly AfricanAmericans, without reliable access to safe drinking water for more than two weeks.

About 180,000 people living in the affected area were forced to rely on bottled water.

Two US congressional committees wrote a letter to Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves in October, saying that Jackson has suffered "decades of disinvestment".

"The Jackson water crisis was a disaster waiting to happen, and it will not be resolved unless we address generational disinvestment in majority-Black cities," the letter read.

The federal government has committed $600 million to help fix Jackson's water system.

The funding is included in a massive spending package which was approved by Congress before Christmas.

Last month, a judge approved a request from the Department of Justice to appoint a third-party manager for Jackson's water system.

Zelensky hopes for quick implementation of agreements with US

US city struggles to return pressure to water system

New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS) The Centre Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has learnt in the Chanda Kochhar case that loans which were sanctioned by ICICI Bank were adjusted in RTL (rupee term loan) of Rs 1,730 crore.

This was revealed after a special CBI court on Saturday remanded former ICICI Bank CEO-MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar to CBI custody till December 26. The CBI had arrested the couple on Friday in connection with their alleged role in the ICICI Bank-

Videocon money laundering case.

Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Group is a co-accused in the case.

During the preliminary inquiry, the CBI has learnt that Chanda Kochhar sanctioned credit facilities of Rs 3,250 crore by violating the rules of Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines and credit policy.

That various sanctioning committees of ICICI Bank sanctioned loans to Videocon Group companies, namely Millennium Appliances India Ltd (MAIL), RTL of Rs 175 crore

on June 30, 2009; loan of Rs 240 crore to Sky Appliances Ltd (SAL) on November 17, 2010; loan of Rs 110 crore to Techno Electronics Ltd (TEL) on November 17, 2010; loan of Rs 300 crore to Applicomp India Ltd (AIL) on May 30, 2011; and loan of Rs 750 crore to Videocon Industries Ltd (VIL) on October 31, 2011.

These loans amounting to Rs 1,575 crore were sanctioned by various committees.

The loans sanctioned to SAL, TEL and AIL were for the purpose of enabling them to repay the unsecured loan availed by these companies from VIL. It also sanctioned a loan to VIL for refinancing the existing loans of the company.

Sandeep Bakshi, K. Ramkumar, Sonjoy Chatterjee, N.S. Kannan, Zarin Daruwala, Rajiv Sabharwal, K.V. Kamath and Homi Khusrokhan, all senior officials of ICICI Bank, were part of the committees which sanctioned the loans.

Samsung opens $220 mn R&D centre in Vietnam

Lee Jae-yong said at the opening ceremony in Hanoi, reports Yonhap news agency.

foothold for wireless devices.

group to own 64.71% stake in NDTV after

decide to cash out 27.26% (Ld)

that NDTV is an institution that has met so many of our hopes and ideals; we are so proud and grateful that across the globe, NDTV is recognised as 'India's and Asia's Most-Trusted News Broadcaster'.

New Delhi/Chennai, Dec 23 (IANS) The two original promoters of New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) -- Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy -- have decided to sell their 27.26 per cent holding in the company to Adani group's RRPR Holdings Private Ltd.

In a regulatory filing, NDTV said that Roys have decided to transfer 27.26 per cent stake out of their 32.26 per cent stake in the company to RRPR Holding.

The Roys said in a statement that AMG Media Network, a part of the Adani group, is the single largest shareholder in NDTV now.

The Roys said in the statement: "We started NDTV in 1988 in the belief that journalism in India was world-class but needed a strong and effective broadcast platform that would allow it to grow and shine. After 34 years, we believe

"Consequently, with mutual agreement, we have decided to divest most of our shares in NDTV to the AMG Media Network. Since the open offer was launched, our discussions with Mr Gautam Adani have been constructive; all the suggestions we made were accepted by him positively and with openness."

As per the filing, the price at which the Roys would sell their 27.26 per cent (1,75,77,676 shares) stake will not be higher by more than by 25 per cent of Rs 368.43 per share.

With this acquisition, the Adani group will hold 64.71 per cent stake in NDTV.

The Adani group has acquired 8.27 per cent stake in NDTV through its open offer though it had planned to mop up 26 per cent stake in the channel company.

Seoul, Dec 24 (IANS) Samsung Electronics has held an opening ceremony for a research and development centre in Vietnam, in what the tech giant said is the largest such facility in the Southeast Asian country set up by a foreign firm.

"I expect the R&D centre to contribute to Vietnam's industrial competitiveness and to the relationship between South Korea and Vietnam," Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman

The ceremony was attended by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Science and Technology Minister Huynh Thanh Dat and senior Samsung executives, including Roh Taemoon, president and head of mobile business at Samsung Electronics, and Choi Joo-sun, president and CEO of Samsung Display.

A total of 2,200 employees will work at the US$220 million, 16-story R&D centre to research and develop software and technologies for mobile phones and other smart and network devices, the company said, adding it will make the centre become Samsung's global technology

Samsung made inroads into Vietnam in 1989, when Samsung C&T Corp., the construction unit of Samsung Group, set up a trade office there. Samsung Electronics officially established its Vietnam office in Ho Chi Minh City in 1995.

Since establishing a mobile phone manufacturing plant in Bac Ninh, north Vietnam, in 2008, Samsung has been more aggressively investing in the country to become one of the largest foreign investors in the Southeast Asian country.

Samsung Electronics, the world's largest mobile phone maker, operates two smartphone plants that are responsible for more than half of Samsung's global smartphone shipments.

Bhavnagar, Dec 25 (IANS) The Alang recycling yard is facing unprecedented competition from Pakistan and Bangladesh. As if this was not enough, the weakening of the rupee is adding to its woes. The yard that a decade ago recycled 415 ships, is finding it difficult to run at even 50 percent capacity.

amalgamation of small plots, the present plot in size is 30 to 120 meters wide, to EU norms. One has to set up the hazardous waste facility within the plot, training centre and canteen for workers in each plot, plus space for breaking, segregating steel, for which the minimum plot size should be 250 to 300 meters wide, explained Patel.

Mumbai, Dec 22 (IANS) Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, has signed definitive agreements to acquire 100 per cent equity stake in METRO Cash & Carry India Pvt. Ltd. (METRO India) for a total cash estimation of Rs 2,850 crore, subject to closing adjustments.

METRO India started operations in India in 2003 as the first company to introduce cash-andcarry business format in the country and currently operates 31 large format stores across 21 cities with nearly 3,500 employees.

The multi-channel B2B cash and carry wholesaler has a reach to more than 3 million B2B customers in India, of which 1 million are frequently buying customers, through its store network and e-B2B app.METRO India has established itself as

a trusted partner for 'kiranas' and other small businesses and merchants. In the financial year 2021/22 (FY ended September 2022), METRO India generated a sales of Rs 7,700 crore (926 million Euros), its best sales performance since its market entry into India. Through this acquisition, Reliance Retail gets access to a wide network of METRO India stores located in prime locations across key cities, a large base of registered kiranas and other institutional customers, strong supplier network and some of the global best practices implemented by METRO in India.The acquisition will further strengthen Reliance Retail's physical store footprint and ability to better serve consumers and small merchants by leveraging synergies and efficiencies across supply chain

networks, technology platforms and sourcing capabilities. The symbiotic relationship will create greater value for all stakeholders in the retail ecosystem.

Speaking about this investment, Isha Ambani, Director, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, said, "The acquisition of METRO India aligns with our new commerce strategy of building a unique model of shared prosperity through active collaboration with small merchants and enterprises.

METRO India is a pioneer and key player in the Indian B2B market and has built a solid multichannel platform delivering strong customer experience. We believe that METRO India's healthy assets combined with our deep understanding of Indian merchant/ kirana ecosystem will help offer a differentiated value proposition businesses in India."

Though Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the 2020-21 budget, had envisaged doubling ship recycling capacity by 2024, it does not seem to be happening till European Union regulations are met.

This is possible, but unfortunately the government machinery is working at a very slow pace in meeting the EU regulations on hazardous waste management and other conditions, pointed out Mukesh Patel, former president of the Ship Recycling Industries Association.

The first step in this direction is

For this the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) has to first allow amalgamation. if these steps are taken a major problem will be solved, but even for that the board is taking a lot of time to fix new norms, complained the former president.

Even in bad times, the GMB charges for these plots are very high, they need to be slashed and made affordable for ship breakers, advocates Haresh Parmar, secretary of the Ship Recycling Industries Association. Also, international competition is killing the industry, said Parmar and added that Pakistan and Bangladesh ship breakers are paying very high prices for ships, which the Indian ship breakers are not able to afford. This is why buying and recycling has fallen drastically and 50 percent of the plots are lying idle in the yard.

Kochhar Saga: Loans were adjusted in RTL of Rs 1,730 cr, but firms declared NPA, says CBI

Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. set to acquire METRO Cash & Carry India in Rs 2,850 cr deal

Adani

Roys

Govt must move fast on EU regulations to save Alang’s ship recycling industry

Colombo, Dec 22: Former Norwegian politician and diplomat, Erik Solheim has said that Sri Lanka can achieve the advantages of renewable energy similar to countries like India and China.

Participation at a recent discussion on the country's environment and energy in Colombo, Solheim, who is also the Adviser to Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe on International Climate Change,

stressed that the two Asian giants (India and China) have strong advantages of renewable energy.

Solheim, the former UN Environment Executive Director and UN's Under-Secretary General has explained about future energy sources such as concessional climate finance, carbon credits, carbon markets, renewable energy and hydrogen with the officials present for the discussion.

Following the discussion, the President's Office announced that Sri Lanka has focused on bringing in foreign investors who reduce climate change to Sri Lanka.

"The government's plan is to bring in foreign investors to achieve the three goals, achieving a 70 per cent renewable energy target,

achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, and exploring the international market for carbon emission permits," President's Media Division said.

Participated by government officials in the environment and energy sector, Presidential Adviser on Climate Change, Ruwan Wijewardene has said that the renewable energy sector was rapidly growing and there were a large number of such investors in Europe, America, Canada and other countries.

He has pointed out that those investments should be brought in so that the people of Sri Lanka will be benefitted, and close attention should be paid to this while formulating policies.

NGT seeks report on plea over industrial effluents’ discharge by sugar mills

effluents discharged in the drain are then released into the Suwaon drain, a rain-fed rivulet connected with the Rapti river, which forms part of the Ganga river basin, in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district.

disposal of effluents. Analytical results of samples collected by the applicant may also be adverted to," the tribunal said.

New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS) The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the joint committee of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Uttar Pradesh PCB and District Magistrate, Balrampur, with state PCB acting as nodal agency to ascertain the factual position and take remedial action in accordance with the law in a plea where it has been alleged that two sugar mills are discharging untreated industrial effluents into a storm water drain. The plea mentioned that the

The plea was filed by Manav Sewa Sansthan, through advocate Rahul Choudhary, alleging two sugar mills -- Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd. located in village Bishunpur village and Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar Mills located at tehsil Utraula.

The tribunal asked the respondents to file an action taken report within two months.

"The report may cover compliance of both the industries with reference to the consent conditions, particularly ZLD condition and consented mode

"A copy of the report may also be shared with PPs for their response, if any, before the next date, by email. If there are any other orders with regard to the said mills by any other Court, the same be mentioned," the tribunal added.

In the plea, the plaintiff has referred to an earlier order of the tribunal dated April 27, 2017 by which the tribunal considered an earlier grievance against Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd.

Finding violations, the tribunal directed remedial action, including payment of compensation as mentioned in the said order.

SATAT scheme encourages entrepreneurs to set up CBG plants, as well as produce and supply CBG to oil marketing companies (OMCs) for sale as automotive and industrial fuels.

New Delhi, Dec 21 (IANS) Expressing displeasure over the slow pace of the government's scheme on compressed biogas "SATAT", the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas has noted that it is "burdened by lack of clarity, procedural hurdles and has not enthused the investors and entrepreneurs to come forward to set up CBG plants".

Having started with an ambitious target of setting up 5,000 CBG plants by 2023-24, as of now, only about 40 CBG plants have been set up, which indicates that lots of ground need to be covered under SATAT scheme, the panel has said in a report on the scheme, tabled in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The Parliamentary panel's report has recommended that the government should ensure successful implementation of the scheme by reviewing the progress at regular intervals and address various impediments that pulls back achieving of targets set under this initiative.

Identifying procedural issues with the scheme, the panel noted that the same entrepreneur or investor has been issued a large number of Letters of Intent (LoIs) and the banks are not extending loans for more than one project to the entrepreneur who is holding multiple LoIs.

The committee has also recommended that the Petroleum Ministry should set up a panel

to review the LoIs issued so far and also issue guidelines for fresh LoIs alongwith promotion of SATAT scheme in a more sustained and methodical manner.

The panel which is headed by BJP member Ramesh Bidhuri, noted that since April 2021, the Central Financial Assistance programme for biogas and CBG projects has been discontinued and this has served as a major setback to the industry.

Aus

nuke power debate despite rising electricity prices

After the government initiated it's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' policy, coal imports have been witnessing a downward trend.

In 2020-21, coal imports fell to 215 million tonnes and further to 208 million tonnes in 2021-22 with a negative growth of 29 per cent.

New Delhi, Dec 25: As India looks at achieving its ambitious net zero emission levels, target, albeit by 2070, one of the most important steps towards reaching there is to reduce its dependence on coal gradually.

India's coal imports, which had reached its peak of 212 million tonnes in 2014-15, declined to 191 million tonnes in 2016-17.

However since 2017-18 onwards, they again showed a rising trend.

In that year, coal imports rose to 208 million tonnes, going further up to 235.35 million tonnes in 2018-19 and to 248 million tonnes in 2019-20.

India imports the dry fuel to bridge the gap between demand and supply.

As per the government's coal import policy, import has been kept under the open general license and users are free to import dry fuel from the source of their choice and as per their contractual prices on payment of applicant duty.

Official sources said that the fall in coal imports in the last couple of fiscals has been due to gradual increase in domestic production by Coal India and its subsidiaries as well as reduction in imports.

However, industry watchers are of the view that India is a long way away from significantly reducing its coal dependency.

With the geopolitical situation being highly fluid owing to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the supply chains are under pressure and plans by countries like India and many other nations to shift towards renewable energy, have suffered a setback.

In such a scenario, coal dependency is going to rise in the coming years. Even finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had recently said that India will have to move towards coal for the time being. This signifies that coal is going to be the main energy driver under the current scheme of things, and India's road to achieve net zero emission is likely face some bumps for now.

Ramgarh,

Three years ago, Fatma got a proposal from Bengaluru-based SELCO Foundation to set up a solar system in her house for sewing work. The couple agreed, and two solar panels and an inverter were installed. This small initiative brought about a big change to her family. Tailoring work thrived, registering 20 to 30 per cent increase in income.

Earlier, Fatma's electricity bill was around Rs 240 per month, though she always tried to reduce it by sewing manually. With the increased use of solar energy, the bill has come down to around Rs 140. The SELCO Foundation's permanent magnet DC motor was attached to her sewing machine, before connecting it

to the photovoltaic system. As a result, Fatma, who has studied up to Class 8, no longer has to strain her foot that was fractured once. Ramgarh was once a prominent coal-mining district. But according to a study by iForest, a think tank, more than half of the coal mines in Ramgarh have stopped functioning in the last few years. Earlier, coal mines covered around 10.5 per cent of the district's geographical area. By 2040, even the functional mines are expected to be shut as they are old and already overexploited. Right now, agriculture is the biggest source of employment in the district. According to the Economic Census of 2013, only 3 per cent of the people in the district are employed in the mining sector, and that too is gradually declining.

Residents are now exploring ways to use renewable energy to boost their incomes. Of the 400 families living in Maganpur in Gola block, over 250 are tailors. "After we switched to solar energy, more villagers evinced interest. In fact, before getting the system installed, they usually come to my house to enquire about its performance," Fatma told 101Reporters.

PM shuts down

In waning coal belt of Ramgarh, solar power saves the day for women entrepreneurs

Sri Lanka can benefit from renewable energy like India, China: Ex-diplomat Erik Solheim

Scheme on compressed biogas plants lacks clarity, failed to enthuse investors: Parl panel

Dec 16 (IANS/ 101 Reporters) Kanija Fatma (40) and her husband Riyamuddin Ansari work as tailors in minoritydominated Maganpur village in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand in eastern India.

What colour is freedom of expression?

From the editor’s desk

The story of saffron

Besharam Rang, the Bollywood song that was out weeks ago got caught in controversy soon after it was released on YouTube. The lead actress Deepika Padukone is seen wearing a saffron-coloured bikini dress revealing her body. Netizens and people of prominence targeting the actress left, right and centre both personally and professionally for wearing saffron colour for a song of hers and in turn associating the colour saffron with vulgarity seem unjustified in taking a jibe at Deepika. If the saffron colour is to be associated with the actress, then the colour should also be associated with all the other things that the actress has achieved.

Deepika Padukone was awarded the prestigious Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2020 for her tremendous contribution to the cause of mental health. So saffron is also the colour devoted to the cause of mental health. Deepika Padukone was listed as the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME magazine in 2018. So saffron is the colour of influence. In 2016, the actress bagged the International Woman of the Year award by Esquire Middle East Award. So saffron is the colour of India on a global stage. Financial Times called Deepika Padukone one of the most influential people in 2015 making saffron a colour of riches and glory. The same year witnessed the actress launched The Live Love Laugh Foundation committed to the cause of mental health

that the actress has committed herself to publicly after coming out with her own struggles with depression. So saffron is also the colour of bravery and empowerment.

The story of saffron does not end with Deepika. Saffron is also the colour of the ruling political party of India, the Bhartiya Janta Party. So saffron is the colour of power. Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev dons a saffron loin cloth every morning for his daily Yoga YouTube videos. So saffron is the colour of Yoga. Saffroncoloured marigold garlands are offered at almost all functions in India, both to the people present and to the deity worshipped signifying one’s respect for the deity and the guests at gatherings. So saffron is the colour of respect, honour and worship. Decades ago, one of the most successful actresses in the history of Indian cinema, Madhuri Dixit, moved to the tunes of the song Dhak Dhak Karne Laga in a sexy saffron saree, taking the nation by storm. So saffron is the colour of nostalgia. Lord Hanuman, one of the many deities in the Hindu faith, known for celibacy, is usually seen adorned in saffron-coloured powder that is anointed on the foreheads of the worshippers as a mark of faith. So saffron is the colour of purity and divinity. The Indian flag consists of saffron colour signifying the strength and courage of the country. So saffron is the colour of the nation. Hence, by attributing a colour to just one meaning, let’s not stifle the universality of a colour.

The 'Pathaan' controversy has snowballed. But, in this case, to call it a fireball would be more apt.

It all started with the depiction of a song in the film, 'Besharam Rang'. I have heard of a voluptuous song or a scene related to a certain character's portrayal in many films. Sadly, in this case, it is nothing of that sort.

The term voluptuous fits a performer, not the act. And the performer here has nothing of that voluptuousness to boast of. The number is full of suggestive moves; it is provocative and reeks of vulgarity.

Whoever thinks that exposing will lure the audience has some very wrong ideas about our moviegoers. If it were so, Sunny Leone would have been the biggest star in our cinema universe and at least she has the body to flaunt. (Now, of course, she insists on a certain dress code before she signs a film.)

'Pathaan' reminds me of a book, 'The Afghan' (2006), by Frederick Forsyth. It was a book worth remembering by all counts. But my memory was revived when Kamal Haasan copied the subject to make his own version, Vishwaroopam (2012). To say the least, Haasan's version was funny for those who had read the book.

In Haasan's version, as in the original, an Al Qaeda man, who resembles Haasan, is captured by the US and Haasan impersonates him with the aim to bring down Al Qaeda! Shah Rukh claims 'Pathaan' is a patriotic film. The public perception about a Pathan or an Afghan is that of a solidly built six-foot-plus man. Kamal Haasan did not fit that image. Don't know if Shah Rukh Khan will!

The very initial response to the song's release on YouTube was negative. If a star or a maker needs such a prop as 'Besharam Rang', it shows lack of confidence. The religious factions joined the bandwagon only later. That helped, the controversy caught on, if that is what the makers wanted.

The song shows the dancer, Deepika Padukone, in various flimsy bikinis and one of them happens to be in saffron or 'bhagwa', a colour with which the country's majority community identifies with.

Looks like thanks to the vulgarity of the choreography, coupled

with the saffron and the lyrics, 'Besharam Rang' has touched some wrong nerves. On the other hand, Islamists have a problem with how a Pathan is depicted in the film.

If the makers added this song to the film only to roll it out as a promo with plans to withdraw it when the time for the film's release came, it has backfired. Yes, the makers will make a lot of money from YouTube, where all links to the songs, including the one put up by YRF, are crossing millions of hits (some 113 million at last count).

When such things happen, certain people, especially film stars, raise the issue of freedom of speech and expression. Aamir Khan, Naseeruddin Shah and Javed Akhtar, among others, have resorted to airing such thoughts while they continue to enjoy all the freedom they could ask for.

Yet, a statement by Amitabh Bachchan during the inauguration of the Kolkata Film Festival last week was most curious. He said, "Even now, questions are being raised on civil liberties and freedom of expression." Yes, they are being raised, but is he also raising it?

Bachchan's statement made no sense as to why he said it and for whom it was directed at. There was no preamble or conclusion to his comment. Also sharing the stage with him at the event was Shah Rukh Khan, whose 'Pathaan' is in the news. Was it meant to please Khan or was it directed at the West Bengal Chief Minister, who was also on the stage?

Bachchan also made a reference to the Cinematograph Act of 1952 vis-a-vis the Censor Board. Why it merited a mention also was left unsaid. He should know that the Act has been amended from time to time and efforts have often been made to appoint a film industry person in the Chair.

By the way, the Bachchanstarrer 'Sholay' was the victim of the Censor Board and so was 'Inquilaab', among other films, but there is no record of his observations on freedom of speech and expression when this happened.

After all these years in the film industry, one is expected to know that everything does not start and end with the Censor Board. There are other local authorities, down to a District Collector, who have the power to stop a film's screenings if they fear that a film may hurt people's sentiments or it may create unrest in his area.

But, most of all, India being the democracy that it is, the masses have freedom of speech and expression. Only, their way of demonstrating or expressing that freedom may not suit everybody. What a senior star should be asking is, why is there censorship for films but none for the digital media, such as YouTube, where the song 'Besharam Rang' was released.

By Vinod Mirani

In a country where six-and-eightyear-old girls are kidnapped, raped and killed, we can certainly do without more provocation to fuel the perversion of such people. 'Besharam Rang' is just that fuel.

'Cirkus' second preference; cinemas stay with 'Avatar' Rohit Shetty's 'Cirkus', which released on Friday, December 23, was the major Hindi release of the Christmas week. The holiday season was expected to help it make the most of its potential at the box office. What more can a maker ask for? With such an opportune release week for a film, that too one coming from a director reputed for giving mass-oriented blockbusters, the release should have been smooth, a cakewalk.

Here, things got a bit complicated. Though riding on the film is the director Rohit Shetty's reputation and that of a sellabe star, Ranveer Singh, the makers had to face a hard time. To make the most of the Christmas holidays, the film needed an extensive release with as many screens as possible. This should have been easy. As there is no other Hindi release to compete with, it could be considered an open week. In normal circumstances, the exhibitors should be chasing the film's distributors, but, surprisingly, it was the other way round!

'Cirkus' was not getting the prime multiplex cinemas and even the single screens equipped with 2K screening facility were out of bounds. The problem was the continuation of the Hollywood hit, 'Avatar: The Way Of Water'. All the best cinemas have been booked by the 'Avatar' distributors, Disney, who are bound by a two-week contract. Besides the contract, the cinema managements had no reason to discontinue 'Avatar' and accommodate a new film because 'Avatar' was doing exceedingly well. Yes, luckily for 'Cirkus', the film is being distributed by PVR, who have granted more shows to the film at their cinemas by reducing the screening of 'Avatar: The Way Of Water'. The new age makers may not be aware, but asking cinemas to discontinue a screening is considered a sacrilege and has always backfired.

For the rest of the cinema chains, it looks like they trust Hollywood more than the Hindi film industry now. Last Christmas, too, there was a contest for screen time between the Hindi film, '83', and the Hollywood global hit, 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'. If the cinemas count more on Hollywood today, they cannot be blamed because the Disney banner itself has given them five hits in row, all making money for them.

Way Of Water' have made the right decision, taking into account the reports about 'Cirkus'!

Lata Mangeshkar to Pele: The legends who departed in 2022

By Vikas Datta

Also passing away this year were James Caan (82) or Sonny Corleone of "The Godfather" (1972), on July 6, Greek actress Irene Papas, known as the tough woman resistance fighter in "The Guns of Navarone" (1961), and the widow in "Zorba The Greek" (1964), on September 14, and Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane (72), who portrayed both Hagrid in the movie adaptations of the Harry Potter series as well as James Bond foe and reluctant friend Valentin Zukovsky in "Golden Eye" (1995) and "The World is Not Enough" (1999), on October 14.

Indian cinema will miss Marathi and Bollywood actor Ramesh Deo (96), who passed away on February 2, and actor Salim Ghouse (70) of the intense gaze and mesmerising voice on April 28.

French film director Jean-Jacques Beineix (75), who spearheaded the 'cinema du look' movement, and the acclaimed 'New Wave' director Jean-Luc Godard (91), also walked off stage on January 13 and September 13, respectively.

The world of music lost Michael Lee Aday aka Meat Loaf (74) on January 20, Greek composer Vangelis (79), who brought electronic music into the mainstream with his evocative score for Oscar-winning sports drama "Chariots of Fire" (1981), on May 17, Australian band "The Seekers" vocalist Judith Durham (79), most famous for her "The Carnival is Over", on August 5, and pop singer Dame Olivia NewtonJohn (73), known for her musicals like "Grease" (197) with the young John Travolta, on August 8.

In the field of sports, the most unexpected death was that of Australian spin wizard Shane Warne, aged 52, on March 4.

Coincidentally, the same day, wicketkeeper Rodney Marsh (74), part of the celebrated Australian team of the 1970s along with the Chapell brothers, and pacers Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson, also passed away the same day.

In another shock, former Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds (46) died in a car crash on May 14.

Heavyweight Soviet weightlifter Yury Zaitsev (71), who won gold in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, passed away on September 30.

Another high-profile passing was of Brazilian legend Edson Arantes do Nascimento 'Pele' (82), whose fame transcended football, on December 29.

In India, several veteran hockey players passed away this yearJaswant Singh (90), member of the silver-winning team at the 1960 Rome Olympics, on January 14, Charanjit Singh (90), who led the team to gold medal at 1964 Tokyo Olympics, on January 27, and Varinder Singh (75), member of the bronze-winning team at the 1972 Munich Olympics, on June 28.

Former women's hockey captain Elvera Britto (81) also passed away on April 26.

The dark clouds of Covid may have dissipated a bit in 2022 with growing vaccine coverage stemming the mass fatalities, but, the continuing pandemic, along with other diseases and age, continued to take its toll on several stellar figures from various spheres spanning politics to arts to sports.

In India, the passing away, on February 6, of Lata Mangeshkar (92), the voice of generations of Hindi film heroines from Madhubala to Madhuri Dixit and many more, ended a long standing melodious career, while the death of United Kingdom's Queen Elizabeth II (96) - for many generations of Britons, the only monarch they knew - on September 8 after a record over 70-year-long reign ended the second Elizabethan era.

Then, the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (67) on July 8 came as a shock, coming in a nation where political violence is largely absent.

Last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev (91), feted in the West for ending the Cold War (temporarily, as it emerged) but

not particularly liked at home for presiding over the Soviet Union's dissolution, also passed away on August 30.

Interestingly, Stanislav Shushkevich (87), the last Soviet leader/first leader of Belarus, and Leonid Kravchuk (88), the last leader of Soviet Ukraine/ first President of Ukraine -- a duo who went behind Gorbachev's back to strike a deal with his bete noire Boris Yeltsin to dissolve the Soviet Union -also passed away this year -- on May 3 and May 10, respectively.

So did Ayaz Mutallibov (83), who declared Azerbaijan's independence, on March 27.

Other leading political luminaries who passed away in 2022 were Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh (95), on January 22, Madeleine Albright (84), the first woman US Secretary of State, on March 23, the UAE's second President and Abu Dhabi ruler Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (73), on May 13, Angolan freedom fighter and long-time President, Jose Eduardo dos Santos (79), on July 8, Chinese leader Jiang

Zemin (96), who presided over China's economic boom, and veteran Indian socialist leader, three-time Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and former Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav (82), on October 10.

The world also lost a range of feted actors and directors this year, beginning with BahamianAmerican actor and ambassador Sidney Poitier. The first Black to win the Oscar for Best Actor (for "Lilies of the Field", 1963) and showing his prowess with interrace dramas "To Sir, with Love", "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", and "In the Heat of the Night" (all 1967), Poitier passed away at the age of 94 on January 6.

Hardy Kruger (93), a fervent anti-Nazi who ironically played dyed-in-the-wool Nazi German officers in films like "A Bridge Too Far" (1977), but was best known for his roles in romantic adventure "Hatari" (1962) and war drama "Wild Geese" (1978), died on January 19, while Italian actress Monica Vitti (90) passed away on February 2, and accomplished actor William Hurt (71) on March 13.

Indians bid adieu to pianist Neil Nongkynrih (51), the founder of Shillong Chamber Choir, on January 5, music composer Bappi Lahiri (69), on February 15, santoor maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (84), who had teamed up with ace flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia as ShivHari, which gave soulful music for several iconic Bollywood films, on May 10, playback singer Krishnakumar Kunnath or KK (53) on May 31, and ghazal maestro Bhupinder Singh (82) on July 18.

In the world of books, author Harry Patterson aka 'Jack Higgins' (92), best known for "The Eagle Has Landed" and other thrillers set in World War II and later, passed away on April 9, Spanish author Javier Marias (70), who breathed his last on September 11, and English author Dame Hilary Mantel (70), known for bringing the age of King Henry VIII alive in books like "Wolf Hall", who died on September 22.

English scientist, and environmentalist James Lovelock (103), known for his 'Gaia' hypothesis or the earth being a self-regulating organism, passed away on July 26, historian J.S. Grewal (95), famous for his works on Sikh history, died on August 11, while American philosopher and logician Saul Kripke (81) breathed his last on September 15.

Among others who bid adieu was soldier and avid mountaineer Major H.P.S. Ahluwalia (retd), 85, who climbed atop Mount Everest as part of the first Indian expedition in 1965 and was undeterred by a paralysing battlefield injury to continue adventure sports and work for the disabled, on January 14.

Asian and Commonwealth Games medal-winning discus thrower Praveen Kumar Sobti (74), who went to carve a new career in Bollywood, notably in Amitabh Bachchan's "Shahenshah", and then as Bhim in B.R. Chopra's TV serial "Mahabharat", passed away on February 7.

Noted India industrialist Rahul Bajaj (83) passed away on February 12, while engineer and architect Mahendra Raj (98), who contributed to structural design of buildings like the Hall of Nations in Delhi's Pragati Maidan and the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad, breathed his last on May 8.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)

New Delhi, Dec 25: With Covid infections once again surging in several countries, especially in China which saw over 250 million cases in just 20 days in December, fresh Covid wave fears linger across the world, including in India.

While the BF.7 variant of Omicron virus is a cause of concern in China and India, the Omicron subvariant XBB accounts for 18.3

per cent of the Covid-19 cases in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

This marks an increase of 11.2 per cent as the XBB variant continues to drive up cases in Singapore.

Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 accounted for about 70 per cent of new cases in the US.

The total number of confirmed Covid cases in the US have surpassed 100 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, since the pandemic broke out almost three years ago, with a total of more than 1 million deaths. Japan is facing an ongoing eighth wave of the pandemic and the country registered 206,943

new cases.

South Korea's new Covid cases remained below 70,000 for the second straight day on Saturday, while new coronavirus-related deaths hit a three-month high.

The chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that he hopes that Covid-19 will no longer be a global health emergency sometime next year.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the WHO Covid-19 Emergency Committee will discuss next month the criteria for declaring an end to the Covid-19 emergency.

Japan sees 8th wave of Covid pandemic, logs 206,943 new cases

confirmed 21,186 new cases, with the figure for the capital rising week-on-week for a 16th straight day, and up by 2,374 cases the same time a week ago, the Ministry said on Wednesday.

prefecture reported 12,225 new Covid cases, Kanagawa 11,833 new infections, Aichi 12,894 cases and Saitama prefecture logged 10,989 infections, the Ministry reported.

Hong Kong, Dec 25 (IANS) As people in China suffering from Covid ask for ibuprofen and paracetamol, the government is pushing for a traditional medicine known as Lianhua Qingwen to contain the surge of Covid-19 infections, the media reported on Sunday.

According to South China Morning Post, people and experts are divided over its effectiveness as a treatment and regulators in some countries have warned against its use or even banned it, like the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"Why give us expensive Lianhua Qingwen? What we need is drugs that can lower the temperature, such as ibuprofen and paracetamol," wrote one user on social media website Weibo.

asked another Weibo user.

The Yunnan government has said there was an acute shortage of ibuprofen and paracetamol and the government was working to have them produced at "in full capacity".

Lianhua Qingwen became a household name after it was included in a national Covid-19 guidelines in April 2020 as a recommended treatment for fever, coughs and fatigue in mildto-moderate cases.

Earlier this year, it was included in the anti-epidemic kits distributed to every household in Hong Kong as the city battled its own surge in cases, said the report.

However, Liu Qingquan, president of Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said in a media briefing that, under the theory of the "same treatment for different diseases", many more options can be used for Covid-19.

Tokyo, Dec 22 (IANS) Amidst an ongoing eighth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Japan registered 206,943 new cases, marking the first time that the single-day tally has surpassed the 200,000-mark since August 25, health authorities have confirmed.

According to the Health Ministry, this is an increase of 16,100 new cases from the same day a week earlier, reports Xinhua news agency.

Of the total infections, Tokyo

The figure also exceeded 20,000 new infections in Tokyo for a second consecutive day, according to the data, with the capital on Wednesday also reporting 20 deaths.

The number of patients considered severely ill and needing the assistance of ventilators or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines in medical care facilities or intensive care units (ICUs) in Tokyo, increased by seven on Tuesday, to total 44, the ministry also said.

Elsewhere in Japan, Osaka

Tottori prefecture in southern Honshu, meanwhile, recorded 1,582 new cases of the virus, which was the highest number for the prefecture, the least populous in Japan, since the outbreak of the virus here.

The Ministry said there were 530 people considered severely ill nationwide and receiving emergency respiratory assistance or otherwise being treated in ICUs. The number of severely ill patients climbed by 37 compared to a day earlier, the data showed, with the daily number of nationwide Covid-19 related deaths reaching 296.

Dementia linked with Covidrelated death in large study

Hospital Nord-Ochsenzoll in Hamburg, Germany.

London, Dec 21: A large study, that collected data for more than two years of the pandemic, has linked dementia with an increased mortality risk in Covid-19 patients but the association was weaker than in previously published studies.

The main outcome of the study was the association of dementia diagnosis with an increased risk of death during the hospital stay. "Dementia was associated with an increased mortality risk, but the association was weaker than that reported in the majority of previous publications," said Marc Axel Wollmer, director of the department of Gerontopsychiatry from the Asklepios

This is one of the first studies, to be published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, to have investigated the association between dementia and Covid-19 mortality using data collected for more than two years and applying two different statistical methods in parallel.

The association between dementia and death was studied using "multivariable logistic regression" adjusted for age, sex, cancer, diabetes mellitus, lipid metabolism disorder, obesity, heart failure, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, cirrhosis of the liver, and probable Covid-19 variant.

The goal was to verify the association of dementia diagnosis with the risk of mortality as a result of Covid-19 among patients.

"It is possible that the effects of dementia on Covid-19 mortality may have changed over time, especially after vaccines became available and were broadly administered and as different variants of SARS-CoV-2 evolved," explained Karel Kostev, from the Department of Epidemiology at the healthcare organisation IQVIA.

Of the 28,311 patients diagnosed with Covid-19, 3,317 (11.3 per cent) had a dementia diagnosis. Although SARS-CoV-2 has changed over time and vaccination has greatly improved the prognosis of individuals who contract COVID-19 in general, "further studies are needed to identify, prevent, and treat risk factors for mortality of this disease," said researchers.

According to the report, some provinces are distributing tens of thousands of boxes with Lianhua Qingwen to residents.

The medicine was officially recommended as a treatment by the government in the early stages of the pandemic

"Why can Lianhua Qingwen be transported and distributed freely, while the usual fever drugs are not available or distributed?"

"The choice of drugs is actually very broad, and all of these drugs can treat infection with the Omicron variant," Liu was quoted as saying.

Chinese officials estimate about 250 million people (18 per cent of the population) were infected with Covid-19 in the first 20 days of December, as Beijing abruptly dismantled restrictions that had contained the disease for almost three years.

which kept the virus at bay through mass testing, mandatory quarantine and draconian lockdowns.

New Delhi, Dec 25 (IANS) Chinese officials estimate about 250 million people (18 per cent of the population) were infected with Covid-19 in the first 20 days of December, as Beijing abruptly dismantled restrictions that had contained the disease for almost three years.

The estimates - including 37 million people (2.6 per cent of the population) who were infected on Tuesday alone - were revealed by Sun Yang, deputy director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in a Wednesday health briefing, said two people familiar with the matter.

Sun said that the rate of Covid's spread in the country was still rising and estimated that more than half of the population in Beijing and Sichuan were already infected, the people briefed on the meeting said, Financial Times reported.

The explosion in cases followed Beijing's decision this month to abandon its zero-Covid policy,

Sun's figures, which were provided in a closed-door meeting, contrast with data put out by the National Health Commission, which reported 62,592 symptomatic Covid cases over the same period. Last week, China stopped publicly trying to tally the total number of infections after authorities curtailed Covid testing.

The lack of information made public by China on its Covid wave has led Washington and the World Health Organization to push Beijing to be more transparent about case counts, disease severity, hospital admission figures and other health statistics that have been made widely available by other countries, Financial Times reported.

In China's capital and other cities, the wave of Covid infections has overwhelmed hospitals with an influx of elderly, bedridden patients and left emergency rooms and intensive care units with fewer available beds.

Chinese cry for paracetamol as govt pushes for traditional drug Lianhua Qingwen

China woefully under-prepared as it grapples with Covid tsunami

Will the pandemic become endemic in 2023? Experts hedge their bets

After 2-year of pandemic break, South Asia’s oldest Queer pride walk returns with added shades and bigger issues

Supreme Court partially striking down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code decriminalizing same-sex relationship between consenting adults.

"Again, this year the walk is so special as it is being conducted after two- years of pandemic break. So, this year our message is freedom from any authoritative principle that goes against personal liberty, choice and freedom," Das said.

After 2-year of pandemic break, South Asia's oldest Queer pride walk returns to Kolkata.

Kolkata, Dec 18 (IANS): After two years of COVID-19 pandemic break, Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk, the oldest LGBTQ annual pride walk in India as well as in South Asia, returned on Sunday

afternoon on the streets of Kolkata with added colours of gaiety as well as addressing wider issues.

According to reputed fashion designer and one of the principal organizers of the walk, Navonil Das, this year they are celebrating the 4th anniversary of the event of

For Rituparna Antia, an NRI based out of Canada for long and a proud mother of a transwoman, this was her first participation in the walk and the experience was overwhelming for her.

"When my son opened up about his sexual orientations, I felt so lucky that I was in Canada considering that the legal barriers against same sex relationships continued to exist at that point of time. Gradually, my son got

transformed into a transwoman and I saw how the Canadian society accepted her in the way she is. Now after attending the pride walk here, I can feel that Indian society is gradually opening up against the social taboo. And having done my schooling and graduation from Kolkata, I feel so proud that this City of Joy has been the pioneer on this count," she said.

The striking feature of this year's walk was that the parents of several Queer children preferred to walk a mile along with their kids as if to send a message to the society not to equate the Queer individuals with antisocial elements.

Celebrity chef Shaun Kenworthy and his wife Pinky Kenworthy, a celebrity ramp model of the yesteryear, added enthusiasm to the participants by walking with them as an expression of

solidarity to the cause they had been struggling all along.

Tracy Shivangee Sardar, a popular face of the LGBTQ right movement in the city said that for the last two years because of the pandemic break she missed the event badly.

"So naturally the enthusiasm was more this year. It is a great moment for us again, since this is the day when we celebrate our rights with so much colour," she said.

Jayita Sarkar, a teacher by profession, said that this is the day when she can meet her students with alternative sexual orientations out of the serious ambit of the classroom and express her solidarity towards them courtesy this event. "This is the day when my students find their ma’am in a different mood," she said.

Young Indian-Americans face race bias as early as preschool: Study Indian-American Attorney named 1st non-white treasurer of Missouri

New York, Dec 20 (IANS) Young Indian-Americans, who are among more than 3.5 million South Asians living in the US, regularly face racial and ethnic discrimination as early as preschool, which influences the development of their identities, says a new study.

The second-generation Indian-American adolescents are "especially vulnerable to discrimination as they explore and form their identities", according to the study by Texas A&M University School of Public Health.

The study surveyed nine IndianAmericans between the ages of 12-17 years who talked about their experiences with peers at school, who made discriminatory comments about Indian culture, language or religion.

"This one kida found a rock and said 'look it's your God'," and "in math class we had like little dots and we would have to... put them into groups... And a white kid was saying 'is this your God?' and put it on his forehead", an IndianAmerican student said.

"Then sometimes they would say stuff about the food or they would mock an Indian accent like, 'I don't like Indian food' some people have said things like 'it's gross' or 'it's weird' or 'it smells really bad," he added.

Apart from reporting hate crimes, the adolescents also discussed the difficulties they faced balancing their Indian identity with their desire to be seen as American.

A few of them reported feeling angry that they did not have white skin like their friends, and their desire to be more "American" instead as early as preschool. This balancing act often relies

on code switching, where the interviewees spoke and acted differently when with family and at school, the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, said.

"The word Indian-American, it means you live between two worlds, my experience. I come home, I'm Indian. I live Indian lives, I eat Indian food. I step over my threshold, I become American. Go to school, I'm an American... Your parents don't kind of understand the western world and the western world doesn't really understand the Indian world. You live between two worlds and you've got to be knowledgeable to know how to balance them," another student said.

In some cases, these adolescents felt they were seen as fitting into neither group.

The study showed that IndianAmerican youth begin facing discrimination as early as preschool or elementary school.

These adolescents were all classified as second-generation, that is, they were born in the US and had parents who emigrated from India after the age of 18.

The research team was led by Jamilia Blake, PhD, School of Public Health professor, IndianAmerican doctoral graduate Asha K. Unni, and colleagues from Texas A&M University and Davidson College.

Asian Indians were the first South Asians to immigrate to the US in the late 1800s and are currently the largest ethnic group in America.

New York, Dec 22 (IANS): Indianorigin Attorney Vivek Malek has been appointed as the first nonwhite treasurer of the US state of Missouri, Governor Mike Parson announced.

Haryana-born Malek, 45, will replace Republican Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick, who is leaving the position to become state auditor in January.

"Vivek Malek will be our next State Treasurer of the State of Missouri. Vivek's appointment will fill the vacancy created by the election of Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick to the Office of Missouri State Auditor," Parson wrote in a Facebook post.

Wildwood resident Malek came to Missouri in 2002 to get his Master's degree in business administration from Southeast Missouri State University.

He started with his law practice in 2006 and opened a law firm in 2011.

"When he arrived, he had just

$300 in his pocket, but he didn't make excuses," Parson said in the post.

Recently, Malek was selected for the Southeast Missouri Board of Governors.

"Vivek is a family man, small business owner, conservative leader, talented attorney, and a true embodiment of the American dream. We know he will work hard every day to safeguard the people's money and trust," Missouri Governor added.

Malek practices in all aspects of immigration law, including business, family, asylum and removal defence.

He has worked with numerous companies across various industries and has helped in bringing skilled workers to the US in all visa categories, according to his LinkedIn bio.

He was recognised by the Missouri Senate (2015) and Missouri House (2007) for his service and contributions to Missouri communities.

"It is my honour of life to be able to serve as the next State Treasurer of the state of Missouri, and I promise to give the job and the people of Missouri all and best," Malek, a father of three, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Malek has prepared and filed petitions, appeals and motions

with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Department of State (DOS) and the United States Department of Labor (DOL).

Parson said that Malek's story is an "inspiring proof that the American dream can and will live on for the next generation of Missourians".

"President Reagan once said immigrants are one of the greatest sources of American greatness, and both Vivek and I agree. Through our shared values, Vivek helps legal immigrants embrace our nation and achieve their American dream too," Parson wrote in the Facebook post.

"As a Republican, strong capitalist, and conservative Missourian, we know Vivek will be a principled leader, who works hard every day to safeguard the people's money and bring opportunity to Missouri families and their communities," he added.

Malek was awarded the Minority Business Leader Award by the St. Loui Business Journal in 2010, earned the 'Up and Coming lawyers Award' by Missouri Lawyers Media in 2010, and was recognised as Top 30 under 30 by Business Today magazine in 2007, among other awards and recognition, the statement said.

Through art, this South African artist inspires critical ideology debates

Kochi, Dec 16 (IANS) Popular

ASouth African artist William Kentridge persuades the art aficionados who walk into Kochi Muziris Biennale to engage in a critical conversation with life and culture in the colonial countries.

His work titled "Oh To Believe in a Better World", an immersive film projection set in an abandoned Soviet museum, is one of the invitation programmes of Kochi

Muziris Biennale 2022.

The installation explores the immense possibilities of performing arts and films to inspire contemporary ideological debates.

As the title suggests, the artist refers to the concept of utopia, the wish for it, and the futile struggles for its realization.

According to Kentridge, people

are good at making connections, though not intended by the artist.

"As an artist, I've my own perspective and stance. The audience can agree with them or reject them. But there is always scope for creative debates," said the South African.

The arguments around authoritarianism in "Oh To Believe in a Better World" will inspire the audience of Kochi

Muziris Biennale to consider the current political situation."The struggles of the art and literary activists in the western countries like scarcity, oppression, and repression, are relevant elsewhere in this modern era," opined Kentridge, who has also excelled in his roles as an animator, a filmmaker, and an activist. "I have always been interested in the artistic experiments

of the constructivists. I also tried to apply the new ways of filmmaking," he adds.

The medium uses elements of divisive theater, puppetry, music, stop-frame animation, collage, and tapestry.The 67-yearold multi-talented artist has received several international recognitions, including Spain's prestigious Princess of Asturias Award.

British-Sikh MP seeks probe into ‘bullying culture’ at UK hospital

demeaned for raising concerns about policies and practices that they believe have compromised patient care, and in some cases even led to deaths," the MP for Birmingham and Edgbaston wrote in her letter.

Gill said that whistle-blowers have told her about a "put up or shut up" culture, which has often veered into outright bullying.

An inquest found last month that the 35 year-old Indianorigin doctor ended her life after she struggled to cope up with "bullying and condescension at work", and often returned home crying.

Sikh man dies in truck accident in Canada

London, Dec 21 (IANS) British Sikh MP Preet Kaur Gill has called on the Health Secretary to initiate an independent inquiry into the alleged bullying culture at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB), which is seriously impacting the staff and patient care.

In a letter to Steve Barclay, Gill said she has been inundated by messages from the UHB staff, who have shared their experiences of what has been repeatedly described as a "toxic culture".

"Staff have been bullied and

Staff and former staff members have described to Gill as being harassed over several years, leading to counselling, depression and extended periods off work.

"Some staff described a culture of fear so draconian that staff were afraid to go to the toilet," the Shadow International Development Secretary said.

Highlighting the case of Queen Elizabeth Hospital doctor Vaishnavi Kumar, who took her own life after feeling 'belittled' at work, Gill said that "this must be a turning point for the Trust".

Gill reacted after seeing reports first aired on BBC Newsnight in the first week of December about the bullying culture at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

The Trust manages several hospitals including Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which comes under Gill's constituency.

Five patients were given wrong blood at the haematology department of this hospital, according to reports.

After the BBC report, the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB) announced a three-part review into the culture at UHB.

Toronto, Dec 20 (IANS): A 30-year-old Sikh, who came to Canada just last month from Punjab, died on the spot after being hit by a transport truck in Mississauga.

Manpreet Singh was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, which happened at Courtneypark Drive and Edwards Boulevard just before 7 a.m. on December 13, Peel Regional Police said.

Manpreet worked at a factory in Mississauga and had left early in the morning.

"At around 6.47 a.m. or 6.50 a.m. in the morning, he met with the accident. He got down the bus and was walking when a truck hit him," Manpreet's friend Balwinder Singh told Omni News, a multilingual and multicultural television broadcaster in Canada. Balwinder said that Manpreet, the only child of his parents, had come from Punjab's Faridkot district on a spousal visa.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for taking Manpreet's body to India for his funeral.

Last month, 20-year-old Indian student Kartik Saini was killed after he was hit and dragged by a pickup truck while crossing a road on a cycle in Toronto.

According to Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), so far this year there have been 259 fatalities on OPPpatrolled roads, waterways and trails.

IHGF Delhi Fair 2023 begins from 15 March

India News Desk

The 55th IHGF Delhi Fair 2023 is scheduled from 15 - 19 March 2023. The IHGF Delhi Fair will exhibit over 3000+ new product expressions and more than 300 design developments across 14 product categories. This is a one stop sourcing destination for retailers, importers, wholesalers and design professionals.

IHGF Delhi Fair is organized twice every year in spring and autumn editions, by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), the apex organization representing handicraft manufacturers & exporters in India.

India News News Desk

Veer Baal Diwas was organized recently in Perth. Consul General of India, Perth Amarjeet Singh Takhi joined the Shaheedi Diwas

congregation at Sikh Gurudwara Saheb at Canningvale in paying tributes to the four Sahibzade of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji on their courage and unparalleled

sacrifice in standing up for their beliefs and keeping the dignity of Sikhism high.

As announced by Prime Minister of India, the Government of India

Veer Baal Diwas organized AIMA organizes annual gala event

India News Desk

The fraternity of Indian doctors, under the Australia-India Medical Association (AIMA) organized the annual gala event recently. The event was attended by Amber-Jade Sanderson, Minister for Health; Mental Health of Western Australia, together with Dr Jags MLA, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance; Commerce; Women's Interests and Dr Paddy Ramanathan. Consulate General of India, Perth Amarjeet Singh Takhi participated in the event and interacted with AIMA

representatives and members, including eminent doctors in different specialisations.

Over 600 Indian doctors participated in the event. AIMA has contributed immense ly to maintaining the well-being of Australians and earned very high regard and appreciation from all, including WA Premier, who acknowledged the stellar role played by Indian doctors in keeping people healthy.

has notified that 26th December will be observed as ‘Veer Baal Diwas' to mark the martyrdom of Sri Guru Gobind Singh’s chhote sahibzadas while walking on the path of justice. A digital exhibition showcasing the courage and sacrifice of Baba Fateh Singh ji

and Baba Zorawar Singh ji was held at theConsulate premises on 26 December 2022 from 10:00 hrs to 16:30 hrs. The exhibition was shown on 28 December at the Canningvale Gurudwara Saheb during Shaheedi Diwas special diwan in the evening.

Punjabi to be taught in local schools in WA

India News Desk

The government of Western Australia announced recently that a Punjabi curriculum will be developed and made available for pre-primary to Year 12 students of the state. This is keeping in view the fact that Punjabi is the fastest growing language in Australia. This is after the announcement in 2021 of the development of syllabuses for Hindi, Korean and Tamil, which will be introduced to schools in the region starting 2023.

The Education and Training Minister and a leader in the Legislative Council in the state Parliament and also Sue Ellery announced recently that curriculum writers will begin

developing Punjabi syllabuses and support materials for schools from January.

Punjabi will be fully developed in Western Australia, where languages education becomes compulsory from Year 3, by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority.

The pre-primary to Year 10 Punjabi syllabuses will be available to schools from 2024, and the Year 11 courses will be available to students in 2024, with the first Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) Course Examination to be set in 2025.

Western Australia boasts of a sizable population of Punjabis after Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

Etihad Airways welcomes 2023 in the sky Wellness: One Of The Top Travel Trends in 2023

All flights in the skies at midnight on December 31, 2022, will ring in the new year with a specially created party

By IANSlife

December 24, 2022: Etihad Airways, expects to carry over 1.5 million passengers throughout the holiday season. To mark the occasion, travellers on some flights will receive holidaythemed décor and a special cuisine.

From December 23 to 25, the

traditional holiday-themed menu will be offered on several routes, including those to the US, UK, Canada, Lebanon, South Korea, the Philippines, the Seychelles, South Africa, Australia, and the majority of European destinations. The delicious menu includes festive favourites such as turkey roulade, chestnut stuffing and chocolate yule log with cherry compote.

Etihad will be ringing in the New Year on its flights in style for the first time. All flights traversing the skies at midnight on December 31, 2022, will participate in the countdown and ring in the new year on board with specially created party props for the guests as well as festive giveaways. Before midnight,

celebratory beverages will also be provided.

In addition to holiday-themed TV shows and music, Etihad's award-winning E-BOX inflight entertainment system will have a special "Holiday Movies" channel with festive favourites like Love Actually and Home Alone.

During the hectic holiday season, passengers flying with Etihad Airways may benefit from handy services like its quick self-service bag drop facility, which offers a quicker check-in process and allows passengers to escape the lines. Once a traveller has checked in online, they may easily retrieve their booking, print the bag tag, and process their baggage at the self-service facility in less than two minutes.

Top 5 hiking destinations in India for your New Year trip

One of the best high-altitude excursions for explorers is the Goecha La Trek

By IANSlife

December 26, 2022 (IANSlife)

Mountaineering and hiking are becoming into some of the most fascinating adventure sports, and many individuals have started choosing them recently. The lovely pathways make it easier to slip away into nature and reestablish a connection between the mind, body, and spirit.

“India has seen immense growth in the number of people interested in hiking activities. The country’s rich landscape has multiple locations packed with some of the most mesmerising mountain ranges where aspiring adventurers and travellers can go for a hike. Hikers/Mountaineers can opt for these based on their experience and slowly increase the level of difficulty,” shares ace mountaineer and fitness coach, Gayatri Mohanty.

For those who are keen on planning their next hiking trail, here’s a list of the must-visit mountains from beginner's level to advanced.

Triund trek, Himachal Pradesh

Distance - 11.5 km/7 miles round trip

Time - 6-7 hours

Level - Easy & perfect for beginners

The tranquil Triund Trek, one of the most well-liked treks for novices, offers a stunning view of the majestic Dhauladhar peaks on one side and the stunning Kangra valley on the other. This climb, which is only 18 kilometres from Dharamshala, offers breathtaking panoramic vistas all day long, including stunning sunsets. In the Kangra Valley below, one can also

take pleasure in stargazing. March to June is the best time to visit as the weather has a balance and is cosy and comfortable. The hike is not available in January and February because of extreme snowy conditions. The path begins with Galu Temple in Dharamkot or you can also begin from McLeod Ganj. Although this is only a day trek, tents, sleeping bags and food are available at the camp summit so one need not carry extra luggage with them.

Tadiandamol trek, Karnataka Distance - 12km/7.5 miles round trip

Time - 7-9 hours

Level - Easy & perfect for beginners

The Tadiandamol walk is situated in Karnataka's Kodagu district, which is well known for producing India's best coffee and is full of lush green landscapes. This hike gives breathtaking views of misty green hills painted by cloud swirls. Three hours from Mysuru, at Nalakunad Palace, one can start their walk. Travelers can see Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary along the way, a protected region with magnificent meadows, tinkling streams, and stunted tropical shola woods. It is easy to hike here without a guide from September to March, which is the optimum time to do it.

Nongriat Trek, Meghalaya

Distance - 7km/4.3 miles round trip

Time - 1 day

Level – Moderate

Nongriat Trek is the ideal climb to see the local indigenous culture because it is situated in the heart of Meghalaya's vibrant local population. The "suspended live root bridges" constructed by the Khasi villagers between secret valleys, natural ponds, and waterfalls serve as a reminder of their great old engineering and draw numerous tourists all year long. The trail begins in the community of Tyrna, close

to Cherrapunji, which is also recognised as the wettest place on earth by the Guinness Book of Records.

As it rains frequently in this area, one should bring raincoats, jackets, waterproof shoes, and a bag cover. Also prevalent here are a lot of moths, insects, and butterflies, so bring appropriate clothing.

Deoria Tal and Chandrashila Trek, Uttarakhand Distance - 18–20km / 11–12 miles round trip Time - 2 days Level – Moderate

The Deoria Tal and Chandrashila Trek, often known as "the bathing spot of the gods," is the greatest climb for viewing the winter landscape. The Deoria Tal path begins near the town of Sari, and it is accessible all year round. The trail is well-maintained and is straightforward to follow without a map. It is surrounded by rhododendron trees that bloom with vivid pink blossoms in the spring.

On the other hand, Chandrashila is the ridge that rises above Tungnath Mandir and is just 20 kilometres from Sari to the tiny settlement of Chopta, which also serves as the starting point for the pilgrimage trip to the tallest Shiva temple in the world. Look out for the vibrant Himalayan Monal pheasant, Uttarakhand's state bird, as you make your journey back down.

Goecha La Trek, Sikkim Distance - 91km / 57 miles Time - 10 days Level – Difficult

One of the best high-altitude excursions for explorers is the Goecha La Trek, which must be reserved through a trekking organisation. The old Buddhist kingdom of Sikkim and the breathtaking views, which include expansive panoramas of northeast India, are the main highlights. The trek starts out

Solo travel helps go through self-healing and a holistic transformational process

By IANSlife

December 18, 2022: Consumer desire for wellness-focused vacations is on the rise, as seen in 2023's wellness trends.

The demand for domestic travel has increased by 50

percent, according to CGH Earth Wellness Centers. Since before the pandemic, foreign visitors from regions like Russia and Europe have remained devoted customers.

Consumer insights, both from CGH’s diverse customer base and research, highlight the following big trends in the $1.5 trillion global wellness industry.

Restorative Travel and Healing Holidays Prevention is better than cure couldn’t ring truer. Rather than having to go for curative spells at a hospital, more and more people are turning towards traditional, holistic

Renewed interest in Ayurveda post Pandemic

The Kerala Ayurveda philosophy has been accepted worldwide for its immense benefits and the science and methodology of treatments. The Panchakarma treatment course that involves 21

days has helped people change their lives. Society, now at large is realizing the need for the responsibility of taking their health into their own hands, by tapping into India’s ancient wisdom of medicine that is globally revered and respected.

Serene Healing Spaces are lending to the increase in wellness breaks

To be able to address one’s health but not feel like a patient in the traditional sense seems to be what is resonating with a vast

number of people, especially those who have understood the importance of preventive healthcare and those addressing the onset of lifestyle disorders. Keeping one’s mind happy during a treatment course has been

health. Classical Kerala Ayurveda & Prakruti Chikitsa - Indian Naturopathy has proven to have produced great results with regards to lifestyle disorders and other long-term health conditions

AFC President praises excellent show of Asian teams at FIFA World Cup

which Asian teams produced some of the most remarkable comebacks in recent times against the game's traditional powerhouses.

Doha, Dec 20 (IANS) The first FIFA World Cup held in the Middle East and the Arab world and the second time in the Asian continent turned out to be a football showpiece event in which Asian dominated on and off the field.

With three teams from the continent making it to the knockout stage, which was a record in itself along with hordes of Asian fans making it to Qatar to watch the action on the field, the biggest football tournament was well and truly an Asian affair.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa praised the AFC member nations for the improvement in the game in their respective countries.

The AFC President also took a moment to reiterate the historic achievements of the AFC's representatives at the global showpiece, which will be remembered for the manner in

"For the first time in the history of world football, Asia had three teams in the knockout stage and all credit must go to the AFC's Member Associations for raising the standard of Asian football. Our duty now must be focused on building on this strong momentum over the next four years."

Shaikh Salman also hailed Qatar for staging a historic global showpiece event with the remarkable hosting capabilities of Qatar in staging one of the most memorable football showpieces in recent history which drew to a close on Sunday.

"Before the start of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, our collective aspirations, as underlined in the AFC's vision and mission, was for our Asian teams and match officials to produce the performance of a lifetime, and I am truly pleased by their outstanding efforts."

Shaikh Salman conveyed his congratulations to eventual winners Argentina and underlined his gratitude to

the Qatar Football Association, Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, and the Qatari authorities as well as FIFA.

The AFC President said: "The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 was a breathtaking spectacle which showcased once again the power of the beautiful game to inspire and unite people from all backgrounds and our congratulations must go to Argentina on clinching the coveted crown."

"On behalf of the Asian football family, I must express my heartfelt appreciation to the Qatar Football Association, the Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the Qatari government and FIFA for writing a new chapter in the history of world football -- a truly magnificent celebration that will be cherished in the decades to come."

"Qatar provided an unrivalled stage. We showed the world that this was indeed Asia's time, and I am heartened to note that Asia and Qatar delivered on its promise. Now we hand the baton to Canada, Mexico and the US and I know they will build on the solid foundations laid by Qatar," Shaikh Salman added.

Montreal, Dec 20: In a firstof-its-kind unique initiative to bring action for biodiversity from sports worldwide, 23 sports organisations, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as a founding partner, and the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, have signed the Sports for Nature Framework.

Signatories to the Framework pledge to adhere to four key principles that will safeguard nature and contribute to the new global goals for biodiversity, which were later adopted by 196 countries under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at the 15th Conference of the Parties meeting (COP15) in Montreal.

Co-created by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), IOC, and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), in collaboration with the Secretariat of the CBD, the Sports for Nature Framework aims to deliver transformative action for nature across sports, by 2030 and beyond.

in partnership with Sails of Change Foundation, a foundation dedicated to the protection and regeneration of biodiversity.

"There is an urgent need to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and everyone, including sports and recreation, must play a role. The Sports for Nature Framework is a step in the right direction. Thank you to the IOC, IUCN and UNEP for joining forces under the Convention on Biological Diversity in this groundbreaking initiative to bring action for biodiversity from sports worldwide," said the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Mrema.

"It is encouraging to see this level of commitment from sports federations, leagues, clubs, and events, and I challenge all sports organisations to follow suit by taking urgent action for biodiversity."

"The IOC believes everyone has a responsibility to care for the planet. As a founding partner of the Sport for Nature Framework, we want to help the sports community minimise any negative impacts on nature and inspire nature-positive action," said IOC member Tricia Smith, participating in the launch.

we provide strong and relevant playing opportunities and ensure that the best players in the world are compensated appropriately. We want to ensure Australia is the launchpad for the global season and that we see as many of them as possible. They inspire us all to engage in this great sport as well as inspiring future generations," Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley said.

Hobart International and an upgraded ATP 100 Challenger in Canberra," Craig Tiley said.

Melbourne, Dec 29 (IANS) The Australian Open has hiked the total prize fund to Australian dollar $76.5 million at 2023's first Grand Slam. This means the winner of the men's and women's singles will take home a cheque of Aus$2.97 million each, which is substantially more than the runner-ups who will take home $1,625,000.

The high prize pool is a result of a 3.4 per cent hike and with the United Cup thrown in the mix, the total prize fund offered in these two events is AUS$ 100 million, the organisers announced here on Thursday.

"It is critical to the continued success of the Australian tennis summer that

The increase in prize money is across all levels and a player losing in the will take home AUS $106,250. Players participating in qualifying and the doubles tournaments will also receive a higher payment compared to 12 months ago.

"We are delighted to have more than $100 million in prize money on offer across the Australian summer, along with more chances to compete across the country. We've worked tirelessly alongside the ATP and WTA to launch the exciting new United Cup, which includes its own significant ranking points and prize money, a further two WTA and ATP events in Adelaide, the

"At the Australian Open, we've upped prize money for every round from qualifying, through to the finals, with the major increases in the early rounds, where these substantial rewards help players invest in their own careers and in many cases, set themselves up for success throughout the year," he added.

As per the latest calculations, players reaching the quarterfinal stage or better in the singles tournaments will make at least half a million in earnings. Prize money at the Grand Slam has increased by 155% since 2013 when the tally was $30M. Furthermore, since Tiley became tournament director in 2007 the pool has expanded by 283 per cent. Even then, the Australian Open is quite conservative in its hikes as the Wimbledon and the US Open usually battle it out for the distinction of having the year's highest prize money.

The Framework brings together sports federations, leagues, clubs and events in a commitment to protect and avoid damage to important species and habitats, restore key ecosystems, create sustainable supply chains, and educate and inspire the wider sporting community to take action for nature.

Signatories to the Framework commit to develop and implement action plans for each of the four principles, and report on their progress annually to an expert panel who will confirm that the actions undertaken are credible and effective.

On behalf of the founding partners, IUCN will lead on coordination with the signatories to the Framework and provide signatories with technical support, tools and training

"This commitment builds on the success of the UN Sport for Climate Action Framework, and the IOC's own efforts to address the climate and biodiversity crises: reducing emissions by half by 2030, committing to a 'nogo' for any permanent Olympic construction within protected areas, setting high environmental standards for our food sourcing and creating an Olympic Forest to help restore degraded land in Mali and Senegal."

More than 100 representatives from international federations, national Olympic committees, regional and national associations, local teams and athletes, along with experts from academia, non-government organisations, science advisors and sports sustainability consultants, provided input on the Sports for Nature Framework.

This input was gathered during six formal consultations during November 2022, as well as through an online form and oneon-one consultations.

Australian Open hikes prize money, singles winner to pocked nearly 3 mn Australian Dollars each

Unique initiative to link biodiversity with sports, worldwide

Mumbai, Dec 30 (IANS) Called by various names such as 'Gasolina', 'The Black Pearl' and 'O Rei' (The King), the nickname that stuck like glue to Edson Arantes do Nascimento, who, as 'Pele', became the greatest footballer the world has ever known.

It is with that name he left the world as the most cherished and

loved sports star we have ever seen.

Pele, 82, passed away in a private hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, after spending nearly a month, battling complications related to advanced cancer.

He had a colon tumor removed in September 2021 and neither his family, nor doctors, specified whether it had spread to other organs. He was recently under "elevated care" related to "kidney and cardiac dysfunction".

Labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, football's world governing body, named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee in 1999 and included in TIME Magazine's list of 100 most important people of the 20th century, Pele was in 2000 voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics

(IFFHS) and was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the Century award.

But for millions of fans of the game around the globe, Pele was the first person who made football Jogo Bonito, "the beautiful game".

He was the original No. 10 of world football, a number now sported by Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbapp. He was the genius who played the game with passion and was so unstoppable that fouling him was the only option for the numerous defenders that he faced. A player of sublime skills, great presence in the field, immaculate positional sense, magical dribbling skills, two brilliant feet and a devastatingly powerful shot, right-footed Pele was thus far the only footballer to have lifted the World Cup thrice -- 1958, 1962 and 1970.

Alyssa Healy, Nat Sciver among nominees for ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year 2022 award

In the end, she finished the tournament with a whopping 509 runs at an imposing average of 56 and it was no surprise that she was named Player of the Series in the ODI World Cup.

New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS) Australia wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy and England all-rounder Nat Sciver, the centurions of this year's ODI World Cup final, on Thursday were announced as nominees of the ICC Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year 2022 award. Apart from the duo, tearaway South Africa pacer Shabnim Ismail and New Zealand's leg-spin all-rounder Amelia Kerr have also been nominated for the honour.

Alyssa's year of 50-over cricket started in Canberra during Australia's successful Ashes campaign against England, but 2022 was all about the Women's ODI World Cup in New Zealand which commenced at the start of March. The Australia opener started with a decent 28 against England in Hamilton and then followed it up with a superb 72 against Pakistan in Mount Maunganui.

A pair of low scores followed for her -- 15 against New Zealand and three against the West Indies -- before the 32-year-old struck an important 72 from just 65 deliveries during Australia's crucial group match against India in Auckland.

But it was during the cut-throat knockout matches that Alyssa really stood out, with the righthander scoring back-to-back centuries in the semi-final and final, where she hit a career-best 170 from just 138 balls, to help Australia clinch a seventh World Cup title.

Nat had a 2022 to remember as she smashed five half-centuries and two centuries to put further accolades on an already impressive resume. The majority of those big scores came during the Women's ODI World Cup, with Nat helping herself to a team-best 436 runs, including a career-best 148 not out in the final coming in a losing cause.

If her exploits during the World Cup weren't enough, Nat returned from a short break in December to help England record a 3-0 series sweep over the West Indies in the Caribbean. During that series she scored knocks of 90 and 85 to unsurprisingly finish as the leading run-scorer for the series with an eye-catching 180 runs at an average of 60.

Amelia found some new consistency with her ODI game in 2022 and her results with both bat and ball show she now firmly belongs among the game's elite.

She commenced the year in scintillating form as she scored three half-centuries and a century during the five-match series against India in Queenstown that was played prior to the commencement of the Women's ODI World Cup.

While New Zealand were a shade disappointed during the home World Cup, Amelia was a model of consistency as she made a total of 204 runs and picked up nine wickets during the event to continue her stunning run of form.

More runs followed for her during New Zealand's tour of the West

Indies in September, while the 22-year-old was hardly required with the bat during the White Ferns' most recent series at home against Bangladesh.

Shabnim's 2022 started in style as she picked up consecutive four-wicket hauls during South Africa's home series against the West Indies and she built on those performances to be among the most consistent performers during the ODI World Cup in New Zealand.

The 34-year-old collected 14 scalps for the tournament at an average of just 17.50, with her superb spell of 3/27 against the tournament hosts in Hamilton pivotal in helping the Proteas advance to the semi-finals of the event.

She continued on her merry way after the World Cup as she performed superbly during the away series against Ireland in Dublin and even collected the second five-wicket haul of her glittering ODI career during the series.

New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS)

Arguably the greatest player to play football, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pele (82), breathed his last at a Sao Paulo hospital on Thursday after losing a prolonged battle against cancer. The three-time World Cup winner had a colon tumour removed in September 2021 and neither his family, nor doctors, specified whether it had spread to other organs. He was recently under 'elevated care' related to kidney and cardiac dysfunction.

Portuguese soccer great Cristiano Ronaldo paid a heart-touching tribute to the 'Black Pearl', soon after the news of his demise was

New Delhi, Dec 30 (IANS) India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, who met with an accident early in the morning, is out of danger and undergoing treatment, informed Dr Ashish Yagnik of Max Hospital, Dehradun in a statement on Friday.

He added that Pant was under observation and the injuries in his leg and back were being treated.

Dr Yagnik also said that Pant did not suffer from any serious injuries and was conscious.

The Indian cricketer's car met with an accident on Friday morning, near Mohammadpur Jat under Kotwali Mangalore area in Uttarakhand, when he was on his way to his native place Roorkee. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inquired about his health from the officials and instructed them to arrange for Pant's proper treatment.

of FIH World Cup, Hockey India announces cash prize to further boost morale of Indian team

2 Lakh.

New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS) The Indian men's hockey team are eyeing a historic campaign at the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 in January and in a bid to motivate them further, Hockey India on Wednesday announced cash prizes for the team and the support staff.

The national governing body for hockey will reward the members of the Indian team led by Harmanpreet Singh with INR 25 lakh each for a gold medalwinning feat at the prestigious quadrennial event while the members of the support staff will be honoured with INR 5 Lakh each. India last stood on the World Cup podium in 1975 where they lifted the coveted title beating Pakistan in the Final held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A silver medal would see the players walk away with INR 15 Lakh while the support staff would be awarded INR 3 Lakh for their role in the campaign. And a bronze Medal feat by Harmanpreet and Co will see them being awarded with INR 10 Lakh each, while the support staff would be entitled to a prize of INR

made public.

Taking to his Instagram handle, Ronaldo wrote: "My deep condolences to all of Brazil, and in particular to the family of Edson Arantes do Nascimento. A mere 'goodbye' to the eternal King Pele will never be enough to express the pain that the entire football world is currently embracing.

"An inspiration to so many millions, a reference yesterday, today and forever. The love you always showed me was reciprocated in every moment we shared even from distance. He will never be forgotten and his memory will live forever in each and every one of us football

The decision was made by the Hockey India Executive Board in a virtual meeting on December 24 as a way to further boost the morale of the Indian Team for the esteemed competition which will see 16 top teams of the world vie for honours.

"Finishing on the podium at a Senior Men's World Cup is not an easy task, and we hope this announcement will further increase the motivation levels of the already glory-hungry Indian Men's Hockey Team. Winning a medal in a home World Cup would surely go down as one of the best memories for the players in their decorated careers. We wish them the very best for the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela," said Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey.

"The Indian Men's Hockey Team is the pride of the nation and we want them to scale all the possible peaks in the sport. To help them achieve that, and to further motivate them towards this target, we have announced this prize for the team. Harmanpreet and Co are very able and talented players and we are sure they will do the best they can to finish with a medal," said Hockey India's Secretary General Bholanath Singh.

lovers. Rest in peace."

Taking to Twitter, France's World Cup winner and PSG forward Kylian Mbappe said, "The king of football has left us but his legacy will never be forgotten. RIP KING."

Former England striker Geoff Hurst, who scored a hat-trick in the final of the 1966 World Cup to lead his team to 4-2 win over West Germany, said: " I have so many memories of Pele, without doubt the best footballer I ever played against (with Bobby Moore being the best footballer I ever played alongside). For me Pele remains the greatest of all time and I was proud to be on the the pitch with him. RIP Pele and thank you."

Pele, the legend who made football ‘the beautiful game’ is no more

‘Mere goodbye not enough’, says CR7; ‘RIP KING’, tweets Mbappe

Rishabh Pant out of danger, doctor releases medical bulletin

Ahead

The India Fashion Awards 2022

Sanjay Nigam, Founder, India Fashion Awards says, “There are iconic designers in the Indian fashion industry who have taken the global fashion stage by storm and received their due honour. But, a majority of our unsung heroes of the industry, behind the scene of this new fashion revolution are still waiting for the rightful recognition. The need of the hour is to create more collaborations, repositioning Indian Fashion on global platforms to honour and glorify the tremendous hard work of these unsung heroes. India Fashion Award is an honest attempt to honour and highlight these real heroes' contributions in front of a global audience.”

Additionally, Mitesh Rajani was named Makeup Artist of the Year, Gaurav Raina was named Music Director of the Year, Delnaz Daruwala was named Backstage Manager of the Year, Elnaaz Naruzi was named IFAAmbassador for Change, Robin Raina and Anchal Jain were named Stylish Power Couple of the Year, Vijender Singh and Karman Kaur Thandi were named IFA Stylist Sportspersons of the Year, and more. Anjali Sivaraman won New Age Model of the Year Ramp-Female, Rabanne Jamsandekar Victor in the male category, Shaurya Atley as New Age Fashion Stylist of the Year, Sasha Jairam as New Age Fashion Photographer of the Year, Vahbiz Mehta & Lokesh Sharma as New Age Show Director of the Year, & A-List as IFA Influencer Management Agency of the Year, among other significant awards in various categories.

Deepika Padukone in Louis Vuitton

December 19, 2022 (IANSlife)

Actress Deepika Padukone attended FIFA World CUP 2022TM Final Match between France and Argentina in Doha, Qatar, as the brand ambassador Louis Vuitton. Padukone dressed in the luxury brand, while presenting the FIFA World CupTM Trophy in its Louis Vuitton Trunk.

Spanish 2010 World Champion Iker Casillas was with the Indian star. Padukone dressed in a black silk midi skirt with a chain belt, an orange sleeveless parka with gathers, a cotton poplin self-tie shirt, and black leather Donna high boots from Louis Vuitton.

For the fourth consecutive FIFA World CUP Louis Vuitton has created the trunk to carry the official FIFA World CUPTM Trophy. Victory Travels in Louis Vuitton" is a titanium-covered, special-order trunk - designed and handmade by expert artisans in the Maison's atelier in Asniéres, France - transports football's greatest prize. Indeed, this contemporary creation continues Louis Vuitton's tradition of creating trunks to transport and present trophies for the world's most anticipated and highly prized sporting events.

Viva Magenta For Men

The Fashion Entrepreneur Fund (FEF), supported by the world's top fashion entrepreneurs, designers, mentors, and investors, was also launched at the event. It is the largest grant programme in Asia and the first fashion-only grant programme in India. The creators of India Fashion Awards have unveiled India's first of its kind "Fashion Entrepreneur Fund" in an effort to find, encourage, and promote the great ideas and future unicorns.

The Fashion Entrepreneur Fund (FEF) aspires to become the most sought-after fashion grant in the world by welcoming persons, concepts, and originality to revolutionise the fashion industry.

“In the last few decades, the Fashion industry has contributed significantly to the growth of the Indian economy. This promising sector in the country continues to establish new success milestones

and industry benchmarks on the global stage of fashion.

India Fashion Awards has been curated to spark a fresh wave of excitement and motivation in the fashion industry and confer the right professionals with deserving praise and admiration,” says Vagish Pathak, Chairperson, India Fashion Awards.

India Fashion Awards also provided a platform for the first time for Indian artisans and craftsmen to be recognised for their contributions to the Indian fashion industry. Ansari Shahid Hussain, a Zardozi artist, Dalavai Kullayappa, Krishna Kant Sharma (Chhotu Ji), and Vankar Bhimji Kanji were honoured for their outstanding contributions to art and textiles. Ambika Devi, a master of Mithila, also known as Madhubani art, is a specialist in the ancient craft of making leather puppets.

Designer of the Year - Handlooms & Textiles was given to Gaurang Shah in this glittering ceremony. Designer of the Year - Men's Wear went to Rohit & Rahul from Rajnigandha. Designer of the Year - Bridal Wear Fusion went to Gaurav Gupta. Designer of the Year - Jury choice went to Anamika Khanna. Designer of the Year - Popular choice went to Manish Malhotra from Rajnigandha.

India Fashion Awards is a singular and cherished celebration of the Indian fashion industry under the ardent guidance of Sanjay Nigam, the event's founder, Vagish Pathak as chairperson, and Rocky S. as creative director. The originality, passion, innovation, and brilliance of the leaders in the fashion and leisure industries are not only acknowledged, but also encouraged on a global scale.

The Mario Foods and Kubershoppe-powered third season of the awards was copowered by Pepsi, DLF Malls, Ebix Cash in partnership with PC Jewellers, Cream Bell, Artize, Vega, Little Tags Luxury, and many more well-known companies

December 12, 2022: "Viva Magenta" has been named Pantone's Color of the Year for 2023. If you haven't heard of this colour, it's quite intentional. It is a reddish hue that has its roots in nature and is symbolic of a fresh show of power. Viva Magenta is a bold, brazen colour whose exuberance encourages a joyful, upbeat celebration and creates a fresh narrative.

All of these together make Viva Magenta an intriguing shade that has been successfully tickling every fashionista's curiosity to the max. Anand Singh, Fashion Design Manager, DaMENSCH unravels the why behind Viva Magenta for this year and says “ Unconventional color in unconventional times, a symbolic of much-needed strength and power, a color that induces indulgence and passion when you look at it, a color which reminds you of the time when you were hurt or you were in love. A derivative of crimson red, this color has evolved through times which we have seen recently, there was a lot of turmoil in emotions through the pandemic and the war.

Suits: This colour has a very strong individual essence, the trend is simple, and anything solid looks niche and premium.

To ace this color with a suit is where we can imagine nice viscose or a silk blend. There's a rare chance of going wrong with a cheque pattern where oldfashioned windowpane. Checks fashioned with a base or highlight of this color, probably with a darker tonal magenta (fashion) to a Navy (conversational), or you can go all out with a Ranbir Singh look.

Sportswear: Now if you recall retro influences, nothing can beat a nice cut n sew detail in a street/ sport setting. This is a color you can almost pair with anything in a color block, blues, whites, blacks, use it in majors, and use it in accents as it looks fresh everywhere.

Casualwear: Viva Magenta is all set to rule the men’s topwear market. Shirts {not solids} structured tees, slightly darker hues in jackets, accents in sweaters, color blocks, stripes, etc are what will be the talk of the town. Washed look of this color in colored denim can also be imagined to be a street-style winner. Men's polos can be a big market, accents in any category, a devil in the details look of this color lined inside a jacket won't surprise me, also these winter varsity jackets are big there this color can be a big hit.

The Jury included Sanjay Nigam, Vagish Pathak, Dia Mirza, RaghavendraRathore, Nikhil Kamath, ShaliniPassi, Maneka Gandhi, Ambika Pillai, KunalRawal, CarolGracias, Tarun Khiwaland Ravi Jaipuria and other stalwarts from fashion space.

December 18, 2022: The India Fashion Awards 2022, by Rajnigandha Pearls and sponsored by Mario Foods, were held on December 13 at the Andaz by Hyatt to honour fashion industry visionaries. The top names in fashion from all around the nation attended the gala night to either accept the prizes

or to congratulate the winners. Manish Malhotra, Elnaaz Narouzi, Vagish Pathak, Raghavendra Rathore, Anaita Shroff, Rocky Star, VipulGoel, Vijender Singh, Ambika Pillai, Maneka Gandhi, Carol Gracias, and Aparna Bahl were among the eminent fashion designers, Bollywood stars, and business moguls that attended.

Winter’s frosty vibes with the ‘I’m cold’ make up look

Brand Manager, Swiss Beauty further explains the steps for setting the makeup right for this look:

Start with the basic CTM: So, the basic routine of CTM (Cleanse, Tone, Moisturise) is a must.

December 20, 2022: As the nip in the air becomes more prominent each day and the holiday season approaches, everyone wishes to look their best with radiant, youthful skin. And what better way to do so than give yourself a winter makeover? Speaking of makeovers, in contrast to the cold weather, social media is being set ablaze with the “I’m cold” trend, a winter makeup look that’s taken the world by storm. And the best part, you don’t have to step out in the bone-chilling breeze to get that flustered look.

What is it?: With more than 25.4 million (and counting) mentions of the #ImColdMakeup, the seasonal makeup trend is inspired by the chilly winter days when your face is naturally flushed due to the cold weather and winds.

The “I’m cold” makeup is all about enhancing this natural flush on your face, giving you a look that would resemble the one you’d have when you’re outdoors doing activities like skiing or sledding on days when the temperature is sub-zero.

To get this trend right Plabita Sharma, Head of Training, The Body Shop lists some steps for laying the foundation i.e prepping up the skin, and Aashriya Sharma,

Wash your face with a facewash best suited for your skin type and tone it with a toner of your choice. A Toner brings your skin back to its natural acidic state, sweeping impurities away and helping your skin absorb your skincare products. The next and most important step is to moisturize. A daily moisturizer is necessary to maintain your skin’s moisture barrier and to prevent environmental damage to your skin. A generous amount of moisturizer enriched with Vitamin C, E, or Hyaluronic Acid will ensure your skin remains supple and hydrated.

Protecting and adding a natural glow to your face: While some makeup products like foundation come with an SPF, there’s no beating the good old sunscreen to protect from the sun. This will also help in sticking your makeup while bringing a smooth finish to your face. You can also use a luster finish illuminating cream highlighting the points or mixing it with your foundation that will leave your skin looking dewy just what the ‘Cold makeup’ look demands.

Blush for that natural flush: Blush is the showstopper here. It is all about the flushed look. So, pick one that goes well with your skin tone. If you don’t have one, you can also use a Lip and Cheek Tint. It is a quick makeup fix and can easily be used as lipstick, blusher, and even as an eyeshadow. Now,

let’s look at the technical part. Instead of applying blush to your upper cheekbones for a lifted appearance, use it on the apples of your cheeks. Apply it as near to the nose as you can while still blending in a circular motion. After this, dab a little blush on the tip of your nose and your chin’s tip. Next, pop a bit of highlighter in the inner corners of your eyes and on the tip of your nose.

Add depths to your lashes with mascara: Mascara is the real deal for those who like to go bold yet simple with eye makeup. Whether you are wearing eyeshadow or not, a coat of mascara will lengthen, thicken and intensify your natural eyelashes. The voluminous lashes will further draw attention to your facial features. A quick and easy way to make your lashes appear fuller is to use the diagonal brushing technique with mascara. Coating the top and bottom lashes ensures the best hold while working from the inner to the outer corners of the eyes for complete coverage. Lastly, gloss your lips: Finish off with a lush pink or your preferred nude lip shade. Glide a creamy, pigmented lip shade over your lips, or use a Lip and Cheek Tint for that instant color pop. Follow with a gloss and gently dab it. This will create the perfect winter look with natural warm glossy lips.

The trending look is simple, natural, and completely imitates the flush that the cold temperature brings. All you need is some basic products - a blush, pink lip shade, or even a lip and cheek tint to rock this minimalistic look. So, get ready to slay your look this winter.

Tamannaah Bhatia shares beauty routine

not-so-secret secret to refreshed and radiant skin lies within an unfiltered kit of time and tested DIY recipes. After years of subjection to inimical synthetics and cosmetics inconsequential to her acting career, Bhatia has naturally maneuvered to a 'less is more' modus operandi and we definitely commend it.

“After experiencing a lot of chemical usage, I wanted to incorporate something natural in my routine."

and ground coffee each with some organic honey. She says “I would suggest trying to look for raw or organic ingredients If you wish for your skin to truly benefit from these remedies."

December 15, 2022: Everybody wants to look their best when the seasons of life change. We all enjoy showing off our youthful, healthy skin that radiates and glows, regardless of our age. However, having skin that is healthy and youthful-looking takes work. Time and effort must be put out.

There is no instant miracle cure

The first and most important step is to consistently follow a decent skincare routine. However, certain circumstances that are out of our control, such as the loss of collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid in the deeper layers of the skin, may be too great for skincare to handle alone. These three vital elements for healthy, firm skin begin to dwindle over time, leaving our skin thinner, drier, and saggier than before. These losses happen as a result of pollutants, ageing, and lifestyle choices.

What can you do?

Touted as a game-changing treatment that hydrates from below the skin’s surface, bioremodelling treatment may be the answer to your hydration and anti-ageing needs. Using a slow release of hyaluronic acid, it helps to replenish hyaluronic acid and enhance the formation of both collagen and elastin, both of which make up the structural support of the skin. With this therapy, such ageing defects can be delayed and minimised significantly.

suitable for treatment include the face, neck, and hands. This highly hydrating injectable moisturiser encourages the natural production of collagen while filling in the lines while lifting the skin and improving the skin's firmness, elasticity and tightness.

Who can use it?

Bio-remodelling is suitable for anyone who has skin laxity, crepey skin, or fine lines and wrinkles they wish to target five key areas: the lower and midface for nasolabial folds and laughter lines, cheek, chest and decolletage, as well as the hands. It is recommended to anyone who is looking to address signs of early ageing, as well as younger people, to strengthen and hydrate their skin. For most, a depletion of hyaluronic acid begins around thirty the late twenties. Profhilo is one of the trusted brands out there that offer natural, non- toxic, and patientcentric skin relief using 100% hyaluronic acid. Reactions to bio-remodelling have rarely been documented because hyaluronic acid is considered safe, even for pregnant women and nursing mothers. However, it is important to consult your doctor to determine your suitability for this treatment.

December 21, 2022: In Vogue

India's first ever ‘Beauty Secrets’ video series Tamannaah Bhatia takes us through her mother's rooted regime with natural ingredients and her own hacks to see through winter skincare

Tamannaah Bhatia has always sworn by a set of cardinal skin and hair care rules to keep her skin supple and her complexion glowing. Taking cues straight from her mother's unbleached beauty bible, the Bahubali actor's

Akin to her recent hit movie's name, Tamannaah's humble homemade hacks always have a 'Plan A' as well as a 'Plan B' and can be altered to suit any and every skin type accordingly.

In a tutorial uncovering her economical yet effective approach to skincare, the actor starts off by sharing an exfoliating face scrub remedy that every busy girl needs in her vanity. To make the mix, marry together a teaspoon of Indian Sandalwood (Chandan)

All the components of this concoction are otherwise arid in nature. “If you have a dry skin type you can always add in more honey and adjust the scrub to cater to your skin's needs as you see fit” Bhatia shares. Once the blend is ready, slowly massage it into your skin and ensure to stray away from the eyes or under-eye area. Scrub for a few minutes, and not any longer to avoid any redness or irritation, and wash off after ten minutes to leave your skin supple, softer, and smoother. The recipe will also help you get rid of any dead skin that's built up on your skin surface after long hours under the sun or continuous usage of makeup.

Bio-remodelling works differently from other dermal filler treatments since it is formed entirely of hyaluronic acid. It blends seamlessly into the skin and spreads itself adequately to provide the needed hydration and flexibility. The structure of the face is not altered by bioremodelling treatment, it simply gives you more rejuvenated, radiant and ravishing skin.

Another important function that bio-remodelling performs is to fast-track skin regeneration, especially required during wound healing tissue regeneration. This is because hyaluronic acid has tissue repair and antiinflammatory properties. Where can you use it?

The common areas of the body

Who should get bio-remodelling?

By Sukant Deepak

December 28, 2022 (IANSlife)

Registering her presence as a classical singer in the ’80s, Shubha Mudgal, who started experimenting with other forms including pop and fusion in the '90s surprised her listeners with ease with the way she negotiated the spectrum.

This Padma Shri awardee (the year 2000), who is known to be constantly innovating and experimenting however feels that every artist is driven by an urge to do the same and she is not alone

or rare in that sense. “ I make my little efforts to experiment and also try and assess if they have worked for me or not. If I am convinced about something I attempt, I wait for an opportunity to share it with listeners. Once it is shared, there is a possibility that it may not receive a favorable response from some. This is something that every artiste has to be ready to face, and I too accept such challenges,” she tells IANS.

Even as the threat of the new Coronavirus variant peaks, she feels nothing has been done to help artists recover from the

losses they faced during the last waves of the Pandemic. “There does not seem to be any plan in place for the future either and artists have been left to sink or swim. I believe that it is the artists themselves who need to ask for this lethargy and lack of empathy to come to an end. Sadly, they too do not think of themselves as a fraternity or community and are busy lobbying for concert opportunities, awards, and other benefits. Thus, this situation where arts does not get the attention it deserves is likely to continue,” she laments.

Attributing her success to the support she received from her parents and family, the singer remembers how they would constantly encourage her to engage with the arts and ensured abundant exposure to different art forms. “They made many sacrifices to enable me to learn music and pursue it as my life’s work, and were a constant support in the face of any challenge that came my way.”

The singer, who enthralled the audiences with her performance

About letting things go and not being in control, the Veerangana Solanki way

the environment will affect how it grows, right? But if I only study the plant, then I’m not giving anything else the credit. We often isolate disciplines. When we see mediums collapsing, I think it’s trans-disciplinary. We see it happening all the time.

during ‘Dil ki Baatein’ curated by Aneesh Pradhan at the recently concluded Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa says the challenge for her was to render love songs and love poems written by different poets, and interpret each in a nuanced way and with variety. Singing under the direction of the curator and the arranger Srijan Mahajan, the set included some songs written and composed by her as well.

“In my opinion, a festival like Serendipity is of great importance as it is interdisciplinary and boasts of great diversity. It would be wonderful to have more such platforms and spaces in the country,” she adds.

Someone who has been writing and speaking about musicians’ rights, anti-piracy, and insurance for musicians, says these issues are integral to the well-being and progress of artists and to their livelihood. Even though Indian law is extremely artistefriendly, she stresses that artists continue to be exploited and are not given their due. “Contracts and agreements that we are

expected to sign are unfair and often strip us of even our moral and fundamental rights. I try and understand these problems and share my views with others by writing or speaking about them.”

Talk to her about her stand on contemporary social and political issues including CAA-NRC, and Mudgal, who performed at Shaheen Bagh during the protests says being a responsible citizen social and political realities, problems and conflicts are of interest to her. “I have voiced my opinions publicly, and as is often the case, have had to face abuse, trolling, and worse. I try and face the consequences to the best of my ability, independently and without trying to garner support for my actions or opinions from any quarter.”

With a robust concert schedule coming up in 2023 starting with a performance at the annual Saptak Festival in Ahmedabad in early January, she says, “Taking into account the threat of another wave, I hope we will all be safe and be able to travel and perform once again.”

Jashn-e-Fehmi, the best Urdu Shayars

By Sukant Deepak

December 24, 2022 (IANSlife) The concluding lines in her note read: Over here, the future always and never arrives...

She recalls conceptualizing ‘Future Landings’, a visual arts project that premiered at Serendipity Arts Virtual 2020, as something that was conceived in a way that it would only be virtual, and could not transition into physical, or something that will have no residue of being a physical transition. However, it has now metamorphosed into the physical world and is currently being shown at the ongoing Serendipity Arts Festival (SAF) in Goa. “During its conception stage, we were living in a frame (the Pandemic) where ‘forward’ was dark and everything was much out of control.

Only unpredictability ruled,” Veerangana Kumari Solanki, one of the Visual Arts section of the festival tells IANS.

Subconsciously, that has seeped into the physical avatar of ‘Future Landing’ as well. She

says curators control things and keep minute details in mind, but with this project, it was all about letting go, and things not being in control.

“And also allowing someone else to have control over a space which first gets attributed to you as a curator. The five artists had access to the back end, and I did not. The concept of change was omnipresent and it was only activated by audience experience. It was about constantly adapting, about the loss of control, something that connects you to the world,” says this independent curator, writer, and researcher based in Mumbai.

Recipient of the first IllySustainArt Curator’s prize (2011) and the 1st Annual ALICE (Artistic Landmark in Contemporary Experience) Public’s Voice Award 2012 for best Emerging Curator, Solanki does not really feel that the much talked about ‘intermingling of disciplines’ and ‘silos being destroyed’ is anything new. “Well, Michelangelo studied science. Different forms have always fed into each other. In the case of a plant,

Of course, in an art space, one medium tends to overpower. It has always been happening. Artists have overlapped as well.” While in the past decade, the ‘role’ of curators has been better understood and amplified in the country, Solanki, who started curation in 2008-2009 remembers people would ask what she really does (“well, some still do”). Rejected by a curating school for being too young, she was a participant in the first Gwangju Biennale Curators’ course (2009) -- jumping straight into the deep sea with major curators and historians.

“ I am so glad about that rejection. Now when I talk to students, there is so much theory... and much less practical knowledge. Of course, the former is important, but you need a hands-on approach -- visiting exhibitions, taking pictures, and teaching yourself things by observing and participating.”

Stressing that the country needs more multi-arts festivals like SAF, she adds, “It would be wonderful to have more platforms that feed into the culture,” says Solanki who is also working on the museum in Kathmandu to make the archives there more accessible to people.

Harfkaar Foundation has been serving theatre, classical music, dance, poetry and literature by organising cultural festivals

By IANSlife

December 28, 2022: Harfkar Foundation presents Jashn-eFehmi to celebrate the phenomenal contribution of Fehmi Badayuni in Urdu literature. The event promises you a profound experience of Ghazals, Qata and Nazms written and composed by the very renowned Shayars.

Zama Sher Khan, popularly

known as Fehmi Badayuni was born on 4 January 1952 in Bisauli district, Badaun. His emotional, sensitive and empathetic poetry has won the hearts, souls and minds of myriads of his critiques, fans and followers, both on and off social media.

Moin Shadab will be hosting this soulful evening with a very special line-up of Shayars like Fehmi Badayuni, Shariq Kaifi, Abhishek Shukla, Vikas Sharma Raaz, Azhar Iqbal, Dr. Nadeem Shad, Irshad Khan Sikandar.

Day & Date: Friday, 30th Dec' 22

Timing: 6:00 p.m. onwards

Venue: India International Centre, 40, Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi:110003

Entry: Free

Sadly, artistes do not think of themselves as a fraternity or community: Shubha Mudgal

The artiste has a robust concert schedule coming up in 2023

The country needs more multiarts festivals

Stories of unsung heroes now in comic strips

A workshop to train research scholars for preparing the material for the project with the help of lecturers, writers and historians was held in Lucknow earlier this week.

Book recaps the untold stories of freedom struggle in N-E

Lucknow, Dec 21 (IANS) The Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) and Folk and Tribal Art and Culture Institute (FTACI) of Uttar Pradesh are converting stories of unsung heroes of the freedom struggle into comic strips.

Audio visual presentation and short stories will also be made available through its district digital repository scheme.

Vice-president, CCRT, Dibakar Das said researchers will visit various places in the state, document oral history and collect evidence on unsung heroes, events, traditions, archives, monuments, folk art and culture.

Thereafter, the researchers will prepare write-ups based on their findings and send them to FTACI.

"It will be followed by scrutiny of the write-ups by an expert panel constituted by CCRT. Every write-up will have to mention the source of information and should not be plagiarised," he said.

Westland acquires Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari’s first novel, ‘Chronicle of an Hour and a Half’, an engrossing read on violence and complicity

Guwahati, Dec 18 (IANS) Did you know that a 12-year-old girl from Assam by the name of Tileswari Barua is the youngest martyr of India's freedom struggle? Or that General Thangal of Manipur is the oldest martyr of India, having been hanged to death at the age of 80?

first revolt led by Gomdhar Konwar two years after the British annexed Assam in 1826, records the execution of Piyoli Phukan and Jiuram Duliya Barua in 1830 and then unfolds, in a chronological manner, a series of incidents of the anti-colonial resistance till 1947.

The Maniram Dewan story and massacre of over 185 Hindustani sepoys in 1857, which had so long remained neglected at the national level, the subcontinent's first peasants' uprising at Phulaguri (1861) against the British, the Patharughat massacre (1894), the role played by women (including attainment of martyrdom by over a dozen of them), the Dhekiajuli massacre (1942), -- all of Assam -- come together in this well-researched book.

in time to the dark days of British expansionism in the northeast.

The author has also described in detail the Muslim League conspiracy to include Assam in its Pakistan plan by way of engineering a silent demographic invasion, and how the Assamese leaders under Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi stood up against the silence of the All India Congress Committee to this issue.

New Delhi, Dec 16: In the foothills of the Western Ghats, the village of Vaiga is enduring the worst storm it has seen in decades: ceaseless rain, fallen trees, flooded river, severe power cut. But another more insidious storm is brewing beneath the facade of provincial life. It begins as a rumour of an illicit affair -a rumour that brings Saud and his sons to Vaiga in search of Burhan. The rumour soon takes on a life of its own, embellished through frantic WhatsApp messages, with everyone turning into gatekeepers of morality even as they relish the prurient details of the alleged affair.

In the ensuing chaos, fuelled by petty grievances and savage speculation, Vaiga erupts into violence as a mob takes to the street, baying for blood.

Tautly written and compellingly imagined, Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari's "Chronicle of an Hour and a Half" is an engrossing, unsettling read on violence and complicity.

Commenting on the acquisition,

Kannanari said: "While I wrote this novel set in a close-knit, WhatsApp-obsessed village in Kerala, I might have been thinking about Don Delillo's foreboding that, as technology advances in scope and complexity, fear becomes more primitive. He ends the prologue to his 1991 masterpiece 'Mao II' with another prognostication -the future belongs to crowds. Perhaps I have set the two statements in conversation with one another to conjure up this rather violent glimpse into contemporary India. This is my debut, and I am delighted that the book will have its best friends in Karthika, Ajitha, Minakshi and others at Westland."

Karthika V.K., Publisher, Westland Books, said, "There's something urgent and edgy about this brilliantly conceived debut novel. Every scene in it plays out so vividly and at so many levels that it's like reading and listening and watching, all at the same time."

Ajitha G.S., Publisher, Context, said, "Saharu's novel is that rare thing -an entirely original voice in English-language fiction in India. The novel transports the reader almost viscerally to the village of Vaiga, where events build up rapidly to a frightening end.

I read it breathlessly, in one go." Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari lives in a small town called Areekode, near Calicut, Kerala. He completed his BA from Aligarh Muslim University and MA from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. This is his first novel.

A new book titled 'Untold Stories of the Freedom Struggle from Northeast India' written by veteran Guwahati-based journalist and author Samudra Gupta Kashyap, has not only rediscovered these two stories, but has also brought together numerous other stories of patriotism, courage and sacrifice from across the northeastern region.

The book has been published recently by the Publications Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, as part of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'. Divided into seven chapters each dealing with one of the seven states of the northeast, the book brings to the fore hitherto unrecognised battles that freedom-loving tribal communities of the region fought against the heavily-armed, repressive, exploitative British. It begins with the story of the

Likewise, the amazing manner in which the Khamti, Singpho, Adi, Mishmi and Wanchoo communities of present-day Arunachal Pradesh, the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo tribals of present-day Meghalaya, the Angamis of the Naga Hills, the Lushais of present-day Mizoram and the Kuki and Zeliangrongs of Manipur were engaged in bloody battles to protect their respective homelands from British subjugation have been brilliantly described.

Yet another episode described in detail is the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891. The full-scale war the British waged on Manipur, the armed resistance leading to the killing of five top British officers, the martyrdom of Bir Tikendrajit, General Thangal, Kajao Singh, Chirai Naga and Niranjan Singh, the Battle of Khongjom and the heroism of Paona Brajabasi, Nupi Lan or Manipur's women warriors, takes the reader back

"Bringing out all these from across the northeast was a huge challenge, especially because of lack of proper documentation of most of the incidents. In fact, barring Assam, Manipur and partially Meghalaya, the anticolonial resistance movements in the other states have been hardly researched and documented. In many cases, one had to take help of British documents and reports and then recreate the stories from the opposite angle," Kashyap, who is currently a State Information Commissioner in Assam, told IANS.

"Certain stories, like the Khamtis under Ranuwa Gohain wiping out a British station and killing the eastern Assam administrator Col Adam White along with 80 of his Hindustani soldiers in Sadiya in January 1839, the way the Nagas defended Khonoma village from 1844 to 1879, the manner in which Lalsuthlaha, Ngura, Suakpuilala, Pasaltha Khuangchera, Ropuiliani, Zakapa, Hnawncheuva explained in the book.

Lushai chiefs of present-day Mizoram fought the betterequipped British forces, and were also dug out with great difficulties in the absence of proper documentation," Kashyap, who had as a senior writer and journalist reported northeast to the outside world for close to four decades, added.

What can friendship survive, asks Kamila Shamsie

award-winning British-Pakistani author Kamila Shamsie tells IANS.

New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS) She says a novel has a number of starting points, and for a long time she was been interested in the idea of childhood friendships and how they are so different. "In 2016, in America there was Trump and in Britain, Brexit. I started hearing a lot of people saying things, like 'Oh! there are so many things falling apart and I cannot talk to them (friends) because they are on the other side...

I found myself thinking about what can friendships survive,"

Her latest novel 'Best of Friends' (Bloomsbury Publishing), a book about friendship, power, morality, and loyalty, follows its title characters from their Pakistani girlhoods to their adult lives in England. She adds that in friendships, one may choose to just ignore the points of difference and focus on the similarities -- but what happens if that source of difference cannot be ignored anymore? "So it started in that way and it was more abstract. And then, I was writing an article on Pakistan's women's cricket team, and I felt this tingling in my fingers, and strong memories hit me. It was such a crucial point and I had the idea -- It must begin in Karachi. So I suppose all those things came together."

The author, who won the 2018 Women's Prize for Fiction

('Home Fire') and has to her credit novels including 'In the City by the Sea', 'Salt and Saffron', 'Kartography', 'Broken Verses', 'Burnt Shadows', 'A God in Every Stone' and 'Home Fire' says that something she is just not interested in deciphering which characters in her works share similarities with those in her life. "Because when I start associating that, they become someone else, and it's very hard to see them as people. In the back of my brain, I am using my life experiences and the people I have met as inspiration, and it's not just from one person. While for some people, the joy of writing comes from real-life people who they take their inspiration from, in my case, I am still that child who wants to make things up."

RELEASE DATE: 13 January 2023

LANGUAGE: Hindi (With English Subtitles)

PRODUCER: A Luv Films & Vishal Bhardwaj Films Production

DIRECTOR: Aasmaan Bhardwaj

CAST: Arjun Kapoor, Tabu, Naseeruddin Shah, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kumud Mishra, Radhika Madan

WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

RELEASE DATE: 26 January 2023

RELEASE DATE: 25 January 2023

LANGUAGE: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu (With English Subtitles)

PRODUCER: Aditya Chopra

DIRECTOR: Siddharth Anand

CAST: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Dimple Kapadia, John Abraham SYNOPSIS: Make. Some. Noise! PATHAAN is here! The high-octane spy thriller 'PATHAAN' starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John

TU JHOOTHI MAIN MAKKAR

RELEASE DATE: 8 March 2023

LANGUAGE: Hindi (With English Subtitles)

PRODUCER: Luv Ranjan and Ankur Garg

SYNOPSIS: A van carrying crores of cash. One rainy night in the outskirts of Mumbai. Unaware of each other, three stray gangs cross paths on the hunt. Unfortunately, all of them have the same plan. Bullets... Blood... Betrayal... It's every man for himself... All the dogs after one bone. Will these dogs bite the bone, or will they lose to greed?

Abraham, directed by Siddharth Anand is set to release on January 25, 2023. The action spectacle will be released in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.Celebrate Pathaan with YRF50 only at a big screen near you

LANGUAGE: PRODUCER: Jemima Goldsmith, Eric Fellner, Tim Bevan, Nicky

Kentish Barnes

DIRECTOR: Shekhar Kapur

CAST: Shabana Azmi, Shazad Latif, Lily James, Emma Thompson

SYNOPSIS: A filmmaker decides to document her best friend's journey toward arranged marriage.

DIRECTOR: Luv Ranjan CAST: Ranbir Kapoor,Shraddha Kapoor,Dimple Kapadia,Boney Kapoor

Here’s why Kim Kardashian is drinking coffee and alcohol

focus all day after school then it's like product meetings and testing things and packaging meetings and everything for SKKN," she explained. "I just don't ever feel comfortable just laying around doing nothing."

Kim continued: "So my version of that has been to spend some time with my friends and have a drink and stay out a little bit later, when I probably wouldn't have done that before."

Los Angeles, Dec 31 (IANS) Reality TV star Kim Kardashian has started drinking some beverages she usually doesn't pick. She revealed that she now consumes both coffee and alcohol.

"I started to drink a little bit at the age of 42. Coffee and alcohol," Kim shared on the December 27 episode of The goop Podcast, as per People. "I feel like I just gotta let loose a little bit."

As for why Kim has started drinking these, she shared that she wanted to make a change to her habit of always being in work mode, reports eonline.com.

"I just feel like I work a lot and I

Kim noted during the episode that her alcohol of choice is tequila, per the outlet. But even with a newfound appreciation for liquor and a little sister who founded a Tequila company, Kim tends to stick to a limit.

"It just has to be a little shot of pineapple and a shot of tequila," she said.

"I have two shots and I'm like so good. It's been fun."

Earlier this year, fans got to watch then 41-year-old Kim try her hand at taking a shot during Kylie Jenner's birthday celebration in August. Let's just say, Kim didn't take it like a champ when she ended up spitting the drink right out.

Kiara-Sidharth wedding on the cards in Rajasthan?

maintained.

Jaipur, Dec 31 (IANS) With internet abuzz of news about Bollywood stars Kiara Advani and Sidharth Malhotra to tie the knot, people are wondering if another palace wedding is on the cards in Rajasthan.

In December 2021, Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif had tied the knot at The Six Senses Fort Barwara in Sawai Madhopur. Their wedding function was a top secret affair where cent per cent privacy was

Now, the reports doing the rounds suggesting Kiara and Sidharth will tie the knot in Jaisalmer next year and the wedding date has been fixed as February 6. However, the gorgeous Bollywood couple has stayed tight-lipped on the matter. The wedding, as per sources, will take place at Jaisalmer Palace Hotel, but, there is no official confirmation from stars as well as the hotel. The pre-wedding functions of Mehendi, Haldi and Sangeet will be held on February 4-5, while the nuptials will take place on February 6, sources say. So far on the social media, the Bollywood stars have given no clue of their wedding. While Kiara has posted her picture with Amitabh Bachchan from sets of KBC in her recent post, Sidharth has posted a picture of 'Mission Majnu', his next movie.

A sneak peak at Deepika & Shah Rukh’s style in Pathaan

both of them were supposed to look like they’ve never been presented like this before.”

She adds, “SRK is supposed to look like he is not supposed to be in the film and she is, of course, supposed to look her sexiest best.

December 14, 2022 (IANSlife)

Shaleena Nathani is the top stylist of our country today and she has belted out jaw-dropping looks for Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone in Pathaan’s first song Besharam Rang that everyone is raving about. The verdict is out – the two are looking their hottest best in Pathaan and Shaleena decodes how she curated these epic style statements that will be etched in the hearts and minds of people forever!

Shaleena says, “The brief started off with Sid (Siddharth Anand) telling me what the mood of the song was because this is in the film. It’s connected to the story of the movie so it’s kind of a part where she is very carefree and

I think what is great about Sid is that he gives me the brief and lets me take it from there which is very important in any relationship where you trust the other person. He had given me a lot of freedom and put a lot of trust in me which is why all of us were able to give our best to this film.”

Shaleena further adds, “I was also eager to make this song look like nothing you’ve ever seen before. I wanted the clothes to be very different from what you would see in a song like this. Even the swimsuits she is wearing, colors we’ve used. I wanted to do something which hopefully will be relevant for a long time. Even for Shahrukh, we’ve been able to do a little anti-fit, cool shirt and gave him a lot of accessories. He is presented as a guy who throws his clothes on together but in a very sexy way like making it look like we’ve unbuttoned his shirt. The attitude with which both of

them have worn their clothes is very chill and easy.” Shaleena says the song is looking this hot because she also had SRK and Deepika’s magnetic personalities to carry off these clothes! She says, “I also could not have asked for two better actors to dress because there are no two people who carry clothes off better than they do. We did not approach it as a dance number, but what’s great is that we looked at it as a mood where two people would be wearing clothes as they stepped out to go to a party. All this was incorporated into the song which was really nice for me so the clothes were still real that a girl or a guy can wear on a normal basis. So it was a bit of elevated casual fashion for me.”

Pathaan is India’s biggest-ever action spectacle for audiences. The visually spectacular Yash Raj Films’ action extravaganza, Pathaan, is part of Aditya Chopra’s ambitious spy universe and has the biggest superstars of the country Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, and John Abraham in it. The adrenalinepumping, visually extravagant film is set to release on Jan 25,

15 years of ‘Welcome’: Playing Majnu bhai came ‘naturally’ to Anil Kapoor

painting by patching them onto t-shirts.

The actor mentioned that the character was indeed a fun one to portray as he didn't feel like he was acting.

Mumbai, Dec 21: As the 2007 comedy caper 'Welcome' completes fifteen years on Wednesday, Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor, who played the role of Majnu bhai in the film, is filled with gratitude. Majnu bhai among Anil's favourite characters.

This character has given rise to countless memes of social media and WhatsApp stickers. Some people have even gone to the length of merchandising Maju bhai's famous donkey on a horse

He shared: "It came to me naturally and with Anees bhai's (Anees Bazmee, the director) writing and direction and with Nana being the perfect co-Star as Uday bhai made it even easier and lots of fun. I see so many recreations on social media of his dialogues and it's amazing how he is still relatable even to the famous Gen Z. The character is one of the most iconic ones and will instantly lift your mood with his dialogues and swag."

'Welcome' was directed by Anees Bazmee, and also starred Nana Patekar, Katrina Kaif, Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Malaika Sherawat and Feroz Khan. It told the story of a simpleton and his family who cross paths with a gangster family in pursuit of Akshay's character of Rajeev. The ensuing comedy has many iconic

moments that have gone down in the page of history and have been captured in memes. Recollecting his experience of shooting with the ensemble cast, he added: "The on-set memories with Akshay, Nana, Paresh, Katrina will stay on. We used to laugh so much off the camera after the final take. A wonderful film, character and experience. I am so grateful for this ever growing love for him."

Will burn Shah Rukh Khan alive: Ayodhya seer

Lucknow, Dec 21: Seers from Ayodhya have now waded into the controversy over Shah Rukh Khan-starrer 'Pathaan'.

Mahant Paramhans Acharya of Tapasvi Chhavni, has said that he would even go to the extent of burning Shah Rukh Khan alive if he ever met him.

Paramhans Acharya added that the saffron colour has been insulted in the 'Besharam Rang' song."People of our Sanatan Dharma are protesting continuously regarding this. Today we have burnt the poster of Shahrukh Khan. If I get to meet

the film Jihadi Shah Rukh Khan, I will burn him alive," the seer said. Acharya did not stop at that. He went on to say that if 'Pathaan' film was released in theatres, he would set them on fire.

He also appealed people to boycott 'Pathaan'.

Earlier, the priest of Hanuman Garhi, Mahant Raju Das, had also protested against the film.

Politicians and right-wing supporters are protesting over saffron coloured outfits in the song 'Besharam Rang' in the film.

World premiere of Manoj Bajpayeestarrer ‘Joram’ at Rotterdam fest

collaboration between the director and Manoj Bajpayee after their short film 'Tandav' and the 2020 feature 'Bhonsle', for which 'The Family Man' star got the National Award for best actor.

Talking about their creative partnership, Bajpayee said: "I always remain very proud of my artistically fulfilling relationship with them."

changing rapidly.

He said: "In its vision and its making, our film has sought to bridge that ever-shifting gap between artistic cinema and the mainstream, hopefully having pulled in the best of both."

Mumbai, Dec 20 (IANS) The survival thriller 'Joram', which stars Manoj Bajpayee, is set to have its world premiere in the Big Screen Competition section at the 52nd edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).

The film festival is to be held from January 26 to February 6 in the Netherlands.

'Joram', according to the film's logline, narrates the story of a bereaved father who must be on the run with his baby girl across half the country to escape the ghosts of his past and the forces that want him dead at any cost.

The film, directed by Devashish Makhija, marks the third

Set in Jharkhand and Mumbai, 'Joram' is also Makhija's third film to be screened at the Rotterdam festival after 'Ajji' and 'Bhonsle'.

Recounting his experience, Bajpayee said: "It is a riveting story of a man torn between his past and present. I loved playing the intricate character, Darsu, who, on the outside, looks like an ordinary man who people may not even notice, but in no way is he a common man. A brilliant story with such impactful characters!"

Makhija said the film bridges the gap between artistic cinema and the mainstream. The lines dividing the two streams of filmmaking, he said, keep

The film also stars Zeeshan Ayyub, Smita Tambe and Megha Mathur, and features guest appearances by Tannishtha Chatterjee and Rajshri Deshpande.

Talking about his role, Ayyub said: "I play Ratnakar, a city-bred cop, who is low on the social ladder and therefore among his colleagues too. Being a city-bred person myself, to me this film, especially my first-ever trip into the forests to shoot it and the iron ore mines, made me realise how much of 'me' was in Ratnakar -that my access to education and middle-class angst was a luxury compared to the bleak, stark and forever-on-the-edge lives the truly underprivileged live daily."

Presented by Zee Studios, 'Joram' will be released in India next year.

Mumbai, Dec 21: Bollywood star Ayushmann Khurrana, who was recently seen in 'An Action Hero' is a true blue Punjabi munda as he loves to indulge in food at all times. The talented actor-singer enjoys homemade food and Indian sweets made by his mother of which rajma-chawal, sarson ka saag, makki ki roti and gaajar ka halwa are his absolute favourites.

Given his shooting schedule, the actor has to constantly follow a regimented diet plan. However, the talented actor makes it a point to go back to his hometown Chandigarh every Diwali and year-end holiday, and during this time, he indulges in everything his mother makes for him.

Talking about the same, Ayushmann shared: "My mom and my mother-in-law spoil me

with my favourite dishes and I thoroughly enjoy it. It is tough for me to decide what I want to eat each day. Right from rajmachawal, sarson ka saag, makki ki roti, pinni to gaajar ka halwa - I like to eat all the delicacies that they make because they are simply divine. This holiday season I'm looking to get pampered in Chandigarh."

He further spoke about the importance of spending quality time with family as he said: "I feel it is important to spend quality time with your family. One must always remember where one's roots are and for me it's Chandigarh. My parents and this beautiful city have shaped me into the person that I have become today. Despite being in Mumbai, I always feel a massive gravitational pull for my home."

"I usually have erratic schedules because of shoots, promotions, brand deliverables etc and so, I make it a point to go back to my family in Chandigarh whenever possible, especially during the holidays. It is nostalgic and rejuvenating," he added.

Ayushmann will be leaving for Chandigarh after finishing his brand and film commitments this year and will ring in the new year with his family.

Kolkata, Dec

(IANS)

Hindustani Arijit Singh," he said. The BJP has alleged that the singer has paid the price for singing the popular song "Rang De Tu Mohe Gerua" in the presence Banerjee at the recent inauguration of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), which was attended, among others, by top Bollywood stars such as Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Rani Mukherjee.

BJP's IT cell chief and the party's observer for West Bengal Amit Malviya and the state president of BJP's youth wing in West Bengal Indranil Khan took to Twitter targeting the state government and ruling Trinamool Congress on this count.

After the show of Ghulam Ali was cancelled, Banerjee, in a Twitter message on October 8, 2015, invited the legendary Pakistani singer to conduct a concert in Kolkata.

"Music has no boundaries. Music is the rhythm of heart. Ghulam Ali Ji concert can be held in Kolkata. We will make all arrangements," she posted.

Referring to that Twitter message, Adhikari on Thursday issued a fresh Twitter message questioning the Chief Minister for not showing the same openmindedness about Arijit Singh. "Music has no boundaries when it comes to Pakistani Ghulam Ali but the case is different for

However, state Urban Development Affairs minister and Kolkata Mayor, Firhad Hakim dismissed such allegations and claimed that all programmes at ECO Park during that time had been cancelled keeping in mind the G20 seminar.

Arjit Singh show controversy: Adhikari refers to Mamata’s tweet about Ghulam Ali in 2015

Ayushmann is a true blue Punjabi, attested by rajma-chawal & sarson ka saag!

29

As a political slugfest has erupted over the cancellation of a concert by popular playback singer Arijit Singh at the Eco Park in Kolkata scheduled for early next year, Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Suvendu Adhikari has referred to a Twitter message by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in October 2015 over cancellation of a concert by Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali in Mumbai following threats from Shiv Sena.