28.6% lives below Poverty Line
According to a recent ILO’s report on ‘Labour and Social Trends in Asia and the Pacific 2006’, 28.6 per cent of the total population in India was below the national poverty line in the year 2000. Labour productivity is person-specific and not job-specific. It is low in India due to lack of infrastructure, technology, skills etc. Poverty reduction has been an important goal of development policy in India. Emphasis is being placed on upgradation of skills, vocational training and on the implementation of the targeted programmes of poverty alleviation to address the multidimensional nature of poverty.
This was stated by the Minister of State(Independent Charge) of Ministry of Labour and Employment, Shri Oscar Fernandes in written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Website of the Vice President of India launched
Vice President of India’s official website www.vicepresidentofindia.nic.in was launched today evening at Vice President’s House in the presence of Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the Vice President of India.
Designed and developed by the National Informatics Centre, the website contains various information related to the profile of Shri Shekhawat, his important speeches and reflections, besides important information relating to the role and responsibilities of Vice President of India, Ex-officio positions, the Vice President’s Secretariat and the profiles of all the former Vice Presidents. The website also has a Photo Gallery which contains select photographs of the Vice President, performing his constitutional and public duties.
The website is being maintained by the NIC Unit of the Vice President’s Secretariat. The Vice President can also be reached by his email vpindia@nic.in.
On this occasion, the Director General, NIC along with senior officers and the officers of the Vice President’s Secretariat were also present.
Indian Cinema at IFFI
A large variety of Indian Cinema at IFFI-06 brings forth the wide linguistic variety with different visions, perceptions and approaches to the medium. The Festival pays tributes to two greats of Indian cinema Prithviraj Kapoor and Sachin Deb Burman. Prithiviraj Kapoor began his career in the year 1929 and through his large body of work from Do Dhari Talwar, his debut film, to films like Sikander, Mughal-e-Azam and Kal Aaj Aur Kal, whereas Sachin Deb Burman, beginning his career in the year 1937, lent a position of respectability to playback music and made it popular among the masses.
The Festival also pays homage to eleven noted film personalities who passed away last year. These include Nadira (Actress), Naushad Ali (Music Director), Oduvil Unnikrishnan (Actor, Malayalam Cinema), P. Bhanumathi (Actress, Dancer, Director, Writer, Telugu and Tamil Cinema), Padmini (Actress), Hrishikesh Mukherjee (Director), Dr. Raj Kumar (Kannada Actor), Sri Vidya (Tamil Actress), Ustad Bismillah Khan (Shenai Maestro), Parveen Babi (Actress) and Manoj Punj, young Punjabi Film Director.
With a view to bring alive an era of commitment to art house cinema, the Festival presents a retrospective of the great Malayalam film maker Govindan Aravindan who lent a new meaning and dimension to Indian Cinema between the seventies and early nineties. The section opens on 25th November, 2006 with his film Vasthuhara.
This year’s Indian Panorama package opens with Missed Call by Mridul Toolsidass and Vinay Subramanian in the feature film category and ‘And The World Remained Silent’ by Ashoke Pandit in the non feature film category. Both films bring forth contemporary concerns effectively. Film makers like Girish Kasravalli and T V Chandran through their films Nayi Neralu and Aadum Koothu put across their directorial visions in an impressive manner.
The non-feature section also brings forth a wide variety. The student cinema mainly by the students of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, mixed with the vision of veterans like Jabbar Patel, adds colour to the non feature film package of Indian panorama. Surprisingly, there is a large number of biographical films this time in this package, effectively capturing recent history. The Indian Panorama section would be inaugurated on 24th November, 2006 at 11.30 a.m. in INOX Multiplex.
The Indian mainstream cinema is a package of 12 blockbusters across Indian languages. The section would be inaugurated by the renowned actress Sridevi on 25th November, 2006 at kala Academy. Rang de Basanti is the opening film of the section.
Indian premieres at the Festival include films like Yatra by Gautam Ghosh, Kallarali Huvagi (Flower blooms to a stone) Kannada, by T. S. Nagabharna. Glass House (Marathi) directed by Gajendra Ahire brings forth the trauma of a family after the recent Mumbai local trains blasts. Thananam Thananam, directed by Kavitha Lankesh, and Antarnad, directed by the Goan Rajendra Talak are musicals.
UNDP assisted Project in three States
The five year project (2003-07) of the Government of India with UNDP funds, is to support 5000 women’s groups to promote decentralized management of natural resources, on which the poor including women depend for livelihood, through provisioning of resources and training to women’s groups.
The project aims at strengthening partnerships between women’s groups, civil society, PRIs and local government to facilitate greater cross learning, knowledge and information sharing, access to resources and technical capacities and wider dissemination of tested social mobilization approaches. It is also to facilitate dialogue between women’s groups, NGOs and policy makers for influencing relevant policies and programmes.
The project is being implemented through 17 NGOs such as PRADAN, LGSS, FEMALE, AAA and KSRA in Jharkhand; VLKALPA, LOKADURSTI, WIDA and AMMA in Orissa; and ASTHA, FES, ARAVALI, SAMARTHAK, BAIF, SANKALP, GVT and CECOEDEDCON in Rajasthan.
A total amount of Rs. 3.62 crore has been released under the project to various implementing agencies during the year 2006-07. The Ministry of Rural Development will also ensure that an equal amount is available from `Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna’ for appropriate activities to be undertaken by women’s groups.
India & Iran discusses Natural Gas Supply to India
India and Iran today held discussions on two important projects between the two countries for supplying natural gas to India. These projects include the sale of 5 million tones LNG per year and the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) Gas Pipeline Project. Various issues relating to these projects came up during a meeting between the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Murli Deora and the Iranian Foreign Minister Mr. Monachehr Mottaki, here today.
The two Ministers referred to the need of strengthening the long standing friendly relations between Iran and India particularly in the context of the rapid economic growth in India and its growing energy requirements.
Shri Deora emphasized Indian commitment to the projects and told media persons after the meeting that India will have a look at the fresh proposals from Iranian side regarding LNG contract which was signed in June 2005 at Tehran. He also informed that the consultants appointed for suggesting a pricing formula for IPI Gas Pipeline Project is expected to submit their report soon. This will be followed by Secretary level talks between the three countries at Teheran. Mr. Mottaki also reiterated that Iran is keen to go ahead with both these projects to further strengthen relationship between India and Iran.