Dec/31/2011

Punjabi films' award function to be held in Toronto\

The first-ever Punjabi International Film Academy Awards (PIFAA) function would be hosted in Toronto on August 4, 2012, and noted actor of yesteryear Dharmendra would be the brand ambassador-promoter of the event, president of the Canada-based media group Rajinder Saini announced here on Friday.

The event was aimed at taking Punjabi films to a higher plank and getting international recognition for Punjabi artistes, said Mr. Saini.

The popularity of Punjabi films has been increasing outside India due to the rapidly growing Punjabi Diaspora as well as the improvement in the quality of the films in recent years.

Despite a long history of Punjabi films and dominance by Punjabis in Bollywood, there was no major awards function dedicated to acknowledge their excellence. The Parvasi Media Group decided to initiate the PIFAA after consultations with Punjabi film personalities and “their enthusiastic response.”

The awards would be divided into 15 categories. Punjabi films from Pakistan would also be included in a special category and some leading Pakistani film personalities have been invited for the event.

The media group has been organising Parvasi Awards for the last five years to honour outstanding achievements of Punjabi Canadians in various fields.

Anti-dam protesters in Assam suspend stir

Five organisations, including the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) led by Right to Information (RTI) activist Akhil Gogoi, and the Asom Jatiyabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), which have been demanding a halt to the ongoing construction of the 2000 mega watt lower Subonsiri hydro-electric project of the NHPC at Gerukamukh in Arunachal Pradesh on Friday announced a two-day suspension of the blockade of national highway 52 used for transporting equipment and construction materials to the project site.

The organisations, however, said if the Assam government failed to initiate discussion within the next two days the blockade would automatically resume on January 2. The suspension came after a war of words between the organisations and the State government, and the government alleging that Maoists were behind the protests. Mr. Gogoi while denying the allegation, dubbed it a conspiracy to malign the anti-mega dam agitation.

Meanwhile, 26 organsations, including the All Assam Students' Union (AASU), have launched a three-day blockade, demanding halt to the construction of the dam.

Mr. Akhil Gogoi expressed solidarity with the blockade. The AASU and other student youth bodies also took out a procession and submitted a memorandum to the State government through the Deputy Commisisoner of Lakhimpur district. In the city, leaders and workers of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) blocked the busy Guwahati-Shillong road at Ganeshguri demanding arrest of Mr. Akhil Gogoi. They accused him of being a “Maoist.” The police later took them into custody.

Earlier, a crackdown by the Assam police and paramilitary forces during the early hours of Monday to evict agitators from the highway triggered violent protests. Five organisations called for a 48-hour bandh in Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts in protest.

However, defending the police action, the government said the organisations had taken the law into their hands. It maintained that it was open to dialogue.

China, India partners: Niu Qingbao

Media reports of unverified Chinese incursions in the border, hackings of Indian computers and dumping of goods are nothing but fallacy, China's Consul General in Mumbai Niu Qingbao said here on Friday.

“China and India are partners in establishing a new world political and economic order… With the emergence of India and China, the standing of the Third World is getting stronger by the year.”

Addressing a meeting organised by Indo-China Friendship Association (ICFA), Tamil Nadu Committee, the Chinese envoy said, “There has been sayings of a Century of Asia. But there can be no Century of Asia for a risen China or a risen India only. It will come only when both China and India are risen and united.”

“Seeds of confusion”

China and India are the two largest and fastest growing economies and were the main engines for global economic recovery. As such, the two countries had been coordinating and cooperating to safeguard the interests of developing countries in crucial issues such as climate change, he said.

Stating that misunderstandings had existed between the two Asian giants, he blamed the “European colonists” for sowing the seeds of confusion. Both countries had suffered in the hands of colonialist powers.

Strongly disputing reports of Chinese aggression, he said that the border was not demarcated and both sides have different understandings of the position of Line of Actual Control and as such it was unavoidable for patrols to cross areas claimed by the other side.

He also recalled statements by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament that he did not believe China was going to invade India.

As regards reports of computer hacking, he said that China itself was the largest victim of such crimes. Further, he pointed out that India's IT industry was more advanced as it was the world's back office and had the best IT engineers.

Trade surplus

China's trade surplus with India was due to its comparative advantage in manufacturing high quality Chinese goods which were also affordable and brought profits to Indian traders and benefits to consumers.

He recalled that China's Premier Wen Jiabo had stated that friendliness accounted for 99.99 per cent of the 2,200 year old Sino-Indian exchanges with misunderstandings merely 0.01 per cent.

Mr. Niu Qingbao said that bilateral trade totalled US $ 61.7 billion last year, a growth of 21 times since 2000 with China being India's largest trading partner and India being China's largest trade partner in South Asia and the two-way trade and investment had seen rapid growth.

F.H. Fernandes, vice-president, ICFA National Committee, recalled that India under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was the first country to accord diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China in 1949.

4,700 MW of additional power for State by next December'

Tamil Nadu will get 4,700 MW of additional electricity by December 2012 from new projects to be commissioned next year, said N.Balakrishnan, Chief Engineer, TANGEDCO, Tiruchi region, here on Saturday. With this additional power, shortage and load-shedding prevailing in the State, would be completely tackled. "But people have to wait till December, 2012, and till then they should adhere to energy efficient methods.”

At the national energy conservation day organised by the State Electrical Inspectorate Department, he said there are 2.38 crore power consumers in the state and TANGEDCO has plans to commission 10 additional sub-stations in Tiruchi region to prevent transmission losses. About 10,000 college students have been sensitised to energy saving methods in the last one year.

C.Mani, General Manager, Power Plant, Piping Unit, BHEL, said changes in lighting methods such as using mercury lamps in industries could save energy. Sodium vapour lamps and induction lamps can help in saving energy.

BHEL has installed sensor-based lighting on a trial basis in the administrative office for the plant being constructed at Thirumayam.

"Sensor-based lighting will provide light only when the person is inside the room,” he said. T.Elambooranan, Electrical Inspector, Electrical Inspectorate Department, Tiruchi region, R.Loganathan, professor, SASTRA University, and Electrical Engineers R.Karuppusamy, R.Lakshmiprabha and D.Muthukumaran participated.