The world of GSB Konkani .

Reports of financial turmoil in MSCB lead to panic among co-operative housing societies

2010-09-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

Some co-operative housing societies are worried over reports about the financial mess in Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank Ltd (MSCB), and they have started to withdraw they money from the bank or are considering doing so soon.
Yesterday, Moneylife had reported that MSCB, the nodal bank for all co-operative banks in the state, is in deep financial trouble due to its suspicious loan distribution to some of its favoured co-operative banks and some loss-making sugar co-operative factories.

Nagesh N Kini, chartered accountant and secretary of Mahim Co-operative Housing Society, told Moneylife, "We have moved our money from the bank, because if something happens to this bank, at the most, you'll get Rs 1 lakh deposit insurance cover and that too doesn't come easily. It's advisable for people to move the money from there to stronger co-operative banks or public sector banks."

The apex co-operative bank has been found to have misreported facts and has been given a 'D' grade for the financial year 2009-10 by its auditors, Joshi Nair and Associates. The bank has shown deposits of Rs21,500 crore and a net profit of Rs2.83 crore. However, according to the audit report, the bank has suffered a loss of Rs1,070 crore, mainly due to non-performing assets (NPA). As per the provisional figures for FY10 provided on the bank's website, NPAs are 20.9%. While converting the same into net NPAs, the bank has shown the figure at 7.7%. A majority of the directors of MSCB belong to Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party and many of the others belong to some of the other mainstream parties.

Vinod Sampat, advocate and founder, Vinod C Sampat and Co, said that the profit claimed by MSCB was nothing but "window dressing." He said, "Co-operative banks are not following proper laws and it is not run on a professional basis. There is lack of accountability and they are surviving because of monopoly and patronage of the co-operative department. No one likes to invest in a co-operative bank, but they are forced to do so under the statutory rules. There is a lot of political interference also. It is full of double-standards."

Mr Sampat was critical of the NPAs reported by the bank. "Anything becoming an NPA is a clear example of the casual approach of the bankers. In one day, the account will not become an NPA. There has to be continuous defaults for an account to become an NPA," he said. "When an amount is not being paid, why should there be political patronage? One of the basic reasons for NPAs is inefficiency and political patronage."

Mr Kini's Mahim Co-operative Housing Society is among the oldest in central Mumbai, and as MSCB was the only bank available to them when the society was set up, they opened an account with the bank. According to Mr Kini there are thousands of housing societies in Maharashtra that have their money locked up in MSCB. "Earlier, according to co-operative laws, you had to put your money in a co-operative bank only. But, now one has the choice of banking with a stronger co-operative bank, such as Saraswat Bank, or with any of the public sector banks."

SS Pai, advocate, S.S. Pai & Co., however, called for a "middle path" approach to resolve the crisis. "We have to go to the root cause of the problem and see whether we can have a middle path, so that there will be no political revenge. In future, if they are diverting funds to sugar co-operatives, we should stop them. Now, we should see that the bank survives after taking strong action. Maybe the Reserve Bank of India should call them and tell them to improve, and take stern action as the last resort."

Mr Pai pointed out that the sugarcane industry should be modernised. "If the bank survives, then also the industry survives. Otherwise, what will happen is that if the bank goes into trouble, small depositors will lose their money. So let there be no political revenge and let us have the best possible solution," he said.

On the NPAs reported by the bank, Mr Pai said that the focus should be on development and not entirely on NPAs. "Admitted, NPAs are high. But we are a developing country. Money in a stock exchange and money in the corpus of a bank are like lockers. They don't lose anything unless someone is using that money in an improper way. More than NPAs, we should think of development and look forward. Chinese banks have so much NPAs but they have moved forward. We should take precautions and move forward."

Mumbai-based consumer activist, Achintya Mukherjee, has called for awareness regarding the crisis in the Maharashtra apex co-operative bank. "Many consumers are not aware of this as many leading newspapers have not even carried the news," he said.

Sixty is the new forty

2010-09-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

When people hit 60, most plonk themselves on their favourite couch and watch the remaining days of their life pass by quietly. What about the rest? They begin to enjoy life. Like Malini Kini who isn’t demure about her age or her newfound zest for life.

Before she reached the ‘age of retirement’, she was busy taking care of her husband and their children. Before she knew it came the day when ‘our two daughters flew the nest and I found myself at a loose end’.

RUN FOR FUN
Left with a lot of time on her hands, Malini began exploring her options. What stood out was that both her daughters are marathoners. “Among others, they have participated in the San Francisco and New York marathons. But they would never have gotten that trait from my husband. It must be from me,” she realised.

Despite being an indoors person all through her life, Malini decided to start running at 55. “Initially, I was scared to run even for five minutes. I feared that something would happen to me. But now, I can run 10 km easily.” The confidence in her voice is unmistakable when she says, “I participate in the annual Sunfeast Marathon and, this year, ran the entire 12.5 km.”

HOW CAN I TOP RUNNING?
By climbing. One year before she turned 60, Malini and husband Naveen undertook the toughest Indian pilgrimage — trek to Mount Kailash, the mythical abode of Lord Shiva in the Himalayas.

“Nothing can beat Mount Kailash,” she says grandiloquently. “It’s so tough, most people don't even attempt it. Normally, people start off with less strenuous pilgrimages to Badrinath and Kedarnath in Uttarakhand before embarking on Mount Kailash. But we started off with the toughest.”

THE TOUGHEST TREK
Firstly, it’s not merely about climbing the peak. “You have to do a pradakshina (circumambulate the mountain), which took us two-and-a-half days,” she informs.

At 6,714 metres, the couple were introduced to altitude sickness (feeling of dizziness, nausea and shortness of breath due to insufficient oxygen). Plus, the couple and fellow travellers had to make do with minimum amenities. “No toilets, no running water,” she says before adding, “You really get in touch with nature there.”

These problems seemed minor when it came to the perils of the route. “The paths are so narrow that one misstep means certain death. We hired a pony for the last 54 km. At that height, the 54 km seemed like a 1,000 km. To help you tread the treacherous path, you hire one person to hold your hand and another to hold the pony,” she says. “When we finally reached the peak, we cried and called our families.”

As Malini relives the two-week-long journey, it becomes apparent that the experience has left an indelible impression. “It makes you realise there is more to life than just enjoying,” she says philosophically.

Stirred by the adventure, Malini undertook another challenging two-week trip to the Valley of Flowers in Uttarakhand. For Malini, an expert in Ikebana or the Japanese art of arranging flowers, the choice of destination was a no-brainer.

That was a month ago. Right now, she’s planning her next trip.

Some 60-year-olds, it is difficult to keep up with.

MALINI’S TIPS TO LIVE THE 60s
“You are as old as you feel. I am into positive thinking. I never let any problem bog me down. I don’t crib about aches or pains. If someone talks about depressing issues, I immediately change the topic.

“I eat right and engage in physical activities every day, including yoga, swimming and walking.

“It is easy to look younger. For younger looking skin, do facercises where you pout, grin, frown etc,” Malini says.

Global Goans convention to be held in Kuwait from Nov 16

2010-09-29T07:31:00.001-07:00

The annual Global Goans Convention will be held in Kuwait from November 16 and 17 this year, a senior functionary said.Goa's NRI Commissioner Eduardo Faleiro said that India's Ambassador in Kuwait, senior officials of Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, leaders of Goan community across the world as well as leaders of Indian community in the Gulf countries will participate in the convention.The convention is organised by the Goan cultural centre, Kuwait.Faleiro said that during the convention, there will be open house for the benefit of Goan domestic and industrial workers in Kuwait."Concerned officials of the union and of the Goa governments will address their grievances and the suggestions made at the meeting," the NRI commissioner told reporters in Panaji.He said that Vishwa Konkani Sammelan will be organised on the second day in which Konkani speaking people from Goa, Mangalore and Kerala will take part.

Kaav to rock the city

2010-09-27T23:09:00.000-07:00

KOCHI: Three friends — a graphic designer, a website content writer and a dog trainer. When they got together, they rocked, literally. And that was how ‘Kaav’ was born. The music of the three-piece band with Shyam Pai on the lead guitar,

Shabeer Ali on the bass and Arun Kumar on the drums is a heady mix of Indian classical music, folk, rock, metal and more. “It’s up to the listener to describe our music. At the most you can call it psychedelic,” say the trio, who are self-taught musicians based in Vypeen.The three-song debut album (Extended Play or EP) they released recently was a low budget maiden attempt and they were dumbstruck when they found their video ‘Daya’ featured in the website of none other than Coldplay! “At first we didn’t know what was happening. The Youtube hits for our album suddenly rose by hundreds within hours,” says Shyam. “Then we learnt that Coldplay had featured it in their ‘Exhibits’ section. I had sent it to them months back and forgotten all about it.” ‘Daya’ can still be found in Coldplay’s site. Interestingly, ‘Kaav’ doesn’t have a vocalist. But they are happy without one as of now because “the equation we share with each other is more important to us.” Moreover, being purely instrumental has now become their signature. Produced by Baiju Dharmarajan of MotherJane, it was a long cherished dream come true for the trio. “For a long while, we had no exposure to western music, no support from family and no money for the right instruments.” ‘Daya’ has been shot and edited by Shyam on his handycam. It has been shot entirely in and around coastal Kochi but Shyam’s artistic skills have given it a surreal quality.It was destiny which brought the three together. Shyam and Shabeer were classmates at school and later, they used to have jam sessions together. After college, Shyam left for Delhi while Shabeer turned to dog training. But the dream of forming a band stayed in their minds and the two got together again and looked out for a drummer. last year a common friend introduced them to Arun, who had earlier played in a deathmetal band. Arun had let go of all his musical ambitions to work at Chennai. The trio soon found that they had a lot more in common than their birthdays which fall in October 1981, and felt that it was time to realise their dream.“Forming a band is easy. Continuing to stay together is difficult,” they say. Their next aim is to make themselves heard in music festivals and other shows. They have not yet decided what they will compose next. “Our music is influenced by everything we have listened to,” they say. That ranges from Indian classical music and old Hindi film songs to the music of Coldplay, Opeth and Porcupine Tree. “Even the music of a wayside beggar inspires us. It has sweet melancholy.” With a set of talented musicians and a lot of enthusiasm, ‘Kaav’ is set to go places. “What matters more is the emotion that our music evokes, not the genre of music,” they say.Their songs can be downloaded at www.kaav.in. They are going to perform on September 26 at the ‘Gathering Storm’ rock festival at the K T Poulose Hall near the public library.

Kini, Bolisetti consolidate in JK Tyre racing

2010-09-27T20:37:00.000-07:00

Ajay Kini of Wallace Sports and Sailesh Bolisetti of RAD Racing consolidated their positions at the top of the Formula LGB and Super Saloons class at the end of the fourth round of the JK Tyre National Racing Championship Sunday.

Kini, who finished second in the first race Saturday, came third today behind the experienced Amerya Walavalkar (TVS Girling) and Ravikumar Deepak (Mars Racing) in the second Formula Swift race that was stopped due to rain after six laps.

Bolisetti from Vizag extended his dominance with a double in the Super Saloon class despite handling issues, especially in the second outing this morning in wet conditions.

His car, prepared by veteran and former champion Radha Selvarajan had a set up for wet going, but the race was eventually run on a drying track. Yet, Bolisetti had enough pace to keep his challengers at an arm's length to win comfortably.

The Formula Rolon races witnessed close battles with Saran Vikram (Mars Racing) winning the first time out, but falling away in the next due to mechanical problems.

His nearest competitor, Sarosh Hataria (Meco Racing) had a miserable outing in the first race when he spun after the gear fell into neutral at Turn-4 and he finished down the order. But in the second run, he passed the stricken Vikram's car to win.

With two more rounds to be run, Vikram heads the championship with 33 points followed by Hataria and Vishnu Prasad (Amaron Pro Racing) at 29 points each.

The wet track resulted in pile-up of cars in several races leading to delays in the schedule, but fortunately, none of the drivers involved suffered any injury.

The results:

Formula LGB Swift (Race 2, 6 laps): Ameya Walavalkar (TVS Girling) 1 (13mins, 07.748secs); Ravikumar Deepak (Mars Racing) 2 (13:17.720); Ajay Kini (Wallace Sports) 3 (13:27.203).

Formula Rolon (Race 1, 10 laps): Saran Vikram (Mars Racing) 1 (19:00.479); Nikhil Kashyap (Amaron Pro Racing) 2 (19:18.575); Vishnu Prasad (Amaron Pro Racing) 3 (19:23.072). Race 2 (10 laps): Sarosh Hataria (Meco Racing) 1 (19:09.658); Chittesh Mandody (Mohite's Racing) 2 (19:14.287); Vishnu Prasad (Amaron Racing) 3 (19:51.671).

Polo Cup (Race 1, 12 laps): Sailesh Bolisetti 1 (25:25.172); Vikash Anand (RAD Racing) 2 (25:35.536); Parth Ghorpade (Meco Motorsports) 3 (25:36.609). Race 2 (12 laps): Parth Ghorpade (Meco Motorsports) 1 (25:13.862); Mohd Fahad Kutty (Game Over) 2 (25:18.214); Imran Majid (Game Over) 3 (25:26.826).

Touring Cars - Super Saloons (Race 2, 7 laps): Sailesh Bolisetti (RAD Racing) 1 (15:03.557); Raj Virudhan (Prime Racing) 2 (15:10.440); Mohammad Fahad Kutty (Game Over) 3 (15:20.296).

Touring Cars - Junior Cup: (Race 1, 9 laps): B Balavijay (Moto Rev India) 1 (20:26.907); Dilijit Singh (Meco Motorsports) 2 (20:27.411); Mhir Dharkar (Game Over) 3 (18:41.300, +1 lap). Race 2 (7 laps): B Balavijay 1 (16:47.597); Diljith Singh 2 (16:49.929); Vignesh Devarajan (Pvt) 3 (16:53.427).

Artist interprets verses of saints through his paintings

2010-09-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

“Famous verses by saints from all over India have been my inspiration to come up with a series of paintings,” says Vasudeo Kamath, an internationally acclaimed artist whose exhibition Mogara Fulala: blissful fragrance will be inaugurated on Tuesday at 5pm in Jehangir Art Gallery. The exhibition

that will be inaugurated by Shankaracharya HH Shri Vidya Nursinh Bharati (Karveer Peeth Kolhapur), will be on till October 4.

The exhibition displays 27 paintings based on famous verses written by Indian saints such as Dyaneshwar, Tukaram, Surdas, Namdev, Kanhopatra, Janabai, Chokhamela, Savtamali and Thiruvalluvar.

“While reading the verses of these saints, some images formed in my mind. I have been listening to them since my childhood. The impact resulted in the series of paintings.” While 17 paintings in the exhibition use oil on canvas, the rest are in watercolour.

Conducting his sixth exhibition at Jehangir, Kamath has exhibited his work across India and abroad. Before this exhibition, the 54-year-old realist artist has done many series of paintings based on Guru-Shishya and Krishna.

“I love the medium of portrait and landscapes. Displaying reality is my forte. For this exhibition I had made a list of almost 500 Indian saints but every exhibition has its limitation!” adds Kamath.

Senior artist and president of Bombay Art Society, Prafulla Dahanukar said: “Kamath is a perfect realist painter. His skills are flawless when it comes to imagination, anatomy and ideas. His thoughts become his paintings.”

Kamath is the only Indian artist to have won the Draper Grand Award by portrait society of America for his portrait titled My Wife in 2006. Last year, he painted a live portrait of President, Pratibha Patil.

Honour for screenplay writer Gopalkrishna Pai

2010-09-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

Mangalore: Members of the Konkani community felicitated national award winner for the best screenplay writer Gopalkrishna Pai at a function here on Wednesday. Konkani fortnightly “Kodial Khabar” had organised the felicitation ceremony.

Mr. Pai and director Girish Kasaravalli jointly won the national award for their film “Kanassemba Kudureyanneri”.

Humble background

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Pai, who spent his childhood in Perla village in Kasargod taluk of Kerala state, said that films were not screened in his village very often. Coming from such a village, winning the national award is a great honour for him. Describing the script, which brought him the award, he said “it was an experiment” and that it was “uniquely presented in the film”. According to him the speciality of the script was that it engaged the audience and there was a lot of scope for their participation.

On the scope for audience participation, Mr. Pai told The Hindu that “There is scope for mental participation. The script gives some clues and the audience have to create a story based on it,” he said.

Mr. Pai shared the information with the gathering that once he had written and submitted the script to Mr. Kasaravalli, he had told the latter that he would like to be present when the film was shot, instead he would prefer to be there when it was edited. However, “When the editing began, I greatly regretted having missed the shooting”, he said.

One of the filmmaker's he admires most is Norman McLaren, he said.

‘Swapna Saraswat'

Mr. Pai is author of the Konkani novel “Swapna Saraswat”, which was published last year. Introducing the writer, secretary of the Konkani Bhasha Vidyarthi Mandal Venkatesh Nayak said that the Mr. Pai had referred to 4,000 books and collected 15,000 photographs for the novel which is about the Goud Saraswat Brahmin community.

He began researching for the book in 1990, and the first draft contained 620 pages, which was then reduced to 475 pages. The book was translated into English, Marathi, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, and Tamil.

Shenoy takes the bugs out of Web sites of flea markets

2008-09-04T22:06:00.000-07:00

Inspiration comes from strange places.

In Kat Shenoy’s case, it came from a flea market in Solebury, Bucks County.

Shenoy, the president and CEO of Blue Bell software developer E-SoftSys Ltd., had always thought flea markets were small-time affairs with maybe two dozen vendors, tops. As a result, it had never occurred to him to develop software for the people who run them.

Both things changed in early 2001 when he visited Rice’s Market, which says on its Web site that it hosts as many as 700 vendors and 15,000 shoppers.

The manager, Chuck Kane, is a friend of Shenoy’s. And he told Shenoy that there were no good software packages for running markets like Rice’s and that there were plenty of markets like Rice’s around the country.

That was all Shenoy needed to hear. He had E-SoftSys, which he had founded the previous year, develop software for running flea markets. The company sold it to Rice’s and then sent representatives to the National Flea Market Association’s next annual convention where they landed some other big markets as customers.

“Based on the success of this, I started looking for other, smaller industries where people rent space,” Shenoy said.

He found two — the trade-show industry and the self-storage industry — and had E-SoftSys send people to conventions for both. As Shenoy suspected, both industries had software requirements that were similar to each other and to the flea-market industry. So he had E-SoftSys come up with software for both of them.

“What we focused on was the technology and the customer support,” he said. “My philosophy is, you provide the best customer support possible and the product will sell itself based on referrals from other customers.”

That philosophy appears to be working. E-SoftSys has grown to 100 employees and, although it still gets half its revenue from custom software development, the other half comes from its flea-market, trade-show and self-storage management software.

E-SoftSys recently landed a big customer in the last industry when Stor-All Management Ltd. of Deerfield Beach, Fla., which has more than 29,000 units in 44 locations, implemented its Self Storage Manager software.

“It’s not often you get a company with 44 sites switching their applications,” Shenoy said.

Jeff Anderson, Stor-All’s CEO, said his company evaluated all the leading self-storage management systems available.

“With the exception of Self Storage Manager, none came close to meeting our key requirements,” he said.

Among other things, Stor-All needed to be able to smoothly import the information about its tenants from its old software and to keep its management operations up and running after a hurricane or other natural disaster.

Shenoy attributes Self Storage Manager’s popularity in part to its architecture, which features both a centralized database and databases at each site. That gives self-storage companies the ability to centrally control prices and programs, as well as generate reports, while allowing individual sites to be able to keep operating when the Internet connection to their headquarters is down.

“Individual sites can do all the operations they need to do,” he said.

E-SoftSys’ background is also a plus. Because it started out as a custom software developer and still does custom software projects, it’s willing to customize its products for flea-market, trade-show and self-storage customers in ways its competitors often aren’t, Shenoy said.

It also does search-engine optimization and Web-site development for its customers, including the National Flea Market Association and Rice’s, which it developed Web sites for.

“Our clients like the fact that we are a one-stop shop for all [information-technology] services,” Shenoy said.

Manipal Institute of Technology Makes India Proud by Launching “Formula Manipal”

2008-09-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

Manipal Institute of Technology’s students had crossed a spectacular mile stone in the History of India. A team of 15 students of MIT dreamt of making a racing car when they were in Second year of engineering. They formed a team named FORMULA MANIPAL, from various engineering branches.

Manipal Formula car was unveiled on the 4th of September 2008, at the Manipal University Main building (MAHE building) at 10 AM. Dr.Ramdas Pai Chairman, Manipal Education * Medical Group Flagged off the Event.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Ramdas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Education & Medical Group, said “" One small step for Manipal, but one giant leap for Indian engineering…

The car has been designed, conceived and fabricated by the students themselves and will take part in the prestigious Formula SAE –FORMULA SOCIETY OF AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERS.

Competition to be held in Italy from 20th to 22nd of September. 200 universities from world over will participate in this international competition. The event will be held at the Ferrari Fiorano Racetrack in Italy. This is the only Indian and the only Asian team to take part in the Italy event.

Dr. Pabla, Director M.I.T- "Couple of years back, the team had approached us with the idea for designing and manufacturing of this race car. At first we were a little skeptical and apprehensive whether this is possible at Manipal. But I am glad that the students have erased all doubts from our mind and will do themselves, Manipal University and more importantly the country proud at Italy".

It was a jam-packed event with the audience comprising of students and faculty members from Manipal Institute of Technology and including prominent dignitaries, the audience were astonished that their college mates could pull off such a massive project, and went berserk once the car was started.

Team members:

1. Kausik Mani
2. Shelav Jain
3. Vineet Jain
4. Siddhartha Jain
5. Arjun Samara Divakera
6. Ankit Kumar Banka
7. Srikanth Toppaladodi
8. Ratnesh Kumar
9. Aditya Raghunandan
10. Sagnik Niyogi
11. Rachit Mathur
12. Nishant Jain
13. Eklavya Singh
14. Aayush Gupta
15. Dhawal Bavishi
Driver Name – Ankit Banka

Narayana Karvi inducted as president of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy

2008-09-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

The newly appointed president of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy Mr. Narayana Karvi(60) took over the charge during the function held today 4th of September 2008 at 5 p.m at the Konkani Sahitya Academy office premises.

Mr Kharvi was welcomed by the outgoing president of the academy Mr. Eric Ozario to the office premises when he arrived in a procession led by Mangalore's own well known Harry's Century Band. All the guests were honoured with floral bouquets.

Mr.Shiva Rudrappa registrar of Karnataka Sahitya Academy, introduced Mr. Narayana Karvi to the gathering. In his introductory speech, Mr Rudrappa explained Narayana Karvi's contribution to the growth of Konkani and thanked Mr. Eric Ozario former president of Konkani Sahitya Academy, for his sincere commitment and dedication towards the academy during his tenure.

Mr. Ozario speaking on the occasion lauded the contribution of Mr Karvi to Konkani folklore and relentlessly working towards preserving the culture among the Karvi community. "The appointment of Mr Karvi as the president has erased the Brahamanism(caste based domination) in the administration of the academy which has been headed in the past mostly by GSB or Konkani Catholics. Mr Karvis appointment is victory for the Karvi(fisherman) Community," he said. Mr Ozario also thanked everyone who have supported the organization and media for giving it a wide coverage during his tenure. He also suggested that all Konkani speaking communities be given an opportunity to lead the academy.

Dr. Edward Nazreth, Mr. Roy Castelino, Mr. Louis Pinto (President of Mandd Sobhann), Mr. Venugopal (President of Tulu Sahitya Academy) congratulated Mr. Karvi with floral bouquets and garlands. Speaking on the occasion Dr. Edward expressed his happiness over the appointment of Mr Karvi and assured his support to him.

Mr Roy Castelino speaking on the occasion said that Eric Ozario has made Konkani community proud through his commitment to the cause of language and culture. Mr Ozario believed in bringing Konkani to a stage where it is today considered as one of the optional languages in schools in the state. Mr Castelino said Karvi is a considerate and compassionate person who has tirelessly worked towards preserving Karvi Konkani culture through his immense contribution and expressed his confidence over his support in making Konkani as a compulsory language.

The President of Tulu Sahitya Academy Mr. Venugopal termed Mr Karvi a humble and a capable man. He thanked all past presidents of the academy for their support towards Tulu Sahitya Academy. "We have been organizing many events with the support from Konkani Sahitya Academy and we will continue to work together for the growth of our languages," said Mr. Venugopal assuring his support to the new president.

The president of Mandd Sobhann Mr. Louis Pinto too speaking on the occasion expressed his confidence over the new president. He recalled that when he requested Mr Ozario to continue as the president for another term, he said that he believed in Mr Karvi who was a capable person to take over the mantle and lift the Konkani flag high. "We should give equal opportunity to every Konkani speaking community," he had said.

Mr. Eric Ozario formally handed over the charges of Academy to Karvi. Mr Karvi thanked Eric for his support and encouragement in taking over the charges. "If I am taking this charge of the academy, it is due to Eric who questioned the Government why a person from minority community couldn't come to power. Hopes and dreams are like clouds, some will disappear while some bring rain," he said. "I have been given a great responsibility and I request everyone to continue supporting the academy towards its growth," he said promising to work for Konkani and its growth. He also called upon more children to come forward to take up Konkani as an optional language. Mr Karvi thanked Mr. Krishana Palemar, Raghupathi Bhat, Lalaji Mendan, Mr. Ronald Colaco and others for their support.

Mr. Eric Ozario took Mr. Karvi to his new office and handed over the President's chair to Mr. Karvi. Mr. Felix D'Souza who had arrived from Mumbai to attend the programme, on behalf of the Konkani community of Mumbai congratulated Mr. Karvi. Mnsgr. Alexnder D'Souza, Former President of Konkani Sahitya Academy was also present on the occasion. Mr. Stany Alvares compeered the entire programme.

Mallya bullish on aviation industry growth prospects

2008-09-03T06:22:00.000-07:00

UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya said on Tuesday that he was bullish about the growth prospects of the Indian aviation industry.

Speaking at the launch of the non-stop flight service from Bangalore to London, he pointed out that several airlines, including Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Lufthansa, have been seeking permission to increase frequency of flights to the country.

He noted that Indian Airlines represented just 30 per cent of all internationalflights, and there was ample opportunity to grow.

Mallya also gave a thumbsup to the much-maligned Bangalore International Airport.

‘’The roads to the airport are quite impressive. It takes me only 45 minutes from the heart of the city to the airport,’’ he added.

However, he noted that the airport could have been slightly larger.

The UB Chairman also urged the State government to lower its sales tax on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF). He said: ‘’Th e lowering of sales tax will stimulate air traffic growth to BIAL. The government will make up the lost revenue through increased sales.’’ On User Development Fee(UDF),Mallya said that he was opposed to any move whereby airlines will charge customers UDF on behalf of the airport. Mallya announced that Kingfisher Airlines will launch its non-stop flight from Bangalore to London from Wednesday. The first flight has already been booked to nearly 70 per cent capacity, he said.

The UB Chairman also announced that future plans include the launch of Bangalore- San Francisco, Bombay- Singapore and Bombay-Dubai flights.

50 Year Old Video Footage of Tirupati Venkateswara Balaji

2008-08-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

Indians For McCain holds Independence Day barbeque

2008-08-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

Washington: 'Indians For McCain' (IFM), a group of Indo-Indians that campaigns for American presidential candidate John McCain, held a barbeque for its supporters in honor of India's 61st Independence Day. The event was hosted by IFM co-founder Sudhakar Shenoy at his home in Great Falls, VA. "Most of our community is still undecided and we have a great opportunity to win votes and affect the outcome of this election," Shenoy said.

Fiscal-conservative leader Grover Norquist was a special guest of the event. Norquist urged IFM to spread its message and reach nationwide. "Indian voters, largely entrepreneurial in spirit, will respond to this message of fiscal restraint, small business promotion, and lower taxes," he said.

Special Indians For McCain bumper stickers were distributed at the event and sent to IFM's chapters nationwide in advance of Independence Day. Those wishing to obtain a bumper sticker should contact IFM National Director Kishan Putta.

The attendees were also treated to viewing a special video message from John McCain to the Indian-American community on the occasion of Independence Day.

Virtual hand gets under the skin

2008-08-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

These new amazingly realistic animations of the human hand go way beyond the demands of Hollywood (see video, right). They are detailed enough to shed light on the mystery of how the tendons and muscles of the human hand interact when we move, and should help surgeons reconstruct damaged hands more effectively.

Computer animators are adept at making characters that move realistically, largely thanks to advances in motion capture technology that records the way people move.

But even the best motion capture only records the movement of the body's surface. That's fine for a movie, but surgeons are less superficial. They are interested in the movement of muscles and tendons beneath the skin.

Now hand animations that go below the surface (see video, right), have been made, by Shinjiro Sueda, Andrew Kaufman and Dinesh Pai at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

Moving muscle

They used anatomical data from medical images to model the 17 bones and 54 tendons and muscles of the hand and forearm.

The team's software can coordinate the contraction and relaxation of muscles, and the way forces are transmitted by tendons to produce any desired hand gesture.

"Motion capture is data driven – you just capture the data and play it back," says Sueda. "Our approach is a simulation in which the starting point is the physics of muscle and tendon movement."

Sueda's team also clothed their virtual muscles and tendons in a layer of skin. Just like real skin its shape depends on the anatomy beneath it.

Helping hand

"The parameters to control the deformation of the skin aren't biomechanical – it's just cosmetic," says Sueda. But because the underlying controlled muscles and tendons are accurately placed, the result is a hand animation that is highly realistic.

When Sueda's team took screen grabs of their animated hands and compared them to photographs of real hands in the same position, the two sets of images match closely.

The model should be a boon to surgeons, says Sueda. "The network of muscles and tendons in the hand is very complicated," he adds. "Even now people don't know how it actually works in detail."

Although the anatomy of the hand was worked out long ago from dissections, the interplay of all the components when in motion has largely remained a mystery. For this reason, the results of hand surgery can be unpredictable.

Adding realism

When a tendon is damaged, the muscle it's attached to no longer functions properly. Surgeons try to restore movement by taking a nearby tendon and re-routing it along the path of the damaged one. But predicting the results of that is difficult.

"Using our technique, you can show what effect rerouting a tendon would have on the hand before you actually do the surgery," says Sueda.

The new technology has also been built as a plug-in for existing graphics software to allow animators to quickly and easily add more realism to their hand animations.

The new hand animation models will be presented at the SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference in Los Angeles on 15 August 2008.

Movie file can be downloaded here:

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/labs/sensorimotor/projects/hands_sig08/

Event planned to attract IT industry to north Kerala

2008-08-13T16:39:00.000-07:00

Calicut IT Initiative (CITI), an organisation formed to promote Kozhikode as a major information technology destination in north Kerala, will hold a meet Aug 30 to showcase the human resource available in the region for the IT industry.

The Information Technology-Human Resource summit is being organised with the help of the IT mission of the Kerala government and Nasscom (National Association of Software and Services Companies).

According to Nityanand Kamath, CITI president, around 2,000 students from colleges in the region are expected to take part.

‘We expect participation of around 25 companies at the summit. The human resource managers and their infrastructure managers are also expected to take part,’ K. Purushothaman, regional director of Nasscom, said at a press conference here Monday.

‘The event will provide human resource managers with an opportunity to assess the manpower available in the region. They will test the software and soft skills of the students here,’ said Saji Gopinath, member faculty at the Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode and an office bearer of CITI.

The CITI officials pointed out that a large chunk of the around 10,000 students graduating from the region are girls who are not willing to relocate outside the region. ‘This will provide IT companies a loyal workforce with low level of attrition,’ they said.

Manipal Cure and Care Center launch at Sarjapur in Bangalore

2008-08-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

Manipal Cure and Care (MCC) has launched their second center in Bangalore at Total Mall in Sarjapur.

The center was inaugurated by Chief Guest, Minister for Medical Education, Ramachandra Gowda along with Dr. Ramdas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Education and Medical Group, Dr.Ranjan R Pai, CEO Manipal Education and Medical Group and Somnath Das, COO, Manipal Cure and Care.

The MCC Sarjapur Center will introduce one new service ‘Back2Fitness’ (B2F) for the first time in India.

B2F is end-to-end musculo-skeletal, sports and exercise medicine clinic offering evidence-based treatment to help patients cope with back, shoulder, knee and other musculo-skeletal problems.

For corporates, B2F will offer the services of professional Ergonomists and a host of services including ‘Evaluate onsite job skills and work environment’, ‘Job skills design advice’, ‘Workstation design advice’, ‘Employee education on body mechanics and injury prevention’, ‘Posture correction exercises’ and ‘Follow-up clinics’

B2F also has specialised analytical and remedial programs for amateur and professional athletes. B2F can help with ‘Performance Enhancement’ program which includes ‘Video gait analysis’, ‘Specific musculo-skeletal assessment’ and ‘Daily conditioning and endurance programs’.

B2F is headed by Dr. Rajat Chauhan, (MBBS, MSc Sports and Exercise Medicine, MLCOM Osteopathic Medicine)

Ramachandra Gowda, Minister for Medical Education, said, “The work being done by the Manipal Education and Medical Group is commendable. They have been at the forefront of providing international level medical education and medical services to the society and that too at affordable rates. I wish them all the very best in all their future endeavours and hope that they continue the good work and more importantly guard the quality of services they provide.”

“I also congratulate Manipal Cure and Care for this revolutionising concept of Preventive Healthcare, Wellness & Beauty, under one roof, which is the need of the hour. This innovative concept will go a long way to keep our citizens healthy and hearty,” Gowda added.

Dr. Ramdas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Education and Medical Group, said, “Prevention is better than Cure, is an old adage we very often repeat but rarely follow. MEMG and MCC are both committed towards strengthening the roots of preventive medicine in India. Our vision is to revolutionize healthcare delivery in India by providing preventive monitoring with a focus on wellness. Through Manipal Cure and Care centres, we will educate people to be proactive towards health issues and strive to make every Indian a healthy citizen.”

Somnath Das, Chief Operating Officer, Manipal Cure and Care said, “We take the business of Preventive Medicine very seriously and will keep introducing newer products and services that will help Indian citizens understand and take advantages of its benefits and that too at affordable costs. Our critical differentiator is that the fact that all our centers offers services and counselling by well-trained doctor and paramedical staff, protocols and processes in line with international best practices and an in-store experience that is highly personalised for each customer.”

G.S.B Varthaka Mandal (Kochi)

2008-07-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

The Uber Cool CEO

2008-06-24T19:46:00.001-07:00

Left: Dr Ranjan Pai and his wife with their favourite pugs

At the helm of one of the largest and successful healthcare organisations— Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG), Dr Ranjan Pai (35) is considered to be one of the youngest and ambitious growth engines fuelling the Indian healthcare industry. One may assume that it was easy to establish himself with his father Dr Ramdas Pai being the Chairman of the Manipal Group. But, he begs to differ. "Initially, which was almost three to four years ago, it was quite a challenge, as people considered me just as a kid. So, trying to gain a foothold was difficult. But over the years, one gain respects as one takes people into confidence and shows them respect. And it is, of course, a fact that I'm quite young, so I don't mind asking my seniors if I don't understand certain things. Also, I tend to avoid ego-hassles." And the circle that he also looks forward to getting advice and mentoring are his father Dr Ramdas Pai, Mohandas Pai, Director and Head of HR of INFOSYS and KV Kamath, MD and CEO, ICICI.

Another aspect to his leadership style is his unfazed nature. "I don't think I would call myself as a tough task-master. I'm definitely sensitive to people issues, but that does not mean my decisions are ruled by the heart. I make quick decisions, I may be wrong, but I'll never be in doubt."

Dr Pai went to the US to do his hospital administration (Wisconsin) after doing his MBBS from Manipal. He then worked in a Children's Hospital and a health insurance company before joining the Manipal Group. He joined his father's group at the age of 28 in the year 2000. "I was in charge of setting up the group's activities in Malaysia (set up a Medical College there). I lived there for five years and then returned to Bangalore in 2005," he shares.

The young leader has been responsible for the restructuring of the entire group and also in charting out strategic direction for the group. "I have also been responsible for inducting high quality talent from diverse backgrounds into the group which has led to our success," he says.

Leaving aside his big business plans, and shifting focus on his weekend activities, Dr Pai prefers to spend time with his wife Shruti (28) and his two pugs. Whilst pugs are considered quite cute, these dogs are known to entertain and give his guests quite a hearty laugh as their names are Gabbar and Mogambo! The fact that he has named his dogs behind such iconic villainous characters, one understands the subtle humorous side of Dr Pai.

His wife is an entrepreneur in her own right as she runs a spa and wellness resort. In this light, is it a mere co-incidence that he is promoting the concept of preventive care through 'Manipal Cure and Care'? "Oh I don't know! Maybe you need to ask her if she has a role to play," he grins.

He feels he is yet to follow his new-year resolution— to gym and lose weight! "It's been five months that New-Year has gone by, but I'm still determined to go for a work-out. I think it's more of an excuse that I don't have time. It is very important to be fit and in-shape," he remarks.

He is also a huge fan of cricket. He has regularly participated in the local cricket tournaments. "I play as a batsman," he states. Like millions, Sachin Tendulkar is his favorite. He also likes Anil Kumble. So, what is it that he admires in both? "He started off his career when he was just 16 and I have been following him right from that time. People have a tendency to write-off when they are in a bad phase of life, but I certainly believe that he is a true champion," he shares. And talking about Anil Kumble, he says, "He is a very consistent guy with a strong temperament, who never gives up and is a true gentleman." Anil Kumble also happens to be the brand ambassador for Manipal Education.

Discussing about movies, he says, "I like almost all kinds of Hindi and English movies." Catching up a movie along with his wife is his favorite time-pass. "The last movie I saw was 'Tare Zameen Par' and I thought it was fabulous," he says. He normally likes contemporary cinema like 'Dil Chahta Hai.' As far as music goes, he likes the era of 80s— be it the Eagles or Police and also popular Hindi music. "I don't particularly follow any particular Hindi song. Any current flavour of the season will do," he shares.

Dr Pai is not much into the world of books. "Unfortunately, I don't really like reading books. I read a lot of magazines and newspapers and keep myself abreast of the latest trends— be it business or politics."

When asked to answer 'the mixed-bag' questions, he laughs, "Feels like I'm in Kofee with Karan!"

The Mixed Bag

Your best prize in life so far
My wife

Your first day in school
Oh, it was quite traumatic! I just remember crying in the local nursery at Manipal.

Your first ambition
I always wanted to become a doctor as far as I can remember.

Your first day at work
It was interesting. I had joined a paediatric Hospital in the US in the year 1997.

The first time you fired somebody
It was in the year 2000. I really felt very bad about it. I had a long chat with him and took this decision. I remember I was quite sensitive to his needs.

The toughest decision you have taken
I do not think that there has been such a moment in my life. Life has been pretty good to me.

The best memory of your childhood
Going for vacations with my parents and sisters. The time I spent with my father Dr Ramdas Pai is truly special.

Your happiest moment
The college days at Manipal Medical College. Once in a while, I meet my college friends and we remember the good old days.

Three things I cannot do without
My blackberry and laptop. That's it. Just two!

One trait you would like to change about yourself
The fact that I'm quite shy.

One parental advice that you remember
My parents gave a lot of advice, but particularly the one I remember was humility— always have your feet firm on the ground. The credit more so goes to my mother, as my father kept busy. She was quite a disciplinarian and never gave us everything that we asked for. We were taught to prove our mettle and also the fact that we were brought up in a small town like Manipal assured us that we were kept away from the whims and fancies of the ultra glam world. So, we as a family led a very simple life.
I also remember the advice, no smoking and no drugs, which luckily I followed.

Your first vehicle
It was Maruti-800 in the year 1990. I must have been 20. My father got it for me and being the 90s, I don't think there were many choices as well.

India Plethico Pharma eyes buys in US, Brazil

2008-06-24T07:23:00.000-07:00

India's Plethico Pharmaceuticals Ltd (PLPH.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) plans to buy one company each in the U.S and Brazil in the next couple of years, spending a total $150 million, a top official said on Wednesday.

Plethico plans to bid for a nutraceutical firm in the United States, and has also signed a preliminary confidentiality agreement with another nutraceutical firm there, Sanjay Pai said, adding the aim is to strike one deal for $80-$100 million.

"There are so many good deals coming our way in the U.S. right now in the nutraceuticals space," Pai said. "People have started approaching us for acquisitions after Natrol."

Last year, Plethcio acquired U.S.-based branded nutritional products maker Natrol Inc for about $81 million.

Nutraceuticals are food extracts used as dietary supplements.

In Brazil, Plethcio is in talks with two companies, one a herbal products maker and the other a maker of allopathic and over-the-counter products, Pai said. One of these firms could be acquired for about $50 million, he added.

"Brazil is a great market. It offers great volume and decent margins," he said, adding the market offered 15-20 percent earnings before interest and tax margins.

"We have been looking for acquisitions in U.S., Brazil and UK. Somehow, there have been no juicy deals forthcoming in UK so far."

The company was in a strong position to raise funds through debt and various options, he said, adding that would be decided when a deal was sewn up.

"Over the next 1- to 1-½ years there will be a lot of inorganic activities happening in the company."

Shares in the company were trading 8 percent up at 404.45 rupees in a weak Mumbai market.

Marathi chapters in Konkani textbook

2008-06-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

It appears that the directorate of education is making a mockery of the education system by distributing textbooks with horrendous errors.

While on one hand the government is promoting Konkani, which is the official language of Goa, on the other hand Marathi chapters are incorporated in the Konkani textbook of standard VII.

Several schools have complained of receiving V standard textbooks with several index pages, while the first two chapters are missing and the third is incomplete. Furthermore, from page 66, eighteen pages of Marathi text are repeated.

The parents are dismayed over the irresponsible behavior of the education department and have demanding action against the responsible persons.

Meanwhile, institutional heads, parents and teachers have expressed concern over the delay in getting the textbooks, especially of standard V and VIII.

Heads of institutions also informed that they have not received the required textbooks even though the requirement was made known way back in March.

The entire set of textbooks have not been given for VI and VIII standards while some school have only received the Mathematics and Hindi textbooks that too in parts.

One institutional head said that the syllabus has been changed but no refresher courses for the teachers have been conducted.

He said further that teachers are unable teach as they are not sure what to expect in the new books. Presently teachers are only revising grammar.

Some teachers said the non-availability of textbooks is causing great inconvenience, as they have to finish the portion for the first mid-term exam, which is scheduled for August 6.

One teacher said that though it appears that the schools have just begun, we barely have one month to complete the portion and added the students require the textbooks especially in languages.

The teacher expressed concern about the students of standard V who have changed over from Konkani medium to English medium.

â€œThe longer it takes to get the books the more difficult it will be for them to cope with the portion,â€ she noted.

On the other hand, the parents too have expressed their concern over the delay in getting the textbooks.

Ms H Dâ€™souza, a parent expressing concern said that though providing textbooks is a novel idea, they should be provided before the school starts and asked how the students are suppose to study without the textbooks.

â€œYou cannot blame the teachers for starting the portion. How long are they supposed to wait for the textbooks? If they do not teach then what else will they do in class? At the end of it all it is the student who has to suffer.â€

PG courses in School of Konkani studies

2008-06-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

School of Konkani Studies, a new venture in education, research, translation theory and practice of Konkani, is offering MA, M.Phil & Ph.D in Konkani themes and issues, comparative literature and cultural communication and translation.

According to a press release, the school provides a place and opportunity for all who want to make contributions to Konkani beyond religion, caste, region and script; beyond Konkani as commercial and fiesta opportunity and cheap market success; beyond Konkani in Kannada script as a vehicle for self and group/identity propaganda. It has an erudite team of Konkani experts with postgraduate and doctoral to guide the venture from Goa, Karnataka and Maharastra and is directed by scholar Dr William Robert Da Silva.

The first meeting of deliberations of the school was held on June 22 from 4 to 7 pm at ‘Providence’ (I Floor), A R D’Souza Lane, Bendorewell, Mangalore.

Individual physician ratings pose daunting challenges

2008-06-24T07:15:00.000-07:00

Michigan, U.S.A:

Hospital and health system report cards by now are fairly common ways for consumers to gauge quality indicators, but not so for assessing physicians.

"Individual physician report cards are being discussed," said Dr. Bala Pai, senior associate medical director at Health Alliance Plan.

"We are planning on it, but don't have a date certain," Pai said, noting that there would have to be a universal coding and billing database that compared all processes the same. "And then, if you drill down to physician level, you have volume differences and patient demographic differences ... Reporting would be difficult. We are very cautious," he said.

The Massachusetts Medical Society filed a lawsuit in May to halt such an evaluation process in that state, saying the methodology is flawed and has defrauded patients.

The Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission, the agency that oversees health insurance for thousands of public employees there, implemented a report card two years ago and has been haggling with the MMS ever since.

A large part of the issue is that doctors who see sicker patients are more likely to be ranked lower on the scale, because of worse outcomes.

In addition, the system is so cumbersome, the MMS said, that incorrect treatment information had been included in the database as well.

Tennessee Blue Cross Blue Shield halted it's own program earlier this year for those same problems.

HAP introduced a ranking on quality of health systems three years ago, Pai said, and that was the result of several years of collaboration and working with the systems for feedback and advice.

That collaborative effort got the various players to buy into the idea, and built trust that a fair system is in place, he said.

"Once we put out the public report, we had callbacks from physicians and (health) leaders saying, 'I want to be better than X, so what can we do to get a better rating?' So this was a healthy competition built in without animosity," Pai said.

A next step could be individual physician report cards, Pai said, but there are so many variables that it has to be done properly or risk a backlash more problems.

The Michigan State Medical Society has released a set of guidelines in the event that any agency or organization attempts to compile that data.

Grand Rapids-based health plan Priority Health started a rating program for its provider doctors three years ago, and will not rate a physician if he or she does not see enough Priority patients.

The health plan has a set of criteria that considers preventive practices, disease management, health screening, immunizations and patient satisfaction, said spokeswoman Juanita Smith.

Some scores are based not on the individual doctor's patients, but on the patients of all doctors who practice together.

The system formulates a percentage and assigns from one to four apples.

The first year, 12 physicians were in the top, the second year, 30 were in the top and last year 59 doctors earned four apples.

Priority has a feedback system for the physicians to discuss guidelines and how to attain higher rankings, Smith said.

"I do believe that physicians respond to measurement, we are competitive, we value the care we give our patients, we all ask 'how am I doing?'" said Dr. Greg Forzley, chairman of the board of the Michigan State Medical Society and medical director informatics at St. Mary's Health Care in Grand Rapids.

Forzley helped develop the Priority concept in its early stages and he calls it a fairly good system, but it only deals with the Priority population.

"The challenge has been some of the measures are very narrowly defined and don't cover the entire patient base," Forzley said. "It would be best to find how the patients are doing overall."

He also noted that processes and outcomes will be different in different geographical areas and might vary greatly between an urban community and an affluent suburban community. Those differences are hard to reconcile, Forzley said.

The Michigan Department of Community Health compiles information about disciplinary action and factual data about the health industry, but "We don't have a ranking for individual doctors," spokesman James McCurtis said. "For the state to get involved would put us in a lot of liability issues.

With more than 39,000 physicians in the state, compiling a comprehensive list would be cumbersome and fraught with problems, McCurtis said.

"For one it would be biased and would do a disservice to the profession and it wouldn't do anything but create tension," he said.

Konkani singing contest on TV

2008-06-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

Mandd Sobhann will be organising a Konkani singing competition on TV called ‘Soad-2,’ a search for sweet voices, for men and women above 15 years of age.

The winners, one male and one female shall receive the titles ‘Rai Kogull’ and ‘Rani Kogull’ respectively along with Rs 25,000 in cash. Besides, an opportunity to sing for recordings and shows, free specialised training in singing for 1 year, and other prizes in kind.

Apart from the above, the ‘Top-10’ will get Rs 5,000 each, opportunity to perform in a live show, VCD recording and other prizes in kind. The recording of the preliminary round will be held on June 29 at 9.30 am at Kalangann in Shaktinagar. For registration, interested may contact 0824-2232239/ 2230489 before June 28. There is no entry fee. The programme will be telecast on Namma TV every Sunday from 11 am to 12 noon from July 15 onwards

A Giri Pai Jeweller Ad

2008-06-19T06:33:00.000-07:00

Ad for A Giri Pai Jewellers

2008-06-18T22:40:00.001-07:00

Vishwa Konkani centre getting ready

2008-06-15T16:42:00.000-07:00

Mangalore city is known as the world seat of Konkani culture. All large scale programmes that relates to development of Konkani language, culture, music, art and society happens in Mangalore. The first Vishwa Konkani Sammelan in 1995 was also held in Mangalore which kicked off a major Konkani world movement.

But now Mangalore is set to become the true Konkani seat of art, music, culture and language with the Vishwa Konkani Centre is coming up fast in the this small village near Shaktinagar. The Vishwa Konkani centre which is the brain child of Vishwa Konkani Sardar Basti Vaman Shenoy who became the true leader of Konkani people for the cause of Konkani language after he organized the Vishwa Konkani Convention in Mangalore. He is now meticulously following up every detail of building the Vishwa Konkani Centre.

Set in idyllic surroundings of a true Konkani village much to the likes of small hamlets of Goa in Concolim, Salcete and Betim the Centre is just a few weeks away from inauguration.

Fashion designer trains gun on encounter specialist

2008-06-15T16:39:00.000-07:00

Heena Kalbag alleges she was attacked by Pradeep Sharma’s men in Jogeshwari

A fashion designer has alleged that encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma is involved in the incident in which she was attacked by two unidentified men at Jogeshwari on June 7.

According to the police, complainant Heena Chaitanya Kalbag, was driving towards her residence when two men on a motorcycle came towards her car and broke its window shield. They could not be identified as they were wearing helmets.

Assistant commissioner of police (DN Nagar division) Pradeep Suryavanshi said, “The security guard at Kalbag’s shop in Jogeshwari had informed her that an unknown person was visiting the shop and making inquiries about her for the past four days. She was allegedly attacked as she was returning after registering a complaint against the unknown person at Oshiwara police station. She suspects that the men who attacked her belonged to Pradeep Sharma and Ajmera of JJ Constructions.”

Although a case has been registered registered against the attackers, the First Information Report (FIR) does not mention Sharma’s name in it, said Suryavanshi.

According to the Mumbai police crime branch, in 2006, Kalbag had filed a complaint against Ajmera for cheating, extortion and land grabbing with the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC). In that year, the builder had sold three commercial plots in their Shreeji Dham Society building in Andheri to Kalbag for Rs1.50 crore. The crime branch had then claimed that Ajmera along with his associate Bacchi Singh had threatened Kalbag to evacuate the plots. The police had arrested Ajmera and Singh.

The AEC has stated that Sharma and senior police inspector Ajendra Thakur of DN Nagar police station, where Kalbag had registered her complaint, had gone with her and played the part of mediators between the builder and Kalbag. Sharma could not be contacted for his comments.

email through SMS service launched in India

2008-06-15T15:22:00.000-07:00

yDuniya Networks has announced the launch of a service which will allow mobile users to send emails, save and retrieve personal information and share contact details just by sending an SMS and without having access to the Internet.

Currently available for Airtel subscribers in Karnataka, the service will be expanded nationally and to other telecom operators soon, the Bangalore-based startup founder and chairman Jagdish Kini said.

The SMS-based application also supports interactive group messaging and allows files to be sent to email addresses. Commonly-used files such as brochures can be stored on the company’s server and data up to one megabyte can be sent to email addresses using the SMS shortcode 53695.

“There is a digital divide between mobile users and web users. This service is a way to bridge this divide,” Kini said.

MyDuniya also has a platform for enterprises and web portals to allow access to customers through the mobile phone. The company says the platform supports two-way interactions and can be leveraged to provide personalised information.

“The goal of the service is consumer convenience and the mobile market is our biggest market. We have launched our initial service on the SMS platform considering that SMS is the most widely used non-voice service” CEO Ganapathy Subramanian said.

Mallya plans single brand, to shelve Air Deccan

2008-06-09T06:15:00.000-07:00

What will be the fate of India's first low-cost carrier Deccan (erstwhile Air Deccan)? UB's think tanks are now strongly considering operating under one brand, Kingfisher Airlines and doing away with the low-cost Deccan model altogether.

This idea was mooted by one of the agencies that have been hired to look at the integration of the two brands. "There is a strong attempt to bring Deccan under the Kingfisher brand name. That way, international operations — which has been Vijay Mallya's focus from the word go — will be smooth-sailing," said company sources. Mallya's UB took over Deccan last year from its original promoter Capt G R Gopinath. An airline can fly international routes only after completing five years of operation, and Deccan becomes eligible for that this year. But Mallya would like to use the Kingfisher brand for these routes, which regulators may find easier to agree on if the Deccan name is changed to Kingfisher.

Previously, there was a move to rebrand Deccan, but retain the low-cost model. In the past two months there have been numerous probables of what would be the new name to replace Deccan — King Lite, King Easy, Deccan King and Kingfisher Express. The model then would have been to use the low cost carrier on short haul routes and the premium service on the other routes.

"The decision to kill the Deccan brand altogether, which is extremely strong in smaller cities, is a tough call, as people in these cities relate flying to Air Deccan," said an aviation analyst.

But low cost as model itself seems to increasingly be an unviable option with the increase in fuel prices. In the US, several low-cost airlines like ATA, Aloha and Skybus have shut operations in recent months.

Promotions in Corp Bank

2008-06-08T07:44:00.000-07:00

The city-based Corporation Bank has promoted nine assistant general managers as deputy general managers.

Those promoted include R Sudarshana Raju, K S Kalyana Sundaram, Swathi S M, M Gokuldas Kamath, M Narayana Bhat, M Gopalakrishna Bhandarkar, Ajit Parkash Malhotra, Vasanth Kini U, and P Paramasivam, according to a press release from A. Mohan Rao, General Manager of the bank.

Raju joined the bank in 1976 as an officer.

He was working at retail hub – Bangalore prior to his elevation.

Sundaram joined in 1976 as an officer. He was with the collection and payment services division at head office.

Swathi joined in 1980 as an agricultural field officer and was heading the Connaught Circus branch in New Delhi. Kamath joined in 1973 as a clerk and was at the zonal office in Bhopal.

Bhat joined in 1973 as clerk and was at zonal office, Vijayawada. Bhandarkar joined in 1973 as a clerk and was working at Nariman Point branch in Mumbai. Malhotra joined in 1981 as an officer and was working in the information technology division at the corporate office.

Kini joined in 1978 as an officer.

He was with the credit division. Paramasivam joined in 1985 as a chartered accountant.

Ten cubs born in 14 days at Pench reserve

2008-06-08T07:36:00.000-07:00

After a recent wild tigers’ audit raised fears that the animal, one of India’s national symbols, could disappear from the country, Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni district has a reason to celebrate, as it has been blessed with 10 cubs within a fortnight.

The encroachment of humans on tiger habitats and increased man-animal conflict has been a key factor in the big cat’s decline, and the PTR authorities say they would keep no stone unturned to protect the cubs. "We are stepping up special vigil day in, day out to ensure cubs’ safety," PTR deputy director P P Pai said, adding, "We have installed extra trap cameras at different locations in the Park to monitor cubs’ movements." He said this would help the authorities to track their movements 24X7 and protect them from potential dangers.

Pai said this was for the first time the Reserve had been blessed with 10 tiger cubs in a span of a fortnight. "With this, tiger population in the Park has gone upto 61," he said, adding, "Now the Reserve has 39 adult big cats and 22 cubs aged between 15-days to two-years." Pai said the cubs are fit and doing well under the care of their mothers. "A tigress gave birth to four cubs, while two others littered three each," he said.

The tiger census shocked the nation as it revealed that the country has just 1411 tigers left in the wild, a decline of 60% in a decade. Poaching and the loss of tiger habitats have been blamed for the slump.

Uttam to represent India in Olympiad

2008-06-05T19:34:00.001-07:00

Uttam Bhat, a students of 'II-JEE training' at the MICE, has been selected to represent India in the International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA)-2008, to be held at Bandung, Indonesia, from August 19 to 28.

A team of five students will represent India and around 35 countries are expected to participate in the Olympiad. The programme is financially supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

Uttam was one among the 50 students selected from the country in the second stage of India National Astronomy Olympiad held in January 2008. He was selected in the three week' bOrientation -cum-selection camp’ held at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai recently.

Uttam is the son of Dr Gopalakrishna Bhat and Vinatha Bhat from Manipal. He is a student of the Poorna Prajna Pre-University College. The students are given training in Astrophysics by a set of professors from IITB, HBCSE, TIFR, etc, and are given a series of tests during the camp. Bases on their performance in the tests, a team of 5 students (12th standard adn below) are selected to represent India in the IOAA.

Mirchi launches campaign for World Environment Day

2008-06-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

Radio Mirchi announces its 'Going Green' campaign to mark the World Environment Day on June 5, 2008

The initiative is aimed at spreading awareness about the effects of global warming and encouraging people to realize the importance of Going Green. Radio Mirchi RJ's will urge the listeners to express their gratitude to Mother Nature and will give them a unique opportunity to get started in its own simple yet significant Mirchi style. Listeners can avail a chance to win bottled plants for their homes and offices by calling up the Radio Mirchi station. Additionally, Radio Mirchi will salute and acknowledge all the corporates who have taken a step forward to make a difference to the environment and have set precedence for others to follow.

Radio Mirchi cluster head Srinivasa Shenoy says, "Radio Mirchi being a responsible Radio station has always been a step forward in associating itself in finding solutions to problems prevalent in the Delhi. With 'Going Green', we want to make our planet healthy, clean and a pollution free place to live in. We are confident that the responsible citizens of our country will appreciate our effort and will extend their support to make it a successful initiative."

Krishna Naik on song

2008-06-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

BANGALORE: Krishna M. Naik of Dazzler Aquatic Club continued his winning spree in the State diving championship when he claimed the title in three metre spring board event at the Jayanagar Pool here on Tuesday.

He logged 365.10 points, beating his team-mate Elanchezhian by a margin of 132 points.

Earlier on Monday, Naik had won the one metre spring board event.

G. Vybhav also of DAC and Sachin V. Tendulkar of Sea World AC bagged the Group II and Group III titles respectively.

The results:

Boys: Group I: 1.Krishna M. Naik ( DAC); 2. Elanchezhiahn (DAC); 3. A.G. Pavan (DAC) 365.10 pts.

Group II: 1. G. Vybhav (DAC); 2. Ananth Nadig (DAC); 3. Anitrudh (Sea World AC) 266.15 pts.

Group III: 1.Sachin V. Tendulkar (Sea World AC); 2. R.M. Sandeep (DAC); 3. Vishal (Sea World AC) 238 pts.

Girls: Group I: 1. Karishma Mohite (YCSC); 2. K. Divya (DAC) 306.65 pts.

Group II: 1. Nammi Divya Theja (DAC), 2. T. Shalini (DAC); 3. Naomi (DAC) 286.65 pts.

Group III: 1. Aishwarya Manjunath (DAC), 2. L. Priyanka (MDSA); 3. Sushmita Harti (Sea World AC) 191.45.

E-mail without GPRS/Internet through SMS

2008-06-05T19:26:00.001-07:00

One can now send e-mail without GPRS/Internet through SMS. The consumer applications were launched by Bangalore-based MyDuniya Networks Private Limited, a player in "beyond voice" applications for the mobile consumers.

All that a user has to do is send an SMS to 53695 and then can send an e-mail, save and retrieve personal information, send a file to an e-mail address, share and access contact information and can participate in interactive group messaging.

Currently, these services are operational with Airtel (SMS to 53695) in Karnataka and would be expanded with national coverage shortly, the company's Founder and Chairman, Jagadish Kini, and CEO K Ganapathy Subramanian, said.

They said the company is in dialogue with other operators for integration in near future. Subscribers other than Airtel, need to send SMS to 99801-53695 to avail services.

The company said it empowers an entry level mobile user with services throgh SMS without the need for GPRS/Internet that spare the trouble of reaching out to a compter.

"MyDuniya platform brings processing power of the web and reach of the mobile to provide simple and useful applications", Kini said.

Subramanian noted that SMS is the most widely used non-voice service. "Our services are designed with consumer choice, convenience and usability as focal points", he said.

MyDuniya is also facilitating enterprises and web portals by providing them a channel to reach out to their mobile consumers. The platform supports two-way interactions and can be leveraged for a variety of customised services, it was stated.

Cerawaves kicks off

2008-06-04T22:24:00.000-07:00

Cerawaves, an art exhibition by Vasundhara Ballal was inaugurated at Dhyana Mandir in Sharada Vidyalaya on Saturday. Karnataka Bank Chief General Manager P Jayarama Bhat was the chief guest of the function. Speaking on the occasion Bhat said that the skill of an artist lies in creating a world of reality and that Vasundhara has attained it even in this early stage of her career.

Bhat appreciated the perfection in her paintings. President of Nitte Education Trust N Vinaya Hegde presided. Vasundhara Ballal along with the guests performed ‘Guruvandana’ for her guru and proprietor of Prasad Art Gallery Koti Prasad Alva.

Cerawaves is a collection of ceramic paintings, which is quite a novelty in Mangalore art circles. It is a complex process in which ceramic paste is applied on an already completed oil painting and left to dry. It is a painstaking process as each shade has to be done separately and takes a long time to dry. Ballal has been practising the genre for the last 5 years in Prasad Arts School.

Eminent surgeon and Vasundhara’s father-in-law Dr C R Ballal, husband Dr Rajesh Ballal and other members of the family were present on the occasion. The exhibition will be held in Sharada Vidyalaya till June 2 and will be shifted to Prasad Art Gallery from June 3 onwards.

Krishna Naik is champion

2008-06-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

Bangalore: Krishna Naik of DAC won the boys group I, one metre springboard diving event with 297.15 points in the State sub-junior and junior diving championship at the P.M. Swim Centre here on Monday.

The results (winners only):

Boys:

Group I: 1m spring board: Krishna Naik (DAC), 297.15pts; Group II, 1m spring board: Ananth Nadig (DAC), 206.50; Group III, 1m spring board: Tendulkar (Sea World Aquatic Club), 196.45.

Girls: Group I, 1m spring board: Karishma Mohite (YCSC), 272.20; Group II, 1m spring board: Divya Theja (DAC), 243.25; Group III, 1m spring board: Aishwarya Manjunath (DAC), 175.75.

Induct Yogish Bhat into Cabinet: GSB leaders

2008-06-04T21:06:00.001-07:00

The District Federation of Gowda Saraswath Brahmin Organisations has urged Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to induct Mangalore City South MLA N Yogish Bhat into the State cabinet.

Addressing a press meet here on Monday, Kumble Narasimha Prabhu, representing Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the GSB community has been totally disappointed because of the fact that Bhat was not given any ministership who is being elected to the Assembly for the fourth consecutive term. “The GSB community has rendered much service to the strengthening of BJP in the coastal districts, hence it should be given proper representation in the government,” he said. Ministership was not given to Bhat owing to certain pressures, he alleged.

GSB community leaders Basthi Vaman Shenoy, Umanath Mallya, Madhav Kamath, Ganapathi Pai among others were present in the press meet.

The Federation had planned a protest in front of the district BJP office on June 4. However, by Tuesday, the GSB leaders have decided to drop the protest dharna and are planning to take a delegation to the chief minister and the party netas to convince about their urge.

A release from the federation said the protest has been cancelled in the backdrop of the cancel of party chief D V Sadananda Gowda’s visit.

Research enables rapid HIV tests for pregnant women

2008-05-30T21:47:00.000-07:00

New Delhi: A study has shown that pregnant women can be rapidly tested for HIV in labour wards of rural hospitals — and antiretroviral therapy (ART) can be delivered effectively to prevent transmission of the virus to their children.

The research, published in PLoS Medicine, tested the feasibility of providing round-the-clock rapid HIV testing and counselling in labour wards in resource-poor settings.

In 2007, about 2.1 million children were infected with HIV, 85–90 per cent of whom contracted the infection from their mother.

The rapid tests helped doctors quickly decide on whether to start ART as a precautionary measure, before test results came in, usually one to three days after delivery.

Research findings

Of 1,222 women admitted for delivery at a rural teaching hospital in Sevagram, western India, 15 were found to be HIV positive, 11 of whom did not previously know their status. Of those 15 women, 13 had children that tested negative for HIV.

The researchers used two different rapid tests, based on saliva and blood samples, which give results in 20 minutes.

They also carried out conventional HIV testing. If women tested positive in both the rapid tests and conventional tests, the scientists confirmed infection with a further test that detects HIV antibodies and gives results in two days.

"These findings are relevant to PMTCT [prevention of mother to child transmission] programmes in developing countries. Controlling HIV infection in women and children is crucial for changing the trajectory of the global HIV epidemic," the researchers write.

The rapid tests are awaiting approval in India. Nitika Pai, a postdoctoral fellow at the division of infectious diseases at Canada's McGill University, told SciDev.Net that it should be possible to train counsellors to run the tests and provide round-the-clock counselling at primary healthcare centres — often the first or only point of healthcare for pregnant women.

Only nine per cent of pregnant women currently receive ART, says Pai.

In many rural areas, women fear HIV testing due to social ostracisation. In addition, many women cannot access or afford antenatal care to receive preventative therapy. "The labor and delivery period is the last window of opportunity to prevent HIV transmission," says Pai.

"Without ART, the probability of transmission is 30–35 per cent; with ART it is reduced to 10–15 per cent," she says.

Monkey Thinks Robot into Action

2008-05-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

In a dramatic display of the potential of prosthetic arms, a monkey at the University of Pittsburgh was able to use his brain to directly control a robotic arm and feed himself a marshmallow. The research, published today in the journal Nature, is the first to show that an interface that converts brain signals directly into action is sophisticated enough to perform a practical function: eating. Researchers who led the work have just begun human tests of a related technology.

"It's the first time a monkey--or a human--is directly, with their brain, controlling a real prosthetic arm," says Krishna Shenoy, a neuroscientist at Stanford University who was not involved in the research.

People who suffer from strokes or spinal cord injury, or from some neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), are often left paralyzed. But their cerebral cortices--the parts of the brain that control movement, planning, and other functions--may remain largely intact. Scientists hope to capitalize on that with the development of brain machine interfaces--devices that convert brain activity into action, such as movement of a cursor on a computer screen.

People who are completely paralyzed can now use brain machine interfaces that noninvasively measure signals recorded from the surface of the scalp, but the devices are slow and require sustained concentration to operate. To create a prosthesis that works like a real arm--the user thinks about moving his arm, and it moves--will most likely require that electrical activity be recorded directly from the brain.

That has become possible in recent years, thanks to advances in the tiny arrays of electrodes used to record neural signals. In previous research, John Donoghue and his colleagues at Brown University showed that electrodes implanted into the brain of a paralyzed man could be used to move a cursor on a computer screen and even make a simple movement with a robotic arm. But that and other research have been limited to one- or two-dimensional movements, and, other than a few cases using a mechanical arm or gripper, were performed virtually, on a screen.

In the latest research, headed by neuroscientist Andrew Schwartz at the University of Pittsburgh, the monkey was able to perform a more complicated task. "Andy has taken this one step further, to a practical device that could be of use in the real world," says John Kalaska, a neuroscientist at the University of Montreal, in Canada, who wrote a commentary accompanying the publication. "The animal can simply, through a kind of mental practice, get the robot to move toward where the [food] is, close the hand, and bring it back to the mouth and let him eat it."

To achieve the feat, two monkeys had a grid of microelectrodes implanted into the motor cortex, part of the brain that controls motor planning and execution. The animals had previously been trained to move an anthropomorphic robotic arm, with moveable joints at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist, using a joystick. To learn to control the prosthesis with their minds, the monkeys had their arms temporarily restrained as they watched a computer move the arm through the required motions--to extend the arm to the piece of food, grip it, bring it to the mouth, and release it. "They imagine themselves doing the task, like athletes do for sports," says Schwartz. "The neurons are active as they observe the movement, and then we can capture the [neural signals] and use them for our own control."

Ailments can be avoided by proper lifestyle

2008-05-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

Speakers at a seminar on yoga therapy at Mangalore University on Tuesday said that the practice of “asanas” and pranayama will not yield the desired results unless yoga practitioners controlled their food habits.

Modern lifestyle is responsible for many ailments. They can be avoided by adhering to a proper lifestyle, they said.

K Krishna Bhat, chairman, Department of Human Consciousness and Yogic Sciences of the university, cautioned parents against allowing their children watch television programmes till late in the night. “Such children sleep late and get up late in the morning. They are prone to developing obesity,” he said.

Bhat said that consuming food while watching television is not a healthy practice. It diverts one’s attention. One should concentrate on the food while eating. Fast consumption of food, nibbling between meals and certain eating habits caused obesity.

He said that to reduce weight some persons stopped taking lunch or dinner suddenly. It was not correct. The quantity of food being consumed should be reduced gradually.

Bhat said that his department was conducting “chandrayana” course (from full moon day to new moon day) for people with obesity to reduce their weight. It is a 15-day course, involving regulation of food and doing prescribed “asanas” and pranayamas.

Subramanyam K, a student of yogic sciences of the university, said that yoga therapy will reduce problems of varicose veins.

Varicose veins refer to stagnation of blood in the vein in the lower extremities of the body. He placed details of a study conducted by the department on a group of people suffering from varicose veins and how yoga therapy helped in reducing their problem in a month.

Jayasettiaseelan, a research scholar of the department, spoke on treating rheumatoid arthritis by yoga therapy.

Udayakumara K, another research scholar of the department, spoke on management of sinusitis by yoga therapy.

K Siddappa, former Vice-Chancellor, Bangalore University, said that the practice of yoga helped growth of spiritual quotient. Yogic science is a precious treasure.

Times-sponsored speller knocked out of national spelling bee

2008-05-30T21:26:00.001-07:00

Until one second from now, you probably couldn't spell "deuterocanonical" either.

That word - a seven syllable Latin-rooted doozie referring to Biblical books not contained in the Hebrew canon - stumped local spelling champion Keertan R. Kini, 14, on Thursday, ending his run as the Times-sponsored speller in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.

Kini, of Schererville, beat many of the hundreds of spellers in the contest to enter the quarterfinals before he misspelled the word on stage. Kini, a Kahler Middle School eighth-grader, was characteristically professional about his loss Thursday. He said he was happy to advance further this year than he did in last year's national bee. But he said he will be haunted by "what-ifs."

"It's a let down. It's a little bit of a relief," he said.

"Most of all it's just something that I have to deal with."

Kini and his father planned to stay for the rest of contest, Kini said. He hoped Thursday for a victory from one of the other Indiana spellers. He said they seem like "pretty nice people."

Kini said he made some friends in two years at the bee. He might like to work for the bee later, as some bee alumni do. He learned from the bee, he said.

"It taught me a lot about how much motivation can play a role in how well you do," he said.

Konkani telefilm to be telecast on Doordarshan

2008-05-30T21:22:00.000-07:00

Chand Bhang, a Konkani telefilm and a production of Goa Doordarshan, Panaji will be soon presented on Goa Doordarshan.

The telefilm is being directed by Mr Udai Kamat and is written by the well-known, all round artist and Konkani poet, Mr Milind Harishchandra Kakodkar of Vasco under the banner ‘Shri Damodar Kala Mandal’, Vasco-da-Gama.

The cast of “Chand Bhang” consist of Mr Santosh Khorjuvenkar, Mr Shekhar Kalangutkar, Mr Padmakar Govekar, Mr Jagdish Durbhatkar, Mr Milind Kakodkar, Mr Subhash Rao, Ms Priya Volvoikar, Ms Mohini Korgaonkar, Ms Ujwala Halarnekar and Ms Shradha Shetgaonkar.

“Chand Bhang” has a message that greed is bad.

Wockhardt meets growth requirements

2008-05-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

Left : Suresh Shenoy

For a pharmaceutical major having extensive operations across different locations in the world besides India, the implementation of SAP ECC 5.00 has made all the difference. SAP ECC 5.00 has not only met its growth requirements but has also helped it achieve added productivity across its operations be it at different branch offices or the company’s manufacturing plants (The company has manufacturing plants in India, USA, UK, Ireland and France and more than 65% of its revenue comes from the US and European markets.)

Shortcomings in the legacy system

Wockhardt, which was running an ERP system from Avalon, was facing a number of issues with it. Suresh Shenoy, Senior Vice President –IT, Wockhardt Limited explains, “Avalon was not meeting our added growth requirements and had lived out its life. It was not meeting the reporting requirement and also required a lot of customization. Added growth meant exposure to multiple currencies, locations and languages and Avalon just could not handle the change. Moreover consolidation of data across locations was difficult and there was also duplication of work and reconciliation would happen at every stage. There was also the lack of a structured information system which led to delayed decision making, and consequently was having a negative impact on the business.”

Changes were not being carried out effectively and the legacy system could not adhere to the regulations related to the pharmaceutical industry. Moreover there was no integration across business processes. Account closures after every quarter were delayed as many things had to be compiled on Excel sheets and there were inaccuracies in accounting as there was a lot of manual work involved. The company looked for integration across business functions, faster information availability, and better control of operations, which were not been met by Avalon.

Zeroing in on SAP

The company decided to carry out a thorough evaluation before closing in on SAP ECC 5.00. Packages from Oracle, Microsoft and JD Edwards were evaluated besides SAP. A careful study of the product demonstrations by the SAP team and a thorough evaluation of the SAP implementation project at Lupin (another pharmaceutical major) led to Wockhardt finalizing on SAP. Shenoy, said, “With Wockhardt going global, the need of the hour was a robust IT infrastructure and an efficient information system in place and we found that SAP was suitable not only to meet our requirements with regard to the pharmaceutical industry but would also be helpful in consolidating our operations across multiple countries and currencies. We also found that the package would cater to global business requirements, while handling country-specific requirements and introduce best practices of the Life Science industry at all locations.” Wockhardt also found that the SAP ECC 5.00 package would offer a single technology platform and business data analysis capability and provide a high level of security with role and authorization control.

The implementation

The SAP implementation was completed in a matter of eight months from May 2005 to January 2006 when all the modules went live. IBM India was chosen as the implementation partner for the project as it had the requisite experience in the pharmaceutical domain. The major challenge was to gather a lot of functional people during the implementation and these were from different departments like the finance, production and planning department. During the implementation there was a strong in-house team comprising of 50 plus people and the IBM team, which was close to 22 people. Modules such as Materials Management, Production Planning, Quality Management, Plant Maintenance, Sales & Distribution, Customer Service, Human Resources Financials & Controlling and Product Life Cycle Management were implemented with a big bang approach and all of them went live together in January 2006 across locations. Now the solution has also been extended across foreign locations such as the US, UK and Ireland. Now the SAP extension work is going on in France and expected to be completed by January 2009.

Making a difference

Prior to the SAP implementation Wockhardt’s business processes were not integrated and data lacked consistency and accuracy, which led to ineffective decision-making, lack of flexibility and inefficient use of resources. This resulted in higher incidence of data entry errors, higher costs of error processing and paperwork. Moreover there was late closure of accounts after every quarter. The legacy system was unable to meet the growth requirements. However, the SAP implementation has brought in a unified data platform and standardized business processes have eliminated data entry errors and saved valuable administrative time. Since the SAP system works in real time the staff at Wockhardt can update, retrieve and manage data in real-time, which enables them to execute their tasks more efficiently. While enhancing overall efficiency across the organization, the centralized system ensures that information across the business is available to the management, not just as raw data, but also in the form of detailed reports. Reports can be quickly produced and without logistical headaches. Moreover, access to accurate information enables the company to evaluate options and make well-informed decisions, on a timely basis.

BoI plans representative office in Qatar

2008-05-30T21:12:00.000-07:00

DUBAI: Bank of India (BoI), India's third largest lender, is seeking the Qatar Central Bank's (QCB) permission to open a representative office at Doha.

On his visit to Qatar, BoI Executive Director, Mr K R Kamath met Qatar QCB Governor Mr Sheikh Abdullah bin Saoud al-Thani to seek permission to open up the office.

Mr Kamath said the bank had already received the Indian banking regulator's permission to set up a representative office in Qatar.

"I have met the QCB Governor and submitted our application for the Doha representative office. I am hopeful the Qatari authorities will consider our application favourably," he was quoted as saying in Gulf Times.

Mr Kamath said the bank was not looking at the possibility of entering the Qatar Financial Centre.

"That's not the kind of business we are looking at in Qatar. We wish to do retail business here," he said, adding that it would open its first representative office in the GCC region in Dubai next month as it has already received a licence for the Dubai office.

BoI has online remittance facility to some 2,000 branches across the country. Indian expatriates in Qatar can avail of speed remittance facility to these and another 30,000 branches of other Indian banks through Almana Exchange's two Doha branches.

The bank has access to Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), a nationwide computer link owned by Reserve Bank of India.

Idea Star Singer 2008 Aishwarya Rao Comments

2008-05-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

1st Round Comments (And she is selected)

Idea Star Singer 2008 Aishwarya Rao 1st Round

2008-05-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

See our new GSB in Idea Star Singer 2008 singing Tamil, Marathi fluently :

Ganesh Bhat wins title

2008-05-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

KOCHI: Ganesh Bhat, with 7.5 points, won the Ernakulam District senior chess championship which concluded at the Vinotha Library Hall, Thammanam, on Monday evening.

Ganesh Bhat and U.C. Mohanan finished level at the end of the nine-round event but the former had a superior progressive score.

Final placings: 1. Ganesh Bhat (7.5 pts), 2. U.C.Mohanan (7.5), 3. C.R. Raveendran (7), 4. K.R. Dhanulal (7), 5. M.V. Ratheesh (6.5), 6. K.A. Unas (6.5).

Scion of Pabba's Ideal family: Mukund Kamath

2008-05-19T21:44:00.001-07:00

By U. Mahesh Prabhu, Mangalore

Mangalore May 15, 2008: In this hot summer season in Mangalore there is but one place where people of all ages love to spend their time for escaping the heat with an ice cream in an air-conditioned environment - Pabbas. The very name of 'Pabbas' is capable of instigating your taste buds and make you to, miserably, shed water from your tongue - my tongue has begun to drip, in actual, already! Such is the legacy of this ice cream joint started by Prabhakar Kamath (Pabba) a few years ago, whose success was, yet again, replicated with IDEAL' brand of Ice creams. If there has to be named a legend in Mangalore worthy of an admiration for having that sheer perseverance, that has to be him - Pabmaam as he is affectionately known.

He, I am told, had lost in several businesses he had begun earlier. But still he wasn't that kind of a man who would give up. The commendable success what he has made in the region is so much that 'Ideal', their brand of Ice Creams, has been almost gone synonymous with the members of their family.

'Ideals ve? To re amgele pabmamma le!' is how Amchis take the brand recall, puffed with pride. Mukund, only son of Pabmaam, is the one, who is currently heading the, now a very successful, venture.

I had met Mukund, at a Conclave of a local news magazine, almost an year back, where he, along with other young entrepreneurs of the region, had been invited to present their papers on their experience in Mangalore as entrepreneurs. More than his style of speaking, I suppose, audience was keen to know as to what he had to say about his family's enduring journey, from nowhere to the world of fame.

I haven't had much of interactions with Mukund except for, thanks to, GTALK. But he's a very sensible man - I can say with hell bent confidence. He has a very special place for his family and friends, and his wonderful baby' daughter - Manya. Mukund is also a man with smiles and full of life. He's a businessman by profession, but hardly has something in him akin to a businessman, yet he is successful, perhaps that's owing to his heart full of compassion. He is smart, handsome and also shy at the same time. He is a genius in his own sense, and is thus incomparable to any.

Now at 32 Mukund is more than accomplished person. His ambitions and futurist endeavors are clearly visible. Since the very day Ideal made its way into the market not a single national player has been able to penetrate in the market. And even if penetrated, I am pompous to say, had little success. Such is the legacy of Ideals & Pabbas.

Their twin brand, in which every Mangalorean today pride upon, has a potential, I can say this with my over a decade long experience as Management man, to grow to the national level. I am sure Mukund knows this too and is keenly working in this direction.

How will Mukund steer his brands to the top is what is to be waited and watched at. But Until then we wish a very best of luck to Mukund, the Pabbas 'Ideal' family and their large employee fraternity, in their futuristic endeavours.

A Russian rendezvous in Hyderabad

2008-05-19T21:40:00.000-07:00

A heady interplay of comedy, fantasy and wisdom makes Dramanon's production, 'Fools', a contemporary theatrical classic.

The story is set in the Ukraine when it was still part of Russia in the 1890's, in a town called Kulyenchikov when it was put under a curse, rendering its inhabitants stupid.

A young schoolteacher Leon is sent to this town on a mission to break the curse on the village. On his way, Leon meets many of the inhabitants, such as "Something Something Snetsky," and Yenchna, the vendor who tries to sell flowers claiming they are fish! Directed By R.K Shenoy, the play was a hit among the growing fraternity of young theatre enthusiasts in the city.

Potomac Valley Hospital purchases new equipment

2008-05-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

KEYSER, W.Va., U.S.A - Potomac Valley Hospital, 167 S. Mineral St., recently acquired a new and improved endoscopy system.

The Evis Exera II has been in use for more than two months and the staff and Dr. Suratkal Shenoy are pleased with the product.

High-definition television and narrow band imaging have provided new levels of imaging quality. The combination of HDTV and NBI allow Shenoy to see the most minute details and variations of the lining of the patient's stomach and intestine. This will allow subtle changes to be discovered earlier than with previous systems.

The scopes themselves are designed with the patient in mind. They are equipped with a tensioning device that allows them to pass through the loops of the intestines easier, providing the patient with a greater reduction in discomfort during the procedure.

Katrina flown in to cheer Vijay Mallaya's IPL team

2008-05-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

Busy shooting schedules and tight agenda has made Katrina Kaif the busiest actress in town. So much so that in a bid to keep pace with her hectic schedule the actress missed her flight to Bangalore. Katrina had to be there to cheer for business tycoon Vijay Mallya's IPL team. But alas she could not make it on time to the airport.

But that did not prove to be stumbling block for Katrina. Remember she is brand ambassador of none other than Vijay Mallaya's IPL team. And on learning about Katrina's plight, the ace businessman quickly made arrangements and flew her down to Bangalore in his private jet. "That's the advantage of being a brand ambassador for Vijay Mallaya's Royal Challenge IPL team. Otherwise I don't think I would have made it on time. You know they will make sure that you reach despite the maddening schedules," Katrina laughed.

Katrina had such a packed schedule that she had to make her presence felt in three different cities in a span of twelve hours. She adds, "I was shooting in Goa which I finished and had to rush to catch a flight to Bangalore and had to rush to another city from there." Few know that Katrina has been a great fan of the cricket game since her childhood. "I love watching one day and T20 matches. People in England are crazy about them. People in India are crazy about the game too. But besides watching the game, I am enjoying cheering for the team too."

Katrina, who shot a music video with Sanjay Gupta for Vijay Mallya's Royal Challengers, said that she enjoyed that experience too. "I have started enjoying the experience of dancing especially after the success of RACE. Earlier it was not so! But today whether it is to dance to cheer for the IPL team or do it for the movies, I have begun to enjoy it. It helps me unwind on screen and on stage. Yes, I have recently started enjoying dancing on stage too. I realized that when I performed for the Zee Awards. Earlier I did not have the songs or the confidence to perform on stage. Now I have a bit of both," she says smiling.

Child prodigy predicts BJP majority, Yeddy as CM

2008-05-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

Shimoga- A wonder kid aged about nine years, living in Shimoga, has predicted that BJP would come to power in the State with absolute majority winning 126 to 132 seats and Yeddyurappa becoming the Chief Minister.

In a special programme Vismaya telecast by E-Tv today the boy said that nobody can prevent it.

The kid Shyamshankar, son of Nagesh Bhat and Geetha, was exceptional with an uncanny power to make predictions and to perform Homa and Havana as per scriptures right from his birth. Ringing of the puja bell would lull him to sleep when he threw a tantrum. If taken to a temple, the ambience there would silence him immediately, narrated Nagesh Bhat.

As he grew up Shyam showed exemplary interest and knowledge in performing pujas at home. His rendition of Sanskrit verses were flawless which had mesmerized even adult purohits who were unable to pronounce those difficult words properly. Shyam even began predicting future. He became a cynosure of all the eyes of the town and people started inviting the boy to their houses to performs pujas and homas. His predictions were so precise and accurate he did not spare even the family members, said Nagesh.

Barring his unusual spiritual excellence, Shyam is a nice lovable boy attending school and plays with his friends in a normal way. However, Shyam vows to work for the betterment of the society using his extraordinary skills and he is a God-sent gift for us, say the parents.

He had earlier predicted the fate of Yeddyurappa saying he could be the CM only for a week and he had written it down without telling anybody.

Flop Film Festival

2008-05-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

by S KAMAT

AS part of the Goa lament's series, the response to the state film festival and the 'state' of Konkani films in general was expanded upon with great emphasis, vigour and tears. But what was touched upon was not whether things were done right for the film festival and for the promotion of Konkani films in general.

Where was the promotion in the media for the film festival? But for an advertisement and a few press releases much before the event, no buzz was created for the event and it was but natural that it would flop.

Film festivals of this kind are promoted firstly through the film clubs in the city or state, and thereafter, through the colleges and university to make our youth aware by simple posters telling them of the kind of films being shown and emphasising that the screening of all films would be free. The distribution of passes at the various colleges could also be another measure to encourage people to visit the film festival.

Further through the media -- be it print or TV -- there needs to be a build-up for the film festival. Print media should have over the week leading up to the festival carried a synopsis of the films, the director and the principal actors, so that people are made aware of the films to be screened. Similarly, a small promo of the festival and the films should have been prepared and shown on television so that more people are exposed to the fact that there is a film festival to be held in the state.

In contrast, the approach was clearly very governmental and the thinking seemed to be along the lines of â€“ â€˜We are holding a festival. Let people come if they want. Moreover, we will be screening Konkani films and the local people should surely come for it. The Goa state film festival is a small festival and we having managed the IFFI, this is small stuff for us.

These are not the correct attitudes since today even for small functions you need to promote them to get sizeable participation from the public. And when the festival flopped, it was easier to blame the public since it is an unnamed or unidentified entity and cannot talk back directly.

The question is -- Did the organisers look inward and see where they themselves failed? If not, why? Because they think they know everything and they are always right? For them, all successes are theirs and for all failures they look for a scapegoat. This kind of attitude does not help in promoting art events like cinema etc. There needs to be more knowledge, more involvement, and more commitment on the part of the organisers.

As regards Konkani films and the poor audience turnout they face whether at festivals or at the theaters, the problem to be attacked is two-fold. First, there should be a government fiat that Konkani films should be compulsorily shown in the state's theaters and at concessional exhibitor's rates and further time slots for this should be set. This ensures that the films will be shown.

The second is that Konkani film producers/directors should realise that as far as the audiences are concerned, there are no free lunches. Meaning that they need to compete with other films that are popular, both Indian and foreign, and which attract audiences. If they are competent with their art and make good films, then people will surely come to watch them. The government as it is has programs for financial assistance for filmmakers and when coupled with mandatory screenings, good Konkani films will come up in due course.

In conclusion, I would like to say that if the entertainment society of Goa is unable to organise a small-scale state-level film festival, then when the IFFI is dumped into their lap fully, I could just imagine how big of a mess they will make.

interview with Colors CEO Rajesh Kamat

2008-05-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

Rajesh Kamat, CEO of Viacom18's Hindi GEC Colors, has a clear mandate - to ensure his upcoming channel a position amongst the top 3 players in the category within a year of launch.

In a genre where Colors is the 10th entrant, Kamat has his task cut out and will have to bring to bear all the experience he garnered in earlier stints as MD of Endemol India and senior VP commercial & business planning at Star India.

What would you term as the core TG for Colors?
While we propagate programming that appeals across, if I have to specify a core TG, 15 to 34 is a number I would peg ourselves on.

In a GEC, the 15 to 34 is what gets you your first one third. The 25 + is where the loyal audience starts. What we're doing is, we're getting the early adaptors and the initiators in the first phase. Once we get that, we've made our entry into the single TV households. That's when you start consolidating. And the consolidation phase is actually your 25+ female. Though males would come in, that consolidation phase would focus on the female.

That aspect of your programming focus is not reflected in either Fear Factor or in Mohe Rang De, the two shows that have been showcased thus far?
Not right now. What happens is, with these differentiated and disruptive programmes is that you lock in your first eyeballs. With big movies as well.

So you will have a big band for movies?
Absolutely.

But where will they come from? Isn't the market more or less locked in as far as movie titles are concerned?
These will be new ones. Now the market is moving towards syndicated movies - first airing, second airing, third airing… So there are quite a few lots floating around.

Your entry into viewer mind space will therefore be with these tent pole shows and movies?
I would not say entry into mind space. But the invitation card to viewers, if I can put it this way, would possibly have highlights on these. Because these are the ones that will actually draw the attention of the early adaptors and initiators.

But while doing this, we will have the conventional shows that we believe will compete in the long running rating game.

Will you be putting out your big movie titles in this six month window?
Absolutely. Be it big ticket reality shows, be it events, be it movies; that's where you'll get the sampling. As for differentiated content, it would be a Mohe Rang De, typically.

We see it that 300 GRPs is the target. But it is all this activity in the initial six months that will give us the 100 GRPs (base to build on).

How will you crack the balance 200?
Once you cross 100, it is all about adding 3, 5, 10 GRPs week on week That is what will take time. This is not a T20 game.

Isn't that's something that all the channels in the chasing pack (to Star Plus and Zee TV) have failed to crack? How to cross the 100?

Imagine is three-four months old. I take it as a compliment (to them) when somebody tells them that they can't go beyond a 90 or a 100. To get to a 90 was not simple. A Star One with all the clout of the Star network behind it opened with a 19 GRP, 9X was 20. Imagine opened at 55, and went to 89 in a short time. But from now on, the growth will be slow.

Which raises the question for you? These past three months has seen Imagine make a fast take-off and 9X slowly and surely build its story. That means among the new entrants two have already succeeded and are fighting it out for the third position. And way above them we have the strong number 1 and 2. Is that how you're looking at it in terms of the distance you have to cover?
Not quite. It is not necessarily going to be a 2 + 2. It could well be a 1 + 3. If that becomes the game, the difference between a 300 and a 150 might grow larger. And Star might gain back whatever its premium was, if at all. That remains to be seen.

But if we have such a scenario, the balance three, 150 and 300, or 150 and 100 or 150 and 120 there's a game. Two players at 120 each and one player at 80, is better than one player at 150.

Again, this whole game is about sustenance. It's financial investors versus strategic investors. What is the mindset? Are you looking at 'first year I have to extract this much money'?

You've identified six months as the time frame to embed yourself in viewer mind space. That all three new entrants might succeed is not a scenario that most experts have even considered, let alone thought possible?
If you take the US as an example, three networks used to account for 90 per cent eyeballs. Today the same three networks get 35 per cent eyeballs.

Even in India, where people used to talk about 70 per cent of the audiences flowing from one show to another, is a thing of the past. Now, there is nothing like saying I go from this show to this show on the same channel. It doesn't go vertical. You actually migrate between channels based on the shows you like. That's how the viewership pattern is going.

And it's not also as if the same person in the same household is watching. You're aggregating different types of eyeballs. There is no linearity in terms of audience flow.

Audience flow at an earlier point used to be from a Kasautti… to a Kahaani… and then on to a Kyunki. Because they (the majority) liked the same kind of shows. Those days are gone.

So whether addressability kicks in or not to a significant extent in the next two years is not a deterrent to any of you?
No.

See, there is no GEC that has shut down. Can you beat that?

Which brings me to the point that in today's scenario we have carriage and placement costs as a more than significant overhead, which all of you now club as part of marketing expenditure. There is pure marketing expenditure, ground marketing expenditure…?
Distributor cost. Technically, if we were an FMCG, it would be the distributors' charge.

In today's market, just for these two elements, we're talking of a Rs 1.2 billion budget. And it's even more than that in your case. So let's say Rs 1.5 billion is set aside for marketing and distribution. Now you have your Fear Factor, which is a 26-episoder, right?
16.

Ok, 16 episodes. The cost of which, in that case, would be nearly Rs 400 million; all of which appears to be adding up to the most expensive GEC launch India has ever seen?
That is with Akshay (Kumar)'s value. And that too, Akshay's quoted value in Mumbai Mirror. That's not the real value. What I will say is that it is higher (per episode) than what others in his league are getting but it is not something that we've bound ourselves with.

You must understand that this is not one of those 100 episode deals. We've done a clear series deal. So the values are also cost effective. It's not something that is over the top.

You talked of a launch cost. I see it a bit differently. How much would you buy a movie for. Typically in today's market something like a Welcome would cost Rs 7-8 crore (Rs 70-80 million) - for one plus 12 airings. You buy three Welcomes, you air it over three weekends, game over. And you've already sunk in Rs 24-25 crore.

Now let's examine our investment in Akshay for Fear Factor. Akshay is not just the host of the show, but also the face that will break through the clutter and get viewers to notice our channel when we launch. That is what an Akshay does for us.

In that sense this is not just a programming investment, but a marketing investment as well. This kind of a launch stunt, actually lasts you and first things first - you've entered the house, you've entered the mind space.

Akshay's coming on TV was the first one. He's coming on Colors is the second one. These are overlaps. Distribution overlapping with marketing; marketing overlapping with content.

When you launch in July, how many hours of prime time programming will you have?
Three-and-a-half to four hours is what we'll be having.

So you're launching with a four hour prime time weekday strip, a solid weekend line-up and a strong movie slate. That's really big bang.
Weekend would not be out and out blast but more in a phased manner. But yes we would have weekend offerings.

So you will more or less have a complete menu offering from Day 1?
Correct. We're not going in with a pistol, we're going with a cannon.

Doesn't an all or nothing approach leave you that much more vulnerable? A phased build up does allow more room for manoeuvre one would think.
Let me flip that at you. A typical investment plan for a Hindi GEC launch would be what? Some Rs 4-5 billion? A tighten the belt, so-called smart investing plan versus a lavish, exorbitant entry would be what? A Rs 250-300 million gap, or a Rs 500 million gap, broadly?

More like a Rs 1 billion gap.
Not that much. Because you'd have phased up investment later on rather than in the six-month time frame that we're looking at for Colors. Now let's take a perspective of a typical business. It looks at a three to five year break even. Over a five year period, will that Rs 500 million hurt you? That's where the strategic investor comes in.

And if you are the tenth player and you have to make a mark and you have a parentage of a Network 18 and a Viacom, will it hurt you? I don't think so. That's the mindset.

What we're saying is that I don't push my (operational) breakeven, I don't push my cumulative breakeven. I smartly manage the phasing (of investments).

You must understand that we're in this for the long haul. This is our bread and butter, so the extra Rs 500 million should be viewed keeping that perspective in mind.

So your medium term target would be to aim for the number 2?
A formidable player among the Top 3 is what we're aiming for within 12 months of launch. That's our target.

Speaking of programming, when will your bread and butter offerings roll out?
That will start from Day 1. We're giving enough time for the consumer to latch on to our offerings.

Of course, we'll be adding on a few shows as we go on.

So if we were to draw a one liner on why players like yourself believe you are not too late getting into this game, it would be because linearity in terms of watching scheduled are a thing of the past?
Absolutely. People will watch shows and come in and go out. That's what it is and that's what we're moving into as a market.

Trusting Dravid, Charu was a mistake: Mallya

2008-05-14T15:51:00.001-07:00

LIQUOR BARON Vijay Mallya has a penchant for making news. Victory or defeat, the owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers manages to stay in the thick of limelight and controversy.

Mallya rocked the Indian Premier League (IPL) yet again on Monday (May 12), when he almost attributed the loss of his team to skipper Rahul Dravid and former chief executive Charu Sharma.
He claimed that it was a mistake to trust the duo for team selection, while he kept himself away from picking the squad.
The cheerful owner of the the Bangalore team told media persons that his non-involvement in the selection of the team had proved counterproductive.
“My biggest mistake was to abstain from the selection of the team. Though I watch a lot cricket whenever possible, I am no cricket expert at the end of the day,” Mallya said.
The flamboyant businessman said that he had his own list of players, whom he wanted to include in the team but refrained from doing so as Dravid and Sharma had prepared their own list.
He said that he backed the former Indian skipper as he was an iconic player, despite the fact that the team looked like a test team.
Referring to the second auction, where Dravid was absent, the tycoon said that he had his own set of players but Sharma did not support his list. “It was I who brought Misbah-ul-Haq in the team,” he revealed adding that he wanted his team to do its best under the circumstances.

Bangalore Royal Challengers CEO Charu Sharma sacked

2008-05-09T17:12:00.001-07:00

The poor run of the Bangalore Royal Challengers has started to take its toll. Sources have told CNN-IBN that five losses in seven games has meant that owner Vijay Mallaya is now taking some tough decisions.

The first man to face the sack is CEO Charu Sharma who has been asked to leave his position. He will be replaced by Brijesh Patel, secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association and former India batsman.

Also on the chopping block is coach Venkatesh Prasad who is likely to be sent packing. Prasad is the bowling coach of the Indian team, the final straw for Mallaya was said to be Tuesday's game against the Kings XI when they were bowled out for a mere 126 at home.

Now, gum swab to spot HIV

2008-05-09T17:09:00.000-07:00

A simple gum swab in place of an invasive blood test can now tell whether you are HIV positive. What's even better, the test results will be out in just 10-20 minutes.

In a breakthrough that could replace the present day HIV antibody test through blood taken from the finger or the arm, a team of Indo-Canadian scientists has successfully tested the world's first saliva-based HIV test, with an accuracy rate of nearly 100%.

The final results from the study, conducted in Maharashtra in 2006, by a team from McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), Canada, and Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS), Sevagram, were published on Tuesday in the international medical journal ‘PloS Medicine'.

This test is based on oral mucosal transudate (OMT), a fluid that is secreted at the base of the gums before it becomes saliva.

Scientists found that the level of antibodies in OMT is comparable to that of blood plasma, making it an excellent sample for HIV testing.

Lead author Nitika Pant Pai from MUHC's division of infectious diseases, said this new technique would do away with blood collection, which scares away patients from undergoing HIV test. The team now hopes that this research will pave the way for widespread use of oral HIV tests available over-the-counter.

Rai conducted clinical trials on vulnerable pregnant women in the labour ward of MGIMS. She said that extracting blood in field settings poses a logistical problem because it needs injecting syringes and trained personnel. Now, all that one has to do is rub the stick against the gum twice to collect oral fluid.

"The applicator on the stick, a strip of synthetic proteins, then detects HIV antibodies in 20 minutes or less.

Standard blood test for HIV takes up to two weeks," Dr Pai said. She added that in India, it is vital to determine the HIV status of mothers very quickly to prevent transmission to the child during delivery.

"Over 50% Indian women do not receive prenatal care and therefore don't get tested for HIV during pregnancy. Testing in the labour ward is the last chance to prevent HIV transmission to the newborn baby. Also Indian patients often refuse blood collection in fear of social ostracization, while saliva collection poses no problem.
Thanks to this test, women were enrolled, received counselling, their test results confirmed and referred for treatment when found positive, within 40-60 minutes," she said.

Globally, in 2007, about 2.1 million children were detected with new HIV infection - 90% of them having acquired it via maternal fetal transmission.

Without rapid and accurate detection of HIV, no delivery of available PMTCT interventions (prevention of mother to child HIV transmission) is possible. Without anti-retroviral drugs, the probability of transmission is 30-35%. With ART, it is reduced to 10-15%.

"In the labour room, due to inconsistent supply of blood-based rapid tests, they are often not available. Thus, many fail to get tested. In India, 4,755 infants were detected in 2005 attributed to mother-to-child transmission," Pai added.

Says proposal in Goa’s interest

2008-05-09T16:51:00.000-07:00

Efforts by Konkani lovers to include Karwar and Joida talukas of Karnataka in neighbouring Goa have received a major boost, with Goa’s Public Works Department Minister Churchill Alemao strongly favouring the merger.
“I personally feel the merger of Karwar and Joida talukas with Goa is a good proposal in the interest of Goa,” Alemao told Herald, after inaugurating the tile factory of a Goan entrepreneur at Agsur-Ankola on Tuesday.
Claiming that people from Goa and Karwar share a common language and common culture, the minister opined that a merger of these two talukas would significantly increase Goa’s territory.
“At present, we have 13 lakh people in Goa spread across 3,702 sq. kms. If the people of Goa accept this idea of a merger, Goa could get an extra territory of about 1,800 sq kms to house its growing population,” said Alemao.
“Apart from this, the two talukas are rich in flora and fauna. They have immense tourism potentials, which could significantly boost Goa’s economy. We could even reconsider the idea of SEZs, if these talukas are included in Goa and we can think of further development of industries,” said Alemao.
Claiming that the merger is a “good proposal”, the PWD minister said: “What is now needed is to educate the people of Goa to create awareness on the benefits of the merger. If the people of Goa accept the idea and demand the merger, I would support the merger.”
Inspired by Goa’s pace of social and economic progress, a growing number of Konkani lovers in Karwar and Joida talukas of Karnataka have been demanding the inclusion of the two talukas into neighbouring Goa since the past 160 years.
Konkani speaking people of these two talukas form the majority linguistic group in the area, with over 60% of the population affirming Konkani as their mother tongue.
In 1992, Konkani lovers in the region had formed ‘Samyukth Gomantak Manch’ and since then, have sent various representations to the president, prime minister and chief minister of Goa, seeking merger with Goa.
To give a stronger fillip to the movement, Konkani lovers of Karwar and Joida met at the Konkan Maratha Bhavan at Sadashivgad on September 1, 2006 and formed the Goa Konkani Rajya Ekikaran Manch (GKREM).
“Our campaign has begun since 1992, when Konkani language got recognition in the 8th Schedule, said GKREM Convenor Asha Palankar.
“This is a genuine ground for our demand to merge Karwar and Joida with Goa because these are Konkani speaking places,” Palankar added.
Palankar has insisted that the merger of Karwar and Joida with Goa would boost all round development of the region, besides being a win-win situation for both Goa as well as Karwar and Joida.
Other Konkani protagonists also claim that Karwar has enjoyed close kinship and religious links with Goa down the ages. Kuladevatas (family God) of the people in Karwar and Joida can be located in the various parts of Goa.

Kamath asks industry to 'introspect' on prices

2008-05-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

Responding to charges of cartelisation against the industry, newly-elected CII President K V Kamath on Thursday said corporates must ask themselves whether their actions in a demand-driven market was causing distress to others.

"The government is sending a clear signal. We have to respond," he said when asked to comment on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's veiled warning against cartelisation.

Kamath said his predecessor Sunil Bharti Mittal has already said that CII abhors cartelisation. "That's our response."

However, industry must respond to the call given by the government to join it in the fight against inflation, he said at CII press conference today.

The Prime Minister, while addressing the CII annual session on yesterday, had said that the industry, "particularly in sectors characterised by significant market power in the hands of a few producers have a societal obligation to assist the government in moderating inflationary expectations".

Few sectors like cement and steel are facing charges of forming cartels to make profits from high demand. Steel prices have gone up by close to 50 per cent in the last 12 months forcing the government to take several administrative and fiscal measures to rein in prices.

Responding to the Prime Minister suggestion of sober compensation for the industry leaders, Kamath said sharp wage increase was responsible for corporate lifestyles. He said the increase in salaries, particularly of white collar personnel, would not be sustainable if India has to maintain its competitive advantage.

THE RAINMAKERS

2008-04-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

A small group of data crunchers sits in Pune trying to come up with a realistic picture of what the coming monsoons will bring. On them lies the onus of readying a country whose agriculture is heavily rain-dependent.

RAIN may not be top on our minds when the sun is high in the summer sky. But in a building in Pune, a group of men and women sits obsessing over the monsoons. It’s that time of the year when the National Climate Centre at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) gets working round-the-clock to get the rain forecast right.

With the monsoon rains just a month away, the staff at the 60-year-old IMD building called Shimla Office—the name travelled with the office when it shifted from Shimla to Pune—are busy squeezing in extra hours to issue the monsoon forecast for June as well as to announce the onset date of the monsoons in India.

There is none of the paper clutter you would expect to see at a dingy weather office. There are no maps or strange equipment lying around. The Shimla Office is a swanky place where the weather data is available at the click of the mouse.

The office is abuzz with animated discussions. Some researchers are busy assessing data, while others check on the different indicators or parameters for the forecast as they gear up to ready the summary report. Accuracy being the key factor, they are making sure they get the predictions right.

“Accuracy and preciseness in both space and time” is the target Director General of Meteorology Dr Ajit Tyagi has set for the team.

That’s easier said than done though. It’s difficult to get long-range forecasts right all over the world. This year the IMD is using two different forecast models or parameters to meet the accuracy factor. While they have been using the statistical model for years to forecast the monsoon, this year they are using the dynamical model for better results.

“Our forecast last year for the country was 95 per cent but when the rain came, it recorded 105 per cent. Rainfall all over the country as a whole was in excess in June and September,’’ says Dr Madhavan Rajeevan, Director, National Climate Centre (NCC).

Associated with the IMD for over two decades now, he calls the long-range forecast a tough challenge for meteorologists. “Every minute detail has to be kept in account and every year, the aim is be as accurate as possible.”

So just how accurate have they been?

“Well, we have had our years when we have come really close to the actual figures. The year 2003 and 2005 were good. Our monthly predictions for July has improved over the years and so has our assessment for northwest India,” he says.

Dr Sivananda Pai, the other director of NCC, who too has put in more than 15 years in the department and joined the NCC for the long range forecast, tries to put it in simple words. “It is like you may know that summer is the season for chickenpox but you need to assess and anaylse when its incidence goes up and what are its indicators. Similarly, we have predictors which help us assess the rainfall,” he says.

But the process, he says, requires the staff to be very careful about the assessment of data and when they use the predictors like ocean surface temperatures or mean sea level pressure. “It’s team work and each person’s contribution is very important,” he adds.

The most important source for making any prediction, says Pai, is the data from their inhouse National Data Centre, all available in CDs now. The data at the Centre goes back to a hundred years.

“Relying on historical data we go ahead with our predictions using these models,” he adds. Apart from that the centre accesses maps from all over the world on the Internet. “Work gets divided with some staff members taking up two or three indicators or parameters and accessing the maps followed by discussion and then actual assessment,” adds Pai.

And things are hotting up in the office in the run-up to the monsoon but the workload will increase even further when the monsoon recedes from India in September. It’s then that the Department comes up with its analysis that is circulated to all the centres of the IMD as well as other organisations for comments and suggestions. With agricultural practices in the country strictly tied to the annual cycle of rainfall—the annual average rainfall of the country hovers around at 1,150 mm—the monsoon accounts for almost all the annual rain in 75 per cent of the geographical area and 78 per cent of the gross cropped area. It is this inter-annual variation of the monsoon that has been the first target of these predictions, says Pai.

The rain forecasters know they have to be as close to actual rainfall as possible since long range forecast has many social and economic impacts. “The total monsoon rainfall during the season has a statistically significant relationship with the crop yield, generation of power, irrigation schedule over the country,” says Pai. Statistical forecast models for the monsoon need to be scrutinised constantly, he adds.

‘‘The IMD also takes into account the experimental forecasts prepared by other national institutes like Indian Institute of Tropical Meterology, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation (CMMACS), Bangalore and the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF),” adds Rajeevan.

Working with a staff of 12, he hopes to get more to join his team to firm up research.

So, who are the people who join the department? “Anyone with a physics, meteorology or mathematics background can join us. Then there are the institutes teaching meteorology in various parts of the country, and fresh talent needs to be absorbed in this area. There is so much research happening in the area, and fresh talent is always welcome. Coordinating with different research centres and updating ourselves is very important,” he adds.

The department is aware that people often don’t really believe in their predictions but with the IMD planning to put in place a modernisation programme, Tyagi is hoping their word on the weather will one day be the final word.

Tutor known for intelligence, love of learning

2008-04-28T16:13:00.000-07:00

Anjale Pai, 1982-2008

Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A : Generosity, intelligence and an undying optimism are what people remember about Anjali Pai, a 25-year-old St. John's College graduate and public school tutor who died in an automobile accident March 30.

With an ever-present smile — representative of a quiet, inner confidence, friends said — Pai earned a master's degree in western philosophy at St. John's in December and also worked as a tutor in the Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID, program with the Santa Fe Public Schools.

She was traveling to Plano, Texas, to visit her family while the schools were on spring break, friends said, when the fatal accident occurred in Norman, Okla.

"I actually got to see her shortly before," said Robin Shishido, a former classmate and tutor with AVID. "It was very shocking, but I was very thankful that I got to see her."

Shishido and other friends described Pai as an extremely intelligent woman whose interests ranged from science and math to music and literature. In addition to her degree from St. John's, Pai also had bachelor's degrees in biology and music from Lake Forest College in Illinois and a master's degree in music from the University of Toronto.

It was a love of learning that pushed Pai to continue her education, and she took something from every experience, friends said.

"She even talked about how her teaching experiences were about learning," said John Hall, a friend. "My last experience with her, she was really, really happier than I had ever seen her.

"She talked about how happy she was to be teaching and to be investing in the learning process in all possible ways. She was a good Johnny in that sense."

Patrick Hudson, a former classmate, remembers Pai most for the generosity she showed when he was working on a class project. He was in a counseling program and needed to interview someone of a different ethnicity.

He approached Pai, whose parents had emigrated from India, and asked if she would talk with him. "She had an incredibly intense awareness of what it was like to be ethnically different," Hudson said, "and she handled it in a mature and an intelligent fashion."

Pai went out of her way to spend hours with Hudson and voluntarily wrote a description of herself that he used in his project.

Out of their interaction, Hudson learned Pai strived so hard to succeed because of her parents' immigrant experience. "One of the things she said to me was how much she loved her parents and how grateful she was for all they had done for her," he said. "She wanted to make the most of her life, partly in gratitude to them."

For the past two years, Pai tutored students in the AVID program, and teachers and students said her vast knowledge was an invaluable asset. "She knew a lot about a variety of things, and the kids appreciated that," said Marcos Gallegos, a teacher at Capital High School.

Gallegos described an instance in which students were having a hard time with an Advanced Placement history course. "(Pai) came in and said, 'Can I borrow the book?' " Gallegos said. "She read it so she could help the kids."

And even when she didn't know an answer or students were struggling, she was never negative, students said. "I don't ever remember seeing her unhappy," said Yalithza Lopez, a student at Capital. "She always had a smile on her face."

St. John's is holding a memorial for Pai at 4 p.m. today in the Junior Commons Room of the Peterson Student Center.

Of dreams, butterflies and flowers

2008-04-28T16:12:00.001-07:00

RUPASHRI Ashok is on cloud nine. Her first collection of poems, �Small Wonders�, was released, during the annual day function in her school the other day. �It is the beginning of a journey,� she says ecstatically.

Rupashri is a 11-year-old moving into Class Seven at the Navy Children�s School. This exuberant, free-spirited child began writing bits and pieces of poetry from a very young age.

Her literary talent stems from the fact that her family has had many gifted writers who have contributed substantially to Konkani literature.

The ardent support from her family has enabled her to put together 35 poems for this first publication.

This compilation is a testimony of two years of passionate writing and also a dedication to her late grandfather who was a famous Konkani poet.

Her works presents the author as a true lover of nature.

Her poems reflect different moods of life as well as perceptions on global norms. She is inspired even by the simple things around her.

An observer of expressions as well, her work encaptures these intricate trifles and leaves you in awe of her literary genius.

Rupashri has also had an earlier release of a computer-printed book named �Butterflies and Flowers� at the age of six.

It consisted of 20 tales and four poems, handpicked and put together by her dad from the many tales she has been telling since the tender age of three.

Rupashri has also been blogging since March,2007. Here, she pens down articles, poems, short stories, travelogue and fiction.

Her enthusiasm for writing equally matches her voracious reading habit. She also likes to indulge in collecting stamps, coins, art, craft and computer games.

GHS girls tennis forfeits at regionals

2008-04-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

Gainesville, Florida, U.S.A : All season, Gainesville High senior Preetika Pai battled a seriously injured right wrist while helping the girl’s tennis team to wins. Friday, a second injury halted the Hurricanes hopes of playing for a state title.

A cramp in Pai’s right leg kept her from continuing a match against Ponte Vedra Beach Nease’s Danielle Agraviador. With the team down 2-1, Gainesville had to forfeit the match, ending its season with a 4-1 loss in the 3A Regional Finals.

“I’m very, very proud of this group of girls,” said GHS coach Cathy Lewis “They came out and they toughed it out. They wanted to make a statement and I think they did.”

Pai took the court after a 6-1, 6-0 victory by the team’s No. 1 player, Tavenner Black, and losses by No. 2 Katie Olson (6-2, 6-1 to Alex Corbett) and No. 3 Allison Chasteen (6-3, 6-0 to Abby Heiar). Pai split the first two sets, 6-4, 4-6 with Agraviador before feeling a twinge in her leg at the end of the second.

During the 10-minute break before the third set, she rehydrated, ate a banana and lightly jogged. After winning the first game of the third set, the cramp forced her retire. She eventually needed to be carried off the court, unable to put weight on the leg.

“It started very gradual,” said Pai, who was on crutches, still unable to lay her foot flat on the ground, several hours after the match. “Little-by-little I could feel my calf muscle tensing up as each game went on. I tried to bounce around to keep from cramping up. I knew the match was in my hands, but I just couldn’t do it. It felt really bad to give up so easily."

With a Nease victory already decided, Melissa Sheldon, Gainesville’s No. 5, finished with a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Diana Berlin to end the day.

“Even though it ended on a sad note, I really felt like everybody tried their best,” said Black, who is joining the Gardner Webb University tennis team next season. “Preetika showed just how tough she is. We all didn’t want to give up. We tried our very best and I think that’s what really counts.”

Snapped Up

2008-04-24T22:18:00.001-07:00

A homemaker and former professor of photography, Jyoti Pai is set to hold the first solo photo exhibition on Ladakh this week

Snow-Capped mountains, twisting rivers and winding roads—the sights of Ladakh can send people into a tizzy. But for Jyoti Pai, a former professor of photography from Mumbai, the land was a calling of sorts.

Determined to capture the tantalising scenery through her lens, she set out to Ladakh for a second time recently “to be able to show the natural beauty of places in our country”. Now based in Goa, Pai (40) is set to return to Mumbai with the first solo photography exhibition of 60 photographs of Ladakh, to be held at the P L Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy, Prabhadevi, from April 25 to 27.

Coming from a family of photography lovers, Pai took to photography naturally. Her “expensive hobby” — as the homemaker calls her skill — nurtured the travel bug in her. And then, Ladakh beckoned.

The highest plateau in Kashmir at over 9,800 feet, Ladakh lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south. Known for its remote beauty and culture, Ladakh is sometimes called ‘Little Tibet’ for the strong Tibetan influences on its culture and lifestyle.

“The majestic mountains, enchanting lakes and valleys, lush green meadows… all these won me over the first time I visited Ladakh. Nestled cozily in the dazzling snow-capped Himalayas lies the most picturesque panorama you can imagine. A complete photographer’s delight,” she says.

A mother of two, Pai taught photography at the Nirmala Niketan College of Home Science in Mumbai for several years before shifting base to Goa. Her photography was on the backburner then, though she continued to run a photo studio.

“There have been several combined exhibitions by women of Ladakh. But this is the first time a solo exhibition is being held by a woman on this remote area of the country. She has visited it twice and shot her pictures on Xpan,” says aerial photographer Gopal Bodhe of Pai.

In an invite for the photo exhibition, senior advocate from Mumbai Adhik Shirodkar says: “Her (Jyoti) multi-faceted personality manifests itself in the breathtaking photographs in her first solo photo exhibition depicting Ladakh, where she went twice, in all her grandeur.”

Despite the challenges of the tough climb, the breathlessness and the winding roads, Pai recalls the high she felt at the Khardung La and the amazing calmness on the shore of Pangong Lake.

“I started shooting from Rohtang Pass. The idea was to tell the world through my lens that even in India there are these breathtakingly beautiful places with virgin mountains and lakes to visit,” Pai signs off.

Intel to drive channel services across APAC

2008-04-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

Chip giant unveils extended services opportunities for resellers at the Intel Solutions Summit (ISS) in Bangkok.

Speaking at an ISS press briefing today, Steve Dallman, general manager of the Reseller Channel Organisation at Intel, said: “The channel has always done well as it has the one-to-one relationships with customers. We are coaching the channel to help them get into the services business. Being able to provide these services will mean the channel can make more money and the customers will benefit too.

“You can integrate a system, sell it to a customer and you feed your family once. With services you get a monthly fee and are able to feed your family everyday.”

Intel believes there are two main varieties of opportunity on the services side: Platform Extension Services and Hosted Tools.

“Platform Extension Services are around providing an upgrade service,” said Dallman. “We are also being to engage with partners out there who offer hosted services and then match make them to our channel partners.”

Navin Shenoy, general manager of Asia Pacific sales and marketing at Intel, said: “The channel needs to evolve and take advantage of new technology. The channel can drive services and the channel guys who just push boxes will not do well. The ones that do services on top will be the ones that do well.”

Shenoy said to gain traction in the SMB market centres around providing these firms with remote management, as many SMBs do not have sufficient internal IT resources.

“A channel partner who services those SMB customers can get in there and fix a problem before the bigger guys can even answer the phone. Channel partners are nimble enough,” added Shenoy.

Tom Rampone, general manager of the Channel Platforms Group at Intel, said the services opportunities will not be restricted to Intel’s larger channel partners.

“We are making our platforms more manageable and encouraging our customers to build services on the products. We are making the investment so smaller partners can get into the services side too,” he said.

Kingfisher Airlines unveils IPL umpire uniforms; announces ‘Fair Play Award'

2008-04-18T16:50:00.001-07:00

Kingfisher Airlines (Kingfisher) today unveiled umpire uniforms for the ensuing season of the Indian Premiere League (IPL) in Bangalore today.

The uniform comprises a ‘smart’ red shirt with the message ‘Fly Kingfisher’ on the front and the back, black trousers and a white hat with a red hat band also carrying the “Fly Kingfisher’ message. The line also includes training shorts set in black with a red t-shirt and a cap. The uniform has been designed by the UB group’s dress designer Manovraj Khosla.

Kingfisher Airlines Chairman and CEO Vijaya Mallaya also announced a ‘Fly Kingfisher Fair Play Award’ during the matches which begin on 18 April in Bangalore.

Under the Fly Kingfisher Fair Play Award, umpires will award teams' points for fair play, respect for the laws of the game and respect to their opponents.

The ‘Fly Kingfisher Fair Play Award’ will involve a League table running over the course of the season. The winner of the award will be the team that, in the eyes of the umpires, has played fairest across the 56 matches comprising the regular League season. Each member of the winning team will be presented with a glittering precious trophy.

“We wanted to do something different from the conventional Man of the match, hence the innovation in which the umpires will be involved,” explained Mallaya during the press conference.

After each match, the two officiating umpires and the third umpire will reward award points to the competing teams based on the following criteria:

Up to 4 points - awarded per team that in the opinion of the umpires according to how the team upheld the spirit of the game during the match;

2 / 1 / 0 points * - awarded to one or both team/s - if in the opinion of the umpires the team/s showed respect to the opposition;

2 / 1 / 0 points * – awarded to one or both team/s - if in the opinion of the umpires the team/s showed respect to the laws of the game;

2 / 1 / 0 points * – awarded to one or both team/s - if in the opinion of the umpires the team/s showed respect to the umpires. A team can receive a maximum of ten points per match.

*Key to Award Points: 2 points – Exemplary, 1 point – Good, 0 points – Average.

New head of Miami Children's Hospital plans expansions while battling added $2 million monthly bond interest cost

2008-04-18T16:31:00.001-07:00

Staff members don't ask for your name and billing information more than once at a hotel — why should they at a hospital? asks Narendra Kini, new president and CEO of the Miami Children's Hospital. Dr. Kini plans to focus on running Children's like a business, with a focus on customer — or patient — service and with the needs of his young clientele and their families in mind.
He'll need business savvy to navigate some hospital challenges: government funding cuts, a crumbling bond market and scarce workforce housing. But Dr. Kini is lobbying legislators, meeting with potential donors and planning program strategies he thinks will keep the hospital on top.
A pediatric emergency physician by training, Dr. Kini joined Miami Children's in January after serving as executive vice president for clinical and physician services at Trinity Health, the fourth largest Catholic health system in the U.S. He was interviewed in his Miami Children's office by Miami Today staff writer Risa Polansky.

Election results send different messages to parties

2008-04-18T16:30:00.001-07:00

The by-election results Wednesday spread across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa have different messages for political parties preparing for the 2009 general elections, with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) the clear winner and the Congress yet to get its act together. If there is one party that can clearly bask in satisfaction, it is Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s BSP that has swept all five by-elections - two Lok Sabha and three assembly - in the state.

“Mayawati’s performance has got the alarm bells ringing for the Samajwadi Party which may now come to the negotiating table with the Congress,” said political commentator G.V.L. Narasimha Rao.

Neither the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nor the Congress is on firm ground in Uttar Pradesh. The battle for the 2009 parliamentary elections will be fought out between Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati.

In the last assembly elections in May 2007, the BJP and the Congress were a distant third and fourth in the race for power.

In this round of by-elections Mayawati has once again pulled off her strategy. “She clearly has a head start, has picked the right candidates in terms of caste, ability to deliver and local clout,” said Rao. “She has already chosen candidates for 50 Lok Sabha seats.”

The Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, is yet to recover from the losses in the 2007 assembly elections. It has been toying with the idea of making peace with the Congress to counter the BSP, but nothing tangible has materialized.

Like the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress seems unable to find the right strategy in Madhya Pradesh, which goes to polls in November this year.

The party lost the Betul Harda assembly seat to the BJP by 35,440 votes. This is despite the fact that Kamal Nath, the Congress high profile cabinet minister, spent considerable time campaigning in the by-election.

The campaigning between the Congress and the BJP came to be touted as a tussle between the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and cabinet minister Kamal Nath.

The latter could turn out to be the Congress’ chief ministerial candidate if the party wins the assembly elections.

“The by-election in Madhya Pradesh was significant because the result showed that the Congress is yet to get its act together,” said Sudha Pai, senior fellow, Nehru Memorial Library.

“It is a precursor to the face-to-face combat that we will see between the Congress and the BJP in 2009,” she said.

The results were also a loss of face for Congress leader Suresh Pachauri, who is in charge of Madhya Pradesh. Pachauri was recently relieved from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s council of ministers and put in charge of the state. Like Kamal Nath, Pachauri too spent a great deal of time campaigning in the by-election.

The time and the energy invested by the Congress leaders have not paid off. The strategy, Pai pointed out, was wrong.

“The Congress should start talking about development issues. Even Rahul Gandhi is not focusing on this. He goes and spends time with Dalit families but does not take up policy issues,” said Pai.

Doing their bit for the mentally challenged

2008-04-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

Leading music artistes will come on stage for a noble cause at the Dr T M A Pai International Convention Centre here on Sunday. They will perform to raise funds for Saanidhya, a residential school and training centre for the mentally challenged at Kandettu, Bikkarnakatta. The highlight of the programme will be a performance by differently abled children prior to the show by the artistes.

Former corporator Mahabala Marla, who is president of Shree Ganesha Seva Trust for Exceptional Persons, which manages Saanidhya, told presspersons here on Wednesday that entry to the event is by invitation. A committee comprising philanthropists has been formed to raise funds for the building, which is estimated to cost Rs 2.5 crore.

The trust has so far raised a fraction of the amount needed, he said.
President of the committee A Sadananda Shetty said Saanidhya had completed five years of service to the needy. Inmates of Saanidhya, who are in the age group of 4 to 35 years, are presently housed in two large rented houses. The trust has all along felt the need for independent building with all training facilities for these differently abled people, he said and added the fund raiser titled Spandana 2008 is a step in this direction.

While artistes, including Gurukiran and Naushad and party from Shades music group will perform at the charity show, Shetty said a dance and a drama “Asuye” to be performed by inmates of Saanidhya is expected to be the event to look out for.

Tara Labhadaya from Mumbai, mother of Shankar Rao, one of the trustees will inaugurate Spandana 2008 by lighting the lamp. There will be no stage function, he added.

Mangalore: MSEZ team faces public wrath at Polali

2008-04-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

The residents of Polali on Thursday shunned away the team of five MSEZ officials who had come there to conduct a survey for construction of a dam for MSEZ.

The MSEZ officials had come to the area to conduct a survey even earlier and they had to face a similar reaction from the residents even then.

A team of five members from SECSD Private Limited headed by Mr Shivaguru and Mr Selvaraj had visited the area to conduct a study on water as a part of their study of river Nethravathi at Uppinangady, Kumaradhara at Ulipu, Palguni at Gurpura and rivers at Polali. The team had to face the wrath of the local residents as the local residents learnt that the team had come to conduct a pro-SEZ survey.

The team explained to the residents that they had come to make a study on the problems faced by the fishermen due to the mixture of salt water and fresh water in the regions. After this explanation, the raged residents asked the team to leave the place immediately and warned them that they would be inviting trouble for themselves if they ever return to the place again.

The local residents had shunned the team, which had visited the area on Saturday too.

The team re-visited the area on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday morning along with SEZ officials, which made the residents suspicious. The residents united themselves and stopped the survey works.

On receiving information about the opposition, MSEZ CEO A G Pai rushed to the area. By this time former minister B Nagaraj Shetty had joined the angry residents and opposed the survey.

They held a meeting at Akhileshwara Temple, where Mr Shetty asked the officials to drop the plan of constructing the dam in the area and warned that he will not be responsible for the disaster that may take place if the officials coercively implement the plan.

Later Mr A G Pai assured that the dam for SEZ will not be built if it is causing inconvenience to the local residents.

The locals expressed their anger as there are possibilities of some areas submerging if the dam projects are implemented. The local residents are performing a special prayer at Polali temple today to keep MSEZ project at bay.

Namma Angadi opens in Manipal

2008-04-16T16:23:00.001-07:00

Namma Angadi, a three day exhibition cum sale of rural handicrafts was inaugurated here by Manipal University Director Student Affairs Dr Pushpa Kini at Manipal University premises on Friday.

The event is the initiative of the students of Manipal Institute of Communication in association with DigiGO and Namma Angadi.

Delivering the presidential remarks on the occasion, veteran journalist and Honorary Director for MIC Dr M V Kamath opined that annihilation of these traditional crafts and culture from the mainstream in rural India has shunned all viable employment opportunities paving way for naxalite corridors right from Himalayan region to Dakshina Kannada district.

Contrasting todays political leaders and their ideologies to the great thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya, he said lack of interest and vision among the leaders in building secular rural India has given birth to violence and added it is essential to own Indian identity rather than state wise identity.

Speaking on the occasion, MIC Director Dr Boroshiva Dasguptha said social responsibility should be imbibed among students along with objective perception.

"Emergence of machines in the rural areas has resulted in disappearance of hand made rural crafts exactly opposite to Gandhijis wishes to sustain all these traditional arts in post independent India," said Shivanad Shetty of Namma Bhoomi.

GHS girls tennis team not one to give up

2008-04-16T16:17:00.000-07:00

Gainesville, Florida, U.S.A : When a team faces adversity, it has two choices: Give up or keep fighting.

In the case of the Gainesville High girls' tennis team, quitting was never an option, and the Hurricanes can prove it.

The team found out just before the season that it would be without juniors Keri Frankenberger and Casey Simmons, both previous state champions, because their national tournament schedules conflicted with the high school season. It was a difficult loss, but one that fueled the Hurricanes.

“They sort of figured, ‘Hey, we’re going to go out and show everybody that we can win districts on our own,’” said GHS coach Cathy Lewis. “I think they went into districts with that sort of attitude. They decided that they were going to tough it out and it was their district to win.”

That’s exactly what the Hurricanes did, taking the District 4-3A trophy and earning the right to host Jacksonville Wolfson at Northside Park today at 3 p.m. in a Region 2-3A quarterfinal match.

The team also worried that it could be without No. 4 player, senior Preetika Pai, who began to feel some pain in her right wrist last June. It turned out that the injury only forced her to become a better all-around player.

“I figured that I didn’t want to completely stop playing tennis,” said Pai, who has been told that the injury is either a ligament tear or a buildup of fluid. “So what I did was go on days when we didn’t have practice or practice matches to Westside (Park) and just pick up a racket and start hitting left-handed. I got pretty good at it. Then I would go into our practice matches and start serving and hitting forehands left-handed and I kept getting better.”

She got so good at switch-hitting that she found her opponents would get thrown off during matches, not knowing what her weaknesses were because of her changing. Pai has surgery planned next month to correct the injury, which she says flares up whenever she moves her wrist from side-to-side and lasts for at least two minutes each time.

After a 9-6 regular season, Lewis thinks her team is peaking at the right time. She says her No. 1 player, senior Tavenner Black, is playing her best tennis of the season and is prepared for the regional matches. The rest of the team, No. 2 Katie Olson, No. 3 Allison Chasteen and No. 5 Melissa Sheldon, all seniors, understand that any loss means the end of their high school tennis career.

“We’re always trying to shoot for the best that we can do,” Pai said. “We worked with what we’ve got and we made it pretty far. For regionals, we want to try to win every match. Our goal is to win it, but it’s going to be a lot harder than districts.”

Lewis thinks her team is strong enough, and has built up enough unity, to stand through the challenge.

“I am very, very proud of this team because they hung together,” Lewis said. “It started off as a tough season, but if anything, it probably made them a stronger team and they’ve been more team oriented.”

Jagdish Kini joins Obopay

2008-04-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

Obopay Mobile Technology India today announced appointing Jagdish Kini as their Executive Advisor.

On his joining Obopay Mobile Technology India, Kini said "I am always excited to introduce new technologies and uses of technologies that benefit society. Obopay, I feel addresses the environment in a 360 degree view revolutionising all aspects of a transaction, and will therefore change the way we will transact and bank in the future. "

According to Aditya Menon, Executive Director Obopay Mobile Technology, India, "We are glad to have Jagdish on board with us. We are sure his global knowledge and work experience will help us to set new benchmark standards in mobile payment services. His experience and leadership will be immensely valuable for our company and partners to leverage. In this explosive market place, we are fortunate to have an Industry Leader who has experienced triple digit growth in the organizations that he has helped to build".

Jagdish had been in past responsible for positioning Brand Airtel as a superior mobile service provider in Karnataka and in the southern region.

He has three decades of experience in various sectors like Finance, Telecom and FMCG. He has worked in diverse roles such as sales, marketing, finance and customer service. Jagdish has worked in various countries across France, UK and Dubai and brings in international knowledge and expertise to the table. Mr. Kini had been associated with companies like Siemens, L'Oreal, Proctor and Gamble.

Obopay Mobile Technology, India is a two-year-old US-headquartered P2P payment and remittance service provider.

Manipal University likely to participate in FAIR project

2008-04-14T16:07:00.001-07:00

Karnataka-based Manipal University which has been collaborating with the heavy ion fundamental research laboratory GSI in Germany is likely to participate in the international mega-project Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research `FAIR'.

"We have an enthusiastic response from students and faculty alike and expressed our clear intention to participate FAIR project in various ways," Manipal Advanced Research Group (MARG) Executive director and Registrar (International Programmes) H Vinod Bhat told PTI.

The University has been collaborating with GSI over the past few years. The nodal agency in India for this collaboration is the DST and participation is open to Universities.

"It is natural that Manipal University would like to participate as actively as possible along with our other Indian counterparts," Bhat said.

"We are in the process of putting a framework in place at the University to enable the seamless co-ordination within the various departments at the University as well as with external collaborators. We expect that participation in FAIR will add an important facet to our foray into the physical sciences in the near future," he said.

U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Awards Contract for Cognitive Airborne Network Protocol to Spectracom

2008-04-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

Spectracom and its academic partner Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) have been awarded a contract by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory of Rome, New York, to continue research on a wireless network routing protocol supporting war fighter communications.

This research will provide insight into the future of military airborne networks. The contract is worth nearly $300,000 and builds upon other USAF-sponsored work from 2006.

The contract is also noted as being a next step in Spectracom’s mission “to serve the Aerospace and Defense market with high reliability network solutions for synchronizing critical operations with an expanding technology portfolio.”

John Fischer, Spectracom’s chief technology officer said, “this award complements our ongoing research and development for next-generation networks.” He continued, “We understand the need for secure and reliable network communications and are committed to providing innovative solutions to the military through the application of leading-edge work of academic partners such as RIT.”

Spectracom is an ISO 9001:2000 registered company that designs, develops, and manufactures Legally Traceable Time and frequency products for Synchronizing Critical Operations affecting a range of communications, broadcasts, andIP networks in Public Safety, Aerospace and Defense, Financial Services, Healthcare, and Broadcast markets.

Dr. Nirmala Shenoy is the director of RIT’s Lab for Wireless Networking and Security and the inventor of the Multi-Mesh Tree (MMT) routing protocol. She served as part of the team whose work is now a foundation for the new Air Force contract.

Shenoy said, “MMT offers a high degree of network efficiency through its scalability and use of information across traditional network protocol layers in a compact manner. We will enhance the MMT functions and its performance to meet the goals of the Air Force by introducing cognitive self-learning behavior in the protocol.”

The new contract is part of the Department of Defense’s initiative to deploy an IP-based network that interconnects mobile airborne platforms. Eventually these platforms will also connect to the military’sGlobal Information Grid.

John Matyjas from the Air Force Research Lab commented, “Our goal is to achieve fast, efficient, and secure routing that performs under highly dynamic and hostile conditions of the battlespace.” He went on to say, “We are interested in approaches to apply cognitive techniques to further improve the performance of routing protocols.”

‘Sorry Raj, can’t give you Maratha’

2008-04-13T20:58:00.001-07:00

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray is eager to start a party mouthpiece. Some party workers have suggested him to brand it Maratha.

But with the owner of Maratha, which was a leading newspaper when Sanuykta Maharashtra agitation was at its peak in the 1950s, not willing to sell the title, MNS might not have its wish fulfilled.

Thackeray has told party workers that the mouthpiece would soon be a reality. He also announced a magazine, dedicated to cartoons. An MNS source said, “We are trying to obtain the title Maratha for the mouthpiece. The ti-tle is per- fect for our party’s stand on Marathi people.”

However, Shirish Pai, the owner of Maratha, has refused to part with the title. “The title is the memory of Acharya Atre (her father). The issues raised by Raj Thackeray are important. But I believe that Maratha belonged to Atre only. I will not give it to anybody,” she told DNA.

“Some people from Pune and Kolhapur came to me for the title. I told them I would not give,” Pai said. She suggested that Thackeray could opt for the title Nav Maratha.

Daggers drawn!

2008-04-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

Though he managed to bag Tipu Sultan’s sword, this time the tycoon failed to bring home Shah Jahan’s khanjar.

The dagger of Emperor Shah Jahan, (who built the Taj Mahal) was sold at the Bonhams auction on April 10 in London for £1,700,000 (approx Rs13.4 cr).

Reports suggest that a representative of liquor baron Vijay Mallaya was one among the few in the auction room bidding fiercely for the dagger or the khanjar always carried by Shah Jahan.

A source revealed, “Mallya’s agent stopped his bidding at £1,300,000 (approx Rs 10.25 cr). However, an anonymous bidder over the phone outbid him to take the dagger home.”

Mallya had earlier acquired Tipu Sultan’s sword in 2004. Two years ago he had also bought a silver-mounted flintlock sporting gun from the personal armoury of the Tiger of Mysore for £120,000 pounds from a Sotheby sale.

Mallya has plans to construct a museum in Mysore where he can stock the historic treasures speaking of India’s glorious past. But unfortunately, he was beaten this time.

Julian Roup, a representative from Bonhams said, “Six to seven people in the room and about three people over the phone were bidding for this dagger till it reached the million mark.”

He added, “Usually, when an auction reaches the million mark, the bidding room turns silent. But this time it was different. A bidder in the room and two on the phone continued bidding for the dagger.

Lastly, it was a bidder on the phone and one in the room who were left fighting for the relic. Ultimately, the bidder on the phone managed to take the sword away.”

For quality & quantity, overhaul education policy

2008-04-13T20:48:00.001-07:00

‘Respect academics’: Mr T.V. Mohandas Pai, Director–HR, Infosys, and Mr N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu group of Publications, at a meet on ‘Creating India’s tomorrow – The HR Challenge’, organised by the Business Line Club, in Chennai on Saturday.

Chennai, April 12 The biggest challenge of India as its GDP continues on a robust growth mode in the coming decade will be finding “adequately skilled, educated and trained manpower. If we expect the economy to double in the next 10 years, we will need 6 crore more people to come into the formal job market, and the challenge is to find them,” said Mr T.V. Mohandas Pai, Director-HR, Infosys Technologies.

Addressing a meeting organised by the Business Line Club here on Saturday on ‘Creating India’s tomorrow – the HR challenge’, he said India’s current GDP is $1.25 trillion and at an annual growth rate of 7 per cent, it could double to $2.5 trillion in 10 years. But what could derail our growth was finding skilled and trained manpower. Another challenge was the skewed salaries.

“Just imagine that a rookie who comes from an IIM gets an annual salary of Rs 25 lakh, and a professor with 30 years’ teaching experience in an IIT, who is brilliant and has got a doctorate, doesn’t get half that much.

“The professors in the IIMs who go in the Convocation procession to give degrees to the students probably get one third, or even one fifth, of what the students are going to get at the start of their careers. So we’ve created an absurd situation, but hopefully there will be a more egalitarian, equal and just society in the India of tomorrow.”

The HR shortage in the coming years would be across sectors, but even at the topmost level, our education system was not geared to meet this challenge in terms of both quality and quantity.

The solution was to expand the capacity of quality educational institutions by setting up more colleges and universities in the private sector, give them total autonomy and freedom, pay our faculty better and give our vice chancellors respect and recognition they once commanded.

“If a frontal attack on policy is not possible, we’ll have to employ guerrilla tactics in education,” he said.

Higher fees were necessary to pay teachers more and those who couldn’t afford them should be helped through massive and nationwide scholarship schemes, said Mr Pai.

And foreign universities should be allowed to come into India. Today, if two lakh Indian students were studying in the US, Australia, the UK, New Zealand, etc, why should the education sector shy away from inviting foreign universities into India, he asked.

When reservations were expressed on this suggestion in the lively interaction session that followed, Mr Pai said it was only fair that parents and children were given the freedom to choose.

Addressing the session, Mr N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu group of publications, said the South, particularly Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, had led in the field of education, specially engineering colleges. Karnataka and Kerala were not far behind, and thanks to this leadership role, the South had proved to be a magnet for software companies. But there were concerns on the quality of education which experts would have to address.

Mr K.Venugopal, Joint Editor, The Hindu and Business Line, said the BL Club was started in 2004 with just a few institutions and barely 1,000 members. Today, it has over 15,000 members from 125 institutions in the Chennai region, and in the coming academic year, hoped to enlarge its base to 25,000 members in 150 institutions.

The audience included Vice-Chancellors, professors and heads of MBA departments of institutions in the Chennai region. Faculty from 80 institutions and senior managers from the corporate sector participated.

Participants included Prof D. Viswanathan, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, Mr G. Viswanathan, Chairman, VIT, Mr M.V.M. Vel Murugan, CEO, Velammal Engineering College, Mr Kishore Kumar, Director, Vel Tech, Mr Vishnu Manshu, CEO, Sri Vidyaniketan, Mr Srinivasalu, Chairman, KMMIPS and Mr Kuppurajalu, Vice-Chairman, SITTOMS.

Roopa Pai

2008-04-06T08:09:00.000-07:00

Name	Roopa K.R.
DOB	21-05-1984
Age	23 Yrs
Gender	Female
Father	N.Ramapai
Mother	S.Pushpa Latha
Occupation (Father)	Teacher
Qualification	Doing MA Music
Musical background	Learnt Carnatic Music for 14 yrs under Dr. Malini Hariharan and Tamarakkadu Govindan Nambootiri. Learnt Voilin for 12 yrs under Sri.Sunil Bhasker and T.H.Subramaniyam.
Dancing Skills	Enjoy Dance
Address	"Kunnummel House", Ayyampally P.O., Kuzhuppilly, Cochin.
Awards and Achievements	Awarded 1st Place in classical vocal and violin in state level youth festival (2001,2002,2003,2004,2005)
Hobbies	Listening Music
Sun Sign	Taurus

Roopa Crowned SUPER STAR GLOBAL in a dazzling Grand Finale on April 5

2008-04-06T08:06:00.001-07:00

ROOPA CROWNED AMRITA "SUPER STAR GLOBAL": BAGS A MERCEDES

In a nail-biting triangular contest which was telecast Live with simultaneous SMS Scores from audiences worldwide, Amrita TV's music reality show ,"Lux Super Star Global", climaxed on April 5 with Roopa winning the Mercedes Benz .

Roopa,23, a native of Cochin, doing her post-graduation in music, said that she had never dreamt that she would be performing on such a platform, and more importantly being declared numero uno among thousands of aspirants who auditioned worldwide for "Super Star Global".

She gave the entire credit of her accomplishments to the Almighty , her music teachers,parents,relatives,Amrita TV fraternity and most importantly, her supporters and well-wishers who voted her to super stardom.

The 2nd prize-winner at "Super Star Global" was Jeetu,19, an undrgraduate from Mumbai who got a Swift , while the third place went to Teena ,19,who is also doing her graduation hailing from Calicut.

The journey of " Lux Super Star Global" started with auditions of over 20,000 aspirants in India ,USA,UK and UAE, from which 21 contestants were shortlisted for competing in this show .Commencing in July 2007,the talent hunt ran for 180 hourly episodes spread over eight months,five days a week on prime time(Mon-Fri 8-9 pm) on Amrita TV.

The Chief Guest was noted singer Vani Jayaram who also performed at the grand finale.The four-hour live telecast show was interspersed with entertaining performances by musicians like M.Jayachandran,Unni Menon,Gayatri,George Peter,Chitra Iyer,Shan, keyboardist Stephen and all the contestants of "Lux Super Star Global".

Held at Trivandrum's Nishagandhi open air auditorium in a dazzling set with a star-studded invited audience in attendance, "Lux Super Star Global " was beamed Live across the world .Besides supporters ,music lovers,celebrities and clients ,the show was attended by top officials in police,government and services.

The Mercedes Benz was sponsored by Confident Group.

During the show a donation of Rs.one lakh was presented to an unfortunate family from Malappuram district ,where all the four children are mentally retarded with a disabled father, with no means for livelihood. "Amrita News", the round-the clock news division of the channel, had carried a moving story about this impoverished family under its ongoing public service news campaign" You Too Can Make A Difference"--exhorting viewers to help. An amount of Rs 1 lakh which had been collected under this campaign, was handed over to the mother of the children on the stage of "Super Star Global" by the Minister of Water Resources,Government of Kerala. At the show the Chairman ,Confident Group made a humanitarian gesture by announcing a donation of Rs one lakh on behalf of the Group to the distressed family.

Manipal Cure to invest Rs 300 cr for expansion

2008-04-05T16:18:00.002-07:00

Manipal Cure and Care, which specialises in setting up health and wellness centres, today said it would be investing Rs 300 crore in the next five years to expand its business.

"This industry is growing at two-digit. We plan to invest Rs 300 crore to Rs 400 crore in the next five years," Manipal Education and Medical Group CEO Ranjan Pai told reporters.

Manipal Education and Medical Group runs the Manipal Cure and Care health and wellness centre. Its centres specialise in executive health check-up, immunisation for babies, dental work, weight-management and nutraceuticals.

The company has entered this business last year by setting up a centre in a mall in Ahmedabad. It opened its second store in Bangalore.

Now, Manipal Cure and Care plans to set up four centres this year and 50 centres in the next three years.

"We would be opening two centres in Mumbai, one each in Bangalore and Pune this year. We are looking at the franchise model too," Pai said.

The group also runs hospital. It would be starting a new hospital in Delhi at the end of this year. "We would be investing Rs 250 crore in the Delhi hospital, which would be a tertiary one," Pai said.

Initially, it would be a 350-bed hospital, which could be scalable upto 1,000 beds.

The group runs about 16 hospitals and 5,600 beds in the country, with greater presence in South India. It owns and operates 1,600 beds and manages 4,000 beds.

"We are looking to open hospitals in Mumbai and Kolkata," Pai said.

Mangalore: Konkani teachers to be felicitated

2008-04-05T16:18:00.001-07:00

Konkani Prachar Sanchalan, in association with Ronald Colaco, an entrepreneur, will organise Jayatotsava at Kalaangann in Shaktinagar near here, on Wednesday.

A press release from former president of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy Eric Ozario on Friday stated that the programme was being conducted to commemorate the introduction of Konkani as a third optional language in schools in 2006-07.

Teachers of Konkani in schools would be given rewards in cash. Awards would be presented for a best teacher in Konkani and to students who had scored highest marks in schools where Konkani was taught.

Mr. Ozario lauded the contributions of the academy, the sanchalan and a few people in getting Konkani introduced in the school curriculum.

Stating that the programme of teaching Konkani in schools would receive same support and cooperation from all concerned, Mr. Ozario said the sanchalan would continue to lead the movement for the growth of the language.

Norman crash claims Texas woman

2008-03-31T18:59:00.000-07:00

NORMAN, Okla. (U.S.A) - A Texas woman critically injured in a crossover accident on Interstate 35 has died.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says 25-year-old Anjali Pai of Plano, Texas, died about 2 a.m. Sunday at Norman Regional Hospital from injuries sustained in a car accident Saturday night.

The patrol says Pai was driving southbound in I-35 about 9:50 p.m. Saturday when her car crossed through the center dividing cable and slammed into a northbound vehicle driven by Angela Gilmore of Wayne.

Gilmore was listed in serious condition at a Norman hospital, while her passenger Charles Cornett of Purcell was listed in stable condition.

The patrol says all of those involved in the crash were wearing their seat belts.

Vijaya Bank to scout for talent on campuses

2008-03-31T18:56:00.000-07:00

Vijaya Bank, a public sector undertaking, has decided to continue scouting for talent on college campuses across the country.

The bank recruited 893 candidates, a majority of them at the entry level, as management trainees during 2007-08 and intends to take around 750 to 1,000 candidates during 2008-09.

Addressing presspersons after inaugurating the bank’s 1,047th branch at Bajpe near here on Saturday, chairman and managing director of the bank Prakash P Mallya said that campus selection was aimed at infusing young blood into thebanking system. “We are focusing on tier-two business schools and professional colleges in India,” he said.

The remuneration of Rs 3 lakh a year to recruits at entry level being offered by the bank was commensurate with the industry standards, he said.

Udupi Staff Correspondent reports: Prakash P Mallya, chairman and managing director of Vijaya Bank, inaugurated the bank’s 1048th branch at Manipal on Saturday. He said the net and gross non-performing assets of the bank had come down significantly.

The bank was providing online banking facility. All the branches of the bank would be brought under Core Banking Solution (CBS) by 2009, he added.

Chairman of Manipal Media Network Ltd T Satish U Pai, former chairman of Syndicate Bank K K Pai, chairman and managing director of Kurl-on T Sudhakar Pai and the deputy general manager of Udupi Region of Vijaya Bank M Shridhar Shetty were present.

Mallya plans India-China flight

2008-03-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

While Naresh Goyal-owned Jet Airways is likely to launch the daily Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco flights in first week of May, Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher is exploring the option of having similar flights next year.

Kingfisher executive V-P Hitesh Patel said: "We are getting 10 long-haul planes this year, which will be used for non-stop Bangalore-New York and San Francisco routes and flights to Europe. Next year we will have additional capacity as more planes join the fleet. We are exploring sectors for them and flights in and out of China are being studied."

Kingfisher is getting five Airbus A-330 and an equal number of A-340s this year.

Currently, Air India is the only Indian carrier flying to China while three Chinese carriers - China Eastern, China Southern and China Air - ply on this route. Ethiopian Airlines also has a Delhi-Beijing flight. With its launch in May, Jet will become the first airline to offer a direct non-stop daily China-India flight.

As Goyal and Mallya set up their China plans, the state-owned Air India has also reacted.

For the past four years, it was offering a one-stop flight to China, which is now being changed to a direct one. "We have four times a week Mumbai-Delhi-Bangkok-Shanghai flight from which Bangkok is being omitted from next week. While frequency will not change as of now, we will offer direct flights between India and China. AI will look at connecting more cities like Beijing once the Boeing 787 Dreamliner starts joining the fleet," said Jitendra Bhargava, ED at AI.

Meanwhile, Goyal is learnt to be eying more flights out of China to Canada and US, apart from connecting Indian cities to Beijing. It has approached the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for relaxing pilots' flying time restrictions. Sources said, the airline is studying ultra long-haul flights from China to distant US cities like Vancouver and Toronto.

Last week, India and China had ended months of stalemate when aviation authorities of both the countries allowed airlines of both sides to a maximum of two beyond points in three regions each.

M A Baby to lay stone for Govinda Pai Memorial

2008-03-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

KASARGOD: Cultural Affairs Minister M A Baby will lay the foundation stone of the Rs one crore Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Memorial Mandir in Manjeswaram on March 23.

Karnataka former Minister Veerappa Moily will inaugurate the programmes in connection with the 125th birth anniversary of the poet Govinda Pai.

Kannada Development Authority chairman Dr Siddalingaiah will present the Govinda Pai Award to Kannada writer Dr N Basava Raju on the occasion.

I.M Vital Murthy, Cultural Affairs Secretary of the Karnataka Government will release a souvenir in connection with the event. P Karunakaran MP will be the chief guest on the occasion. Kannada writer Dr Chandrasekhara Kambar will inaugurate the literary conference in the afternoon. C K Chowta, PVK Panayal and Venkitaraja Puninchithaya will address the function.

Winners of Safe Place Week poster contest named

2008-03-21T16:07:00.001-07:00

Left : Poster by Jessica Shenoi

Tulsa, Arizona, U.S.A : This week marks the 25th anniversary of National Safe Place Week, which Youth Services of Tulsa is celebrating with its annual Safe Place poster contest.

The two grand-prize winners are Jessica Shenoi, a seventh-grader at the School of St. Mary's and Veronika Napelenok, a seventh-grader at Whitney Middle School.

The winning poster entries will be displayed on area billboards and city buses.

QuikTrip stores, the YST shelter, fire stations throughout Tulsa County and Tulsa Transit buses are designated Safe Place sites for youths in crisis.

Any young person in a crisis situation can walk in and ask an employee for help. The YST shelter and a wide range of Youth Services programs are available to help those in need.

Safe Place is in more than 700 communities in 37 states and already has helped more than of 96,640 young people in crisis. In Tulsa County, the Safe Place program was started in 1991 by Youth Services of Tulsa, and has since served more than 1,000 young people.

Frequent eye check-up ‘must’ for diabetics

2008-03-20T17:51:00.001-07:00

Dr Mohanan presents a memento to Dr Pai

THE necessity of diabetics having frequent eye check-ups was highlighted at a session jointly hosted by the Indian Medical Association (Qatar chapter) and Indian Doctors Club recently at Ramada Hotel.
At a presentation, Dr Anant Pai, a retina specialist at Hamad Hospital, said diabetics should take utmost care in protecting their eyes as diabetes and hypertension had been found to be most common ailment for eye diseases these days.
Calling upon patients to have regular check-ups, Dr Pai said vision related complications could be prevented to a certain limit through frequent eye check-ups. "Such patients should have at least one check-up a year and frequent check-ups would ensure that their eyes had not been affected by any major problems," said Dr Pai.
He said laser and surgical treatments at Hamad Hospital were of the highest order. "Hamad Hospital has a fully equipped eye care centre, dealing in anterior and posterior segment diseases of the eyeball," he stressed.
Dr Joel Jacob Mathew, general secretary, the IMA, welcomed the gathering and Dr Krishna Kumar proposed a vote of thanks.
Ranbaxy was the official sponsor.
At another seminar, held at Millennium Hotel, Dr Thomas Cherukara, a consultant gastro-enterologist from Sharjah, said more than 60% of the population suffered from gastro-eosophageal reflux diseases (GERD) and at times it overlapped with functional or psychosomatic disorders.
Dr Cherukara said functional heart burn is an episodic and retrosternal burning sensation in chest in the absence of any pathological disease.
He observed that a number of patients with GERD, approached physicians these days with cough, throat pain, hoarse voice and asthma. Treatment modalities for this, said Dr Cherukara, included lifestyle modification, dietary and postural changes, weight reduction and cessation of smoking and alcohol.
Dr Jacob welcomed the audience and Dr K P Najeeb delivered a vote of thanks.
Dr Reddy's Lab sponsored the event, with the launch of their products in the country.

Mallya applies for inflight mobile

2008-03-20T17:46:00.002-07:00

Vijay Mallaya-owned Kingfisher Airline has sought clearance from government for providing inflight mobile service on its international flights. According to airline's executive vice president Hitesh Patel, the ministry of communication's nod has been sought as the company wants to provide this service from day one of its international services that start in August.

"Our wide-bodied aircraft are coming installed with the required infrastructure for inflight mobile service. Airbus is doing this job and we are seeking regulatory approvals from agencies like the department of telecommunication," he said.

Of the two carriers that currently fly abroad, Jet Airways is yet to decide on providing this service. Air India is studying technological options and plans to install this facility. Leading airlines across the world are in the process of offering inflight mobiles but weigh it against the option of discomfort to other passengers and regulatory issues. People have to pay premium international roaming charges for using this facility.

According to sources, India is not averse to its carriers providing such service, subject to safety compliance. Kingfisher has made a presentation to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which wants a complete report on the technology that will be used and its effect on aircraft navigation systems.

"The request for clearance is with the department of telecom. One issue is that Indian carriers should use the BSNL server for this facility so that the country's security agencies are able to monitor the calls if need be. From BSNL, the calls will be routed to other networks. The airline's service provider is looking at the cost implications of this routing," said sources.

The DGCA wants to see what steps have been taken to ensure that wattage emissions from mobiles on board aircraft are kept low enough to not interfere with navigation systems. Modern technology allows this emission to be limited to one watt so that even if 20 to 30 phones are being used for calls or SMS texts, there is no interference with the aircraft.

On Thursday, Emirates claimed to become the first airline to commercially launch an inflight mobile telephone service. "The first authorised mobile phone call from a commercial flight was made on Thursday at 30,000 feet enroute from Dubai to Casablanca an Emirates Airbus A 340-300 aircraft," it said. "The service will only be activated when aircraft is at cruising altitude and the cabin crew will have full control over the system, including the ability to prevent voice calls at certain times such as during night flights."

Home Garden Awards announced

2008-03-20T17:46:00.001-07:00

The Botanical Society of Goa organised its annual All Goa Home Garden Competition recently wherein a panel of judges led by the immediate past president, Dr Heman Yeshwant Karapurkar and with Dr K G Hiremath, Ms Rena Menezes e Fernandes, Mr Anand Jadhav and the current president of BSG visited the houses from Sanquelim to Chandor and judged the gardens for aesthetics, health of plants, composting of garden and kitchen waste, recycling of water and maintenance of roadside trees near the residence.

In the competition, the first place went to Dr Jyoti Mallaya, Ponda, the second place was shared by Ms Amita Audhut Nayak Salatry, Porvorim and Mr Cedric Dâ€™ Souza, Altinho, Mapusa, and the third place went to Ms Lira Rodrigues from Davorlim, Margao.

Also, the annual general meeting and the elections to the new executive committee of the BSG will be held on March 30 at 10 a.m in the WWF office, Nehru Science Centre campus, Miramar. The prizes and certificates of the All Goa Home Garden Competition 2008 will be awarded at 11 a.m at the AGM.

Durga Vishwanath's Final round (Idea Star Singer)

2008-03-19T22:02:00.000-07:00

Kamath wins Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Award

2008-03-18T22:16:00.001-07:00

ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO K V Kamath has been chosen as the winner of 'The Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Award 2007' for the Asia Pacific and Gulf Region.

The award, instituted by 'The Asian Banker', a publication and research services company in the financial services sector, recognises Kamath as the top banker in the region, a release here stated.

The honour is the highest award available for achievement in the banking industry in the Asia Pacific and Gulf Region, it added.

The award ceremony, held in Hanoi, Vietnam, coincided with 'The Asian Banker Summit', an annual rendezvous of financial services professionals.

"The benchmark for excellence in leadership in Asia Pacific and the Gulf Region has become incredibly high, as the accomplishments of this year's Achievement Award winners demonstrate," The Asian Banker President Emmanuel Daniel said.

An international jury chaired by Dubai International Financial Centre Authority Board Chairman David Eldon selected the winners through a rigorous process.

The previous winners of the Asia Pacific award have been Jiang Jianqing, Chairman ICBC China, John McFarlane, CEO ANZ Australia and Guo Shuqing of China Construction Bank.

IT has revolutionised banking operations

2008-03-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

Mangalore: The diverse applications of information technology (IT) in banking sector � from the days of local area networks (LANs) to the current era of Internet banking, from the days of the use of Advanced Ledger Posting Machines (ALPMs) to the present branchless banking models � and the future outlook for IT in banking were discussed in detail at a Business Line Club lecture on �IT: Evolution, Usage and Future� at Mangalore University on Monday.

Making a presentation on the topic, B.R. Bhat, General Manager (IT), Corporation Bank, told MBA students of the university that IT had helped in handling larger volume of business, and it also ensured improved productivity levels and reduced transaction costs.

As innovations galore in IT sector, there will be no end to dreams and new ideas. However, there is a need to keep abreast with the changes to succeed, he said.

Stating that IT had helped banks to make foray into hitherto un-banked segments, he said branchless banking model uses business correspondents as agents with the use of RFID and smart card-based authentication systems.

While extensive networks of ATMs are offering various banking services to the customers, biometric ATMs in rural areas are now catering to the needs of illiterate customers.

Highlighting the benefits of mobile banking, Bhat said SMS banking alerts are emerging as an ideal option to reach the large customer base using mobile phones. At the end of January, the country had around 24.24 crore mobile subscribers.

Touching upon the other IT initiatives in banking, he said e-mail facility has gone beyond closed user group to exchange information with the customers and other stakeholders.

On the future of IT in banking sector, Bhat felt that device-based operations will replace computers and service-based applications will replace the browser-based ones in the days to come.

To impart a personal banking feeling, there may be focus on video banking and video servicing.

While data management will be the focus instead of data, collaborative commerce will replace mass marketing. Innovative authentication technologies may emerge in the days to come, he said.

Bhat felt that future for the country is bright, as today�s young generation is sharp and fast in grasping and adapting to the technology based offerings. In addition to this, 70 per cent of the population in the country is less than 36 years of age unlike countries like China with a large component of aged population.

G.R. Venkatesh, Deputy Regional General Manager of The Hindu, Mangalore, proposed a vote of thanks and explained the activities of Business Line Club on the occasion.

HAL bags $150-million Airbus order

2008-03-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has taken another step towards attaining its target of becoming a $4-billion company by the end of the current five-year plan: it has just bagged an order from aircraft manufacturer Airbus Industrie for the supply of 2,000 doors for its single aisle family of aircraft.

The order, worth around $150 million, envisages supply of 2,000 ship sets of forward passenger doors for the A-318, A-319, A-320 and A-321 aircraft of the Airbus family.

Disclosing this to The Hindu, Managing Director of the Bangalore Complex Ashok Nayak said that this was in addition to the earlier orders that the company had received from the European aviation major.

The HAL, which has already delivered around 1,000 ship sets for this family of Airbus aircraft, and is executing an order for another 500, might, according to Mr. Nayak, eventually become Airbus’ single vendor as far as these doors were concerned.

Currently, the Airbus also sources these doors from a company in France.

According to Mr. Nayak, the HAL will start executing the fresh order from 2009. The contract is expected to run for around five years. More importantly, the HAL is likely to supply these doors as long as this family of aircraft are rolled off the Airbus manufacturing line.

Dreams can be pathway to success, says Kamat

2008-03-17T19:09:00.001-07:00

Noted environmentalist, Dr Nandkumar Kamat, said that children should always dream to achieve success in a field to acquire it in reality.

"Think deeply about your present activities and discover yourself and then success will surely be in your hands," he said.

Dr Nandkumar Kamat was speaking as chief guest at the prize distribution function for the winners of the cultural talent search competition organized by the Directorate of Art and Culture, at the Institute Menezes Braganza Hall, Panaji.

The function was presided over by Mr Shridhar Kamat Bambolkar, the vice chairman of Goa State Cultural Development Committee.

Speaking further he said that the parents and teachers should encourage and boost the inborn artistic qualities in their children.

Mr Bambolkar said that in future the government will make an effort to encourage drawing and other art fields also. He mentioned that the government has taken steps to award scholarships to the winners of the state level competition.

Mr Prasad Lolayekar, the director of Art and Culture, and Mr Ashok Parab, the assistant director were also present on the occasion.

Nearly 500 students had participated in this competition and 279 participants achieved success in the events of Indian classical, light music, western solo, harmonium, tabla, violin, guitar, keyboards, bharatnatyam, kathak and monologue at taluka and state level.

The programme was compered by Mr Pardip Naik, Mr Kirti Umarye welcomed the guest and the vote of thanks was proposed by Ms Vibha Dhume.

Mallaya throws a party for IPL team

2008-03-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

With Vijay Mallya set to announce his high-profile IPL team at a grand show, the event was bound to be something memorable. And memorable it was. Though the host flew in three hours late, when he arrived, the grand show, complete with lasers, a burst of orange-and-red confetti and the grand lineup more than made up for it. (though some guests missed the presence of some of the foreign players like Chanderpaul, Kallis and Bracken).

For the early birds, there was lots of chilled bubbly and premium whisky on offer. Dav Whatmore, very low-profile these days, was spotted chatting with friends before leaving early to catch up with some shut-eye. Brijesh Patel, Syed Kirmani and other former cricketers were also seen enjoying the evening. Saad bin Jung, with wife Sangeeta (glam in all-black), brought along British journalist guests Keith and Riva Elliot.

Martand and Rina Mahindra, Ashok and Madhuri Genomal, Shahid Mehmood, Ramesh Ramanathan, Pritham Basappa, Anuja Sharma (husband Charu was busy officiating behind the scenes) were among those seen that evening. Among the glam brigade were Meeru Pai (also stunning in a black gaara saree) and Leena Singh (also in black).

Seen making a grand entrance was Srikantadatta Wadiyar. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and John Shaw, Nilima Rovshen, Vinita Bali, Venkat Vardhan and Ritu Mallya added their presence to the gathering.

Then, to the sounds of Eye of the Tiger, appeared Vijay Mallya, dressed in designer black along with his super-glam team led by Rahul Dravid. Introductions were made, witticisms exchanged and as the crowds of guests and photographers gathered around the stars of the evening, other guests drifted off to eat dinner and to check out what Clement had lined up for them, musically speaking.

Sanjay Gupta to direct Vijay Mallya's IPL film

2008-03-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

In a landmark move ace industrialist Vijay Mallya, Rediff, & popular producer and director Sanjay Gupta have joined hands to create the grand Royal Challengers AD film.

It may be known that Vijay Mallaya's is one of the seven Franchisees of the Indian Premier League besides Shah Rukh Khan, Ness Wadia and Preity Zinta, Reliance Industries Limited, PK Iyer, Managing Director of Deccan Chronicle, Fraser Catellino, CEO, Emerging Media, Lachlan Murdoch. The auction regarding the same was held a few weeks ago in Kolkatta.

Lalit Kumar Modi, Chairman and Commissioner of IPL described as an historic event for Indian and world cricket.

The Franchisees made a bid for ace cricketers from all over the world to be a part of their team. The bidding earned the cricketers an astronomical amount making it a milestone event in Indian history.

The aim of the ad to bring about an awareness of Mallay's Indian Premier League Team.

The close door meeting between Mallya and Gupta that was initially expected to be of 30 minutes lasted for over six hours where the two honchos had meticulous discussions for the ad film.

While Sanjay Gupta will direct, Allan Amin, who shot to fame with DHOOM has been officially appointed as the action director for the ad.

Known for his expensive tastes Vijay Mallya is leaving no stone unturned to make the ad as unique as possible. The businessman has allotted a whopping amount as a budget for the ad. Sanjay Gupta is known to be the most technically accomplished director in Bollywood.

The ad features Rahul Dravid, Zahir Khan and blue eyed boy, Virat Kohli and has some of the most eye-popping visuals.

Virat Kohli, who shot for an ad for the first time said, "It's been exciting to do this shoot (with Sanjay Gupta) for royal challengers & hope it comes out really well.''

Rahul Dravid said, 'It's been hectic... I really enjoyed the pace at which you guys work... Had fun shooting."

Zahir Khan said, "Nice to get to know the players... Friendly vibe with the production team."

Servant nabbed for Rs 4 lakh theft

2008-03-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

MUMBAI: A 20-year-old house-help, who had stolen Rs 4 lakh in cash from his employer's residence at Kandivli (E), was nabbed by the police in less than a month. The accused, Harish alias Halla Mina, was traced to his hometown in Rajasthan where he had been holed up. Officials said he intended to spend the stolen amount in buying property in his hometown.

Mina worked at the residence of senior citizen Jagdish Kamath at Thakur Village. Kamath (63) is a businessman and lives with his wife and grown-up children. Mina had been employed by the family since 2006 and they trusted him. Apart from Mina, there were also other house-helps who worked for the Kamaths.

On February 14, Kamath had fetched a sum of Rs 4 lakh for a wedding in the household. He had locked away the money into a cupboard. But on February 20, Kamath realised that the cash had gone missing. He approached the Samata Nagar police who started making inquiries.

"We started questioning all the house-helps employed by Kamath. By then, Mina had fled to his hometown in Rajasthan. We then formed a special team and combed a few areas in Rajasthan. Mina was nabbed from Udaipur and Rs 3 lakh from the stolen booty was recovered from him,'' inspector Vinayak Mule said.

Mina was produced before a local court which has remanded him in police custody till March 15.