President Pranab Mukherjee launches Khadi Mark

NEW DELHI, Sept 30: The President of India, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, launched the Khadi Mark here on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that Khadi has the unique capability to create employment at the dwelling place of artisans with very low capital requirement. Khadi has, over the years, kindled hope for over a million artisan families to rise above deprivation and backwardness. It remains an important vehicle for the development of rural India.

The President congratulated the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and the Khadi and Village Industries Commission for taking the key step to lend Khadi the unique identity it richly deserves.

He said that the Khadi Mark was a novel initiative which would indicate the quality and genuineness of a Khadi product. It would provide a distinct identity for positioning and brand building in the domestic and international textile markets.

He expressed confidence that the Khadi Mark would prove to be truly beneficial to the customers in buying genuine Khadi and to the producers in improving their living standards. He stated that the launch of the Khadi Mark would help to fully realize the growth potential of the Khadi sector.

Dignitaries present on the occasion were Mr K.H. Muniyappa, Minister of State (I/C) for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Mr Madhav Lal, Secretary, MSME and Mr Udai Pratap Singh, CEO, Khadi and Village Industries Commission.

Canara CMD R K Dubey conferred Hindi Ratna award

NEW DELHI, Sept 27: Canara Bank Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Rajiv Kishore Dubey, has been conferred with the coveted ‘Hindi Rajbhasha Samrakshak Ratna’ award in Dasham Hindi Mahakumbh Evam Saahitya conference organized by Parivartan Jan Kalyaan Samiti here on Friday.

Mr T Sreekanthan, General Manager, Delhi, received the award on behalf of the Chairman and Managing Director.

Former Governor and renowned statesman, Mr Bhishma Narain Singh, former Election Commissioner, Mr G V G Krishnamurthy, Members of Parliament Mr Mukhtar Abbas Naqawi and Mr Kamal Kishor, graced the occasion.

Canara Bank was lauded profusely for making tireless efforts for multifaceted OL implementation.

Two techie brothers, aged 14 and 12, code their way to App Store

BANGALORE: They make an adorable pair in their neat formal suits and shoes. And when they start talking, they have crowds hanging onto every word they say, often having them in splits with their experiences.

Shravan Kumaran and his younger sibling Sanjay Kumaran are perhaps India's youngest entrepreneurs. Shravan, 14, is the president and Sanjay, 12, is the CEO of Go Dimensions, an app development unit that they founded two years ago from their bedroom in their home in Chennai.

On Saturday, they stood before the 5,500 attendees at an SAP event in Bangalore, and talked about how to ideate, and draw up a business plan. "You should have a strong idea, self-confidence, a good business plan and know about sources of funding," said Sanjay with the confidence that you normally only see in much older people. And he then went on to ask: "Have you heard of dad funding?" The crowd roared.

In the past two years the two have developed eleven apps that are available on the Apple App Store and Google's Android Play Store. The apps have received over 35,000 downloads. Their first app -- Catch me Cop on the Apple App Store -- was released last year and was a hit. That was a game where a con escapes prison and a wide hunt is launched for him. There are chases through a desert, beach and a maze.

"Abdul Kalam (former president of India) once came to our school and he loved playing Catch me Cop," recalled Sanjay. Shravan is in class 9 and Sanjay in class 7 at the Vael's Billabong International High School in Chennai.

Since the two are less than 18 years, Go Dimensions cannot be registered in their names as per Indian law. So the registration is in the names of seven of their family members who are above 18.

Today, a spare room in their Chennai home is a digital lounge filled with Apple Macs, iPads and Samsung Galaxy Notes. The ''after homework hours'' are spent on coding and debugging test apps, while nibbling on cheese fritters and lasagna. Recently, they launched an action game called Extreme Impossible 5 or EI5.

"We developed more than 150 test apps before releasing the first app, Catch Me Cop. That app was launched within a week of submission to Apple, and that was really exciting. Another app, Alphabet Board, got a rating of 5 on the app store," said Shravan, who credits Apple founder Steve Jobs for inspiring him to be what he is today. "Jobs is the big daddy of clean and intuitive user interfaces and who changed the way we communicate. And how can I forget his famous line, `Stay hungry, Stay foolish'," he said.

Despite their star status, they have their feet on the ground. "Some of the teachers told them they would be more productive at home than coming to school," said their mother and former journalist Jyothi Lakshmi. But they are clear they will attend classes regularly, and also pursue their love for cricket and the keyboard. They admire Dhoni for his aggressive play. The boys credit their father Kumaran Surendran, director with anti-virus and security solutions company Symantec, for encouraging them to learn programming and play with gadgets. They learnt QBasic, a programming language for beginners, when Shravan was in his fifth grade and Sanjay in his third grade. They learnt to code on Java by reading books and information available on the internet. Programming on Apple's iOS required a bit of handholding from their dad.

The two have previously made presentations at TEDx, and IIM-Bangalore. The brothers are hoping to get at least 50% of smartphone users in India to use their apps.

"Once we achieve those kind of numbers, we will launch our first paid app," Shravan said.

Canara Bank sponsors Mobile Van to Prerana Resource Centre

By Deepak Arora

BANGALORE, Sept 23: Canara Bank sponsored a Mobile Van under its CSR Activity to Prerana Resource Centre Bangalore, a home for the disabled teenage girls. In a programme organized by Bank the Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India Dr. K C Chakarabarti handed over the key to the manager of the organization in the presence of Mr R K Dubey Chairman and Managing Director of the Bank.

Mr A K Gupta, Executive Director of the Bank, Mr S S Bhat, General Manager, PC & FI Wing, and other executives of the Bank were present on the occasion.

Prerana has been focusing on neglected disabled poor girls especially the Blind by training them, providing employment and instilling confidence in them to lead a normal cheerful life in spite of the handicap.

Canara Bank has sponsored a Maruti Mobile Van to the organization under its CSR project to help the mobility of the disabled girls.

Canara bank celebrates Hindi Day

BANGALORE, Sept 24: Hindi Diwas 2013 was celebraed with zeal and zest at Canara Bank Head Office here on Tuesday. Canara bank Chairman and Managing Director R K Dubey presided over the programe.

In his presidential address, he said that Hindi is the language spoken by more than 65 per cent of the Indian population and we can market our products very easily with the help of this language.

Executive Directors Mr A K Guipta and Mr V S Krishna Kumar also attended the function.

Mr A K Gupta lauded the efforts of Official language Section in the field of OL implementation.

Mr V S Krishna Kumar said that we can propagate the use of Hindi by using it in our day to day life.

Earlier, Mr Shyamalendu Saha, GM, HR Wing welcomed the gathering and Mrs Sulekha Mohan, AGM, HR Wing gave a presentation on OL implementation in the Bank during the last year.

As per the tradition of Canara Bank, Mr H Ramachandra Rao, Deputy Chairman of the Karnatak HIndi Prachar Samiti, Bangalore, who is a wellknown HIndi writer of Kannada origin was honoured in the function.

The Chairman and Managing Director also released Hindi house Magazine “Canara Jyoti”, Hindi version of “Compendium for Retirees” and ten Desk cards on the occasion.

The prizes for Canara bank Rajbhasha Akshay Yojana, Canara Bank Rajbhasha Puraskar Yojana and various competitions organised in connection with Hindi Day celebration 2013 was also distributed during the function.

A musical extravaganza consisting of Hindi songs and playing of musical instruments by the employees of Head Office added colour to the programme.

French Ambassador François Richier releases ‘Young Tagore’ by Sudhir Kakar

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, Sept 16: French Ambassador Mr François Richier released Dr Sudhir Kakar’s latest book, Young Tagore, published by Penguin India at the French residence here on Monday.

Soon after the release, Dr Kakar presented his book in conversation with Prof. Harish Trivedi.

Several eminent persons and senior diplomats from the French embassy attended the event. Present on the occasion were Venu Rajamony, Press Secretary to the President of India; Delphine Gieux, a noted international advocate; Sanjeev Bhargava of Seher; Katharina Poggerndorf-Kakar, a social worker; and Tuhin Sen, a Lead Strategist.

Also present on the occasion were: Max Claudet and Jean-Yves Coquelin, Director and Deputy Director respectively of Institut Francais India; and Caroline Gueny-Mentre, Attache for Scientific and University of Cooperation and Judith Oriol, Book Attachee.

Young Tagore is a first-of-its-kind psychobiography that deepens our understanding of Rabindranath Tagore, India’s great multifaceted genius.

In this reconstruction of Tagore’s childhood and youth, preeminent psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar draws a nuanced portrait of the young prodigy and the decisive experiences that shaped him: the death of his mother when he was fourteen, the intimate bond he shared with his sister-in-law Kadambari and his sojourn in England.

Through these Kakar uncovers the vital themes in young Rabi’s inner world that shaped his creative genius: his yearning for solitude that was tempered by his fear of loneliness; his preoccupation with spiritual concerns that enabled him to give voice to the sensualist within; and his abiding quest to find a balance between traditional Indian values and Western cosmopolitanism.

Kakar’s scrutiny is intense as he pieces together this incredible puzzle, but the rigorous scholarship is finely balanced with deep empathy. In laying bare the inner workings of Tagore’s brilliance, Kakar reveals the real man behind the towering genius.

Psychoanalyst and writer Sudhir Kakar is Adjunct Professor of Leadership at INSEAD, Fontainbleau (France), and Fellow, Centre for Advanced Study, University of Cologne. He was formerly a Professor at IIM - Ahmedabad, Head of Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT-Delhi, Visiting Professor at the universities of Harvard, Chicago, McGill, Melbourne, Vienna, Hawaii, and a Fellow at the Institutes of Advanced Study, Princeton and Berlin.

Sudhir Kakar’s many honours include the Kardiner Award of Columbia University, Boyer Prize of the American Anthropological Association, Germany’s Goethe Medal, Rockefeller Residency, McArthur Fellowship, Bhabha, Nehru and ICSSR National Fellowships of India, Distinguished Service Award of Indo-American Psychiatric Association and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the country’s highest civilian order.

As ‘the psychoanalyst of civilizations’, the French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur listed Kakar as one of the world’s 25 major thinkers while the German weekly Die Zeit portrayed him as one of the 21 important thinkers for the 21st century. Sudhir Kakar is the author of seventeen books of non-fiction and four novels. His books have been translated into twenty-two languages around the world, eleven of them into French. He lives in Goa.

Harish Trivedi is former Professor of English at the University of Delhi, and was Visiting Professor at the universities of Chicago, London and several others in Europe, China and Latin America. He is the author of Colonial Transactions: English Literature and India (Calcutta 1993; Manchester 1995), and has co-edited The Nation across the World: Postcolonial Literary Representations (New Delhi 2007; New York 2008), Literature and Nation: Britain and India 1800-1990 (London 2000), Post-colonial Translation: Theory and Practice (London 1999), and Interrogating Post-colonialism: Theory, Text and Context (Shimla 1996; rpt. 2000, 2006). He has edited with an introduction and notes Hardy’s Tess (Oxford University Press, 1988) and Kipling’s Kim (Penguin Classics 2011). He is currently editing an anthology of Indian Literature from 1500 B.C. to 2000 A.D., and is a coordinator of an international project based in Stockholm for writing a history of world literature.

 

He is the Chairperson of the Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (since 2005) and Vice-President of the Comparative Literature Association of India (since 2007). He has translated from Hindi into English several works of modern poetry and fiction, as well as a biography: Premchand: His Life and Times (1991) by Amrit Rai. He has published a 40-page ‘Introduction’ to Rabindranath Tagore: Poet and Dramatist by Edward Thompson (rpt. Oxford UP, 1991), an essay on Tagore’s inter/nationalism (1995), and presented papers on Tagore at conferences to mark his 150th birth-centenary (2011) held in New Delhi and in Halle.

Prayers resume at Kedarnath Temple

DEHRADUN, Sept 11: The deathly silence brooding over Kedarnath since the June calamity hit Uttarakhand broke early Wednesday morning by the chanting of Vedic hymns as prayers resumed at the Himalayan shrine, 86 days after ravaging floods left over 400 people dead in the Kedar valley.

Shortly after the dawn, as the clock stuck seven, the chief priest of the 6th century shrine, Rawal Bhima Shankar Ling Shivacharya, unlocked the portals of the temple and stepped into the sanctum-sanctorum to perform the puja.

The prayers commenced today on Sarwartha Siddi Yog, considered to be auspicious.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, who was also scheduled to attend the prayers along with some of his ministerial colleagues, could not take off from Dehradun due to inclement weather.

The Kedar Valley is enveloped in a thick veil of fog and various media teams, which had to come here to cover the ceremony, are stuck in Guptkashi, some 22 kilometres from here, due to bad weather.

The Puja began with a 'shuddhikaran' (purification) of the temple and 'prayashchitikaran' (atonement for prolonged suspension of prayers at the shrine).

The chief priest was accompanied by a large number of teeth purohits and Badrinath Kedarnath Samiti officials. The shrine reverberated with the collective recitals of Vedic hymns and blowing of conch shells.

However, the resumption of prayers at the 13,500 ft-high shrine is of limited nature, as no pilgrim is being allowed right now to visit the temple.

A meeting is scheduled to be held on September 30 to decide the date for resumption of Yatra to the famed Himalayan temple.

The temple, cleaned and spruced up for the occasion, came back to life after the deathly silence of all these months.

Prayers at the shrine were suspended after the flash floods wreaked havoc in Uttarakhand, especially in the hill districts of Rudraprayag, Urttarakashi, Chamoli and Pittoragrh, leading to the death of over 600 people as per official figures, and leaving more than 4,000 missing.

Manish Tewari launches AIR's free news SMS service, Bharat Nirman web portal

NEW DELHI, Sept 9: Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Monday launched All India Radio's Free News SMS service at a function in New Delhi. He also launched a web portal on Bharat Nirman campaign.

Speaking on the occasion, Tewari said, All India Radio has an extremely diverse correspondent base which is able to gather news stories from the extremely remote corners of the country and bring them to mainstream in real time.

He expressed hope that the data base of SMS subscribers will go up from the current two lakh to five lakh by the end of this month.

Under the free SMS service, registered listeners will be provided news headlines free of cost on their mobile phones.

For registering, a listener has to subscribe to the service by typing AIRNWS, Space, then his or her name, on the mobile and send the SMS to 08082080820 or give a missed call to the same number.

Zubin mesmerises Kashmir with his music; would love to come back

SRINAGAR,Sept 8: Internationally acclaimed orchestra conductor Zubin Mehta on Sunday said he would love to come back for another concert in Kashmir if the people of the valley wanted him to.

"If I am wanted, If Kashmir wants me, I will come back... (if) all parts of Kashmir (want)," Mehta, who mesmerised the audience at Shalimar Bagh on the banks of Dal Lake here yesterday, said.

In a series of interviews to electronic media, Mehta said the event 'Ehsaas-e-Kashmir (Feel of Kashmir)' went beyond his expectations.

"It was much more (than expectation). It turned out to be an occasion which we will be proud of. Let us come back (next time), maybe we can do some things differently," he said.

The maestro, who played most popular compositions of western classical music, tried to reach out to his critics and opponents in Kashmir saying he was their friend.

"Geelani Sahab hum to aapka dost hoon (I am your friend). You don't believe it! I wish all of our opposition would have come and enjoyed the music," Mehta said referring to hardline Hurriyat Conference leader.

"I am not only a Parsi, I am a Kashmiri too," he added.

Mehta said he and his orchestra were not into politics and his endeavour was to use music for starting a process of healing in Kashmir.

"We are not politicians. We cannot change boundaries but we can start a process of healing. The politicians have tried for 60 years. I don't think they got too much.

"Let (us) have another way, a spiritual way and I think yesterday there was a beginning of some process of healing because Hindus and Muslims were sitting together in complete harmony. Healing and harmony are the two most important factors that we are striving for," he added.

The 77-year-old Mumbai-born music conductor admitted that he was hurt by some of the accusations made against him ahead of the concert and lamented that his opponents were not well informed.