Monthly Archives: November 2016

Professor Raj Bisaria to get Madhya Pradesh government govt’s Kalidas Samman for Theatre

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

profrajbisarialucknow13nov2016

Lucknow :

Renowned theatre personality and Padma Shri, Prof Raj Bisaria is all set to weave another feather in his cap with the Madhya Pradesh government honouring him with its prestigious ‘Kalidas Samman’ national award for 2015-16 for achievement in theatre. The ceremony will be held on November 10 in Ujjain, which is also the birthday of the 80 year old.

“I got a call from the ministry’s cultural department in the afternoon today and I am grateful to them for the honour. I will be the first person from Uttar Pradesh to receive the national award in the theatre category,” he said. “It is also the year that TAW-Theatre Arts Workshop that I established in 1966, has completed its 50th year of continuous run,” he shared.

The annual award constituted in 1980 awards personalities in the four fields of classical dance, classical music, theatre and plastic arts. Previously, the likes of Pandit

Ravi Shankar, Pandit Jasraj, MF Husain, Shambhu Mitra, Habib Tanvir, Ebrahim Alkazi among others have been its recipients.

With over 100 productions to his name, Bisaria started TAW with plays in English with the first play being Shakespeare’s Othello. Bisaria also founded the Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1975. Apart from theatre, TAW also introduced other allied performing arts for the very first time, including Irshad Panjatan’s Indian mine in 1967 and modern dance by an American dance company, Indian classical dance by Sonal Mansingh in 1970 and other forms including Hindi theatre, environmental theatre presentation, painting and miniature exhibits.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Lucknow News / by Yusra Husain / November 07th, 2016

MNNIT’s alumni meet begins today

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

Allahabad :

Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT) alumni from all over the world will congregate for the two-day convention organised by its alumni association. On November 12, the institute is holding its 12th global alumni convention.

Institute director and patron of the convention, Prof Rajeev Tripathi, said, “The chief guest of the event would be SD Dubey, chairperson of central electricity authority, Union ministry of power and part-time director on the board of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited. RN Mishra, chairman and managing director of SJVN Limited and an alumnus of MNNIT-Allahabad, will be the guest of honour.

The director said that events like the inaugural function, felicitation of retired faculty members, felicitation of ‘1966 Golden Jubilee Batch’ and ‘1991 Silver Jubilee Batch’ and ‘Dosti ke Pachas Varsh’ 1966 entrant batch have been scheduled on the first day of the convention.

“This will be followed by alumni interaction with students. Later a cultural programme will also be held,” said Avanish Kumar Dubey, vice-president, alumni association and chairman of the convention. Dubey added that the convention would conclude on November 13.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Allahabad News / TNN / November 12th, 2016

Meet the RTI activist who anticipated Modi’s denotification move

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy

Bareilly:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes would no longer be legal tender from November 9 might have come as a surprise and shock to most citizens, but not for Mohd Khalid Jilani, a Bareilly-based RTI activist, who had anticipated it in October this year.

On October 17, Jilani filed an RTI query with the Union ministry of finance asking whether there was a proposal pending with the government about scrapping notes in the two denominations after the income declaration scheme (IDS) had ended. Jilani had also asked for names and address of those people and organisations who had suggested scrapping of the two notes. The reply to his query is still awaited.

Jilani had two more questions for the ministry. In his RTI request, he had asked what were the reasons responsible for domestic black money which had come to light during the review fo the IDS. The final question was about the amount of money the finance ministry had spent on publicity of IDS.

Since the RTI Act states that queries must be replied to within 30 days, Jilani is awaiting the completion of the deadline in a week.

“By not replying to the query, the finance ministry maintained secrecy about its decision to scrap both currency notes,” Jilani told TOI.

Asked what prompted him to file the query, Jilani said, “The Modi government was criticised by everyone for not fulfilling the promise to clamp down on black money made by him before elections. After the last date for IDS ended on September 30 this year, I thought that the Centre could now take some strict action against black money. Civil society has been demanding a ban on circulation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes for a long time. I myself had filed a memorandum in this regard with the finance ministry nearly three years ago.” He added that the Centre’s decision to denotify the two currency notes was delayed because of the festive season, which began when the IDS deadline expired.

Welcoming the move by the Centre, Jilani said, “It will impact black money, which is being used for funding terrorism and purchasing votes for politicians. However, the government should adopt a transparent system for exchanging old with new currency and conduct inquiry against persons found to be hoarding unaccounted money. Besides, public should support the government to make the country corruption-free instead of complaining about the inconvenience faced by them for some time.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Bareilly News /by Priyangi Agarwal / TNN / November 09th, 2016

Lucknow girl wins ‘PETA India’s cutest vegetarian next door’ contest

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Travel
Allankrita Sarkar, a 23-year-old LLB student of Lucknow University, beat nine other female finalists to bag the ‘PETA India’s Cutest Vegetarian Next Door’ online contest. (Ashok Dutta/HT photo)
Allankrita Sarkar, a 23-year-old LLB student of Lucknow University, beat nine other female finalists to bag the ‘PETA India’s Cutest Vegetarian Next Door’ online contest. (Ashok Dutta/HT photo)

Allankrita Sarkar, a 23-year-old LLB student of Lucknow University, beat nine other female finalists to bag the ‘PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) India’s Cutest Vegetarian Next Door’ online contest. Allankrita will feature on PETA’s website and will also receive a certificate, sash and trophy.

Vaibhav Upadhyay of Indore won in the men’s category. Winners were selected based on several factors, including vote count.

The contest was aimed at selecting youngsters who could help create awareness on issues concerning animals, urge people to go vegetarian and raise their voice against cruelty to animals.

“I feel that I won this competition as the blessings of animals are very powerful. I have a strong connection with animals and yes, my friends and relatives also voted for me. Winning this contest will hopefully help me in raising people’s awareness regarding animals. I am looking forward to helping more animals in need,” said an elated Allankrita, adding that she went vegetarian after witnessing a chicken being cut up at a butcher’s shop.

“I turned vegetarian when I was in class 6. I saw a chicken being cut at a meat shop. It was a scary sight. Its cries still echo in my ears,” she said.

Allankrita has three pets at home and is also taking care of 8-10 street dogs of her locality in Aliganj. “I prepare food for the street dogs in my colony. They come to my gate at different times of the day to eat it,” she said.

“I feed all the dogs of my locality and look after their basic first aid. I also create shelters for them during winters. People in my locality call me if they find any animal in distress,” she added.

Allankrita comes from a family where early on she was taught to be compassionate towards animals. “I carry a first aid box in my scooty. In case I find any needy animal on the road, I stop there to treat it,” said the youngster who works with the animal welfare NGO Jeev Ashraye.

Neerja Khede, PETA India campaigns coordinator said, “Whether it’s about improving your health, reducing pollution from greenhouse gases or sparing animals from suffering and terror in factory farms and slaughterhouses, going vegetarian is always a winning proposition.”

Vaibhav, the male winner of the competition, strongly opposed harming and killing animals. He believes that the beauty of nature lies in animals and plants.

A communication from PETA read: “While the consumption of animal-derived foods contributes to a person’s risk of developing cancer, heart disease, obesity and other ailments, a plant-based lifestyle can give us clearer skin, help prevent heart attacks and even reverse heart diseases”.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Education / by Rajeev Mullick, Hindustan Times,Lucknow / November 02nd, 2016