Month: July 2021

** MANUU’s 9 films selected for UNESCO-supported festival

Nine short films and documentaries made by the Instructional Media Centre (IMC) of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) have been selected for Cultural Cinema Fest 2021, supported by UNESCO, Delhi office.

The online festival scheduled to begin on July 17 and films from more than 100 countries are participating in the festival.

The selected films are – Aristotle, Stephen Hawkins, Dr C V Raman, Bharat Ratna Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, Nawa-e-Sarosh Mirza Ghalib, Al Zahrawi, A Tribute to Prof Yashpal, Sir Isaac Newton and Prof U R Rao. They were selected from among 44 films under the category.

IMC director Rizwan Ahmad said it is a huge recognition of the films at global level.

** Indian seaman makes $1mn in Dubai sitting at home

An Indian citizen, who purchased his ticket online from Thane, won the $1 million first prize in the latest Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire draw.

On Wednesday, ticket number 0207, which was the chosen one in the 363rd Millennium Millionaire draw, belonged to a 36-year-old seaman, Ganesh Shinde.

** How Hindi helped to build a bridge to Manipuri language and culture

As early as in 1928, Manipur witnessed a movement to propagate Hindi that further strengthened its links with mainland India

It is an unfortunate but undeniable fact that in the imagination of most of those who live in the Hindi heartland, India is a near mirror-image of the Hindi region.

While India’s “unity-in-diversity” is routinely emphasised and its multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious character is iterated and reiterated, the sad reality is that dwellers of the Hindi region have very little familiarity with other regions of the country, especially those that lie in the south and the northeast. The reality in those regions is fortunately very different, and Manipur’s case has a distinct resonance in this respect.

** Sports Minister launches official song on Indian contingent at Tokyo Olympics

Grammy Award winner composure A.R. Rahman and young singer Ananya Birla collaborated to present the official song of the Indian contingent for the Tokyo Olympics

Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday launched the ‘Cheer4India’ song of the country’s Olympic contingent and urged the public to wholeheartedly rally behind its athletes during the Tokyo Games.

Grammy Award winner composure A.R. Rahman and young singer Ananya Birla collaborated to present the official song of the Indian contingent for the Tokyo Olympics, titled Cheer4India: Hindustani Way.

** Chola-era temple in Velachery grabs government’s attention

The dilapidated Vasudevaperumal temple is said to be 1,000 years old

Work to clean the precincts of Sri Vasudevaperumal temple at Ram Nagar in Velachery will be expedited. A large part of the temple is covered with thick layer of dirt.

Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments P. Sekarbabu said on Wednesday that officials had been asked to dig out documents and any information relating to the temple.

He said he had visited the temple, which was said to be around 1,000 years old, on the request of the South Chennai Member of Parliament Thamizhachi Thangapandian, who had asked the officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation to clean up the premises.

** PM Modi to inaugurate international convention centre in Varanasi on Thursday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate an international cooperation and convention centre, ‘Rudraksh’, in Varanasi on Thursday that will offer a glimpse of the cultural richness of the ancient city of Kashi.

As many as 108 Rudraksha have been installed at this convention centre and its roof is shaped like a Shiva Linga, officials said, adding that the entire building will glow with LED lights at night.

The two-storey convention centre has come up at posh Sigra area on 2.87 hectares of land and has a seating capacity of 1,200 people.

** Operation Sankalp: Sixteen Indian-flagged vessels provided safe passage everyday

Operation Sankalp was started in June 2019 after there were explosions on board two oil tanker ships in the Gulf of Oman amid increased tensions between Iran and the U.S.

The Indian Navy’s Operation Sankalp has provided safe passage to an average 16 Indian-flagged merchant vessels in the Gulf region everyday, an official statement said on July 14.

Operation Sankalp was started in June 2019 after there were explosions on board two oil tanker ships in the Gulf of Oman amid increased tensions between Iran and the U.S.

“Since then, an Indian Navy ship with an integral helicopter embarked has been continuously deployed in the north-west Arabian Sea [off R’as al Hadd], Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf from June 2019, to show presence, instil confidence in Indian maritime community and provide assistance to Indian-flagged merchant vessels,” the statement said.

** India largest source of government information requests, says Twitter

It accounts for 25% of global volume: transparency report

India is the single largest source of government information requests during the second half of 2020, accounting for 25% of the global volume, as per the biannual Twitter Transparency Report released on Wednesday.

Globally, Twitter received 14,561 such requests for 51,584 accounts in the six-month period from June to December 2020, of which 3,615 requests for 7,762 accounts were from India. For India, this is an increase of about 38% from the first half of the year when the number of such requests stood at 2,613.

** 147 more women Army officers get Permanent Commission

Army grants it to 424 women since 2020

The Army said on Wednesday that 147 additional women officers had been granted Permanent Commission (PC) taking the total number of women officers granted it to 424 out of the 615 officers considered since the landmark judgment by the Supreme Court last year.

Following the judgment on grant of PC to women officers in the Army, a special selection board was constituted and 277 women short service commission officers received it after medical scrutiny.

** How India first went to the Olympics in 1920 & other stories: Harish Bhat, Brand Custodian of Tata Sons tells BrandSutra

With the Tokyo Olympics set to begin later this month, one story that becomes most pertinent is how Sir Dorabji Tata, the second Chairman of the Tata Group, personally pushed for and financed the first Indian Olympic team to the Antwerp Olympics in 1920, when India did not even have an official Olympics body, thus setting the course for India’s sports culture and future Olympians.