With the objective of scouting international market for its rural crafts, the Ministry of Rural Development is sending two groups of artisans from different Self-Help Groups under their Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) scheme to Italy and Malaysia within a fortnight. After the success of its national marketing initiative at the India International Trade Fair (IITF), SARAS, the Ministry has chosen 23 artisans from states, which booked the highest sales. "Artisans have been chosen from the participants which have done well this year at Saras. The four states are Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The exhibitions will be held between November 29 to December 8 in Italy and between December 2 and 6 in Malaysia," said Minister of Rural Development Mr Kashiram Rana. Among its initiatives to make rural products economically viable, the Ministry is also planning to construct rural haats across the country.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, November 28, 2003

Back to Index

A moving TV story from India on the plight of the girl child won many hearts - and an award - at a festival in South Africa, beating entries from four other countries."Girl's Call", produced by the NGO Plan India, was named the winner in a competition at the Children's Festival that was part of the annual Sithengi Film Market here.It was organised by the Children's Broadcasting Foundation of Africa (CBFA)."The hardships that the girl child has to go through by having to leave school early, getting married when they are still children at heart and having to bear the burden of marriage are all highlighted effectively in the short film," Firdoze Bulbulia, chairperson of CBFA, told IANS.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, November 26, 2003

Back to Index

Mumbai, November 25: The internationally-acclaimed History Channel, which is being launched in the city next Sunday, will telecast biographies of famous Indians like Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, noted industrialists, scientists and others in its popular prime-time show Biography. These Indian productions will also be made available to the channel's global viewers. The History Channel, which will be part of the National Geographic channel, will have a four-hour Hindi feed, from 8 pm to midnight, but by June 2004 a 24-hour Hindi feed would be available so that Indian viewers can watch it in English or Hindi.

Courtesy: The Asian Age, November 26, 2003

Back to Index

Kolkata: A city-based band is breaking new ground in Indian rock, with a couple of its tracks being featured in a world music album selling in the US.

Krosswindz, known for its innovative fusion of world music sounds and Indian folk, is considered a front-ranking name in the Indian rock scene.

"In fact, we are the first Indian band to feature in an international album," claimed an elated Vikramjit Banerjee, the Krosswindz guitarist.

The six-member band has sung two songs in the album titled "Music of The Globe" that has sounds from Romania, Australia, Iceland and African nations. Krosswindz's songs -- "One World" and "Mahoutbandhu" -- have been featured in the album.

Courtesy: www.economictimes.com, November 25, 2003

Back to Index

Hari Kunzru has caused sensation in Britain's literary circles by refusing to accept the £5000 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the country's most prestigious annual award for young writers.

Kunzru, best-selling author of The Impressionist, turned down the prize saying the political stance of the Mail on Sunday, the official sponsor of the award, was racist.

Sources said that the author, now in India to attend a family wedding, said it was an honour to have won the award but he would not take money from a newspaper that campaigned against asylum seekers.

"The Mail on Sunday has consistently pursued an editorial policy of vilifying and demonising refugees and asylum seekers, and throughout their political and social coverage there is a pervasive atmosphere of hostility towards Black and Asian people."

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, November 22, 2003

Back to Index

New Delhi: Foreign tourist inflow to India has touched over 2 million from January to October this year and is expected to increase further during the peak winter season.

Tourism ministry officials disclosed that the unrest in the Middle East, terror threats in the West and East Asia have helped in diverting the foreign tourists to India.

According to official figures, nearly 2.11 million visitors reached India between January and October, bringing $2.83 billion into the economy.

In October, the start of the season until March that sees the most foreign tourists in India, 246,110 foreign tourists arrived, up 15.4 per cent from the same month in 2002.

"I see peace here in India. Moreover, a holiday in India is comparatively inexpensive," says Myrra Dole, who is here from Ireland for a couple of months to "see the nook and corner" of the country.

According to an American Express study corporate travel, which was hit to the extent of 90 per cent in SARS-hit markets in Asia Pacific including Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan and by 50 per cent in non-SARS impacted markets Australia, India and New Zealand, had almost completely bounced back to the previous year's levels.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.com, November 20, 2003

Back to Index

Kolkata: Pentamedia Graphics seems to be thinking of the bigger picture when it comes to marketing its animation properties. The company is in the thick of negotiating a deal with US retail behemoth Wal-Mart to farm out its products, in video format, across the North American region and other overseas territories.

"The negotiations with Wal-Mart are being handled by a California-based company named Loskitos which is also interfacing with Pentamedia's US office. From what one gathers, the talks have advanced quite a distance. The deal, when it matures, will revolve around distributing our animation feature films in DVD and VCD formats through the Wal-Mart network," Ms Sumathi Sridharan, Pentamedia's vice-president, production and operations, told ET."

Courtesy: The Economic Times, November 19, 2003

Back to Index

The ancient Dholavira site in Gujarat, which was an important part of the Indus Valley civilisation, is being developed as a major centre for tourism and archaeological research. It is believed that the mythical river Saraswati ended its journey here after originating from Adi Badri in Haryana. The project, a brainchild of the Culture and Tourism Ministry, envisages developing the area around the Harappan excavation site into a tourist hub. Excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have revealed existence of a 5,000-year-old civilisation. Located in the salty marshes of the Rann of Kutch, Dholavira however remains out of bounds for tourists. "We want to put Dholavira on the world map. And foreign tourists would also come and see the remains of a wonderful civilisation that existed in India much before the advent of the Aryans," said Jagmohan.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, November 10, 2003

Back to Index

In what holds promise of becoming one of the greatest ever archaeological operations taken up in the world, India is embarking on an epic excavation of Indus Valley civilisation sites, from Adi Badri in Haryana to Dhola Vira in Kutch region of Gujarat, on the trail of the mythical Saraswati river. Lining this exotic highway of ancient Indian culture will be a string of tourism hubs designed to highlight the power and profundity of the Indian mind. "The operative word is 'Incredible India' and we propose to weld archaeology and tourism to project the country and it's rich culture in an elevated form," Tourism Minister Jagmohan told newspersons in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

Dhola Vira has been identified as one of the national sites which are to be developed as centres of excellence. "A complex complete in itself, aimed at providing international-grade facilities for both the researcher and the tourist, would be created here. Already a beginning has been made with the information centre building, which is expected to become operational in the next three months," he added.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, November 08, 2003

Back to Index