• Filmmaker Bedi Gets Un's Environment Award
• Ragas Keep Heart Troubles at Bay

• E&Y Awards: 19 Business Leaders in Final Round

Filmaker Naresh Bedi was on Thursday presented the 'Prithvi Ratna' award, endorsed by the UN Environment Programme, by Delhi Chief Miniter Sheila Dikshit at a ceremony that marked the end of 'Vatavaran-2005' film festival on wildlife and environment. The four-day event, organised by the Centre for Media Studies and supported by Ministry of Environment and Forest, aimed to recognise accomplishments of filmmakers who used environment and wildlife as their subjects. Entries that won awards included "The Last Flight", which was adjudged the best in wildlife category, and "Indian Leopards - The Killing Fields", named the best film of the festival. The awards were presented under six categories. The festival also showed clips from "A Second-Hand Life", "Invocations to the Mountain Goddess", "Irony", "Leopards for Bollywood", "The Policing Langur", "Development Flows from the Barrels of the Gun", "Fistful of Steel", "Do Your Bit", "Once Upon a Time", "Prayer for Rebirth" and "River Taming Mantras".

Courtesy: The Times of India, November 24, 2002

Back to Index

United Breweries' Chairman Vijay Mallya, Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi and AV Birla Group's Kumar Mangalam Birla are among the 19 business leaders nominated for 'Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2005'. The list also has other notable names like Shobhana Bhartia of the Hindustan Times, Chandra Prakash Jain (NTPC), Jignesh Shah of MCX and Ajjay Bijli of the PVR group, according to an Ernst and Young India release. The honours would be declared on November 11 in Mumbai and the winner will represent India at the Ernst and Young World Entrepreneur of the Year awards in Monte Carlo in 2006. The finalists have been selected by a five-member jury consisting of eminent personalities like HDFC Chairman, Deepak Parekh, from over 100 nominations received this year. "The sustained buoyancy in the economy and a sharper focus on growth over the last few years is an outcome of the ingenuity and perseverance of Indian entrepreneurs, who have transformed the Indian business-scape," said Ernst and Young India CEO, Rajiv Memani. The awards honour entrepreneurs who have charted the course for the future for others and truly exemplified the company's "torchbearers" theme for the programme this year, added the release. The E&Y World Entrepreneur of the Year was won by Infosys' Narayana Murthy in 2003. The past recipients of the award includes Sunil Bharti Mittal, Ratan Tata, Brijmohan Lal Munjal, Mukesh Ambani and Subhash Chandra, amongst others.

Courtesy: Business Standard, November 08, 2005

Back to Index

Listening to Indian classical music could help you if you are suffering from any heart ailment. A study conducted by British and Italian scientists from Oxford University and the University of Pavia, aimed at exploring the physiological effects of various musical forms, has found that tempo, rather than style, is the greatest stress-buster. According to the research team of Peter Sleight and Luciano Bernadi, all kinds of fast music and complex rhythms speed up breathing and circulation, while slow meditative music has an opposite effect. Indian ragas create the largest fall in heart rate. This, they say, could be helpful in preventing or treating heart disease/stroke. Interestingly, the researchers used Delhi-based sitar exponent Debu Chaudhuri's version of Raga Maru Behag while conducting the study. Maru Behag is a romantic late-evening raga. It is a combination of two ragas, Behag and Kalyan, believed to have been created by the great vocalist Alladiya Khan in early 20th century. Chaudhuri says his version of the raga is one of his most popular compositions. The 27-minute solo piece was first recorded in London in 1967. Indian classical music can truly soothe your mind. But not all ragas. Some ragas are evening compositions that excite the heart, while some are slow meditative compositions for the morning. I have also been researching on different forms of music and their physiological effects. I have created a series of 24 ragas meant for each hour of a day. Listening to them one after another can positively affect the human mind," Chaudhuri told TOI. Talking about their find in the journal Heart, the researchers said: Appropriate selection of music, by alternating fast and slower rhythms and pauses, can be used to induce relaxation, and so can be potentially useful for cardiovascular disease.

Courtesy: The Times of India, October 01, 2005

Back to Index