Asia / All Themes
India: All Sides Using Children in Chhattisgarh Conflict
04.09.2008 18:09
humanrightswatch.org
Rehabilitate Children in Armed Groups Indian security forces and Naxalite rebels should immediately end the use of children in the conflict in Chhattisgarh state in central India, Human Rights Watch said today. Using children under age 18 in armed operations places them at risk of injury and death and violates international law.
India
Human Rights Protection
China: As Paralympics Launch, Disabled Face Discrimination
04.09.2008 16:09
humanrightswatch.org
Hiring Bias, Harassment of Disabled Organizations Undermine Laws Despite recent positive steps, discrimination against persons with disabilities continues in China and organizations for the disabled face government pressure and harassment, Human Rights Watch said today on the eve of the September 6 Paralympic Games in Beijing.
China
Human Rights Protection
News & Gossip : Subhash Ghai and Salman Khan Together Again
04.09.2008 08:18
bollyvista.com
Long ago showman Subhash Ghai expressed his desire to work with Salman Khan and after many years the two ...
India
Show Business
News & Gossip : Bharat Shah demands back 25 Crores from RGV
04.09.2008 08:18
bollyvista.com
Mr. Bharat Shah has filed a complaint in IMPPA (film producers association) for recovery of Rs. 25 crores ...
India
Show Business
News & Gossip : Mughda Godses Godfather
04.09.2008 08:18
bollyvista.com
Mughda Godse is a familiar face in the fashion world and it came as no surprise when Madhur Bhandarkar cast ...
India
Show Business
News & Gossip : Saif Ali Khan Doesnt Want to Break Hearts
04.09.2008 08:18
bollyvista.com
Saif Ali Khan, who has turned producer, wants to make sure that everything is just perfect for his first home ...
India
Show Business
News & Gossip : Vashu Bhagnani Denies Reports
04.09.2008 08:18
bollyvista.com
Vashu Bhagnani is livid at the reports about signing Rishi Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor together for one of his ...
India
Show Business
AVANTA launches its first serviced office centre in India
04.09.2008 07:23
b4uindia.com
Avanta, professional leading provider of Serviced Office space throughout the UK - London, Thames Valley, Birmingham Manchester and Edinburgh today launched its first facility in Statesman House, Connaught Place, New Delhi. The building is ideally located in New Delhi''s prime business district, half-an-hour from the domestic and international airports and just a short distance from the railway station. The main shopping area of Connaught Place is on the doorstep, along with a variety of popular restaurants and bars. Avanta India has acquired four floors (21,000 square feet) of office space and will offer meeting and training rooms, a secure reception area and wi-fi enabled communal areas. The air-conditioned facility offers prime serviced office space for organizations looking for high quality, competitively priced business space in the heart of the capital city. The serviced offices range from two people, furnished executive suites to entire floors that are configured to meet each customer''s needs. As with all Avanta Serviced Office centres, this facility features cutting edge communications technology, including VoIP telephone systems, scaleable internet access and dedicated client server rooms. Customers will be able to take advantage of the company''s virtual office service - Avanta Virtual PA. Designed to offer businesses a complete package of office support but without the actual office space, Virtual PA can deliver a full range of business centre facilities to home workers, business start-ups, professionals on the move, or larger organizations seeking a market presence in India. Avanta also offers a meeting and training room facility. For companies who wish to hire space for a day to carry out a brainstorming session, conducting interviews or for seminars and training sessions, Avanta offers meeting rooms for flexible durations complete with audio and video conferencing. Also part of the package is catering, while specialist meeting co-ordinators are available to take care of the room layout as well as the day''s smallest detail. “Having established a strong reputation in London and key regions throughout the UK as providers of flexible, high quality, non-branded serviced office space, we are delighted to bring the Avanta brand to India. We are sure that Avanta serviced offices will rapidly set a benchmark in this category of business in India,” commented Sean Morgan, Managing Director, Avanta India & Middle East. To celebrate the opening of the new centre, Avanta hosted a reception for their business partners and clients along with international & Indian commercial property consultants, who were given a guided tour of the new office space and facilities that Avanta India has acquired. Following this, Avanta held a launch party that included a performance by Ash Chandler, one of India''s most popular stand-up comedians & performer and other entertainment. Avanta India''s first centre, Statesman House in New Delhi, and two Mumbai centers that are still under development, have attracted many enquiries, underlining the fact that the Avanta model is compelling in any professional market where quality and value for money matter. Expansion of the network to other regions of India is expected in the near future. Avanta''s mission is to provide organizations of all sizes and types with what they really want: well-equipped, non-branded and high quality office accommodation in prime locations; flexible services and contracts; transparent pricing and exceptional value for money. (ANI)
India
Economics & Finance
World Vision commits Rs. 8 Crore for Bihar flood survivors
04.09.2008 07:23
b4uindia.com
World Vision India today committed Rs. eight crores to respond to the mounting challenges facing the survivors of Bihar floods. This will respond to the immediate relief, recovery and rehabilitation needs of 125,000 people (around 25,000 families) in the Madhepura district, one of the worst affected by the floods. Over the last three days around 10,000 people (2000 families) have been served with immediate food relief. “Initially, we were looking at close to Rs.4 crores to reach the people on the ground with the most essential needs- cooked food, dry rations, family kits and shelter material,” says Franklin Joseph, Director- Humanitarian Emergency Affairs, World Vision India, “but by looking at the number of the people in the camps and needs that would arise, we have added temporary shelter material, hygiene kits and water containers to the survival kits.” World Vision is providing chuda (flat rice), sathu (lentil meal) and jaggery (country sugar), candles and match boxes as survival kits to people who are coming into the camps around the town of Saharsa, a neighbouring district. People in the camps are also being provided with cooked food for lunch and dinner. Reports say that the water is slowly starting to recede. But the challenges for the people who are in the camps are many. Two boys, Pappu, 14 and Deepak, 10 have been missing for a week now and their parents have started to lose hope. Their neighbors suspect that the raging waters have washed both of them away to the unknown, something the parents are not willing to accept. But witnesses said, they found no trace of the two boys. Several families are looking for members they have lost as they fled the waters. In one of the relief camps, ten-month old Priyansu with boils all over her body is sleeping on her mother''s lap. As she hold her baby close, says her mother Rina, “She doesn''t cry much and sleeps well at night and I breastfeed her.” Finding medical help for this condition in the relief camp would be a challenge. The urgent needs are for health care, clean drinking water and protection for children. We are assessing the needs as quickly as possible so that we can put in place additional programmes to respond to the health needs of the people in the camps,” says Franklin Joseph, adding that “Protection of children will be another major focus.” World Vision has responded to every major disaster in India in the last few decades including the tsunami, Kashmir earthquake and the recent floods in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Orissa and Assam. World Vision India is also member of the NGO steering committee of the National Disaster Management Authority. (ANI)
India
Economics & Finance
IBM, Intel, Microsoft target micro finance for social, capital returns
04.09.2008 07:23
b4uindia.com
Business Wire India): Increasingly, mainstream technology firms like IBM, Microsoft and Intel are looking at the microfinance customer base and seeing an opportunity for new clients-microfinance institutions and their borrowers-and a way to help people who normally can''t afford to buy their products. C.K. Prahalad, the author and business strategist said in an interview released today in Microfinance Insights magazine, referring to IBM, Intel and Unilever, "I believe that the companies that are clued in [to this market] will have enormous benefits, and will take that knowledge back to the rest of the world. To me, the base of the pyramid is not just an opportunity for market expansion. It is an opportunity for innovation." Prof. Prahalad''s cover story is accompanied by interviews with leaders from IBM and Microsoft and a perspective from Intel in the latest edition of Microfinance Insights focused on Technology Solutions for microfinance. In the past couple of years, telecom companies, as well as technology firms, have been more deliberate in their outreach to the low-income segment. Global telecom companies, like Vodafone and Nokia, see the microfinance market as key to their growth strategies. In the September - October issue of the magazine, Microfinance Insights looks at some of the technologies that are opening up the world of "financial inclusion" and analyzes the risks and the needs created by these new entrants to the world of microfinance. Also, in this issue, the magazine publishes a new Survey on technology for microfinance institutions (MFIs), gathering views from nearly 250 MFIs around the world on a range of issues from technology used, technology spending, the challenges faced by MFIs when adopting technology, and the use of Management Information Systems. The results are previewed in the issue. Microfinance Insights is a dynamic, fast growing magazine with over 4,000 readers around the world. The magazine is published from India, but international in content and distribution, bringing in articles, interviews and commentary from India as well as microfinance markets around the world including Morocco, Pakistan, Ecuador, Kazakhstan and Pakistan. With the September issue, Microfinance Insights has moved to a bimonthly schedule, publishing six times a year, instead of four. The magazine will also launch a new website this month to provide readers with more content and commentary on a regular basis. Past issues of the magazine have highlighted opinions and analyses from leading industry voices from the World Bank, the IFC, Morgan Stanley, Blue Orchard, Women''s World Banking, MIX Market, MicroCapital Monitor, the Micro Insurance Center, Sanabel, SKS and many others. (ANI)
India
Economics & Finance
INTACH signs agreement with Swiss Red Cross for Tsunami-affected communities
04.09.2008 07:23
b4uindia.com
Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), a nationwide non-profit organization founded to protect the common national heritage, has signed an agreement with the Swiss Red Cross to secure sustainable improvement in health and well-being of Tsunami-affected communities in five villages of Puducherry. “An agreement was signed for the well-being of Tsunami-affected communities in five villages of Puducherry in the fields of water supply, hygiene, environment and sanitation,” said S.K.Misra, Chairman of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. Working on this social aspect, INTACH has been provided with two crore and 33 lakhs of funds by the Swiss Red Cross, he added. An earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggered a tsunami on December 26, 2004, with the epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The earthquake triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing more than 225,000 people in eleven countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand were hardest hit. Besides Puducherry, the nationwide non-profit organization is also monitoring heritage properties in Goa. “All heritage properties were earlier with the State Government. But, now they are handed over to the INTACH. And about Rs. 20 crores have been provided for restoration of work,” Misra added. Misra further added that they are in the process of completing major projects in Madhya Pradesh, Gwalior, Chanderi for which the Tourism Ministry has provided funds for the restoration work. The INTACH, whose main objective is to create awareness among people about heritage, will complete its 25 years in 2009. The INTACH, which was founded by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1984, is contributing to that endeavour by working to protect the common national heritage. INTACH has been organized into 140 Chapters nation-wide with members who have over the years responded to threats to their local heritage in dramatic, imaginative and committed ways. It addresses issues of local importance and alert their members to local conservation needs. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Normalcy returning to Orissa, Centre supports CBI probe
04.09.2008 07:23
b4uindia.com
Orissa is slowly returning to normalcy as banks, shops, business establishments, schools and other offices are opened on Thursday following the lifting of day curfew in Jeypur town of Koraput District. The day curfew has been lifted after four days as situation has improved. The vehicular traffic from the district headquarters of Koraput and Jeypur has resumed. According to official sources, no fresh violence or untoward incident has been reported from anywhere in the district for the last three days. Meanwhile, tension prevailed in Tikabali town of communually sensitive Kandhamal District as a group of people tried to ransack a relief camp demanding daily employment and free ration. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will hear a writ petition filed by the Archbishop of Cuttack seeking a CBI probe into violence against the Christians in the state today. On Wednesday, the apex court had postponed the hearing after it directed the State Government to submit its report on steps taken to protect the lives of people belonging to the Christian community in riot-hit Kandhamal district by Thursday. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil has said that Centre is not averse to a CBI probe into the Kandhamal violence if the State Government or the Court asked for it. He declared that Centre would give three lakh rupees each to the kin of those who lost their lives to the violence. Patil asked the State Government to prepare a comprehensive plan to rehabilitate the violence-affected families in Kandhamal and elsewhere. On the same day, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has said that he fully understood the anguish expressed by many people over the violent incidents and said the Centre is monitoring the situation in the state. The Prime Minister was replying to a letter from Sister Nirmala of the Missionaries of Charity. He said it has been emphasised to the state authorities that every step must be taken to restore normalcy. It is highly unfortunate that so much of violence has taken place. These incidents should never have happened. We have been constantly in touch with the State Government. I have myself spoken to the Chief Minister. The Centre has made available all the forces required by the State, the Prime Minister said. Dr. Singh also announced a package of assistance from the PM’s National Relief Fund to the next of kin of those who have been killed and to those injured and those who have been rendered homeless. He said that he is separately asking the Home Minister to advise the State Government to provide necessary protection to the houses and workers of the Missionaries of Charity. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Manmohan Singh congratulates fellow teachers
04.09.2008 07:23
b4uindia.com
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Thursday congratulated the winners of National Teachers Award and said that the awards conferred on them were a token of the nation’s appreciation of their efforts, dedication and commitment. The Prime Minister met the awardees today here on the eve of Teacher’s Day. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Singh said: “I started my career as a teacher and teaching had always remained my first love. So I am very happy to have this opportunity to meet you, to congratulate you on the important prestigious National Award. I congratulate each one of you who are going to be honoured for their meritorious services in the field of school education. These National Awards are a token of our grateful Nation’s appreciation of the role teachers play in processes of nation building.” “On this occasion, I extend my felicitation to the entire teaching community in our country, who are working unitedly to strengthen designing of national integration, secularism and democracy, “ the Prime Minister added. Paying his tribute to former President Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, whose life and work symbolises the ideals of a teacher in its true sense and whose birthday is aptly celebrated every year as Teacher’s Day, Dr. Singh said: Investment in the education sector especially in the areas of school education has increased manifold in the last four years. The XI Five Year Plan can be described as an education plan for our country. It has been our effort to ensure that every section of our society gets access to education.” Dr. Mammohan singh pointed out that several new scholarship schemes were being implemented for educational development of children belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and religious minorities. “ Special emphasis is also being laid on the education of the girl child. Suitable educational interventions are being attempted to redress the existing disparity in access to quality education. This is important because for many deprived social groups, education could be a major instrument for upward economic and social mobility,” he added. Expecting greater professionalism, patriotism, commitment and dedication among the teaching community for transformation of education, Dr. Singh said: “I have strong conviction that no system of education can go beyond the level and motivation of its teachers. Urging the teachers to ensure that great cultural heritage is preserved while preparing the children for global citizenship, he appealed to inculcate high moral values and progressive outlook among children so as to enable them to compete with the rest of the world without losing our own cultural identity. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Relief work speeded up in flood-hit Bihar
04.09.2008 07:23
b4uindia.com
Authorities and self -help groups have stepped up relief work and set up community kitchens in flood-hit Saharsa district of Bihar. The district is among the worst affected areas in the state ravaged by the Kosi river. The state government is endeavouring to create make shift shelters for the people who have lost their houses in the devastating floods. Many voluntary groups have also come forward to mitigate the miseries of the victims and provide them food. Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Industry Minister of Bihar, who has been overseeing the setting relief camp in Saharsa district, said that the government is making every effort to provide relief to the floodvictims. "Every one should understand that in a relief camp one couldn''t get the comforts of home. However, our efforts are to ensure that no flood victim dies from hunger, diseases or faces dearth of (drinking) water," said Yadav. The flooding, said to be the worst in 50 years, was caused after an embankment of the Kosi River was breached in Nepal, from where it originates. This unleashed huge waves of water which smashed mud embankments downstream in Bihar. The waters of the Kosi gushed into the state, inundating vast tracts and affecting around two million people. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Make scheme to prevent exploitation of minor girls: HC to NCT Govt
04.09.2008 07:23
b4uindia.com
The Delhi High Court today directed the National Capital Territory (NCT) government to formulate a scheme to prevent harassment of minor children after being employed in households. The court order came following a letter received from the Chairperson of Child Welfare Committee (CWC) challenging a Metropolitan Magistrate''s order dismissing its application for a baby''s custody and allowing a couple to adopt a baby whose mother was a minor maid and a rape victim. Expressing concern over the growing number of cases relating to exploitation of minors, a Division Bench of Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar said, "The monitoring of functioning of placement agencies would have to be undertaken on a far more rigorous scale to ensure that minors are not allowed to be employed and placed in households.” The Bench added, “We would suggest to the government of National Capital Territory to seek the involvement of the Child Rights Commission at the Centre and State level to formulate a scheme in the area." With an aim to provide free legal aid to the minors under the Juvenile Justices Act, the Bench also recommended that the Legal Services Authorities constitute a special panel of advocates with the requisite degree of sensitivity for such cases on a daily basis in the proceedings in the Juvenile Justice Board and the CWC. (ANI)
India
Social Life
English