Netaji memorial to come up at IGNCA complex

NEW DELHI :  Culture Ministry is likely to allot up to six acres of land in the campus of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) in the heart of national capital for construction of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose memorial.
The move will meet the long standing demand of the Netaji’s INA Trust for allotment of land in “prominent area” of Delhi for construction of memorial of the freedom fighter.
“A decision in this regard has been taken by the Culture Ministry. The Ministry will allot land at the campus of IGNCA for the purpose,” a Ministry source said.
IGNCA, considered a Congress legacy, was established in 1987, when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister, as a centre for research, academic pursuit and dissemination in the field of the arts.
It spreads across a 26-acre campus at Janpath near India Gate. “Out of this 26 acres, about 4-6 acres of land which is lying unused currently will be allotted for setting up the memorial of Netaji,” the source said.
Last year, Union Urban Development Ministry had written a letter to Culture Ministry to consider allotting land for setting up the freedom fighter’s memorial, he added.
Earlier, Netaji’s INA Trust had requested the Urban Development Ministry to provide land for constructing the leader’s memorial.
The Trust had also rejected the 1.6 acres of land allocated for the purpose by Urban Development Ministry at Deen
Dayal Upadhyay Marg and sought about six acres of land near Rajpath for the memorial, the source said.
The decision of Culture Ministry comes days after Union Minister Mahesh Sharma announced that a memorial dedicated to Netaji will be built in the national capital.
He had said keeping in view the demand of various organisations and Parliamentarian, the government has decided to built a huge memorial in his name in Delhi which will depict his life and freedom struggle.
Last month, the Modi-government had also reconstituted the management of IGNCA bringing in veteran Hindi journalist Ram Bahadur Rai as its head in place of Chinmaya Gharekhan, a former diplomat. (PTI)

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Policies were made in the past keeping ballot box in mind: PM

Policies were made in the past keeping ballot box in mind: PM

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Par panel ‘anguished’ at shortage of faculty in IITs, IIMs

NEW DELHI, May 1:  A Parliamentary committee has expressed “anguish” over shortage of faculty in higher education institutions, including Central Universities, IITs and IIMs, terming it as the “biggest handicap” in developing and maintaining the standard of education in the country.
Observing that the situation continues to be “grim” with no improvement appearing imminent, the panel has suggested beginning the hiring process before a post falls vacant. In order to make teaching more attractive, it has also suggested that the faculty should be encouraged to undertake consultancy.
In a report tabled earlier this week, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on HRD headed by BJP MP Satyanarayan Jatiya, voiced concern over “acute” shortage of faculty in higher education institutions across the country.
The panel said it was informed that the total number of sanctioned teaching posts in Central Universities is 16,600 out of which 2,376 are for the position of Professors, 4,708 Associate Professors and 9,521 Assistant Professors. Of the positions lying vacant 1,277 are for the post of Professor, 2173 Associate Professor and 2,478 Assistant Professor.
In the IITs, the committee said in its report, the minimum qualification for a faculty member is PhD and there is a shortage of such candidates. It noted that institutes were engaging faculty on contract basis to tide over the shortage.
“The committee is anguished to find out that right from well established Central Universities to those set up recently, State Universities as well as private universities, premier institutions like IITs, NITs and IIMs, this problem has emerged as the biggest handicap for the development and growth of Higher Education vis-a-vis maintaining the quality of education,” the panel said.
It further observed that the situation continues to be “grim” with no improvement foreseen in the near future.
Either our young students are not attracted towards the teaching profession or the recruitment process is a prolonged one with too many procedural formalities, the panel said.
Asking the Department of Higher Education in the HRD ministry to assume a proactive role, the panel suggested that the recruitment process should start well in advance before a post is vacated.
It also advised the ministry to work in tandem with the institutes to “have this exercise on yearly basis and recruitment must be done in advance so that shortage does not develop into crisis.”
The panel also said to make the teaching profession more attractive, “the faculty should be encouraged to undertake consultancy and given start-up financial support.” (AGENCIES)

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Teams for cricket tourneys in Kashmir named after militants

SRINAGAR :  Militant sympathisers in Kashmir Valley have named cricket teams participating in certain tournaments after militants, a trend security officials say should be nipped in the bud to avoid “huge problems”.
A cricket tournament was recently played in Tral area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district which had few participating teams named after militants like Aabid Khan Qalandars, Khalid Aryans and Burhan Lions.
While Burhan has emerged as one of the most wanted commander of Hizbul Mujahideen over the past one year, Khalid was his brother who was killed in a security forces’ operation.
Burhan had shot into prominence late last year after he uploaded pictures of his and his comrades on a social networking site.
Several of 11 militants featuring in those pictures have been eliminated but Burhan remains elusive for the security forces.
Many sports events, named after slain militants and separatist leaders, have been held over the past 20 years in different parts of Kashmir.
Shaheed-e-Millat cricket tournament, organised in memory of Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq — slain father of Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has not become a regular feature of the cricketing calendar in Srinagar.
However, this time the security forces seem to be concerned over the latest move.
“If this practice is not nipped in the bud, it can create a huge problem in coming months and years. The psyche of the impressionable minds is sought to be influenced,” a security official said.
He said before the onset of militancy in the state, a football club was formed in the memory of JKLF founder Mohammad Maqbool Bhat following his hanging in Tihar Jail in 1984.
“This club would take part in tournaments within and outside Kashmir and seemingly there was nothing wrong with it. However, when militancy erupted several players joined the ranks,” the official said.
National Conference working president Omar Abdullah saw a link between the trend of naming cricket teams after militants and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti representing south Kashmir in Lok Sabha.
“Lest we forget this South Kashmir being mentioned is Mehbooba Mufti’s Lok Sabha constituency,” Omar said.
Ruling PDP leaders chose not to comment on the issue. (AGENCIES)

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Need stable policy, sudden changes affect investments: Honda

Need stable policy, sudden changes affect investments: Honda

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Mercedes looks at kiosk approach to drive brand salience

MUMBAI :  Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz is adopting a kiosk approach at high footfall areas in key cities for promoting the brand through greater ‘consumer engagement’ as it aims at double-digit growth this year through a line-up of new launches.
“We believe in innovation which has been a key tenet of our consumer engagement. This year we will introduce some more unique consumer engagement initiatives and in the form of ‘pop-up stores’.
“The first such store has already come up at the upmarket Blue Frog restaurant in central Mumbai and we will have six more this year,” Mercedes-Benz India managing director and chief executive Roland Folger told PTI.
The other six stores will come up in Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Goa.
He said these stores are aimed at engaging consumers on a personal level and will come up at hip and happening places lounges, pubs, restaurants and cafes in key metros, the locations for which will be decided on the basis of consumer mapping and behavioural patterns.
Folger said network expansion remains key to the growth strategy and market expansion. “Our network expansion strategy is completely independent of this activity. We’ve plans to inaugurate 10 new outlets across markets in 2016, and have already opened two — in Bhubaneswar and Pune — in the first quarter taking total dealers to 83 in 40 cities.”
He said the initial response to the first pop-up store was overwhelming with very high footfalls and enquiries.
On sales outlook, he said last year they made history, despite market disruptions, by selling over 13,500 units.
“We see a strong growth in the short to mid-term. But this can only be achieved with stable policies and growth environment. The fact that luxury car market is just 1.3 per cent is a silver lining.
“However, I think 2016 will be a mixed year with opportunities and challenges both,” Folger said.
“We’ll be aiming at a sustained double-digit growth in 2016 and our strong line-up of new launches (12 offerings) will help us achieve the goal,” he said but did not quantify.
On the Supreme Court banning sale of high-end diesel cars in Delhi-NCR, he said this is a serious concern and but expressed confidence that a rational and balanced decision that not only takes care of the growing environmental issues but also creates a long-term roadmap for the industry would come up.
He also called for early introduction of BS VI norms and said his company is ready for new norms even now.
On sales impact of the SC ban, he said other centres more than enough compensated for the Delhi setback in the first quarter this year.
In Delhi a very strong petrol portfolio has also helped.
Also other dealers supported our Delhi NCR dealers to help meet the higher demand for petrol models. (PTI)

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Honest babus need not fear, stern action against graft:MoS PMO

Honest babus need not fear, stern action against graft:MoS PMO

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