Monthly Archives: January 2012

Cassettes and CDs

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Masterworks NCPA archives: Balamuralikrishna

A treasure trove

The digitally mastered CD has vintage Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna in his heyday.

The inimitable genius has a voice to match his masterstrokes! And the ten pieces on this CD which runs for an hour plus, mirror his style of rendition and are like a treasure trove for Balamurali fans. Right from the varnam in Nattai (Nata ragam) Ee naadamu… to his trademark tillana in Kuntalavarali, the tone and tenor are a steady flow of the classical, the Balamurali way. More than the traditional kritis in ragas Ananda Bhairavi, Hindolam and Sri, it is the Punnagavarali, Chenchuruti and Chandrajyoti that stand out in melody, rhythm with tilting cadence inherent in the raga itself. It is such ragas that get an exceptional treatment by Dr. Balamurali and bear out his brand of rendition. So too the Madhyamavathi Nagumomu gala vaani…which is associated with many a concert of his. The improvisations and alapana (prefacing) are far and few and hardly allow us a glimpse into his creative output. That is, if the listener is also a learner! The brief on each raga in the jacket of this CD by Mahadevan R is like a ready-reckoner to the uninitiated. The attempt to capsulate a cross section of ragas that were treated by this maestro by Sony Music is laudable. The output is clarity personified with the nuances of the mridangam by legendary late Dandamudi and violin by Annavarapu Ramaswami, also a maestro in his field, well captured. Kudos to NCPA for bringing out the archives collection with latest technology. The CD is priced at a reasonable Rs. 199.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Arts> Music / January 12th, 2012

 

After GM title Babu aims to become world champion

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Sports

Hyderabad:


Having achieved the Grandmaster title at the age of 19, M R Lalith Babu is now aiming to improve his ranking and be a world chess champion.

Babu, who earned his third GM norm at the Hastings International Chess Congress in London last week, became the 26th Grandmaster from India and fourth from Andhra Pradesh.

Interestingly, the other GMs from the state – Koneru Humpy, P Harikrishna and D Harika — also belong to Vijayawada, the coastal Andhra city.

Crediting both his mother for spotting the talent in him and striving hard to make him the player he is, as well as coach Murali Krishna for sharpening his skills, Babu said, “It was definitely not a cakewalk for me. We need to work hard to be GM. My mother and my coach encouraged me a lot.”

“My goal is to improve my world ranking, to be a super Grandmaster and to prepare for World Championship,” Babu said.

The teenager came into reckoning with a win at the 46th AP State Chess Championship held at Nellore when he was 15. The prodigy also went on to win the National Under-17 Championship at Calicut in 2007.

He subsequently secured the International Master title after winning a silver medal at the Asian Junior Championship in Chennai.

Babu emerged as the strongest player at the Leiden Championship in the Netherlands, overcoming some of the big names like GMs Van den Doel and Savchenko during the tournament.

He got his first GM and final IM norm in 2009 in Spain and the second GM norm at the Chennai Open in 2010.

The journey of Babu getting his Grandmaster title was not easy as it also involved securing funds, Babu`s mother Padma said.

“Though we faced rejections at times for sponsorships, we took it in a positive way. We thought we should work more to be eligible for securing sponsorships. After all, there was no compulsion for someone to sponsor us.

“Lalith Babu had three IM and three GM norms. He never drew with anyone for a draw. Instead of drawing the game, he always wanted to win the game and obtain the norm. It is a matter of pride for me,” she said.

Padma also said that some well-wishers in Vijayawada and the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) helped her with finances to send Babu for foreign events.

“We cannot relax now. I feel his life actually starts now. I want him to reach the level of Viswanathan Anand. We need to plan his career in a different way. I hope some sponsors or the government would help us. He need to play foreign events now,” she said.

source: http://www.ZeeNews.India.com / Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

Union Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee’s Speech at Sri Venkateshwara Medical College at Tirupati

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

“I am very glad to be here in Tirupati on the occasion of the inaugural of the Historic Arch at Sri Venkateshwara Medical College and Hospital. I had the privilege of laying the foundation stone of the Hospital in 2007 and I am happy to be a part of today’s function. I am told that Sri Venkateshwara Medical College celebrated its Golden Jubilee last year and has produced 5000 doctors so far. Our needs are large; we need to travel further on this path, creating better health care facilities for people through well equipped medical institutions and good quality education.

The last decade saw the Indian economy grow at a fast pace. Between 2005 and 2008, the economy grew at about 9.5 per cent per annum. The global financial crisis brought the growth down to 6.8 per cent in 2008-09. This was followed by a strong recovery in the subsequent two years with the economy registering a GDP growth of over 8 per cent. In the current year, I must admit to some disappointment at the slowdown in our growth performance. In the first half of this year India grew at 7.3 per cent. Even with this figure India remains a growth leader in the world. We hope to recover some of the loss in growth momentum in the coming months. It is important that with higher growth, we were able to mobilize greater resources for the inclusive agenda which was the main theme of the Eleventh Plan that concludes this year, and continues to be the focus area for the Twelfth Plan. While we have achieved significant improvement in terms of economic indicators, our human development indicators, though improving over time, are still very low in international comparisons.

Our ability to deepen and broad-base the inclusion of the marginalized and vulnerable segments of our society in the economic mainstream, hinges crucially on sustaining high growth path and maintaining buoyancy in our resource mobilization. It is also important that more of this growth takes place in the backward areas of our country. There is already evidence that some of the slow growing states in the past have improved their performance in the recent years. This trend needs further reinforcement.

The focus of my recent Budgets has been to fund higher levels of resources for flagship programmes so that the critical objectives of the inclusive agenda under the Eleventh Plan are realized in full. Addressing the development challenge in India requires moving to higher levels of HDI in the States that are presently not doing well on HDI attainments and simultaneously strengthening economic indicators in those states that have so far lagged behind. Paradoxically there are certain States, which have done well on economic indicators particularly higher GDP growth rates and incomes, but have lower rank in terms of social indicators. It should be possible for these States to improve their HDI by focusing more on social indicators.

Eleventh Plan had envisaged that the public sector allocation for the health sector would be at least 2 per cent of the GDP, the actual expenditure was around 1 per cent and this has not changed significantly between the initial year of the plan and the terminal year. The total expenditure on health accounts for nearly 4.5 per cent of GDP and around four-fifths of this is accounted for by the private sector. Within private sector, out of pocket expenses of the individuals form the largest share.

The main thrust area of the Eleventh Five Year Plan was greater attention to health infrastructure and human resources particularly in the rural areas, to be achieved through the National Rural Health Mission. The country witnessed improved access to health infrastructure and human resources in the health sector at the grass-root level. Consequently the infant mortality rate declined from 58 in 2005 to 50 in 2009. There has been a reduction in total fertility rate from 2.9 in 2005 to 2.6 in 2009. Maternal mortality has also registered a significant decline. The Approach paper to the Twelfth Plan has rightly emphasized that the plan allocation for health the sector should be 2.5 to 3 percent of the GDP.

Greater attention is being paid to the secondary and tertiary health care. Under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), construction of 6 AIIMS like institutes and upgradation of 13 medical colleges has been initiated in Phase-I and bulk of the work relating to these will be completed by the time Eleventh Plan period comes to an end. Several government hospitals are also being upgraded.

A number of steps have been taken to address the existing unmet need of specialists and the prospective demand for faculty for the new medical colleges. Besides, the teacher-student ratio has been revised from 1:1 to 1:2 These steps, along with the up-gradation of Medical Colleges under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, have increased the number of seats at post-graduate level from about 13,500 a year ago, to around 24,000 by the end of the Plan period.

The achievement of good human development outcomes, particularly those related to education and health is critically dependent on the development and empowerment of women and girls in the country. Gender Budgeting is a initiative which encompasses incorporating a gender perspective and sensitivity at all levels and stages of developmental planning and implementation, and is a means for translating gender commitments into budgetary commitments to meet women’s specific needs.

Financial inclusion is another initiative which aims to provide facilities of formal financial system to the masses. It will enable banks to broaden their base by empowering the people who have been bypassed. It would provide the Indian banks with small savings and generate the demand for banking products and services. It is an effective tool to an inclusive development of the economy. However, out of 6 lakh habitations in the country, only 30,000 have a commercial branch comprising 5 per cent of the total. Thus, it is not possible to cover the entire population, and bring the benefits of financial services to the poor people without appropriate technological innovations. RBI has already allowed financial inclusion on Business Correspondence model, use of biometric smart card, telephone based hand held devices for small- ticket savings/loans particularly in areas where brick and mortar branches are not found economically feasible.

Thus the space between banks and traditional money lenders has been filled by self-help groups (SHGs) and micro finance institutions (MFIs). Both SHGs and MFIs are closely associated with the banking system. The credit flow to microfinance from the banking sector is higher than that from the MFIs. The SHG – Bank linkage model accounts for about 58 per cent of the outstanding loan portfolio; the Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) account for 34 per cent and balance 8 per cent is others including trusts/societies. In the Budget for 2011-12, I had announced a ‘Women’s SHG’s Development Fund” with a corpus of Rs.500 crore towards empowerment of women and promote their Self-Help Groups (SHGs).

The commitment of Government of India to the concerns of ordinary citizens in general and poor in particular is reflected in the approach adopted to create entitlements backed by legal statutes. Thus we have brought the Right to Information, Right to Education, and Right employment by way of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee. The right to Food is in the process of being enacted. I am aware that Andhra Pradesh has taken a lead already in this regard by providing rice to the poor at Re1/kg.

I am also informed that about Rs.18 crore has been earmarked for Sri Venkateswara Medical College as a part of the initiative to create a super specialty hospital. Under the leadership of Shri Kiran Kumar Reddy, CM of Andhra Pradesh a number of initiatives at the State level have been taken and for women there is a new “Stree Shakti” – a bank with Rs.1000 crore capital that would finance women SHGs with interest at 3 per cent. In the times to come with greater availability of resources for priority areas, we could help accelerate the inclusive development in India.

Let me conclude by wishing you all the very best in all your endeavours.”

SNC:CP:finance 1 (6.1.2011)
(Release ID :79406)

source: http://www.Vadvert.co.uk / VAdvert Press Center / by Sophia Jenson/ January 01st, 2012

 

New hub for edible oils

Business & Economy

The Krishnapatnam Port region is slowly becoming a hub for edible oil refineries with eight firms setting up refineries at Pantapalem in Muthukur mandal, close to the port. Half a dozen more units have expressed interest to follow suit near the port.

The Krishnapatnam Port region is slowly becoming a hub for edible oil refineries with eight firms setting up refineries at Pantapalem in Muthukur mandal, close to the port. Half a dozen more units have expressed interest to follow suit near the port.

The port has laid a pipeline to the area where the units are located, to unload crude palm oil directly from the ships. Proximity of the port to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and availability of land in the area has been attracting industrialists to set up their units in the region.

According to general manager of industries, M. Murali Mohan, Gemini Edible Oils, Saraiwala Industries Pvt Ltd, Krishnapatnam Oil and Fats Pvt Ltd, Emami Biotech Pvt Ltd and South India Fats and Oils Pvt Ltd have started operations among eight units established already at Pantapalem.

The other three units are expected to start operations this year.

Chief executive officer of Krishnapatnam Port Anil Yendluri told this newspaper that half-a-dozen more industrialists have visited the port in the recent past and expressed interest to set up refineries in the Krishnapatnam region.

He said that they had created necessary infrastructure at the port for unloading ships carrying edible oils without any waiting time.

In addition, assistance was also being extended to industries to set up their units in the region, he added.

President of the AP Edible Oil Dealers Welfare Association Sannapa-reddy Penchal Reddy said that both traders and consumers are benefited because of the refineries coming up near Krishnapatnam port which is close to Nellore town.

“Since the units are nearby, there is no need for us to maintain storage points unlike in the past when we were procuring edible oils from Kakinada port. We used to spend at least Rs 2 per kg of oil for transportation from Kakinada and this was passed on to the consumer. Irrespective of price variations in the market, consumers have been paying Rs 2 less per kg after we started lifting stocks from refineries located close to Krishnapatnam port,” Mr Penchal Reddy told this newspaper.

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> Channels> Cities> Region> Nellore / by DC Correspondent, Nellore / January 12th, 2012

Aakash tablets: 14 lakh booked in 14 days

Business & Economy
New Delhi:
The new year may be a year of low-cost computing in India. Sales bookings for the world’s cheapest tablet, Aakash, have soared to 14 lakh units just two weeks after it was put up for sale online for Rs 2,500 a piece. 

To cater to the ‘unexpected’ demand, UK-based vendor Datawind, the maker of the $35 tablet, has decided to establish three new factories – in Cochin, Noida and Hyderabad – in the first half of 2012 to assemble the tablet. Datawind currently has only one factory in Hyderabad, with its vendor Quad, which makes the LCD panel for the tablet.

“We never expected such a high response from both corporate and individual buyers. We plan to supply 70,000-75,000 units per day once the factories are in place by April,” Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO, Datawind told ET from Panama, where he was invited to advise its government on its low-cost computing project.

“Around two weeks ago, we received a call from India’s computer emergency response team that our website was probably suffering from a large cyber attack. We had to inform them we had just opened sale through our website,” Tuli said. Datawind, which put out a limited 30,000 tablets for sale online with e-commerce provider Ncarry.com, has already exhausted the first lot.

A spokesman for Ncarry.com, said that the website is catering to orders across India, with delivery in 5-7 working days. Ncarry is a subsidiary of Netherlands-based Nimbuzz, which makes instant messaging applications. The Nimbuzz IM comes pre-installed on Aakash.

Pre-sales bookings for the Aakash tablet (about 400,000 in October) had surpassed the Indian tablet market which grossed about 250,000-300,000 tablets till last year.

Even with a resistive touch and slow processor, Aakash has received about 1 lakh orders a day since online launch last month. In comparison, Apple sold about 10 lakh iPads in 28 days and 30 lakh in 80 days of its launch in April 2010. Currently, the cheapest model of iPad at Rs 29,500, is about 12 times costlier than Aakash.

Aakash’s maker Datawind is, however, strangulated with supply constraints, compared to Apple which managed smooth deliveries of the iPad. “We are not accepting cash for bookings currently, as we want to sort out supply issues,” Tuli added.

Datawind plans to put on sale online the next version of Aakash-Ubislate 7, priced at Rs 2999, by mid-January. The newer version will come with a slot for insertion of a SIM card, for access of internet by GPRS or 2G connection. The current version of the tablet can access internet via Wi-Fi access.

Besides, the newer version will be twice as fast with a 700 Mhz processorcompared to a 366 Mhz processor in the current tablet. In another development, the government has extended the letter of credit to Datawind to supply the next lot of 90,000 tablets, even though IIT Rajasthan is yet to provide the test specifications for the next version, which it wants to procure for supply to students. The delay from the government’s end is likely to land Aakash in the hands of commercial buyers before students for whom the low-cost tablet was meant for in the first place.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> Tech> News / ET Bureau/  by Harsimran Julka / January 03rd, 2012

IIFCL’s credit enhancement product may open up infra bonds market

Business & Economy

 

The country’s first credit enhancement product will soon take off, thanks to India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL). The first pilot transaction will be for a road project developed by GMR J Expressways, a special purpose vehicle of GMR Group, at Jadcharla, a town in Mahbubnagar district in Andhra Pradesh. Through credit enhancement, a lender is provided with reassurance that a borrower will honour the obligation through additional collateral or third party guarantee. It reduces credit/default risk of a debt, thereby, enhancing credit rating and lowering the interest rates on the debt. The launch of credit enhancement product by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, later this week will pave the way for development of infra bond market in the country, Mr S.K. Goel, Chairman and Managing Director of IIFCL, told Business Line here.

CREDIT RATING

For this first pilot, IIFCL will provide partial guarantee to the tune of 15 per cent of the bonds to be issued by the project developer. This would help enhance the credit rating of GMR J Expressways to ‘AA’ from ‘A’, thereby, helping the SPV to raise funds from insurance and pension funds besides other investors, Mr Goel said.

 

The state-owned infrastructure lender will charge a guarantee fee from the SPV for credit enhancement to the project bonds. Insurance companies avoid infrastructure bonds with credit rating lower than ‘AA’. This is mainly due to regulatory requirements as bonds with credit rating lower than ‘AA’ are not considered investment worthy by the insurance regulator. IIFCL will also enter into a risk sharing agreement with the Asian Development Bank, which will reinsure to the extent of 50 per cent of the guarantee provided by the state-owned infrastructure lender.

 

Mr Goel said that IIFCL was looking to undertake 4-5 pilot transactions of credit enhancement before end March, involving provision of partial guarantee for total bond size of Rs 2,000 crore. As many as 14 transactions are in the pipeline at various stages, he added. Under IIFCL’s credit enhancement scheme, the minimum standalone credit rating of the infrastructure project to be credit enhanced should be at least ‘BBB’ (before credit enhancement by IIFCL). The funds raised by the infrastructure project through project bonds credit enhanced by IIFCL shall be used exclusively to repay the existing debt to existing lenders of the infrastructure project. IIFCL sees strong appetite among infrastructure developers for the proposed credit enhancement product. Already, infrastructure biggies such as Larsen & Toubro, GVK Group have evinced interest in this product.

krsrivats@thehindu.co.in

source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com/ Industry & Economy> Banking/ by K.R. Srivats / New Delhi, January 02nd, 2012

Reliance Industries to invest over Rs 1,500 crore in TV18 Group

Business & Economy

Mumbai:

Reliance Industries is embarking on a major diversification into the media and entertainment sector with the Mukesh Ambani firm agreeing to fund a transaction that will result in a sizeable stake for itself in a company controlling two of the industry’s largest businesses, the Network18 Group and the Eenadu Group of channels run by the Hyderabad-based Ramoji Rao.

People close to the transaction, which has a number of stages, told ET that an RIL subsidiary will help the promoter group of Network18 fund the rights issues of its two listed entities, Network18 Media and Investments, which runs the portal moneycontrol.com, and TV18 Broadcast Ltd, which operates a number of business and general news channels, notably CNBC TV18 and CNN-IBN.

ET was not able to independently verify the amount to be invested by RIL, but people with direct knowledge of the transaction estimated it to be more than Rs 1,500 crore. The money from RIL will help Raghav Bahl, the promoter of the TV18Group, subscribe to the rights issues of both the listed companies, Network18 and TV18. The full amount expected to be raised through the rights issues is estimated at over Rs 3,500 crore.

The boards of TV18 Broadcast and Network18 Media will meet on Tuesday to discuss plans for a rights issue. Raghav Bahl did not respond to an email questionnaire; a Reliance group spokesperson also remained silent, while B Sai Kumar, the CEO of Network18, declined comment.

Times NOW and ET NOW, owned by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, the publisher of this paper, compete with some of the television channels owned by Bahl. The strategic investment by RIL will be used by the Network18 Group to retire debt and eventually buy out RIL’s stake in Eenadu, the pan-India vernacular language channels owned by Ramoji Rao.

RIL sources said they had invested Rs 2,600 crore in the Eenadu Group through a subsidiary giving it ownership of all businesses apart from its Telugu channel, in which it owns 49%. The transaction, once complete, will result in RIL recovering most of its investments in Eenadu. Messages and an email sent after business hours to the office of Ch Kiron, the managing director of Ushodaya Enterprises, the holding company of the Eenadu Group, did not elicit any response.

By its own admission before the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Reliance Industries has said it has invested Rs 2,600 crore in entities of Nimesh Kampani-led JM Financial Group, which in turn had invested in Ushodaya Enterprises. The AP High Court is hearing a petition alleging the investment was a payoff to N Chandrababu Naidu, the former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, an allegation RIL has denied in its affidavit. RIL’s deal with Bahl, likely to be announced on Tuesday, is expected to create a powerful national news and entertainment company spanning several regional languages as well as English and Hindi.

RIL to get Exclusive Rights to Content

RIL, people close to the transaction said, is expected to hold an economic interest equivalent to a 30% stake in the promoter group of companies, with the original promoter Bahl owning 51% and all voting rights.

Further, RIL will have exclusive rights to content from 30 channels and web properties of the two media houses, which will lend a competitive edge to its broadband services to be rolled out later this year.

RIL is laying the groundwork for national 4G broadband services expected to be launched sometime this year. Content for broadband services is generally outsourced, but RIL will have an advantage over others with this transaction which will give its subscribers a wide variety of channels ranging from general entertainment to news and movies.

Earlier on Monday, Sai Kumar, in a letter to all employees of TV18, hinted at a solution to the group’s debt problems. “Let me also take this opportunity to tell you that we are very close to addressing our debt levels and related issues which have been reported by various media in the last few weeks. We will learn the details from Raghav pretty soon,” said Sai Kumar, who took over as CEO after the sudden resignation recently of long-time CEO Haresh Chawla.

The money is likely to be invested directly in companies controlled by Raghav Bahl, such as RB Holding Pvt Ltd and RB Investments Pvt Ltd. These companies own 30.34% stake in Network18 Media while Bahl holds 9.03% in his name. Network18, in turn, is the main shareholder in TV18 Broadcast with a 49.98% stake. The two companies have suffered heavily in the downturn triggered by the financial crisis of 2008-09. While revenue growth has been strong, profits have plummeted and borrowings have soared.

At the end of March 2011, Network18 had debt of Rs 1,777.89 crore. Its profit for that year fell 87.27%. TV18’s debt stood at Rs 550.54 crore while profit fell 17.40%. The markets have punished the two companies. Network18′ s market cap is down 171.57% since January 5, 2009 while TV18’s has fallen 560.23% in the same period. Bahl’s companies also have a distribution joint venture with the Chennai-based Sun Group, called Sun18. It is not known if Sun’s channels, among the strongest in the south, are a part of this arrangement. American giant Viacom too has a joint venture with Bahl for producing movies.

source: http://www.articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com / News> News by Industry> Media/Entertainment / by R Sriram / ET Bureau / January 03rd, 2012

 

Birla group plans sports city

Business & Economy, Sports

Hyderabad:

The Yash Birla group has submitted a proposal to the state government for the setting up of an international-standard sports city in the state. Group representatives met CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy and promised to bring in an investment of Rs 13,000 crore for the proposed project.

The sports city will have all kinds of sports infrastructure along with a manufacturing centre and a wellness centre. At the facility, local sporting talent will be developed to match international standards. For the project, the group wanted 450 acres of land near any international airport and another 250 acres for the wellness centre.

“The land earmarked for the Lepakshi knowledge hub near Anantapur is anyway vacant and, what’s more, it is also close to Bangalore airport. We may consider the site for the project,” said government sources. If the group agrees to this, the agreement will be signed at the Partnership Summit that starts on January 11.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Hyderabad / TNN / January 08th, 2012

HERITAGE: Fabric of Indian handicraft

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

The biggest exhibition of Indian textiles and clothing in Asean offers an insight into India’s age-old textile heritage, writes Intan Maizura Ahmad Kamal

THERE’s no way anyone could’ve missed the bobbing head of Shri Badshah Mian with his striking rainbow-coloured turban. One of India’s national award winners, the 57-year-old’s expertise lies in tie and dye design, a craft that has been passed down through seven generations of his family. He’s hoping his two sons will continue the tradition.

Just opposite the walkway from Shri is an equally colourful Karmabai Merubhai Goradiya, looking resplendent in her Banni embroidered traditional dress complete with neck accessories and veil. Also a national awardee, the shy Karmabai’s forte lies in Banni embroidery, one of the ethnic styles of embroidery of Kutch (Gujrat).

Shri and Karmabai were among the 10 Indian traditional textile artisans present at the recently concluded Intexpo, the biggest exposition of Indian textiles and clothing in the Asean region at the Matrade Exhibition and Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

The event not only gave international buyers and visitors the opportunity to view the latest products that modern India has to offer but also gain a better insight into the country’s age-old heritage in textiles. Housed in a themed pavilion, the artisans, who came from various parts of India, were on hand to demonstrate their intricate skills.

The story of Indian handicrafts dates back to the beginning of the Indian civilisation. Indians have been creating artefacts with unimaginable designs as objects of adoration for the temples ever since the dawn of history. These objects travelled through time to assume variegated forms with unmatched functional values, embellished by some of the most inimitable aesthetics.

Beginning as temple crafts, the handicrafts slowly permeated every aspect of daily life. Today, the handicrafts come in numerous designs and materials and undergo various processes.

The industry produces one of the widest ranges of lifestyle and utility products. A workforce of more than six million forms the backbone of the Indian handicrafts industry. Armed with inherited skills, techniques and traditional craftsmanship, the industry is highly labour-intensive and decentralised and is spread out all over the country, both in rural and urban areas.

TIE AND DYE

Eyes lighting up with pride, Shri confides that his forefathers originated from the state of Rajasthan and produced exquisite works for the Maharajas.

“If you go to Rajasthan you’ll see various designs and patterns of tie and dye,” he says with a smile. “Rajasthanis love wearing various styles of this art and their costumes are more vibrant because of it.”

Tie and dye designs or bandhni are very popular, and because of its uniqueness — no two designs are the same as it’s all handmade — can be found in many exclusive boutiques in India. You can find elegant pieces of tie and dye ranging from saris, handkerchiefs, shawls, lehanga choli (long skirt and blouse), turbans, tops, bedsheets, cushion covers and pillow covers to table cloths and many more.

Rajasthan is famous for its leheriya pattern, which literally means waves. These are harmoniously-arranged diagonal stripes, originally dyed in the auspicious colours of yellow and red. The material is rolled diagonally and certain portions are resisted by lightly binding the threads a short distance from one another before the cloth is dyed. Much skill is required when the distance is shorter because you don’t want one colour to spill onto the other. The dyeing process is repeated until the desired number of colour is achieved.

The colours are derived from mixing pigments from different plants. “Every colour is organic,” explains Shri. Pointing to the ingredients, he adds: “Coffee seeds give a brown colour, while the turmeric roots give me yellow. Pomegranate and the betel nut offer different shades of brown while these madder roots give me the vibrant pink colour.”

How does he know what colours he’ll get? “There’s no science, no calculation, just judgement,” says Shri with a shrug.

The process of making bandhni (tie and dye) as well as patterns, designs and craftsmanship vary from one region to another. Rajasthan and Gujarat are the main hubs where this art flourishes. Rajasthan craftsmen, says Shri, are easily recognised because they grow a nail on their little finger to make it easy for them to lift the cloth for tying. Sometimes they wear a small metal ring with a point.

BANNI EMBROIDERY

Karmabai strikes a pose for the camera. Banni embroidery used to be the best means by which women, especially those from the rural areas, expressed their lives, dreams and desires.

Taking a small embroidered sling bag from the pile of table runners, wall decorations, handbags and handphone holders in front of Karmabai, I express my admiration for the fine handiwork. She beams but is unable to converse due to the language barrier.

Never mind — there are plenty of information boards around.

Embroidery, which is essentially meant to strengthen the fabric and to decorate it, is an important part of the household tradition of the different communities in India. The Banni embroidery is one of the ethnic styles of embroidery of the Kutch (Gujarat), which has a large number of settlers from Central Asia.

THE DESIGN

This type of embroidery is very popular because of the intricacy and richness of the design. Silk floss is used to create the pattern on the fabric. To begin, the design is first marked on the cloth either by free-hand drawing or by tracing, and then followed by the outlines of the design. The filling is done using needle and coloured silk/cotton threads.

The thread is fed from below and is pulled up with an awl and comes up like a loop. The second loop is then pulled forward. This creates the chain-stitch effect, which gives the strong linear patterns.

You can’t fail to be captivated by the delicate weaves on the fabric. The additional use of mirrors in the buttonhole, which are studded using the chain-stitch pattern on the cloth, helps to enhance the overall effect.

KALAMKARI/HAND PRINTING

Hunched over a large piece of cloth with charcoal sketches of Indian deities, his hand gripping a small brush and his face full of concentration is Shri M. Viswanath Reddy, who comes from Andhra Pradesh and is another of India’s award recipients for his Kalamkari works.

The word Kalamkari comes from the Persian words Kalam and Kari, which means drawing with a pen. While the technique has been around for centuries, the style as we know it today, actually emerged from the craft schools that sprang up under the patronage of the Mughal emperors three centuries ago.

There are two distinctive styles in India — the Srikalahasti style, and the Machalipatnam style. Viswanath practises the former, which uses a kalam or pen for free-hand drawing of the subject.

Demonstrating his handiwork, the earnest young man, who learnt his craft from his Kalam-artisan father, explains that to do this piece of art, he begins by first sketching the black outline using charcoal before filling the colours in. “I use all natural colours derived from seeds, flowers, roots — all vegetable dyes. We dip in the colours using this traditional kalam (pen). Depending on the design, it can take a couple of days or longer because it involves 17 painstaking steps.”

THE PEN

The Kalam is made from wooden pieces with arrangement for easy flow of colours. A small bamboo stick with a point is split to form a tip of about an inch. A bit of rug with wool is tied around about an inch from the point and is easily done with one finger that holds the brush. With this Kalam, the paint will run over the piece of cloth guided by the artist’s creative instincts.

This style of Kalam work flowered around temples so it’s not surprising that it has an almost religious identity. Scrolls, temple hangings, banners depict deities and scenes taken from the great Hindu epics and mythological classics.

-Textile facts

1. Indians use organic colour from substances such as coffee seeds for brown colour, turmeric roots for yellow, pomegranate and betel nut for different shades of brown and madder roots for vibrant pink.

2. Embroidery, besides forming beautiful and intricate patterns on otherwise plain fabric, is essentially meant to strengthen the fabric.

3. Kalamkari comes from the Persian words Kalam and Kari, which means drawing with a pen and is made out of 17 tedious steps.

source: http://www.nst.com.my / New Straits Times / Sunday Life & Times / by Intan Maizura Ahmad Kamal / January 08th, 2012

 

 

Telugu Association of Greater Boston (TAGB)

Nri's / Pio's
ENTPRENEUR MEET – 21ST October, 2011

2011 is an eventful year for Telugu Association of Greater Boston (TAGB). Under the Presidentship of Sri Koteswara Rao Kandukuri, the Executive Committee explored different options to meet the needs of the Greater Boston Telugu Community.
In addition to TAGB cultural presentations which are very popular, TAGB conducted events for Sports, Academics and Charity that were also highly appreciated. This week, TAGB organized an “ENTREPRENEUR MEET” for the first time in its history especially for Telugu community. The objective of this meet is to provide a stage for ambitious and successful entrepreneurs among local Telugu community members to meet, greet and share their entrepreneurial experiences.
In his address to the guests, the TAGB President explained the reasons for organizing the entrepreneur meet. He felt that it was essential for TAGB to play its role in these economic conditions to strengthen this group’s efforts by providing additional information and tools. This meet opens a window for networking among these individuals. Our recent survey found 40+ Telugu Entrepreneurs in Greater Boston area in the fields of IT, BioTech, Marketing, Academics, Entertainment, etc. Many young and experienced professionals and entrepreneurs showed interest and responded to the TAGB invitation. The meet took place on this Friday October 21st evening at the Conference Room of Sri Shirdi Baba Temple, 290 Littleton Road, Chelmsford, MA.
The Board Chairman of TAGB, Sri Paparao Gundavaram in his speech welcomed the attendees and greeted the successful entrepreneurs and young aspirants for their continued success in future years.
Dr. Govinda Rao Bhisetti (Vice Chair of BOT, TAGB) moderated the proceedings of the night.
In the first part of the event, the moderator invited three prominent and successful entrepreneurs to the panel of guest speakers – (1) Sri Subu Kota, Chairman/CEO, The Boston Group, (2) Sri Mohan Nannapaneni, President/CEO, Sigma Systems, Inc. (also Executive Vice President, TANA), and (3) Dr. Balaji Bhyravabhotla, CEO/COO, Xtal Biostructures
The guest speakers shared their valuable experiences in entrepreneurship and encouraged all aspiring entrepreneurs to take the plunge without fear, guided by their heart and high ethical standards. The audience participated enthusiastically in Q&A session following the speeches.
In the second part of the event, all members of the audience were given the opportunity to speak about their companies or their ideas for a new business. About 30 people came forward to share their experience of success and failure.
Though it is the first time for TAGB hosted such type of an event, their enthusiastic participation made it a grand success.
In his Vote of Thanks address, Sri Ramesh Babu Tallam, Secretary of TAGB, thanked the Guest Speakers and all attendees for their interest and valuable contribution in making the event a grand success.
press release www.tagb.org
source: http://www.bheru.com / Bheru Educational Foundation /Home> Local News / October 25th, 2011