Malayalam thespian Thilakan dead

National award-winning Malayalam film actor Thilakan is dead. He was 77.

Thilakan, who had acted in around 200 films and had won the national award for the best actor in a supporting role, died at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram around 3.30 a.m. on Monday after battling with multiple organ failure over the last one month.

Thilkan's body would be kept for public viewing at the Victoria Jubilee Memorial Town Hall in Thiruvananthapuram from 11 a.m. and cremated at the electric crematorium around 4 p.m.

Thilakan was born at Ayroor (now in Pathanamthitta district) on July 15, 1938. And he was born to act. His tryst with acting began while he was still at school. Acting – or theatre, to be more precise – was his vocation. It did not take him too long to make a mark as an exceptional performer on stage. His mentor P.J. Antony was his biggest influence in his theatre days.

Sheriff appointed Rajya Sabha secretary general

New Delhi: Shumsher K Sheriff, Secretary to the Vice-President, has been appointed the new Secretary General of Rajya Sabha.

Sheriff, an IAS officer of 1977 batch, would take over on October one on completion of the term of the incumbent, Dr V K Agnihotri, a Rajya Sabha Secretariat release said on Tuesday.

He would hold the office of Secretary General in the rank and status of Cabinet Secretary, on deputation, till August 31 next year.

Thereafter, he would continue in the same capacity for a further period of two years from September 1, 2013, on contractual basis, the statement said.

59-year-old Sheriff has 35 years of administrative experience in government and has held various positions in states, the Centre as well as international assignments.

Currently posted as Secretary to the Vice-President of India, Sheriff began his career as a lecturer in Delhi University in 1974 and joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1977 (AGMUT).

Between 1981 and 1984, he served as Deputy Commissioner in the districts of Tawang, Subansari and Dibang in Arunachal Pradesh, following which he headed Transport Department in the Government of Delhi.

Subsequently, he served as Director in the Department of Economic Affairs in the Finance Ministry from 1990-1992, looking after bilateral assistance from European countries.

Virtual Private Network for over 4,000 Kerala schools

Thousands of students in Kerala will soon be able to scorch the asphalt on cyber autobahns, thanks to a Rs. 4-crore tie-up between the IT@School programme and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to put in place a Virtual Private Network (VPN) over broadband for public schools.

The VPN will be realised with a 100 Mbps leased lined connection supported by Multi Protocol Label Switching and with 20 Mbps bandwidth as its backbone. Seventy-five per cent of the project cost would be absorbed by the Union government under the ICT@School scheme. A specialty of the scheme is that BSNL is providing the VPN at one-fifth the market rates.

A memorandum of understanding between the government and BSNL was signed here on Tuesday at a press conference called by Education Minister P.K. Abdu Rabb.

Education Secretary Shiv Shankar said at a press conference that the VPN would be up and running in about a month. The State government has claimed that this would be the first-of-its-kind network in the country for educational institutions in a State.

The facility would be given to 2,495 high schools, 1,236 higher secondary schools, 377 vocational higher secondary schools and 233 upper primary schools. Close to 300 offices of the Education Department — the offices of Deputy Directors, District Educational Officers, and Assistant Educational Officers, District Institutes of Educational Technology, and 35 Block Resource Centres in Kerala — would also be part of the virtual network.

ONGC to invest Rs 11 lakh crore over the next 17 years

Chennai, Sept 24: 

India’s premier oil exploration and production company, ONGC, intends to invest Rs 11 lakh crore between 2013 and 2030. (In the last 15 years, the company had invested Rs 5 lakh crore.)

Thanks to this, ONGC expects to be producing 130 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent hydrocarbons in 2030. Half of this will come from assets abroad. (Last year, it produced 27 million tonnes of oil and 25 million cubic metres a day of natural gas.)

A ‘perspective plan’ drawn up by the public sector oil major says the company would invest in petrochemicals, LNG re-gasification and alternative energy, so that 30 per cent of its revenues in 2030 comes from non exploration and production activities. It mentions wind, solar and nuclear as the areas of alternative energy it would get into.

A good part of the investments will go into “unlocking domestic yet-to-find reserves”. What this means is, ONGC will step up exploration. “With more than 28 billion tonnes of prognosticated reserves, Indian sedimentary basis has potential. Extra exploratory miles may give desired results,” says ONGC’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Sudhir Vasudeva.

The company expects to add 450 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent hydrocarbons from yet-to-find reserves.

Woman of Pakistani origin is Norwegian Culture Minister

In what can be described as a fitting response to Anders Breivik’s brutal assault on Norwegian multiculturalism, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg appointed a 29-year-old Muslim woman of Pakistani origin the new Culture Minister. Hadia Tajik is the first Muslim and youngest Minister ever in Norwegian political history. Ms. Tajik, who has degrees in law and journalism and has been a career politician in Norway’s Labour Party, was appointed in a Cabinet reshuffle.

UN Appoints Aishwarya Rai Bachchan As HIV/AIDS Goodwill Ambassador

The United Nations has selected Bollywood actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as the international goodwill ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

UNAIDS made the announcement Monday on the eve of the 67th United Nations General Assembly in New York. The Indian actress,  touted as one of the most beautiful women in the world, will assist the U.N. project in eliminating new HIV infections among children.
"I strongly believe that every baby should be born free from HIV. And I wish that every woman living with HIV stays healthy and has access to treatment. I promise that with UNAIDS, I will do my utmost to make this happen," Aishwarya said.

The 38-year-old actress, who is married to Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan, had her first child last year.
"I am honored to accept this appointment. Spreading awareness on health issues, especially those related to women and children have always been a priority for me. And now, as a new mother, I can personally relate to this - the joys and concerns of every mother and the hopes that we have for our children,” she said.
The Pink Panther 2 actress will promote the cause in 22 countries in Asia, including India, and Africa which account for more than 90 percent of new HIV infections among children.
She has several hit Hindi movies to her credit and has also worked in Hollywood films such as "The Pink Panther 2." A regular at the Cannes film festival, Bachchan was crowned Miss World in 1994 and is considered the most beautiful woman to ever win the crown.

Bihar to use Facebook to promote cattle fair

Patna: Bihar plans to use social-networking sites to popularise Asia's largest cattle fair held annually at Sonepur in the state, a police official said on Tuesday.

Saran district Superintendent of Police Sujeet Kumar said the tourism department, along with the district administration, will use social-networking sites, including Facebook, to popularise the Sonepur cattle fair from this year.

"The Sonepur cattle fair will find a place on social networking sites like Facebook to attract domestic and foreign tourists," he said.

Mr Kumar said it will be the first such move to use Facebook to popularise a cattle fair.

In a bid to attract tourists, the government has decided to hire event managers for the fair this time.

The fair, beginning November 27, is spread across 500 acres near the confluence of two rivers - the Ganga and the Gandak - and has been held every year for centuries.

The event, which begins on Kartik Purnima, is reportedly the only one of its kind in the sub-continent.

Animals like horses, cows, oxen, goats, buffaloes, donkeys, ponies, monkeys, rabbits, bears, cats and guinea pigs are traded at the fair.

Leslee Udwin to launch “People’s Cinema”

Noted filmmaker from the United Kingdom Leslee Udwin unveiled a programme to launch “People's Cinema” which, according to her, is a not-for-profit film education initiative for the youth across India.

Talking to reporters at the Chandigarh Press Club, Ms. Udwin, who produced East is East and its sequel West is West, outlined her plans to bring world-class and thought-provoking works from the independent cinema for India’s youth by creating a mobile film club that would travel throughout the country. Starting from Haryana, the initiative would provide films in accordance with the needs of students from different States and regions.

Ms. Udwin said “People’s Cinema” would provide a single-day event in an educational institution, where two films would be screened, while students got an opportunity to interact with a visiting filmmaker or actor. International as well as indigenous independent films that were different from the Bollywood ‘masala’ mould would be screened.

While students and educational institutions would not be charged for the screening tof these films, “People's Cinema” would expect the youth to set up regular film clubs for more such films.