Milestone of India - Mother Mary's annual feast celebrated. (Tamilnadu -India.)

Tuticorin: Scores of Christians from various parts of the district congregated at Punnaikayal, a coastal hamlet in Tuticorin on the occasion of Rajakanni Mother Mary's feast at 6.30 p.m on Thursday.

The ten-day festival commenced with a ceremonial flag-hoisting by Rev Fr. Maria John Costa, the Parish Priest of Punnaikayal. Celebrations witnessed bursting of crackers and distribution of sweets. The annual feast is slated for October 3.

The Festival Holy Mass would be conducted by The Most Rev. Peter Fernando, Arch Bishop, Madurai Diocese at 7 a.m. E. Thennavan, Tamil Nadu Fishermen Youth President, Punnaikayal, said. A series of special prayer services would be offered at regular intervals.

Milestone of India - Malayalam, Urdu writers claim Jnanpith awards.

NEW DELHI: Malayalam litterateur O.N.V. Kurup and Urdu poet Akhlaq Khan Shahryar were on Friday chosen for the Jnanpith Award for 2007 and 2008 respectively. The selection board chaired by Oriya writer and Jnanpith winner Sitakant Mahapatra made the choices for the top literary awards.

Kurup, popularly known as “ONV”, is a leading voice among contemporary Malayalam poets. As a statement issued by Bharatiya Jnanpith, the trust that presents the award, noted, he began his career as a “progressive writer and matured into a humanist though he never gave up his commitment to socialist ideology.” ONV has 20 collections of poetry and six works of prose to his credit.

Born in 1936 in a Muslim Rajput family in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district, Shahryar shaped himself as an “intellectual poet”, whose poetry strongly expresses an “ideological non-commitment.”

His roots, according to the statement, lie in a desire for self-realisation and his attempt to understand modern problems. “Shahryar is not concerned in his poetry with messages or conclusions. Rather, he expresses the spiritual suffering and psychological anguish of what he regards as the wounded modern man,” it said.

Shahryar, who played a major role in shaping Urdu poetry as it is today, has received many awards including the Uttar Pradesh Urdu Akademi award, the Sahitya Akademi award, the Delhi Urdu Akademi award and the Firaq Sammaan.

ONV's concerns

C. Gouridasan Nair adds from Thiruvananthapuram:

Presenting ‘A Poet's Testament' at a ‘Meet the Author' series organised by the Sahitya Akademi in New Delhi some years ago, ONV had said: “No writer can claim that his works will change the world as he desires. The crown of a saviour is too heavy for him. But he cannot escape from his own concerns for mankind and Mother Earth. For me a poem can be an ardent wish or prayer for peace for all or a motif of love that binds hearts together, or a signal for an imminent storm or a soothing balm over a bleeding wound or even a clarion call for social change… Poetry, irrespective of its language, in its spirit, transcends all geographical barriers to express its concern for the entire world of phenomena.”

Here, he was articulating the perennial concerns of his poetry, from the day his first poem ‘Munnottu' (Forward!) appeared in a local weekly way back in 1946 to those that he pens to this day.

ONV is one of the few to emerge from the turbulent times of the freedom struggle and revolutionary fervour of the 1940s and keep pace with the changing times, constantly rediscovering his poetic voice with changing sensibilities. This he did without compromising his fundamental allegiance to the progressive romantic worldview and always attempting a fruitful fusion of tradition and modernity in his choice of subjects and his poetic utterance.

Born in 1931 at Chavara, a coastal village in south Kerala, ONV burst on to the Malayalam literary scene during what is often called the Pink Decade, of 1946-'56. His poems of this period are marked by revolutionary fervour. But by the 1960s, his poetry began to resonate with tragedy and disillusionment, but he still remained the spokesperson for the toiling millions. Soon, he moved on to much larger concerns about the very survival of the human species in the face of marauding human greed and the clamour for freedom everywhere. His later poetry retained all these elements, but with the sweep of vision and stoic rhythm that comes with long experiences with different facets of life. Regardless of the phases through which it has travelled, ONV's has been poetry of hope and humanity, even if it is about the shade that a green shoot would offer in some far corner of the earth some day in the distant future.

ONV is a prolific writer and one of the finest lyricists in Malayalam. His major works include ‘Daahikkunna Paanapaathram' (The Thirsty Chalice:1956), ‘Mayilpeeli (Peacock Feather:1964), ‘Agnishalabhangal' (Fire Moths:1971), ‘Aksharam' (Alphabet:1974), ‘Karutha Pakshiyude Paattu' (Song of a Black Bird:1977), ‘Uppu' (Salt:1980), ‘Bhoomikk Oru Charama Geetham' (A Dirge for the Earth:1984) and ‘Ujjayini' (Ujjain:1994). He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1998, the Kerala Sahithya Akademi Award for ‘Agnishalabhangal' in 1971, the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award for ‘Aksharam' in 1975 and the Vayalar Rama Varma Award for ‘Uppu' in 1982. As lyricist, he had won the National Award for Best Lyricist in 1989 and the State Award for the Best Lyricist over a dozen times.

Kerala's Culture Minister M.A. Baby described the Jnanpith Award for ONV as a recognition for Malayalam and Kerala. Fellow Jnanpith- winner and Malayalam novelist M.T. Vasudevan Nair described it a long-awaited recognition for ONV's poetic genius.

Milestone of India - World Statesman Award for Prime MInister Manmohan Singh.

Washington: A top United States official on Thursday described Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as “a man of uncommon decency and grace” who led the way in building Indo-U.S. partnership, as he presented the leader the 2010 World Statesman Award.

“History will also mark with special significance Prime Minister Singh's personal contributions to the emerging partnership between the world's oldest and largest democracies, America and India,” Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns said at an awards dinner in New York, where Dr. Singh was honoured in absentia by the Appeals of Conscience Foundation.

Mr. Burns said India's rise might be as consequential for international order and the future of the global economy as any other development in the new century, and would be in the interests of the U.S.

“As President Obama prepares for a historic state visit to India later this autumn, the promise of our partnership, built on strong bipartisan foundations in both our countries, looms bright and unmistakable.

“More than anyone else, it is Prime Minister Singh who has led the way in building the U.S.-India partnership,” Mr. Burns said, citing his strong support for the New Delhi-Washington civil nuclear deal.

Dr. Singh's economic policies helped India's rise within the new G-20 world, and to produce a doubling of U.S.-India bilateral trade in just a few years.

“And Prime Minister Singh's advocacy of cooperation in high technology and science led to the recent launch of India's first unmanned lunar probe, which carried a NASA payload and discovered the presence of water molecules on the moon.”

Mr. Burns said: “There could truly be no better choice, and no better model of what integrity and statesmanship are all about on the world stage... A man of uncommon decency and grace, Prime Minister Singh has never lost sight of his responsibility to lead every Indian.”

Mr. Burns said Dr. Singh was a man of even temperament, and remarkable modesty and humility, and he demonstrated his clear vision and steely determination as a leader, bringing great benefit to India and to the rest of the world. Dr. Singh is not attending the United Nations General Assembly session this year. — PTI

Milestone of India - FII investment cap raised in debt markets.

NEW DELHI: Aimed at bridging the financing gap in infrastructure business and ensuring India's growing attractiveness as an investment destination, the government on Thursday raised the cap on investment by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the country's debt and bond markets by $10 billion to $30 billion.

According to an official statement here, FIIs will now be allowed to invest up to $5 billion more in both government bonds and corporate papers after they reach the existing cap of $5 billion and $15 billion in the two instruments, respectively. Besides, FIIs are permitted to invest $5 billion in bonds of infrastructure companies and government bonds with a residual maturity of over five years.

“The government has increased the current limit of FII investment in government securities by $5 billion, raising the cap to $10 billion and the incremental limit of $5 billion be invested in securities with residual maturity of over five years,” the statement said.

“The current limit of FII investment in corporate bonds has also been increased by $5 billion, raising the cap to $20 billion and the incremental limit of $5 billion be invested in corporate bonds with residual maturity of over five years issued by companies in infrastructure sector,” it said.

The government is of the view that enhancement of the FII investment cap would provide avenues for increased investments in debt securities, help investment in the infrastructure sector and the development of government securities and corporate bond markets in the country.“The policy has been reviewed in the context of India's evolving macroeconomic situation, its increasing attractiveness as an investment destination and need for additional financial resources for India's infrastructure sector while balancing its monetary policy, the statement said.

Investment destination

Having emerged as one of the top investment destinations in the course of the fast-paced recovery from the impact of the global financial crisis, India has already attracted over $17 billion in investment in various bonds and securities. A hike in the ceiling was, therefore, deemed necessary as FIIs are already close to touching the existing cap of $20 billion in investment. Commenting on the relaxation in the investment limit, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee viewed that the move would help augment the flow of FII funds into the country's debt markets. “This is a welcome announcement and I do hope that the handicap which FIIs are facing will be removed considerably and there will be more of a flow to the capital markets, he said.

Milestone of India - PSU banks ink pact for financial literacy project. (Karnataka - India.)

Bangalore: Two Karnataka-based public sector banks, SyndicateBank and Vijaya Bank, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create a trust that is exclusively meant for establishing and running financial literacy and credit counselling centres in the lead districts of the State. A release issued by SyndicateBank on Wednesday stated that the project may be implemented across the country.

The former Chairman and Managing director of SyndicateBank, D.T. Pai, has been nominated as the chairman of the Jnana Jyothi Financial Literacy and Credit Counselling Trust. The scheme will be in accordance with the guidelines of the RBI.

Milestone of India - German grants for University of Hyderabad. (Andhrapradesh - India.)

HYDERABAD: Researchers of the University of Hyderabad will receive German grants totalling three million Euros (about Rs.18 crore) spread over a period of four and a half years from October 1 this year for undertaking study/research in social sciences, chemistry and pharmacy. This is the second time that the varsity is receiving such assistance.

This was stated at a press conference here on Wednesday by Helmut Schwarz, president, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which awards fellowships to young researchers from India, Seyed E. Hasnain, Vice-Chancellor of the university, and J. S. Yadav, director, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology on the sidelines of a three-day international conference which began at IICT.

Prof. Schwarz was the chief guest at the conference on ‘Interface between chemistry and biology: a perspective'. It coincided with holding of Humboldt Kolleg, which is supported by the foundation, for the first time in the city. About 190 researchers are attending the conference enabling them to interact with German scientists.

Prof. Schwarz and Dr. Hasnain said the Humboldt Kolleg would also inspire the researchers to apply for fellowships, leading to quality research in inter-disciplinary sciences. It is also expected to facilitate new Indo-German joint funding projects in chemistry, biology, medical biology, healthcare, energy and environmental sustenance.

They said last year 840 fellowships were awarded by Germany, which is the second most significant collaborator with India after the US.

Milestone of India - India ready to sell Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors.

CHENNAI: The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited is ready to sell Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors of 220 MWe or 540 MWe capacity to other countries, according to Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman Srikumar Banerjee.

These reactors, which use natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as both moderator and coolant, offered a basket of options for countries looking for cost-competitive and proven technologies in the small- and medium-sized reactors, he said at the 54 {+t} {+h} general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna on Wednesday.

The Indian industry, he said, was on the way to becoming a competitive supplier in the global market in special steels, large-sized forgings, control instruments, software and other nuclear components and services.

India was setting up a global centre for nuclear energy partnership in Haryana's Bahadurgarh district for joint work with its partners in areas of topical interest.

Dr. Banerjee, who gave an overview of the country's atomic energy programme, said work had started on four indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors of 700 MWe capacity each (two at Kakrapar in Gujarat and two at Rawatbhatta in Gujarat), and the first pour of concrete was planned for later this year.

The total installed nuclear capacity now stood at 4,560 MWe from 19 operating reactors, including three that had registered an uninterrupted run of over 400 days. The construction of the fourth one (220 MWe) at Kaiga in Karnataka was over and it was ready for fuel-loading.

Construction of two 1,000 MWe reactors at Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu, in cooperation with the Russian Federation, was nearing completion. The 500-MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam was in an advanced stage of construction.

“India,” Dr. Banerjee said, “is expanding its uranium enrichment capacity, which will meet part of the requirements of light water reactors.” This expansion was based on the already established indigenous technology. “Setting up an adequate reprocessing capability has been an important element of our closed fuel cycle-based programme.” India recently began engineering activities for setting up an integrated nuclear recycle plant, with facilities for reprocessing the spent fuel and waste management, he pointed out.

The natural uranium deposits at Tummallapalle in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh, where a new mine was recently opened, promised to yield three times the original estimate.

“India is also interested in joining hands with international partners in developing uranium mining opportunities abroad,” Mr. Banerjee said. The country was self-sufficient in production of heavy water, zirconium alloy components and other materials for the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors. A new zirconium complex was commissioned at Pazhayakaayal near Tuticorin for producing reactor-grade zirconium sponge.