PROGRAMME OF HH THE DALAI LAMA IN SIKKIM

PROGRAMME OF HH THE DALAI LAMA RECEIVED FROM ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT OF SIKKIM

24/03/2013                  Arrival at Rabong, South Sikkim

25/03/2013      9 am - Consecration ceremony of the statue of Lord Buddha at        Tathang Tsal (Buddha Park)

                        12.45 pm – Teaching of Thirty Seven Practices of Bodhisattva.

All devotees are welcome to attend.

                        4.30 pm – Cultural Programme by Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts and Cultural Affairs and Heritage Department, Government of Sikkim

26/03/2013      8.30 am – Prayers and White Tara Life Empowerment (Drolkar Jenang) and Long Life Offering ceremony. All devotees are welcome to attend.

                        Departure for Gangtok

                        1.45 pm – Interaction with students only in Manan Kendra (New Secretariat)

   

Consumer inflation

. This has become the bane of contention between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government. While the central bank claims that this is evil holding back India's growth story, the government chooses to ignore it. But amidst this, luxury retailers are the ones laughing their way to the bank. For inflation, if any, seems to be hurting only middle income households the most. As per Mint, the Indian luxury goods market is valued at about Rs 70 bn! Also, it is set to grow by 20% in five years. The luxury consumers in India belong to three categories: old money aristocracy, new money affluence and the professional elite. It seems that no inflation number is hurting the demand of these classes. Not that this niche consumption will boost the country's GDP to a sizeable extent. But the taxes on the rich levied on this year's budget certainly show that the government has it s eyes set on them.

Souce: Financial Express

Financial Terms. Simplified. Money laundering: The process of creating the appearance that large amounts of money obtained from serious crimes, such as drug trafficking or terrorist activity, originated from a legitimate source. (Source: Investopedia)

Quote : "If you are shopping for common stocks, choose them the way you would buy groceries, not the way you would buy perfume."   - Benjamin Graham

It is been proposed to link one's Permanent Account Number (PAN) with the bank account number, just like Aadhaar, is integral to the Income-Tax Department's plans. However, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is not comfortable with the idea of making PAN linkage mandatory for electronic transfer of all Income-Tax refunds

Gold ETF AUM vs. Gold Prices in India

(Source: Office of the Economic Advisor, PersonalFN Research)

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source: NYTimes

India’s Foodie Web Sites Bring Gourmet Treats to Delhi Doors

By ISHA SINGH SAWHNEY

Courtesy of Foodbury A screenshot of the Foodbury Web site.

With late nights at work the norm and the kirana (corner) stores displaying only shelves of dusty cans and dried beans, urban Delhiites with sophisticated palates are increasingly looking to the Internet to bring the market to them. Many of these sites that feature fresh, organic produce and gourmet products were started by young entrepreneurs who didn’t want time constraints get in the way of a good home-cooked meal.
For the kitchen demands of an entire generation of young India brought up on mom-and-pop stores, here is a list of e-commerce companies that bring epicurean delights to your doorstep:

Courtesy of Bakebox A box of assorted pastries sold by Bakebox.

1. Bakebox by Jennifer DuthieWhere: www.bakebox.in, 9711024429, contact@bakebox.in
Price: 850 rupees (about $15) for a box
Delivery: Every two weeks
Jennifer Duthie wants to change how people indulge their sweet tooth by offering a box each month holding an assortment of goodies from a Delhi-based “baker of the month.”
The idea for Bakebox occurred to Ms. Duthie, 27, at the London design trade show Top Drawer, where she heard about “subscription commerce.” Wanting something along the same lines in India, Ms. Duthie ditched her initial idea of delivering boxes of alcohol to people’s homes and settled on an online patisserie.

Safety of Information under UID

UIDAI has taken several measures to ensure security of resident data encompassing physical security, access control, network security, stringent audit mechanism, 24x7 monitoring and measures such as data partitioning and data encryption. The general philosophy of UIDAI is to build an operating model which is inclusive at the front end but uses extremely sophisticated software, biometrics, fraud analytics, and data mining at the back end to achieve the desired level of data security, improving efficiency and safeguarding privacy. Standardization Testing and Quality Certificate (STQC), an attached office of the Department of Information and Technology, Ministry of Communication and Technology has audited the UIDAI software applications and the IT infrastructure security audit for Data Centres. This information was given by Shri Rajiv Shukla, the Minister of state for Parliamentary affairs and Planning, in written reply to a question in the Loksabha today.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama to unveil Buddha statue in Sikkim

Wednesday, 20 March 2013 13:43 Yeshe Choesang, The Tibet Post International

Dharamshala: - The spiritual leader of Tibet His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be visiting Sikkim state for the consecration ceremony of Tathagata Tsal and Buddhist teachings at Rabong in south of the state during the last week of this March.

Sikkim State officials said the Nobel Peace Prize laureate will be reaching Rabong from Delhi via Bagdogra on March 24, as part of his three-day tour. "The Chief Secretary of Sikkim, Rinchen Ongmu visited Rabong on the 16th March 2013 to take stock of the preparedness for the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama who is scheduled to consecrate the Statue of Lord Buddha on 26th March 2013."

The ceremony will take place on March 26 morning, after which the monk will reach Gangtok to interact with students and youths in the Mannan Kendra, Gangtok on the same afternoon. Officials also said around 30,000 devotees are expected to attend the consecration ceremony.

His Holiness will confer a public long life empowerment (Tibetan: tsewang) and there will also be a public long life offering prayer to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. These events are being organized by the Government of Sikkim, according to the officials.

His Holiness will lead a Vajrakilaya consecration prayer for a new Buddha statue followed immediately by the official inauguration ceremony of the statue. In the afternoon he will give a teaching on Gyalsey Thokme Sangpo's Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva (gyalsey laklen sodunma), according to office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala.

A group from the Tibetan Institute of Performance Arts from Dharamshala is also coming to perform cultural items along with the troop of the state's culture department during the ceremony.

The Information Technology Department will be web casting the entire event live through www.tathagatatsal.com.

"The Hon'ble Chief Minister Shri Pawan Chamling unveiled the name of the Park which has been given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama," according to the officials.

His Holiness will also visit in Salugara, West Bengal State from March 27 to 29. He will give teachings on Tsongkhapa's Concise Stages for the Path to Enlightenment (lamrim dudon) and Gyalwa Longchen Rabjang's Relaxing the Mind Itself (semnyid nyalso). On the morning of March 29 he will confer an Avalokiteshvera Initiation (chenresig wangchen).

Skill Shortage in India in 2022

As per an article in Business Today, India is facing a rising shortage of skilled labour. Against a target of 8.5 million people for FY13, the National Skill Development Corporation and the various ministries managed to achieve just 16.5% of their skilling target till mid-November 2012. By 2022, the 17 ministries have a huge target of skilling 350 m people. The chart of the day shows the expected shortfall of skilled labour force across some major industries in 2022.

This raises some major worries about India's future. If the teeming millions of India's youth are not skilled and productively employed, it is set to have far-reaching socio-economic repercussions on the country.

Souce: Business Today

, RBI reduced the repo rate under LAF by 25 bps to 7.5%. Consequent to this, the reverse repo rate is calibrated to 6.5% and MSF rate and Bank Rate stands adjusted to 8.5%. There is no change in CRR, which stands at 4%.

The Union Cabinet cleared the revised and much-discussed National Food Security Bill (NFSB), paving the way for its introduction in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament. If enacted, this would provide a legal entitlement for cheap grain to about two-thirds of India's population, at five kg monthly for each person. Rice will be provided at a uniform Rs 3 a kg (market price over Rs 20 a kg), wheat at Rs 2 a kg (market price Rs 16 a kg) and coarse cereals at Re 1 a kg. (BS)

March 20, 2013, 12:55 am

Indian Central Bank Cuts Rates | 

“In its midquarter policy review, the Reserve Bank of India lowered its benchmark rate to 7.5 percent,” a Reuters report said, “and reduced another important number, the reverse repo rate — the rate at which it borrows from banks — to 6.5 percent.”

Sikkim State Portal and Service Delivery Gateway Launched

source iSikkim

Gangtok 19th March, 2013:

N.K Pradhan, Minister for Information Technology Launched the State Portal and State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG) at a local hotel of the state capital on Monday.

The website was programmed by the Accenture Service Private Limited with the URL http://sikkimssdg.gov.in/ which will be providing all the information and application of the entire department of the state government.

While lunching the Portal the Minister informed that it is another step of the government towards the concept of e-governance programme which would help in the computer literacy of the people. In this regard he urged the youths to inculcate interest in computer so that they can use the technology at their doorsteps. He also informed the gathering about the state government activities to make computers accessible to the people of the nook and corner of the state.

During the function the experts from the Accenture Service briefed about SSDG and its function through power point presentation. The programme was also addressed by the principal director DIT  and informed about the e-governance initiatives and need of SSDG. Earlier, the Secretary Information Technology Department Mr, K.K Pradhan delivered welcome speech and vote of thanks proposed by the Joint director DIT. The programme was also attended by the Secretaries of various departments, HoDs and officials from different departments. The programme also witnessed the discussion about the SSDG and its delivery system

Brain-dead farmer gives life to 5, sight to 2. Doctors at Chinmaya Mission Hospital did this great job.

TNN | Mar 18, 2013, 03.25 AM IST


On the eve of World Kidney Day, the family of a farmer from Andhra Pradesh, who was declared brain-dead, donated his organs.

BANGALORE: Their awareness about organ donation has saved at least five lives and given sight to two persons. On the eve of World Kidney Day, the family of a farmer from Andhra Pradesh, who was declared brain-dead by a hospital here, donated his organs.

Ram Murthy (47), who stayed in Bellary, suffered a brainstroke last week. "He was brought to a hospital lin Bangalore and underwent a surgery. But he suffered another stroke, which proved to be fatal.

Doctors at Chinmaya Mission Hospital (CMH) declared him brain-dead and explained about organ donation to the family. As CMH is not empanelled with Zonal Coordination Committee of Karnataka (ZCCK) for transplantation, Murthy was shifted to Manipal Hospital. A team of doctors harvested his kidneys, valves, corneas and liver to transplant to patients on the waiting list with ZCCK," said Jency Antony, ZCCK, coordinator.

Over 700 people are awaiting kidney donors in Karnataka and are on ZCCK's waiting list.

Citizen's Relief Fund: Sikkim Speaker performs bhoomipujan of The Indian Express hall

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Express news service : Gangtok, Fri Mar 15 2013, 10:04 hrs

Sikkim Assembly Speaker K T Gyaltsen performed the bhoomipujan ceremony of the multipurpose hall of West Point Senior Secondary School in Gangtok on March 12. The hall is being constructed by the Indian Express Citizen's Relief Fund with contributions from its readers.

Gyaltsen thanked The Indian Express for selecting the school and said that the effort would address a long-pending requirement of the people of the region. The hall will serve as an auditorium and an emergency shelter for local residents, the need for which they felt when an earthquake devastated the region in 2011.

Readers of The Indian Express had raised Rs 40 lakh for the quake victims of Sikkim and the state government suggested that the money could be used for constructing a multipurpose hall at the West Point Secondary School.

The Speaker lauded the role of The Indian Express in the freedom movement and said it made Indian democracy vibrant through its independent, fearless investigative reporting. He also commended the work by the newspaper's Citizen Relief Fund.

Speaker Gyaltsen asked the Education Department to use the building for training students in Buddhist art and for conducting workshops.

"When the newspaper decided to raise funds for relief work after the earthquake, we did not anticipate the kind of response we got. The response from our readers across India was an overwhelming, humbling and reassuring experience," said The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta in a message which was read out at the function. "Reaching out to people through projects that change their lives is just an extension of what we do through the newspaper everyday," Gupta said.

Swadesh Talwar, head of Express Archives and project-in-charge of the Citizen's Relief Fund, said the 3,500-sq ft hall, estimated to cost Rs 79 lakh, is expected to be completed in nine months.

S B S Bhaduria, Secretary, Land Revenue and State Disaster Management Authority, said the building will serve as a model for such projects in the future. He said financial constraints will not come in the way of the project.

In her vote of thanks, Pemba Lhamu, the principal of the school, said her students would not have to run in the middle of their performances once the auditorium is completed.

The Indian Express Citizen's Relief Fund, with readers' contributions, contributed 11 ambulances to the tsunami-hit areas of Tamil Nadu, helped victims of Mumbai blasts, built citizens' war memorials in Pune and Chandigarh and provided additional facilities to disabled soldiers' rehab centres.

sea level rise as estimated by tide gauge data is found to be 13mm/decade

Rise in Sea Level

Reported study published in Environmental Research Letters of Nov., 2012, through http:// iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/7/4/0440305/article confirms that sea level rise is happening as fast and in some cases faster than climate models had projected. The satellite based linear trend during 1993-2011 is estimated to be 3.2±0.5mm/year that is about 60% higher than the best estimate of 2.0mm/year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007 assessment report. However, the estimated sea level rise by the tide gauge records (of over 200) for the period 1993-2009 is found to be about 2.8±0.8mm/year. Sea level rise is a very slow phenomenon and is manifested globally with pockets of sea level rise/fall trends. However, the trends of sea level rise as estimated by tide gauge data is found to be 13mm/decade. The corresponding satellite derived estimates over the Indian Ocean are found to be in the range of 3.0mm/year with pockets of higher rise along the east of Malaya peninsula, south Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Australia. However, no alarming warning has been given by the concerned authorities, both foreign and Indian, to the population living in the coastal regions. Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Shri S.Jaipal Reddy gave this information in reply to a written question in the Rajya Sabha today.

Sikkim's Dr Aarti Sarda bags another international award

Katha- a tale from Sikkim

By Anup Ojha

KATHMANDU, MAR 18 -

A problem most palpable in the Nepali film industry these days is how, in spite of spending exorbitant amounts on dazzling promos, films have been bombing at the box office. Audiences are thrilled by the promises, but return disgruntled because films have repeatedly overturned expectations. This has inevitably impacted the industry, with audiences displaying a marked apathy towards Nepali films. Within the context of this somewhat paradoxical situation, Kathaa, a film my Prashant Rasaily, is releasing this Friday without any prior publicity or promotion. Their reason: they ran out of money while making the film.

Speaking at a press meet at Mandala Theatre on March 17, the Sikkim-based director said of his film, “Kathaa is an experimental film. We shot in Ganthang, a sleepy hamlet in East Sikkim and mostly improvised. The content of the film was free to change just like the changeable weather around us.”

“I think audiences will definitely get a sense of this rawness,”Rasaily added.

After the success of his first commercial film Acharya—a production that exceeded a Rs 10 million budget and proved to be a big hit—Rasaila’s second venture is a comparatively low-budget film, with a total of only

Rs 5,500,000 spent.

“We weren’t left with money for publicity,” he shared, “but feel that if the film is good, that alone will create publicity.”

Kathaa marks the first solo lead performance by Saugat Malla who shot to fame after performing in films like Loot and the more recent Chhadke. “My role in Kathaa was challenging, and completely different from all the other roles I’ve portrayed so far. I enjoyed shooting for this film and I hope the audience will find it very different,” said Malla.

Other actors in the leading role include Usha Rajak and Sikkim-based Timothy Rai. The rest of the cast is largely comprised of the local people of Ganthang, according to the director.

A statement issued by the producers claims that just six torch lights were used to film the night scene due to the limited availability of equipments. “At first, I was afraid as we didn’t have the proper equipments for lighting,” shares cinematographer Shailendra Dhoj Karki. “But later, I realised that it gave a more natural touch to the film.”

Kathaa is the outcome of a two week long filmmaking workshop for aspiring Sikkimese filmmakers and was produced by Dreamstam Entertainment. It has been selected for screening at the Mumbai International Film Festival in 2013 and the Göteborg International Film Festival at Sweden in 2014.

A nation-wide programme for supplementation of iron and folic acid initiatedto cover 130 million adolescents – Azad

Significant achievements have been made in health sector under NRHM. About 43,500 new health infrastructure works have been created, 1.45 lakh human resources added and nearly 70 thousand increase in bed capacity to provide essential and emergency services in rural, remote and difficult areas.ShriGhulamNabi Azad, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare saidat Chandigarh today. Addressing the 33rd Convocation of PGIMER, Chandigarh, Shri Azad said a nation-wide programme for weekly supplementation of iron and folic acid has been initiated to cover 130 million adolescents. Withphenomenal increase in institutional deliveries, from about 7 hundred thousand in 2005-06 to over 10 million every year for the past two years, the available infrastructure has been stretched to meet the demand. More than 25,000 additional maternal and child health beds have been sanctioned in 415 health facilities in 11 States across the countrythis year to meet the huge demand.Latest initiative of the Health Ministry is the “RashtriyaBalSwasthyaKaryakram”, which was launched on 6th February, 2013 from a tribal block of Thane District in Maharashtra by Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, UPA. This national programme is for Universal Screening of Children for Disorders, Diseases, Deficiencies and Disabilities from birth up to 18 years and will cover 270 million children across the country. These include 20 million babies born at public health facilities and home,80 million Pre-school children, from 6 weeks to 6 years old enrolled in Anganwadi centres in rural areas and urban slums and 170 million children, 6-18 years old and enrolled in classes from 1st to 12th in Government and Government aided schools. He said a series of reforms in medical education have been undertaken to overcome the acute shortage of human resources in health at various levels.The number of MBBS seats has increased by 46% and PG seats by 70% in the last five years. The availability of MBBS seats has gone up from 33,567 to 45,629 and the number of PG seats increased from 13,838 to 22,850. 72 new medical colleges, including six AIIMS, were established raising the number from 290 to 362. The Medical Colleges at the six new AIIMS have started functioning with admission of 50 students each in September, 2012. Another important initiative has been the launch of the single entrance test in the name of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to UG and PG medical courses being conducted from the academic year 2013-14 to save the students from hardships faced in appearing in multiple entrance exams across the country and bring uniformity in the standards of admission to the medical course to promote merit.Several other proposals are being considered by the Ministry to give a fillip to the medical education sector, especially increasing the intake of MBBS students, during the 12th Five Year Plan, beginning this year. These include further relaxation in infrastructure requirements for establishment of new medical colleges, formulating guidelines for allowing district hospitals to be used for establishing medical colleges on PPP mode,increase in intake capacity from 50 or 100 seats to 100 or 150 seats respectively at UG level on completion of 10 years, compulsory posting of 1 year for medical graduates at primary health centres and postgraduates at community health centres as part of their internship periods. Shri Azad said India has earned international accolades for collective efforts at containing Polio, with the longest polio-free period ever since eradication efforts were launched.There have been significant falls in MMR, IMR and TFR as well as reduction in new HIV cases by 57%.The launch of mass screening for early detection of Non Communicable Diseases like Diabetes, Hypertension and Cancer and new initiatives for well-being of mother and new born children by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has helped to deal with public health concerns.India is better prepared nowto deal with disease outbreaks and epidemics. The total number of labs for testing virus infections has been increasedfrom 2 to 45 at present. Talking about PGIMER, Chandigarh, he said the Institute has contributeda lot to the national effort of adding skilled human resource in health. To enable the Institute to continue to impart state of the art knowledge and skills and undertake research, Rs. 635 crores has been allocated this year. In-principle approval has been given to the Institute to develop a 300 bed satellite centre of PGIMER at Sangrur in Punjab in collaboration with the Tata Memorial Centre. Environment clearance for the proposed 250 bed hospital has been obtained, Shri Azad added. The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherji also addressed the Convocation He also presented Awards to Students and medals to meritorious students. Commemorative Postal Stamp on PGI Golden was presented to the President on the occasion. BN (Release ID :93816)

he availability of MBBS seats has gone up from 33,567 to 45,629 and the number of PG seats increased from 13,838 to 22,850. 72 new medical colleges, including six AIIMS, were established raising the number from 290 to 362.