Dubai Film Festival Friday, December 15, 2006 | AY
The week long Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) kicked off 10 December at the Madinat Jumeirah. Among the Bollywood brigade, Shah Rukh Khan was honoured at the festival for his outstanding contribution to cinema, as part of the DIFF Salutes. Among regional Indian films, Bengali-English film The Bong Connection was screened on 11 December. The film stars Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Shayan Munshi, Raima Sen and Pia Rai Chowdhury and is directed by Anjan Dutt.
Bharti AXA extends ops to B'lore, Kolkata Friday, December 15, 2006 | AY
Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company today commenced operations in four cities - Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata - and said it plans to extend its presence to 15 cities over the next quarter. The company would focus on mass market growth by leveraging its multi-channel capability. It was in the early stages to tap the tier-II and tier-III markets in order to create a national footprint at a fast pace. The company is a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and AXA Asia Pacific Holdings.
Ambuja plans 1,000-bed hospital Tuesday, December 12, 2006 | AY
Ambuja Realty Group today entered into a strategic tie-up with Elbit Medical Imaging (EMI) of Israel to develop a Rs 1,000 crore, 1000-bed multi-specialty hospital in the metropolis. The hospital would come up on over 30 acre at Chakberia near the E M Bye-Pass in South 24-Parganas district. The MoU was signed by Ambuja Realty Group managing director Harshavardhan Neotia and EMI chairman Moti Zisser and vice-chairman Abraham (Rami) Goren. The multi-specialty tertiary Neotia Elbit Hospital would be set up as part of the Neotia Elbit Healthciti here. The Neotia Elbit Healthciti would include world-class healthcare with focus on cardiology, oncology, orthopaedics, neurology, nephrology, opthalmology, trauma care, neonatology, paediatric and gynaecology. The total built-up area would be about 2.5 million square feet entailing a capital investment of Rs 1,000 crore over a span of about five to seven years.
Swiss tourism launches special programme Tuesday, December 12, 2006 | AY
Switzerland Tourism has seen the most successful year in India since it started operations in 1997. In 2006, there have been over 1,01300 arrivals in Switzerland from India between January and September. ST has organised a seven-city road show—’Switzerland Travel Experience—which aims to promote Switzerland. The cities include Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Mumbai. The programme will include 100 members from top 40 tour operators of Switzerland in India in the initial six months. The Schengen Visa enables travellers to visit 15 countries including France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Netherlands, without having a country specific visa.
Nasscom Kolkata office in 2007 Saturday, December 9, 2006 | AY
Nasscom announced that it will be setting up a regional office in Kolkata during 2007. Commenting on West Bengal's emerging role as an IT destination, Kiran Karnik, president Nasscom said, a few issues that require attention are single window system, less bureaucracy, quick clearances and approvals, minimal political interference to the industry's functioning and brand building. According to Karnik, the image of Kolkata and West Bengal needs continuous refurbishing.
Northern Ireland firm signs JV with Kolkata firm Tuesday, December 5, 2006 | AY
CDE Ireland, the Cookstown-based company, has formed the joint venture called CDE Asia Ltd with Torsa machines of Kolkata. CDE Asia's manufacturing facilities will exclusively serve the very dynamic markets in India and the surrounding area, and will strive to replicate the exceptional quality standards that CDE has achieved in its machinery developed for UK. Established in 1991, CDE Ireland currently employs 70 people in the bespoke design and manufacturing of machinery for sand and dust washing, recycling and for water treatment and filtration.
Ghatothkach Monday, December 4, 2006 | AY
The success of HANUMAN has paved the way for animation films in India. Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, who has directed a number of big-budget films in the past, with the best of stars in principal roles, is now making an animation film called GHATOTHKACH. The film will be released in English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali languages initially. Suryadevara Vinod is the producer.
Bengal Oppn up in arms against Tata car project Monday, December 4, 2006 | AY
Opposition against the acquisition of what is considered prime farm land to build a automobile factory in West Bengal by the Tatas intensified yesterday with Trinamool Congress firebrand Mamata Banerjee and community activist Medha Patkar vowing to intensify their protests. While Mamata warned yesterday of a “no-holds barred movement” against the West Bengal’s government’s acquisition of land for the automobile project to be put up by the house of Tatas, India’s largest private sector conglomerate, Patkar compared the state Communist government’s action with US President George W Bush’s policy on Iraq. Mamata had to return to Kolkata early yesterday after police stopped her on the way to Singur in Hooghly district, 40km from here, where the project is to come up on about 1,000 acres of what is said to be fertile land.
Perungalli herb shows powerful anti-inflammatory effects Saturday, December 2, 2006 | AY
A new Indian study has found that the herb Plumeria acuminate, commonly known as perungalli and widely used in Ayurvedic medicine may be a potent treatment for both acute and chronic inflammation. Researchers from Jadavpur University in Kolkata and ASN Pharmacy college tested the effectiveness of a methanol extract of Plumeria acuminate (MEPA) on both acute and chronic inflammation in laboratory rats. The researchers found that the rats with acute inflammation that were treated with MEPA experienced an average 36 percent reduction of inflammation. The rats with chronic inflammation that were treated with MEPA experienced a reduction in the formation of granuloma tissue, firm nodules or masses that form as a result of chronic inflammation.
Kolkata competes for global award Saturday, December 2, 2006 | AY
Kolkata is competing with Kansas (USA), St Louis (USA) and Manchester (UK) in grabbing a global award. The award will be given by the World Leadership Forum, London, an NGO which promotes leadership, internationally, by spotlighting the work of exceptional leaders and achievers in a host of disciplines. Kolkata is competing in the “urban renewal” discipline. Out of 19 shortlisted cities, Kolkata is one of the three cities which has reached the final round of selection that’s to take place on 6 December in London. The awards are given to cities whose leaders have shown exceptional imagination, foresight or resilience, especially cities that have reversed trends, shaken off traditional images and inspired other cities.
