Maharashtra News Archive: January 2006

MIFF around the corner
Tuesday, January 31, 2006 | AY

Mumbai International Film Festival(MIFF) which is commencing on Feb 3 will be featuring films from more than 35 countries. Maharashtra Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, will inaugurate the ninth edition of the festival on February 3. The festival will showcase retrospectives of eminent film-makers and package of films such as Oscar nominated or winning films, documentaries from Iran films, from SAARC nations as well as a package of films from North India. MIFF, which began in 1990 will screen short films, documentary, animation and electronic movies and will be held at the P L Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy at Prabhadevi.

Leprosy under control in Pune
Tuesday, January 31, 2006 | AY

Leprosy has almost taken a low count in Pune, which was once in the limelight of this dreaded disease. Eliminating leprosy means the prevalence rate is less than one case per 10,000 people. Persistent efforts have brought down the prevalence rate of 62.4 per 10,000 population in 1981-82 to .8 per 10,000 population in December 2005. Now that the prevalence rate has dropped, Maharashtra can count itself alongside Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and others which also have less than one case per 10,000 population. To reach this level, health department officials launched awareness programmes, undertook door-to-door surveys for hidden cases, followed it up with personal visits and made the programme accountable to bring down the prevalence rate.

Hard rock cafe in Aamchi Mumbai
Saturday, January 28, 2006 | AY

India's first hard Rock Cafe has set foot in Mumbai. The Mumbai cafe will make a grand entrance, offering its guests great American fare in a rock 'n' roll atmosphere. 'Love All, Serve All,' is the motto on the wall of each and every Hard Rock. The 6,000-square-foot, 169-seat cafe features Hard Rock's outstanding menu, collectible merchandise and, of course Hard Rock's world-famous memorabilia. A Rock Shop will also be housed at the new Hard Rock Cafe Mumbai, where fans can acquire Hard Rock's famous merchandise, which is sought after by collectors throughout the world.

Mumbai festival for animation films starting on Feb
Saturday, January 28, 2006 | AY

AFSPA 1958`, Haobam Paban`s documentary on the public protests against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1958, will be competing in the Mumbai International Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films, due to begin from February 3. Paban`s documentary will be participating in the competitive section of the festival in the above-60 minutes category. A Syam Sharma`s `Yelhou Jagoi`, will be the state`s second offering at the festival, participating as part of the North-East Package at the film festival. The week long festival will be held at the Rabindra Natya Mandir, Mumbai.

Mega power project in Mumbai
Saturday, January 28, 2006 | AY

Mr Prithviraj Chavan, Union Minister of Maharashtra has announced the selection of two sites, Dopave and Vijaydurg, in the Konkan region for a 4,000 MW mega power project. The centre has decided to install the same project in states of Gujarat, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra under its ultra mega power plant policy. All these ultra mega power plants would use coal as fuel for generating power. Mr Chavan said a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) would be set up for these projects.

Film festival in Pune - A great success
Tuesday, January 24, 2006 | AY

The Pune International Film Festival (PIFF), has a fan following of students and young people. Rare films came out of the National Film Archives in Pune for eager delegates. PIFF managed to attract winners from other major film festivals, like Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne L’ Enfant, which won at Cannes last year. The other notable films that came to Pune for the competition included Krzysztof Krauze’s Moj Nikifor (which won the Best Actress Award for 85-year-old Krystyna Feldman), Keren Yedaya’s Or (Special Jury Mention), Yasmine Kassari’s The Sleeping Child (Morocco), Lu Chan’s KekeXili: Mountain Patrol (China), Jacques Audiard’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped (France). Next year PIFF will start an annual event on music and creative sound in memory of S D Burman, which will include an award, a lecture and workshops on music and sound. PIFF is growing fast, and establishing its own identity despite major festivals in Goa, Mumbai, Trivandrum and Kolkata.

VIA technologies works with IIT in new products
Tuesday, January 24, 2006 | AY

A technology innovative centre, is being set up by VIA Technologies Inc, to develop new power heat dust (PHDP computing and connectivity appliances. The main aim is to develop, affordable PHD appliances that consumes much less electricity than the traditional desktop PCs to withstand the rugged conditions in the rural areas. The centre will also work on the development of advanced server appliances featuring wireless mesh networking technologies in order to enable easier and more affordable high bandwidth both urban and rural areas.

Centre to supply coal to Maharashtra to avert power crisis
Saturday, January 7, 2006 | AA

The Centre assured power utilities in Maharashtra of enough supplies of coal to help avert the power problem in Maharashtra. A meeting between Minister of State for Coal and Mines Dasari Narayana Rao, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Minister of State in PMO Prithviraj Chavan and the Maharashtra Minister of Energy Dilip Valse Patil was held and Patil said the state was facing a peak demand shortage of more than 4,000 MW. The Maharashtra State Power Generation Company, Mahagenco, has proposed to take up various new power projects in the future to tide over the power crisis, he added.

Sena MLA's will Join Congress-Narayan Rane
Saturday, January 7, 2006 | AA

Five Sena MLAs have so far quit the party in his support and five more would soon join him, Rane claimed after the induction of two Sena MLAs in the Congress. "Around eight more Sena MLAs are in touch with me," he said indicating that more MLAs from the Sena are likely to join Congress in the near future.

Maharashtra may export sugar
Saturday, January 7, 2006 | AA

The Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation has expressed that the state could export around twelve lakh tonnes of sugar during the next two seasons if the requisite permission was received from the Centre. Federation chairman Vikramsinh Ghadge and managing director Prakash Naiknavre told reporters here today that since the European Union will cut the global export quota and reduce subsidy on sugar by 36 per cent over the next four years, there is an opportunity for Maharashtra to export to meet the shortfall of 40 lakh tonnes.

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