India National Film Awards Committee to Now Accept Digital Films

New Delhi,  Aug 14 : National Film Awards committee will now accept digital films to consider for awards. Digital films can be submitted even if they have not been released with a celluloid print. This decision comes after a petition was filed by filmmakers from Manipur where cinema halls have been shut down due to militancy and filmmaking has gone totally digital. 

An expert committee led by filmmaker Shyam Benegal has recommended this and a few other changes which will be implemented from National Film awards 2009 onwards. The awards for 2009 are likely to be announced on September 15.

The cash prize for the Best Film has been increased to Rs 1.5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh to the director and producer each. For the Best Debut Non-Feature Film Award, the cash prize has gone up from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. In the Special Jury Award, Cash component enhanced from Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 2 lakh in feature films, and Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh in non-feature films.

New award categories have also been instituted. Best Location Sound Recordist & Sound Designer are the two new awards in the Sound category. An award for background Score has also been introduced. There will be separate awards for Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay and Dialogues. The Award for Best Film on Family Welfare has been abolished.

It was announced earlier that a two-tier Jury system will be in place for feature films. Five regional panels will do a pre-selection of films, recommending 30 per cent of the films entered in their respective zones or six films – whichever number is higher – to the main jury.

The Hollow Language of Women's Empowerment

By Nandita Sengupta

Still many miles to go

New Delhi, Aug 14 : India broke into a powerful song of equality 63 years ago. It was finally time to build a brand new state, men and women together. The worst times were ‘behind them’ and they’d be equal partners in the new India. Or so women thought.

It didn’t take long for the song to be buried under the cacophony of patriarchy, caste and class. “Nationalist women were so hopeful.

But equality now is much more uncertain than it was when India became free,” says Mary John of CWDS. “Look at the tremendous opposition to women in, say, the Women’s Reservation Bill.”

In 1974, the Indian government had published a report, ‘Towards Equality’, that put the status of women forcefully on the national agenda. “It argued that the position of Indian women had declined, not improved, since 1911 (Committee on the Status of Women 1974),” writes academic Samita Sen.

As a result, she adds, development and progress became gender issues. “Data on gender discrimination in employment, education, land distribution, inheritance, nutrition, and health became impossible to overlook.

At the same time, violence against women was on the rise and widely reported in the media. There were cases of rape in police custody and sexual harassment in the workplace and on the street. Women’s issues entered the fields of culture, religion, and law; of family and community structures.”

The women’s question became entwined with problems of population, poverty, illiteracy and labour. In general discourse, and for the state, unavoidably perhaps, women were couched in victim terms. Her contribution to building the nation, from fields to factories, schools to organizations was barely acknowledged, let alone recognized.

Says John, “We have a readymade language for ‘women’s empowerment’, but it increasingly sounded hollow.”

Activist Jyothi Raj in Karnataka adds, “For too long, we have over-emphasized what others say about us. The imposed identity damaged self-image, and over time women accepted it.”

But the song never really died out. In a million ways, it was hummed, in training schools and living rooms, in villages and inside homes and kitchens. Scattered the struggles, but from Tamil Nadu to Orissa, Meghalaya to Jharkhand, Rajasthan to Karnataka, women didn’t forget “who they were” — contributors to the nation. And it was this, that activists such as Raj built on, among her dalit women’s communities.

“We are victimized, yes, but if we constantly live in victimhood identity, then we acknowledge the dominant forces are much more powerful,” she says. “We’re resilient but that does not mean suffering. It means we have the capacity to maintain peace without compromising on justice.”
In Karnataka’s district Tumkur, Raj’s Rural Education for Development Society (Reds), formed dalit panchayats in a cluster of villages where the panchayat would have “at least five women among the ten representatives”.

Recognizing that in the absence of education or welfare and in a climate of untouchability, land was both security and dignity, Raj took advantage of the Prevention of Transfer of Certain Land (PTCL) Act, to ensure dalit women are given land.

In 1,000 villages, 7,358 acres of land are back in dalit women’s hands, she says. Women are being trained in every village for leadership. “It’s not only equality or leadership. It’s also primacy of women in the community,” says Raj.

If women dalits are fighting thus, tribals from Jharkhand and the Northeast meet in Delhi to see where their issues vary, and where they can come together.

As a beginning, there’s growing demand for the implementation of the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act (Pesa), so that male-dominated village councils can’t hold women to ransom. Meghalaya’s political activist, Meristella Wahlang says, “In my state we keep mother’s name after marriage.

Yet, in the village council, called the durbar, we have no say. Women are not allowed. That’s not acceptable. We need to be included in governance.”

While women are “certainly more visible and effective”, says John, equality has nowhere reached where the song took shape — the Parliament. But women are circling in, and as Raj says, “We have a beautiful Constitution. We need to make it a reality.”

Security Impedes Northeast India-Bangladesh Trade

Guwahati, Aug 14 : Security issues are creating a bottleneck in trade between India's northeastern states and Bangladesh, believe business leaders and authorities in both countries.

"Too (much confusion) in the border is a cause of revenue loss to both countries," said C.M Shafi Sami, a former Bangladeshi high commissioner to India.

"Maybe the vast geography of India and negligence in policy decision deters trade in this region," Sami explained.

Sami was speaking at a summit on "Doing Business with Bangladesh" organised here Monday by the North East Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NECCI).

"Perhaps there is a fear in our minds, leading to too much of checking. A bad tariff regime is another reason for the not-so-good trade between the countries," said D.D. Ingti, commissioner of custom (preventive) in the northeastern region.

"This is costing us around Rs.2 billion a year. Trade concerns should supersede security concerns," Ingti said.

"Rather than too much of check and balance, we should trust each other for better economic cooperation in the region," he said.

"Even if we are keen to do more business, unnecessary security barriers are discouraging us to come to this region," complained Sohel Ahmed, a Bangladeshi industrialist.

The same was the case with industrialists in this part of India.

"Today we have more items in the informal trade basket than the formal trade basket and this needs to be checked," said M.K Mero, a senior official in India's commerce ministry.

Lack of a proper transit system, poor infrastructure and red tape in policy implementation were the other causes for poor India-Bangladesh trade, delegates to the meeting said.

Famous WWII Kiss Unveiled in Times Square

To celebrate 65th anniversary of VJ-Day

A 26ft statue depicting a famous New York Times Square kiss that celebrated the end of World War II has been unveiled to mark the 65th anniversary of the U.S. victory over Japan.

The towering colour sculpture immortalises Alfred Eisenstaedt's black-and-white photograph of an unidentified sailor kissing nurse Edith Shain in 1945.

The image captured an epic moment in U.S. history and became an iconic photo marking the end of the war after being published in Life magazine.

Kiss-toric moment: The sculpture immortalises Alfred Eisenstaedt's photograph of an unidentified sailor kissing nurse Edith Shain in 1945

On Saturday, Americans will gather for a 'kiss-in' at the base of the statue in the first national day of remembrance for the Second World War generation.

Around 6,000 buglers across the country will play the military funeral tune 'Taps' on the anniversary of V-J Day.

Shain died in June at age 91 before she could see her campaign for the commemoration completed.

Anniversary: Americans will celebrate VJ-Day with a 'kiss-in' at the statue in Times Sqaure, New York

She had become something of a celebrity because of the photo and wanted to leverage that fame into a worthy cause, said Warren Hegg, national supervisor for the 'Keep the Sprit of '45 Alive' campaign.

'It really became Edith's mission in life that there would be this national day, that every day someone thought about that day in August when a girl was kissed in Times Square, that people would think about it more deeply,' he added.

'She said we should have a day for all the ordinary men and women of that generation who did so many remarkable things and never were really recognized for that:

Unveiled: The state marks the first national day of remembrance for the Second World War generation

'The people who endured the Great Depression, saved Western democracy, and then went on and rebuilt the world.' 

The identity of the nurse in Eisenstaedt's photograph was not known until the late 1970s when Shain wrote to the photographer saying that she was the woman in the picture taken on August 14 at a time when she had been working at Doctor's Hospital in New York City.

Edith Shain was captured in a passionate clinch with a sailor on V-J Day by Alfred Eisenstaedt in 1945

Mrs Shain (aged 86 in this picture) holds the original image of her famous kiss as she unveils a smaller version of the commemorative statue in New York City five years ago

The identity of the sailor remains disputed and unresolved, although a man named Carl Muscarello has claimed it was him.

From then on the photograph also made its mark on Shain's life as the fame she garnered led to invites to war related events such a wreath layings, parades and other memorial events.

Shain, who died at her home in Los Angeles in June, leaves behind three sons, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Northeast Under High Alert, Night Trains Cancelled

Agartala, Aug 13 : A high security alert was sounded Friday across the northeast ahead of the Independence Day, and authorities cancelled all night trains through Assam in view of militants' threats to blow up vital installations and railway tracks.

'A state of high alert was sounded across Assam with security forces deployed in strength following intelligence inputs of militants planning violent strikes ahead of August 15 to make their presence felt,' officiating Assam Chief Minister Bhumidhar Barman told IANS.

The Northeast Frontier Railway announced cancellation of all night trains through Assam from Saturday evening until August 17, citing security reasons.

'We have decided to cancel 26 long-distance trains running in Assam at night and suspend or terminate 26 more in view of the Independence Day,' NEF Railway spokesperson S. Hajong told IANS.

The restrictions would come into effect from 6 p.m. Saturday and remain in force till 5 a.m. of August 17.

'The cancellation of night trains in Assam follows intelligence inputs of militant groups planning to blow up rail tracks or passenger trains as a show of strength ahead of August 15,' a senior Assam Police official said.

Five guerrilla groups in India's northeast called a 17-hour general strike Sunday to boycott Independence Day celebrations.

These militant groups include the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the Kamatapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), fighting for a separate homeland comprising parts of Assam and West Bengal, the Manipur People's Liberation Front (MPLF)-- an umbrella group of several Manipuri rebel groups, and the Tripura People's Democratic Front (TPDF).

These groups are active in Assam, Manipur and Tripura. As part of their boycott call August 15, the militant groups have called for a general strike from 1.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. Sunday.

Militant groups in the northeast have for years boycotted national events to protest New Delhi's rule over the region.

Meanwhile, security forces have been put on maximum alert across the region to thwart possible rebel strikes.

'The Border Security Force (BSF) has been put on maximum alert across the Bangladesh border. Additional paramilitary troopers and state security personnel have been deployed in sensitive and important locations to thwart possible strikes by extremists,' a BSF spokesman told IANS.

Paramilitary personnel, accompanied by bomb disposal quads and dog squads, launched search operations at airports, hotels, bus terminals, major markets and national highways, Tripura police spokesman Nepal Das said.

Picturesque Setting

Priyanshu Chatterjee and Simone Singh romance in the scenic beauty of Shillong.

Mumbai: Gumshuda was the second film to be shot in the picturesque hills of Meghalaya

Asoke Vishwanathan could not think of any place other than Meghalaya to set his film Gumshuda. The director, who has directed several Bengali films, says that the film is a thriller with several outdoor scenes hence the exotic location.

“Megh-alaya is the smallest state of India but the most scenic. Shillong and Cherrapunjee are virgin locales as no Hindi film except the unreleased Har Pall has been shot there. Besides the mountains, rivers and the greenery what adds to the backdrop of a film are the local people who are a colourful, interesting race,” says the director.

Since there are several scenes where the protagonist is shown rummaging through forests, the film has been shot mostly outdoors.

“The best scene was shot on the Badda Paani river in Shillong which makes for a stunning backdrop.

The only drawback of shooting in Meghalaya is the lack of infrastructure. You have to have all your equipments in place and arrange for police and even army security if you want a smooth shoot here,” advises the filmmaker. The film, starring Rajit Kapur, Victor Banerjee, Priyanshu Chatterjee and Simone Singh, releases on August 27.

SNA Boost to Fight For Assam Borgeet's Classical Tag

Guwahati, Aug 13 : The Assam Chamber of Commerce (ACC) is fighting for the acceptance of Assamese Borgeet' as Indian classical music and has roped in the Sangeet Natak Akademi support to make this dream come true.

The ACC is organising of a seven-day long Borgeet workshop in the city from August 22 to August 28 and holding a state-level Borgeet competition at Rabindra Bhawan on September 5 to promote the music.

"People in Guwahati have been considering Borgeet as a folk or traditional form of music whereas the Borgeet experts have always been trying to make people aware of its classical characteristics.

Through this workshop and the competition we are trying to take our first step towards making people more aware about Borgeet," says Rupam Goswami, state convenor, ACC. The team has already begun talks with the Sangeet Natak Akademi on the issue.

"If Sattriya is accepted as a classical dance form, Borgeet, which is a part of the Sattriya culture also needs to be recognized as classical music," said Goswami. Borgeet expert, Krishna Deb Goswami said, "It is very sad that a few artistes are not sticking to the traditional form of Borgeet.

If you ask dedicated singers, a proper Borgeet recital would take more than an hour and riyaaz' for the music takes long hours as well." Krishna also added that Borgeet had different ragas' and dhrupadi' similar to Hindustani classical music.

The team is working on preserving the purity of Borgeet music.

"The workshop is likely to have more than hundred participants and the competition will have participants from all over the state.

We want to encourage the singers and are offering prize money for winners," said Goswami. The first cash prize is worth Rs 31,000, second prize Rs 21,000 and third prize of s 11,000.

The function at Rabindra Bhawan will also include felicitation of Bhupen Hazarika and release of a book on different aspects of Borgeet.

Assam Protests 'Reckless' Construction of Dams in Arunachal

Guwahati, Aug 13 : Voicing its concern over the 'reckless' construction of mega dams in Arunachal Pradesh, the Assam government Thursday demanded that the inter-ministerial group studying the water resources of the region determine if such dams are safe in what is a highly seismic zone.

'A proper study must be conducted to find out whether the construction of such mega dams are safe in a region positioned in a high seismic zone with a fragile geological condition,' Assam Power Minister Pradyut Bordoloi said at the northeast power ministers' meet here.

'What we are worried about is the prevalence of a high seismic zone and fragile geological condition in the areas bordering Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, where the epicenters of some of the biggest earthquakes of the last century were found to be located,' he added.

The Central Electricity Authority has estimated the potential from 89 big hydroelectric projects in Arunachal Pradesh at 49,126 MW, while smaller ones are expected to generate another 1,600 MW.

Bordoloi said the ministerial group set up by the Prime Minister's Office to study the water resources of the region must also include geological studies to find out whether large man-made river dams with their present structural designs were safe for the region.

'Before that, Arunachal Pradesh must desist from allowing reckless construction of big dams on the (Brahmaputra) river by various promoters. Moreover, the riparian rights of Assam as a downstream state must be protected,' Bordoloi said.

'The need of the hour is to harmoniously blend all the developmental, strategic and environmental issues to promote inclusive and participative development,' he added.

On the other hand, Arunachal Pradesh Power Minster Jarbon Gamlin urged National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) to expedite work on the Lower Subansiri and Kameng projects as these were much behind schedule.

'The delay in commissioning of these projects will not only result in cost overruns but also delays in the socio-economic benefits from the projects,' he said during the meeting.

Earlier, Environment and Forests Minsiter Jairam Ramesh assured that dam sizes would be scaled down to minimise the downstream impact.