Category: Life & Style

Four entries from India – Gujarati film Chhello Show for best international film, popular Telugu song Naatu Naatu, from blockbuster film, RRR, for the music (original song) categories, All That Breathes for documentary feature shortlist, and The Elephant Whisperers in the documentary short category – made it to the Oscars shortlist announced on Thursday.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the shortlists were announced in 10 categories: documentary feature film, documentary short film, international feature film, makeup and hairstyling, music (original score), music (original song), animated short film, live action short film, sound, and visual effects.

Each shortlist has between 10 and 15 contenders. The final nominations for the 95th Academy Awards will be announced on January 24 and the final awards’ ceremony will take place on March 12 in Los Angeles.

The film, Chhello Show (titled Last Film Show in English), directed by Pan Nalin and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur and Dheer Momaya, is India’s official entry to the Oscars. It is a coming-of-age story of a young boy’s love affair with cinema in a Saurashtra village. Only three Indian films in Oscar history have found mention in the top five of the international film (formerly called foreign language) category: Lagaan (2001), Salaam Bombay! (1988), and Mother India (1957).

Ambassador of Japan to India, Hiroshi Suzuki on Wednesday said that the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project will revolutionise the direction of high-speed rail in India upon completion.

The diplomat said this while visiting the construction site of Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSAR) in Gujarat’s Navsari. The visit to the construction site was to review the progress of the project. National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) Managing Director Rajendra Prasad was also present during the inspection visit.

The Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project has been funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). NHSRCL is the implementing agency of the project. “When this huge project is complete, I am sure it will bring about a new revolution,” the ambassador told reporters, adding, “Like the one we have, Suzuki Maruti revolution, I am looking forward to the high-speed rail revolution. The future is very bright,” he added.

As much as 98.68 per cent of land has been acquired for the MAHSAR project, including 98.87 per cent in Gujarat, 100 per cent in Dadra Nagar Haveli and 98.22 per cent in Maharashtra, the NHSRCL said in a release. The tenders have been invited for the construction of the tunnel and station.

Ten captive-bred Asian Giant Tortoise (Manouria emys) juveniles on Monday were released into a protected area of Nagaland to be rewilded. Asian Giant Tortoise is a “critically endangered” species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

The Nagaland Forest Department and two non-profit organisations, Turtle Survival Alliance and Wildlife Conservation Society India conducted a soft release of the juvenile tortoises for population recovery. The released animals were conserved and bred for five years at the Nagaland Zoological Park, Dimapur. With 110 hatchlings and juveniles from 13 adults, the Park has the highest number of Asian Giant Tortoise. The juveniles were born in 2018 and have an average weight of 2.4 kg.

“In the first phase, animals will be soft-released or moved to a large natural enclosure with native habitat for acclimation throughout the winters and allowed to disperse into the forests at the onset of monsoon followed by active tracking by a joint project team,” said T Aochuba, Director, Intanki National Park.

Rewilding helps a species to develop site fidelity and develop the habit to live in the vicinity of the release closure. It helps researchers in collecting scientific information and developing a better rewilding strategy.

Sargam Koushal of India was crowned Mrs  World at a Saturday evening ceremony held at Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino. Koushal, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, beat contestants from 63 countries to bring the title back to India after 21 years. She was presented the title by Mrs World 2021 winner Shaylyn Ford of the US. Mrs Polynesia and Mrs Canada were named as first and second runner-up.

Sargam Koushal, 32, is married to Aditya Manohar Sharma, a Lieutenant Commander in the Indian Navy. She did her post-graduation in English Literature from Jammu University and B.Ed from Government B.Ed College in Jammu. She worked as a teacher in Visakhapatnam. Besides being a model and teacher, she is also a content writer and painter.

India has only won the Mrs World title once, in 2001 with Dr Aditi Govitrikar bagging the coveted crown. Dr Govitrikar has now served as a judge for Mrs India Inc 2022-23.

Mrs World is the first beauty pageant for married women. The pageant was created in 1984 and initially named Mrs Woman of the World. It came to be known as Mrs World only in 1988. The contest has seen entrants from over 80 countries with the US having the most number of winners.

The United Nations has recognised Namami Gange initiative to rejuvenate River Ganga as one of the top 10 World Restoration Flagships to revive the natural world.

The award was received by Namani Gange director general at a function in the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) in Montreal, Canada on 14 December, said a Jal Shakti Ministry release.

Namami Gange was selected from over 150 such initiatives from 70 countries across the globe. The Programme was started in 2014 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi recognised the need to rejuvenate the holy river and committed over $5 billion for its cleanliness.

The Top 10 World Restoration Flagships were selected under the banner of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a global movement coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The movement is designed to prevent and reverse the degradation of natural spaces across the planet.

The recognised initiatives, including Namami Gange, will now be eligible to receive UN support, funding or technical expertise. The 10 flagships together aim to restore more than 68 million hectares − an area bigger than Myanmar, France or Somalia − and create nearly 15 million jobs.

South Africa is now the most food-secure country in Africa, says the 2022 Global Food Security Index (GFSI) report by British weekly The Economist. This is the first time a country in sub-Saharan Africa has topped the list across the continent.

This is a record leap for South Africa from 70th position in 2021. The country overtook Tunisia in the continent, which is now in second place and 62nd globally among 113 countries eligible for the ranking. In addition to feeding its more than 60 million citizens, the farmers of South Africa provided food for millions of people from other countries in southern Africa. “Apart from Cape Verde Islands and the Republic of Eritrea, the nation exports her food to every African country,” read the report, adding, “From January 2022 through August 2022, its export of agricultural products rose by more than 20 per cent and 22 per cent for processed foods.”

South Africa achieved the feat despite numerous global threats to agriculture, such as climate change and the fertiliser crisis brought on by the Ukraine-Russia conflict. The country’s agriculture and food industries boosted its trade surplus by a record R10 billion (Rs 478.67 crore) from R51 billion last year to more than R60 billion in 2022.

Recording a growth of 26% annually, auto sales in India in November 2022 clocked record high numbers, said the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) on Friday. All categories of automobiles, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, passenger vehicles (PVs), tractors and commercial vehicles (CVs), registered a growth of 24%, 80%, 21%, 57% and 33%, respectively.

Around 23.80 lakh units were sold last month, compared to 18.93 lakh units in November 2021 and 23.44 lakh units in November 2019, a year before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“November 2022 has clocked the highest retails in the history of the Indian automobile industry with March 2020 as an exception when retails were higher due to BS-4 to BS-6 transition,” said Manish Raj Singhania, President, FADA.

The FADA President credited the positive run of festive sales and the Indian wedding season (from November 14 to December 14) for the sales.

Compared to the pre-COVID-19 period of November 2019, overall retails across all categories, except 2-wheelers, saw a positive bump for the second consecutive month. This segment showed a growth of 24% year on year, but fell marginally by 0.9% in comparison to November 2019.

The average inventory for PVs at the end of November ranged from 35-40 days, while inventory for 2-wheelers ranged from 30-35 days, the FADA said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the Nagpur-Mumbai expressway in Maharashtra. The new expressway, officially named as Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, will reduce travel time between the two cities from 16 hours to eight hours.

The expressway is a greenfield corridor and does not pass through inside cities. The total cost of the project has been estimated at Rs 55,335.32 crore. The first phase of the 701-km-long project covers 520 km between Nagpur and Shirdi and will take five hours to cover. The remaining stretch of 181 km will be completed by July 2023.

The new expressway will have 73 flyovers and viaducts, 32 big bridges (including eight rail overbridges), 317 small bridges, and elevated corridors, tunnels and interchanges. The expressway also has 84 underpasses and overpasses for the protection of wild animals built at Rs 326 crore. The expressway passes through 117-km wildlife habitats in Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati, Washim and Buldhana districts, tiger corridors, and eco-sensitive zones of Tansa, Katepurna and Karanja Sohol wildlife sanctuaries. The expressway has noise barriers. Nearly 33.64 lakh big and small trees and creepers will be planted on both sides of the expressway.

Women are amongst the biggest users of public transport in India, according to a new report by the World Bank, which estimates 84% of women’s trips to be by public transport.

The report, Enabling Gender Responsive Urban Mobility and Public Spaces in India, found that more women tend to walk to work compared to men. It added that 45.4% of women go to work by foot versus 27.4% of men.

This report was compiled to guide Indian cities on how to design public transport that is more inclusive of women’s travelling requirements.

The WB report found that more women in India also travel by bus and possibly consider affordability while travelling. They often choose slower means of transport, as faster modes of travelling are more expensive. Lack of safety also limits their movements, lowering their presence in public spaces, the report noted.

The report recommended several interventions in transport and public spaces, including adequate street lighting, and improved walking and cycling tracks that particularly benefit women who use non-motorised transport. It suggested lower fare policies to boost ridership for women and persons of other genders. A strong grievance redressal system can help fast-track sexual harassment complaints, it added.

India logged 23.06 billion transactions amounting Rs 38.3 trillion in the third quarter this year, said Worldline India’s Digital Payments Report.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) clocked over 19.65 billion transactions in volume and Rs 32.5 lakh crore in terms of value. The volume and value of UPI transactions almost doubled since last year, with an increase of 88% in volume and over 71% in value in Q3 as compared to the same quarter last year. UPI person-to-merchant (P2M) and person-to-person (P2P) became the most chosen payment method among consumers, accounting for 42 per cent of total transaction volume.

The UPI was followed by credit and debit card payments, which accounted for 7% of volume and 14% of value. The Q3 data shows healthy use of credit cards and growth in the average ticket size, i.e., Rs 4,833 for credit cards, Rs 2,073 for debit cards, Rs 738 for UPI P2M, 2,576 for UPI P2P, Rs. 473 for prepaid cards, and Rs 382 for M-wallet.

As of September 2022, the overall number of POS terminals installed by merchant-acquiring banks had surpassed 7 million, said the report for the third quarter.