Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai’ (Krrish 3 and Ender’s Game) that was published in Newsband

New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

Krrish 3

Krrish 3 is a Bollywood superhero science fiction film. The film will be produced and directed by Rakesh Roshan. The film will continue the story of Rohit Mehra and his superhero son Krrish, after Koi...Mil Gaya and Krrish. Both the previous films were hugely successful at the box office. The film will be released only in the 2D format.

The plot of the film connects with its prequels - Krrish and Koi...Mil Gaya. Krrish 3 sees Hrithik Roshan take on evil mutants and save the world from destruction in his superhero avatar. In the first half, Vivek has his own look and his own den, a very modern facility which is visible in the trailer. He then changes himself in the second half. Here, he has extraordinary powers and he doesn’t know why he has them. He is handicapped and is able to cure himself. He is pitted against this world, against human beings and there is reason for this. The mutants are called maanvar — a combination of maanas and jaanwar — and have been created by Kaal through an experiment. Being a superhero, Krrish has to fight these beings with unknown powers.

After defeating the villainous Dr. Siddhant Arya, and bringing his father Rohit back from the dead, Krrish 3 continues fighting against evil and saving innocent lives. Now Krishna is living a happily married life with Priya, while Rohit is using his scientific brilliance to benefit society. And Krrish 3 is everyone's favorite superhero saviour. Unknown to them, a dark force is growing in another part of the world. Kaal, an evil genius, is selfishly misusing his powers to spread fear, death and destruction. And he is being assisted by an army of very dangerous beings, which he has created himself.

Not long after Kaal's plans are put into action, both Rohit and Krrish 3 find themselves faced with a crisis of epic proportions, which only they can resolve, together. But when they finally cross paths with Kaal and his army, neither of them is prepared for what lies ahead. Kaal not only brings the world to the brink of disaster, he also puts the strength and love of Krishna and his family to the test. And Krrish 3 has to somehow find the power within to face an unbeatable foe.

Thus the greatest battle between good and evil begins.

As I told you, Krrish 3 played by Hrithik Roshan takes on evil mutants and saves the world from destruction in his superhero avatar. Here's a lowdown on the new-age villains.

Chameleon Kaya (Kangana Ranaut) is also known as Chameleon. And, just like the reptile that can change colours, Kaya has the power to transform into any shape she wishes to.

Rhinoman Rhinoman — a fusion of a human and a rhinoceros — uses the deadly sharp horn on his head to kill his prey. His body is as heavy as that of a rhino and he uses his size to his advantage when fighting with the enemy.

Antman Antman, who is half-human and half-ant, possesses the power to crush any object with his bare hands. His glowing red eyes signify the animal within. They say ants can carry weights 100 times more than their body weight and Antman bears testimony to this.

The Frogman uses his tongue to kill the enemy. He is a derivative of a human and a frog and his tongue is his sharpest weapon. He is mischievous and that is indicated by his envious green eyes.

Cheetahwoman Half-human, half-cheetah, she is a deadly combination of speed and sharp claws. No human can match her in speed, and she teleports like a ghost! Feral yellow eyes indicate a voracious hunter and nothing escapes her eyes.

Scorpionwoman Part-human, part-scorpion, she has claws as hands and a poisonous sting at the end of her long plait, with which she strikes. She shows her targets no mercy and can kill them in one stroke.

In the film, the mutants are called maanvar — a combination of maanas and jaanwar — and have been created by Kaal through an experiment. Being a superhero, Krrish has to fight these beings with unknown powers.

The film has Hrithik Roshan as Krishna Mehra (Krrish) and Rohit Mehra, Priyanka Chopra as Priya Mehra, Vivek Oberoi as "Kaal", the antagonist, Kangna Ranaut as Kaya, Arif Zakaria as Nuclear Scientist, Shaurya Chauhan as the female antagonist, Archana Puran Singh as Priya's boss, Rekha as Sonia Mehra (special appearance), Vrajesh Hirjee, Nazia Shaikh as Cheetahwoman and Sameer Ali Khan as Antman.

Ender's Game

Ender's Game is an American science fiction action film based on the novel of the same name by Orson Scott Card. Directed and written by Gavin Hood, the film stars Asa Butterfield as Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, an unusually gifted child who is sent to an advanced military school in space to prepare for a future alien invasion. The cast also includes Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Abigail Breslin, and Harrison Ford.

The film has an interesting plot. After an alien race called the Formics (also known as the "Buggers") attacks Earth, the International Fleet prepare for the next invasion by training the best young children to find the future candidate to lead the International Fleet and fill the shoes of the legendary war hero Mazer Rackham. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy but strategically brilliant boy, is pulled out of his Earth school to join the International Fleet and attend the legendary Battle School, located in Earth orbit. After easily mastering the increasingly difficult war games, distinguishing himself and winning respect among his peers, Ender is soon ordained by Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) as the military's next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he is trained by Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley) himself to lead the military into a war that will determine the future of Earth and the human race.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'We should be genuinely secular' that was published in Newsband

We should be genuinely secular

The Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi made a comment that some of the Muzaffarnagar riot victims were being cultivated by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. We cannot look at the utterance of Rahul Gandhi emotionally. More often than not, we have seen Indians seeking support of foreign countries in settling local scores, whether it is the simple expedient of petitioning a foreign government not to issue visas or a more serious issue of getting trained in subversion and terror and to cause mayhem in our country on perception of persecution. Whether it was the violence and terrorism in the Punjab in the 80s or insurgency and terrorism in J&K subsequently, we know the training given to Indians by the ISI who then sneaked back to wreak vengeance on issues on which they felt strongly. The Babri Mosque is supposed to have led to the formation of Indian Mujahideen. Similarly in the North East where China has provided succour to the terrorist outfits. There are undoubtedly inimical forces waiting to damage India.

We can defeat such negative forces only if every Indian opposes communalism and become genuinely secular. 

The phony secularism practiced in India is to "exploit religion for political ends" at every opportunity: to stoke fear and hatred between communities - to divide the nation - and then to boast that India has "unity in diversity"! This will change only when the communities, who are being exploited, refuse to be pawns in the hands of these despicable political parties (who have only got rich for themselves by making a fool of others).

It behoves of those who aspire to represent the nation in its highest representative political offices to desist from playing to the gallery using cheap language, avoidable personal remarks and divisive agenda - and start giving some dignity to the office they are aspiring for. That change will certainly bring them dignity and respect from the people.

When one looks upto a leader who aspires to elevate himself or herself to national and international repute and status, one would like to see speeches that make the nation proud - about real issues, vision and aspiration for the nation and its citizens - not name calling.

Serenity and composure at all times, objectivity and being impersonal in everything that is said and done despite all criticism - are qualities of a true leader - we lack, alas.

It is regrettable that all political parties have played vote bank politics for short term electoral gains. Some in the media have also joined these politicians in dividing the people on the basis of caste/religion. Replacing the current reservation system based on caste/religion with one based on economic criteria would ensure that those really in need are helped. Such a policy would help foster national integration and would benefit all communities.

Dinesh Kamath's news item 'International Film Festival in Navi Mumbai in Feb' that was published in Newsband

International Film Festival in Navi Mumbai in Feb

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Sachin Khanna, an actor residing at Belapur in Navi Mumbai, had cone up with the idea of organizing an International Film Festival in Navi Mumbai. The best thing is that the organizers of this festival have so far received many film entries from all over the world. The festival is showing signs of becoming a huge success.

Sachin Khanna is an actor who pursues theatre, television, short-films and documentaries. When he saw the demand for films that existed in the city he thought about having a film festival over here. His idea was to provide opportunity to the people of the city to watch the best films from all over the world. He wanted to give the film makers from India as well as different parts of the world a chance to display their creative minds.

Sachin Khanna was inspired by the film festivals that were held at Mumbai. He thought of having a similar kind of event in Navi Mumbai too. That is what made him come up with the idea of having a Navi Mumbai International Film Fest (NMIFF). Khanna is the chairman of the committee which is organizing this festival.

This event will prove to be a golden opportunity for film makers to showcase their talent in film-making, innovating quality and creativity.

The three-day fest will take place somewhere in the first week of February. This festival will witness films of different genres from within India and different parts of the world. The main categories include student shorts, professional shorts and feature films. There will also be short films, AD films, animation films, documentaries, music videos and social awareness films.

The best thing is when it was announced that NMIFF is to be held in the city, a huge number of entries poured in. This was not expected by anybody. But this has excited the organizers to a great extent and they feel that the festival will be a huge success.

They have already received more than 150 films but their target is around 300. The deadline for submitting the entries is extended to December 31 after seeing the enthusiasm of the film lovers within India and all over the world. Even the local film lovers have shown their interest in this festival and there is quite a big number of film entries that have come from Navi Mumbai itself.

It was Khanna who conceived the idea but he received tremendous encouragement from Ashok Purang, a well-known director, writer who is also the director and core committee member of NMIFF. He was the creative producer for Filmistan, a 2013 movie that won the national award.

There are quite many ‘Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM)’ colleges in Navi Mumbai which teach the students the art of film making. These colleges hold film festivals from time to time meant for film loving students all over Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. During these festivals, in the past, it was found that Navi Mumbai students particularly had come up with huge number of film entries and they grabbed the opportunity to display their talents in the art of film making. In these festivals, they came up with many short films which were real delight and treat to watch. The education department of Mumbai University should be commended for having included the subject of film making in the curriculum. This has given many students of both Mumbai and Navi Mumbai a chance to channel their minds in the direction of film making. 

The aim of Navi Mumbai International Film Festival is also to give a platform to local talent and expose them to international cinema. The organizers have gone through many film entries and they find every film so well made that the judges are bound to find it tough to decide as to which films to eliminate from the contest.

The organizers are promoting and publicizing the films and filmmakers on various online platforms. This will surely help the participants of this festival to establish themselves as independent film-makers.

After witnessing so many film entries that have poured in, it seems that NMIFF will not find it tough to get enough sponsors who will provide adequate financial assistance to make the event a huge success.  If monetary support is lent by few reputed companies even it will help the organizers of this festival to conduct the event in a grand way. One shouldn’t be surprised if after the event Navi Mumbai becomes the new hub of cinema.

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Emergence of another secular party is necessary' that was published in Newsband

Emergence of another secular party is necessary

The tragedy of the Muzaffarnagar communal clashes has been politicized. Nothing new! The Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi made a reckless comment that some of the Muzaffarnagar riot victims were being cultivated by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. He quoted Indian intelligence sources. The question is how a person outside government could have had privileged intelligence briefings.

Gandhi was indirectly questioning the national loyalty of Muslims. Why the Muslims have to be subjected to periodic tests of its loyalty? It is a pity that this community carries the double burden of having to prove its loyalty to this country while being made an issue every time to win elections.

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi tried to capitalise on Gandhi’s mistake. He said that such a statement could pose national security risk. Modi seems to be concentrating on weakening the secular forces in the country. His secular credentials remain a challenge. Almost every home grown terrorist caught in the last 10 years has cited Gujarat riots and the unaddressed grievances as the reason why he was motivated to take up arms. To ignore this and hide behind technicalities may be a legitimate defence by Modi.

Both Gandhi and Modi least cared about the dangers of crossing the line on such emotive and potentially explosive issues as national security and Muslim patriotism.

Rahul is neither a minister nor a Government official but only Party Vice President. Why he should be privy to such information. That was the question Modi posed. A case could be filed before appropriate forum to take action against such intelligence agency executive for violating oath of secrecy contrary to conduct rule of the Government.

Present scenario of election campaigning has no place for assurances of welfare governance, development and other democratic objectives. What is seen and heard is race for making issues prestige point for two leading parties in the country. Both the party should focus their strength towards some vision for reaching out to those, irrespective of whether they are party supporters or not, who have remained away from whatever success of democratic rules in last 65 years. Instead they are busy in opening up old social injuries that have kept sections of society divided. This is not welfare politics and democratically of no purpose.

BJP could rarely defeat the Congress in elections owing to it being a communal party. Congress rarely suffered defeat in the elections owing to it being the only strong secular party. What is required is the emergence of another strong and genuinely secular party which will defeat both BJP and Congress. 

Dinesh Kamath's news item 'PM and CM to discuss airport issue on November 13' that was published in Newsband

PM and CM to discuss airport issue on November 13

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is likely to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi on November 13 to discuss and finalize the Navi Mumbai airport.

CM intends to resolve all pending issues involving the proposed Navi Mumbai airport. The pending issues are relating to the payments and resettlement of the villagers who will have to be moved due to the upcoming airport.

The project affected persons (PAPs) expect 35% of compensation of developed land for every hectare acquired or Rs 50 crore in cash for every hectare acquired. It is left to be seen whether they will accept City and Industrial Development Corporation’s detailed development package that it has worked out for PAPs.

Thus CM and PM will discuss over the bottlenecks in the progress of the greenfield airport at Panvel in Navi Mumbai. CM realizes that the proposed airport is a key infrastructure project and he is confident that the unresolved issues related to it will be sorted out in the meeting. He has appealed to the local villagers to cooperate with the government, and said the airport will lead to area's development and improvement in the standard of living of people.

The Navi Mumbai airport will provide an alternative to the Mumbai International Airport and being a major issue it will be discussed in detail during the meeting on November 13. According to Chavan, this project is such a massive one that it needs detailed discussion and planning. This project, in fact, has become a serious headache for the state as it has been on the anvil since past many years and it still exist solely on paper.

The CIDCO authorities are however hopeful of sorting this issue very soon. In fact, CIDCO joint MD V Radha touched upon the various aspects of the upcoming infra projects in Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA), the airport and land acquisition issues. She considered the issue of finalizing the land for airport as a top priority one. CIDCO is looking at a comprehensive rehabilitation of PAPs apart from giving them land close to the airport site. CIDCO expects the youth section of the PAPs to get jobs in hospitality and other industries. It is in talks with the Taj group for providing quality training to the youth. CIDCO will have more such tie-ups with companies in the telecommunication sector for providing value-added training. Also it intends to offer most of the big contracts for the airport project to the locals. There has been several rounds of talks between CIDC officials and the CM relating to airport issue.

CIDCO’s joint managing director V Radha went to the extent of personally meeting the PAPs and assuring them that their problems would be solved at the earliest. She told them that their demands are being considered at the highest level. PAPs have put forward not one or two but many demands in front of V Radha. The PAPs, in fact, have yet to agree to the state government’s proposal of giving 22.5% of the developed plot, so as to acquire their land for the mega project. The PAPs are busy discussing this issue among themselves and with their leaders.

Radha feels that CIDCO is offering the PAPs the best rehabilitation and resettlement package. Considering the fact that the infrastructure to be developed in the airport area will be state-of-the-art and also the PAPs will have the privilege of staying in the neighbourhood of some of the best names in the hotel and other industries and they will be provided with best houses with best quality roads, it is strange that PAPs are still not able to make a final decision on this issue.

Thus all eyes are now focused on the high level meeting that will take place between CM and PM on November 13 to discuss this most sensitive issue which has been a source of headache for many who are connected with this airport project. It is hoped that at last a final decision on this issue will be arrived at.

Dinesh Kamath's news item ' 565th birth anniversary of Saint Srimanta Sankardev celebrated by Assamese community of the city' that was published in Newsband

565th birth anniversary of Saint Srimanta Sankardev celebrated by Assamese community of the city

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: The Assamese community of Navi Mumbahi had organized a grand celebration to mark the 565th birth anniversary of scholar-saint Srimanta Sankardev. Many scholars, intellectuals and guests from Assam attended the event.

Devasish Sharma, deputy resident commissioner of Assam Bhavan, gave a short description of this saint whom he referred to as a legend in Assam, who had inspired the Bhakti Movement and who played a stellar role in uniting the communitiest.

A bhajan programme (naam prosongo), panel discussion and cultural show was held at Bunt Centre in Juinagar, Navi Mumbai on October 26.

On October 27, a procession showcasing indigenous culture moved from Assam Bhavan to the Jain Temple in Vashi around 10am. This was followed by a seminar that witnessed the participation of non-Assamese scholars from Maharashtra.

Srimanta Sankerdeb's followers sang 'Naam prasanga' (prayers) in the 'Kirtan Ghars' (prayer halls) and various 'Sattras' (monasteries). His devotees sang verses in praise of god from his 'Kirtan' (holy book) to the beating of 'khol' (drum) and 'bhut-taal' (large bell metal cymbals) at the Sattras by Srimanta Sankerdeb’s followers.

'Khol' and 'bhut-taal' are an indispensable element of the classical dance form Satriya tradition that the Assamese polymath started. Processions of 'gayan-bayan' (musicians) singing the Gurujona's (Sankerdeb) religious compositions were also taken out.

A group of Assamese of Navi Mumbai gave the following details about this great saint. They said, “Srimanta Sankardev was a 15th–16th century Assamese polymath: a saint-scholar, poet, playwright, social-religious reformer and a figure of importance in the cultural and religious history of Assam, India. He is widely credited with building on past cultural relics and devising new forms of music (Borgeet), theatrical performance (Ankia Naat, Bhaona), dance (Sattriya), literary language (Brajavali). Besides, he has left an extensive literary oeuvre of trans-created scriptures (Bhagavat of Sankardev), poetry and theological works written in Sanskrit, Assamese and Brajavali. The Bhagavatic religious movement he started, Ekasarana Dharma and also called Neo-Vaishnavite movement, influenced two medieval kingdoms - Koch and the Ahom kingdoms - and the assembly of devotees he initiated evolved into Sattras over time, which continue to be important socio-religious institutions in Assam and to a lesser extend in North Bengal. Sankardev inspired the Bhakti movement in Assam just as Guru Nanak, Ramananda, Kabir, Basava and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu inspired it elsewhere in the Indian subcontinent. His influence spread even to some kingdoms as the Matak Kingdom founded by Bharat Singha, and consolidated by Sarbanda Singha in the latter 18th century endorsed his teachings.

His literary and artistic contributions are living traditions in Assam today. The religion he preached is practiced by a large population, and Sattras (monasteries) that he and his followers established continue to flourish and sustain his legacy.

After the death of Sankardev, Madhavdev incorporated narrations of his life in prayer services, a practice that was followed by his apostles, and in due course of time a large body of biographical literature arose. These are generally classed in two groups: early (those by Daityari Thakur, Bhusan Dwija, Ramananda Dwija and Vaikuntha Dwija) and late (Guruvarnana by Aniruddha Das, the more than one anonymous Katha-guru-carits, Bardowa-carit, Sankardev caritra from Barpeta, the Saru-svarga-khanda and Bar-svarga-khanda by Sarvabhauma). The authorship of the biography credited to Ramcaran Thakur, Daityari Thakur's father, is doubted and it is generally dated to the 17th-century and classed with the late biographies.

In general, all biographies consider Sankardev as an incarnation of Vishnu, including that by Daityari Thakur, the earliest. The late biographies differ from the early group on the count that they ascribe supernatural feats to Sankardev, and describe miraculous events; and there is a tendency to read some events of the Bhagavata into his life. The biographies are full of contradictions; even though the earlier ones are considered more accurate, not all they claim are true — Daityari Thakur's biography, the earliest one, claims Sankardev met with Chaitanya, which is now not accepted to be true.”

Dinesh Kamath's news item 'Measures taken to ensure safe Diwali in Navi Mumbai' that was published in Newsband

Measures taken to ensure safe Diwali in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: All round preparations are being made by Navi Mumbai authorities to ensure that no untoward incidents occur this time during the Diwali Festival. Various steps and measures have been chalked out and will be implemented to ensure a safe Diwali.

Mayor of Navi Mumbai Sagar Naik has expressed his concern over construction of firecracker stalls close to Coastal Regulation Zone. He said the he would not hesitate to remove those stalls if they proved to be a threat to lives.

According to the Mayor, no permanent constructions are permitted to come up around CRZ areas. So also there could be a danger in letting temporary structures to come up there, he added. “In that case I will issue an order for removal of those temporary structures too,” said the Mayor. The mayor rightly pointed out the danger that these structures would pose to surrounding environment and habitat. The best thing is Mayor has the support of mangrove cell too which is blaming Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation for the springing up of those structures in such sensitive areas. These structures have come up near the mangrove stretches in Bonkode and Koparkhairane. The environment activists feel bitter about the fact that same was the case during the last Diwali season and NMMC had not cared to take any action that time. They wondered whether the same kind of attitude will be displayed by NMMC this year too. They pointed to the rule which says that there should be no such activities taking place within 50 metres of such ecologically sensitive area. They had shown this rule to NMMC, police and the forest department last year but no action was taken in this direction at that time.

NMMC commissioner Abasaheb Jarhad has made note of this issue and he has promised to take appropriate action in this matter this time. The activists are happy about the fact that they have at least received some kind of assurance this year.

This exercise of constructing firecracker stalls had been taking place since few years back. Initially very less number of stalls were being constructed here. But as the time passed by the number of stalls began to increase and then it didn’t fail to come to the notice of the environment activists who naturally made a big noise about it. Firecrackers are supposed to be made of inflammable items, and even a small explosion can destroy the stretch of mangroves around. Also after the festival the place would be littered with all the unwanted waste left over after the selling of the firecrackers. 

When the activists pulled up the fire department and asked them the reason for their ignoring this issue, the firemen said that it was NMMC’s decision to let these stall owners come up with their structures over there. The fire authorities, however, did their job of ensuring that there was sufficient distance between stalls, the rooftop was made of asbestos sheet and there were adequate provisions like sand bucket, fire extinguisher available to fight fire.

To instill the importance of preserving the environment even the students of Navi Mumbai are encouraged to go eco-friendly this Diwali. Students are advised not to resort to bursting crackers and it created pollution and adversely affected the environment. In some schools in Navi Mumbai, eco-friendly Diwali was celebrated where instead of crackers, the kids were made to draw Rangolis. This was a move made by school authorities in a bid to keep the festive proceedings safe and eco-friendly.

It is good to teach the children right from their young age the danger posed by bursting of crackers and the harms of noise and air pollution. The senior students of the schools were made to create awareness about hazards of bursting fire crackers among their younger counterparts. Circulars were issued and meetings were held to inform the students that they should celebrate Diwali in such a way that there is no danger to human lives and environment.

Even students from Institute for Technology and Management, Kharghar, have made it a point to go to every school and display their presentation on the safe ways of celebrating the festival. They will encourage the students not to celebrated the festival dangerously and they have come up with alternative way of enjoying the festival.

The police department of Navi Mumbai too is not lagging behind in ensuring a safe Diwali. This time they promised to be very particular about the levels of noise pollution caused by bursting firecrackers during Diwali. The sound monitors have been distributed to police stations to record the level of noise pollution in the areas within the jurisdictions of those police stations.

Law permits bursting of firecrackers up to 55 decibels (dB) during the day and 45 dB at night. In commercial areas, the permissible limit is 65 dB in the day and 55 dB at night respectively. This time the policemen have promised to prevent the violation of these rules. They will be supported by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) which will monitor the noise levels while the action will be taken by police.

As per the orders issued by Petroleum and Oil Safety Organization, the manufacturers of fire crackers are supposed to display the chemical contents or maximum permissible limit of sound pressure level on boxes of fire crackers. The manufacturers are told to do this procedure before supplying the firecrackers to the retail market.

Both NMMC and the police should join hands to prevent the violation of laws. The police should take action against the culprits and confiscate the illegal firecrackers while NMMC should refrain from giving permission to sell such firecrackers and that too at the wrong places. No licenses should be issued to irresponsible firecracker vendors. Even awareness should be created among the residents of the city who should be taught the harm caused by using loud firecrackers, said activists. The judiciary should also cooperate and sentence appropriately those who burst loud firecrackers. 

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Urgent need to conserve fuel' that was published in Newsband

Urgent need to conserve fuel

India needs to manufacture vehicles with higher fuel efficiency. The sharp growth in demand for petrol and diesel, and the rising burden of oil imports make that a priority. There is need to conserve fuel and reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. The vehicle manufacturers should welcome the Power Ministry’s notification on fuel efficiency norms and its 2017 deadline.

China moved to implement new vehicle efficiency standards from 2005 to conserve oil and, in parallel, to encourage the industry to bring in better technologies. Why can’t India do the same? In fact, India should actually look for a leapfrog effect to ensure that only the most efficient vehicles are produced and sold.

To save fuel, car owners should resort to alternative modes such as inter-city rail services and urban public transport from time to time. India’s nascent efforts at introducing fuel efficiency standards need to be hastened.

The biggest setback to achieving the above mentioned fuel efficiency mechanisms and strategies are nothing but population expansion in India. If somehow it is controlled then most of the things will fall in place by themselves. Moreover, in this era of globalization, technology seems not too far away. Proper technological advances has to be incorporated by the automobile sector not only to reduce fuel consumption but also to devise eco-friendly alternatives to conventional

fuels.

There should be a proper development and implementation of public transport standards in the country. If there are good standards of public transport, public would get interested in using them rather than go for their personal vehicles. That would also help us to fight against the growing traffic congestions. This would also help in controlling the pollution which is also a major factor of concern.

There is no doubt that fuel efficient automobiles with green house norm compliance are always the need of the hour in a highly populous and disorderly country like India. But we should not forget other priorities too. We should also pay attention to garbage clearance and trash-free environment followed by better roads. We do not know how to fix a manhole cover in alignment with road surface. Road quality and pollution are inter-connected.

Thus there is no doubt about the fact that fuel efficiency of vehicles is a very crucial issue for survival of our indigenous automobile industry. This is an important issue which needs special attention.

Dinesh Kamath's news item 'E-way methods adopted in city school' that was published in Newsband

E-way methods adopted in city school

By Dinesh Kamath

VASHI: Father Agnel's Multipurpose School, (English Medium), Vashi, has gone online for nursery level admissions. This has given relief to many parents. These parents do not have to make repeated rounds or queue up in the wee hours of morning to procure and submit application forms.

The state board schools have begun the admission process for the nursery level. The management of Father Agnel’s school has done proper planning to make this online admission process a big success. This time they don’t want the rush and inconvenience caused to parents. They have streamlined the registration process. They indeed have set an example to other schools by introducing online submission of applications. The parents this year will not be given the Hard copies of application forms.

Instructions about online registration are uploaded on the school's website, www.agnelhamara.net. All the queries of the parents relating to the admission of their wards are answered. After filling the form online, the parents are given a time slot and a date on which they have to come with their child for an interactive session and for payment of the admission forms.

This online procedure has proved to be very helpful to the parents. Online admission is undoubtedly a good move. It won’t be surprising if very soon the other schools also start adopting the same system of admission. In fact many schools are already impressed by this new concept. Managements affiliated to the board have expressed their wish to go online from the next academic year. New suggestions to improve this system still further are invited.

It is good to see a school in Navi Mumbai going e-way. In fact, in a school at Delhi, the parents are able to keep a tab on their children's activities in school — right from attendance to monitoring their academic and even extra-curricular performances since the schools have tie-up with companies which provide parents access to such information via websites or regular emails.

There are quite many schools, both big and small, providing these facilities called web portal. Teachers can now directly communicate with students through the portal. Some schools have the technology that provides their staff with the facility to monitor their salary, holidays etc. Apart from this, the portal uploads more than 9,000 tutorials onto the website for the benefit of those students who were absent from school due to unavoidable reasons.  They also make the lessons taught in school easier to enable the weaker students to grasp them.

This is a system that offers automation on basic operational processes which is easy to implement and can be followed by all parties involved.

Thus one shouldn’t be surprised if very soon we find some schools in Navi Mumbai too adopting the same advanced system of education. 

Dinesh Kamath's news item 'NMMC to improve the infrastructure in MIDC areas' that was published in Newsband

NMMC to improve the infrastructure in MIDC areas

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation has cleared proposals worth over Rs 100 crore as part of its makeover plan for the MIDC areas within its jurisdicition.

NMMC plans to spend Rs 600 crore to improve the infrastructure in the MIDC areas. These include widening of roads, improving drainage and solid waste management system in the industrial areas.

NMMC is relying heavily on Thane Guardian Minister Ganesh Naik to help them in this project. The NMMC authorities complain that many industries which fall within their jurisdiction have not paid their taxes. These industries have not paid the taxes since, according to them, NMMC has failed to provide them proper infrastructures.

Ganesh Naik has called upon the industrial units in the MIDC areas that fall within NMMC’s jurisdiction to pay up their taxes and cooperate with NMMC.

There are some industries who pay the taxes to the MIDC and they question as to why they should pay again to NMMC. But NMMC claims that taxes should be paid to them since without these taxes it will not be in a position to provide basic facilities to the residents.

CM Prithviraj Chavan has also intervened in the matter and agreed to reduce the LBT with the hope that this might resolve the issue. 

Dinesh Kamath's cartoons based on 'Alooramji' that were published in Newsband

Dinesh Kamath's news item 'When will work on metro line get completed?' that was published in Newsband

When will work on metro line get completed?

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Due to Navi Mumbai's growing population and the anticipated future demand for public transport, the government envisaged developing metro rail corridors in Navi Mumbai in addition to the suburban rail system and bus based public transport system, in order to establish better North-South and East-West connectivity between all the residential nodes, and to improve connectivity with Mumbai's transportation system. It is the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which after a study had proposed connectivity by metro rail, due to various merits on account of it being energy efficient, pollution free and occupying less land space as compared to other modes of transport. The DMRC proposed six metro corridors in Navi Mumbai, but out of these, Uran-Ranjanpada-Nerul and Ranjanpada-Kharkopar-Seawoods were later decided to be made as suburban railway corridors. In total five lines were finalized for development in phases.

The Navi Mumbai Metro project received formal approval on 29 April 2010, and a public hearing on 21 May 2010 reported no major objections to the plan. CIDCO was authorised as the implementing agency of the Belapur-Pendhar-Kalamboli-Khandeshwar line, under the Indian Tramway Act 1886, by the Government of Maharashtra on 30 September 2010. The state government later asked the CIDCO to implement the Navi Mumbai Metro project under the Central Metro Act. The metro's foundation stone was laid on 1 May 2011 by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, and general foundation work on the system's first phase commenced in October 2011. In March 2012, CIDCO released the metro's complete master plan, including a proposed connection to the Mumbai Metro. Following the approval for the implemention of the Navi Mumbai International Airport, the master plan of Navi Mumbai’s connectivity was reviewed. A final list of 5 corridors was finalized based upon DMRC and LEA Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd's recommendations.

However, in February 2013, thousands of villagers in the Navi Mumbai area protested against CIDCO's inaction on local housing developments and its failure to provide restitution for locals affected by infrastructure projects. The protesters pledged to even shut down the CIDCO head office and all development projects in the region. These would include the metro project and any progress on the airport project.

However, it was decided that work on CBD Belapur-Pendhar metro line would be completed first. But the 11-km CBD Belapur-Pendhar metro line is not yet ready. There are people who are questioning as to when it will get ready. The work on this metro line was to start from 2014. But it seems the date of commencement of the work will need to be pushed forward.

The City Industrial & Development Corporation (CIDCO) has confirmed that there is bound to be a delay in starting the work on this project. CIDCO has asked the bidders to forward their tenders and the last date for this will be October 30.

The project ought to have been completed before 2014 since that was the order given by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan while inaugurating the railway project.

The residents who were eagerly waiting for this project to start and get completed are most disappointed. Many are blaming the administration for not being able to make proper decisions. They are fed up with the slow pace in which the administration is pursuing this issue. Another reason for the delay is the absence of a managing director in CIDCO for a long time. But the residents feel that now there will not be more delay in taking up the work on this project since CIDCO is now equipped with an MD as well as joint MD. The appointment of Sanjay Bhatia as MD and V Radha as joint MD of CIDCO has given hopes to the residents of the city who feel that now the administration of the city is in the right hands. They expect some transparency to be there.  

It is the CIDCO which is building the Rs 2,000 crore project in the city. The first phase of metro is from Belapur to Pendhar. The work on this will consist of four stages. They are works on viaduct, station building development, construction of depot and the building of telecommunication and signaling. The work on viaduct and station development has been done to a certain extent. But there is yet a long way to go and one can’t predict as to when exactly this project will get completed although many speculations are being made in this regard.

Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai’ (Mickey Virus, The Mystical Laws, Sooper Se Ooper, The Fifth Estate, Satya 2, Wake Up India, Ishq Actually and Dilli Gang) that was published in Newsband

New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

Mickey Virus

Mickey Virus is a 2013 Hindi Thriller comedy film written and directed by Saurabh Varma. Mickey Virus is produced by DAR Motion Pictures in association with Trilogic Digital Media Limited & Awesome Films Pvt. Ltd. The film features Manish Paul, Elli Avram, Manish Choudhary, Puja Gupta, and Varun Badola as main characters.

The movie has an interesting plot. Mickey Virus is a comic thriller set in Delhi, India. When Delhi Police comes across a case revolving around hacking, they begin their search to find a computer hacker who can help them crack this case. The head of the police team ACP Siddhanth (Manish Choudhary), stumbles across Mickey Arora (Manish Paul), a lazy but street smart hacker who can actually help them solve the case. Mickey runs a grocery store in day time and creates virus's for anti virus companies in the night along with his Tom boy friend Chutney (Puja Gupta) who always helps him out in all odd jobs. He is also head over heals in love with a character he has created in his game called "Kung Fu Chameli" and will do anything to get out of hard work to do whatever he wants to do. Little does he know that ACP Siddhanth accompanied by Inspector Bhalla (Varun Badola) are tough nuts to crack.

The film has Manish Paul as Mickey Arora, Elli Avram as Kamayani, Manish Choudhary as ACP Siddhanth Chauhan, Varun Badola as Inspector Devender Bhalla, Puja Gupta as Chutney, Nitesh Pandey as Professor, Raghav Kakkar as Floppy and Vikesh Kumar as Pancho.

The Mystical Laws

A religious tract masquerading as a Japanese anime fantasy, The Mystical Laws was created and executive produced by Ryuho Okawa, the founder of a religion dubbed “Happy Science.” The movement, incorporating the teachings of Muhammad, Jesus, Buddha and Confucius — talk about hedging your bets! — informs this turgid epic which is one of the contenders for this year’s animated film Oscar.

Set in 202X, whenever that is, the film concerns the impending destruction of Earth as masterminded by the Godom Empire, led by the villainous Tathagata Killer, who faces little resistance thanks to the apparent helplessness of that former superpower, the United States, and the aid of “Mystical Technology” supplied by the beautiful Chan Leika, the CEO of a mysterious trading company.

Fortunately, the planet has a savior in the form of Sho Shishimaru, part of a mystical organization named Hermes Wings who is hailed by Indian monks as the second coming of Buddha.

In any case, it all leads up to an apocalyptic battle between the forces of good and evil, or -- as the Godom Empire’s swastika iconography and inspiration by the likes of Karl Marx and Charles Darwin indicate — God and godlessness.

Sooper Se Ooper

Sooper Se Ooper is a 2013 Hindi film written and directed by Shekhar Ghosh under the banner of Reliance Entertainment and Jigsaw Entertainment.

The film has Vir Das as Ranvir, Kirti Kulhari, Gulshan Grover, Deepak Dobriyal, Yashpal Sharma and Mohan Kapoor.

The film has an interesting plot. Ranvir's fortune is in dumps and selling his ancestral land in Mumbai is the only way to survive and Kukreja who has put all on stake has to get this land to stay away from the wrath of a 'bhai' and also achieve his dream of becoming a builder eventually! For both Ranvir and Kukreja this plot of land means everything and has to be got any which way. But the key to the land is Ranvir's mama Madho Singh Rathore, in Mandawa. Since the will wasn't made in Ranvir's name, so Mama has to give the NOC. Ranvir has to get his Mama to Mumbai within a month and Kukreja has to stop him from reaching Mumbai. We see the transformation of our protagonist Ranvir from a materialistic city youth to someone who is all for family and values and antagonist Kukreja from a 'dalla' to a gangster through this journey, which has some other real and funny characters as well. In the 1st half the city goes to a village and in the 2nd the village comes to the city.

The Fifth Estate

The Fifth Estate is a 2013 American thriller film directed by Bill Condon, about the news-leaking website WikiLeaks starring Benedict Cumberbatch as its editor-in-chief and founder Julian Assange, and Daniel Brühl as its former spokesperson Daniel Domscheit-Berg. Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Stanley Tucci, and Laura Linney are also featured in supporting roles. The film's screenplay was written by Josh Singer based in-part on Domscheit-Berg's book Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange and the World's Most Dangerous Website (2011), as well as WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy (2011) by British journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding. The film is co-produced by DreamWorks Pictures and Participant Media.

The film has an interesting plot. The story opens in 2010 before flashing back to journalist Daniel Domscheit-Berg meeting Julian Assange for the first time in 2007. Daniel's interest in online activism has led him to Assange, with whom he has corresponded by email. They begin working together on WikiLeaks, a website devoted to releasing information being withheld from the public while retaining anonymity for its sources. Julian and Daniel's first major target is Julius Baer, whose Cayman Islands branch has been engaged in illegal activities. Despite Baer's filing of a lawsuit and obtaining an injunction, the judge dissolves the injunction, allowing Julian and Daniel to reclaim the domain name. As their confidence increases, the two push forward in publishing information over the next three years, exposing secrets on Scientology and revealing Sarah Palin's Yahoo account and leaking the membership list of the British National Party.

Interspersed throughout the film are flashbacks hinting at Assange's troubled childhood and involvement in a suspicious cult. Daniel suspects that Julian was left scarred by his upbringing, signs of which involve the continued dying of his hair.

As the film ends, it is revealed WikiLeaks is continuing to leak information, Daniel has written a book on his involvement with the organization, and that Assange has threatened to sue in retaliation. Julian himself is shown to be holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, stemming from an outstanding warrant on sexual allegations. In an interview, he denounces the development of two upcoming WikiLeaks films, stating that they will be factually inaccurate (having been partly based on Daniel's book), and informs the viewer that individuals are what the government is afraid of.

Satya 2

Satya 2 is a Bollywood crime film with production design by Saini S. Johray, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, as a sequel to his earlier blockbuster Satya. The film stars Puneet Singh Ratn, Anaika Soti, Aradhna Gupta, Mahesh Thakur and others. The film tells the story of Satya, an immigrant who comes to Mumbai aiming to refashion the Mumbai underworld.

The film has an interesting plot. By the year 2013, Mumbai underworld was erased by Mumbai Police. Satya (Puneet Singh Ratn), a man without a past, comes to the city envisions the rebirth of his company.

We are now in 2013 and since there is almost no underworld now, it is clear that there's a vacuum and whenever there's a vacuum in any lucrative business there will always be an entrepreneur to step in. If Satya was a story of a man who came in 1998 and shaped the then existing underworld, Satya 2 is about another man who comes in 2013 to reinvent the underworld. This is a futuristic film not in terms of science fiction but in terms of that there's no precedent for the protagonist of Satya 2. He starts a new underworld company based on his study of the mistakes of all the earlier dons and also on the ways he develops to deal with the modern day policing methods.

The police is completely caught off guard by this never before experienced menace of the new Company. So in one line Satya 2 is about a man whose thinking starts where the earlier Dons thinking ended and where the police cannot even begin to think. This new age gangster will obviously be armed with the mistakes of the earlier gangsters and also with the modern day policing methods.

The film has Puneet Singh Ratn as Satya, Anaika Soti as Chitra, Mahesh Thakur as Lahoti, Naara as Amitriyaan, Aradhna Gupta as Naanthanda, Raj Premi as RK, Amal Sehrawat as TK, Kaushal Kapoor as Purshottam and Vikram Singh as Anna.

The soundtrack of the film consists of nine tracks composed by Nitin Raikwar, Sanjeev-Darshan, Kary Arora and Shree D and lyrics by Moied Elhaam, Nitin Raikwar, Kumaar, Sonny Ravan and Shree D. The songs are Tu Hai, Special, Maagne Se (Title Song), Palkon Se, Saathi Re, Taaqat, Control, Veerani and Satya Is Back Again.

Wake Up India

Bollywood actor Anjan Srivastav will play the role of a politician in the upcoming film Wake Up India. Reportedly, the film is closely modeled on former Prime Minster and BJP leader, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The film was earlier named as 'Democrazy'. Srivastava plays the role of the Chief Minister of a northern Indian state; however, his looks in the film clearly shows the Atal inspiration. Former cricketer, Sandeep Patil's son, Chirag is making his debut with the film. The director of Wake Up India, Bablu Seshadri accepts that Srivastava's character in the film resembles Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The film is an eye-opener for the people in terms of political awareness. It is a low-budget film and does not have any major actor. Mohan Joshi, Milind Gunaji, Anand Jog and comedian Asrani also act in the film. The present mayor of Agra, Ajula Singh Mahor, will also play the leader of the feminist group in the film.

Ishk Actually

Ishk Actually is a Hindi film, starring Rajeev Khandelwal, Rayo Bakhirta, Neha Ahuja, Ann Mithchai, Neha Ghelot and Siddharth Van Shipley. The film is directed by Anish Khanna and produced by Sunny Sharma.

The film has an interesting story. Gia is at a crossroads in her life, with the arrows pointing towards Neil in one direction and Kabir in the opposite direction. She grapples with making a decision as she's torn between the two worlds that she's been living in. Love is the unanswered emotion that leads to a series of life altering situations. Amazed at life’s sense of timing, she treads along a path that she believes will lead to her true love.

The film has Rajeev Khandelwal as Neil, Rayo Bakhirta as Kabir, Neha Ahuja as Gia, Ann Mitchai as Ann, Neha Ghelot as Sarah and Siddharth Van Shipley as Sid.

Dilli Gang

Dilli Gang is produced by Rajeshwar Tyagi and its star cast consists of Darshan Jariwala, Neena Kulkarni, Yashpal Sharma, Amir Dalvi and Asrani. Choreographer is Shabeena Khan, Director: Ashish Tyagi, Singers: Mika Singh, Javed Ali, Siddhant Madhav and Vikas Bhalla. Lyricists are Ibrahim Ashq, Vikram Chaudhary and Naveen Tyagi. Music Director: Amjad Nadeem, Siddhant Madhav and Sandeep Surya.

Dilli Gang is a Hindi crime movie and is based on murders of senior citizens in Delhi. Dilli Gang movie shows the real face of the society and how the youngsters are running away from their responsibilities towards their parents in order to make more dollars.

Two poems by Union minister Kapil Sibal are also featured in the movie and he himself has recited the poem in the beginning and at the end of director Ashish Tyagi's debut film.