Festival sheds light on Fed Square

Melbourne : Looming 13 meters tall in the center of Federation Square, a mass of steel and lights has emerged as the visual centerpiece of the square’s annual Light in Winter program.

Designed by renowned light artist Bruce Ramus, the Tree of Light, or Helix Tree, weighs 11 tonnes, is 17 meters wide, and is comprised of 21 curved steel beams fitted with LED lights which illuminate in response to the volume and pitch of the human voice.

Ramus, who was commissioned by curator Robyn Archer to create a piece that would act as a beacon drawing visitors to the square, says he was attracted  to the connotations of the form. “Helixes don’t impose on each other, they are always in harmony. That really appealed to me,” he says. The brief also asked that a connection be made between light and power, which inspired Ramus to craft the helix into a tree. “Trees symbolize power without resistance. They bend, they sway, in harmony with their environment.”

At dusk every night over the month of June, various Melbourne choirs will perform “Singing Up the Tree”, their voices activating colourful lights that will emit from the branches of the structure. Visitors, too, will be able to create their own light shows, but song, rather than speech, is recommended for best results.  “We need to make it quite sensitive to cut out the ambient noise from pedestrians and the like, so you do have to sing out,” says Ramus. “ I don’t imagine it’s for the shy.”

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Other attractions on the Light of Winter program include the Solstice Celebration on June 22nd, a feast of music, performance and food from more than twenty of Melbourne’s ethnic communities, and Sound to Light: Crossing Borders, an exhibition at No Vacancy Project Space that pairs Melbourne and Hobart-based sound and light artists and will be simultaneously streamed at Hobart’s Dark Mofo.

The Light in Winter is at Federation Square until June 30. All events free. 

Source : TheAge

Tourists go rural, ditch hotels for homestay units

MANALI: Kullu villages are buzzing with activity these days with most tourists opting to stay in the secure, healthy and natural atmosphere of rural areas. Despite some hotels in Kullu-Manali trying their best to retain tourists, homestays and other accommodation options in villages are attracting visitors in large numbers.

Tourism industry sources said that the search for new, unspoiled culture of hills and friendly attitude of villagers is making the tourists land in villages. Kullu district has 196 registered homestay units, which are doing a brisk business. Influenced by the changing trend in tourism that is shifting from towns to villages, many villagers have applied for registration of their households as homestay units. Mushrooming concrete structures in towns, besides pollution and noise, are turning tourists increasingly towards villages, they said.

"You can see that rooms in hotels are vacant, but most homestay units are occupied. The tastes of tourists are changing with time," chairman of Himachal Homestay Association, Sanjay Dutta, said. The accommodation in homestays is much cheaper than hotels as no luxury or service taxes are applicable here, he said.

"Tourists get fresh food and generally extend their stay. Staying in calm and serene atmosphere of villages help tourists fight the stress of modern living and relax. They also get to know about how the villagers grow vegetables and grains, how they prepare for winters and also about their tough but simple living," Dutta said.

Despite heavy rush of tourists to Kullu valley, occupancy in many hotels was not more than 70%, sources said. On the other hand, tourists were exploring untouched and new areas, especially homestay units, they said.

"Tourists love their stay with us. Generally, most of them learn 'pahadi recipes' from us and cook their food in our kitchen. We watch television together and discuss our lifestyle and culture with them. We need no marketing, our guests refer their friends and relatives," owner of Himalayan Cottage Homestay, Ankush Bhardwaj, said.

Not only homestays are promoting village tourism but are also strengthening the economy of villages as consumption of products like milk, fruits and vegetables has increased manyfold. The homestay units are also attracting high end tourists from abroad with Naggar, Batahar, Sarsei, Karjan, Shanag, Simsa, Katrain, Tosh, Kasol, Jibhi, Aleo, Prini and Shuru, among others, being the top selling villages recently, sources said.

Source : TOI

British town Warwick gets its first Sikh mayor, Prabhjit Singh Dhillon

London: A Sikh man has been elected as the first Indian-origin mayor of the "historic" Warwick town in Britain's West Midlands region.

Prabhjit Singh Dhillon, who become the 280th mayor of the town, described his appointment as a "privilege".

After being sworn in as the mayor at a ceremony, Dhillon said: "I am truly honoured and humbled to be elected by my fellow councillors to become mayor for 2013-2014."

"I have become the 280th mayor, a privilege for a local Warwick boy and first Sikh since that time. My mayoral year is a mere blip in the last 1100 years of former mayors in this historic town," the Coventry Telegraph quoted him as saying.

"I urge all other faiths to send in invites for which I will try to attend as I pick up on the theme of my buzz word 'Warwickness'. As part of this I am going to include Sikh philosophy, which has similarities to the Christian teachings.

"Warwickness to me stands for, in broad terms, equality, peace, simplicity, truth and integrity."

Dhillon's term in office will mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, the paper said.

"Plans are already afoot to ensure this important milestone is remembered with dignity and respect and I intend that this council together with local and county heritage organisations will play its full part in the centenary events."

Met forecast: More rains than last year

Mysore: The monsoon forecast for the state is encouraging as it is likely get more rainfall this season than last year. While the rainfall during the monsoon, which is slated to set in after June 3 is likely to be  five per cent lesser than the average received by the state over the last 30 years, it had received 18.5 per cent lesser rainfall than average the last monsoon.

The Cauvery catchment areas of Mysore, Mandya and Chamarajnagar  too  could get only 10 per cent lesser rainfall than average when last year they had got 35 per cent lesser, going by senior meteorologist and professor and head  of  Agro Meteorology at the University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK,  M. G. Rajegowda.

The state which receives 72 per cent of its annual average rainfall of 1190mm during the South West Monsoon, could fall short of this by five per cent this year, according to him. “The monsoon which will set in by June first week will last till October second week and it is anticipated that from June to September the state will receive an average of 197mm, 293mm, 205mm and 165mm of rainfall respectively,”  he adds.

Like the rest of the state the Cauvery catchment area seems to be doing better this year as it had recorded 35 per cent lesser rainfall than average last year.  “The intensity of the South West Monsoon depends on global phenomena such as the pressure gradient between the Indian and Pacific Oceans,”  Rajegowda explains.

LPG subsidy directly in bank accounts from today in 18 districts

New Delhi: Starting today cooking gas (LPG) consumers in 18 districts will get Rs. 435 in their bank accounts when they book an LPG cylinder as the government rolls out its ambitious direct benefit transfer (DBT) programme to cut its fuel subsidy.

The scheme was to be rolled out in 20 districts initially but the launch in Mysore in Karnataka and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh has been put off by a month due to assembly and Parliamentary bypolls, official sources said.

Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily will launch the scheme in Tumkur in his home state Karnataka on June 1 while Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Lakshmi Panabaka will simultaneously kick-off the scheme in Hyderabad, the capital of her home state Andhra Pradesh.

Sources said after the launch of the scheme, consumers in 18 districts like North Goa and Pondicherry will get Rs. 435 in their bank accounts every time they book for an LPG refill.

These consumers then will have to buy cooking gas at market price which is double the Rs. 410.50 rate for a 14.2-kg bottle in Delhi.

The government intends to extend the scheme to rest of the country before end of the year but wants to see results in the 20 districts first. The 20 districts selected have high Aadhaar or unique identification number penetration.

While as many as 89 per cent of the LPG consuming population in these districts have Aadhaar number, government will give a three-month grace period to them to procure the UID number and seed it with their bank accounts where cash subsidy has to be transferred.

After three months, that is from September 1, only consumers having Aadhaar and banks accounts linked to them will get cash subsidy and the rest will have to buy LPG at market price, they said.

The government anticipates a saving of Rs. 8,000 to 10,000 crore in LPG subsidies annually after the scheme is rolled out all over the country.

The government had in January launched what is being dubbed as a game-changer DBT, wherein government benefits like pensions and scholarships are directly transferred to beneficiaries.

The scheme is now being extended to LPG with the aim that the government subsidy reaches the intended beneficiary only.

Currently, consumers are entitled to nine 14.2-kg cylinders of LPG at subsidised rates in a year from LPG
dealers. Many of these are black-marketed to unintended users like commercial establishments who otherwise have to buy the fuel at market price.

The 18 districts where the DBT for LPG is being launched from June 1 include Anantpur, Chittoor, East Godavari, Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy in Andhra Pradesh; Diu in Daman and Diu; North Goa; Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Una in Himachal Pradesh; Tumkur in Karnataka; Pathanamthitta and Wayand in Kerala; Wardha in Maharasthra; Pondicherry; SBS Nagar/Nawanshahar in Punjab and East Nimar (Khandwa) and Harda in Madhya Pradesh.

The scheme would be rolled out in Mandi and Mysore from July 1, they said.

Call for changes to Women Bill

Thiruvananthapuram: A public sitting organised by the home ministry and the state assembly on the upcoming ‘Kerala Protection of Privacy and Dignity of Women’s Bill 2013’ received recommendations from over 45 participants. Among them, SAKHI has demanded that the name of the bill be renamed Prohibition of Sexual Harassment Bill, while the Purushavakasha Samrakshana Samithi (PSS) feels that, along with women, men too are facing discrimination.

SAKHI says the word ‘protection’ in the title points to an age-old attitude. Instead, it recommends use of the word ‘prohibition’ and feels the words ‘privacy’ and ‘dignity of women’ are not appropriately defined.

“We have laws dealing with violence at home and harassment at work place, but we are lacking in a law dealing with the safety of women in ‘public places’. Therefore, the word ‘public place’ must be included in the act and it must be defined properly,” said G. Rejitha, project coordinator at SAKHI, to DC. P.R. Gokul of PSS told DC it is not only men, but their relatives, both old and young, who are also being harassed under domestic violence and dowry-related cases. “Currently, more than 500 minor children and 5,000 old people are facing cases. So there should be a clause to protect innocent people. Also, we feel that instead of including women alone in the bill, transgenders and men too should be given protection,” said Gokul, secretary of PSS.

According to a top assembly official, two more public sittings would be held in Kochi and Kozhikode, and the final bill would be approved after three months. It was on February 14 that the assembly had referred the bill to the subject committee citing that more suggestions had to be collected from the public.Though the subject committee was convened the very next day, the second sitting was delayed by more than three months.

Narayana Murthy returns to take charge of struggling Infosys

New Delhi: Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy has come out of retirement to lead the company he co-founded in 1981. Infosys, India's second larget outsourcer, has been struggling to meet its own high standards over the last few quarters as a severe slowdown in the global economy hurt the company's business.

Mr Murthy, who served as Infosys chief executive from 1981 to 2002, and was the company's chairman from 2002 to 2011, has been appointed as executive chairman with immediate effect.

Mr Murthy will replace current chairman K V Kamath, who will become lead independent director, effective June 1. The current executive co-chairman S. Gopalakrishnan will be re-designated executive vice chairman, while current chief executive officer S.D. Shibulal will remain in his position, Infosys said in a statement on Saturday.

"The Board has taken this step keeping in mind the challenges that the technology industry and the Company faces and in the interest of all stakeholders, particularly shareholders large and small, who have asked for strengthening of the executive leadership during this challenging time," Mr Kamath said.

Infosys said it will put the matter before shareholders at its annual general meeting on June 15.

Infosys slipped to the third position among India's biggest IT firms by sales earlier this week, according to a report published by global consulting firm Gartner.

"This calling was sudden, unexpected, and most unusual. But, then, Infosys is my middle child. Therefore, I have put aside my plans-in-progress and accepted this responsibility," Mr Murthy said.

During his five year term, Mr. Murthy would draw a token compensation of Rupee one per year, the company said in a statement.

Mr Murthy has requested the board to appoint his Harvard-educated son, Dr. Rohan Murthy, as his executive assistant for a five-year term. If appointed, the junior Murthy will also be paid a token compensation of Rupee one per year.

Rohan, who has held fellowships at MIT, Caltech, and Microsoft Research, has authored several papers and patents as part of his research on wireless and mobile computing.

Infosys, for years an investor favourite for exceeding its earnings targets, has struggled in the past two years as its big customers in the U.S. and Europe cut costs and seen rivals such as Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies take away market share.

In April, Infosys forecast full-year sales growth that missed analyst expectations by a margin of up to 50 per cent, pushing down its shares to their lowest close in a decade.

"This is a drastic, some might say, welcome move," said Ankur Rudra, sector analyst at Ambit Capital, which has a "sell" rating on the stock. "Probably, this could be a step towards a new strategic direction and leadership as well."

The company's troubles have spurred criticism of everything from its method of choosing CEOs to its pricing strategy to what is seen as an insular and risk-averse culture.

Chief executive Shibulal is one of the seven engineers who launched the company in 1981 by pooling together $250. All four CEO's so far have been from this group.

Murthy, who has earlier served on the board of HSBC and Unilever, said the calling was "sudden, unexpected and most unusual," while accepting the position.

Shares in Infosys closed 3 per cent higher on Friday, ahead of the announcement. The stock is up 4 per cent so far in 2013, compared to a nearly 7 per cent increase in the sectoral index.