On My Radar: Unique Russian Textbook By JNU’s Woman Scholar

Unique Russian Textbook By JNU’s Woman Scholar
The stage was attractive as it truly depicted the Russian culture and beauty with traditional items. It was decorated by the students of the Centre of Russian Studies (CRS), School of Languages, Literature and Culture Studies(SLL&CS), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.At the centre

of attraction was Prof Meeta Narain of the CRS. The large audience comprised of Russian Embassy diplomates and officials, JNU teachers and students. They were there for the unveiling of a unique Russian text book—An Introduction to the Business World—authored by Prof Narain, whose academic excellence in Russian philology and translation studies has been recognized worldwide. If you wish to understand complicated financial terms being used by America and European Union in imposing “sanctions” against Russia for its “Special Operation” in Ukraine, this 300-page book will help. It is useful for those interested in understanding bilateral relations between Russia and India, especially in today’s scenario in the light of over one-year-old Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the West’s global sanctions against Moscow.“It acquaints one with the linguistic, semantic and stylistic features of these genres and their application in the financial world. This is carried out with the help of varied texts from these fields and their translation from Russian into English,” Prof Narain told The Sunday Guardian.Prof.Narain was given the prestigious Pushkin Medal (2019) by the Russian government, for her contribution in the field of education and in promoting and strengthening the Russian field.The event was well attended by the dignitaries and representatives of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in India and of the Russian Centre of Science and Culture. Oleg Osipov, Director of the Russian House and Counsellor of the Embassy of the Russian Federation (who released the book) spoke of the contemporary need of the society, where this text books is a boon as it carries forward the business ties between Russia and India. Alexander Dodonov, Head, Russian Language Educational Centre, Russian House, compared the programme to a festival and praised the academic efforts of Prof Narain to a shining star, which will shine in the field of translation. The Dean, SLL & CS, Prof Shoba Sivasankaran, said the book is anadded feather on Prof Narain’s cap as well as for the CRS.The Chairperson, CRS, Prof. Richa Sawant, spoke of the contribution of Prof.Narain in introducing new courses on translation studies to the Centre and promoting this genre to reach new heights with this new book.

A Journey Of Four Decades
It is interesting to see Prof Narain’s passionate journey of four decades at JNU—as a student, researcher, faculty and then a professor at the same Centre! A professor par excellence, she has several books to her credit on communication skills and theory of translation. Her areas of interest include teaching Russian as a foreign language—practical Russianlanguage, communicative Russian skills, and translation studies—theory, practice and techniques of translation,translation of newspaper, social science and business materials from Russian into English and vice-versa. For Prof Narain, writing text books from the point of view of Indian audience, has been the greatest boon, as they are understood and relevant for the Russian community all over. Author of seven books, she has been invited as visiting scholar and to present papers to the top universities in India, the USA, Europe and Russia. She is the recipient of Dr. Radhakrishnan Millennium National Teacher Award (2010), Education Award for Excellence (2016), Modernites Award for Excellence (2019) and Opcar Achievers Award (2022). All this has a profound impact on the language of business communication, and hence the emergence of new areas of business communication, which call for research and understanding. The textbook An Introduction to the Business World takes into account these sectors of the business world and also the financial and economic sectors of Russia and India,and provides a systematic, methodological approach towards teaching this field,” Prof Narain said. An Introduction to the Business World textbook consists of four major sections—the financial sector, the financial and economic system of Russia, official business communication in India, business letters and abbreviations in Russian and English in the appendix.

Holy ‘Cow Cess’ On Sale Of Liquor In HP
The Congress-ruled hilly-state of Himachal Pradesh has decided to impose Rs 10 “cow cess” on the sale of each liquor bottle—a move expected to fetch Rs 100 crore revenue per annum. This “holy cow cess” was announced by Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday while presenting the first annual budget in his tenure for the financial year 2023-24 in the state assembly.And in order to boost tourism, Sukhu said that Kangra district will be developed as the “tourist capital” and all 12 districts will be connected with heliport facility in the next one year. The growth of state’s GDP has remained sluggish during 2022-23 and dropped to 6.4% compared to 7.6% growth recorded in 2021-22.