Adopt a cow in MP
Congress-ruled Madhya Pradesh has decided to seek donations for its “Project Gaushala” by letting people and NRIs adopt cows. One can adopt a cow for a minimum of 15 days and can go on supporting it till the animal’s lifetime. The adoption rate card is: lifetime, Rs 3 lakh; one year, Rs 21,000; one month, Rs 2,100; 15 days, Rs 1,100. Donations will be facilitated through a website and a mobile app which are currently under development. Once ready, the website will carry photographs of donors. The donation will not be for a specific shelter, but a cow.
The Kamal Nath government in January announced a plan to build 1,000 new gaushalas to house stray cows. It accused the previous BJP government of not adding any cow shelters in its 15-year regime.
Serial turns controversial
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has banned the telecast of the controversial television serial Ram-Siya Ke Luv-Kush. The Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice T.S. Dhindsa has refused to stay the ban on a petition by a TV channel. The Punjab government’s Additional Advocate General Rameeza Hakeem told the court that the decision to ban the telecast of the serial had been taken on the ground that Bhagwan Valmikiji had been portrayed in a negative light, hurting the religious and other sentiments of the Valmiki community in the state. The TV company has offered to delete the objectionable scenes.
Pak woman praises ISRO
While many Pakistan leaders tried to make fun of India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission, Namira Salim, known as the first Pakistani hoping to go to space aboard Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, congratulated the Indian Space and Research Organisation for its historic attempt to make a landing on the moon.
Salim, in a statement to the Karachi-based digital science magazine, Scientia, said: “The Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission is indeed a giant leap for South Asia which not only makes the region but the entire global space industry proud. Regional developments in the space sector in South Asia are remarkable and no matter which nation leads—in space, all political boundaries dissolve and in space—what unites us, overrides, and divides us on earth.”
Chandigarh Press To House Le Corbusier Era Furniture
The government printing press building in Chandigarh’s 18 Sector will be converted into a museum of heritage furniture. The Centre has ordered the closure of the press. A member of the Heritage Protection Cell, Ajay Jagga, told The Sunday Guardian that the museum would help the Union Territory Administration to check the sale of heritage furniture abroad. The furniture created by Pierre Jeanneret, cousin of Le Corbusier (the architect of Chandigarh) has been a major attraction for art lovers the world over. Furniture worth crores has reportedly been smuggled out to auction houses abroad.
The number of heritage manhole covers designed by Le Corbusier is around 3,600, while the number of furniture items created by Pierre Jeanneret is around 1,000.
Pakistan’s ‘Jarpal Queen’ In Ladakh!
Forty kilometres from Leh is stationed “Jarpal Queen”, which is a war trophy from the 1971 India-Pakistan war.
In sleek, shiny and shipshape condition, this four-wheel Willys jeep has travelled throughout the country—Jaipur, Kupwara, Shimla, Poonch, Meerut, Ferozepur and many other Army cantonments, with the 3 Grenadier Regiment which had captured it in the war 48 years ago.
Now the “Queen”, named after Jarpal in Pakistan, is resting in the 3 Grenadier Regiment’s camp, 40 km from Leh. It carries Urdu script on its both sides. When this US-origin jeep was captured, it was fitted with a recoilless gun. “We captured it during the war at the Shakargarh border, in the Jarpal area of Pakistan. That is why, it was named Jarpal Queen,” says Colonel (retired) J.S. Dhillon, who was commissioned in the 3 Grenadier Regiment in 1982. “This war trophy has been shown to VIP guests and also used during guard of honour for senior officers,” says Dhillon, who now heads the Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering, Gulmarg.
Indian women business delegation in Israel
A delegation of 62 all Indian women entrepreneurs, representing the Ladies Association of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), was in Israel some days ago. The delegation met Israeli industry leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators. It was headed by Harjinder Kaur, president of FICCI FLO and founder and CEO of Comvision, a software production company specialising in accessible governance and software solutions for the transport sector.
Israel’s Ambassador in India, Dr Ron Malka, told The Sunday Guardian that “this will encourage collaborations between women entrepreneurs and businesswomen of both the countries.”