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Indian designers destined to hit global fashion market
New Delhi, Aug 6 (ANI): Behind the schmoozing and glamour at the India Fashion Week (IFW) festivities is a determination to do serious business, as designers display their lines. Cobalt blue georgette skirts with symmetrical hemlines, ruffled blouses in fuchsia pink and embroidered denim pants ripped at the ankles were on show as models sashayed down the ramp. Sanjay Kapoor, a representative of the Satya Paul fashion house, said the event helps designers showcase their collections to an international audience. "It's an exposure to the trade, to trade buyers who really don't know what the brand is all about. It's also exposure to the market place to our customers and to the people," said Kapoor of Satya Paul, one of the 53 designers taking part in the annual fair. Dani Parker, a buyer from Hong Kong, said she had been impressed by the range on display at the Fashion Week and was likely to tie up with a handful of designers. "When we watched the first show, we loved the range of clothing and we all rushed to meet the designers. And then the second show came and we loved that range and then the next one came, at the end of the day we were going--gosh you've got such a wide range of beautiful clothes. It was really hard for me and my partner Komal Mulchandani to really figure out which (collection) one we are going with because all of them are beautiful," Parker said. At this year's show there are 12 international companies including Selfridges from London, that are participating in the event, along with nearly 120 domestic buyers. Soniya Kripalani, a buyer from Dubai, said the event has come a long way and now Indian designers were ready for the big leap into the international arena. "As a buyer today I have a great opportunity to take these designers on to an international platform because they have international cotour, they have international diffusion, they have international pret," said Kripalani who runs the Aesthetics Boutiques in the Middle East. Indian designer wear is just a fraction of the 670-billion-rupee Indian apparel market, according to the Fashion and Design Council of India. To tap a larger market, share designers are jumping into the volume game and shifting focus from haute couture to pret-a- porter or ready-to-wear. Designers are also creating a fusion look, by patterning indigenous prints and motifs into western cuts, primarily, to target international buyers. But there were many buying houses that were there to spot the designers with serious potential for future tie-ups. Third of its kind organised in India, the India fashion week has it all- dead serious business mingled with loads of fun.(ANI) Congress demands President's rule in Kashmir
New Delhi, Aug 6 (ANI): The Congress party has said that imposition of President's rule will inspire all political parties to participate in the forthcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The party said the move will ensure free and fair polls in the state which goes to polls in September and October, despite a refusal by Kashmiri separatists to take part. The demand was made after a high level Congress delegation led by senior leader Manmohan Singh met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Tuesday. Talking to reporters after the meeting Manmohan Singh said, free and fair polls are essential as international community is keeping a close watch on them. "We had a meeting about Jammu and Kashmir elections and our plea was that both government and we as a principal opposition party are one that there should be free and fair elections. This is in our national interest. It is also in the wider national interest with international ramifications. In this context we said that level playing field should be created so that the ruling party and the opposition and other elements who might be interested in participating they participate on an equal footing," said Singh. He said the move will inspire political parties to participate in the electoral process. "At the moment the dice is heavily loaded against those political parties who are in opposition with regard to security cover that is available to opposition parties and other arrangements. Then there are certain special forces in the state which are not anybody's subject to anybody's discipline. In our view President's rule is absolutely essential to inspire all that elections will be truly free and fair," he added. Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani and Defence Minister George Fernades also attended the meeting. India has rejected demand for allowing foreign observers for polls but says all steps would be taken to hold "free and fair" elections in the state. However, New Delhi has allowed non-governmental organisations and officials of foreign missions in India to move freely in Kashmir during the elections, but says no to formal monitoring of the polls by external observers. The elections would be held in four stages on September 16 and September 24 and on October 1 and October 8. Separatists have boycotted the polls. Several militant groups have threatened to sabotage the elections.(ANI) India condemns killing of Amarnath yatris
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to top New Delhi, Aug 6 (ANI): India said on Tuesday the killing of nine Hindu pilgrims in Jammu and Kashmir was an act of unmitigated terrorism and demanded Pakistan to end the infrastructure of terrorism. The pilgrims were gunned down when they were sleeping in tents along a pilgrimage route in Kashmir. New Delhi blamed a Pakistan-based group for the massacre. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said the incident proved that cross-border terrorism continued uninterrupted in Jammu and Kashmir. "I am sure that this attack would be condemned strongly and unequivocally by all responsible members of the international community, because it is an incident which involves the massacre of innocent holy pilgrims which is an act of unmitigated terrorism, which points graphically to the fact that terrorism continues to infest our region and that the roll call of innocent victims of terrorism increases by the day in Jammu and Kashmir," said Rao. Ruling out resumption of dialogue between two countries, Rao said peace would continue to elude the region till Pakistan continues to extend its support to terrorists operating from its soil. New Delhi has set a permanent end to infiltration in the bloodied region as a condition to ending a seven-month military standoff with Pakistan. "If one is to go by the pattern established during previous such attacks, obviously there is a pattern, there has been the involvement of certain types of terrorist groups, groups who owe their allegiance to groups across our border. And all this justifies India's continued vigilance and intensified call to Pakistan to end its support for cross-border terrorism to stop infiltration to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism without which there can be no hope for peace and stability in our region for the resumption of dialogue between our two countries," said Rao. The latest bloodshed followed an announcement last week that state elections in Jammu and Kashmir were due to start in mid- September and be staggered over several weeks. The results will be known by mid-October. Pakistan, which says rebel incursions have stopped, seeks implementation of 1948-49 U.N. resolutions for a plebiscite to determine whether Kashmiris wish to join India or Pakistan and says the elections are no substitute. Both nations have massed their forces on the border since a December attack on the Indian parliament which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militant groups operating in Kashmir.(ANI)
Eight new ministers join Naveen team Go to top Bhubaneswar, Aug 6 (ANI): Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday inducted eight new ministers into his council of ministers, four of them to cabinet rank. Of the new entrants, seven belonged to the BJD while one was from the BJP. Governor M.M. Rajendran administered the oath of office at Raj Bhawan. The strength of the ministry, which was reduced to 17 after the chief minister dropped four BJD ministers on Monday night, has gone up to 25 after the expansion, first in 29 months. After the swearing-in ceremony, the chief minister told newsmen that he had tried to keep the size of the ministry at the original strength of 25. "There would be a full-fledged expansion of the council of ministers in a few months time," he said.(ANI)
Mamata may yet try a last-ditch attempt
Go to top Kolkata, Aug 6 (ANI): Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's decision to cancel the allotment of petrol pumps made since January 2000 has given Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee a fresh ploy to seek his intervention to stall Eastern Railways bifurcation. Ms Banerjee has argued, not without reasons, that Vajpayee was well within his rights to reverse the Cabinet decision on railway bifurcation in the people's interest when he could intervene into the petroleum ministry affairs in the wake of a serious controversy. Political observers have detected in the Trinamul Congress supremo's appeal to the Prime Minister to reconsider the bifurcation a last-ditch attempt to persuade the NDA leadership to evolve a formula which could allow her to continue in the ruling coalition. According to informed sources, the success of Monday's Bangla bandh in the face of a combined opposition from the state administration and the railway ministry has emboldened Ms Banerjee to go for a sustained movement against the bifurcation. The Trinamul Congress leader feels her two-day dharna, which preceded the state-wide bandh, has evoked a favourable response from the people to her anti-bifurcation stir. This has also prompted her to gear up the party for a long-drawn movement against the "Centre's step-motherly attitude towards Bengal as evident from the Cabinet's green signal to Eastern Railway's split." Ms Banerjee has indicated to her close circles that the Centre's inaction will not only make her sever ties with the NDA but also ultimately prompt her to join hands with the other opposition parties on some of the burning public issues. While Trinamul Congress' formal dissociation from the NDA will not pose any imminent danger to the coalition government, it is likely to lead to a chain reaction among some NDA partners which are not quite happy over the BJP's handling of the contentious issues. The Trinamul Congress supremo, however, is under pressure from a section of party MPs not to quit the NDA over the bifurcation issue but to seek some alternative face-saving device to justify the party's continuation in the coalition. The concerned MPs had wanted Ms Banerjee to join the Vajpayee government even after railway minister Nitish Kumar's formal announcement on the bifurcation, saying she could fight the move from within the Cabinet. The Trinamul Congress chairperson, however, had rejected the idea on the plea that she would be outvoted at a Cabinet meeting held to reconsider the issue. The Vajpayee Cabinet's subsequent decision to stand by Kumar on the creation of new zones has only vindicated her apprehension. Informed sources said Ms Banerjee was carefully weighing all the pros and cons of her party's dissociation from the NDA. The Trinamul Congress personally believes that there is no point in continuing in the NDA if the Centre does not allow the Dhanbad division to remain in Eastern Railway and add Katihar to it as the "minimum price" of her party's support to the Vajpayee government. She also feels the elevation of union home minister L.K.Advani to the post of the Deputy Prime Minister will encourage the BJP's apex leadership to implement only the party's agenda and keep away from the NDA's common agenda of governance. Ms Banerjee is also wary of her party losing its secular credentials if it is forced to support the BJP's line of campaign in Gujarat during the Assembly polls in the state. The Trinamul Congress supremo is now more or less convinced that the Centre will not back her anti-CPI(M) stir in Bengal. She has already charged chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee with entering into a "secret deal" with Advani to suppress her anti- bifurcation agitation. It is precisely for this reason that she has directed her party functionaries to gear up the organisation at the grassroots level to meet the Marxists' challenge in next year's panchayat polls without depending on the Centre's support. She knows her party will not be in a position to get the Centre's backing against the CPI(M) in Bengal if it remains outside the Cabinet. The Marxists, however, have been caught on the wrong foot by Ms Banerjee's current anti-Centre crusade. The Trinamul Congress leader has not only demanded reversal of the Cabinet decision on Eastern Railway's split but also openly protested against the Centre's move to shift the headquarters of the DVC and Coal India from the city to other states. The CPI(M), which has all along linked Ms Banerjee's anti- bifurcation stir to the question of her re-induction into the NDA Cabinet, is finding it difficult to justify its continued opposition to her movement. The party has called a public rally at the Brigade parade ground on August 11 to elaborate its stand regarding the railway bifurcation, but its persistent criticism of Ms Banerjee's plan of action to stall the railway minister's move has already created a lot of misgivings in the people's minds.(ANI)
Minister quits Modi govt
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to top Gandhinagar, Aug 6 (ANI): Gujarat Minister of State for Revenue Haren Pandya on Tuesday quit the Narendra Modi government. Pandya told reporters he was going to hand over his resignation letter to Modi "right now". He said "this is not a stunt and there is no question of withdrawing it once submitted." "He does not like to put the party in controversy and, therefore, he is resigning."(ANI) |