Parvati Omnakuttam resolve to win contest has been realised

Miss World first runner up Parvati Omnakuttam-2008 with Miss India Earth-2008 Tanvi Vyas in Jamshedpur. The ladies had stolen the show during the ramp

By Sanjeev Shekhar
When Parvati Omnakuttam became the Miss World runner up, I was one of the happiest one to learn about it. The reason being when I had met her in Jamshedpur fashion show in the month of May 2008, I had written in my blog (refer my post dated May 9, 2008), “though she has already accomplished the feat in the nation’s top platform (winner of Femina Miss India runner up), no matter the show will go a long way for her.”

This has been proved today when she is already making headlines in the fashion industry & crowned Miss World first runner up recently. “I had a dream and always aspired to become the model. I’ve already put the right step forward. But this is still the beginning, as I have a great responsibility when I’ll be representing my country at the International Miss World pageant in October this year,” informed Parvati during a chat at Jamshedpur. It may be noted that the 58th Miss World Final was held at Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa on December 13, 2008. Hence the date mentioned earlier in my blog regarding the competition stands rectified including the place of event.

Russia's Ksenya Sukhinova was crowned Miss World 2008. India's Parvathy Omanakuttan finished first runners up at a glittering African extravaganza. The second runner-up was Gabriel Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago.

Her ramp in Jamshepur is still fresh in the minds of people as she was the cynosure of the fashion show, where she cat walked into the hearts of the cheering youngsters.
“I participated in Miss Kochi and many more competitions. The Femina Miss India was the eighth competition of my life. I’m happy and lucky to have won it,” she had disclosed.The best part about her was that she did not believe in following anybody nor did she consider anyone as her role model. She was of belief to become an individual and imbibe in her the qualities to become the leader. “I want to place myself as a source of inspiration and motivation for others,” she had said without mincing words.

Her resolve and self confidence has put her on the citadel today, and she deserved to be there.
As like most of the stars, Parvati also had admiration for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s talent. “I love cricket and like Dhoni very much. In fact this place has the potential to give out stars in many other fields,” Parvati held at that time.

Sanjeev Shekhar

Media Consultant/Journalist/PR

21-year old Labrador dog defies average life-span of 10 years

By Sanjeev Shekhar

Ranchi-
When man bites dog, it makes news. This is rightly proved in case of Goldie alias Golu putting up at Chotanagpur Dog Hostel & Training Centre at Kanke road in the state capital of Jharkhand.

Well, you guessed it right, Goldie alias Golu is a dog. This Labrador breed animal has already entered its 21st year of lifespan, thereby defying the average age of 10-11 years only.

Golu is presently the cynosure of dog lovers, who is understandably putting on airs on the arrival of any visitor in the hostel. Deep Yellow in colour, this Labrador was named Golu because of its ‘roly-poly’ body structure in it’s hey days still surviving in its inimitable ‘rough & tough’ style. This creature has defied the basic thrust of life span and is one of the proud possessions of its owner Dr Manoj Mishra and his wife Seema Mishra.

Mishras have given their best in managing and maintaining this noble animal. Manoj has given treatment through Ayurveda and Homeopath medicines to keep the animal hale and hearty. “Though it has lost the capacity to produce issues but the dog is maintaining good health, which is basically a matter of research or study when it’s survival for so long is concerned,” informed the proud owner of the animal, Manoj Mishra.

When the world is witnessing enhancement in the lifespan of human, there are cases when the same is happening with animals too. Thanks to the medical science and contemporary medicines that have made things possible.

“Though it has lost the capacity to produce issues but the dog is maintaining good health, which is basically a matter of research or study when it’s survival for so long is concerned,” informed the proud owner of the animal, Manoj Mishra.

He is possessive about his oldest possession and fear that he will lose a very dear animal as it has grown its age. “The Labrador has produced 15-16 issues till now and is still living without any problem,” said Mishra.

Apart from physical, the dog is mentally fit. It still behaves as one of the obedient ‘son or student’ & never troubles its master unnecessarily. This is one of the rare development that needs to be recorded for animal lovers, claimed the couple.

However, this animal is enjoying the attention of not only its masters but also of its neigbours presently on account ot it being the oldest surviving animal at his master’s kennel.

Sanjeev Shekhar

Media Consultant/Journalist/PR

Hostel & Nursing Home for Dog- a unique concept evolved for animal lovers

By Sanjeev Shekhar

Ranchi-
We have heard about hostels for various category vis-à-vis boys, girls, working women hostel, bachelor hostel so and so forth. But if one comes across hostel & nursing home for dogs, it surprises many.

This may sound ridiculous but it’s true if one is visiting the state capital of Jharkhand and sees things on their own to believe it. The married couple Dr Manoj Mishra (50) and his wife Seema have undertaken a yeoman task of serving the ‘loyal’ animal known for its sacrifices for their masters.

“We take the responsibility of dogs on behalf of their actual owners, who seek our services when they are going out of station or want the animal to be more disciplined in their habits,” said Seema brimming with pride.

This couple has been successfully managing the dog hostel and nursing home for more than two decades now, wherein the team of doctors is taking care of all the needs of the animal. The hostel located at Kanke road presently has nearly 15 dogs under their care, the number of which keeps varying over the year. They treat them like their children and shower love as responsible parents, which is a benchmark for all those who want to know what love can do & how it prove wonders to tame even the ‘ferocious creature’.

Manoj was fond of dogs since his childhood as he had seen his mother late Pritimay Devi of Mahisadal Raj Gharana (Bengal) love for the animal. He mother was the owner of the estate of 500 villages and had 30 Great Dane during her times. She was fond of birds too.
As young boy, Monoj drew inspiration from his mother and develop a strong penchant for dogs.

He was the first in Ranchi to have got the Harly Queen Great Dane from outside. People from various localities used to visit his place to see the royal dog. “It’s our passion and love that has eventually turned into a profession now. But the fact remains at the back of mind that these are lovely creature and deserve all attention and love for their fine behaviour,” claimed the couple.
People from far-flung areas leave their dogs in the couple’s care. Even if the animal falls sick, they are the best people to be contacted for treatment.

“We have spent almost half of our lives with these dogs as well as other animals. We enjoy being with them. We can very well read their nature and behaviour, whatever they want we can make out by looking at them as they speak through eyes,” said Manoj Kumar Mishra.

The couple have decided to expand the arena for pets and have decided to open hostel for rabbits, birds etc. The new hostel will have the capacity to house 70-90 dogs at a time. Their number keeps fluctuating depending on the needs dog lovers. They have more than 35 years old kennel for dogs.

As for the breed, they are taking care of all the best breeds here including Spitz, German shepherd, Labrador, Great Dane, Routt Valier et al. The couple is alos providing training to dogs at their training centre.

Sanjeev Shekhar

Media Consultant/Journalist/PR

Blogging-an easy way to get connected to people

By Sanjeev Shekhar
Ranchi-

Hindi blogs have fewer visitors in the website and there is a need to make the blogs more popular, strongly felt the section of bloggers who conglomerated here on the occasion of first Bloggers Meet organized under the aegis of Kashyap Eye Memorial Hospital (KEMH) at Purulia road on Sunday.

I too was a part of the conference and enjoyed the interactive session of the bloggers. The meet, as I believe, was a sincere endeavour to encourage bloggers as well as provide information to new bloggers regarding the technical issues attached to blogging. Such conference would pave way for many to get into writing.

While inaugurating the event, the senior journalist & Editor of Ranchi Express Balbir Dutt stated that blogs have now become the extension of writing diaries wherein the individuals present their thoughts without fear. The CEO of the KEMH Dr. Bharti Kashyap was the chief guest on the occasion who emphasized that blogging is a strong means of communication to express views and ideas to the outside world. Dr. Kashyap is also an active member of the popular blog ‘ranchihalla.blogspot.com.’

About 100 bloggers participated in the meet from various parts of the state including Dhanbad, Bokaro, Jamshedpur, Hazaribagh etc. This was seen as an opportunity to know each other in person and share the experience of blogging including some memorable instances of their creation. “The content of the Hindi blogging needs improvement and the characterization of the blog should be well designed in order to cater to the needs and requirements of the readers or the web visitors,” stated a blogger at the conference.

The famous blogger Shailesh Bharatwasi spelled out the ways and techniques about blogging and gave statistical data that puts the figure to as many as 133 million blogs available at Blogosphere as per the technocrat survey of 2008. He, however, admitted to the query that the money earned through blogs is very less depending on the size of the visitors to a particular blog. For every 1000 visitors, one can expect to earn Rs.32-40 only, Shailesh said.

Another prominent blogger Ghanshayam Srivastava having his blog ‘jharkhandighanshyam.blogspot.com’ was of the opinion that in near future blogs would be the strong means of communication to get connected to the outside world. He believed that such interaction will bring about more understanding about the improvement in content and knowing of the newer techniques that would help in enhancing the blog qualitatively.

Sanjeev Shekhar
Journalist/Media Consultant/PR

Women Gym in Vogue-Health is wealth

By Sanjeev Shekhar
Gone are the days when the women popularly known as the ‘home-makers’ preferred to remain confined in the four walls. The state capital of Jharkhand is witnessing a change – a positive change for a better tomorrow. Women here have become health conscious and the growing number of gyms in each locality of the city speaks volume about the increasing awareness regarding health among them.

Ms Neetu Singh may be having grown up children pursuing their studies at high-school level but she prefers to take time off from her busy schedule to sweat at the ‘state of art’ gym that has come up in her locality. “The phase of running after children and preparing meal for them is over. I have realized that if your bones are in order you are living a far better and healthy life. For this, I thought of spending sometime in the gym and sweat out the extra calories that comes up automatically with age,” she explained while buttressing the age old adage ‘health is wealth’.

Neetu is a working woman and is not alone in this endeavour, her friend Nisha, Sweta and Sweety too are following suit. They strongly held that sweating during exercise has helped them to shun extra adipose and that losing weight with little bit of discipline in food habits keep them active and energetic.

“You are a confident person eventually when you realize that you have lost weight and become slim. It’s not necessary that fitness is the domain of only the models and actresses but it should be imbibed by all for their own betterment,” said Nisha.

The women of the contemporary times love to be pampered and want to look attractive, feel the trainers of the health spas. “There is nothing wrong in looking good. If a little bit of methodical work out can enhance your personality and keeps you physically and mentally strong, you should certainly go for it,” said Sajid, one of the trainers of the gymnasium.

Interestingly women spa or gymnasiums are mostly owned by women. This also helps in marketing the concept and necessity of exercising among the women-folk, as they feel secured and safe in treading such places. “Work-outs helps you de-stress and get rid of metabolic waste that ultimately cleanse your system,” said the dietician and owner of the gym.

Substantiating the point further she said that the changes in the life-pattern of women are no more seen as a taboo. Even the husbands and other family members are supporting them in their venture of keeping themselves healthy and hearty.

Sanjeev Shekhar

Journalist/Media Consultant/PR

Stringent laws to deal terror attacks: no intervention to be tolerated in investigaing agency probe

By Sanjeev Shekhar
Ranchi-
There has to be a clear cut defined role of state and centre on the law and order issue and should be put in concurrent list. There should be no ambiguity in the centre-state relations and some serious issues as like terror attack should automatically spill over to centre for dealing such matter independently.

The suggestion of former DGP, R.R.Prasad during the national level panel discussion on “Internal Security-Emerging issues since 26/11: Challenges and its solutions”, organized under the aegis of Citizen’s Parliament was passed as a resolution in the House on Saturday. The chairperson of the House and the Chief Editor of the Prabhat Khabar Hariwansh agreed that the time has come to deal such matter with iron hand. However, the House welcomed the formation of the National Investigative Agency (NIA) by the centre recently that entrust centre directly to investigate into law and order problem faced by the state.

The House was divided in two groups-panelist and analysts. Penelists included ex DGP, R.R.Prasad, Brigadier Hari Kumar and businessman turned politician K.K.Poddar on one side, while the team of analysts included Balibir Dutt, Justice Anand Prasad Singh, senior journalist C.S.Jha, Air Vice-Marshal Yash Kumar and advocate-cum-social activist Sohail Anwar. The politicians that included Subodhkant Sahay, Saryu Rai were conspicuous of their absence during the discussion. Hariwansh chaired the house.

The Citizen Parliament asserted the need of stringent laws as like Maharasthra Crime Control Act to deal with extraordinary situation. The analyst and Editor of the Ranchi Express Balbir Dutt expressed concern that despite repeated attacks in temple the security has not been tightened as per the requirement and safety of the common man. He cited the examples of Akshardham, Jagannath Mandir at Puri, Sankatmochan at Varanasi etc that are facing potential security threat. The only need is to strengthen the system and set house in order internally.

Brigadier Ravi Kumar strongly felt that the local information should not be ignored in any case. He cited the example of Mumbai terror attacks, wherein the information given about strangers to the police alighting from the boat to enter Colaba was ignored and they did not lodge any report against them. The centre and the state should use such information effectively.

The House held discussion on various subjects vis-à-vis role of government, centre-state relations, police and administrative reforms and role of politicians and public. R.R.Prasad said that the government should do police reforms and there should not be unwarranted intervention in any investigating agency work. The lawyer Sohail Anwar suggested that there is need of revision and redrafting of Indian Penal Code.

The members also felt that the discussion should not take the shape of academic discussion but should be action oriented. There is a need of character building that begins from house and primary schooling of children. For this the role of people or public was laid importance. They should come forward to bring about change and give shape to futuristic goals. Hariwansh declared in the house that is depends on the people while selecting their representative and good character people should come forward. The house questioned the role of Disaster Management and Civil Security department and decided to invite the members regarding their contribution towards society.

With warm regards,
Sanjeev Shekhar,
Journalist/Media Consultant

PSUs iron ore interest being undermined in Ghatkuri

By Sanjeev Shekhar
The present global financial crisis has severely dented the economies of many developed countries. India on the other hand, due to superior governance and stupendous growth shown by some key business sectors, have managed to reduce the impact of this crisis on its economy and is highly expected to achieve a decreased yet significant GDP of 7-7.5% by the close of this financial year.

The Indian steel industry though impacted with steep fall in demand has greatly contributed towards the sustainability of the economic growth uptil now. The Ministry of Steel aims to achieve a steel production of 110 Million Tonnes by 2010-11 and 200 Million Tonnes by 2020. The three eastern states of India, especially Jharkhand, has the one of the richest iron ore resources in the country and is expected to the play a significant role in helping the country in achieving the steel targets for the 11th and subsequent 5 year plans.

India will only be able to match the world’s largest producers of steel like China and Japan, provided various State Governments allocate on a priority basis the precious iron ore resources to large scale projects promoted by the most eligible and credible steel producers, instead of small capacity projects which in most cases neither contribute to the infrastructural development of the region nor scientific development and optimum utilization of the mines, nor are able to adhere to the stringent environmental norms – purely because their project size is unable to absorb such huge costs. They can also not match our growth requirements.

A total of 74 MOUs have been signed in Jharkhand for Mega Investment in setting up Steel, Power, Cement & Sponge Iron plants at a proposed investment of Rs. 2,93,802 crores. Of the total 75% of the companies which had signed the MoUs are yet to acquire land and a same percentage are yet to file Detailed Project Reports to the concerned authorities. As far as ground level implementation is concerned only 18% companies have started the first phase of their production and that these are mostly sponge iron plants. It is not suprising that in the last five years (since the signing of the MoUs) only approximately 5,700 direct employment opportunities have been created by these private players till date, as compared to the committed 200,000 jobs. Such a scenario has resulted in poor financial condition of the farmers who gave their land willingly in the hope of better future and living conditions.

Inspite of such a poor track record the present Jharkhand Government has not learnt any lessons and continues to jeopardize the development potential of the state and it’s resources. The government continues to favor adhoc and non-planned allocation of precious mine resources to projects which will not significantly contribute to the development of the state’s mineral based industry. The change in Chief Ministership does not seem to have brought any change in this perspective.

In light of the current recessionary trends many key entrepreneurs have also deferred investment in new steel plants despite having acquired iron ore blocks. It is noteworthy to mention that apart from couple of major players like SAIL and Tata Steel, most of the smaller steel/mining companies are producing sponge iron, which does not justify allotment of mining leases to them.

The recent case of the Chief Minister giving it’s go ahead to allocate the lucrative Ghatkuri mines which was reserved for the Public Sector Units to private sector companies which are proposing to set up small capacities is another example of State’s adhoc and totally adverse policy for the development of the iron ore potential of the state. Inspite of the fact, that Ghatkuri RF is reserved for allotment to PSUs only for the purposes of superior mineral development, State Government had not bothered to check this fact and instead recommended allotment to few private steel players.

The CM’s nod for allotment of Ghatkuri iron ore mines to private players, is clearly going to undermine the PSU’s iron ore interest such as that of SAIL which has committed to set up 15 million tonnes Greenfield steel plan in Jharkhand with the total investment of Rs 60,000 Crores and was also an applicant for allotment of the iron ore mine in Ghatkuri. Inspite of the creditibilty and commitment of SAIL as a PSU towards the socio-economic development of the region the CM has for reasons best known to him has chosen to undermine the development potential of the Ghatkuri region and interest of the people at large.

Ghatukuri RF has a total mineable area of 3,000 hectares, out of which the 6 private steel companies who have approached the Supreme Court, require mining leases on an area of 2700 hectares. Most of the companies are planning to set up capacities in the range of 1 million tons. Given the past track record will not be surprising that these applicants are not serious in their endeavor and are using the opportunity to block the scares commodity. Allocation of mines to small projects will also lead to unscientific mining.

It is hoped that the Government will all the precious resource to those who will undertake suitable development of the mine and are committed to setting up large steel plants in a time bound manner.

Sanjeev Shekhar

Journalist/Media Consultant