Good morning friends.  I am glad to know that IBM will facilitate in the creation of “Little Africa” in the city of Gujarat.  This means a lot to youth as there will be an employment opportunities.  So it will be a good  information to many especially to Gujarat people 

In a bid to provide employment to youth of the African-origin Sidi community settled in Saurashtra, Gujarat government has planned to create a ‘Little Africa’ on the fringes of Gir forest by developing a theme-based resort. 

The resort to be developed on 25 acres of land would be promoted by global giant IBM. The tribal development department of the state government has entered into a tie-up with IBM India for the project.

“The Rs 10-crore project, excluding the cost of land, would be fully funded by the Gujarat government. IBM will provide expertise to select a private partner to run the resort. It will also provide consultancy to market this ‘Little Africa’ across the world to lure maximum tourists,” said Per Yorgansen, project manager, IBM Denmark, who is in Ahmedabad for IBM’s Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program.

Pallavi Shukla, senior consultant to the state government for the project, said that development work would start by March 2010 and the resort would be functional in three years.

“Around 200 Sidi youth will get direct employment. Besides, there would be plenty of indirect employment opportunities as a ‘gram haat’ to display Sidi handicraft will be set up. Every evening there would be cultural events featuring Sidi ‘Dhamal’ dance troupe, which is very popular,” said Shukla.

The resort would be a replica of a typical Sidi village. Even interiors of all the 30 rooms would have an African touch. A museum would display various facets of Sidi life in and around Gir, especially their interface with the Asiatic Lions.

The Sidi community came to India from East Africa as slaves around 500 years ago. Their population is currently 10,000 in Gujarat, concentrated mainly on the periphery of the Gir forest in Junagadh district.   -The Times of India

Good morning friends.  It’s a good thing to know that there are some programmers which will make Gujarati Operating System in reality.  This means that it will be a big and good progress.

A quiet revolution in the confines of a computer’s Disk Operating System (DOS) is causing a stir among the software enthusiasts across Gujarat. Linux and other parallel open source programmers from the state have finally made the dream of an Operating System (OS) in Gujarati a reality.

According to the programmers, the best part of Utkarsh, as the Operating System is called is that like all other open source operating system, it can be freely downloaded from the site www.utkarsh.org.

Kartik Mistry, an IT professional from Ahmedabad and the founding member of the Linux users’ group said: “Utkarsh is a mission to ensure that the benefits of IT reaches every Gujarati through a local language interface and easy to understand software. We developed Utkarsh in 2004 and kept adding various elements to it with the help of several programmers spread across the state and country.”

Meanwhile, Mistry said that among the most important features of Utkarsh is the Gujarati dictionary by prominent UK-based industrialist Ratilal Chandaria. “For the last 20 years, Chandaria did painstaking research to prepare the dictionary, which we have included in Utkarsh’s database. It consists of approximately 1,163,292 words for explaining 1,49,709 Gujarati words with their meaning specified with their grammatical forms,” he added.

Ahmedabad company launches open source logging, reporting solution
Even as the state government is yet to decide if it should go for open source software for official use, an Ahmedabad-based company, Elitcore Technologies, has come up with an open source logging and reporting solution to harness the potential of students.

Good morning friends.  India was facing the biggest drought of the century because of delayed and weak monsoon.  There is a weak monsoon that threatens India.    I am sure that many will suffer. 

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday, Aug 10 has decided to reduce its estimated rainfall from 93 percent to 87 percent as the monsoon showed no sign of recovery in the country. 

For the first time the Met has revised its weather forecast in these many years. The monsoon has become more unpredictable in the first week of Aug while only southern Karnataka, Gujarat and Orissa have received rains in excess of the long-term average between Jun 1 and Aug 5. 

IMD Director General Ajit Tyagi told to media that the first 10 days of this month had been specially disappointing for the monsoon, making this downward revision necessary. 

He also said, “There has been a prolonged dry spell since Jul 29. Some revival is being seen today with Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa getting rains. But clearly the rainfall is not according to our expectations. The rainfall distribution has also been skewed.” 

The IMD which earlier had predicted to get 101 percent of rainfall in Aug, now they have decided to come down to 90 percent and so. Tyagi also added that the next week was going to be ‘extremely crucial’ for the monsoon this season. - Oneindia

Good morning friends. It’s a beautiful morning.  Hope that your morning will be beautiful too for the whole day.  I was reading an article about Gujarat’s first Nano owner who owns  ’48 morris.  It’s not just about the owning of the car here, its that I want to give emphasis of the gladness of one person when he gets what he wants. 

When Chandrasinh Parmar, a Surendranagar-based entrepreneur wanted to buy a car in 1976, he went for a Morris. Parmar, 60, who runs a cooking gas agency, had got the vintage car cheaper than an Ambassador or a Fiat then. “I bought a 1948 model for Rs 5,500 as a new car would have cost much more,” he said.

On Tuesday, he accompanied his son Umangsinh, 30, who became the first buyer of Tata’s Nano in Gujarat, much before Gujarat itself starts rolling out the small car from the Sanand plant later this year. “We own four cars, including the vintage Morris. But, I feel really special today with a Nano,” said the younger Parmar, who drove down from Surendranagar with his father to take delivery.

“I was eager to buy this car ever since Ratan Tata made an announcement. Today, my dream has come true,” said Parmar, who drove back to Surendranagar where his arrival was eagerly awaited late in the evening. “My family is dying to take a Nano ride,” he told TOI, flashing the car keys.

Four cars were delivered in Ahmedabad on Tuesday as the dealer coped with a big rush. Vipul Thakkar, a Gandhinagar-based doctor, came along with 25 relatives to take the small car delivery. The Thakkars, who already own a Santro, celebrated the buy with an ice-cream party at their Sector-3 residence which was crowded by curious onlookers. Ahmedabad-based doctor, Mahendra Goswami, who drives a Maruti Esteem, also became a proud Nano owner.

“I decided to buy this car when Tata chose Gujarat over other states to set up the Nano plant,” he said. The fourth owner, a retired Air Force official, too owns three cars. Charanjeet Singh Walia, 68, drove down from Gandhidham in Kutch to pick up the car. “I wanted to become a part of this revolution,” said Walia, who was accompanied by his twin daughters. Tata Motors is likely to deliver nine more cars in next four days in the city. – The Times of India

Good morning friends.  I’m sure many of you are waiting to see the solar eclipse.  We have 24 days to go to see it.  Ahmedabad is ready for date with the total solar eclipse.  Those who still don’t experience to see how such eclipse this is your chance.  Don’t miss it. 

A trip to China, a shadow band experiment and scores of programmes to sensitize people. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

With hardly a month to go for the total solar eclipse, scientific community and enthusiasts have started popularizing activities in the city for one of the rarest celestial activity.

Director of Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) JN Goswami said, “The total solar eclipse which falls on July 22 has created immense interest and curiosity among citizens. PRL scientists will be conducting shadow band experiment during the event and many other awareness and educational programmes are lined for to mark the day.”

“A team from Udaipur Solar Observatory, under PRL, will also be flying to China to closely study the eclipse,” added Goswami.

Many are planning to go to places from where total solar eclipse will be visible in Gujarat. Dhananjay Rawal, an amateur astronomer, has organized a live workshop on total solar eclipse at Surat. He said, “We have got more than 200 registrations. People will be coming from Vijaywada, Chennai and New Delhi to see the eclipse from here.”

“We have located a place 35 km from Surat city, surrounded with lakes and a beautiful landscape, to closely monitor the changes during the time of eclipse,” Rawal added.– The Times of India

Good morning friends.  English language is a universal language.  It is very important that we all should learn this language to communicate with the majority.  I’m glad to tell you that English now will reach to remotest Gujarat.  We all know that many will benefit on this English language. With reference to The Times of India  English teaching will be taught  to some isolated area in Gujarat.

While the Samajwadi Party has vowed to work against use of English in education in its manifesto, the Gujarat government has decided to go in just the opposite direction — ensure that the language is taught in the remotest corners of the state.

A new scheme will be launched to teach English to standard VIII students in 164 schools in Gujarat’s eastern tribal belt. To benefit some 8,000 tribal children, this will include 120 tribal ashram shalas as well. Gujarat already has Society for Creation of Opportunity through Proficiency in English (SCOPE) to teach the language to urban youth.

Thanks to satellite technology, the best teachers of English will reach out to the children.

“Ashram shalas are equipped with televisions and computers. The best teachers from Ahmedabad and Vadodara will be hired to give tutorials sitting in a studio at Bharkarachaya Institute for Space Application and Geoinformatics (BISAG) in Gandhinagar.”  

Teaching will start from the next academic year, but the government is gearing up now. Teachers from the tribals schools will be called to Gandhinagar for orientation courses.

They will have to remain present in the room while the tutorials are being telecast. The plan is to turn the teachers into local resource persons who will ensure that the children take interest.

Ahmedabad-based NGO Unnati-Organisation for Development Education, has been hired to do the job. Unnati director Binoy Acharya told TOI that the distance learning model was chosen because it is “difficult to take good English teachers to tribal areas”. “This is a pilot project, which will later be extended to all tribal schools. There will be around 35 sessions, each lasting one-and-a-half hours, with on-line facility for local teachers to interact with the tutor in BISAG.”

If the experiment is successful, the government plans to extend it to mathematics and science and then to other standards as well. As for English, the children will be given elementary knowledge, which will be followed up by monthly and quarterly tests.

“Answer books will be dispatched to Gandhinagar for regular checking in order to know the progress of each child and also whether distance learning in English can be extended to other subjects.”

Good Morning friends,

This is one thread that binds the Japanese and Gujaratis – the tie and dye technique of fabric printing. The shibori art dating back to the eight century uses the same resist techniques used by the bandhani artistes in Kutch and Jamnagar districts of Gujarat.

“The sanskrit word banda to tie’, is the root of bandhani while shibori uses the stitching’ technique of resisting,” says Samarth Firdaus, a shibori expert at the National Institute of Design (NID). If in bandhani, the artisan ties the portion of the cloth which is not to be dyed with a wax thread before dipping it in dye, the resisted portion is stitched and then pulled to make gathers in shibori, says Firdaus. Mainly used in kimonos, the shibori cloth is bound, resisted, wrapped and gathered by hand and this step is repeated for each colour dye it is dipped in. It is said that one kimono could take a year to make.

Angira Shah, who has trained Gujarati women in the traditional art of shibori, based in Ahmedabad says bandhani is older than shibori and was exported from India to Japan which mastered production, techniques in layout and design.

“Stitching in any case, came later,” says Firdaus. In 1997, NID hosted the second World Shibori Network conference here where it brought together artistes using both techniques and held demonstrations. Shibori experts from Nagoya in Japan too attended this conference.

The motifs in shibori are mostly based on nature, like birds and flowers, says Firdaus. “Now they have started using polyester mixed cotton to make the crush on the fabric permanent,” he says. Besides, the colours in bandhani are rich and bright while shibori uses subtle shades, he says.

Bandhani patterns are usually geometric clusters, but they also use traditional motifs, which also makes shibori more costly than bandhani..

“Nowadays, we can find shibori easily in Gujarat but they are crude versions. The Japanese went far ahead of us in this art and mastered it. In ancient times, our work was more meticulous and sharp,” says Shah.

According to her, Arimatsu village in Japan is known as shibori village which also has a museum. Even today, Arimatsu and Narumi in Nagoya prefecture remain the only main production centres in Japan, where over 100 varieties of shibori is practised.

News from times of india

A high-level government and business delegation from Gujarat Friday began a three-city tour of South Africa to woo local business to invest in the state as part of the ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ campaign.

The delegation addressed largely South African Indian businessmen at the head office of First National Bank, which is expecting o start operating in India by next month.

Girish Chandra Murmu, additional principal secretary to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, told IANS that while they were interested din South African investment in all sectors, there were a few special ones that there was particularly interest in.

‘We in Gujarat don’t have miens, but specialise in processing, especially coal and diamonds, which South Africa mines, so we are very keen on that. We also know that South Africa has very good technology for producing fuel from coal and our large lignite deposits could assist in this regard.

‘South African companies could also find excellent opportunities in the infrastructure sector, especially withe the development of ports on the long coastline of Gujarat; the new international airport planned for Dholera and in the Delhi-Mumbai corridor, a third of which will go through Gujarat.’

Good Morning friends,

I think with the present government Gujarat is growing very fast. We all are aware with the fact about NANO project. Exiting news I read. Mini Japan township between Federa and Dholera. Within a week, this is the second big news for Gujarat, and Ahmedabad in particular, after Tatas announced on October 7 that they were parking Nano plant near Sanand.

The location couldn’t have been better, with an international airport on one side and a sea-port on the other. The Gujarat government ha

s closed in on 100 sq km of land between Federa and Dholera for the proposed ‘Mini-Japan’ township.

The location, approximately 90 km south of Ahmedabad, is said to be ideal because it falls between Federa, the site for a new international airport, and Dholera, where the Adani group plans to build a port and SEZ.

The location has been identified and will be shown to top Japanese corporate houses, which have already evinced interest in setting up a ‘Mini-Japan’ township along the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) in Gujarat.

The land falls along the Ahmedabad-Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) proposed by Gujarat along the DMIC, which is being funded by Japanese government.