Following the CBSE’s inability to conduct the cancelled AIPMT 2015 entrance exam within a month, the Supreme Court on Friday gave two months time to the Board to conduct the exam, preferably before August 16.
Following paper leak and mass copying reports, the apex court cancelled the AIPMT held on May 3 and asked the board to re-conduct the AIPMT 2015 within a month. But the CBSE resisted the directive and sought three months time as it is alredy overburdened with other exams.
The Supreme Court has relented and gave the board time till August 16 to conduct All India Pre Medical Test (AIPMT) for medical and dental courses for the year 2015-16.
The Supreme Court vacation bench headed by Justice R.K. Agrawal extended time from initial 4 weeks to August 16 on CBSE’s plea.
The court has cancelled the AIPMT examination held on May 3 after the leak of the question paper and circulation of the answer keys through electronic devices across 10 States was detected.
The CBSE faced similar complaints when its 2014 Class 12 physics paper was leaked online a day before the exam but the exam was not cancelled as the board pleaded that not many were aware of it or in knowledge of it.
Remo D’souza’s directorial “AnyBody Can Dance 2”, released on Friday June 19 all over the country, did not make a high decible noise but went off well with known dance fame figures such as Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhudeva, Lauren Gottlieb and dancers from Dharmesh to Punit Pathak from ‘Dance India Dance’ fame.
Varun Dhawan potrays the role of Suresh, whose Padma- Shri-winning mother died with the ghungroo’s on. Suresh wants to be a big dancer just to fullfill his mother’s wish. Shraddha (Vinnie) plays the role of a girl who works in a beauty salon but cherishes her dream to be the world’s best hip hop dancer.
Suresh, Vinnie and other dancers form a team and participate in a dance competition. They then get brutally exposed by the judges panel which includes Remo D’souza, the director and Choreographer. They get a chance meet Prabhu Deva (Vishnu Sir) who guides them. But later he disappears without informing anyone and the movie takes an interesting turn.
The reviews have been mixed. Hindustan Times writer Sweta Kaushal says, “Prabhudheva and Varun Dhawan will floor you with their super moves” while Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV writes, “Any Body Can Dance, the dance steps are dazzlingly dramatic.”
The Firstpost article by Tanul Thakur puts it straight by writing, “Not a movie, but a string of Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhudeva music videos.” The Indian Express, Shubhra Gupta, caps it as the end for lead actors saying, “Beginning is the end for Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Dhawan.”
Sweta Kaushal finds similarities between ABCD 2 and Happy New Year (HNY). She writes, “It sounds uncharitable, but there are a few common threads between Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor’s first dance film ABCD 2, which hits theatres today, and Shah Rukh khan and Deepika padukone’s Happy New Year. Both films show the lead characters travelling to foreign locations straight from the streets of Mumbai to win a dance championship. Both SRK and Varun’s teams are ridiculed for being cheaters and both films have their own versions of the famous 70-minute monologue from Chak De!.”
Favouring the ABCD2, she says while Happy New Year was a torture, ABCD 2 is a film Bollywood can be proud of producing any time as treat for dance performances. ABCD 2 is a wonderful ensemble of well-choreographed dance sequences and even makes use of 3D to make it more stunning, she writes citing Remo D’Souza, Prabhudheva and even Ganesh Acharya, with whom the dance performance cannot go wrong. She reminds her readers that Varun and Prabhudheva had their share of “troubled past” — one is the son of a famous dancer while the other was a victim of family’s wrath for being a choreographer throughout his life.
The review by Sibal Chaterjee in NDTV begins with the plagiarism in dance. “At this rate every other maker of Mumbai movies and Hindi film music should be distributing free pizzas to the world by way of punishment for plagiarism!” Song and dance being a Bollywood staple, producing a dance-centric film is rare and that too in a 3D format is new for the film, he writes, quickly adding the the novelty is only skin deep. “For dance freaks, there is much on offer. For lovers of cinema, ABCD 2 is a hazy blur of a movie,” he concludes.
Tanul Thakur of Firstpost says Remo D’Souza’s latest, ‘ABCD 2’ actuallly suffers from a strange problem as it is let down by its very raison d’être: dance. Though dance is central theme, ABCD 2’s many and needlessly frequent dance sequences make it less of a film and more of a bunch of loosely-strung music videos, writes the reviewer, complaining that at least 30 minutes stretch in the film was redundant.
Based on the story of Suresh Mukund and Vernon Montero’s Fictitious Group, which made it to the finals of the 2012 World Hip Hop Championship, ABCD 2 had a chance to say about ambitions and the price people pay for them, but ABCD 2 fails to bring it forth, says the reviewer.
The Indian Express reviewer Shubhra Gupta writes, “When Prabhudeva is on the floor, there is a snap and pop, even though his moves are familiar. A couple of numbers do crackle. There are two dancers in here who are amazing. But the rest of them, and their sequences, turn into the seen-this-so-what’s-new glaze. And when the film stops to look around for a story, which it does much too frequently in its two- and-a-half-hour run time, it turns banal and listless… a dance movie needs to electrify. That’s missing: all the I-love-my-India drippiness overwhelms the choreography.”
MF Monitor writes conclusively that the reviews give a mixed opinion from different angles, but viewers can still take a chance to see it once and twice if they like it. “Besides Prabhu Deva dance, we also have Dharmesh, Lauren, Punit, Raghav and all those who have stunned us with their spectacular and breathtaking dance performances in the TV show ‘Dance India Dance.'”
The UGC has clarified that the introduction of Choice Based Credit System will not in any way hamper the academic liberal environment of the universities, despite rumblings from several institutions and universities in the country.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has been trying to introduce the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) for quite some time and guidelines have been framed for its effective implementation, which were uploaded in the month of November, 2014. The guidelines per se provide a template to the universities to design the CBCS according to their strength while keeping the overall uniformity among the universities, said the UGC.
The UGC said to keep fairness in assessment and evaluation, it has also given template of procedures to be followed so that the standards of education are equally maintained. Numerous communications have been sent to the Vice-Chancellors (VCs) of all Universities for effective implementation of the system, said UGC refuting allegations made by some varsities on the issue.
Eight Workshops have been held all over India in which VCs of all Central, State and Private Universities participated and the Vice-Chancellors of Central Universities, in the Conference held in February 2015, have given their commitment to the Visitor to implement the same from the academic year 2015-16, said the statement.
This system is already in vogue in some private universities and the new endeavour will bring State Universities and Central Universities at par with international standards so that the pass outs of these universities are not at any disadvantage in comparison to the private universities. It may be noted that none of the Indian universities rank within 100 in Times Higher Education Ranks in the world.
To handhold the Universities, UGCsaid it has embarked on an extensive exercise of designing curricula for undergraduate course which would assimilate with the provisions of CBCS. The syllabi by the experts have been put in the public domain for feedback and for subsequent modification before they are finalised.
The syllabi, once finalised, will give leverage to the universities to modify the same to the extent of 30%, which will be enhanced from 20% after feedback, depending upon their areas of specialisation.
The UGC has clarified that this is not deviation from the earlier practice where inter-university migration required a minimum 70% equivalency as such implying that the syllabi all over India in undergraduate level are similar to the extent of 70%.
Under the CBCS system the elective subjects so offered will only be from the subjects which are available in the Universities or Institutes and it will not add the teaching load of the teachers beyond the norms stipulated by UGC.
Also there will be no inter-institute/inter-college migration or transfer of teachers and the UGC said it will not suppress the academic liberal environment of the university as nothing contrary has been suggested in the template of the syllabi so designed by the experts.
Ramzan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, began on Thursday with Muslims observing daytime fasting and converging in Iftar parties in the night to break their day-long fast, an occasion for both social gatherings and religious get-together.
President of India Pranab Mukherjee has greeted all fellows Muslims on the occasion of the commencement of the holy month of Ramzan. “I greet all my Muslim brothers and sisters on the occasion of the commencement of the holy month of Ramzan. May the spirit of Ramzan illuminate the world, show us the way to peace and harmony and remind us of our duties towards the less privileged,” he said.
One of the five tenets of Islam, observing fast in the month of Ramzan is a must for Muslims, with exceptions granted only to those who are suffering from an illness, travelling, are elderly, pregnant, breastfeeding, diabetic or going through menstrual bleeding.
While charity is another significant part of during Ramzan, a strict NO to eveil thoughts and daytime eating and drinking, make the month rigorous for Muslims.
Derived from the Arabic word for fasting “sawm”, it literally means “to refrain” not only from food and drink, but from evil actions, thoughts, and words. It includes the increased offering of salat (prayers) and recitation of the Quran. According to the Quran, Prophet Muhammad first received revelations from god during the month of Ramadan and hence it is a sacred month in the entire Islamic calendar.
During Ramadan, every part of the body must follow the tenets such as:
— The tongue must be restrained from backbiting and gossip.
— The eyes must restrain themselves from looking at women.
— The hand must not touch or take anything that does not belong to it.
— The ears must refrain from listening to obscene words and
— The feet must refrain from visiting sinful places.
Iftar
Usually during the month of Iftaar, Muslims break their fast with dates in the evening, as Prophet Mohammad broke his fast with three dates. fter that, Muslims generally go for the Maghrib prayer, the fourth of the five daily prayers, after which the main meal is taken.
Iftars are held for visitors and friend in the evening in a buffet style serving traditional dishes and desserts, besides juices and water. Other food items include lamb stewed with wheat berries, lamb kebabs with grilled vegetables, or roast chicken served with chickpea-studded rice pulav. Teh meals finishes usually with a rich dessert, luqaimat or baklava or kunafeh (sweet kadaifi noodle pastry).
Ramzan Greetings/ Messages:
The general greeting in any language is “I hope you have a blessed Ramzan,” or “may you have a peaceful Ramzan.” In common Arabic, “Ramadan Kareem!” which means Noble or Generous Ramadan!” or “Ramadan Mubarak!” (Blessed Ramadan) are some general greetings often used. In addition, “Kul ‘am wa enta bi-khair!” (May every year find you in good health!) is also used to greet people during the month of Ramadan. The month-long fasting ends with a holiday called Eid al-Fitr or the Festival of Fast-Breaking.
Penalities:
In some Muslim countries, failing to fast is a crime. In Algeria, the court of Biskra sentenced 6 people to 4 years in prison for violating the tenets of Ramadan and in Kuwait, according to law number 44 of 1968, the penalty is 100 Kuwaiti dinars for those seen eating, drinking or smoking during Ramadan daytime.
In the U.A.E., eating or drinking during the daytime of Ramadan is punished by up to 240 hours of community service, while in Egypt, alcohol sales are banned during Ramadan. Otherwise, UAE allows liberal working hours during Ramadan with a maximum of 6 hours daily and 36 hours per week. Even Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait have similar working hours during Ramadan.
