Nepal Supreme Court orders govt to suspend Indian contract for passports

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Kathmandu, Apr 7 (ANI): The Supreme Court of Nepal has issued an interim order asking the government not to proceed with the printing contract of Machine Readable Passport (MRP) on Wednesday.

The court, in its order, directed the government to suspend the process until its next hearing, which has been scheduled for Monday.

Two separate writ petitions, including one by advocate Hem Mani Subedi, were filed at the apex court on Tuesday demanding cancellation of the contract.

The government lent the contract to Indian company at four dollar per piece though the earlier bidders had proposed to supply at as low as 2.99 per piece dollar.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Nepal’s Parliament has already objected to the decision.

On Monday, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said the government has awarded the contract for political and diplomatic reasons.

He also said the government had failed to move ahead with a decision of the PAC tender process due to time constraints.

The PAC had quizzed both Nepal and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala over the decision.

Earlier, the PAC’s had directed the Foreign Ministry to call for a fresh tender bid to print the MRPs and hand over the contract on the competition basis.

Disregarding the PAC directive, the cabinet gave its approval to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to grant the contract to print MRPs to an Indian company on March 19, Nepalnews reported. (ANI)

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Nepal’s decision to give MRP printing contract to India challenged in court

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Kathmandu, Apr 7 (ANI): A writ petition was filed before Nepal’s Supreme Court on Tuesday against a government decision to award the contract for the printing of Machine Readable Passports (MRP) to an Indian government-owned firm.

Advocate Hem Mani Subedi filed the petition, stating that the decision to award the contract to India without bidding was illegal.

He said this decision would pose a threat to national security.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Nepal’s Parliament has already objected to the decision.

On Monday, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said the government has awarded the contract for political and diplomatic reasons.

He also said the government had failed to move ahead with a decision of the PAC tender process due to time constraints.

The PAC had quizzed both Nepal and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sujata Koirala over the decision.

Earlier, the PAC’s had directed the Foreign Ministry to call for a fresh tender bid to print the MRPs and hand over the contract on the competition basis.

Disregarding the PAC directive, the cabinet gave its approval to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to grant the contract to print MRPs to an Indian company on March 19, Nepalnews reported. (ANI)

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‘We are all concerned,’ says Chandrababu Naidu, Moily, Chidambaram meet Sonia

September 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Hyderabad/New Delhi, Sep.2 (ANI): Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and now Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said that everyone was concerned about the missing chopper that was carrying incumbent Chief Minister Y.S. Rajshekhar Reddy.

Addressing a press conference here, Naidu said: “We are all concerned. I also appeal to nearby villagers to help with the rescue. The situation is being monitored.”

Naidu’s appeal came as the Andhra Pradesh Government revealed this afternoon that the search is still on for the seven-seater Bell chopper that was carrying Reddy towards the state’s Chitoor District in inclement weather.

The State Government said that bad weather, time constraints plus the dense forested area where the chopper may have landed is hampering rescue operations. It appealed to the general public to step in and help in the rescue operations along with the Indian Air Force and the Army.

In Delhi, Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily, who is in charge of the Congress party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, is having a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the issue. He is said to have briefed Gandhi about the latest developments.

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram is also meeting Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress party on Wednesday held an emergency press briefing here on the issue.

Party spokesman Manish Tewari told media persons that it is an evolving situation that is being closely monitored by the Central and State Governments, besides the Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The party said that state government is handling a very sensitive situation as the copter is said to have landed somewhere in the forests between the three districts of Rayalseema, Prakasham and Chitoor.

Tewari said that every effort was being made to resolve the situation as quickly as possible given the limited time available. He said that four Indian Air Force helicopters, one MI8 and a Dhruv chopper have been pressed into the rescue operation.

Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister K.Rosiah confirmed that the chopper carrying the Chief Minister had landed in a forest area and efforts were on to locate it.

Addressing a news conference in Hyderabad, Rosiah said: “All state and central forces are on alert. At the moment, we are still tracing the location of the missing chopper, which has landed in the forests in the Chitoor-Nellore area. We are finding a way to reach the place.”

Rosiah said the state government has alerted the Union Home Ministry about the missing chopper. He said that after 9.35 a.m., contact had been lost with the chopper carrying the chief minister.

Rosiah said that the Prime Minister’s office as well as the offices of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Defence Minister A.K. Antony are being kept posted about the latest developments.

He also issued an appeal to the public to contribute to the search effort.

Rosiah’s briefing came as Andhra Pradesh Police continues their search for the missing chopper.

Panic was created around Wednesday noon as Reddy was reported untraceable for nearly four hours.

Reddy was on his way to Chitoor, by chopper which initial reports said had made an emergency landing near Kurnool due to inclement weather.

The chopper took off at 8.45 a.m. for Chitoor and was scheduled to arrive here at 10.45 a.m, sources said.

The chopper was said to have landed in the middle of a thick forest, said to be affected by Maoist activities.

The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) confirmed receiving a message of the emergency landing of the chopper, but nothing thereafter.

Till now, no one has confirmed the movements of Reddy.

The Union Home Ministry is monitoring the search operations, as Kurnool is a Naxal affected area.

Air Traffic Control (ATC) sources said the chopper went off the radar due to heavy rains.

The CMO maintains there is no need to worry as the area has no mobile connectivity. (ANI)

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William H. Macy sees new turn in career track

April 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Award-winning actor William H. Macy says his long career in movies, on stage and on television is in transition, moving him behind the camera as offers for acting roles have hit a lull.

Macy is currently starring in low-budget comedy “Bart Got a Room” in U.S. art houses playing a hapless father whose son can’t get a date to his high school prom. But he soon expects to take his first stab at directing an upcoming film called “Keep Coming Back.”

“I’m transitioning a little bit,” the 59-year-old Macy told Reuters. “I’m at an odd age, and it’s hard to cast me. I’m not the grand old man, but I’m certainly not the young guy anymore. There aren’t that many roles that are scintillating.”

Macy has long been known in Hollywood as a hard worker who will take numerous roles in any given year. His filmography lists over 100 parts. He was nominated for an Oscar for his work in 1996 Coen Bros. movie “Fargo,” and he won an Emmy for television movie “Door to Door.”

But right now, Macy said he enjoys being a stay-at-home dad to his two daughters, ages 7- and 8-years-old, while his wife, actress Felicity Huffman, goes to work every day on TV comedy “Desperate Housewives.”

He said he took the role in “Bart Got a Room,” mostly because writer and director Brian Hecker would not take “no” for an answer.

“Independent films like this are made because of passion, and Brian would not let that go, nor would he let me go,” Macy said. “I liked the script immediately and told him so, but I had all sorts of commitments and time constraints. But God bless him, he made it work. And he held the film for me.”

PROM NIGHT MAYHEM

“Bart Got a Room” tells a simple story of a high school senior, Danny, who finds himself on a desperate search for a date to his prom. Bart is the high school geek, and Danny figures if Bart can get a date and a hotel room afterward, then he should be able to, as well.

However, Danny is constantly overlooking the one girl who will go with him and trying to get the girl of his dreams. His divorced father (Macy) tries endlessly to help Danny, but seems clueless when it comes to his teenage son’s dilemma.

“One thing about being a parent is to keep showing up, and that’s what the dad does,” Macy said. “He keeps showing up.”

For many years, that same sort of ethic has marked Macy’s work. He shows up on set when asked and puts everything he has into a performance — no matter how large or small the role.

Back in December, when Jeremy Piven abruptly left the cast of a Broadway revival of David Mamet’s “Speed the Plow” blaming mercury poisoning from eating too much fish, the director called up his old friend Macy and asked him to take over Piven’s leading role, along with another actor.

“I’d done Broadway before, but this was a big deal for me to go back. And because of the circumstances…I felt the pressure,” he said. “I was terrified for about the first 90 seconds, and then some grace descended…I felt comfortable. I looked around and thought, ‘I can do this.’”

Now, Macy is moving on to directing his movie that is still in the process of being fully funded, but he’s confident that even in this bad economy, the financing will come together.

“It feels like it’s my time. I want to take a shot at telling the whole story,” he said, “and it’s not clear I’ll be good at it, but that won’t be known until I try.”

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Miley Cyrus’ shambolic performance disappoints fans

February 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Feb 16 (ANI): Miley Cyrus’ fans were left disappointed after the teen starlet fluffed her lines while performing live for Ant and Dec.

The 16-year-old star’s label dished out a whopping 150,000 pounds on a private jet to fly her for a five-minute promotional gig on ITV’s hit variety show in London.

But viewers were stunned when she forgot her lyrics and stopped singing halfway through new single ‘Fly On The Wall’.

The Hanna Montana star’s blunder has sparked an outrage among her Internet fans, with online blogs and fan sites flooding with criticism.

“It was so bad. I was cringing. She turned her head away from the audience and it looked as if she had forgotten the words,” the Sun quoted Olivia Ellingham, from Bedford, as saying.

Another fan said: “How can you forget your own song?”

The fan added: “Due to time constraints the only way Miley could come to the UK was on a private jet. All her dancers were on the flight and they were chauffeured everywhere. The costs were covered by Hollywood Records who look after all Disney artists and Polydor.” (ANI)

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Perception of time pressure impairs performance

February 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb 11 (ANI): If you feel that you don’t have enough time to finish a task in hand, then chances are your finished work won’t be up to the mark, says a new study, which claims that it’s the perception of time pressure that impairs performance.

In a first of its kind study, Michael DeDonno, a doctoral student in psychology at Case Western Reserve University looked at how perceived time pressure affected the performance of 163 subjects in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT).

IGT is a popular psychological assessment tool that is used to investigate the effect of perceived time pressure on a learning-based task.

“Research has shown that it’s not necessarily the time pressure, but it’s the erception of that time pressure that affects you. If you feel you don’t have enough time to do something, it’s going to affect you,” said DeDonno.

For the study, he divided the participants into two groups: an experimental group that was informed the time allotted to perform the task was insufficient and the control group, which was told they had typically sufficient time to complete the task.

It was found that participants who were advised the time was insufficient performed worse than those who were told they had enough time, regardless of the actual time allotted.

“If I told you that you didn’t have enough time, your performance was low regardless if you had ample time or not. If you were told you had enough time, in both scenarios, they out performed those who were told they didn’t,” said DeDonno.

He said that there are plenty of real-world benefits to understanding the effects of perceived time pressure on decision-making performance.

He cited project team members who perceived a high degree of time pressure had lower job satisfaction.

He also noted standardized tests, like the ACT or LSAT, have a high rate of test anxiety by test takers due mostly to time constraints.

He is planning to further study if a perception of time being insufficient by HMO physicians lead to inappropriate medications or an increase in diagnostic error.

Although it’s still not known why perceived time pressure could impair performance, DeDonno said that it’s possible to combat it.

He said: “Decision-making can be emotion based, keep your emotions in check. Have confidence in the amount of time you do have to do things. Try to focus on the task and not the time. We don’t control time, but we can control our perception. It’s amazing what you can do with a limited amount of time.

“Time is relevant. Just have the confidence with the time you’re given. I tell my students ‘Do the best you can in the time allotted. When it ends, it ends.’”

The study was published in a recent issue of Judgment and Decision Making. (ANI)

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