Udupi: Former director of JCI, MD of Galaxy Sports, Sadanada Navada will be participating in Global Trade Conference to be held in Italy.

The conference is conducted once in every four years. And will be held at Milan, Italy.

Sadanada Navada runs chains of Galaxy Sports Company in Kundapur, Udupi, Manipal, Bhatkal and Mangaluru. He will participate to enhance and study trading. He will also visit Germany, France,Rome, Switzerland and Austria.

 

Baunatal: A robot has killed a contractor at one of Volkswagen's production plants in Germany, the automaker said Wednesday.

The man died Monday at the plant in Baunatal, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Frankfurt, VW spokesman Heiko Hillwig said.

The 22-year-old was part of a team that was setting up the stationary robot when it grabbed and crushed him against a metal plate, Hillwig said.

He said initial conclusions indicate that human error was to blame, rather than a problem with the robot, which can be programmed to perform various tasks in the assembly process. He said it normally operates within a confined area at the plant, grabbing auto parts and manipulating them.

Another contractor was present when the incident occurred, but wasn't harmed, Hillwig said. He declined to give any more details about the case, citing an ongoing investigation.

German news agency dpa reported that prosecutors were considering whether to bring charges, and if so, against whom.

Bengaluru: The thunderous acclaim showered on the cultural show choreographed by a Kannadati, Mayuri Upadhya of Bengaluru, staged to promote Prime-Minister Narendra Modi’s much touted ‘Make in India’ program at Germany, sadly failed to generate for its creator,  the much deserved recognition from  the Karnataka state and or the mainstream media.

The cultural event was organized in order to promote the union government’s much hyped 'Make in India' program during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bilateral visit to Germany. The aim of the event was to attract foreign investors to show interest in setting up manufacturing facilities in India.

Mesmerized audience  

The  packed audience at the opening ceremony of the Hannover Messe trade fair, was enthralled by the exuberant dance performance which showcased 14 diverse Indian dance genres. The performance staged by 94 artists brought them to the edge of their seats. The German audience had a single word to utter post show- ‘WOW’, while NRIs (Non Resident Indians) pronounced “We are proud to say that we are Indians after witnessing this act.”

Hard Work

Critical as it is for any passionate artist to receive applause and for his/her work spelled Mayuri Upadhya choreographer of a cultural show at Germany. She spoke to Newskarnataka.com on her team’s efforts and the perfunctory appraisals carried by some sections of mainstream print media which they had disappointingly relegated to their back pages.

Mayuri runs a Bengaluru based Indian contemporary dance company, Nritarutya (dancing tree).  She has worked with renowned Kannada director Yograj Bhat, M S Sathyu and Agni Shridhar, though she did not spend much time with Sandalwood.

The duo of  Mayuri and Madhuri Upadhya, (Mayuri's sister), were approached by the Ministry of Trade and Commerce through a company Wizcraft. Following this, Nritarutya set out to travel around the country  to source dance perfectionists from across the country. “We personally traveled to various places to source skilled dancers in various forms trained under veteran teachers.”  Both, Mayuri and Madhuri were involved in the choreography of contemporary dance performance presented at Germany. 

Mayuri passionately explained that after sourcing young dancers to match the concept of union government’s, 'Make in India', a progressive idea, spent over month to plan the performance in minute detail. She explained, “The planning was meticulously done and minute details like which shade of color could be used for the attire, what kind of border would be a match for the dress and use of technology and lights.".  She added, "I and my team of dancers hardly slept for 4 hours during the 7-10 days of rehearsals in India and abroad".

Meager recognition back in Karnataka

Back in Karnataka, after the stellar performance, the response to the show, in terms of recognition and reporting has been poor, Mayuri lamented. “It is critical for any artist for his hard work to be recognized along with the economic aspects to survive and grow in his/her field”

She clarified that her ego was not dented due to the minimal promotion of her team’s performance in Germany. Upadhya opined that recognizing the efforts of a Bengaluru based company in staging a show that wowed an international audience abroad, would generate awareness and interest and in turn inspire many. “When I gave the news item to some mainstream print media, next day I was pained to find that the news was relegated as a page filler in the paper", she rued.

When asked whether Kannada and Culture Ministry of Karnataka contacted her to congratulate her on her achievement, she said she has not been approached.

However on the other hand team’s efforts were lauded by netizens.

Hannover: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, currently in Germany for the second leg of his three-nation tour, said that India is the only emerging economy where the growth rate is rising, adding that "we have re-energised the Indian growth engine".

In an Op-Ed piece in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Monday, Modi said, "We have re-energised the Indian growth engine. The credibility of our economy has been restored. India is once again poised for rapid growth and development. It is the only emerging economy where growth rate is rising. The prospects are even better."

The PM said that his government aims to completely eliminate poverty from the country and propel Indians into a life of purpose and dignity within a generation, adding that it views development as an 'article of faith'.

"My government has earnestly taken up the challenge of development and economic transformation of India. For us, development is not a mere political agenda; it is an article of faith. We have initiated specific policies and actions to realise our vision for New Age India with a clear set of economic goals and objectives. Our focus is not merely economic growth but an inclusive development. This requires creating jobs, upgrading skills, raising productivity, benchmarking quality with global standards," the Prime Minister wrote in an op-ed for a German newspaper.

"Our aim is to completely eliminate poverty and to propel all Indians into a life of purpose and dignity within a generation. My own life-experience and belief in the role of good governance in India's economic development has convinced me that this noble objective can be achieved," he added.

Prime Minister Modi further hailed the result of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, terming the verdict as being reflective the aspirations of India's youth.

"In May last year, in what was the largest elections in the history of mankind, the people of India voted my government into office. For the first time in three decades Indian voters gave a clear majority mandate to a government. The verdict was for change and for good and effective governance. It was also a call for development reflective of growing aspirations of India's youthful millions," the Prime Minister wrote.

"In the last 11 months, we have come a long way in keeping this promise. We have re-energised the Indian growth engine. The credibility of our economy has been restored. " he added.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Modi, while inaugurating the Hannover Messe, vowed to remove unnecessary regulations and procedures to simplify the process of foreign investment in India , as well as to make it easier for other countries to initiate business deals.

He also attended a round table conference with German CEOs, with Voith CEO Dr.Hubert Lienhard and Bombardier Transportation CEO Lutz Bertling among those present at the meeting.

The Prime Minister arrived in Hannover after concluding a successful visit to France. He will depart for the final leg of his three-nation, nine-day tour on April 14, flying to Ottawa.

Germany: A record 15,000 people marched in eastern Germany against "asylum cheats" and the country's "Islamisation" in the latest show of strength of a growing far-right populist movement. Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier cautioned Germans against falling prey to xenophobic "rabble-rousing", reacting to the nascent movement called "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident" or PEGIDA.

"The people are with us!," the group's founder Lutz Bachmann shouted at the crowd, celebrating a 50-percent rise in attendance since their last "Monday demonstration" in a series of rallies that started only in October.

"Everywhere now, in every news rag, on every senseless talkshow, they are debating, and the most important thing is: the politicians can no longer ignore us!" Bachmann told the mass of people, many waving the black-red-gold national flag.

"We have shown by taking another 'little stroll', and by growing in numbers, that we're on the right path, and that slowly, very slowly, something is beginning to change in this country," Bachmann bellowed to loud cheers yesterday.

Since the protests have rapidly grown in size and spawned smaller clones in half a dozen cities, a debate about immigration and refugees has gripped Germany, a country whose Nazi past makes expressions of xenophobia especially troubling.

Politicians have been stunned by the emergence in the city of Dresden of the nationalists who march against what they consider a broken immigration and asylum system and who vent deep anger at the political class and mainstream media.

The demonstrations have flared at a time when Germany, Europe's biggest economy, has become the continent's top destination for asylum seekers, and the world's number two destination for migrants after the United States.

The influx of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and several African and Balkan countries has strained local governments, which have scrambled to house the newcomers in old schools, office blocks and army barracks.

One demonstrator, Michael Stuerzenberger, said he does not oppose asylum for refugees but asserted that "70 percent of people claiming political asylum here are economic refugees. We don't want to stay silent about this anymore."

"We don't want a flood of asylum seekers, we don't want Islamisation. We want to keep our country with our values. Is that so terrible? Does that make us Nazis? Is it a crime to be a patriot?"

While several known neo-Nazis have been spotted in the PEGIDA crowds, the rallies have been dominated not by jackbooted men with shorn heads but by disenchanted citizens who voice a string of grievances.

Barlin:Germany on Sunday celebrates the 25th anniversary of the night the Berlin Wall fell, a pivotal moment in the collapse of communism and the start of the country's emergence as the major power at the heart of Europe.

A 15-kilometer (nine-mile) chain of lighted balloons along the former border will be released into the air early on Sunday evening - around the time on November 9, 1989 when a garbled announcement by a senior communist official set off the chain of events that brought down the Cold War's most potent symbol.

The opening of East Germany's fortified frontier capped months of ferment across eastern and central Europe that had already ushered in Poland's first post-communist prime minister and prompted Hungary to cut open its border fence. The hard-line leadership in East Berlin faced mounting pressure from huge protests and an exodus of citizens via other communist countries.

The collapse of the Wall, which had divided the city for 28 years, was "a point of no return...from there, things headed toward a whole new world order," said Axel Klausmeier, the director of the city's main Wall memorial.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, is opening an overhauled museum on Sunday at the site - home to one of the few surviving sections of the Wall.

Merkel, 60, who was then a physicist and entered politics as communism crumbled, recalls the feeling of being stuck behind East Germany's border.

"Even today when I walk through the Brandenburg Gate, there's a residual feeling that this wasn't possible for many years of my life, and that I had to wait 35 years to have this feeling of freedom," Merkel said last week. "That changed my life."

The future chancellor was among the thousands who poured westward hours after the ruling Politburo's spokesman, Guenter Schabowski, off-handedly announced at a televised news conference that East Germans would be allowed to travel to West Germany and West Berlin.

Pressed on when that would take effect, Schabowski seemed uncertain but said: "To my knowledge, this is immediately, without delay." Soon, Western media were reporting that East Germany was opening the border and East Berliners were jamming the first crossing.

Border guards had received no orders to let anyone cross, but gave up trying to hold back the crowds. By midnight, all the border crossings in the city were open.

East Germany's then-leader, Egon Krenz, later said the plan was to allow free travel only the next morning so citizens could line up properly to get exit visas. But with the leadership's control over the border well and truly lost, Germany was soon on the road to reunification less than a year later, on Oct. 3, 1990.

Since then, some 1.5 to 2 trillion euros ($1.9 to $2.5 trillion) has gone into rebuilding the once-dilapidated east.

Much has changed beyond recognition, though some inequalities persist.

Wages and pensions remain lower, and unemployment higher, in the east than the west. Many eastern areas saw their population drop as people headed west for jobs, something that is only now showing signs of turning around.

There are cultural differences too: a higher proportion of children are in daycare in the east, a legacy of communist times, and the opposition Left Party - partly descended from East Germany's communist rulers - remains strongest in the east.

But the progress toward true unity is seen in Germany's top leadership: Not only is Merkel from the east, but so is the nation's president, Joachim Gauck, a former Protestant pastor and pro-democracy activist.

Germans today can be grateful to have lives and opportunities, Gauck said, "that endless numbers of people in the world can only desire and dream of."