Manu Bhaker on Tuesday etched her name into the annals of Indian sports history. She became the first Indian woman to win multiple medals at a single Olympic Games.

The 22-year-old shooter clinched a bronze medal in the 10m pistol mixed team event alongside Sarabjot Singh, defeating South Korea 16-10 at the Paris Olympics.

This achievement follows her earlier success, where she secured a bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol event, marking a significant milestone for Indian shooting.

Bhaker’s double podium finish not only opens India’s medal tally at the 2024 Paris Olympics but also places her in an elite group of Indian athletes. She joins P.V. Sindhu as the only Indian women to win two Olympic medals. Sindhu, the celebrated badminton star, first made history at the Tokyo Olympics by winning a bronze medal after defeating China’s He Bingjiao 21-13, 21-15.

This added to her silver medal from the Rio Olympics, where she had a memorable run to the final, only to be bested by Spain’s Carolina Marin.

In the mixed team event, Bhaker and Singh displayed exceptional composure and skill. The Indian duo faced off against a strong South Korean team in the bronze medal match, showcasing their precision and teamwork. Bhaker, known for her steady hand and focus, was instrumental in maintaining India’s lead throughout the match. Their victory, secured with a decisive 16-10 scoreline, underscored Bhaker’s prowess and resilience under pressure.

After narrowly missing out on medals at the Tokyo Olympics, Bhaker’s performance in Paris has been a testament to her resolve and improvement. –IANS

source/content: theweekendleader.com (headline edited)

India now has more than 1.4 lakh startups, as the government continues to nurture innovation and encourage investments in the ecosystem, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Jitin Prasada, informed on Friday.

India now has more than 1.4 lakh startups, as the government continues to nurture innovation and encourage investments in the ecosystem, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Jitin Prasada, informed on Friday.

In a reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said that under the ‘Startup India’ initiative, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has recognised 1,40,803 entities as startups (as of June 30).

Over 55 regulatory reforms have been undertaken by the government since 2016 – when the ‘Startup India’ initiative was launched — to enhance ease of doing business, ease of raising capital and reduce compliance burden for the startup ecosystem.

In the Union Budget 2024-2025, the Centre has abolished the angel tax on startups, paving the way for more foreign capital to be pumped into the ecosystem and further easing the funding winter.

Under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), Rs 945 crore was sanctioned for a period of 4 years starting from 2021-22, informed the minister.

The government also established the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) scheme with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore, to meet the funding needs of startups.

DPIIT is the monitoring agency and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is the operating agency for FFS.

The Centre also established the credit guarantee scheme for startups for providing credit guarantees to loans extended to DPIIT-recognised startups by scheduled commercial banks, NonBanking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and venture debt funds (VDFs) under SEBI-registered alternative investment funds.

According to reports, the Indian private equity and venture capital investments in 2023 stood at $39 billion compared to $62 billion in 2022.

(With inputs from IANS)

source/content: ibtimes.co.in (headline edited)

Manu Bhaker has so far won 15 golds, 3 silvers and 1 bronze.

Manu Bhaker, aged 22, won a historic bronze for India in the women’s 10m air pistol event at the Paris Olympics 2024. It is the first time that an Indian woman shooter to win a medal at the Olympics.

Manu Bhaker became the youngest Indian to win a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup. At the age of 16, Manu Bhaker won a gold in the women’s 10m air pistol event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. It was indeed her maiden Commonwealth Games appearance. Bhaker, along with Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan, won the gold at the Asian Games 2022.

Bhaker has so far won 15 golds, 3 silvers and 1 bronze.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light, the Grand Prix award-winning Indian film at the Cannes Film Festival this year, also drew house-full audiences at the festival.

Sandhya Suri, a British-Indian filmmaker, has won the award for the best first feature film at the Jerusalem Film Festival (JFF) 2024.

Suri’s film ‘Santosh’, shot in India with a local cast, revolves around a female police official who has been given a job on compassionate grounds after her husband’s death, and how she unwittingly gets caught in a web of local social and political drama that she has no control over.

The shows of the film have so far been house full as also of the other Indian entry, award-winning film ‘All we Imagine as Light’, Anat, an India enthusiast, told PTI on Friday.

Anat said after the screening of ‘Santosh’ that both the Indian entries “are fabulous with actors backing up the intense plots with astonishing ease”.

‘Santosh’ was co-produced by India and availed the incentives under the Incentives Scheme of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

‘All We Imagine as Light’, the Grand Prix award-winning Indian film at the Cannes Film Festival this year, also drew house-full audiences at the JFF with the organisers lauding the warm response to Indian entries at the festival.

“I am proud to say that both the Indian entries — All We Imagine as Light and Santosh — are completely sold out. It is also great to see that both the films have been directed by women”, a JFF official said at an event organised jointly with the Indian embassy before the screening last Saturday.

‘All We Imagine as Light’ is a co-production film involving companies from several countries but the storyline and cast are India-centric.

Written and directed by Payal Kapadia, the film scripted history by winning the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival and drawing worldwide praise for the gentle depiction of a touching human subject.

Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha and Chhaya Kadam played the lead roles in the film depicting the lives of Kerala nurses working in a Mumbai hospital.

The Indian Embassy, in association with JFF, also held a session on “Incentives for Filming in India” on Saturday ahead of the screening to lure Israeli filmmakers to shoot their films and documentaries in India and to strengthen collaboration between the two sides.

Over 100 film enthusiasts, including filmmakers, attended the event to understand the various incentives available for co-productions or filmmaking in India.

A short video enlisting the strengths of the Indian film industry – the oldest and largest with a huge pool of resources, exceptional filming talent, 900 plus animation, visual effects, gaming and other facilities and over 1.8 lakh professionals – was screened at the event.

“Ten per cent of the global animators and VFX artists are from India. 170 plus international projects from 35 countries with a diverse range of production and post-production requirements have taken advantage of India’s diverse and varied locations… Vast local talent pool and availability of state-of-the-art equipment and facilities” were some of the information shared with film enthusiasts to encourage them to look towards India as a destination for their next subject or collaboration.

To further boost international content collaborations, the government of India has now significantly enhanced the cash incentives offered to foreign production companies for the production of films in India and for official co-productions, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian embassy, Rajiv Bodwade, told the audience.

Bodwade outlined the cashback incentives offered by GOI and various state governments, including possible tax rebates.

“There is a readily available ecosystem and you can easily find a talent pool of technicians, crew members, audio-visual facilities, and various locations ready for filming”, he stressed.

Under the scheme for foreign productions, up to 40 per cent of the expenses incurred in India subject to a cap of USD 3.6 million can be reimbursed to the producers. This is a 12-fold increase from what was offered earlier.

“The reimbursement is also available for projects that undertake only post-production, visual effects and digital or animation work in India. The process for claiming such incentives has now been simplified further. If the project has been granted official co-production status under any of the existing bilateral treaties, 30 per cent of the qualifying expense can be reimbursed subject to a cap of Rs 300 million. The co-producers can also claim up to 50 per cent of the approved amount as interim reimbursement after the start of the project in India”, the video presenting the incentives narrated.

“Top this up with the incentives offered by various Indian states and the producers can avail of approximately USD 4 million as incentives. Film Facilitation Office (FFO) has been set up to provide a single window permission clearance system under the government’s ease of doing business initiative which facilitates creative collaboration on a global stage,” it further said.

India has co-production agreements with 16 countries, including Israel, and Bodwade announced that the first such collaboration involving renowned Israeli filmmaker, Dan Wolman, is completed and about to be released soon.

Wolman’s film, “The Murderer with the Purple Hair”, a thriller, Co-directed by Indian filmmaker, Manju Bora, was shot in Assam.

It stars Shamin Mannan and Siddhart Goswami with Seema Biswas and Adil Hussain in guest roles.

Sharing his experience with the audience, Wolman said that “all the papers were prepared very swiftly by the FFO office and the Israeli Ministry of Culture”.

“Guwahati sounds peripheral but we came there and found out that the equipment – cameras, lighting, recording is top-notch. Not in any way less than the kind of equipment that you find in New York, Paris or Tel Aviv,” the Israeli filmmaker said.

“And the crew, Assamese photographers, all the other professionals and even the creative intellectual discussions I would say were a fantastic experience. The crew in India made us feel at home. They made us feel like a family”, Wolman emphasised.

Yaron Kastori, another Israeli filmmaker present at the event, told PTI that he is looking to collaborate with Indian producers on a project that he has been working on and it is of help to learn about the various incentives being offered.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.

source/content: telegraphindia.com (headline edited)

The announcement was made at the ongoing 46th session of the World Heritage Committee.

The Charaideo Moidams, a unique 700-year old mound-burial system of the Ahom dynasty from Assam, was officially inscribed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List on July 26 becoming the 43rd property from India to be included in the prestigious index.

“This historic recognition brings global attention to the unique 700-year-old mound burial system of the Ahom kings at Charaideo, highlighting the rich cultural heritage of Assam and Bharat,” Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat told the media after the announcement.

He said that India has successfully inscribed 13 World Heritage Properties over the last decade and is now at the 6th position globally for the most number of World Heritage Properties.

Similar to the pyramids of Egypt, the Moidams are earthen burial mounds of the members of the Ahom royalty whose 600-year rule was ended by the British takeover of the region. They enshrine the mortal remains of Ahom rulers apart from their belongings.

The Ahoms adopted the Hindu method of cremation after the 18th century and began entombing the cremated bones and ashes in a Moidam at Charaideo.

The highly-venerated Moidams make the Charaideo district a tourist destination.

The Moidam is the first from the North East to be recognised as a World Heritage Site in cultural category. Assam has two other such sites in the natural category – Kaziranga National Park and Manas National Park, both upgraded to tiger reserves.

“THIS IS HUGE. The Moidams make it to the #UNESCO World Heritage list under the category Cultural Property – a great win for Assam. Thank You Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji, Members of the @UNESCO World Heritage Committee and to the people of Assam,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

He said the Charaideo Moidam embodies the deep spiritual belief, rich civilisational heritage, and architectural prowess of Assam’s Tai-Ahom community.

The Moidams were nominated as India’s official entry in 2023.

Vishal V. Sharma, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to UNESCO, visited the site of the necropolis in March.

Out of the 386 Moidams explored so far, 90 royal burials at Charaideo are the best preserved, representative, and most complete examples of this tradition

.The ongoing 46th session of the World Heritage Committee, which India is hosting for the first time, is examining 27 nominations from around the world, including 19 cultural, four natural, two mixed sites, and two significant modifications to existing boundaries.

(With inputs from Rahul Karmakar)

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)