Rousing start to Abu Dhabi Festival – My Letters – GULF NEWS Dt. 21 March 2012

Posted on March 21, 2012 Updated on June 6, 2015

Rousing start to Abu Dhabi Festival – My Letters – GULF NEWS Dt. 21 March 2012

• Staff Report
• Published: 00:00 March 21, 2012

Abu Dhabi: The seventh edition of the Abu Dhabi Festival was inaugurated at a special ceremony at the Emirates Palace Hotel attended by dignitaries, guests and members of the public, on Monday.
 
Iraqi artist Hassan Massoudy’s specially commissioned calligraphy exhibition ‘Gestures of Light’ was the highlight of the evening’s programme along with a performance by internationally renowned musician Anoushka Shankar, who is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading sitar players, and the only artist to be trained exclusively by her father, the legendary Ravi Shankar.
 
“Every year we aim to showcase the diversity of the world’s artists and genres by bringing a taste of global music and performances to the nation’s capital. With Anoushka’s involvement in this year’s festival, we broke new ground with her mesmerising young talent renowned the world over and set a new bar for future performances,” said Hoda Al Khamis Kanoo, founder and artistic director of the Abu Dhabi Festival.
 
Students honoured
 
Additionally, outstanding Emirati students from the UAE University, Zayed University and the Higher Colleges of Technology were recognised for their participation in initiatives supported by the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation.
 
They included the Young Media Leaders programme, which provides training for careers in the media and the Theatre-in-Education (Tie) programme, a series of workshops led by the City University of New York’s creative arts team.

The festival also presented a lifetime achievement award posthumously to Dr Walid Gholmieh, a prominent conductor, composer, scholar and activist for western classical music in the Middle East, and a defining influence in Lebanon’s classical landscape.
The 27-day event, which will end on April 6, includes 168 cultural and artistic events across the UAE.
 

My comments as follows:

The opening ceremony of Abu Dhabi Festival along with Anoushka Shankar’s performance created an everlasting memory. An impressive array of dignitaries joining HE Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan were present to recognise outstanding Emirati students from the UAE University, Zayed University and the Higher Colleges of Technology for their participation in initiatives supported by the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation.

It was a moment of joy for all those who actively involved in the Young Media Leaders programme. Lifetime achievement awarded posthumously to Dr Walid Gholmieh created the perfect platform for a scintillating two hour two session of music by Anoushka Shankar and her team of musicians.

The performance was harmoniously blended with the artists complementing each other on traditional Indian and Spanish musical instruments and music.

The theme Traveller turned out to be perfect as the rhythm and mood created a gypsy feelings in audience mind. I could relate the proud sense of watching her perform live at Abu Dhabi when after the programmes some of the guests leaving the auditorium mentioned, I watched her dad perform 40 years ago in New York and now her here in Abu Dhabi. Both bring the same sweet smile, calmness and ease of quality music out when they sit to perform.

Wish the programme was made available for a wider range of audience for view outside the auditorium through giant screens placed at various points in Abu Dhabi Corniche. In addition, after each show photo session of the artists performed on stage should also be allowed.

Hope Abu Dhabi Festival organisers will consider this aspect for the future shows. The name and fame of Abu Dhabi Festival should reach a wider section of population.

Ramesh Menon, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

 

To see a similar performance held elsewhere, please watch this video. It was almost the same or better.

To read it in original, please visit GULF NEWS online.

To see photos of the event clicked by me, please visit and view the album in the link below:

Abu Dhabi Festival opens – Traveller by Anoushka Shankar

 

Indian federal budget fails to impress the majority – My letters – Gulf News 16 March 2012

Posted on March 16, 2012

Indian federal budget fails to impress the majority – My letters – Gulf News 16 March 2012

Analysts said the budget did not make a serious effort to rein in subsidies. The Finance Minister announced that from 2012-13 while subsidies related to food and for administering the Food Security Act will be fully provided for, all other subsidies would be funded to the extent that they can be borne by the economy without any adverse implications. He said that the government will endeavour to restrict the expenditure on central subsidies under 2 per cent of GDP in 2012-13and over the next three years, it would be further brought down to 1.75 per cent of GDP.
 
“The market was hoping for a lower deficit for the next financial year, so disappointing from that perspective. India continues to have the largest fiscal deficit within emerging Asia, hence expect this to weigh on the rupee,” said Jonathan Cavenagh, foreign exchange strategist, Westpack, Singapore.
 
In the budget estimates for 2012-13, the gross tax receipts are estimated at 10, 7.76 trillion which is an increase of 15.6 per cent over the Budget Estimates and 19.5 per cent over the revised estimates for 2011-12. After devolution to States, the net tax to the central government in 2012-13 is estimated at Rs 77 trillion. The Non Tax Revenue Receipts are estimated at Rs16.46 trillion and Non-debt Capital Receipts at Rs 4.16 trillion. The total expenditure for 2012-13 is budgeted at Rs149 trillion. Of this Rs52 trillion is the Plan Expenditure while Rs96.9 trillion is budgeted as Non Plan Expenditure.
 
Tax proposals
 
The tax proposals are guided by the need to move towards the Direct Tax Code (DTC) in the case of direct taxes and Goods & Services Tax (GST) in the case of indirect taxes. For now it appears that the DTC has been deferred from the planned implementation from April 1, 2012.
 
Individual income upto Rs200,000 will be free from income tax; income upto Rs 180,000 was exempt in 2011-12. Income above Rs500,000 and upto Rs 1 million now carries tax at the rate of 20 per cent; the 20 per cent tax slab was from Rs500,000 to Rs800,000 in 2011-12. A deduction of up to Rs10,000 is now available for interest from savings bank accounts.
 
The budget made an attempt to widen the service tax base. All services will now attract service tax, except those in the negative list. The negative list has 17 heads and includes specified services provided by the government or local authorities, and services in the fields of education, renting of residential dwellings, entertainment and amusement, public transportation, agriculture and animal husbandry. Service tax rate is being increased from 10 per cent to 12 per cent, with consequential change in rates for services that have individual tax rates. The standard rate of excise duty for non-petroleum goods is also being raised from 10 per cent to 12 per cent. No change is proposed in peak rate of customs duty of 10 per cent on non-agricultural goods.
 
The direct tax proposals in the budget will result in a net revenue loss of Rs 450 billion and the raising of indirect taxes will result in a net revenue gain of Rs 4.6 trillion resulting in a net gain of Rs 4.1 trillion.
 
“The finance minister is looking to collect large sums of money through indirect taxes, probably to mitigate the fiscal situation, but this could have an impact on consumption,” said Deven Choksey, managing director of K R Choksey shares & Securities, Mumbai.

My comments as follows:

To read it in original, please visit GULF NEWS online.