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A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E E M B A S S Y O F I N D I A , K A B U L http://meakabul.nic.in V O L U M E 3 I S S U E 7 J U LY 2 0 0 7
Prime Minister of India with the leaders of G-8 and O-5 countries at the G-8 Summit, Germany, on June 8.
rime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the five leaders.
PM’s intervention on Climate Change at Heiligendamm Meeting of G8 and G5, June 8, 2007
Continued from page 2 nologies and investment. Let us leave Heiligendamm determined to
The IPR regime should balance rewards The Clean Development Mechanism continue our exchanges and to invigorate
for innovators with the common good of (CDM) has worked well and needs to be the existing fora where these issues are
humankind. expanded to include approvals for program- being negotiated. In the meantime, our rep-
We also believe that the carbon market matic approaches. Enhanced level of GHG resentatives could continue informal discus-
has a significant role to play in tackling cli- abatement commitments by the developed sions way to carry forward our dialogue and
mate change and that we should spur private countries would significantly stimulate CDM build on what we believe in common.
sector involvement in climate related tech- projects. Thank you. !
I
ndian Embassy in Kabul recently organ- quarter of the total of 6 million children
ised the high-protein biscuit distribution enrolled in schools country-wide) in the
ceremony at Feroz Nakhshir Boys most remote, poverty stricken areas, where
school and Naswan Girls school in the back- enrolment is low. The aim is to prompt par-
ward northern province of Samangan in ents to send their children to schools, alle-
Afghanistan. “Healthy and strong children viate short-term hunger, improve education
today will make a healthy and strong and nutritional health of Afghan students as
Afghanistan tomorrow” was the message also of reducing the gender gap among
projected by Indian Ambassador Rakesh school children. (In the last 5 years, the
Sood. The ceremony held on June 27 also overall ratio of girls at schools has risen
saw the participation of the Afghan from 3 to 6 girls for every 10 boys). Since
Education Minister Hanif Atmar, affirming November 2002, around 57,000 tonnes of
the commitment of the Ministry of biscuits supplied by India have been distrib-
Education to the school feeding pro- uted in four tranches. School kids in 31
gramme, Richard W. Corsino, Country provinces and around 210 districts in
Director, World Food Programme, that Afghanistan are beneficiaries of the project.
administers the programme and Governor School girls at Naswan Girls school at Samangan, The three excluded provinces are Kabul and
of Samangan Abdul Haq Shafaq. Afghanistan, with their protein biscuit packets Panjsher — which are less vulnerable in
and pencil boxes.
Afghanistan faces a chronic food shortage terms of food security, as well as Bagdhis —
after long periods of strife, instability and biscuits, fortified with micro-nutrients that where a separate nutrition programme is
natural disasters. Despite international boost a child’s nutrition, reduce short-term being run by a NGO.
efforts, a large populace still lives in acute hunger and enhance the ability to concen- At the biscuit distribution ceremony in
poverty. As part of the post conflict relief trate and benefit from the learning impart- Feroz Nakhchir Boys school, the 450 school
and rehabilitation efforts, India has been a ed. The $100-million programme is the children, teachers and village elders braving
major contributor to the WFP’s On-site largest humanitarian assistance programme the soaring temperature and dust storm,
School Feeding Programme. In October, being undertaken by India in partnership spilled out of the massive colourful tent put
2001, the Indian Government approved the with WFP in the country, with the distribu- up in the school courtyard to witness the
donation of 1 million tonnes of wheat for tion of 100 gm of high protein biscuits daily ceremony and listen to the dignitaries.
Afghanistan, which is then converted into to 1.4 million school children (almost a Continued on page 5
Irrfan Khan:
India’s true
international
star
T
alent unlimited... that’s perhaps the Indeed ‘A Mighty Heart’ is a triumph for take him to very far in life is his talent and his
apt way to describe the critically this versatile actor. down to earth nature. No amount of success
acclaimed Irrfan Khan. He is the first However, Irrfan is not an unfamiliar name goes to his head. He is a very grounded per-
Indian actor to receive ‘the much wanted’ in the global film circuit. In 2001 his ‘The son,” Anurag Basu, who worked with him in
attention while walking the red carpet with Warrior’, a historical film made by London- ‘Metro’, said.
Hollywood celebrities Angelina Jolie and based director Asif Kapadia, stormed into He has one more international project
Brad Pitt at the recent Cannes Film Festival. international film festivals and made people called ‘Partition’ in his kitty. Directed by
Having regaled Indian audience with his take notice of him. Canadian director Vic Sarin, the film stars
powerful performances in ‘Maqbool’, ‘Yun His colleagues feel that Irrfan’s grounded Jimi Mistry and Neve Campbell.
Hota To Kya Hota’ and ‘Metro’, the actor personality is the key to his success. Recently, Irrfan won accolades for his yet
tried to explore new terrain with directed “There is a thing about Irrfan which will another powerful performance in U.S.-based
Michael Winterbottoms’ docu-drama ‘A Indian filmmaker Mira Nair’s ‘The
Mighty Heart’ based on the life of the slain Namesake’, based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s best-
Wall Streer Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. selling novel.
If Jolie, who plays Daniel’s wife in the film, Next on his wish list is to find a foothold
got rave reviews for her performance, Irrfan in Bollywood masala films.
too could manage to please all and sundry “For me it’s important to be commercially
and the scribes gave him full marks for etch- viable. The distributors should be willing to
ing out the role of the head of a Pakistani pay for my space. I still have very limited
counter-terrorism unit with perfection. choice... So what’s the point of being known
James Rocchi of cinematical.com wrote in as a good actor when you need to be recog-
his review: “A special praise has to go to nised as commercially saleable? I want a bet-
Irrfan Khan. His character is the head of the ter deal,” said Irrfan.
new Pakistani anti-terrorism unit, and he’s a But at the same time, he is looking forward
man torn between the public pronounce- to churn out more milestones like ‘Maqbool’,
ments of support for the West’s initiatives ‘Warrior’, ‘Haasil’ and ‘Namesake’.
and the labyrinthine power-struggles of his He said: “It’s been a long journey. But I’ve
government and massive public support for a long way to go. I’m happy with life. My wife
radical Islamic action. He is the face of a new is writing for Rituparno Ghosh and Bela
kind of power in Pakistan, and his every line, Bhansali. I’ve two kids, aged eight and three.
every motion has the coiled power of a punch I'm enjoying watching them grow. No experi-
about to land, even in stillness.’ ence can match that.” !