Mumbai: Village Rockstars, an Assamese language feature by National Award-winning filmmaker Rima Das, was on Saturday selected as India’s official entry for the best foreign language film category of the 2019 Academy (Oscar) Awards.

Village Rockstars beat 27 other contenders, including Hichki, Padmaavat, Raazi, Love Sonia, Nude, Pihu and Padman, said Rajendra Singh Babu, chairman of the Film Federation of India.

Das is the writer, director, cinematographer, editor and producer of Village Rockstars, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival 2017.

The coming-of-age film tells the story of 10-year-old Dhunu, a young girl from a remote village in Assam, who dreams of owning a guitar and forming a rock band despite the abysmal financial situation at home.

The film has travelled to more than 70 film festivals around the world. At the 65th National Film Awards earlier this year, the 87-minute drama also won four awards — for Best Feature, Best Editing, Best Location Sound Recordist and Best Child Artist.

Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday relaxed know-your-client (KYC) requirements norms for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs).

After considering the interim recommendations of the Sebi working group under the chairmanship of Harun R. Khan, a former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, the capital markets regulator said beneficial ownership criteria in Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005, or PMLA Rules, should be made applicable for purpose of KYC and not for determining eligibility of FPIs.

The World Women's Boxing Championships, to be hosted by India after more than a decade, will be held from November 15 in the national capital, a top official of the international body said on Friday.

"The AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships will be held in New Delhi in November 13-25," an official of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said.

The marquee tournament was last held in India in 2006 and remains the best for the country in terms of performance. India had topped the medal tally with four Gold, three Silver and one Bronze medal.

The celebrated M C Mary Kom, who has been nicknamed 'Magnificent Mary' by the AIBA, will be gunning for a sixth world title at the event which would conclude with the finals on November 24.

She won successive Gold medals in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010 editions.

"The deadline for registration in the AIBA Database to the AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships is October 5," the official said.

In the last edition of the event, which started in 2001, India won just a Silver, through Sonia Lather in the featherweight (57kg) category. The first edition of the women's world championship was held in the Unites States in Scranton in 2001. All participating countries would be required to land in New Delhi before November 13.

Insurance Regulatory and Authority of India (Irdai) in its circular has asked insurers to enhance capital sum insured in compulsory personal accident cover for owner-driver under motor insurance policies to Rs 15 lakh.

Currently, the mandatory cover is capped at Rs 1 lakh for two-wheelers and Rs 2 lakh for private or commercial cars, respectively. The premiums for Rs 15-lakh cover have been fixed at Rs 750 per annum.
Stakeholders in the industry say even as premium rates go up, coverage will also increase, and it’s a very welcome move for the policyholders. Earlier, the premiums were Rs 50 for two-wheelers and `100 for cars.

Speaking on the new circular from Irdai, Tapan Singhel, managing director & chief executive officer, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, said, “This move of enhancing the Capital Sum Insured (CSI) of Compulsory Personal Accident (CPA) cover to `15 lakh is a step in the right direction. I strongly believe that it’s vital to have an

(HANOI, Vietnam) — Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, the country’s second in command after the Communist party’s leader, died Friday of a serious illness, the government said. He was 61.

The website statement said Quang passed away despite “utmost efforts to treat him by Vietnamese and foreign professors and doctors and care by the Party and State leaders.” It said he died at the 108 Military Hospital in Hanoi but did not elaborate on his illness.

Quang hosted President Donald Trump during his first state visit to the communist country last year where Trump attended a summit of Pacific Rim leaders.

NEW DELHI: The inaugural General Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) will take place on October 2, the Ministry of External Affairs said Friday.
The ministerial level assembly will be held in Greater Noida the following day, it said.

The Founding Conference of the ISA was jointly hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron in March this year.

The ISA, formation of which was initiated by India and France, aims to bring all countries together for cooperation on solar energy.

During the founding conference, PM Modi had announced India's commitment to extend nearly USD 1.4 billion worth of lines of credit (LOCs) to cover 27 projects in 15 countries, especially in Africa

Actor Anushka Sharma who has received the Smita Patil award for best actor, said it validates the choices that she has made so far in her career. Addressing the media at the 34th edition of the Priyadarshini Academy Global Awards 2018 on Wednesday, Anushka said, “It’s a special day for me because I completed 10 years in the industry on this day. So receiving this award validates the choices that I made in my career. I don’t come from a film background. I didn’t have anyone to guide me in my journey. My parents also don’t belong to this industry so they also don’t know how the industry works,” she said.

The actor, who is gearing up for the release of her film Sui Dhaaga, made her debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi in 2008. She thanked all the writers and directors for playing a key role in her success journey.

“I also want to thank all the writers who wrote amazing roles for me and the directors who envisioned me in those roles. I don’t think any actor’s career is complete without the contribution of these two people. I want to thank every supporter of mine all over the world

BHUBANESWAR: Amidst downpour, India successfully test-fired surface-to-surface short-range tactical ballistic missile Prahaar from a defence facility off Odisha coast on Thursday paving the way for its induction.

Mounted on a mobile launcher the indigenously developed missile was flight tested from the launching complex-III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at about 1.35 pm.

“The missile blasted off from a canister travelled the desired range before zeroing on the target. All systems functioned normally. The mission achieved a copybook success,” said a defence official.

Equipped with state of the art navigation, guidance and electromechanical actuation systems with the latest onboard computer, the missile achieved the terminal accuracy of fewer than 10 meters. It went up vertically and then manoeuvred as coordinated.

NEW DELHI: The global community is celebrating the International Day of Peace today. The day is observed on 21 September every year. The International Day of Peace was first celebrated in 1982. It is recognized by United Nations. It has been declared by the United Nations General Assembly a day "devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples."
A resolution for the declaration of The International Day of Peace was moved by the United Kingdom and Costa Rica in 1981. Initially, the annual International Day of Peace was observed on every third Tuesday of September. The date was changed to September 21 in 2001.

The theme for the first International Day of Peace on 21 September 1982 was the right to peace of people.

In 2015, the United Nations Member States understood that the rights of people have to be ensured for a peaceful world in the future. The members also recognized the need to achieve economic and social development for all people everywhere for lasting peace in the world. Hence, they adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which cover a gamut of issues, including poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender equality, water, sanitation, energy, environment and social justice.

New Delhi: The BSE Sensex recovered nearly 900 points after plummeting over 1,100 points in the afternoon session on major selloff in finance stocks, despite firm global cues and rupee recovery.

The sharp downward swing was led by NBFCs and DHFL in particular as it crashed over 50% as investors pulled out fearing a liquidity crisis. 

There were wild swings on the market as both the bloodbath and the recovery were equally swift. The selloff was so intense that the Sensex crashed around 1,100 points within a matter of minutes. The recovery was fast too as the BSE benchmark immediately recovered over 900 points. 

After trading at an intra-day low of 35,993.64 points, against the previous close of 37,121.22 points, the benchmark index is currently trading at 36,512 points, down over 500 points from Thursday. The Sensex had lost 969.42 points in the previous three sessions.