The film deals with past and present and even has a certain importance given to the watch but sadly, the film itself does not seem to go on track with it. As the story progresses in one night, the night never seems to come to an end and when it does, the epiphany attached to it is not worth.
Jalandhar, May 13Tightening noose around its affiliated colleges, Punjab Technical University (PTU) has issued fresh directive that they must strictly adhere to its guidelines or face disaffiliation.The university authorities have stated that all affiliated engineering, technology, management and pharmacy colleges of the state must abide by the prescribed standards pertaining to maintenance of adequate infrastructure, appointment of qualified and experienced staff and follow AICTE norms on salaries, holding regular faculty improvement programmes, ensuring regular attendance of the students and producing good results in examination, failing which they could face the music. The university authorities have even begun academic auditing of the colleges in this regard to further improve the standards. To begin with, each college has been asked to provide them with the required documents supporting their stand on compliance of the norms. The colleges have been asked to submit copies of attendance registers, returns of income tax filed by their faculty and result sheets of the internal and final examinations. The university has also printed some feedback forms to be given to the students asking their opinion about mode of presentation of lectures delivered to them, amount of syllabus covered and various facilities available in their laboratories and departmental libraries. Considering the strict stand being taken up by the university, most affiliated colleges have swung into action. All colleges have started making arrangements for acquiring appropriate teaching aids, giving bulk orders for books and literature for libraries and equipping their laboratories with latest instruments for research purposes. The colleges have even started replacing their under-qualified staff by more experienced and qualified teachers as per the university norms and fresh appointments are now being made on AICTE guidelines.A glance through various newspapers reveals that many PTU colleges have advertised for the same clearly mentioning that the remuneration would be fixed as per the AICTE norms. While most colleges have been appointing graduate and inexperienced faculty members in the past, many colleges, including those in Ludhiana and Mohali, are now trying to bring in senior faculty of the level of professors and Readers, who are PhD, having 10 years of teaching experience. Few colleges, including those in Mandi Gobindgarh, have even advertised for UGC or NET qualified staff for the post of assistant professors and lecturers asking for first divisions in their postgraduation.The Vice Chancellor, Dr S.K. Salwan, had recently submitted a report on the progress of the academic auditing in the recently convened meeting of the Board of Governors at Chandigarh.
X: Past is Present movie in hindi 720p
Taiwan's Forgotten Amateur Spies. Sipping iced coffee and smoking a cigarette in a cafe in his hometown, Lin Yi-lin appears relaxed. But the 41-year-old, locked up for nearly 14 years in China for spying, still suffers a roller coaster of emotions. After his arrest in 1994, his wife divorced him. His father died of a stroke on a trip to see him in prison. Lin did not even recognize his hometown when he was released in 2008. But he says: "My biggest regret is I wasn't there during my two sons' childhood. I couldn't play ball with them, or go to their graduation ceremonies. They are grown now. There's distance between us." Unlike the spies of Russia and the US, Lin and many other Taiwanese spies were not professionals. They were targeted by Taiwan's Military Intelligence Bureau in the 1980s, when Taiwan started allowing its people to visit mainland China. Businessmen were the first to go into China - driven by their desire to trade and make money. They developed contacts, sometimes with high-ranking Chinese generals, who were eager to go into business. "It started when an undercover agent approached me at a party. He introduced himself as a journalist and said his newspaper needed information on China," said Lin, who was running a tile-making business in China at the time. "It wasn't until later that I realized I was working for the military." Motivated by generous financial rewards and loyalty towards Taiwan, Lin and others gathered information about Chinese military affairs. Some of their work was as simple as pretending to be tourists and taking pictures outside military compounds, or reporting a military drill when they saw tanks on the streets or airports temporarily closed. And, as in Lin's case, it could be as risky as using his contacts to gain access to a military base and taking pictures of Chinese submarines. "They paid me NT$50,000 (US$1,500; 960) a month, paid for my plane tickets and once gave me a bonus of US$5,000 when I found the submarine base," said Lin. "After a while, I felt that this is fun. I'm pretty good at it. I can do some good for my country and it's challenging." But Lin and the others were not trained, although he learned to decipher coded messages and send faxes using invisible ink. Over the decades, many were arrested, and usually sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. Taiwan's government refuses to reveal how many of the amateur spies have been jailed, but legislators contacted by desperate families believe several dozen are still serving time in China's prisons. For the families, it has been a nightmare. "They are not allowed to visit their jailed relatives often. Many of the families have given up on them," said legislator Justin Chou. "Some of the people jailed are ill, and others have died in prison because the living standards and medical care are poor." Many of the families, including Lin's, had no idea their loved one was spying. When spies are arrested, no one is informed, because there are no official ties between Taiwan and China. It is only when the spies are sentenced and Chinese newspapers report the cases that the families find out. Some cases are not carried in the media. The sister of a woman who was arrested in 2007 with her husband said she thought the pair were doing business in China. Since their arrest, she has been taking care of her sister's youngest son. "All I know is I promised her 10 years ago that I would look after her kids if anything happened to her," said the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, for fear of jeopardizing the possible early release of her sister and brother-in-law, who is in his 70s and seriously ill. She has visited many government offices in Taiwan to seek help. "What we can't accept is that we've been forgotten by the government. The government's attitude is to throw you away after using you," she said. "This is shameful." In a statement, the Military Intelligence Bureau said it has tried to help the families with financial support, as those arrested are often the family breadwinner, and by working through unofficial channels to persuade China to release the spies. "The families really want us to save their relatives, but our ability is limited," a Bureau spokesman said. Mutual intelligence gathering still goes on but businessmen are no longer recruited, he said. Tensions have run high between the two sides since 1949, when Taiwan was separated from China at the end of a civil war. But an unprecedented warming in relations since Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008, has given the families new hope of formal talks for release on humanitarian grounds, or a spy swap. But the timing is not right, said the Bureau official and the legislator Mr. Chou. "Taiwan's government doesn't want to formally raise this issue [with China] because it's very sensitive... We don't want to harm cross-strait relations because of this issue," said Mr. Chou, who is from the ruling Kuomintang party. When Taiwan's representatives tried to raise the issue in unofficial channels, China has not expressed interest, Chou and others said. Still, he and others are working behind-the-scenes to secure early release for those who are seriously ill. A couple of spies were recently freed on medical parole. Lin and the families of those in prison say they cannot understand why a group of ordinary people, who were simply caught up in the politics of the past, cannot be released. "These people are not criminals. It's only because the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party had different political systems that there was spying going on. These people were not trying to overthrow the Chinese government," Lin said. He is now fighting to help those still imprisoned. "So many people helped me... I want to fight for the human rights of the others, so that my tragedy won't be repeated." In the jail where he was detained in southern China's Fujian province, one of his eight fellow Taiwanese inmates has already died. Lin was able to shorten his 20-year sentence by earning "points" for early release by working on the prison production line. Fed mainly on rice and water, those older than him did not have the physical stamina. "I told myself I have to get out alive," said Lin. Besides lobbying human rights agencies and seeking reparation from the government, Lin is trying to get to know his sons. [Sui/BBC/17August2010]
The U.S. Department of State's Office of the Historian is pleased to invite AFIO members to a conference on the American Experience in Southeast Asia, 1946-1975, which will be held in the George C. Marshall Conference Center at the State Dept. The conference will feature a number of key Department of State personnel, both past and present. Those speaking will include: * Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger * Former Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte * Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard A. Holbrooke The conference will include a panel composed of key print and television media personnel from the Vietnam period discussing the impact of the press on public opinion and United States policy. A number of scholarly panels featuring thought-provoking works by leading scholars will also take place. Registration information will be available at the State Dept website, , after August 1. 2ff7e9595c
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