A Goa in Gujarat? That’s what the State Government has in mind by developing the historical Mandvi beach, about 60 km from Bhuj, into a world class beach resort at an estimated cost of over Rs 20 crore. Having failed to attract tourists despite promotional events like Kutch Utsav and Sharadotsav in the border distict of Kutch, the Modi Government has now mooted its Mandvi proposal.

For this, the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited (TCGL) will soon issue an expression of interest (EOI) globally, inviting private parties to invest in leisure, entertainment and hospitality projects proposed near the Mandvi beach. Infrastructure facilities like roads, drainage and drinking water supply will be created by the government with the help of the Union Tourism Ministry which has already sanctioned about Rs 4.80 crore for the same. There are also plans to develop the existing helipad near the beach town of Mandvi.

Confirming this, TCGL Managing Director P D Vaghela told The Indian Express on Tuesday that renowned architect Balkrishna Doshi, engaged by the Corporation has already prepared a detailed project report to develop the Mandvi beach into a tourist resort of international standards. Among the facilities proposed to be set up at the beach in private sector include cafeteria and hotels, water sports, snorkelling and marine excursion, ampi theatre, sculpture and sea animal parks and water garden. Vaghela said, “At present, lack of food and accommodation facilities on this virgin beach leave tourists no option but to return to Bhuj for a night halt.” But with an integrated beach development project in place, things would change, he said.

The TCGL has also plans to develop a seven km-long stretch between the Mandvi beach and the Dhrubadi village for that long drive along te beach for tourists.

The TCGL has already acquired about one lakh sq m of government land facing the beach to create all necessary facilities for prospective tourists, Vaghela said. Once the the beach is developed fully, it will attract domestic as well as foreign tourists visiting Kutch during promotional events, a senior TCGL official said.

Mandvi, founded in 1581 A D, is an ancient seaport, known for its handicraft items, particularly its relief, filigree and enamel works. In its vicinity, the longest Rukmavati stone bridge, Vikay Vilas Palace and Hawa Mahal are major spots of tourist attraction.

Source: ExpressIndia.com

Stalls, but no artisans. Artisans, but no products on display. It’s been two days since Saras 2006 was set up, but some of the stalls at the handicarafts mela wore a desolate look, and the organisers had reasons to explain this.

While the fair had been slotted for October 2-13 to cash in on Diwali shopping, organisers cited the festival season as one of the reasons why a number of stall owners had not arrived yet. ‘‘October 2 being Dusshera, many artisans were busy elsewhere. Hence the stalls were not completely filled up,’’ said Uttam Mevada, Chief Information Officer with the Gujarat Gram Haat.

The fair, which is on at Memnagar, has 120 stalls from 18 participating states: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, HP, J&K, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, UP and Tripura. A number of artisans, hailing from southern states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are still on the way to Ahmedabad or their wares are still to reach the venue, said organisers. Another reason being given by organisers for the absence of artisans is a similar handicrafts festival which ended in Gurgaon on October 2, which delayed the arrival of some artisans.

Those who have arrived, have an interesting mix to offer. Mansi Malhotra of Jai Ambe Mahila Swarojgar Samiti’s stall has a range of home-made beauty products like sandalwood powder, scents, rose water and olive oil. ‘‘We won awards for our range at the recent Gurgaon mela and at a handicrafts festival in Dehra Dun earlier. We work in groups of 12 and use home tools for making the products. This not only limits the price, but also guarantees purity,’’ she said.

While the Gujarat stall’s attraction is ‘agate’ jewellery from Khambat, the MP stalls offer ‘chanderi’ embroidery. Artisans from Raghurajpur in Orissa’s Puri district have palm-leaf engravings and tusser paintings on display. ‘‘Chanderi takes its name from a village by the same name. Around 3,000 villagers embroider sarees brought in from places like Varanasi, Coimbatore and Bangalore. One saree costs anywhere between Rs 300 and Rs 6,000,’’ said Prathurajsingh Daniya, an artisan.

Source: Expressindia.com

Mobile data services are the next wave of growth for the mobile communications industry amid the increasingly saturated subscriber base, according to a new report by Frost & Sullivan, a consulting firm.

"While messaging will continue to be the main revenue contributor in most emerging and developing mobile data markets, much of the growth potential also lies in premium content. Greater 3G (third generation) coverage and deployment, expanding regional subscriber base, declining cost of advanced multimedia handsets, and the race to secure a continuous stream of content through partnerships are likely to drive growth of mobile data revenues," it says.

The report reveals that the market, covering 13 major Asia-Pacific economies, earned revenues of $9.4 billion in 2005 and is estimated to reach $32.9 billion by end-2011. "Subscribers in most Asia-Pac countries have strong preference for local content, which creates the impetus for the fast-growing mobile content market," the consulting firm says. "The pace of 3G adoption, to a certain extent, influences the development of premium content applications by providing greater bandwidth and faster data transmission." The Asia-Pacific mobile data market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 17.9 per cent between 2005 and 2011. Messaging revenues still constitute the majority of operator- generated data revenues. In 2005, messaging accounted for approximately 39.6 per cent of total operators’ data revenues (excluding revenue share of third-party content providers), F&S says.

The total premium content market, which includes both operator and third-party content provider revenues, held 29.5 per cent of total mobile data revenues in 2005, and is expected to register a CAGR of 23.2 per cent from 2005 to 2011. In certain Asia Pacific countries, the revenue share ratio skews in favour of mobile operators. As a result, content providers receive a small revenue split. Moreover, content providers are required to pay hefty royalties for applications to music label companies and associations, it says.

Text Audio

While on telecoms, uReach Technologies, a New Jersey-based company co-founded by

Krishnamurthy Kambhampati, and audio SMS product. According to uReach, the sayText audio SMS solution allows texting without typing, enabling users to speak messages instead of typing on alpha-numeric keypads. "The sayText Audio SMS solution will work with all current mobile handsets in market, and users can create distribution lists to SMS, MMS, email, IM, AudioSMS and text-to-landline destinations. It also allows to speak in whatever language they like," uReach says.