A later work by Pablo Picasso and a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti sold for $179.36 million and $141.28 million, respectively, becoming the most expensive artworks to be sold at an auction so far, Efe news agency reported.


Picasso, Giacometti break sales records in New York auction


IANS Automatic

Launching three ambitious social security schemes targeted at the poor and unorganised sector workers on the occasion of Rabindranath Tagore's 154th birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the initiative was a reflection of the bard's call for empowering the poor.


Resolved to carry Tagore's order of empowering the poor: Modi


A historic collection of arms and armour of Tipu Sultan, the last king of Mysore, fetched over six million pounds (about Rs.567 million) at an Islamic and Indian art auction in London, an official said here on Wednesday.


Tipu Sultan's weapons auctioned for six mn pounds


In early 2000, Ratan Tata, now the Tata Group's chairman emeritus, told journalists that he wanted to create an affordable four-wheeler for two-wheeler users who couldn't afford a car. That vision was developed into the Tata Nano.


What made these Indian entrepreneurs corporate giants?


India has paid "scant" attention to the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region and there is need to scale up high-level political interactions with the countries of the region with which India's trade has been growing rapidly, diplomats and experts concurred here.


'Need to scale up high-level political ties with Latin America'


Union Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma Tuesday laid the foundation stone of a site museum - whose purpose is to provide better understanding of Mughal architecture - at the Humayun's Tomb complex here.


Foundation stone laid for site museum at Humayun's Tomb


Use of folk art in merchandise such as T-shirts and coffee mugs leads to "misinterpretation" of its original meaning, a researcher said here on Monday.


'Merchandising leading to misinterpretation of Indian folk art'


The Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) is one of Kerala Tourism's most outstanding products, said state Tourism Minister A.P. Anil Kumar on Tuesday.


Kochi Biennale high-value tourism product: Kerala minister


An amount of Rs.19,338 lakh has been spent during 2014-15 on the conservation and maintenance of protected monuments against an allocation of Rs.23,575.90 lakh for the period, parliament was informed on Monday.


'Rs.19,338 lakh spent on monument-conservation'


The premises of popular monuments like the Red Fort, Taj Mahal and Qutab Minar would soon house government-run emporiums to promote their state's handicrafts, parliament was informed on Monday.


Popular monuments to have handicrafts emporiums


An amount of Rs.1,573.07 crore has been earmarked for the tourism ministry for 2015-16, giving it a rise of 33 percent over last fiscal's allocation, in the union budget presented Saturday.


Tourism ministry gets 33 percent hike in budget


There was a meagre 0.46 percent increase in the budgetary allocation for the ministry of culture for 2015-2016 as compared to last year.


Minor changes in budget for culture ministry


Acknowledging the need to improve facilities at the Unesco World Heritage Sites in India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Saturday proposed to initiate the restoration process of eight sites including Leh Palace and churches and convents of Old Goa among others.


Facilities at heritage sites to be restored: Jaitley


Indians receive the majority of H-1B visas, with most working in science, tech and engineering

US to permit H-1B spouses to work from May 26

IANS

Hindi language publishers are adapting - and how - by offering fresh content, launching mobile apps and aggressively marketing their books to resurrect the genre's lost stature against the giant rise of literature in English.


Hindi publishers adopt technology, new strategies to revamp business (Literary Feature)


The toymakers who introduced  the world to the Barbie doll have created a new doll inspired by Scotland's Loch Ness  monster myth.


Toymakers create doll inspired by Scotland's Loch Ness monster


The aggressive and smart marketing and communication strategies of the organisers of the Delhi World Book Fair 2015 have managed to hit the bull's eye when it comes to footfalls, but the team is already "thinking big" for the next edition where China will be the guest country at this annual business-to-business event.


Delhi World Book Fair to get bigger in 2016


The government has drawn a roadmap to modernise its approach towards the publishing domain including digitisation of the publications division, Information and Broadcasting Secretary Bimal Julka said Saturday.


'Government to focus on digitisation of Publications Division'


Online tickets will now be made available for historical monuments and buildings here to improve facilities for tourists in the Uttar Pradesh capital city, an official said Thursday.


E-tickets for Lucknow's heritage sites soon


Works of modern master S.H.Raza and contemporary artist Bharti Kher are leading the race for the sale of Saffronart's, India's biggest online art auction house, set to take place Feb 12, the organisers said Wednesday.


Bharti Kher, Raza lead Saffronart auction race


The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Tuesday said it will participate in next month's International Kolkata Book Fair for spreading awareness about capital trading.

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