Jammu: Finance Minister Dr Haseeb A Drabu on Sunday unveiled the J&K Bank Calendar – 2018 themed ‘Half-Hidden Heaven’ in presence of the bank’s Chairman and CEO Parvez Ahmed here at the Zonal Office, Jammu (central).
Drabu also unveiled the Bank’s diary 2018. The calendar is a tribute to the natural beauty of state of Jammu and Kashmir, which still remains hidden from the common eye, he said.
Executive Presidents, S. S. Sehgal & Vagish Chander, were also present on the dice. Besides, senior president, presidents, vice presidents and other bank officials were present on the unveiling ceremony.
On the occasion, Dr Drabu also presented cheques and mementos to the photographers whose pictures were selected for the calendar-2018 after following a due process culminating solely into the jury’s decision.
The eight photographers Masood Bhat, Sajad Arif, Faheem Qadri, Mukhtar Ahmad, Adil Shah, Satish Sharma, Endee Rampal and Robert Huber were given the cheques worth Rs 21000 for each picture. Masood Hussain, Suman Gupta and Ashok Dilwali – professional experts in the field – were the judges in the selection process.
In his remarks, finance minister said, “In terms of generating hype and intensifying the people’s anticipation for it, J&K Bank Calendar emerges the winner every time. The theme is worthy and the treatment is equally good. I would like the corporate communication department of the bank to trace the historical perspective of the Bank’s Wall Calendar since its inception so that masses come to know its legacy.”
It was Dr Drabu as chairman and CEO of the bank who transformed the presentation of the Wall Calendar by making it socially relevant. He turned it into a social intervention tool and promoted state’s arts and crafts, heritage etc.
Earlier, Chairman Parvez Ahmed while welcoming the finance minister and other dignitaries to the launching ceremony of Calendar said, “It is a moment of delight for us here to witness the launch of calendar at the hands of Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu. In fact, it is Dr Drabu himself who started the theme based calendar during his tenure as the Chairman and CEO of the bank.”
“This calendar is a humble attempt to honour the blissful-delight our home state abodes, and invites to,” Chairman remarked.
Parvez Ahmed, while speaking on the occasion said, “Printing of Wall Calendar and diary though being a decades old tradition, got better with its essence only during the time when Dr Drabu was chairman of the bank. The objectivity was taken beyond date-keeping or holiday-keeping. It was for the first time when he innovatively promoted state’s treasures in Art, Crafts, culture and nature which were showcased along with our brand promotion.”
“Our wall calendar-2018 has been humbly attempted to showcase yet another beautiful concept and shall certainly inspire the people to focus on extending the tourism map to newer locations,” chairman said.
He further stated: We are highly appreciative of the professional and amateur photographers whose hard work has helped to compile our concept. The jury whose mention is a must here has been very kind to spare their valuable time for helping us to finalize the list. We are thankful to all those valuable time and resources have gone into making this wonderful creation.”
Earlier in his speech, Parvez Ahmed while referring to the wholehearted support of the finance minister to the bank lauded his support in the bank’s capital planning and securing special restructuring of the state portfolio. “We count them as the two biggest achievements for past one year,” he said.
“I see a lot of headroom for experimenting, reforming and transforming and feel freedom in doing so subconsciously knowing that we have a mentor in you who is always there to show the right way,” he said.
He recalled the huge contribution of Dr Drabu in enhancing the brand image of the Bank – be it customer relationship, investor relations, physical outlook, graphic outlook, HR nomenclature or communication style.
Notably, the images used in the calendar reflect the amazing diversity in the range of magnificence of this place — where, at times, autumn outshines the splendour of spring; heritage unites history and beauty into a singular spectacle; geography often throws up marvels of nature at every turn of eye; valleys come up as mesmerizing canvasses achieving harmony through splash of natural shades, sounds; and meadows happily run over the verdant valleys filled with wonder and wilderness.
