Democracy Martyred in Pakistan

After the killing of Pakistani leader Benezir Bhutto, she was venerated as democracies martyr. But her will has martyred democracy itself. It is sad that in the Indian subcontinent political leadership has been taken as dynastic right to rule the nation. It is true about Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, as it is about Bhutto's in Pakistan, and there will be no different approach in Bangladesh or Nepal which is struggling for the democracy.

In India, we have hope at least in some opposition parties like BJP and Communists, but more or less all the parties play the same game of dynastic rules. Whether it is Mulayam Singh of Samajwadi party or Laloo of RJD. Even the small parties which has presence in states and limited to the states trade the same path. Take the example of Shivsena where Thakare's or in NCP the Pawar's and Sule's favor dynastic fashion of democracy(?). In south India, Karnataka's Janta Dal (S) of Devegauda belongs to his son Kumaraswami. Tamilnadu's DMK fights within the family for reins.

Modi wins Gujarat again

'Jitega Gujarat' was the slogan for Gujarat elections by BJP, and indeed Gujarat wins. There wasn't any opposition to BJP and Modi in Gujarat. As usual congress played minority politics and demography doesn't support it when hindus get united and unfortunately for the congress that rare thing happened again in Gujarat.

Despite modi haters from BJP itself, M/s. Keshubhai and Suresh Mehta couldn't do any damage to BJP votebank in Gujarat. The efforts taken by Tehelka to blame Modi for the riots post Godhra in fact helped him win many votes. So sad for the english media, professed by JNU commie generation which used every way including influencing analysis of exit polls, to get some psychological relief of beating an unbeatable foo.

What these people will learn from this? nothing. Because their minds are closed. They don't understand the real issues and are living in utopia of secularism.

Pravin Mahajan get life sentence

Law has taken its course and in due course it will take its turns also, as supreme court is the destination for all rich and frivolous. But for the moment Pravin Mahajan, the killer brother of Late Promod Mahajan has got life sentence for killing his own brother.

It will be difficult to understand why he had killed his own brother who was like father figure to him over the years. All that he had was given by Pramod, and he would have certainly benefited from Pramod's successfull political career. If the logic doesn't work here then Pravin has some psychological problems.

Let's see something gets revealed in due course of time.

Mahabus by MSRTC

Those who are familiar with red-yellow buses plying in nook and corners of Maharashtra will be surprised to see this new bus. So far the luxury for state owned carrier was age old white-blue Asiad buses named as they were official carriers for the Asiad event in 1982. In between they started Volvo services on Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Hyderabad routes but they were limited and unknown to rest of Maharashtra.

Now as part of restructuring propelled by thinning crowd in MSRTC buses, a new initiative branded Mahabus is taken, and Chinese made KingLong buses are acquired to enhance comfort and luxury in affordable prices with Mahabus.

The Kinglong buses pictured at left will venture on Mumbai-Goa route from this decemeber, they are already plying on Mumbai-Pune route.

More details and time table for mumbai-pune service is available on MSRTC's newly launched website here at http://msrtc.maharashtra.gov.in/mahabus.html

TATA 1 lakh rupee car how does it looks?

If you are desperate to have a look at it see this picture, published in overdrive sometime back. Looks like a proper hatchback for 1 Lakh rupee car.



The car, the prototype of which is ready at the Pune plant, is a four-seater with a 630 cc, four-stroke, two-cylinder rear engine and is scheduled for roll out from the Singur plant in West Bengal in 2008. Both petrol and diesel variants are on the cards with a one-year phase out for the latter. Fuel efficiency of petrol engine is touted to be in the range of 26-30KMPL.

Gary Kirsten - Coach for Indian Cricket team

According to BCCI officials Gary Kirsten has agreed to coach India. The formalities will be cleared in next two days. The initial contract will for two years and can be extended upto next world cup in 2011.

Kirsten played 101 Tests and 185 one-day internationals for South Africa in an 11-year career that ended in 2004.

The names of another South African cricket star, former skipper Kepler Wessels, and the high-profile Australian John Buchanan had also been considered, but the 40-year-old Kirsten eventually got the nod.

3500 Olymics and counting in China

There are around 3500 Olympics so far before the official Olympics of 2008. Chinese parents are naming their newborns in the honor of the Olympics in 2008.

Now that's typical Chinese, probably every weird thing has some following in China. It's classic example of how China culturally bastardizes itself. Maoist legacy has ruthlessly wiped all the accumulated antiquity of chinese culture to bring it to the materialistic world of this time.

Hyundai's new Small car : i10


Hyundai motors launched a new small car named i10. This car adds one more contender in already crowded small cars segment like Maruti Alto, Maruti 800, Maruti Wagnor, Chevrolet Spark, Hyundai's very own Santro etc.,

The specs of new car similar to Santro, but company says it is not replacing Santro with i10. Probably Santro will be pushed down price wise as i10 prices starts above 3 lakh.

Specs and more information at http://hyundaii10.co.in/

He was all 405 years old when he died.

He was born in when Ming dynasty was ruling China, that's why he was named 'Ming'. His age was 405 years at the time of death, and claimed to be longest living animal so far known to recorded history.

It's a clam shell of North Atlantic coast of Iceland analyzed by the welsh scientists. Scientists are able to determine the age of a clam by counting the growth rings in its shell, much like the rings of a tree, Chris Richardson of the Bangor University School of Ocean Sciences told the Times of London. This species of clam typically lives for 200 years, according to the scientist.

Snake and the Frog


This is what I clicked during the visit to my native place in Ratnagiri for Ganapati festival this month. The frog and snake seems to be cohabiting peacefully in this well, although they are known as natural enemies. The situation explains it as the frog is over sized to be a pray for the snake.

They both seem to feed on small fishes in the well, and keep a healthy relation by not crossing over each others domain.

Facts about mountains

• Occupying about 20% of the world's land area, mountains are home to about 10% of its population.
• Mountains supply more than half of the fresh water requirements of the world. Hence they are named as "Water Towers of the World"
• Mountains harbour some of the world's richest biological diversity as well as some of the world's poorest people.
• Of the 20 plant species that supply 80% of the world's food, six originated inmountains. Among them the potato first appeared in the Peruvian Andes, corn in the Sierra of Mexico and sorghum in the high Ethiopian plateaus.
• Eighty per sent of the world's population relies on traditional medicines, yet one in every eight species of plants, many originating in mountain biomes, faces extinction.
• In some mountian regions, agricultural diversity and cultural diversity go hand in hand. in the Hindukush Himalaya Mountains, for example each region's many ethnic groups grow their own varieties of vegetables and spices.
• The world's greatest land mountain range is the Himalayas, which contains 96 of the world's 109 peaks of over 7315 m(24,000 ft).
• In India, the two mega biodiversity hotspots - the Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayas are mountainous regions.
• The 'Quenal' is the world's highest growing tree, found at an altitude of nearly 5,000 meters in the Peruvian Andes.
• While forests in the mountains of developing nations are generally decreasing in area, those in many industrial nations are expanding.
• Mountain tourism acconts for about 15 to 20 persent of the global tourist industry.this activities like skeing and mountneering.
• More than half of humanity depends on mountains for water to drink, to grow food, to produce electricty and to generate industry, as well as for transportation.
• In humid parts of the world mountains provide 30 to 60 persent of the freshwater downstream.
• All the major rivers of world depend on mountains for water.

Sanjay Dutt's sentencing and afterwards

Congress party openly coming in support of Mumbai Blast TADA court convict Sanjay Dutt is deplorable. One can agree to the plight of the sister Priya who is congress MP, but bringing in party machinery to get out a convict out of judicial process in certainly not understandable.

Convictions in TADA cases have disturbed many in state and at center so that they are making a issue to implement Shrikrishna commission, which is a step to please the minority. These people very well understand the distinction between these two crimes. Shrikrishna commission is set to enquire the post babari riots which were spontaneous as in the case of every other riot, wherein the TADA court convictions are for the planned crime against society.

But those who look at every decision from votes garnering point, are difficult to understand the implications in taking the things to turmoil.

The best mileage production car in the world

Volkswagan Lupo 3l TDI is the most fuel efficient car in the world at the moment. The car has completed world tour of 33,333 KMs in 80 days using just 793 liter of diesel.
That means an average consumption of 2,38/100km at an average speed of 85km/hour.

The 80 days trip was based on Jean-Jules Verne's famous book, "Around the World in Eighty Days", in which Englishman Phileas Fogg took a bet that he could go around the world in eighty days. The VW team traveled through South Africa, France, Thailand, Australia, North America and many west European and Scandinavian countries before making it back to Wolfsburg, covering 33,333km in the process.

More information and photographic material is available on www.Lupo80days.com

Reincarnation or memory recall of a US scientist in rural India?

Guys here is a incredible story carried out yesterday by TV news channels. Rajesh, a 14 year old boy from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India claims he is reincarnation of dead US scientist 'Valence Regart' who died in 1966. The boy speaks english only in american accent and his expressions are of a matured american, although he has studied upto 8th standard in hindi he doesn't speak hindi now.

The boy says his interest are sociology and science and he is extremely good in physics and chemistry, infact he is explaining concepts of physics to M.Sc. students in a local college as a professional scientist. The background of the boy is very humble, born of a laborer mother and mentally disturbed father, his village doesn't have a person who knows english as claimed by the village head.

Rajesh claims he is writing three books, and wan't to work in good lab to pursue his interest of development of science. About his abilities he talks about memory recall with reference to the books he is writing.

The story begins as a 14 year old normal boy, once playing with his friend built a mud play house, which was broken by his father. In a feet of anger he throws a stone towards his father hurting him leaving him profusely bleeding. That makes a deep psychological impact on the boy and he confines himself in the house for three months. When he comes out, he speaks only english and not his mother tongue hindi.


PS: Next day Zee news network has exposed the story of rebirth or memory recall, and found to have that, the boy learnt english with american ascent from watching english movies, but whatever it is, he has exceptional mimicry talent, his other friends as interviewed by the Zee news also adept in doing some good with american english, one fellow even sang in the style of Enreco Iglesia. Now the news channels who carried out this story earlier has lost the credibility thumbs down with CNN-IBN and India TV, as they pressed some facts like the boy takes physics classes etc without proper research.

Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTSFi launched


Bajaj Auto Ltd. has launched the most awaited motorcycle since its announcement last year in India Autoexpo. The new bike is 220cc liquid cool delivering 20ps on performance scale.

Some of the technologies introduced in this new bike are :

• Digital Twin Spark Fuel Injection (DTSFi)
• Projector head lamp
• LED tail lamps
• Rear disk brakes
• Back lit switches
• Liquid cooled 220 cc engine performing at max 20ps
• Tubeless tyres
• Split seats
• Split rear grab rails
  
• Tank pads
• Digital console
  

This one and the one of 200cc earlier launched will be available via BAL new initiative called Bajaj Probiking showrooms. Bajaj is going to open around 57 probiking showrooms all around the India. The bike is prices around Rs. 81000 ex showroom.

Rig Veda in UNESCO Heritage List

‘Memory of the World Register’ was setup 15 years ago by UNESCO to list documentary heritage of outstanding value. The international advisory committee of UNESCO for this register added 38 new entries, after a meeting on Wednesday in Pretoria, South Africa. Rig Veda copies are amongst them.

The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), Pune, has 30 Manuscripts of the Rig Veda, in the archives. These have been added to a UNESCO listing of the most important documents from around the world.

Bhandarkar's M G Dadhphale said “These were the very manuscripts referred to by German scholar Max Mueller, who first translated the Vedas into English. These manuscripts link our oldest text with the modern world.”

Geography lessons

GEOGRAPHY OF A WOMAN

Between 18 and 22, a woman is like Africa; half discovered, half wild, naturally beautiful with fertile soil.

Between 23 and 30, a woman is like America; well developed and open to trade, especially for someone with cash.

Between 31 and 35, a woman is like India; very hot, relaxed and convinced of her own beauty.

Between 36 and 40, a woman is like France; gently aging but still warm, and a desirable place to visit.

Between 41 and 50, a woman is like Great Britain; with a glorious and all conquering past.

Between 51 and 60, a woman is like Yugoslavia; lost the war and haunted by past mistakes.

Between 61 and 70, a woman is like Russia; very wide, and borders are now unpatrolled.

After 70, she becomes Tibet. Wildly beautiful, with a mysterious past and the wisdom of the ages....only those with an adventurous spirit and a thirst for spiritual knowledge visit there.


GEOGRAPHY OF A MAN

Between 1 and 70, a man is like Iraq, ruled by a dick and misled by a bush.

[Via email]

A hi-tech wood-fired stove

A wood-fired stove may be past, but it is still used in rural areas of under developed and developing countries like India. But, when British scientist had a relook at it, from advanced technical aspect, a revolutionary wood-fired stove powered by soundwaves is developed under the SCORE (Stove for Cooking, Refrigeration and Electricity) project, to both cook and cool food. The innovation that could help millions in poor countries with scant electricity or near lack of electricity.

According to Reuters, the all-in-one cooker, refrigerator and generator will use thermo acoustic technology - a hi-tech and more efficient way of harnessing the energy in wood than an open fire.

It works like this. The "super-stove" will channel heat into a special pipe to produce pockets of high and low gas pressure, generating sound in a similar way to a singing kettle. An alternator then converts the sound into electricity to power the appliance.

The SCORE (Stove for Cooking, Refrigeration and Electricity) project director Paul Riley aims to make it commercially available on a pilot basis within four years.

He says "We are hoping to build a million a year after year five - that's the aspiration - and the price target we've set ourselves is between 15 and 20 pounds ($30-40) per unit,".

Monsoon arrives in Mumbai

Finally the rains are here, it was too hot during last few weeks after the torrential rains lashed the city and passed away silently leaving it altogether to the burning sun. Although temperature scales just below 35 degree Celsius in Mumbai, humidity factor makes it worst feeling like 40 degree Celsius plus.

Hopefully this year BMC has done it's homework correctly and there is no water logging on train paths and roads in low laying areas.

I love rains, I love trekking in rains and and I am planning to make a small trek in Borivali National park in coming weeks. That will be really refreshing.

Pratibha Patil will she be the new president of India?

Veteran Maharashtra politician and Governer of Rajasthan Ms. Pratibha Patil Shekhavat will most likely to be next president of India.

If it happens then she will be the first women president India ever had. Congress lead UPA government has played a shrewed political move with tokenism expressing their support for women candidate. As reservation for women's hanging without any initiative from the ruling alliance, common man is not that naive to understand the political gimmicks behind this move.

Pratibha Patil is Rajasthan's first female governor, and also currently the only female state governor in India.

Pratibha Patil was born to Narayan Rao in Jalgaon, Maharashtra. She did her M.A. from M.J. College, Jalgaon, and obtained a Law Degree from the Government Law College, Mumbai. During her college days, she won shields in inter-college table tennis tournaments.

She married Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat on July 7, 1965. The couple has one son and one daughter. Before joining politics, she served as a social worker, and also practised as an advocate at Jalgaon.

Graham Ford rejects offer to Coach Indian Cricketers

As soon as the news of selecting Graham Ford as coach for Indian colts, sinks down, a devastating news for BCCI has started flashing on Television screens that Graham Ford has rejected the offer to coach Indian Cricket team and content as Director to Kent club.

It's a big blow to reputation of Indian Cricket managers at BCCI especially Mr. Sharad Pawar. It seems nothing is working for him since he got elected by political manipulating the elections.

Tour to Ireland is just 10 days ahead and Indian Cricket Team is without coach and strategy. The events put a question mark on Captain Rahul Dravid's professionalism as the man preferred here was supported by him as a coach.

Graham Ford to coach Indian Cricketers

Indian Cricket team has a new coach finally in South Africa's Graham Ford. He was chosen for the job on Saturday, 9th June by a special selection committee constituted for the purpose by BCCI.

The 46-year-old former South African coach, holds the position of cricket director of English county Kent, was selected ahead of former England spinner John Emburey, an Indian board official announced after they were interviewed by its coach selection committee.

Born in Pietermaritzberg, Natal, Ford, like a number of South African players, excelled in various sports during his younger days. He was a good tennis player, too; so good that he once won the provincial tennis championship for Natal.

Ford has the backing of senior Team India players. Former India coach John Wright had suggested Ford for the top post to Rahul Dravid.

The special selection committee was headed by BCCI president Sharad Pawar and also includes MP Pandove, Niranjan Shah, N Srinivasan, and former captains Ravi Shastri, S Venkatraghav and Sunil Gavaskar who is said to have recommended John Emburey.

Big question who will be the Indian cricket coach?

Selection procedure of Indian Cricket coach is getting curious day by day. They almost zeroed on Dave Whatmore recently, and god knows what happened in between he is out of race now.

The new names on prominence are Englishman John Emburey along with South African Graham Ford. Which has coached Kent for a while. They will be presenting their ideas on June 9 before the special selection committee.

The 54-year-old John Emburey, was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1984, and holds the dubious distinction of being the highest England Test run-scorer (1713 runs) without a Test century. He claimed 147 Test wickets in 64 Tests, at an average of 38.4. He also captained England in two Tests, in 1988. After his playing career he coached Northamptonshire and Middlesex.

Mumbai to Pune in one Hour





If the Railways and Maharashtra Chief Minister's plans go right, it is possible to travel Mumbai to Pune in just one hour. A kind of Bullet train journey on the lines of Japanese railway. The train will be travelling at the speed of 200KM/Hour almost at the speed of Japanese Bullet train.

But costs are high for the new tracks it is Rs. 20 crore per kilometer or for the upgrade of old track it is Rs. 4 Crore per kilometer.

Dave Whatmore to coach India?

It is almost confirmed that Dave Whatmore will be coaching Indian Cricket team for the next year. Yes, the contract will be for the one year, it seems BCCI has learned a lesson from Greg Chappel episode and is making it sure that the new agreement doesn't repeat into the bad deal they experienced with Mr. Greg Chappel the Guru nicknamed by impatient Indian media.

Looking at the past records of Dave Whatmore and his maturity in public relations, He will definitely prove a good coach for Indian cricket.

Fishing mails : Online lotteries

Today is the most luckiest day in my life. I have own two online lotteries to start with and then somebody who was in Paraguy was offering to share his fortune with me by giving me $955,000.00 for my efforts and help in past. Only thing i needed to do is get in touched with his secretary Mr Samuel Osserii in Cotono,Benin Republic on his E-mail address (ossai2009@myway.com).

Now the lotteries I own have impressive mailer sent to me, which was carefully drafted to assure me from fishing mails. The one was ebay sweepstakes where I won to be precise and quoting them,

Your email address as indicated was drawn and attached to ticket
number
1008668724967 with serial numbers BTD/2968/086 and drew the lucky
numbers 14-21-25-29-40-47(29) which subsequently won you
1.500.000.00(One Million Five Hundred Thousand Great Britain Pounds) as
one of the jackpot winners in this draw. You have therefore won the
entire winning sum of 1.500.000.00 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand
Great Britain Pounds).

Only thing made me to discard this offer was the mail was not sent from ebay servers and the email address of their agent to get in touch with was on yahoo.co.uk to ever suspecting myself.

I shall try to forward this mail to ebay people, so that this kind of fishing is averted.

The other lottery i own, was UK international sweepstakes where I own GB Pounds 500,000 total. But the mailer was not that impressive and anybody can sense the fishing.

Abhishek & Ash got married

Junior Bacchan Mr. Ashishek and former miss world and leading bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai got married yesterday auspicious day 'Akshaya Tritiya'. They got married in Mumbai at Bacchans home 'Pratiskha' in presence of very few invities. The marriage was a series of traditional hindu rituals. This one is marriage of year as far as the film fraternity is concerned in India.

Next day the family of Bachchans and close friends like Amar Singh and Anil Ambani are out in a chartered private jet to Tirupati for Balaji's blessings.

Just to remind Big B Mr. Amitabh Bacchan is very religious person, who visits Siddhi Vinayak in Mumbai bare footed, The first invitation of the marriage was given to Balaji of Tirupati where he has lot of faith, he has donated Rs. 51 lakhs when he invitated the deity a practice in hindu marriages where the deity is invited first for the marriages.

Sanjaya Malakar is out of American Idol

The controversial American Idol participant, who carried himself to the finals of the competition despite lot of adverse remarks by some of the judges is finally out of the race.

The 17-year-old from Washington state probably knew his fate was sealed going into the show's final 20 minutes: By then, Ryan Seacrest had announced his name as one of a bottom three that would have been unthinkable only the night before. The other two were the far, far superior LaKisha Jones and Blake Lewis. Simon Cowell, who never tried to conceal his annoyance at Sanjaya's endurance despite pitchiness and a series of lackluster performances, all but licked his chops as he said, "I'm beginning to sense something here."

Greg Chappel resigns as Indian cricket Coach

Indian Cricket team coach Greg Chappel has resigned citing personal and family reasons. The decision came two days before the scheduled BCCI meeting where a decision was to be taken on extending his contract. Greg Chappels with Indian side was up to the 2007 world cup only.

Greg Chappels innings with Indian side was a failure of a softs, as he couldn't deliver what was expected from him. When he took over the reins of Indian cricket team, world cup was the immediate goal with almost 2 years to go. The goal to build the team for world cup couldn't materialize and Indian team was out from the contest, sorely beaten by Bangladesh in initial rounds.

Chappel lacked attitude for coaching as he was poor in man management. He tried to bully senior players and and that proved fatal disturbing the team spirit and effect on over all moral of the team. He was arguably most controversial coach Indian cricket team had so far. He had a big showdown with ex-captain Sourav Ganguly, which resulted in dropping of Saurav from Indian team. But subsequent poor show by team in South Africa and Against West Indies forced Saurav Ganguly's come back. It proved Chappel is all the talk and no go. To worsen the situation team fared badly in world cup and Chappel put the blame on senior players questioning their attitude. It rubbed at wrong places and Sachin Tendulkar a demi god indian cricket was hurt by Chappels analysis of debacle.

Chappels impulsive nature and style of functioning has brought the Indian team to such a low that they were beaten by Bangladesh in world cup. His excessive experiments and division tendencies were detrimental for the indian cricket teams fortune. In fact Chappel is never been a good coach as evident from a provincial side of Australia he coached. Now it has become difficult for the get another assignment as coach any where in world with Indian experience.

Wireless electricity transmission

It is difficult to believe but wireless electricity will be reality very soon. Powercast, a US based startup along with more than 100 companies (of which Philips is one of the major partner) are set to launch their first device powered by electricity broadcast through the air.

The basic idea works like this. A transmitter plugs into the wall, and a dime-size receiver costing about $5 to make can be embedded into any low-voltage device. The receiver turns radio waves into DC electricity, recharging the device's battery at a distance of up to 3 feet.

Powercast says it has signed nondisclosure agreements to develop products with more than 100 companies, including major manufacturers of cell phones, MP3 players, automotive parts, temperature sensors, hearing aids, and medical implants.

Sanjaya Malakar in American Idol finals

India born Sanjaya Malakar is in finals of American Idol, and that's a controversy for some. He lives to sing another week in American Idols.

General feeling is that he is not good at vocals, but his youth and charm has brought him up to this level. One of the judges on American Idol, Simon Cowell has said he will quit American Idol if Sanjay wins. Cowell says, "He's not going to win. I won't be back if he does!"

Some people are hinting at his ethnicity for the surprising percentage of votes he is getting, Indian population is voting for him in bulk at it appears. But a quick search at google and comments for Sanjaya, you will find he has a good female following for his chicks.

Sanjaya's rise has the effect of Sundance Head getting eliminated. Experts say Sundance had, inarguably, the best voice of any male contestant and was just coming into his own and was a solid candidate for American Idol.

Anil Kumble decides to retire from one day Cricket

India's highest wicket taker Anil Kumble has decided to call it a day. He is going to announce his retirement from limited overs cricket when the Indian Cricket team returns from the Caribbean.

The 36 year leg spinner has made his intentions of quitting from the limited overs game much before the world cup. This was his fourth world cup, representing India colors.

Kumble was born in Bangalore, India on October 17, 1970. His One Day International debut was against Sri Lanka at Sharjah, on April 25, 1990, and the last ODI he played against Bermuda during this world cup.

In his long career in 271 One Day Internationals bowling leg spinners, he has taken 337 wickets at the average 30.89, his best is 6-12 runs and he has taken 5 wickets twice.

Fanning the fanaticism in Indian Cricket.

Cricket is a game, and it needs to be taken as game. Indian cricket team was booted out of the world cup 2007 contentions and huge fanatical response was registered by the Indian cricket fans, it was exaggerated and sometimes fanned by the media for no reasons.

Now the talk about axing the senior players is going on and every news reader and so called cricket experts think that only solution to the lack of performance of indian cricket team is to axe the senior players from the team. As if the juniors have performed and it is for the want of contribution from seniors team is giving bad show.

It was evident that team was not in best of the tempo before going to the world cup.
Reasons can be multiple. Greg Chappel as a coach has devastated the team built by Sourav Ganguly and John Write. It may be bad strategy by team management in nurturing the young talent or practices of over experimenting, which resulted in in security in the players ranks. Natural consequence should be ending the contract of the coach and changing the captain for lack of proper leadership on the field and off the field.

Whatever it be, but the need of moment is not to react in already volatile environment and buy the time to take a saner decision with proper inputs.

Pakistani cricket coach Bob Woolmer dead

Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica has declared Pakistani cricket coach Bob Woolmer dead some time ago. Pakistan has lost to Irish team yesterday and its a big blow to Pakistani cricket.

Bob Woolmer was 58 years old, born in kanpur, india and played cricket for England.
He was found unconscious in his hotel room today and later shifted to a hospital. Speculations are that he has taken something poisonous.

Pakistani team has lost to team from Ireland yesterday tamely, and was out of cricket world cup because of two successive defeats. There were rumours that Pakistani Captain and coach were to be sacked as a consequences.

China spends $132 millions for Cricket World Cup 2007

What is common between Cricket and China? you may not have the answer there. And there is no Chinese cricket team playing this world cup. But, China is spending $132 millions in West Indian countries for the Cricket World Cup 2007. Strikingly he world cricket body International Cricket Council has a 10 year budget to promote cricket globally of just $70 million.

This Chinese gesture is not just for love of Cricket. It is to isolate the Taiwan, which has also spent around $33 million.

Chinese gave $55 million to Antigua to build the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket stadium, even they sent thousands of Chinese workers to finish the stadiums in time, and $30 million to Jamaica for a new Trelwany stadium. Reason for the largesses is Chinese determination to isolate Taiwan from world.

King of fruits arrives

Alphanso (Hapus) mangoes have arrived at Vashi market of Navi Mumbai, but short supply of these early ripe mangoes made them dearer commodity and they are available for around Rs.1000 a dozen.

Gudipadva or the Maharastrian new year, will increase the supply and bring the prices down, as the fruits arriving then will have longer shelf life of around 12 days. In the peak season around 2.6 lakh boxes arrive in APMC market of Vashi right now only 2500 boxes are arriving.

The devgad and Ratnagiri mangoes are sold for around Rs. 1000-3000 per dozen while Malvan mangoes for around Rs. 1000-2000. The prices depend upon supply situation and the place they come from.

Liz Hurley & Arun Nayar Wedding

Businessman Arun Nayar (42) and Hollywood actress Elizabeth (Liz) Hurley (41) married few days ago at Sudeley Castle in Winchcombe, 200 kilometres west of London, in Britain and arrived in Mumbai on Monday.

Hurley and Nayar held a blessing and party at the castle with guests including Kate Moss, Elle Macpherson, Eva Herzigova, Patsy Kensit, Donatella Versace, and Hurley's ex, Hugh Grant. The pair will continue their celebrations in India later this week with a traditional Hindu ceremony followed by a 10-day honeymoon in the Seychelles.

They have plan to continue the marriage bash, a la indiana style with traditional indian marriage at Jodhpur's Umaid Bhavan Palace.

Traditional dancers, a mehendi ceremony and an Indian style wedding ceremony await the Hollywood actress at Jodhpur.

Cricket World Cup 2007 Time-Table Warm Up Matches

Date Group WA Trelawny, Jamaica Group WB St. Vincent Group WC Trinidad & Tobago Group WD Barbados Mon 05 Mar West Indies vs Kenya England vs Bermuda South Africa vs Ireland Sri Lanka vs Scotland Tue 06 Mar India vs The Netherlands Australia vs Zimbabwe Pakistan vs Canada New Zealand vs Bangladesh Thu 08 Mar Kenya vs The Netherlands Zimbabwe vs Bermuda Ireland vs Canada Scotland vs Bangladesh Fri 09 Mar India vs West Indies Australia vs England Pakistan vs South Africa New Zealand vs Sri Lanka

Opening Ceremony Date Activity Sun 11 Mar OPENING CEREMONY

Group Stage

Date Group A St. Kitts & Nevis Group B Trinidad & Tobago Group C Saint Lucia Group D Jamaica Tue 13 Mar Rest Rest Rest West Indies vs Pakistan Wed 14 Mar Australia vs Scotland Rest Kenya vs Canada Rest Thu 15 Mar Rest Sri Lanka vs Bermuda Rest Zimbabwe vs Ireland Fri 16 Mar South Africa vs The Netherlands Rest England vs New Zealand Rest Sat 17 Mar Rest India vs Bangladesh Rest Pakistan vs Ireland Sun 18 Mar Australia vs The Netherlands Rest England vs Canada Rest Mon 19 Mar Rest India vs Bermuda Rest West Indies vs Zimbabwe Tue 20 Mar South Africa vs Scotland Rest New Zealand vs Kenya Rest Wed 21 Mar Rest Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh Rest Zimbabwe vs Pakistan Thu 22 Mar Scotland vs The Netherlands Rest New Zealand vs Canada Rest Fri 23 Mar Rest India vs Sri Lanka Rest West Indies vs Ireland Sat 24 Mar Australia vs South Africa Rest England vs Kenya Rest Sun 25 Mar Rest Bermuda vs Bangladesh Rest Rest

Second Stage - Super Eight

Date Group A Antigua & Barbuda Group B Grenada Group C Guyana Group D Barbados Tue 27 Mar D2 vs A1 Rest Wed 28 Mar Rest A2 vs B1 Thu 29 Mar D2 vs C1 Rest Fri 30 Mar Rest D1 vs C2 Sat 31 Mar A1 vs B2 Rest Sun 01 Apr Rest D2 vs B1 Mon 02 Apr B2 vs C1 Rest Tue 03 Apr Rest D1 vs A2 Wed 04 Apr C2 vs B1 Rest Sat 07 Apr Rest B2 vs A2 Sun 08 Apr A1 vs C2 Rest Mon 09 Apr Rest D1 vs C1 Tue 10 Apr D2 vs A2 Wed 11 Apr Rest C2 vs B2 Thu 12 Apr B1 vs C1 Rest Fri 13 Apr Rest A1 vs D1 Sat 14 Apr A2 vs C1 Rest Sun 15 Apr Rest B2 vs D1 Mon 16 Apr A1 vs B1 Rest Tue 17 Apr Rest A2 vs C2 Wed 18 Apr D1 vs B1 Rest Thu 19 Apr Rest D2 vs B2 Fri 20 Apr A1 vs C1 Rest Sat 21 Apr Rest D2 vs C2

Semi - Final Round

Date Semi Final 1 Jamaica Semi Final 2 Saint Lucia Tue 24 Apr 2nd vs 3rd Wed 25 Apr 1st vs 4th

Final

Date Barbados Sat 28 Apr Final

Quattrochi held in argentina and released on bail.

There is a red corner notice against him and his wife Maria about fraud and bribery committed in India between 1982-1987. This is obvious about the Bofors deal in late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's time. Quattrochi has been widely known as close confident of the Gandhi family.

The British court had given orders to freeze the operations in the two accounts in 2003 after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleged that the money in the accounts was part of the kickback that Quattrocchi had got from Bofors.

In BSI AG Bank, he has € 3 million in account number - 5A51516L and $1 million in account number - 5A51516M.

But the things get merkier as CBI says there is no evidence against him as the congress lead UPA government is ruling and Sonia Gandhi, widow or late Rajiv Gandhi is big boss of congress.
That means congress has much to hide, as this scandal has direct links to the Congress president. The plot deepens as the Quattrochi is actually the husband of Sonia Gandhi's cousin.

Union Budget 2007-2008

Highlights of the India Union Budget 2007-2008 presented by Finance Minister PC Chidambaram in parliament.

• Income tax limit unchanged, increased the threshold limit by Rs 10,000 giving every assessee a relief of Rs 1,000.
• Deduction in respect of medical insurance under Section 80 (D) increased to Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 for senior citizens.
• Exemption limit for women was increased to Rs 145,000 and for senior citizens to Rs 195,000.
• Corporate tax: No surcharge for firms with a taxable income of Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) or less.
• E-governance allocation to be increased from Rs.395 to Rs.719 crore.
• Indian investors to be allowed investment in overseas capital markets through mutual funds. Mutual funds to set up Infrastructure Fund schemes.
• Any requirement for security of the nation to be provided.
• Backward Regions Grant Fund to be raised to Rs 5800 crore.
• A high-powered committee report aimed at making Mumbai a world class financial centre submitted. Public suggestions will be invited.
• Rs 50 crore provided to begin work on vocational education mission for which Task Force in Planning Commission is chalking out a strategy.
• 1,396 Indian Technical Institutes to be upgraded to achieve technical excellence.
• An autonomous Debt Management Office in government to be set up.
• Government to create one lakh jobs for physically challenged. Government will reimburse the EPF contributions of employers in the case of physically challenged people taken on rolls of the company and included in the PF scheme. A fund of Rs 150 crore to be started which will go up to Rs 450 crore.
• An Expert Committee to be set up to study the impact of climate change in India.
• Rs 150 crore to be given to Ministry of Youth and Sports for Commonwealth Games and Rs 350 crore to the Delhi Government for the purpose. Rs 50 crore to be provided for the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune.
• Rs 100 crore for recognising excellence in the field of agricultural research.
• VAT revenues increased by 24.3 per cent in the first nine months of 2006-07.
• A national level goods and services tax to be introduced from next fiscal.
• Fiscal deficit to be 3.7 per cent in the current year and revenue deficit two per cent.
• Fiscal management enabled States consolidate debt to the tune of Rs.1,10,268 crore and 20 states availed of debt waiver to the tune of Rs.8575 crores. The share of States from the revenue expected to touch Rs.1,42,450 crore during 2007-08 as against Rs.1,20,377 crore during 2006-07.
• Total expenditure estimated at Rs 6,81,521 crore.
• Increase in gross tax revenue by 19.9 per cent, 20 per cent and 27.8 per cent in first three years of UPA government. Intend to keep tax rates moderate.
• Peak customs duty rate on non-agricultural items reduced from 12.5 to ten per cent.
• All coking coal fully exempted from duty.
• Duties on seconds and defective reduced from 20 to ten per cent.
• Customs duty on polyster to be reduced from ten per cent to 7.5 per cent.
• Fiscal deficit for 2007-08 pegged at 3.3 per cent of GDP at Rs.1,50,948 crore. Revenue deficit at Rs.72,478 crore which will be 1.5 per cent.
• Total expenditure during 2006-07 estimated at Rs.6,80,521 crore including Rs.40,000 crore for SBI shares.
• Duty on pet food reduced from 30 per cent to 20 per cent.
• Duty on sunflower oil to be reduced by 15 per cent.
• Duty reduced on watch dials and movements and umbrella parts from 12.5 to five per cent.
• Import duty of 15 specified machinery to be reduced from 7.5 per cent to five per cent.
• Economy grows 8.6 per cent in third quarter of this fiscal compared to 9.3 per cent in the year-ago period
• Three per cent import duty to be levied on private importers of aircraft including helicopters.
• No change in general CENVAT rate.
• Ad valorem duty on petrol and diesel to be brought down from eight to six per cent.
• Export duty on iron ore and concentrate at the rate of Rs.300 per tonne. Export duty on Cromium proposed at Rs 2000 tonne.
• Small-scale industries excise duty exemption raised from Rs one crore to Rs 1.5 crore.
• Manufacturing sector grows at 10.7 per cent, agriculture at 1.5 per cent during October-December 2006-07.
• Excise duty for plywood reduced from 16 per cent to eight per cent.
• Food mixes to be fully exempted from excise duty.
• Excise duty for plywood reduced from 16 per cent to eight per cent.
• Bio-diesel to be fully exempted from excise duty.
• Water purification devices, small and big, fully exempted from excise. Specific rates of excise duty on cigarettes increased.
• Excise duty on Pan Masala without tobacco as mouth freshners reduced from 66 per cent to 45 per cent.

• PAN to be made single identity card for all securities/stocks/MFs related transactions.
• Insurance companies to launch a senior citizens scheme in 2007-08.
• Defence budget increased to Rs 96,000 crore
• Tourism infrastructure to get an allocation of Rs.520 crore as against Rs.423 crore last year.
• The ceiling of loans for weaker sections under deferential rate of interest scheme will be raised from Rs 6500 to Rs 15,000 and in housing loan from Rs 5000 to Rs 20,000.
• Regulations would be put in place for mortgage guarantee company for housing loans.
• Regional Rural Banks, which are willing to take up greater responsibilities, to undertake aggressive branch expansion programme. One RRB branch for each of 80 districts so far uncovered. RRBs to accept NRE and FCNR deposits.
• FDI inflows between April and January this fiscal touched $12.5 bn while portfolio investment reached $6.8 billion
• Technology Upgration Fund in textiles to continue during the 11th Plan. Rs 911 crore to be provided for this.
• Allocation for National Highway Development programme to be stepped up from Rs 9,955 crore to Rs 12,600 crore.
• Work on Golden Quadrilateral road project nearly complete. Considerable progress made on North-South, East-West corridor and likely to be completed by 2009.
• Northeastern region will get Rs 405 crore for highway development. Road-cum-rail project over Brahmaputra in Bogibil, Assam.
• Health insurance cover for weavers to be enlarged to ancillary industries. Allocation increased from Rs 241 crore to Rs 321 crore.
• A scheme for modernisation and technologiucal upgradation of choir industry for which Rs 23.55 crore has been earmarked.
• Manufacturing growth rate estimated at 11.3 per cent.
• 9.2 per cent GDP growth rate estimated in 2006-07.
• Average growth for last three years is 8.6 per cent.
• Saving rate of 32.4 per cent, investment rate of 33.8 per cent will continue.
• A number of proposals to perk up agriculture to be announced.
• Average inflation in FY'07 to be 5.2-5.4 per cent; govt confident of managing inflation
• Bank credit rate grew by 29 per cent during first ten months of 2006-07
• Inflation during 2006-07 estimated at between 5.2 and 5.4 per cent against 4.4 per cent during the previous year.
• Abhijit Sen report on forward trading to be submitted in two months' time.
• Additional irrigation potential of 24 lakh hectares to be implemented, including nine lakh hectares under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme.
• Economy in a stronger position than ever before.
• 15,054 villages have been covered under rural telephony and efforts to be made to complete the target of covering 20,000 villages by 2006-07.
• Allocation on Healthcare to increase by 21.9 per cent.
• Allocattion for education to be enhanced by 34.2 per cent.
• Two lakh more teachers to be employed and five lakh more classrooms to be constructed.
• Secondary education allowance to be increased from Rs.1,837 crore to Rs.3,794 crore.
• Government committed to fiscal reforms.
• Foreign exchange reserves stand at 180 billion dollars.
• Allocation under Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Mission stepped up from Rs 4680 crore to Rs 5850 crore.
• Government concerned over inflation and would take all steps for moderating it.
• Already a number of steps on fiscal, monetary and supply management side have been taken.
• Annual target of 15 lakh houses under Bharat Nirmal Programme to be exceeded.
• Allocation for National Rural Health Mission stepped up from Rs 8207 crore to Rs 9947 crore.
• Gross budgetary support in 2007-08 raised to Rs 2,05,100 crore from 1,72,728 crore in 2006-07. Of this, budgetary support to the Central plan will go up to 1,54,939 crore against 1,72,728 crore.
• School dropout rates high. To prevent dropout, a National Means-cum-Merit scholarship to be implemented, with an allocation of Rs 6,000 per child.
• Rs 1290 crore to be provided for elimination of polio. Intensive coverage will be undertaken in 20 districts in UP and 10 districts in Bihar. This will be integrated into NRHM.
• National AIDS Control Programme to achieve zero level disease.
• Measures for significant improvement of health care in rural area.

• Allocation for ICDS programme to be increased from Rs 4087 crore to Rs 4761 crore.

• 30 more districts under NREGA. Additional allocation of Rs.12,000 crore for it.

• Rs 800 crore for Sampoorna Gram Rozgar Yojana in districts not covered by NREGA. Swarna Jayanti Swarozgar Yojana allocation increased from Rs 250 crore to Rs 344 crore.
• Computerisation of PDS and integrated computerization programme for FCI.
• Allocation for schemes only for SCs and STs to be increased to Rs 3271 crore.
• Rs 63 crore for share capital for National Minorities Development Finance Corporation following Sachar Committee recommendations.
• Allocation for SC/ST scholarships enhanced from Rs.440 crore to Rs.611 crore.
• Scholarships programme for minorities students to be of the order of Rs 72 crore for pre-metric, Rs 48 crore for graduate and postgraduate.
• Total Budget for the Northeastern region raised from Rs 12,041 crore to Rs 14,365 crore.
• New Industrial Policy for the northeastern region to be in place before March 31.
• Women's development allocation will be Rs.22,282 crore.
• Rs 7,000 crore allocation for better tax administration to be used for social schemes.
• Rs 2,25,000 crore farm credit proposed in the new budget. A target of additional 50 lakh farmers to be brought under farm credit.
• Farmers' credit likely to reach Rs.1,90,000 crore as against the targeted Rs.1,75,000 crore during 2006-07.
• Special Purpose Tea Fund to rejuvenate tea production.
• Rs 100 crore allocated for National Rainfed Area Authority.
• One hundred per cent subsidy for small farmers and 50 per cent for other farmers for water recharging scheme.
• World Bank signed agreement for revival of 5,763 waterbodies in Tamil Nadu. Loan component Rs 2,182 crore. To have a command area of four lakh hectares. Similar agreement with Andhra Pradesh in March for recharge of 2,000 bodies. Command area 2.5 lakh hectares.
• Bonds worth Rs 5,000 crore to augment NABARD to be issued.
• Death and disability cover for rural landless families to be introduced, known as 'Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana'.
• 70 lakh households to be covered under a social welfare scheme with LIC and with support from state governments.
• 50 per cent of the premium at Rs.200 per household to be given by the Centre. Rs.1,000 crore fund to be maintained by LIC for the purpose.
• Central public sector enterprises will be given Rs 16,261 crore as equity support and loans of over Rs 2600 crore.

Highlights of the Railway Budget 2007-2008 presented by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.

• Ladies above 45 years will have greater quota.
• New rail lines to aid new steel & power plants.
  
• No more wooden seats in trains.
• 800 bogies to be added to popular trains.
• Rail infrastructure revamp planned.
• Huge investment for containers.
• Wagon production up by 10%.
• Fifty per cent fare concession for UPSC and other official examinees.
• Changes in the design of compartments to help physically disabled.
• Separate coach for vendors, milkmen and petty traders in passenger trains.
• Coupon validating machines (CVMs), after its success in Mumbai, is to be introduced in Kolkata, Chennai
• Mumbai to get smart card-based reservation system in Mumbai on trial basis
• Six thousand automatic ticket vending machines to be set up in next two years
• Number of berths to be increased from 72 to 84 in sleeper coaches.
• Tickets to be sold at petrol pumps, ATM centres, etc
• Ticket bookings and hotel bookings can be done through railway call centres to be set up
• Railway interest surplus at Rs 10,227 crore
• Freight earning s up 17% in Apr-Dec
• Passenger traffic up 14% in Apr-Dec
• 60 MT extra freight loading in 2007
• To invest in 3 storey freight containers
• 15 private container licence issued
• Pipavah-Jaipur double-decker train to begin
• Tariff discount to up high axle output; to explore independent private tariff agency.
• Railways to reserve a quota of lower seats for senior citizens and for women aged more than 45 years.
• 20-30 per cent increase in passenger traffic
• All customer complaints to be disposed in three months
• Fund balance at Rs 16,000 crore (Rs 160 billion)
• Freight: Incremental loading of 60 million tonne this year
• Cement steel traffic up by 20 to 30 per cent
• High surplus recorded without load on common man
• Plan to start three-storey container trains
• Will invest massively in container operations over the next 5 years
• Lalu claims container train experiment has been successful
• Efforts to increase container traffic five-fold to 100 million tonnes by 2011-12
• Each zone will have a SP grade officer to look into consumer complaints
• New wagons to be replaced by new ones
• To invest in improving infrastructure around railway stations
• Wooden seats to be replaced by cushioned ones in ordinary class passenger trains from next fiscal.
• Unreserved compartments in new trains to be increased from four to six
• Freight revenues up 17 per cent, passenger revenues increase 14 per cent in April-December 2006

Cold Fluorescent Bulbs


So what is a cold cathode? In most fluorescent bulbs, a cathode is heated to produce light, but with cold cathodes the cathode operates at the ambient room temperature. They offer several advantages over the others like,

• they have a very long life,
  
• they can be dimmed,
  
• they can be used in flashing signs,
• they can be exposed to the elements

But the only problem with them so far is that they're not too bright. This cold cathode fluorescent (CCF) technology is excellent for computer case mods and backlights for flat-panel displays, but barely bright enough to use as lamps. For instance, a 5-watt lamp, one of the brightest ones available, can only put out the equivalent of a 20- to 25-watt incandescent bulb.

Inflation rises and life quality sucks
"Congress ka hath Garibo ke Sath" or "Congress ka hath Aam aadmi ke sath" that was Indian National Congress propaganda in 2004 elections.

Three years since then, the reality speaks differently. Rising inflation, sky rocketing prices of essential commodities does not augur well for Congress lead UPA government at the center.

Finance minister says he is hapless, and doesn't have a magical wand to ward off inflation. Prime minister appeals to Chief Minister's of states to work on controlling prices. President appeals to government to control prices. No government hopes that the new produce coming into market will control the prices of essential commodities.

New light blue color jersey for Team India

Indian Cricket team gets ready for Cricket World Cup 2007, a new Jersey has been designed by their apparel sponsors NIKE Inc. It's light blue color and 15 percent lighter. According to NIKE official it is designed to beat the heat in West Indian climate.



A lot of inputs from Dravid and the other players have gone into the making of the new jersey. Since tying up with BCCI, Nike officials informed that they have been interacting with coach Greg Chappell and the entire support staff to finalise details of the jersey.


Some of the highlights of the new designed jersey are.

• Lightweight poly microfibre fabric
• Vents for breathability ensured due to engineered mesh
• Dri-fit technology to keep players dry from sweat and cool all day long
• Easy body movement due to design
• Shades of the Tri-colour on the jersey for inspiration
• Thermal vest adds warmth, reduces wind resistance and bulk

Konkan Railway services
Just back from my native place, a small village in konkan. It is quite relaxing making a small visit to the place. Konkan railway is a boon traveling in this part of world, as traveling via road is tough, being a hill area bus travel is not comfortable. But the trains are always crowded and konkan railway management and those who are responsible for the services are not that efficient to manage the crowds. They are always late in responding.

They have a holiday special for the occasions, but the festive mood in mumbai based konkanis is so over whelming and add to that the ever growing tourist influx towards Goa.

It is just not understandable that, the Konkan Railway who boasts fantastic growth in revenue this year, responds so slow to the infrastructure and service augmentation. They should make the holiday special is regular service on the route and take the task of improving the infrastructure along with.

Maharashtra's power crisis

Maharashtra's power crisis deepening day by day and yet Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is seen enjoying bollywood events without any remorse. You can find him in front chairs of every award function in mumbai. He is less bothered about the responsibilities bestowed on him by the democratic setup of this country.

During the last 8 years rule of Congress and its allies, government has not shown any vision or rather understanding of the power crisis of the state. They say Maharashtra has a deficit of 5000 Mega watts this year, and nothing done in past few years to tackle this problem. First five years they just kept on blaming the previous government, and playing the secularism card to confuse the masses. Now the very same government which came to power on the slogan of government for poor, and backwards has made life miserable for the very same section of society by deepening power crisis and rising inflation.

If the elections were due in coming months, people would have kicked them out of power, that is quite evident in recent Municipal elections of Greater Mumbai.