Saturday, July 14, 2012

Indian Youth Delegation visits China

A 100-member youth delegation comprising young Indian students, politicians, sportspeople and artists is visiting three Chinese cities in an attempt to bridge misperceptions and reach out to China's next generation.
The group arrived here on Thursday, but with one member less: A student from Arunachal Pradesh had to drop out at the last minute after being denied a visa by the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi. The trip also faced the risk of postponement on account of long bureaucratic delays between different Indian government ministries; several dozen passports were submitted to the Chinese Embassy only hours before the trip was scheduled to begin.

June Trade Deficit drop

Sharp compression in imports and declining exports have narrowed the trade deficit to a 15-month low of $10.3 billion in June. In June 2011, the trade gap stood at $14.42 billion. While exports contracted by 5.45 per cent to $25.07 billion, imports declined by 13.46 per cent to $35.37 billion.
Commerce Secretary S. R. Rao expressed relief over narrowing trade deficit and said that the gap would be under control.
“Trade deficit certainly has come down. We expect it to be under control,” he said adding “some amount of current account deficit and trade deficit is good for the economy”. “For any growing economy, so long it is in manageable limits and does not cross double digit, it is in fact a very good economic indicator. Having trade surplus or surplus current account in my limited perception is not good for a growing economy,” Mr. Rao said.

Pranab on new GAAR panal

Pranab Mukherjee, who proposed GAAR as Finance Minister in March, on Saturday said he had deferred its implementation for further discussions and that the Prime Minister’s decision to set up a panel on the issue is continuation of the process.
“GAAR, I also deferred it by one year for having further discussions. It (the new panel) can be treated as a continuing affair...,” Mr. Mukherjee, the UPA’s Presidential candidate, told reporters in an informal meeting at his residence.

Now CAG audit KG-6

Mandating the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to carry out audit of Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) KG-D6, Anil Aggarwal-owned Cairn India Rajasthan block and Panna-Mukta-Tapti (PMT) block from 2009-10 to 2011-12; the Petroleum Ministry has rejected objections by RIL that CAG had no powers to carry out such an exercise.
The Principal Director of Audit, Economic and Service Ministries (PDA, ESM) will carry out the audit to cover the financial years 2009-10 and 2011-12 along with financial years 2006-07 and 2008-09 in respect of PMT production sharing contracts (PSCs) and 2008-09 relating to KG-DWN-98/3 and RJ-On-90/1 PSCs.

Five Iranian scientists killed by Israel

New York, Jul 13 An new book penned by two Israeli journalists has alleged that Israel's deadly Mossad intelligence agency carried out the assassinations of five Iranian nuclear scientists.
The book 'Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars', has now become a rage among Iran's top political echelon.
It has set off a buzz among both government and opposition news media inside Iran for the assertion by its authors —Yossi Melman, widely regarded as a leading Israeli military and intelligence journalist, and Dan Raviv, a CBS national political correspondent — that five Iranian nuclear scientists killed in the past five years were all assassinated by operatives, most likely of Persian Jewish heritage, employed
by Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, The New York Times said.

Anti-Austerity Protesters in Spain clash with police


Madrid, Jul 14 At least 1,000 Spanish "indignant" protesters rallied against austerity cuts before some of them clashed with police, who charged demonstrators with batons.
Surrounded by 20 police vans, last night they stood outside the headquarters of the Popular Party (PP) of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and shouted "resign, resign!" and "they are lining their pockets!"
Carrying sign that read "They call it democracy, and it isn't", they then headed for the headquarters of the opposition Socialist Party, which they also accuse of incompetence in the face of the crisis.
However, they were pushed back by riot police before the demonstrators moved on in the direction of parliament. At least three people were arrested, an AFP journalist reported.

Hamid Ansari is the UPA’s candidate for the Vice President

The name of the 75-year-old Mr. Ansari was announced by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi at a meeting of the Congress-led coalition at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence. 
 Incumbent Hamid Ansari is the UPA’s candidate for the Vice President’s post and is all set to get a second consecutive term.
A career diplomat, Mr. Ansari was the only choice of the UPA which was approved at the meeting, also attended by Trinamool Congress representative and Railway Minister Mukul Roy.
Mr. Roy, whose party had opposed Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature for President’s post last month, is believed to have suggested the name of former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and former MP Krishna Bose.

Egypt, Tunisia oppose military intervention in Syria

Egypt and Tunisia agree on the importance of supporting the Syrian people until they gain their freedom, however both countries are against any foreign military intervention, the newly-elected Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi said on Friday.

Mursi made the comments at a joint press conference with the Tunisian President Moncef al-Marzouki in Cairo, aired by the Egyptian state TV.

Meanwhile, Marzouki stressed the importance of seeking diplomatic solutions in Syria.

PM directs Planning Commission to address gaps in NREGA

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday expressed surprise that concurrent evaluation of NREGA scheme is “not in good shape” and directed the Planning Commission to address the deficiency and “gaps“.
Making it clear that he was not “fully satisfied” with the way the scheme is working, he noted the problems like delayed payment to workers under the government’s flagship and said these should be addressed at the earliest.
“The Mahatma Gandhi NREGA story in numbers is a story worth telling.... the scheme scores high on inclusivness...no welfare scheme in recent memory has caught the imagination of the people as much as NREGA has,” Dr. Singh said.

India and Pakistan focussed to trade in petroleum products

Both India and Pakistan have decided to take up a focussed approach on the issue of identifying possible supply routes – rail, road, pipeline and sea --, source and point of supply for petroleum products, regulatory framework, enhancement of direct banking and postal services between the two nations. In an attempt to give a big push to trade in petroleum products.
The two sides have decided to chalk out a road map to take the talks further in a focussed manner. The Pakistan side has been invited by the India to visit New Delhi this month-end to work out in detail all parameters for giving petroleum trade a new direction in the interests pf both the countries.

JPMorgan trading loss to $5.8bn

JPMorgan Chase has tripled its estimate of recent losses from trading in complex financial derivatives to $5.8bn (£3.7bn).
The US bank said the executives responsible had been dismissed without severance pay and the bank would be clawing back two years of their pay.
Despite the revelation, JPMorgan also reported a surprisingly strong three-month net profit of $4.96bn.
The bank's shares ended Friday trading in New York 5.8% higher on the news.
The profit figure for the three months to 30 June was down 8.7% from the same period last year, but was nonetheless much higher than analysts' expectations.

Friday, July 13, 2012

First cargo ship Miami-Cuba reaches Havana in 50 Years


The cargo ship Ana Cecilia arrives in Havana harbour from Miami 


The first cargo ship to sail from Miami to Cuba in 50 years has arrived in Havana.
The ship was carrying humanitarian supplies such as food and medicine that are exempt from the US trade embargo against the communist-run island.
Its cargo was made up of charitable donations and gifts to relatives from Miami's large Cuban exile population.
The vessel will now operate a weekly service linking Miami and Havana for the first time since 1962.
Similar cargo services to Cuba already operate from other US ports.
The Bolivian-flagged vessel Ana Cecilia entered Havana Harbour on Friday morning.
The International Port Corporation - which is operating the service - obtained a special permit from the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces the trade embargo against Cuba.
"We have to create bridges like this, it is the most important thing we can do between the two peoples," company spokesman Leonardo Sanchez-Adega told Reuters news agency.
The cargo service costs around $12 (£8) per kilo.
US President John F Kennedy imposed a trade embargo on Cuba's communist government in 1962.
In 2009 President Barack Obama relaxed the restrictions, making it easier for Cuban-Americans to visit and send money to relatives on the island.

India’s health care a biggest problem due to political unwill

A cure for India’s health care ills is within reach provided there is political will
In most developed — and many developing — countries today, a 12-year school education and universal health coverage (UHC) are the two primary responsibilities of the state. India has failed miserably on both counts. Let us look at some of the problems of medical and health care:
• Fifty years ago, when there was no commercialisation of medicare that we have today, we had only government hospitals or those run by trusts as public service. There weren’t enough of them but they provided excellent medical and health care (medicare) by dedicated professionals. Today, the government hospitals are a shambles.

Food Security- Importance and Means

The Left parties are conducting  a joint campaign and movement on the issue of food security throughout the country in July-August. This movement is to demand a universal public distribution system to ensure food security for all citizens.

The demand for a food security law which will ensure the right to food for all people has become all the more urgent and necessary as there is no let-up in the price rise of food items and food inflation rate hovers around  10 per cent.  India has the largest number of malnourished and undernourished people in the world.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Mass killing in Syria-Blaming each other

State media said "terrorist groups" had carried out a massacre to raise tensions ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on the Syria observer mission.
If it is confirmed, the Tremseh attack would be one of the bloodiest single events in the Syria conflict.
Some 16,000 people are thought to have been killed since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime began in March 2011.

Opposition activists quoted residents as saying the village was attacked with helicopter gunships and tanks.
Pro-government Shabiha militia later went in on foot and carried out execution-style killings, they said.

China’s growth 7.6% a three year low

China’s economy grew by 7.6 per cent in the second quarter of the year according to official figures released on Friday, marking a three-year low and confirming expectations of a slowdown that may prompt new stimulus measures in coming months.
Growth fell from 8.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2012, hit by the continuing economic troubles in the West and a cooling real estate sector at home following recent tightening measures.
Friday’s growth figure matched the consensus estimate put forward by economists this past week. The second quarter numbers were being closely watched as an indicator of whether China’s slowdown had been worse than previously expected, with some analysts even expressing fears that growth would fall below the widely estimated 7.6 per cent figure.

Dissenting views from cartoon committee Report

By excising dissenting views from its report, the cartoon committee has acted worse than colonial era panels
The debate over the cartoons used in NCERT textbooks as aids to learning have thrown up a range of issues. The discussion has crystallised around a set of oppositions: motivated political correctness of our elected representatives vs. the necessity of preemptory parliamentary intervention on educational material appropriate for schools; institutional autonomy vs. political responsibility of a state presiding over a diverse and fraught society; the hubris of ‘experts’ vs. the right of others to feel hurt, in this case on solid rational grounds; the smugness of elite and upper caste votaries of a new pedagogy vs. the claims of those at the receiving end of Hindu society (and history) to articulate unfamiliar adversarial intellectual positions; the celebration of the enabling learning curve of the ‘average’ schoolchild vs. the violence inflicted precisely by such homogenisations on the radically different life experiences of children from disadvantaged groups; the blindness of India’s ‘left liberals’ ensconced in their stockades vs. the insights of Dalit writers and academics.

Retail fuel price cut in China



Fuel prices are lowered in China
China, the world's second biggest consumer of fuel, has cut retail oil prices by about 5% with immediate effect.
This is the third cut in two months, and some analysts say could be an attempt to increase fuel consumption.
Demand for oil fell for the first time in three years in April.
Domestic and global factors have weighed on the Chinese economy in recent months, which has shown signs of slowing.
Gasoline retail prices will be reduced by 420 yuan ($65.90; £42.50) a tonne and diesel prices by 400 yuan, the National Development and Reform Commission said.

Activities about Vice-Presidential Election

CPI(M) favours non-Cong. candidate for Vice-President 

 Vice-President election: Manmohan calls up Mamata, Bardhan

 Trinamool pits Gopal Gandhi for Vice President


As Congress intensified efforts for a consensus candidate for Vice-President, the CPI(M) on Thursday said it is in favour of a person who does not belong to Congress.
This was conveyed by CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had recently contacted him as part of efforts to seek support of political parties in selection of a candidate in the Vice-Presidential election.
“We have told the Prime Minister that we would like to have a person who does not belong to Congress party to be the Vice-President,” Mr. Karat told reporters in when asked about CPI(M)’s choice for the Vice-President’s post.
Observing that it was for the UPA to decide whom it wants to put forward, the CPI(M) veteran said the candidate should also have a “stature and a distinguished background”.
Mr. Karat, who is here for the party’s three-day state committee meeting, said it was now up to the Congress to decide, after which the CPI(M) would respond.
The CPI(M) leader’s observation comes in the midst of the Congress giving broad hints that Hamid Ansari is a frontrunner in the Vice-Presidential race. The CPI(M) has extended support to the UPA’s Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee. 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday night stepped up efforts to drum up support for Hamid Ansari for a second tenure in the post of Vice-President, elections to which are scheduled for August 7, 2012 as he spoke to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and Communist Party of India leader A.B. Bardhan.
Dr. Singh rang up Ms. Banerjee but there was no official word on what transpired between the two leaders while CPI national secretary D. Raja said the Prime Minister spoke to Mr. Bardhan and his party colleague Sudhakar Reddy over phone seeking the Left party’s support for Mr. Ansari for the Vice-President’s post.
Dr. Singh spoke to Ms. Banerjee, who was on a tour of North Bengal, after which the TMC decided to attend a meeting convened by the United Progressive Alliance in New Delhi on July 14, 2012 to decide on their candidate for Vice-President.
“Prime Minister talked to Mamata Banerjee over phone,” TMC Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh told PTI from North Bengal.
Ms. Banerjee has asked Railway Minister and her close aide Mukul Roy to attend the July 14, 2012 UPA meeting, he said.
“It will be after a long gap that Trinamool Congress will be attending a UPA meeting, which is a significant development,” he said.
Mr. Ghosh, however, said Trinamool has not taken any decision on its stand on the Presidential and the Vice-Presidential elections. “Whatever decision the party takes will be announced”, he added.
The Trinamool had earlier said Ms. Banerjee would announce the party’s decision on the Presidential poll three days ahead of the election on July 19, 2012.
Mr. Raja said the CPI leaders conveyed to the Prime Minister that the party’s Central Secretariat will meet in New Delhi on July 18, 2012 and take a decision on the Vice-Presidential election. 

Trinamool Congress is said to be keen on proposing the name of former West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi as its choice as the Vice Presidential candidate.
The name of Krishna Bose, former Lok Sabha member and niece of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, is also being floated by the party, though Mr. Gandhi could be their prime choice, party sources said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night spoke to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, stepping up efforts to drum up support for Hamid Ansari for a second tenure in the post of Vice President, elections to which are scheduled for August 7.
However, there is strong speculation that Railway Minister Mukul Roy, who has been asked by Ms. Banerjee to attend the UPA meeting on Saturday, may propose that Mr. Gandhi be made the nominee of the ruling coalition for Vice President.
On the Presidential election, Trinamool Congress has said its would announce the party’s strategy three days ahead of the poll slated for July 19.
Trinamool Congress has maintained silence on whether it would support UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee or abstain.
The party has asked all its MPs and MLAs to be present in Kolkata from July 16 onwards.
If it decides to vote, all the electors would exercise their franchise in Kolkata and has sought permission for this from the Secretary General of Rajya Sabha, who is the Returning Officer, the sources said.
They said the Trinamool Parliamentary Party would meet on July 17 in the eastern metropolis to decide on the Presidential poll.
Last evening, Singh spoke to the West Chief Minister, who was on a tour of North Bengal, after which Trinamool Congress decided to attend the July 14 meeting to decide on the Vice Presidential poll candidate. The last date for nomination for the Vice President election is July 20.
PTI

May Industrial output 2.4%

Industrial production growth slowed to 2.4 per cent in May 2012 due to contraction in capital goods and mining output, coupled with poor show by manufacturing sector, indicating a persistent slowdown that may prompt the Reserve Bank of India to cut the lending rate.
Growth in factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was 6.2 per cent in May 2011, according to the official data released on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the industrial growth rate for April 2012 was revised to 0.9 per cent, from 0.1 per cent reported earlier.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Mohammed Mursi visit Saudi Arabia, Mursi like 2008's Obama

Mohammed Mursi arrived in Saudi Arabia today on his first official international visit as President of Egypt.

President Mursi ─ who has also received an invitation from U.S. President Barak Obama to visit America when he attends the United Nations’ General Assembly (UNGA) in September ─ met with King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.

According to analysts, the meeting was intended to imply the continuity of bilateral relations between the two states, regardless of who is in power.
Saudi Arabia and Egypt have been long-time regional allies during the reign of ousted President Hosni Mubarak; however, given the fact that the Brotherhood’s relations with Riyadh has had its ups and downs in the past, questions were raised around the future of relations between the two countries following the election of the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Mursi.

Russia not to follow a Western arms embargo on Syria

Russia vowed on Wednesday not to follow a Western arms embargo on Syria and promised new air defense systems and other military components to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The announcement came just a day after Russia dispatched a large naval flotilla to the region and appeared aimed at dispelling any suggestion of Moscow dropping its controversial support for Assad.

A top Russian arms export official had raised eyebrows in Western capitals earlier in the week by saying that Russia would no longer provide new weapons for Syria.

A coup in Paraguay

The region still has some distance to go on democracy as seen in the hurried impeachment in Paraguay
The questionable removal of President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay by the country’s Senate, nine months before the end of his five-year-term in April 2013, raises questions about the state of democracy in South America, much as the coup in Honduras did three years ago for Central America. For a region with a recent transition to democracy, this is worrisome. For a country like Paraguay, dominated until 2008 by 61 years of uninterrupted rule by the Colorado party of General Alfredo Stroessner (1954-1989), that veritable archetype of the Latin American dictator, this is especially so.

Brutal civil war may now unfolding in Syria

The Syrian crisis continues to grow worse, with Hilary Clinton now threatening Russia and China of “paying a price” if they continue to “support” Bashar al Assad in Syria. This is a scant few days after nine-party Action Group meeting in Geneva, where both sides agreed to a political solution in Syria. Promptly, the two sides – the American and Russian came out with two different interpretations to the agreement; the US claimed it meant a transitional government incorporating both sides but without Assad, while the Russian interpreted it to mean a transitional government which would contain both sides, the question of Assad being left to the Syrians to decide. For the Americans, any agreement on Syria must start with a regime change, a goal with which the Russians and Chinese do not agree.

Rights activists claims that Bijapur incident is “Plain Slaughter”

“Those who did not die in the firing were killed by the police with axes”

An all-India, fact-finding team of rights activists has brought out graphic details of what it described as the “plain slaughter” of tribals of Sarkeguda and Kottaguda in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh as the Central Reserve Police Force gave no quarter even to those who survived its firing on the night of June 28.
A report quoted villagers as telling the 16-member team, which visited Sarketuda, Kottaguda and Rajpenta on July 6 and 7, that “those who did not die from the bullet wounds were killed by the police with axes they picked up from the village itself.” Eyewitnesses, including mediapersons, who saw the bodies, said the victims were brutalised with deep hacking cuts in the chest and forehead, the report said.

Role of the Media in Democracy and The Abuse of Media Power

Journalists need to adopt a set of integrity measures in order to police the boundaries between the market and political power
Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person and the world’s wealthiest woman, is seeking three board seats following her purchase of 18.7 per cent of Fairfax which owns most papers in Australia not controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd. There has already been considerable upheaval in two of the Fairfax papers serving Melbourne and Sydney with a 25 per cent shedding of journalists to cut costs.

Influence-peddling

It will be recalled that in 2010,

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The "Maximum" bore film

When a family of ten including six noisy children got into the theatre, talking and scrambling around for popcorn, we rolled our eyes preparing for the most annoying movie-watching experience. After “Sssssh”ing them around, we soon realised that they weren't the villains, they were victims of Maximum boredom, having spent at least a thousand rupees to watch a film where nothing happens. Till the very end.
The idea must have sounded great on paper. To build up a narrative where the tension between two power-hungry crooked encounter cops keeps rising and culminates in one explosive blood bath of a finale.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Egyptian actor Omar Sharif is converted to Judaism is a Rumors


The internationally renowned Egyptian actor Omar Sharif expressed his resentment at recent rumors that he converted to Judaism which he described as absolutely groundless.

Omar Sharif did not embrace Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism, as has been recently rumored, said the actor’s official spokesperson Inas Bakr.

“I have been hearing these rumors for a while and I have no idea what their source is, but they are not true and he is not thinking of converting at all,” she told Al Arabiya.

Vodafone plea dismissed by FinMin

Dismissing Vodafone’s contention in the Rs.20,000-crore tax case, the Finance Ministry has prepared a reply to the company’s rejoinder which would be sent after approval of the Prime Minister.
“We did not agree with Vodafone ... The Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) on Vodafone has prepared reply of Vodafone’s rejoinder. The reply will be sent to the Prime Minister’s Office first. After approval of the PMO, it will be sent to Vodafone,” a senior official said after the meeting of IMG.
The government had earlier formed the IMG to look into the arbitration notice sent by the telecom major under the India-Netherlands bilateral investment protection agreement (BIPA).

The growth model -under-pricing of assets is no longer feasible

Unsustainable import competition and the end of the investment subsidy that the sale of under-priced resources provided to Indian companies are the main reasons why the economy has slowed down
What has been called the ‘golden age’ of India’s economic growth was underpinned by global integration, high rates of investment and savings growth and low current account deficits. The slowdown is characterised by a sharp deceleration in investment growth on the demand side and in agriculture, manufacturing and construction on the supply side, alongside high and unprecedented current account deficits.
The government’s argument that this is the result of the global economic slowdown and related uncertainty is only partly true. The deeper reason, which the government is either unwilling or unable to come to grips with, is the unravelling of the underlying growth model — partly due to structural change engendered by globalisation and partly because the investment subsidy implicit in under-pricing assets is no longer feasible.

Borrowing cost of Spain hits bailout danger zone

Madrid, Jul 9 : Spain's borrowing costs rose to dangerously high levels today as finance ministers of the 17 countries that use the euro began to gather in Brussels to discuss terms of a rescue package for the country's stricken banks.
    The interest rate, or yield, on the country's 10-year bonds hit 7 per cent today morning, a level that market-watchers consider is unaffordable for a country to raise money on the bond markets in the long term and the point at which Greece, Ireland and Portugal all sought an international bailout.
    Stocks on Madrid's benchmark index fell 1.7 per cent. The yield later fell back down to 6.99 per cent.

Chavez accused Rival of trying to destabilise Venezuela

President Hugo Chavez and his allies accused opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles on Sunday of trying to provoke violence by campaigning in areas that have been bastions of support for the incumbent leader.
Mr. Chavez accused Mr. Capriles of trying to spur violence as part of a broader plan aimed at creating widespread political upheaval ahead of Venezuela’s looming Oct. 7 presidential election.
“They are going to try to destabilise the country. I’ve been saying it and everybody should be alert,” said Mr. Chavez, speaking to soldiers during a ceremony to promote military officers.

Reconvene of Egyptien Parliament by President rejected by Court

Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi's order to reconvene parliament has been rejected by the country's highest court, which says its ruling dissolving the assembly is binding.
Following President Mursi's decree, the speaker of the dissolved house had called for MPs to meet on Tuesday.
Army units outside parliament were withdrawn, allowing MPs to enter.
Mr Mursi, whose Muslim Brotherhood won most seats, says the chamber should function until a new election is held.

High Inflation and Low Growth is a problem for RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will find it difficult to cut interest rates in its monetary policy review later in the month in the absence of softening of inflation, the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman, C. Rangarajan, said today.
“I believe if the inflation rate, particularly non-food manufacturing, shows decline then there will be scope for RBI to adopt easier stance,” he said on the sidelines an event organised by the National Housing Bank in New Delhi.
“Situation in India is somewhat different from situation in other countries. In other countries, growth rate is low but at the same time inflation is also low, whereas in our country while growth is slowing inflation remains at the high level,” he said.

Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate,shuns linked to ‘God's particle’

The late Abdus Salam, Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate is no hero at home, where his name has been stricken from school textbooks
The pioneering work of Abdus Salam, Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate, helped lead to the apparent discovery of the subatomic “God's particle”, last week. But the late physicist is no hero at home, where his name has been stricken off from school textbooks.
Praise within Pakistan for Salam, who also guided the early stages of the country’s nuclear programme, faded decades ago as Muslim fundamentalists gained power.

No mean to be a Super Power with untouchability

THE AAMIR KHAN COLUMN To be a cohesive team, and to have a common, shared vision, we have to start by first accepting that we have built up differences, walls, barriers.
In a number of ways, Gandhiji was different from other freedom fighters and leaders of the time. One difference was that he gave equal importance to one more fight along with the struggle for independence, and that is, the emancipation of those ostracised as “untouchables.” Gandhiji’s work against untouchability began in South Africa around five decades before our independence. After his return to India, an incident at his Kochrab Ashram near Ahmedabad shows us how much importance he gave to the concept of equality between castes.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

India to be released a sequel to "HIGGS BOSON"


Mumbai: While physicists across the world are still celebrating the recent detection of the Higgs particle, also known as ‘The God Particle’ by the CERN scientists, here’s exciting news for India too. India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) near Madurai in Tamil Nadu plans to release a sequel to the Higgs boson.


The India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is a proposed Particle Physics research project to primarily study atmospheric neutrinos in a deep cave under Ino Peak near Theni, Tamil Nadu in India.

“The discovery has given us a lot of confidence. It shows that we are going in the right direction,” said Naba K Mondal, senior professor and spokesperson for the Neutrino Observatory (INO). The INO, to be commissioned by 2017, will enable scientists to go beyond the Standard Model, validated by the Higgs discovery.

Time Magazine tagged Manmohan as ‘underachiever’

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has long been lauded for his pivotal role in liberalising the Indian economy, has been dubbed as an “underachiever” by a top US magazine which says he appears “unwilling to stick his neck out” on reforms that will put the country back on growth path.
79-year-old Dr. Singh is featured on the cover of Time magazine’s Asia edition, which will be out next week. With his portrait in the background, the title on the cover reads ‘The Underachiever — India needs a reboot’.

Development Projects Quarterly target set

To push development works, quarterly targets have been fixed for the first time for various ministries and projects would be monitored at three levels, including the Prime Minister’s Office, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Sunday.
“For the first time, we have set quarterly targets for all the ministries involved in development projects and the reports will be monitored and discussed at three levels, including the PMO,” he said.
Targets have been fixed, especially in the areas of transport, energy and infrastructure, he added.
“Three would be three phases to monitor the progress of development projects — at the Planning Commission, the ministry level and overall monitoring will be done in the PMO,” Mr. Ahluwalia, who is on a private visit to the city, told reporters.