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I would have liked to have dinner with Mahatma Gandhi: Obama

2012-06-28T12:03:00.002+05:30

Washington, Sep 9 (IANS) US President Barack Obama has said that if he could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, it would be Mahatma Gandhi, adding he is 'a real hero of mine'.

Obama had gone to Wakefield High School in Arlington to give a speech welcoming students back to school, when he took a few questions from ninth-graders.

Lily, a student, asked: 'And if you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?'

'Well, you know, dead or alive, that's a pretty big list,' Obama was quoted as saying by Los Angeles Times Wednesday.

'You know, I think that it might be Gandhi, who is a real hero of mine.'

Obama said: 'Now, it would probably be a really small meal because, he didn't eat a lot.'

'But he's somebody who I find a lot of inspiration in. He inspired Dr. (Martin Luther) King, so if it hadn't been for the non-violent movement in India, you might not have seen the same non-violent movement for civil rights here in the United States.'

Obama told the students that Gandhi represents the power of change through ethics and how to use that morality to foster change, themes he has repeated through his presidential campaign and administration.

Facing sharp divisions in Congress and within his own Democratic Party, Obama stressed Gandhi's fighting spirit and will to overcome long odds.

Gandhi helped 'people who thought they had no power realise that they had power and then helped people who had a lot of power realise that if all they're doing is oppressing people, then that's not a really good exercise of power'.

Mahi is dead - Uncovered manholes - Is there a solution?

2012-06-28T11:59:00.002+05:30

All hopes of four-year-old Mahi coming alive out of the 70-foot-deep borewell at Kasna village here were dashed on Sunday afternoon, when Army personnel brought out her decomposed body after an 86-hour rescue operation that had kept the people nationwide glued to their TV sets.

The operation — launched soon after Mahi fell into the borewell on Wednesday night during her birthday celebrations and was prolonged by almost 48 hours as the rescue team ran into rocky terrain — ended around 1.30 p.m. on Sunday, when a team of personnel pulled her out.

The girl, wrapped in a green cloth, was immediately rushed to the ESIC Hospital at Manesar in an Army ambulance, amid loud applause by locals who had gathered at the spot in large numbers since early morning, anticipating a successful climax. But the child was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. The body was then sent to the Gurgaon Civil Hospital mortuary.

Post-mortem revealed that Mahi died of asphyxia just in a couple of hours of the fall. “She died three-four hours after she fell into the borewell,” said a doctor at the Gurgaon Civil Hospital.

The rescue team had reached Mahi in the early hours of Sunday, negotiating around a boulder in the rescue tunnel, but there was delay as it had to cut through a rock in the borewell also, where the bloated body was found stuck.

“While digging the borewell, the house owner had hit a rocky terrain. He tried to cut through the rock but abandoned it when he could not do so. It was in this rock that Mahi’s body was found stuck. The rescue teams encountered boulders twice while digging the tunnel also, and this caused the delay,” Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner P.C. Meena said.

Cases filed

He said separate cases were registered against house owner Rohtash and the contractor who had sunk the illegal borewell. “Three police teams have been constituted to trace and arrest them. So far, our priority had been to pull out the girl. Now that the operation is over, we hope to catch them soon.”

Delayed response

The girl’s parents and relatives blamed the death on the district administration’s delayed response. “Had the administration responded quickly to the situation, she would have been alive today. The police reached the spot almost two hours after they were informed. The efforts to pull her out gathered pace only on Thursday morning, after the Army was called in,” said Mithilesh, a close relative.

An inconsolable Sonia, mother of Mahi, almost collapsed in grief soon after the news was broken to the family. She had to be physically lifted by women police personnel and taken away from the hospital gate.

Earlier, around noon, the crowd grew restless as the rescue operation drew out. The people started shouting slogans against the administration, but the situation was soon brought under control.

Source : The Hindu

Chase Your Dreams to make it Become True : Sachin Tendulkar 100th Ton

2012-03-16T18:54:00.002+05:30

Mirpur:

It's here at last. After a year of keeping India waiting, Sachin Tendulkar has scored his 100th international ton. An entire nation heaved a collective sigh and uncrossed its fingers.

The 100th Sachin ton came against Bangladesh during the fourth match of the Asia Cup on Friday. Immediately after, he quipped that he had shed "50 kilos". The weight of the expectations of millions no doubt. "Enjoy the game and chase your dreams. Dreams do come true," said crickets most prolific run-getter, denying that he was ever under pressure to get here. "When I scored my 99th hundred nobody spoke about it. The 100th hundred was a media creation. I was not bothered," he said.

But it mattered to his fans. And today, anyone who hesitantly tried to take away from the colossal achievement by pointing out that Sachinâ€™s ton of tons came against minnows Bangladesh, was batted down sharply by ten other people. There is celebration in the air; #sachin is trending at number 1 worldwide on Twitter, pushed there no doubt by the hundreds and thousands of Indians now saying, "Thank You Sachin Tendulkar."

Calm at the crease, Sachin took his time getting to the milestone. No one else was breathing. Especially at 99. First a Suresh Raina single took him to the non-batting end as an over ended. Ten runs came off that over before Sachin got strike. He played two balls for no runs and the over changed again. No one exhaled. So it was Raina on strike again, who took a single on the third ball to give strike to Sachin. The stadium roared. Shakib Al Hasan, now a firm part of history, came in to bowl and Sachin took a single to score his ton of tons.
Then the quintessential Sachin moment. He took off his helmet, looked at his bat, then heavenwards. He then kissed his helmet.

Sachin has scored 51 hundreds in Tests and 49 in ODIs. It took him 188 Tests and 462 ODIs to get to this landmark. Tendulkar, who is now 38-years-old, made his debut at the age of 16 in 1989.
Today, Sachin added another 14 runs to his ton before Mashrafe Mortaza managed to send him back. But this dismissal did not matter. The world was waiting to fete him.

One of the first to congratulate him was the Prime Minister of India. Then actors, politicians, singers. Mamata Banerjee has suggested Sachin be awarded the Bharat Ratna. Amitabh Bachchan noted that now "India breathes normally", Narendra Modi hailed a "moment of pride," and the reticent Lata Mangeshkar congratulated her fellow Mumbaikar.

Industrialist Anand Mahindra who had been tweeting commentary on the Union Budget all morning, changed track with, "Sachin proved the Budget that mattered was his budgeted score.. Bravo, to an authentic legend." Political dissonance, disappointment with the Budget was all forgotten in one moment of shared joy.

Sachin's former team-mate Sourav Ganguly said Sachin Tendulkar's 100th international ton is a "terrific achievement which should be enjoyed as it will not be matched in the future ever." Ganguly has witnessed many of Sachin's historic landmarks from close quarters. Ganguly was at the other end of the crease when the master blaster achieved milestones like breaking Sunil Gavaskar's (34) record of most Test 100's and surpassing Brian Lara (11,953) as the highest run-getter in Tests.

Cricketers the world over are now falling over themselves to recount their outings with the man who has defined world cricket for two decades.

Fittingly, or perhaps sensing that history could be made today, a huge crowd had gathered at the Shere Bangla National Stadium to witness the master blaster go where no cricketer has gone before.

They witnessed an innings of composure and patience, Sachin made 114 off 147 balls, hitting 12 boundaries and a six and was at the crease for 46.5 overs. The historic knock was also Sachin's first ODI century against Bangladesh.

Virat Kohli (66 off 82) and Suresh Raina (51 off 38 balls) made vital contributions to help India set Bangladesh a target of 290.

Sachin also became the first batsman to hit over 2,000 boundaries in One Day Internationals during todayâ€™s innings.

The buzz around Sachin's record ton of tons had begun as early as the World Cup last year, but despite numerous opportunities, he was unable to reach the three-figure mark. Sachin opted to play the Asia Cup after a less than average outing in the CB Series in Australia.

His last international century came during the World Cup against South Africa on March 12, 2011.Â It took him 34 innings, that included thirteen ODI innings, to get to his most awaited century.

Mirpur, Bangladesh got lucky that Sachin chose to play his 462nd ODI here.

FIGHTING COMMON COLD

2011-08-09T14:42:00.001+05:30

The common cold is a viral infection that affects the upper airways including the nose, voice box, throat, windpipes and the lungs.

There are more than two hundred viruses that can cause colds and are commonly known as rhinoviruses or the nose viruses.

These viruses cause inflammation or swelling of the mucous membrane lining the airways.

Early Symptons:

Early signs of a cold are a sore, scratchy throat, sneezing, and a runny nose.
Other symptoms are headache, watering eyes, chills, weakness, cough and congestion, fever and muscle ache.
The symptoms generally last for 2 to 7 days and in some cases may last for weeks.

Simple Ways to avoid cold:

You should also get plenty of sleep or rest. If you are tired and fatigued, your body's resistance decreases, making you more susceptible to common cold.
You should avoid drinking milk as it causes mucus to form and coat your throat making it very difficult for you to swallow and cough.
You should eat spicy foods. Spicy hot foods will cause your body to expel mucus.
When you eat these types of foods, your nose will start to run and you will begin to cough up mucus.Spicy foods work just like a natural decongestant but without side effects.
Drinking plenty of liquids can help. Water, juice, clear broth or warm lemon water with honey helps loosen congestion and prevents dehydration.
A saltwater gargle - 1/2 teaspoon salt in a glass of warm water - can temporarily relieve a sore or scratchy throat.
Hot Soup is also a better way to rid off cold.
Avoid alcohol, coffee and caffeinated sodas, which make dehydration worse.
Dont take any pain relief pills(non-prescribed), wihich may make the situation worst after somedays.

Three-year-old girl dies after rape

2011-02-21T12:54:00.000+05:30

Lucknow: A three-year-old girl died after she was allegedly raped by a youth in Hariparvat area in Agra district, police said today.

According to the victim's father Manoj Kumar, Sanjay alias Neeraj raped his daughter in Hariparvat area late last night when he had gone to attend a marriage.

The complainant said that the child later died while being taken to the hospital, police said, adding that Sanjay has been arrested.

Orissa: Maoists kidnap District Collector of Malkangiri district

2011-02-17T09:42:00.000+05:30

Bhubaneswar: A senior IAS officer in Orissa's Malkangiri district has been kidnapped by the Maoists. District Collector R Vineel Krishna was kidnapped while he was returning after an interaction programme in Gumma block of tribal-dominated Malkangiri district.

The incident happened on Wednesday, just two days before Home Minister P Chidambaram's scheduled video-conference with the Collectors of 60 Maoist-hit districts.

Malkangiri Additional SP A Das said there has been no communication with the Collector since Wednesday afternoon. Thirty-year-old Vineel Krishna, an IIT-Madras graduate, joined administrative service in 2005. Krishna was posted as the District Collector of Malkangiri 16 months ago. He is known to be popular with the local people and interacts closely with them.

Malkangiri in Orissa is a Naxal-dominated border district. Maoists use a passage through the southern-most Orissa town of Motu in Malkangiri district to travel from Chhattisgarh to Andhra Pradesh. They also use the area as a corridor to crossover to the thickly-forested areas of Andhra. Most of the people living here are tribals.

Along with the District Collector, the Maoists had also kidnapped two junior engineers. One of them was freed on Wednesday itself. He was sent back with a note giving an ultimatum of 48 hours for the release of the Collector. The Maoists want Central forces to be withdrawn from Malkangiri.

What is 2G spectrum scam?

2011-02-10T11:48:00.003+05:30

New Delhi: From the time allegations of misappropriation during the bidding for allocation of 2G spectrum surfaced, till Telecom Minister A Raja's ouster, high drama charged both politics in Delhi and Tamil Nadu. So what exactly is the Spectrum Scam that led to all this?

WHAT IS SPECTRUM SCAM?
•2G licenses issued to private telecom players at throwaway prices in 2008
•CAG: Spectrum scam has cost the government Rs. 1.76 lakh crore
•CAG: Rules and procedures flouted while issuing licenses

WHAT ARE THE CHARGES ON FORMER TELECOM MINISTER A RAJA?
CHEAP TELECOM LICENSES
• Entry fee for spectrum licenses in 2008 pegged at 2001 prices
• Mobile subscriber base had shot up to 350 million in 2008 from 4 million in 2001
•Rules changed after the game had begun
•Cut-off date for applications advanced by a week
•Licenses issued on a first-come-first-served basis
•No proper auction process followed, no bids invited
•Raja ignored advice of TRAI, Law Ministry, Finance Ministry
•TRAI had recommended auctioning of spectrum at market rates

FAVOURITISM, CORPORATES ENCASH PREMIUM
•Unitech, Swan Telecom got licenses without any prior telecom experience
•Swan Telecom given license even though it did not meet eligibility criteria
•Swan got license for Rs. 1537 crore, sold 45% stake to Etisalat for Rs. 4200 crore
•Unitech Wireless got license for Rs. 1661 crore, sold 60% stake for Rs. 6200 crore
•All nine companies paid DoT only Rs. 10,772 crore for 2G licences

WorldCup 2011 Indian Squad

2011-02-07T17:25:00.010+05:30


Ashish Nehra	Gautam Gambhir	Harbhajan Singh

Suresh Raina	MS Dhoni	Yusuf Pathan

Ravichandran Ashwin	Sreesanth	Munaf Patel

Piyush Chawla	Virat Kholi	Sachin Tendulkar

Virender Sehwag	Yuvraj Singh	Zaheer Khan

Praveen Kumar

The Other Half: Making the invisible visible

2011-02-04T15:38:00.001+05:30

The most striking photograph of the farmers' agitation against the Yamuna Expressway last month was that of a 45-year-old woman, Rajkumari Devi (Indian Express, August 29, 2010). Captioned “Protesting Farmer, Zikarpur Village, Aligarh”, the story that accompanied the photograph described how Rajkumari, holding a lathi in her hands, sat in protest for days on end with other men and women, demanding more compensation for their lands that had been acquired for the Yamuna Expressway.

Her life was her land. “My day would start at four in the morning, feeding the cattle and then tilling the land. I would take a brief lunch break and get back to the field. It was during the evening that I finished my household chores and spent some time with my family and neighbours.” She told the reporter that she knew no other life than working in her fields, something she had done even as a child as her father was a farmer. “A farmer has no holidays. One is supposed to work everyday and all the time”, she said.

I was struck by Rajkumari's photograph and testimony for more than one reason. Her story is that of every farmer, man or woman, but her story is also that of women farmers, who are rarely acknowledged when one discusses any matter related to agriculture. Indeed, women as farmers continue to be invisible in India even though millions of them are as directly involved with agriculture as the men.

A reader wrote to me a few weeks ago and asked why I find this “women's” angle in every story. It is precisely because of stories like Rajkumari's, the invisible women who are an important part of our economy, our lives and yet their contribution is so routinely overlooked.

Her story reminded me that this month marks 15 years since the UN fourth World Conference on Women that was held in Beijing from September 4-15, 1995. It was the largest of the series of UN conferences held through the 1990s, bringing together thousands of official and non-governmental representatives from 189 countries to discuss women's rights, how to make them more visible and to strategise ways to ensure that governments legislate and formulate policies that ensure that women have the same rights as all other citizens in their countries.

I know that these days the United Nations does not have much currency. But through the 1990s, some of the important conferences that the UN convened saw the emergence of an international consensus on a number of important issues.

Significant conferences

Of these, as far as women worldwide are concerned, the two really significant meetings were the 1994 Cairo meeting on population and the Beijing conference. Cynics sometimes wonder what is achieved by these huge jamborees. But there was a time and place for them and in some respects the fruits of those efforts can be seen in the decades that followed.

The Cairo conference, for instance, established the link between population and development and between women's rights and population policies. As one of the signatories of the document that emerged from the conference, the Indian government had to look again at its reproductive health policies and discard the earlier system of incentives and disincentives that resulted in fudged data and women being penalised for being the ones who can procreate. The change in policy has, of course, not been uniformly implemented and every now and then we still hear stories about coercion. But 16 years after the conference, there is already enough evidence to show that developmental policies that deal with illiteracy, health and women's rights are a far more effective strategy to limit population growth than coercive policies such as forced sterilisation or limits on the number of children you can have.

Women's rights are a trickier issue. One of the star attractions in Beijing was Hillary Clinton, then the First Lady of the United States. She got the world's attention when she stated unequivocally that “it is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights as separate from human rights.” She said, “It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls, when women and girls are sold into slavery or prostitution for human greed. It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small, when thousands of women are raped in their own communities and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war.”

Uneven results

Of course, not all the countries present carried forward the philosophy behind this slogan in their policies post-Beijing. Women continue to be denied basic rights in many societies including India. Violence against women in the home and outside continues in all our societies. While we hear little today about violence at home, including dowry torture and deaths, statistics establish that women are far more prone to assault within the home than outside it.

So was the rhetoric, the declarations, the Platform for Action adopted at Beijing worth anything more than the paper on which they were written?

I personally think they were. What Beijing did was to reiterate standards that are universal within the rights context. It laid out violations of women's rights that were unacceptable. And it urged governments to legislate and enact policies that would make these rights a reality. It also gave civil society actors around the world a handle that was useful for advocacy for change of policy within their countries.

What does any of this have to do with Rajkumari from Zikarpur village? A great deal. Conferences like the one in Beijing set in motion campaigns and changes that were aimed at ending the invisibility of women like Rajkumari. If today we can see her proud face in our newspapers, and recognise that she too is an Indian farmer, then a small step towards ending her invisibility has been taken.

Dogs ‘can tell if you’re getting bowel cancer’

2011-02-04T12:11:00.000+05:30

Believe it or not, dogs can sniff out bowel cancer in breath and stool samples, with a very high degree of accuracy, even in the early stages of the disease, a new research has revealed.

According to researchers, the man’s best friend’s sense of smell is 1,000 times more sensitive than a human’s, and as a result it can apparently pick up chemical compounds specific to certain cancers.
In the research, published in the ‘Gut’ journal, a labrador detected traces of cancer with more than 90 per cent accuracy from samples provided by volunteers.

In fact, over several months, the researchers in Japan used the labrador to carry out 74 sniff tests. Each test group comprised one sample from a patient with bowel cancer and four control samples from those who were clear. The samples were randomly placed into five boxes.

The labrador, specifically trained to scent chemicals associated with bowel cancer, first sniffed a breath sample from a patient known to have the disease. It then walked along the boxes sitting in front of the sample it believed matched the cancer scent. The test was repeated with different boxes.

The labrador’s ability to detect cancer in breath samples was 95 per cent accurate overall, and 98 per cent accurate for stool samples. “The accuracy was high even for early cancer,” ‘Daily Mail’ quoted the researchers as saying.

The results were not affected by whether the patient smoked, the presence of non-cancerous bowel disease or inflammatory bowel disease.

“This study shows that a specific cancer scent does indeed exist and that cancer-specific chemical compounds may be circulating throughout the body. These odour materials may become effective tools in (bowel cancer) screening.

“In the future, studies designed to identify cancer-specific volatile organic compounds will be important for the development of new methods for early detection,” the researchers said.

However, the researchers behind the latest study say this has limited value as it picks up only one in ten cases of the disease’s early stages. But they hope that cancer-specific compounds detected by dogs could be incorporated into a new sensor that can be used to test samples as part of screening.

Nell Barrie, science information officer at Cancer Research U.K., said, “Although some dogs seem to be able to smell cancer in certain situations, we’re still a long way from understanding exactly what they are detecting and this small study in one dog doesn’t give us any new clues.”

Mobile phone health hazard: call for changes in radiation norms

2011-02-04T12:04:00.000+05:30

Taking a stringent view of the health hazards posed by radiation from mobile phones, towers and base stations, a high-level inter-ministerial committee (IMC) has called for revision of radiation norms according to Indian needs.

According to the report submitted by the IMC, radiation from mobile phones and towers could lead to symptoms like fatigue, sleep disturbance, dizziness and lack of concentration.

It said it could also lead to slowing down of reaction time, loss of memory, headache, disturbance in digestive system and heart palpitation.

As a sequel, the committee has called for imposing strict restrictions on installation of mobile towers near high-density residential areas, schools, playgrounds and hospitals.

Though the impact of long term exposure to such emissions is unclear, the panel suggested conducting scientific research on its effect, especially among children, pregnant women and elderly persons.

Following reports that electromagnetic radiation emitted by the mobile towers were threating the movement and breeding of bees and birds (which are the best indicators of the status of the ecology), the government had set up a panel to study the impact and formulate guidelines for regulating installation of such structures.

The report suggested that since the Indian weather conditions were different compared to European countries, revision of radiation norms may be considered.

“The radiation limits in India may be lowered to 1/10th of the existing level keeping in view the data submitted by COAI/ AUSPI,” it added.

The report suggested methods like use of wireless hands-free system, keeping calls short or sending text messages (SMS) and using mobile phones when the signal quality is good.

“People having active medical implants should keep their cell phone at least 30 cm away from the implant,” it added.

The panel said some studies had indicated that radiation from cell phone towers may probably be the reason for vanishing butterflies, bees, insects and sparrows.

The eight-member committee, which included personnel from health ministry and department of biotechnology, also recommended that mobile phones not adhering to standard levels of specific absorption rate (SAR) be barred.

SAR is a measure of the amount of radiation absorbed by the body while using a phone.

India currently follows World Health Organisation-approved International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines.

Virat Kohli likes to win WC for Sachin and country

2011-02-04T12:00:00.001+05:30

Talented batsman Virat Kohli feels that it would be the best gift to Sachin Tendulkar if the Indian team can win the cricket World Cup which will start in another two weeks time.

“What he (Sachin) has achieved in his entire career, I don’t think anyone else will be able to achieve that. So it will be a great thing if we can win the World Cup not only for our fans but also for Sachin who is a special person,” the youngster commented during an interaction with the media at a promotional event here today.

The U-19 World Cup winning captain feels that the biggest challenge during the cricketing extravaganza will be to keep the external pressures not affect their game.

“Playing World Cup in itself is a huge pressure. There will be people who would expect us to do well. The biggest challenge will therefore be not to get distracted by that and concentrate at the job on hand,” the 22-year-old Kohli said.

Kohli, who has four centuries from 45 ODIs and enjoys a fantastic average of around 47, said he just tries to keep things simple.

“I just try to play according to my strength and not do anything special. With experience of having played international cricket for the past two years, I have learnt that if one tries too hard for something special, one might just spoil the ability to do things that come naturally.

“It’s hard not to make mistakes but with time you learn from them and the key to success is not repeating the same mistakes over and over again.”

Kohli dismissed the notion that injury management has been a problem with Indian players of late as the likes of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Praveen Kumar have all been injured in the lead up to the World Cup.

“No player likes to get injured. But when you are playing so much of cricket, the body tends to get tired and thus injuries happen. You may be the fittest guy around but suddenly you can twist an ankle and be out of action for six months.

2G scam: Raja 5 days with CBI

2011-02-03T18:04:00.000+05:30

New Delhi: The CBI today accused former Telecom Minister A Raja of causing a loss of Rs. 22,000 crore to the exchequer by favouring some telecom firms in award of the 2G spectrum licences and demanded his custody for five days, which a city court granted.

Raja, former Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura and Raja's former Personal Secretary R K Chandolia, were produced before Special CBI Judge O P Saini a day after they were arrested in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Wearing a grey safari suit, the 47-year-old DMK MP appeared cool and composed and greeted the judge with folded hands. His counsel Ramesh Gupta sought time for a privateconversation with Raja, which the judge allowed for ten minutes.

Seeking their custody, CBI counsel Akhilesh argued that Raja had caused a loss of Rs. 22,000 crores to the public exchequer by favouring some telecom firms in award of the 2G

spectrum licences. He said due to Raja, at least two telecom firms, including Swan Telecom and Unitech, were benefited to the tune of several hundred crores of rupees by selling their stakes to various other global firms shortly after getting licences.

The CBI said the former minister's custody was essential for further questioning because he had been evasive in replying to their queries during his interrogation earlier at

the agency's headquarters. This is for the first time that the CBI is directly accusing Raja of complicity in the 2G scam after it had filed an FIR against unknown officials and private persons and companies on October 21, 2009.

Though the agency has pegged the loss at Rs. 22,000 crore based on the calculations made by the CVC, the CAG had in its report had projected a presumptive loss of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore.

The three were arrested for allegedly abusing their official position and favouring some telecom companies in grant of licences by manipulating the procedures.

Raja's counsel Ramesh Gupta strongly opposed the CBI plea saying his client was innocent and all the decisions with regard to granting of 2G spectrum licences had the approval of

the Union Cabinet and various statutory panels. "Accordingly, Raja was not solely responsible in the alleged scam," Gupta contended.

He said, "All the documents had been seized by the CBI in 2009 itself and moreover Raja had already been interrogated at the agency's headquarters several times in the past."

The CBI should not be awarded Raja's custody just for the sake of interrogation, Gupta said, adding, "There has to be a justification for the same."

However, at the end of the arguments, the judge gave the CBI the custody of Raja and the two others for five days.

BSP MLA accused of rape goes missing

2011-01-13T14:43:00.001+05:30

Lucknow: A day after Mayawati's government gave clearance to the Uttar Pradesh police to arrest BSP MLA Purushottam Naresh Dwivedi, accused of raping a minor girl, he went missing. The UP police admits the MLA is on the run. There is still no word on his whereabouts and arrest.

Chief Minister Mayawati summoned officials of the Crime Branch and CID who are investigating the case.

A preliminary inquiry by the CB-CID into the Banda rape case found that Dwivedi had raped the teenager and framed her in a false theft case. The girl is still behind the bars.

She appeared before civil judge junior division Ravi Kumar Gupta and had alleged in her statement that Dwivedi raped her twice while his aides teased her, prosecution sources said.

She also alleged that no action was taken against Dwivedi as police was conniving with the MLA and his aides. The girl had given a similar statement to a three-member team of National Commission of Women (NCW).

Striking a mind-body balance

2010-12-07T13:46:00.001+05:30

The erstwhile ‘rubber-band', as she was dubbed in school thanks to her flexibility, Payal Gidwani-Tiwari feels elated for having been able to use her passion to help others attain physical and emotional fitness.

With her book From XL to XS, published by Random House India, being released recently, Payal talks about her tryst with yoga and fitness, how it has become a way of life and how it can change your life as well.

Tell us about your journey so far.

I started as an interior designer who started working at the age of 17. But, fitness was always my forte or rather a way of life. I used to practise aerobatics and teach along with my teacher.

When, I went to New Zealand where I started practising yoga for two months and I can now safely say that that was the biggest turning point of my life! I've never looked back. Today, yoga is a holistic spiritual calling.

My studio Cosmic Fusion, which opened in January 2010, has been a major step towards reiterating my commitment towards this wonderful means to achieve physical and emotional well-being.

Your book From XL to XS is refreshingly conversational with nuggets about celebrity exercise plans, simple tips and handy hints about how to calculate BMI. What made you write in such a novel format?
Many people think of yoga as boring or just useful for meditative purposes. But with my extensive experience and revolutionary outlook on the discipline, I have been able to make people lose weight and change the structure of their bodies, thus getting them hooked to this age-old science. At one point, I felt it important to create more awareness for yoga as a fitness regime on a macro scale.

So From XL to XS was written for the youth of today and to get them addicted to this holistic science, which has worked wonders for all my celebrity clients too.

There are quite a few types of yoga: Ashtanga, Hathyoga, Ayyangar Yoga. What kind of yoga do you practise and what are the benefits?
Manish (Tiwari), my husband) and I both practice the Kaivalyadham school of yoga but with a little modernisation to suit body types.

The asanas we follow range from basic to advanced; so one reaps benefits in all spheres: physical, emotional, social and spiritual.
Who can practise yoga and for what various reasons?

Yoga can and should be practised by all age groups for the myriad benefits it holds. It not only helps lose weight but also improves your circulatory, hormonal, digestive and nervous systems; in turn according an immense glow to your face, hair and skin and making you look much younger than your age.

Does yoga have any side-effect? Is there any reason why someone should not practise it?

Yoga has no real side effects per se; but people suffering from slipped disc, hernia, lower back ache, arthritis and knee-pains should inform the instructor before beginning yoga.

Pros and cons of yoga vis-à-vis other forms of fitness?
Without getting into comparison (each discipline has its individual merits and demerits) I can safely say that there are only pros to yoga; no cons. Yoga is the best form of fitness leading to good health and complete well being.

What does it take to become an avid practitioner of yoga?

Anyone can practice yoga. It is a way to fitness first, followed by emotional or mental well-being. Spiritual evolvement comes in after years and years of practice. You have to be really lucky as well as passionately involved with the discipline for that.

Coming to your celebrity clients, how would you describe their dedication towards fitness? Also, which qualities can our readers emulate in order to attain the same level of fitness?

'Leaks has provided a target list for al-Qaeda'

2010-12-07T13:42:00.002+05:30

The U.S. today termed as “deeply disturbing” the release of secret cables by WikiLeaks and said the whistleblower website was “inviting” terrorist attacks from groups like the al-Qaeda by making public documents about some of the key infrastructures projects across the globe.

“Without discussing any particular cable, the release of this kind of information gives a group like al-Qaeda a targeting list. This is why we have condemned WikiLeaks for what it has done,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added that the release of documents possesses potential damage to U.S. friends and partners.

“The illegal publication of classified information poses real concerns and even potential damage to our friends and partners around the world,” she told reporters.

"I won’t comment on any specific alleged cable, but I will underscore that this theft of U.S. Government information and its publication without regard to the consequences is deeply distressing,” she said in response to a question.

She said the U.S. continues to address all of the challenges it presents and call on countries around the world and businesses to assist us in preventing any of the consequences that could either endanger individuals or other interests internationally.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the WikiLeaks was inviting terrorist attacks by releasing the cable that mention some of the key infrastructures projects across the globe identified by the U.S. as vital for its national security interest.

“There are strong and valid reasons for classifying vital information, including the identification of critical infrastructure that is important to not only our society and economy, but those of other countries,” he said.

A(H1N1): officials asked to visit houses

2010-09-22T11:35:00.002+05:30

The First Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday instructed the State government to issue a direction to officers of Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Health Sub Centres to visit swine flu-affected houses and other houses to control the situation.

The Bench, comprising Chief Justice M. Yusuf Eqbal and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, also wanted the government to provide all possible treatment to the 130 persons afflicted with swine flue and submit a report about the result of treatment.

“It is needless to say that the monitoring committee should continue to monitor the situation,” the Bench said after the State government submitted a report in the court on swine flue situation and steps taken by it to control the disease.

The government report came after R. Balasubramanian, an advocate affiliated to the AIADMK, wanted a direction from the court to give proper treatment to every one.

In his report, Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj stated that of the 3,596 samples tested so far, 774 were found positive. Six hundred and thirty five cases were treated and the patients discharged. Nine deaths were reported. Other patients were under treatment.

“Availability of vaccines for H1N1 fever has been given wide publicity. Vaccination at the lowest cost has been arranged at King Institute, Guindy, and Chennai Corporation Laboratories, Chennai,” the report said.

The government also told the court about free vaccination to families living below poverty line. It had sanctioned Rs.15 crore for vaccination of 10 lakh people initially. For the others, vaccination would be available at the lowest cost.

The Health Department had commenced screening of school and college students, besides creating isolation wards in all medical college hospitals and district headquarters hospitals to manage the patients afflicted with H1N1 flu. “Adequate antiviral drugs and Tamiflu tablets and syrups have been issued to all government medical institutions and adequate quantity has been stocked in the headquarters,” the report said.

As regards Kanyakumari, Chennai, Vellore and Coimbatore districts, where the virus had spread, the government was carrying out intensive screening of fever cases in colleges, schools and houses.

All the 1,539 PHCs, 8,706 Health Sub Centres and local body health staff were involved in active case finding through house visits and health education. The list of fever cases admitted to hospitals was being collected and Health Inspectors visited the affected houses and organised control measures.

Tendulkar short-listed for three awards

2010-09-21T14:18:00.000+05:30

Maestro Sachin Tendulkar and dashing opener Virender Sehwag of India, along with South African batsman Hashim Amla and England off-spinner Graeme Swann, have been short-listed for the top honours at the LG ICC Awards 2010.

The votes have now been cast by the independent 25-person academy and one of the four players will receive the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for Cricketer of the Year at a glittering ceremony in Bangalore on October 6.

Tendulkar, Sehwag and Amla are also in the running for the Test Player of the Year award, alongside South Africa paceman Dale Steyn.

Tendulkar is in contention too for the ODI Player of the Year award with the Australian duo of Shane Watson (pace bowling all-rounder) and Ryan Harris (paceman) as well as South Africa's A.B. de Villiers (batsman).

The Twenty20 International Performance of the Year sees New Zealand's Brendon McCullum short-listed alongside Australia's Michael Hussey, Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene and South Africa's Ryan McLaren.

Player short-list (in alphabetical order): Cricketer of the Year: Hashim Amla (SA), Virender Sehwag (Ind), Graeme Swann (Eng), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind).

Test Player of the Year: Hashim Amla (SA), Virender Sehwag (Ind), Dale Steyn (SA), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind).

ODI Player of the Year: Ryan Harris (Aus), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), A.B. de Villiers (SA), Shane Watson (Aus).

Emerging Player: Umar Akmal (Pak), Steven Finn (Eng), Angelo Mathews (SL), Tim Paine (Aus).

Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year: Ryan ten Doeschate (Ned), Trent Johnson (Ire), Kevin O'Brien (Ire), Mohammed Shahzad (Afg).

Twenty20 International Performance of the Year: Michael Hussey (Aus) for his 60 not out off 24 balls against Pakistan in the semifinal of the ICC World Twenty20 2010 in St. Lucia on May 14, Mahela Jayawardene (SL) for his 100 off 64 balls against Zimbabwe in Guyana on May 3 and his 98 not out off 56 balls against West Indies in Bridgetown on May 2010 both during the ICC World Twenty20 2010, Ryan McLaren (SA) for his five for 19 against the West Indies on May 19 in Antigua, Brendon McCullum (NZ) for his 116 not out off 56 balls against Australia in Christchurch, New Zealand on February 28.

Women's Cricketer of the Year: Katherine Brunt (Eng), Shelley Nitschke (Aus), Ellyse Perry (Aus), Stafanie Taylor (WI).

Umpire of the Year: Aleem Dar, Steve Davis, Tony Hill, Simon Taufel.

Spirit of Cricket: India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe.

Infosys will never be the same after Murthy: Thomas Friedman

2010-09-08T21:05:00.000+05:30

NEW DELHI: Thomas Friedman, Commentator and New York Times columnist said that IT bellwether, Infosys will never be the same after chief mentor and chairman Narayana Murthy retires from the company. Murthy said on August 10 that the company co-founded by him will get his suitable successor well in time before his retirement in August 2011.

Friedman said, "Mr Murthy is a truly historic figure in Indian economics and politics. He and Nandan Nilekani and the other founders did a great thing. They showed Indians of this current generation just how much they could bring their talents to the global economic playing field and play not only as equals but as leaders with any other country in the world."

Infosys' nominations committee has started the search for Murthy's successor, as the he would retire in August next year after he turns 65.

"While there is only one Infosys and tens of thousands of people and there are a billion plus Indians, the model and example they set is hugely important and historic. Of course it will never be the same. Microsoft would not be the same after Bill Gates. But I am pretty confident - having spent a lot of time with Infosys - that there is a new generation coming up there that's pretty dynamic and hungry," added Friedman.

The committee has ICICI Bank non-executive chairman K V Kamath, Cornell University professor Jeffrey Lehman and HDFC Standard Life Insurance chief executive officer Deepak M Satwalekar as members.

Murthy declined to comment whether he prefers an Infoscion to step into his shoes.

However, it will most likely be somebody who is very familiar with Infosys Technologies and its culture that will replace N R Narayana Murthy as chairman of the company when he retires in August next year.

"The world is so much flatter than I thought, it is so much flatter. It is flatter and getting flatter and the companies that understand that, that have the people and the insight to play in this increasingly flattening world, they are going to thrive and they will figure out which management can take them there," said Friedman.

Senior Infocians believe that Murthy would not like an outsider to become the chairman of the company.

The choice, some think, is most likely to be made amongst Kris Gopalakrishnan (54), currently the CEO of Infosys, K V Kamath (62) and Deepak M Satwalekar (61), both of who are on the board of the company.

Gopalakrishnan's term as CEO will end only in October 2012. "But that is not an issue, Infosys can find a CEO from within," said one official.

Well, Murthy on August 27 said the company is open to a foreigner becoming his successor. He was responding to a query on how Infosys' shareholders would react to a foreigner as his successor. "What they (shareholders) would look for is a person who can guide the company in a proper direction, who can manage the board well, who has the support of all the people in the company, so I don't think it would matter," he added.

Murthy established Infosys in 1981 with an initial capital of $250 along with six of his co-founders, Nandan Nilekani, Kris Gopalakrishnan, SD Shibulal, K Dinesh, NS Raghavan and A Arora.

The succession plan of Murthy comes at a time, when India's top business house Tatas has begun the search for successor to its chief Ratan Tata, who is slated to retire in December 2012.

With revenues of Rs 6,198 crore at the end of June 30, 2010, Infosys has over 113,000 employees in over 50 offices worldwide.

No exercise, long work hours double heart failure risk

2010-09-08T20:59:00.000+05:30

London, Sep 7 (IANS) Sedentary men who work beyond 45 hours a week double their risk of dying from heart failure. However, men who keep fit or exercise and work long hours face no increased risk of dying from cardiac conditions.

The study examined data for 5,000 men -- aged between 40 and 59 years from 14 different companies -- which included their fitness levels over 30 years, reports the Daily Mail. The men did cycling exercise tests to assess their fitness and provided details on the average number of hours they worked every week, according to the journal Heart.

Around 70 percent of men worked between 41 and 45 hours a week, while around 20 percent worked longer hours. Over the course of the study, there were 587 deaths from heart disease caused by the narrowing and hardening of arteries.

Experts found that men who were unfit were at the greatest risk of dying from heart disease, particularly if they worked long hours.

Those who were both unfit and worked more than 45 hours a week were more than twice as likely to die from the disease than men working fewer than 40 hours.

And men who worked 41 to 45 hours a week had a 59 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease compared to those working under 40 hours.

Physically fit men working longer hours were 45 percent less likely to die of heart disease and 38 percent less likely to die of other causes than those who were unfit.

The findings, by a team from the National Research Centre for the Working Environment in Denmark, held true despite factors likely to influence the results, such as work stress and living conditions.

Japanese Company Invents Water Fueled Car

2010-09-05T19:20:00.000+05:30

The Big Ask: Climate change, "ACT NOW!"

2010-09-05T19:17:00.003+05:30

GREEN TECHNOLOGIES

2010-09-05T19:11:00.001+05:30

SMART LIGHTING

It's no longer a question of whether incandescent bulbs will go, but when. Compact Florescent Lights (CFLs) are the future. CFLs cost more but are vastly cheaper over their life span because it takes eight or more incandescent bulbs to match the life span of a CFL.

DAYLIGHT HARVESTING

The power of natural lighting to meet the lighting requirements of buildings is going to be at the forefront. Intelligent self-sensing controllers will help make optimum use of natural light.

ELECTRIC CARS

Powered by thousands of Li-Ion batteries, the electric car can do 0 to 60 mph in four seconds, outrunning practically every other production car on the planet.

PLUG-IN HYBRIDS

They complement biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, by helping limited supplies of homegrown liquid fuel go further. What's more, since they use the existing grid to power up at night, they'll require little additional infrastructure.

HIGH-TECH RECYCLING

Conveyer belts of mixed recycling materials can be swished through a series of smart sensors and sorters. Magnets pull out steel and iron, blowers tease out bags and paper, while shakers and centrifuges help separate other materials.

GREEN COMPUTING

Computers made from recycled materials with components designed for easy recycling will dominate the IT products landscape. Energy efficiency will be the hallmark of all future devices.

WIND ENERGY

Wind power has become the utility industry's first choice for an environmentally friendly source of power. SOLAR ENERGYPhotovoltaic cells will power solar energy systems. Lowering the cost of converting the sun's photons into electrons will help put solar energy on more roofs.

The Other half: Dying of indifference

2010-09-05T18:22:00.000+05:30

Every eight minutes a woman dies in our country due to pregnancy-related complications. Why aren't we able to devise an accessible healthcare system?

“She gave birth, died. Delhi walked by”. This was the headline of a six column news item on the top of an inside page in Hindustan Times (August 29, 2010). Illustrated with four telling photographs, the story was about a pregnant destitute woman, who lay on the footpath of Delhi's busy and well-frequented Shankar Market, which is adjacent to the iconic Connaught Place. Thousands of people must have passed her, but no one spared a glance at what appeared a bundle of rags covered in a red cloth.

On July 26, this woman gave birth, unaided by anyone. The cries of the newborn infant caught the attention of some of the shopkeepers and one of them, the owner of a garment shop, picked up the baby. The mother apparently refused help and died on that same spot where she had given birth, four days later. The police came and removed her body and took the child, who had been in the care of the Good Samaritan until then, to a foster home.

This is an item that should have been on the front page of all our newspapers because it illustrates two things. One, the increasing indifference of people who live in our metro cities, who are so absorbed with their own lives that they don't even look around to see how other people survive or die. We have lost our ability to see, to feel. No one wants to get involved. There is a fear that you might be asked to commit more of your time, your resources, your emotions than you are willing to do. So our eyes glaze over, we look the other way and we walk away.

And two, it brings home the reality of maternal mortality in this country where even as we boast of becoming an economic super power and the media celebrates the few Indians who are joining the list of the richest in the world, millions of our women are dying in the process of giving birth to a child.

Of course the story of this woman, whose name we do not know, is one extreme. But it should remind us that this is the reality that we have to address in this country.

Countless more

One can just imagine with rains and the floods that have taken place in the last months how many more such nameless women there must be on the streets of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, a part of the thousands who have no shelter, who have to sleep out in the open. All our cities, particularly Delhi but other cities too, are in the midst of a huge construction boom. This is bringing in thousands upon thousands of people from the surrounding areas. Those who have a skill and find regular work in these construction sites are possibly provided temporary shelter by the contractors. But many more do causal work, as and when it is available. The rest of the time they do what they can to earn a few rupees everyday, sometimes send their children out to beg and find whatever place they can to sleep.

In Mumbai, for instance, the fancy new skywalks that have been built connecting railway stations to business hubs have become temporary homes for these homeless people. It is an eerie spectacle to see these bodies laid out in a row, all ages, men, women and children, some sleeping under mosquito nets strung to the side of the skywalk, somehow catching a few hours rest under the relentless yellow light that shines all night. By morning the skywalk reverts to being what it is meant to be, a pedestrian walkway. No one can complain or say anything because there is no solution. But what happens to the children, especially the small babies, what happens to the women, some of them fairly young who become pregnant and have no recourse to any healthcare?

For the other side of this tragic story from a busy street in our national capital is that one woman dies every eight minutes due to complications arising due to pregnancy such as sepsis, haemorrhage or obstructed labour. These deaths could be avoided if there is timely medical intervention. But such help is hard to come by if you live in a remote area or if you are poor woman in city or village. Even if you get some help, it is often too late to make a difference between life and death.

India's current Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) is 254 in 100,000 live births. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), half of all maternal deaths in South Asia occur in five Indian states — Rajasthan, MP, UP, Bihar and Orissa. We have committed ourselves as part of the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to bring the MMR down to 109 by 2015, in just five years. Is that possible?

The central government has launched the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) to specifically address the problem. It provides cash incentives to women who choose institutional delivery in the belief that this will reduce maternal mortality. If we believe official data, then it would appear that many poor women are benefitting from the scheme. For instance, according to one report, two months before the destitute died in Delhi's Shankar Market, another poor woman living in an open park near the Nizamuddin Dargah was lucky enough to be found by an NGO that helped her get the benefits under this scheme. As a result, the baby girl she delivered in the park has a chance to live, she has a birth certificate unlike others like her, and the mother too is receiving healthcare.

Different reality

Sadly, just as the exception in the case of the woman who died on the street does not make the rule, neither does the woman who survived in the park. Cash incentives in this country have usually led to corruption and fudging of data. This is already evident from reports from Bihar and Jharkhand. Also, the media often remains content with reporting official figures without investing in investigating what is actually happening on the ground. The few investigative stories that do appear on healthcare — on websites like indiatogether.org or infochangeindia.org — tell a very different story. They inform us of the struggle poor women face to reach a hospital, how they are either turned away or have to wait as there are no trained personnel around. As a result, regardless of new schemes or incentives, they are either too weak to survive childbirth or die because the promised help never turns up.

Maternal mortality means women are dying of causes not related to diseases or epidemics. Their ability to survive something like childbirth is inextricably linked to poverty, malnutrition and the absence of basic healthcare. We can set ourselves all kinds of targets but a realistic plan to improve the survival chances of millions of Indian women is to ensure that our systems of healthcare actually cater to those at the bottom of the economic pyramid, women like that poor, nameless destitute in Delhi.

Worlds Best Cruise Missile

2010-09-05T18:19:00.000+05:30

India today test-fired the 290-km range BrahMos cruise missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur off Orissa coast as part of trials by the defence forces to fine—tune its capability.

“It was a user’s trial by the defence forces,” said a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) official soon after the missile blasted off from a mobile launcher at about 11.35 AM from ITR’s launch complex-3.

BrahMos-II can potentially be used for surgical strikes, including at terror camps, without causing collateral damage.

The missile can fly at 2.8 times the speed of sound carrying conventional warheads up to 300 kg for a range of 290 km and can effectively engage ground targets from an altitude as low as 10 metres.

Though the missile is capable of being launched from multiple platforms, focus in on the development of its air-launched and the submarine-launched versions.

BrahMos, developed jointly with Russia, is a supersonic cruise missile capable of being launched from submarines, ships, aircraft and land-based Mobile Autonomous Launchers (MAL).

A regiment of the BrahMos-I variant, consisting of 67 missiles, five mobile autonomous launchers on 12x12 Tatra vehicles and two mobile command posts, among other equipment, is already operational in the Army.

Similarly, the Navy has begun inducting the first version of BrahMos missile system in all its frontline war ships since 2005, defence sources said.

The Army, on its part, is set to induct two more regiments of the BrahMos Block-II land-attack cruise missiles (LACM), which have been designed as ‘precision strike weapons’ capable of hitting small targets in cluttered urban environments, they said.

The BrahMos Block-II variant has been developed to take out a specific small target, with a low radar cross-section, in a multi-target environment.

The BrahMos missile is a two-stage vehicle that has a solid propellant booster and a liquid propellant ram-jet system.

The first flight test of the BrahMos was conducted on June 12, 2001 at the ITR at Chandipur in Orissa coast and the last trial of the naval version of BrahMos was carried out in a vertical mode successfully on March 21, 2010 from Indian navy ship INS Ranvir off Orissa coast.