Pollachi News

IPL Auction 2012

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:40:15 PST

Ravindra Jadeja was the most sought after player in the first stage of IPL Player Auction 2012 involving marquee players.

Starting at a base price of USD 100,000, Jadeja was eventually bought for USD 2 million by Chennai Super Kings after winning a tie-breaker against Deccan Chargers.

Indian medium pacer R Vinay Kumar attracted the highest bid, that of USD 1 million, in the second stage of the IPL Player Auction 2012.

Vinay, who was a part of the Kochi Tuskers Kerala team last season, was bought by his home team Royal Bangalore Challengers after entering the auction at the base price of USD 100,000.

Kolkata Knight Riders snapped the swashbuckling New Zealand wicketkeeper batsman Brendon McCullum for USD 900,000. McCullum was a part of the Kolkata franchise for the first three seasons.

Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan will now play for Royal Challengers Bangalore after being bought by them for USD 220,000. Along with Daniel Vettori, RCB, perhaps have the most formidable spin-pair.

Delhi Daredevils secured the services of former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene (base price 300,000) for USD 1.4 million. He joins another new recruit at the franchise this season, along with Kevin Pietersen.
West Indies off-spinner Sunil Narine was another big catch, with Kolkata Knight Riders securing his services for USD 700,000.

RP Singh went to the Mumbai Indians for USD 600,000 after entering the bid at a base price of USD 200,000. Rajasthan Royals bought S Sreesanth for his base price of USD 400,000.

West Indies’ Andre Russell, who entered at a base price of USD 50,000, was eventually grabbed by the Delhi Daredevils for USD 450,000. Australia’s Mitchell Johnson will don the Mumbai Indians blues, after they bought him at his base price of USD 300,000.

All-rounder Azhar Mahmood will be the only player from Pakistan to play in IPL 2012 after Kings XI Punjab bought him for USD 200,000, double his base price.

Some of the big names that failed to find bidders were James Anderson, Ian Bell, Owais Shah, Matt Prior and Graeme Swann from England; Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Mark Boucher from South Africa; and Steven Smith, Xavier Doherty and Peter Siddle from Australia.

Sri Lankan spinners Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath too remained unsold, as did West Indies’ Ravi Rampaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan.

Ireland’s World Cup 2011 hero Kevin O’ Brien too failed to attract bidders.

Among the Indian players who remained unsold were middle-order veteran VVS Laxman and Punjab medium pacer VRV Singh

Tihar's illiteracy rate falls

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:06:26 PST

Illiteracy among prisoners in the Tihar Jail here has fallen from 40 percent in 2010 to 10 percent in 2011, Director General (Prisons) Neeraj Kumar said Tuesday.

Kumar attributed this to the "Padho aur Padhao" initiative undertaken in collaboration with the Department of Prisons and National Literacy Mission Authority of the ministry of human resource development.

The majority of the prisoners were educated below Class 10, he said, pointing to a clear link between education and crime.

"It is a path breaking initiative in correctional work," said Kumar, who heads the country's largest prison.

Malayalam writer Sukumar Azhikode dead

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:50:41 PST

Malayalam writer Sukumar Azhikode died at a private hospital here Tuesday morning, family sources said. He was 85.

After being detected with bone cancer, Azhikode was admitted to hospital Dec 7 last year and his condition deteriorated in the past few days. The end came at 6.33 a.m.

Family sources said his body would be taken to his home here and then moved to the Sahitya Academy hall where it will be kept till 4 p.m.

His body will then be taken to his home town in Azhikode in Kannur district and the funeral will take place Wednesday afternoon at the Payamabalam beach. Azhikode was a bachelor and he retired as pro-vice chancellor of Calicut University in 1986.

A multi-faceted personality, Azhikode won 12 awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy visited ailing Azhikode two days back. Soon after he fell ill, Chandy had announced that the state government would foot the writer's medical bill.

Azhikode's most famous work is "Tatvamasi" (1984, Malayalam), an authoritative book on Indian philosophy, Vedas and Upanishads. This work won him 12 awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Vayalar Award and Rajaji Award.

In January 2007, the writer refused to accept the Padma Shri, stating that such honours are against the constitution. "The constitution says everyone should be treated as equal. Giving such honours at different levels, the state discriminates between people. I see the Padma Shri conferred on me as an opportunity to expose this discrimination," he had said.

Nigeria Bomb Blast : Multiple bomb blasts hit northern Nigerian city

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:28:24 PST

Police in the restive city of Kano in northern Nigeria say at least six people have been killed in a series of bomb attacks, some targeting police stations and local government buildings. The authorities have imposed a curfew across the city.

REUTERS – At least six people were killed in a string of bomb blasts on Friday in Nigeria’s second city Kano and the authorities imposed a curfew across the city, which has been plagued by an insurgency led by the Islamist sect Boko Haram.

Smoke billowed from the police headquarters for the north in Kano after one blast blew out its windows, collapsed its roof and triggered a blaze that firefighters struggled to control.

A Reuters reporter counted three bodies at the scene and three more at the local passport office, which was surrounded by flaming debris.

Some residents ran around shouting and screaming following the attacks. There were at least four other explosions across the city in quick succession.

“I was on the roadside and I just heard a ‘Boom!’. As I came back, I saw the building of the police zonal headquarters crashing down and I ran for my life,” said local man Andrew Samuel.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the apparently coordinated attacks, which prompted the government to announce a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

Kano, like other northern cities in Nigeria, has been plagued by an insurgency led by Islamist sect Boko Haram, blamed for scores of bombings and shootings against mostly government targets that are growing in scale and sophistication.

Witnesses said the bomber of the police headquarters, which covers most of northern Nigeria, pulled up at the building on a motorbike then got off and ran at it holding a bag.

“We tried to stop him but he ran in forcefully with his bag. All of a sudden there was a blast. You can see for yourself the building is damaged,” said a policeman at the scene.

Police said a second blast had hit Kano’s passport office and another hit Zaria Road police station in the city.
“The ground was shaking with the explosion. We saw flames and smoke at the police station,” said witness Umaru Ibrahim.

A source at the State Security Service said another bomber had tried to attack there but was gunned down before he could detonate his bomb.

Police and military roadblocks were erected in the city within minutes.

“We are trying to reach the scenes of these heavy blasts. Many of the roads are blocked now by security agents,” said Abubaker Jibril, head of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for Kano, told Reuters.

A bomb attack on a Catholic church just outside the capital Abuja on Christmas Day, claimed by Boko Haram, killed 37 people and wounded 57.

Last August a suicide bomber blew up the U.N. Nigeria headquarters in Abuja, killing at least 24 people.

AADHAR UIDAI Targets 200 Million Enrolments Soon

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:13:13 PST

The state-run Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) is racing against time to enroll a whopping 200 million people in the next two months to make its Aadhar numbers the world’s largest biometric identification system, its chief said Friday.

“We will be approaching the 200-million mark by March as we enrolling over a million people daily in several states across the country,” UIDAI chairman Nandan N. Nilekani told reporters here.

The authority has already enrolled about 120 million citizens by this week.

To achieve the ambitious target in a record time, the authority has roped in 95,924 operators and about 20,000 agencies.

“Our database will be bigger than that of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US visa entry system, which are currently the largest biometric databases the world over,” UIDAI technology head Srikanth. Nadhamuni said.

According to a study of the database of 84 million conducted by the authority to check fake enrollments, the failure rate was a mere 0.14 percent due to duplication and overlapping.

“Of the total enrollments till date, over 99 percent of them can be uniquely identified by the biometric system and the remaining would be enrolled again by de-duplication and manual inspection,” Nadhamuni said.

The authority is exploring innovative applications for the identification scheme so that a citizen can access his entitlements even after relocating from one place to another either within the state or anywhere in the country.
Playing down the differences between the Planning Commission and the union home ministry over the duplication of collecting biometric data, Nilekani said the issue was before the union cabinet, which would meet soon to resolve them.

The parliamentary standing committee on UIDAI also raised objections to the Aadhaar numbers, fearing that the project would cost the exchequer a fortune and sought a review of the principles on which the project was conceived.

TNPSC New Chairman | aFormer DGP Nataraj appointed TNPSC Chairman

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:31:01 PST

Former DGP R Nataraj was today appointed Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC), which was in the news recently following allegations of irregularities in the recruitment. He replaces R Sellamuthu, appointed by the previous DMK regime, who had resigned recently in the wake of alleged irregularities in recruitment by the TNPSC, the nodal agency for all government departments. The appointment was made by Governor K Rosaiah and Natraj would hold office till he attains the age of 62 years, an official release said.

Nataraj had earlier served in positions including Chennai Police Commissioner and head of state Fire and Rescue Services. Interestingly, he had met Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday to hand over a sum of Rs 10,000 towards the Thane Cyclone relief. He had courted controversy when the Election Commission ordered his transfer as Chennai Police Commissioner when he reportedly praised Jayalalithaa in the then poll-bound Tamil Nadu in 2006. Nataraj had recently lost a legal battle challenging the appointment of Latika Saran, IPS, as the head of the state police during the previous DMK regime. Sellamuthu and members of the panel had faced Vigilance action as sleuths had raided their office and residential premises in connection with allegations of irregularities in recruitment.

Rahman defends 'Hosanna' against objection

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:40:06 PST

A.R. Rahman is caught up in a controversy following objections from a Christian group over the use of the word "Hosanna" in a song from "Ekk Deewana Tha". The Oscar-winning music composer says he didn't intend to hurt anyone's sentiments.

According to reports, Joseph Dias, general secretary of Mumbai-based Christian Secular Forum (CSF), has raised objections on the use of the word "Hosanna" in the song, claiming that the word is a sacred term used in prayers by Christians and Jews.

But Rahman feels there's nothing wrong with its usage.

"As with any film project I work on, I had spent several months researching before composing and writing all the songs for 'Ekk Dewaana Tha' and had consulted friends who are Christian in particular about the use of the word 'Hosanna' in this song," Rahman said in a statement.

The Tamil version of "Hosanna" had featured in "Vinnaithandi Varuvaayaa", which released in 2010.
"The song was a sensation when it was released in the south. It went on to win all possible music awards and was well received by all communities! Therefore I am deeply concerned about the sentiments of all those who appear to be hurt by this song," he added.

Lyricist Javed Akhtar also finds nothing wrong with the song.

"When we write lyrics with great composers such as Rahman, who is one of the most respectable human beings I have had the pleasure of working with, the intention is never to insult any religion, why would we," Akhtar asked.

A spokesperson for Fox Star Studios says a written reply was sent to Dias Friday.

"Our organisation, our music partners Sony Music Entertainment, our producers and all of us are responsible organisations and our view is that more often than not creativity, freedom of speech and expression in art form are stifled by some people who have their own agendas. We have replied to Mr. Jospeh Dias today by letter," the spokesperson said.

The film, directed by Gautham Menon, will hit the screens Feb 17. It stars Pratiek and Amy Jackson.

Election Manifesto : Mulayam promises youth laptops; announces sops for Muslims, farmers

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:38:54 PST

Once opposed to English and computers, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has now realised the need to tap the youth voters in Uttar Pradesh, promising them laptops and tablets in his party’s election manifesto released here Friday.

Apart from promising sops like higher job quotas to Muslims, he also assured release of Muslim youth hauled up for suspected terrorism. He has also assured implementation of recommendations of the Sachchar Committee and Rangnath Misra Commission for the community's benefit.

Mulayam Singh also declared that he would set up a high-level commission of inquiry to go into the alleged "financial irregularities" committed by the Mayawati government.
"All class 12 passed students will be given laptops while those clearing their class 10 will get tablets if our party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh," Mulayam said at a press conference while releasing the manifesto at the party headquarters here.
He not only offered free education in schools, but even professional education -- engineering and medicine -- without any fees to students with annual family income of less than Rs.5 lakh.
“While books would be given free to all students up to class 8, girls will be entitled to completely free education right up the BA level," he added.
Mulayam Singh also kept the Muslim community in his focus.
"We will give higher reservation to Muslims in all government jobs so that it is proportionate to their population," he said, while adding: "There was need to use the same yardstick for the Muslim quota as it was applied in case of Dalits."
He also assued that if his party were to come to power, he would also ensure release of all such youth, who were put behind bars on the mere suspicion of involvement in terrorist acts.
He has also promised free power supply to weavers, who are mostly Muslims.
"We will provide assured power supply for 22 hours in all urban and 20 hours in rural areas of the state," declared the Samajwadi Party chief, while also promising free power for irrigation purposes.”
The Samajwadi Party also proposes to completely do away with acquisition of cultivable land.
"Only non-cultivable land would be acquired for public purposes and that too, by paying the farmer six times of the official circle rate of land," Mulayam Singh said.
"The government will not have any role to play in acquisition of land for development by private players," he added.

The Samajwadi Party also announced soft loans to farmers at an interest rate of 4 percent and a ban on auction of farmers’ land in case of default.
"Besides, we will also provide 50 percent of premium towards crop insurance and also pension to all farmers above the age of 65 years," he added.

Among his other promises were "two saris to all women living below the poverty line, replacement of cycle rickshaws by motorised ones, free treatment to all in government hospitals and free shops to all cobblers".

Facebook, Google move court; Delhi Police issued notice

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:23:45 PST

The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued notice to Delhi Police on a petition filed against summons issued by a trial court to 21 websites, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and YouTube, for allegedly hosting obscene and derogatory content.

Challenging a trial court order that issued summons to the websites, Facebook and Google had Wednesday approached the high court.

Justice Suresh Kait also issued notice to Vinay Rai who had filed the petition in the trial court against the websites alleging they were hosting obscene and derogatory content.

The matter will come up Thursday for further hearing.

The magistrate of the trial court had observed that the material submitted by the complainant contained obscene pictures and derogatory articles pertaining to various Hindu gods, Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ.

The trial court had also directed the central government to take immediate appropriate steps on the objectionable content of the sites and file its report by Jan 13.

Chatwal plans to open 52 hotels in India

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:22:08 PST

US-based hospitality major Hampshire Hotels and Resorts promoted by Indian American entrepreneur Sant Chatwal plans to launch 52 hotels in India in the next five years, under the Dream and Night brands.

About 40 Night Hotels, which is a luxurious lifestyle brand, and 12 Dream Hotels, a boutique hotel targeting the business traveller, would come up in places like Goa, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Jaipur, Udaipur, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

The hotels, brainchild of Chatwal's son Vikram, would be managed by one of the world's largest chain of hotels, the Wyndham Group.

"We would like to give more options for the 70 million Indians that travel within the country. Our aim is to be the largest boutique hotel company in the world in the next 10 years," said Vikram Chatwal.

Sant Chatwal said his company would invest Rs.2,000 crore in these ventures -- many of which would be operated on a franchisee basis.

"We have already signed 18 deals for both Dream and Night hotels. Most of them would be on the franchising and management model," said Sant Chatwal, chairman and chief executive of Hampshire Hotels and Resorts.
Chatwal, one of the most known faces of the Indian diaspora in the US, said he had already invested Rs.1,000 crore in various properties, including building a Dream hotel in Cochin, which has been in operation since 2008.

"For me, India has always been the ultimate hospitality destination. But in comparison to China, which has one million rooms we have only about 120,000," said Chatwal

Chennai Weather - Cyclone Thane lashes India's south coast

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:24:43 PST

CHENNAI (AlertNet) - Lashing rains and gale force winds bore down on India's southeastern coast on Friday, disrupting power supplies and communication lines as Cyclone Thane landfall near the industrial city of Chennai, officials and witnesses said.

Packing wind speeds of up to 125 kmph (77 mph) and accompanied by tidal surges of up to 1.5 meters (5 feet), Thane hit Tamil Nadu state, close to the former French colonial town of Pondicherry on Friday morning, as coastal villagers moved to relief shelters.

"Under the influence of this system, rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places and isolated extremely heavy falls would occur," said the Indian Meteorological Department in its latest bulletin.

"Gale winds speed reaching 120-130 kmph gusting to 145 kmph is likely along and off north Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry coasts during next 3 hours and then decrease gradually."

Witnesses in Chennai and Pondicherry said trees had been toppled and there had been power outages throughout the night and disruptions in phone and Internet services in some areas.

There have been no reports of casualties.

Hundreds of people from fishing communities along north Tamil Nadu's coast, and neighboring Andhra Pradesh state, have moved to schools set up as relief centers until the weather system passes.

India's cyclone season generally lasts from April to December with severe storms often causing dozens of deaths, evacuations of tens of thousands of people from low-lying villages and widespread crop and property damage.

In 1999, a "super-cyclone" battered the coast of the eastern state of Orissa for 30 hours with wind speeds reaching 300 kph (186 mph). It killed 10,000 people.

- Reuters/AlertNet

Eva Ekvall Died | Beauty queen dead at 28

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:40:39 PST

FORMER Miss Venezuela Eva Ekvall has died in the US after fighting breast cancer since last year, at the young age of just 28.

Ekvall, an actress and news anchor, died on Saturday after "demonstrating extraordinary calm and courage in her fight against cancer", Padron said, without confirming whether the body would be sent from Houston to Venezuela.

The former beauty queen, who wrote a book after being diagnosed with breast cancer last year, used her public profile to raise awareness of the disease.

In Venezuela, "we invest a lot of money in looking beautiful and not in health care," the former model said.

Jayalalithaa Expels Close Aide Sasikala from AIADMK

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:38:27 PST

In a surprise move, AIADMK general secretary and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa removed her close associate of nearly two decades V.K. Sasikala and 11 others from the basic membership of the party.

In a statement, Jayalalithaa announced that all party posts had been taken away from Sasikala, M. Natarajan, V. Baskaran, T.T.V. Dinakaran, Diwakar, V.N. Sudhakaran, S. Venkatesh, M. Ramachandran, Ravanan, Mohan, Kulothungan and Rajarajan.

Jayalalithaa also told party members not to have any contact with the dismissed members.

While Jayalalithaa is silent on the reasons for the action, party officials say the action could be due to the interference by Sasikala and her associates in the government administration.

The removal comes ahead of AIADMK’s executive and general council meeting slated for Dec 30 here.

Nokia Lumia 800 Smartphones Price: RS. 29,999 and Specification

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:47:29 PST

Nokia Lumia 800 3.7-inch touch screen Nokia Windows Phone Smart phone Specifications

Status: Available

Price: RS. 29,999.

Network: 3G
Display: 3.7-inch bright AMOLED ClearBlack display.
Screen Resolution: 800 x 480 pixels
Camera: 8 mega-pixel with auto-focus ,Carl Zeiss optics ,and dual LED flash.
HD Video Recording/Playback
Music: FM Radio, Music Player, 3.3mm Jack
Internal Memory: 16GB
Battery: standard 1450 mAh

Talk time: up to 13hrs.
Standby time: up to 335hrs.
OS: Windows Phone 7.5 Mango
Processor: 1.4GHz Scorpion
Social Networking: Support to Social networking and Google Apps
WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML5, RSS feeds
Email & IM: Yes
Connectivity: PC Sync, USB, Wi-Fi, TV out, Bluetooth
Games, Java
Weight: 142gm

Nokia Lumia 800 3.7-inch touchscreen Nokia Windows Phone Smartphone Price in India is Rs. 29,999

Indian opener Virender Sehwag smashed 219 off 149 balls

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:38:43 PST

Indian opener Virender Sehwag smashed the highest score in one-day international cricket on Thursday as he made 219 off 149 balls in the fourth match against the West Indies.

The 33-year-old joined compatriot Sachin Tendulkar as the only batsmen to hit double-centuries in the 50-over format when he passed 200 in the 44th over of India's innings at the Holkar stadium in Indore.

Tendulkar, the world's leading Test and one-day batsman, made 200 not out against South Africa in Gwalior in February 2010.

Sehwag surpassed Tendulkar's score when, on 197, he cut Andre Russell to the point fence for his 23rd boundary.

The Delhi batsman hit 25 boundaries and seven sixes before he was caught in the deep off Kieron Pollard. India piled up 418-5 after electing to bat on an easy pitch.

It was Sehwag's 15th three-figure knock in one-day cricket and the first since making 175 against Bangladesh in the opening match of the World Cup in Dhaka in February this year.

Highest run scorers in a one-day:

1. Virender Sehwag (India) 219 v West Indies Indore 2011
2. Sachin Tendulkar (India) 200* v South Africa Gwalior 2010
3. Charles Coventry (Zimbabwe) 194* v Bangladesh Bulawayo 2009
4. Saeed Anwar (Pakistan) 194 v India Chennai 1997
5. Viv Richards (West Indies) 189* v England Manchester 1984
6. Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) 189 v India Sharjah 2000
7. Gary Kirsten (South Africa) 188* v UAE Rawalpindi 1996
8. Tendulkar 186* v New Zealand Hyderabad 1999
9. Shane Watson (Australia) 185* v Bangladesh Dhaka 2011
10. MS Dhoni (India) 183* v Sri Lanka Jaipur 2005

Rajinikanth's 'Kochadaiyyan' | Rajinikanth Next Movie

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 10:24:58 PST

Daughter to helm Rajinikanth's 'Kochadaiyyan'

Tamil superstar Rajinikanth, who has been out of action due to his illness, will return with "Kochadaiyyan", which will be the directorial debut of his daughter, Soundarya Ashwin Rajinikanth who is excited about it.

"THE ANNOUNCEMENT- Appa's next, Kochadaiyyan. Thrilled, Grateful n excited to be directing my father, THE RAJINIKANTH (thaliavaaaaaaaaa)," Soundarya tweeted.

"Kochadaiyyan" will be a hi-tech 3D film and will be the first with performance capturing technology to be produced in India. James Cameron's mega hit "Avatar" and Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tin Tin" were made with the same technology.

K.S. Ravikumar has written the story, screenplay and dialogue. He will also be the directoral supervisor for "Kochadaiyyan".

The film is being co-produced by Eros International and Mediaone Global Entertainment Limited. The work is progressing at a fast pace and the is scheduled for release in August 2012.

In May, the 60-year-old Rajinikanth developed health problems and was flown to Singapore for treatment. Due to his illness, his "Rana" was stalled and the matinee idol is expected to shoot for K.S. Ravikumar's film after finishing "Kochadaiyyan".

"Rana" is also being produced by his daughter Soundarya's production company Ochre Studios.

India signs umbrella pact with Maldives

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:52:08 PST

Amid China's increased foray in the Indian Ocean island, India Saturday inked an umbrella agreement with the Maldives to intensify cooperation in diverse areas, including trade and counter-terrorism, and unveiled a fresh $100 million line of credit for development of this picturesque atoll nation.

The two sides signed six pacts, including two on combating terrorism and transfer of sentenced persons.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held wide-ranging talks with Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed for over an hour and discussed issues ranging from trade and development to combating terror and climate change.

After the talks, the two leaders inked a "historic" Framework Agreement on Cooperation for Development which promises to open new frontiers of cooperation.

The agreement seeks to accelerate cooperation across an entire spectrum ranging from trade and investment, food security, fisheries development, tourism and transportation to information technology, new and renewable energy, communications and enhancing connectivity by air and sea.

Manmohan Singh also announced a fresh line of credit of $100 million for a host of capacity-building institutions.

To intensify security cooperation in combating terrorism, India also offered to develop a police training academy and decided to fast track the proposal for a passenger-cum-cargo ferry service between Cochin and Male.

They also decided to look at the possibility of developing a port north of Male.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of China's renewed foray to deepen its diplomatic footprints in the strategically located island.

India has taken note of the visit of Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China, to the Maldives in May, but has rejected any rivalry with Beijing.

Ilayaraja's Wife JEEVA Passes Away

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:08:54 PDT

Mrs. Jeeva Ilayaraja, Wife of noted Tamil music director passed away following a heart attack. Souces say that Mrs. Jeeva was 60 years old and was rushed to Apollo Hospital where she was declared dead.

She is survived by Ilayaraja, sons Yuvan Shankar Raja and Karthik Raja and daughter Bhavatharini.

TRAI Raises SMS Limit To 200 SMS Per Day Per SIM

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 07:36:01 PDT

New SMS Limits / Cap for Prepaid and Postpaid Subscribers :

Prepaid : 200 SMS Per Day Per SIM (existing 100 SMS/Day)

Postpaid : 6000 SMS Per Month Per SIM (existing 3000 SMS/Month)

Indian Telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today increased the limit of One hundred SMS (100 SMS) per day per SIM to Two hundred SMS (200 SMS) per day per SIM for prepaid users.

TRAI also doubles the SMS limits/caps for Postpaid mobile service users from 3000 SMS per month to 6000 SMS per month per SIM.

TRAI said that it has received representations from some of the service providers and consumers to increase the limit of 100 SMS per day per SIM. The Authority has considered these representations and decided to increase the limit of one hundred SMS per day per SIM to two hundred SMS per day per SIM.The new SMS cap of 200 SMSes per SIM per day for Prepaid and 6000 SMSes per SIM per month on Postpaid will be effective from today i.e. 1st November 2011.

DAM999 vies for Oscar Qualification

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:07:33 PDT

"DAM999", a film about the 1975 Banqiao dam disaster in China that killed around 250,000 people, will be screened at Laemmle Theatres in Los Angeles Oct 28-Nov 3 for the Academy Qualifying Run.

Produced by BizTV Network and directed by Keralite Sohan Roy, the film is slated for a nationwide 3D release in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and English Nov 25.

The multi-starrer international venture has an ensemble cast staring Rajit Kapur, Joshua Fredric Smith, Linda Arsenio, Jaala Pickering, Ashish Vidyarthi, Vinay Rai, Vimala Raman, Megha Burman, Gary Richardson and Jineet Rath.

"Dam 999" was made for $10 million.

Roy is a naval architect by profession and the film is an emotional thriller inspired by many real-life incidents.
The film is relevant for the state as Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been at loggerheads over the Mullaperiyar Dam built under an agreement signed in 1886 between the then maharaja of Travancore and the British administration.

While the dam is located in Kerala's Idukki district, it serves Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu has demanded that storage capacity of the dam be raised from 136 feet (41.5 m) to 142 feet (43 m) to meet the increasing demand of water for irrigation.

On the other hand, Kerala has been demanding a new dam, but Tamil Nadu is opposed to it and to break the deadlock a committee has been appointed by the Supreme Court find out issues including safety aspects of the Mullaperiyar Dam, raising water level as wells as Kerala's demand for a new dam.

Bihar's Sushil Kumar first to win Rs.5 crore on KBC-5 | Kaun Banega Crorepati 2011

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:36:20 PDT

The fifth season of the game show "Kaun Banega Crorepati" has finally got its jackpot winner -- Sushil Kumar from Bihar has won the mega prize of Rs.5 crore on the game show.

Sushil Kumar, a computer operator and tutor who earns Rs.6,000 per month, went on to win the top prize in the show hosted by megastar Amitabh Bachchan. The episode will be telecast Nov 2.

In the past, the first season of "Kaun Banega Crorepati" saw Harshvardhan Nawathe from Mumbai walking away with Rs.1 crore.

In 2004, Rahat Taslim from Jharkand won Rs.1 crore but quit before the jackpot question for Rs.5 crore.

RBI Hikes Interest Rates By 25 bps

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:35:08 PDT

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continued its duel with high inflation by hiking key interest rates by 25 basis points Tuesday -- the 13th increase since January 2010, setting the stage for auto, housing and commercial loans to become dearer once again.

However, the central bank also revised economic growth projections for the current fiscal downwards to 7.6 percent from the earlier prediction of 8 percent. The RBI, however, maintained the projection of annual inflation and said it would be at 7 percent by March 2012.

The repurchase rate, or the interest the central bank levies on short-term borrowing by commercial banks, has been raised to 8.5 percent from 8.25 percent. Automatically, the reverse repurchase rate, or interest on short-term lending, gets hiked to 7.5 percent from 7.25 percent.

The rate hikes were effected by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Duvvuri Subbarao during the second quarter review of the apex bank's monetary policy for this fiscal, amid high inflation rate that is nudging double-digit levels once again.

"The monetary policy tightening effected so far has helped in containing inflation and anchoring inflation expectations, even as both remain elevated. While the impact of past monetary actions is still unfolding, it is necessary to persist with the anti-inflationary stance," Subbarao said while announcing the measures.

Commercial banks are widely expected to pass on the interest rate burden to customers, which could made consumer and corporate loans dearer, even while raising the interest outgo on existing loans, along with a longer tenure for repayment.

Asha Bhosle Guiness Record Mention

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 15:33:28 PDT

Asha Bhosle, the daughter of Dina Nath Mangeshkar and younger sister of India’s great singer Lata Mangeshkar made her way in the Gunnies book of world record for most single studio recording. Asha recorded 11000 thousand songs is her singer career. The songs she sang are solo, duets and chores. She sang in more than in 20 languages.

Asha sang her first film song Chala Chala Nav Bala for the Marathi movie Majha Bal (1943). The music for the film was composed by Datta Dawjekar. She made her Hindi film debut when she sang the song Saawan Aaya for Hansraj Behl’s Chunariya (1948).

Her evergreen and unforgettable songs are, “Piya to ab to Aaja” of Carvan, “Rat akali hai bujh gaye diye” Jewel Thief, and “Dum maro Dum” Hare Rama Hare Krishna.

Asha was conferred this reward at the Asian award function held at London. The person who research for Ash’s song is Vishwas Nerurkar. Vishwas give the up-to-date information to gunnies words record adm. for the songs of Asha.

On this occasion Asha said that I know that I sung the most number of songs. But I don’t like to publicly announce it. I don’t want to say anything about it. But the love of the fans speaks it all.

TN Election Commission Results 2011 | Tamilnadu Local Body Election Results

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:23:59 PDT

Chennai Mayor Election Result Progress

AIADMK Mayor candidate Duraisamy got 1,78,521 votes and leading, DMK Candidate Balasubramani got 1 lakh 4 thousand votes, congress got 7 thousand votes. Depending upon the update ADMK will acquire Chennai corporation.

Chennai Corporation – 27835 VOTES(ADMK LEADING)
Trichy Corporation – 10132 VOTES (ADMK LEADING)
Vellore Corporation – (ADMK LEADING )
Coimbatore Corporation 16000 VOTES(ADMK LEADING)
Salem Corporation – 6579 VOTES ( ADMK LEADING)
Tirupur Corporation -12734 VOTES( ADMK LEADING)
Madurai Corporation – 2060 VOTES ( ADMK LEADING)
Tuticorin Corporation – 17059 VOTES (ADMK LEADING )
Erode Corporation – 8496- ADMK LEADING -
Tirunelveli Corporation -4515 VOTES( ADMK LEADING )

The Dirty Picture New Trailer | Watch Youtube

noreply@blogger.com (R.Kannan) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 01:58:19 PDT

The Dirty Picture’s second trailer which was suppose to be released with the other movie trailers like Mausam , Ra One and the others has now raised objection by the Censor Board.