News India24

2016-09-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

Indian Freedom Fighters had fought against the British Empire and continued the Indian freedom struggle with their undying spirit and bravery. The valorous Freedom Fighters of India sacrificed their lives to achieve independence for the nation.

The indian freedom fighters faced several tortures, hardships and exploitations to earn national freedom. Independent India was the dream of each and every Indian who lived under the British rule in india. Every individual, during the British rule, fought in some or other way having a common aim of abolishing the British and various other colonial authorities ruling over different parts of India. A century of struggle, revolution, blood shedding, sacrifices and battles followed and finally India became independent on the 15th of August, 1947.

India secured independence from the British rule but the nation lost a large number of men and women who possessed immense bravery and spirit of patriotism. These great people are honoured with the title of Freedom Fighters. The Indian Independence Movement comprised mainly the efforts by Indians to secure political independence from the rule of the British, the Portuguese and the French. This involved a broad range of Indian political organisations, rebellions and philosophies between 1857 and the independence of India on 15th of August, 1947.

There are a large number of women and men who fought daringly for the independence of India. Some of the other major freedom fighters of India include Subash Chandra Bose, Laxmi Bai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bhagat Singh and the famous leader Mahatma Gandhi who brought in the weapon of non-violence to fight against the enemy.

Subash Chandra Bose was famously called Netaji or the leader. He was a freedom fighter and a well-reputed leader on the political circle in pre-independent India. Netaji got elected as Indian National Congress President in 1937 and 1939. Netaji founded the Indian National Army. Due to his anti-British activities and remarks, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was jailed 11 times between the years 1920 to 1941.

Laxmi bai the Rani of Jhansi was the queen of the princely state of Jhansi ruled by the Marathas. She was among the most prominent and leading figures in the 1857 rebellion, and was regarded as a symbol of resistance to in India against the British rule. She is remembered in the history of India as a legend, the firebrand queen who commenced the Indian Revolution against the Colonialism of British.

She died in 1853 without leaving her son.

Bala Gangadhar Tilak a great freedom fighter and a firebrand leader, he is remembered as a famous person in the Indian struggle for independence. In order to fight for the independence of India and to serve his fellow countrymen, he published newspapers and founded schools. He was famous in the country as one of the trios; Lal, Bal and Pal and the other tow of this group were Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal.

Bhagat Singh was another famous freedom fighter of India. His name is linked with sacrifice, bravery, courage and vision. Bhagat Singh became a symbol of heroism and inspiration after he sacrificed his life at the tender age of thirty. With other revolutionaries, he founded the Hindustan Socialist republican Association. In order to caution the British of its misdeeds, he threw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly. By accepting death at the prime of his life, Bhagat Singh became a symbol of courage and sacrifice and secured a place in every Indian heart forever.

Mahatma Gandhi from among the numerous freedom fighters, Mahatma Gandhi was the most famous freedom fighter of India who took the lead and ensured a free India on the 15th of August 1947. He was honoured by the Indians by making him the father of the Nation. Gandhiji was born in a Hindu family at Porbandar in the state of Gujarat in 1869. His entire life was devoted to the principles of non-violence, truth and love. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was regarded as the architect of the freedom of India.

New registration numbers for vehicles post bifurcation of Telangana

2014-05-08T03:48:00.002-07:00

HYDERABAD: Come June, new vehicles will be given a different set of numbers, unlike the current set of alphanumeric numbers. In Telangana, the new registration number will not just be transition from AP to TG, but even district codes are likely to change along with the state code.

Transport department officials said after the formation of a new state, the Union ministry of road transport would issue a notification sanctioning a state code (example: AP, TN, MH). After that, the state government has to work out district codes by amending the Motor Vehicle Rules. As of now, there are 38 codes in 23 districts with Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Krishna, Ranga Reddy and a few other districts getting multiple codes.

"As district codes are given in alphabetical order both in Telangana and the residuary AP, a revised district code has to be worked out. It all depends on the policy of the new governments. As there is talk that in Telangana that reorgainsation of existing 10 districts may take place, these decisions will have a direct impact," a senior transport department official told TOI.

In the registration number, the first two alphabets stand for the state code, then two numerals denote the district code followed by the unique vehicle number. All these issues require detailed discussion involving police as security would be given top priority in the backdrop of misuse of number plates in the past leading to major crimes.

The official said the existing district codes after bifurcation of the state would become meaningless. For instance, the Nizamabad district code is 25, Nalgonda 24, Medak 23 and Mahbubnagar 22. These codes would become irrelevant after the split. Also, the most sought after '9' of Khairatabad might also become history in the changed scenario.

To begin with, the revised registration numbers could be given to newly-registered vehicles, whereas for the nearly one crore old vehicles, it could be done at the time of affixing the high security registration plate (HSRP). The HSRP has to be affixed before December, 2015.

However, there is a hitch. The HSRP plates affixed on vehicles in the last five months cannot be replaced. "Many issues may crop up once the new code comes into force, and the nitty-gritty of these can be resolved by the new governments in the two states and their police" the officials added.

Techie kids aged 12 and 14 develop apps

2013-10-01T12:32:00.001-07:00

Shravan & Sanjay Kumaran of Go Dimensions

Shravan Kumaran and his younger sibling Sanjay Kumaran are perhaps India's youngest entrepreneurs. Shravan, 14, is the president and Sanjay, 12, is the CEO of Go Dimensions, an app development unit that they founded two years ago from the bedroom in their Chennai home.

Neat formal suits and shoes!

They make an adorable pair in their neat formal suits and shoes. And when they start talking, they have crowds hanging onto every word, often having them in splits with their experiences.

'You should have a strong idea'

On September 28, they stood before the 5,500 attendees at an SAP event in Bangalore, and talked about how to ideate and draw up a business plan.

"You should have a strong idea, self-confidence , a good business plan and know about sources of funding," said Sanjay with the confidence that you normally see in much older people. And he then went on to ask: "Have you heard of dad funding?" The crowd roared.

Catch me Cop

In the past two years, the two have developed eleven apps that are available on the Apple App Store and Google's Android Play Store. The apps have received over 35,000 downloads.

Their first — Catch me Cop on the Apple App Store — was released last year. It was a game where a con escapes prison and a hunt is launched. There are chases through a desert, beach and a maze.

Routine

"Abdul Kalam once came to our school and he loved playing Catch me Cop," recalled Sanjay. Shravan is in Class 9 and Sanjay in Class 7 at the Vael's Billabong International High School in Chennai.

Today, a room in their home is a digital lounge filled with Apple Macs, iPads and Samsung Galaxy Notes. The 'after homework hours' are spent on coding and debugging test apps, while nibbling on cheese fritters and lasagna. Recently, they launched an action game called Extreme Impossible 5.

Alphabet Board

"We developed over 150 test apps before releasing the first app: Catch Me Cop... Another app, Alphabet Board, got a rating of 5 on the app store," said Shravan, who Steve Jobs for inspiring him.

Boys credit their father

"Some of the teachers told them they would be more productive at home than school," said their mother and former journalist Jyothi Lakshmi. But they are clear they will attend classes regularly, and also pursue their love for cricket and the keyboard.

The boys credit their father Kumaran Surendran, director with American security software company Symantec, for encouraging them to learn programming. They learnt the programming language QBasic when Shravan was in his fifth grade and Sanjay in his third grade.

Plans and hopes

The two have made presentations at TEDx and IIMBangalore. They hope to get at least 50% of smartphone users in India to use their apps.

Trivia on Child Prodigies

Shravan Kumaran, 14, and younger brother Sanjay, 12, founded an app development unit, Go Dimensions
Their first app was a game, called 'Catch me Cop' where a con escapes prison and a wide hunt is launched for him.

Pranab Mukherjee files nomination for President polls, seeks blessings - heavenly & political

2012-06-28T00:36:00.000-07:00

New Delhi: Dressed in his trademark bandhgala, a smiling Pranab Mukherjee, the UPA's candidate, filed his nomination papers for the post of the 13th President of India today. Seated next to Mr Mukherjee as he signed his nomination papers

were Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi. UPA allies, friends like Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav and senior Congressmen made up the rest of the party.
Mrs Gandhi signed the register, Mr Mukherjee many papers, which were then scrutinised by the returning officer. There are 480 important signatures on his four sets of nomination papers. Notably, Janata Dal(United) chief Sharad Yadav is the first signatory on one set; Mr Yadav's party is an important part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). He was however not present at Mr Mukherjee's nomination photo-op.

After staking claim, Mr Mukherjee sought blessings - heavenly and political. "I only wish at this time that we have the blessings of god and cooperation of all at this juncture," he said.
Mr Mukherjee is supported by parties like the BSP and calculations at present give him a comfortable advantage with about 56 per cent votes in the electoral college. Missing today was key UPA ally Mamata Banerjee, but others like the DMK's TR Baalu and Farooq Abdullah of the National Congress were there. So was Ram Vilas Paswan. Among the 480 MPs and MLAs that have proposed and seconded his nomination are Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, union ministers, chief ministers and Congress Legislature Party leaders. Even the Shiv Sena is supporting his candidacy.
Mr Mukherjee has wider support than mere political alignments would allow as he is expected to be a political president. His candidacy came not without drama - some brinkmanship from Mamata Banerjee which included heart-in-the-mouth moments as Mulayam Singh Yadav seemed to waver. His own party seemed undecided for long whether it could spare a man who wore many hats. In the end, however, Mr Mukherjee did not see a repeat of 2007 - when the Congress had said it could not spare him for Rashtrapati Bhavan - and was declared the UPA's candidate.

He has split not just the NDA, but has neatly sliced through the Left too - the CPM and Forward Bloc is supporting him, the CPI and RSP say they cannot and are abstaining. The UPA's one loss - Mamata Banerjee, who, however, has still not said an emphatic yes to Mr Mukherjee's challenger Purno Sangma either. Trinamool Congress sources say she will remain "equidistant."

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who is Mr Mukherjee's authorised election agent, told NDTV that the former Finance Minister will not file an asset declaration as it is not required under law. He, however, added that it is for Mr Mukherjee to decide if he wants to declare his assets at a later stage. Polling will be held on July 19 and India will have a new President by July 22.

Later this afternoon, Mr Sangma, who is supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the AIADMK and the Biju Janata Dal, will also file his papers in what is expected to be an equal show of strength.

The numbers don't favour the former Lok Sabha Speaker, but he is backed by the BJP, and two powerful Chief Ministers - Tamil Nadu's J Jayalalithaa and her AIADMK, and Odisha's Naveen Patnaik and his Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and he is expected to wear that support on his sleeve when he files his papers this afternoon. High-profile BJP leaders like Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Ms Jayalalithaa and Mr Patnaik and Punjab Chief Minister and Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal are likely to be present.

After today's grand photo opportunities as nomination papers are filed, both candidates will get into campaign mode. For Mr Mukherjee, that will mean consolidating his numbers. He will fly by a private jet arranged by the Congress first to Chennai and then to Bangalore and Hyderabad as he kicks off his campaign.

Mr Sangma is expected to ensure a high decibel contest. He quit his party, the NCP, which as a UPA ally is staunchly supporting Mr Mukherjee.

Surjeet Singh freed from Pak jail but reaches Wagah in handcuffs

2012-06-28T00:29:00.000-07:00

WAGAH: He may have been officially released from jail on Thursday morning but when Indian prisoner Surjeet Singh alighted from the prison van at the Wagah border on the Pakistan side, he was handcuffed and the iron chain was attached to the belt of a Pakistani police officer.

Dressed in a white kurta-pyjama and black turban and carrying two bags, Surjeet, 69, slowly alighted from the prison van with his left hand in handcuffs. The accompanying policemen got down with him but did not open the handcuffs.

He had been released from the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore and reached Wagah about an hour later.

With a smile on his face, Surjeet, who had been in captivity for over 30 years, hugged his Pakistani lawyer who was waiting for him here before being taken away for completion of formalities to enable him to cross into India.

"I will never return to Pakistan again," Surjeet, who has a grey flowing beard, told reporters in Punjabi with his head and finger indicating a firm "no" gesture.

"I was arrested earlier for spying charges. If I return again, the security agencies might suspect that I have come for spying again," he said.

Surjeet said prisoners on both sides of the border should be released by the respective governments.

"I was treated well by prison officials and I am thankful to them," he said.

Surjeet, who spent over 30 years in Pakistani jails after being arrested on charges of spying, walked out of jail to a battery of camera crews waiting to interview him.

He said he was looking forward to meeting his family - waiting excitedly across the border in Attari in the Indian Punjab to welcome him home.

He had completed his life term in 2005.

His family had given up hope of seeing him again, presuming him to be dead after he went missing near the international border in the Ferozepur sector of Punjab in 1982. The return of an Indian prisoner in 2005 rekindled their hopes after the family received a letter from Surjeet.

Big B open to working with Rekha again

2012-04-29T02:59:00.000-07:00

Mumbai: An all time popular on screen couple, Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha might have parted ways over decades but Big B doesn`t rule out the possibility of reuniting with her again on the silver screen.

"If there is a good story and like it then I don`t mind working with her," the megastar said at a function here Saturday.

The two have earlier worked together in films like `Silsila`, `Mr Narwarlal`, `Muqaddar Ka Sikandar` among others.

Rumours about Salman Khan don't bother me: Katrina Kaif

2012-04-29T02:39:00.000-07:00

Actress Katrina Kaif, who is teaming up with Salman Khan again in Ek Tha Tiger, says she is not bothered about the gossip that goes around regarding her and the actor.
Katrina reportedly dated Salman when she started off her career in Bollywood but later separated. And their new movie has got the rumour mills spinning again. She was last seen with the Dabangg star in 2008 movie Yuvraaj.
"When we start working for a movie we go in as professionals. I am here to do my job and if people want to highlight baseless stories then it's up to them. I don't think that these stories will have any affect on my work and the film.
"I am never bothered about such stories. Why should I? I think it's what every actor goes through. When you start working in the industry, people taking about you becomes a part of your life. Why analyse it so much?" Katrina told PTI.
The 27-year-old actress, who first starred alongside Salman in Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya, said she is excited to work with him again.
"I am excited about the film, it's shaping up good. Salman is working with Yash Raj for the first time and it's my second film with them. It's always fun working with Salman, he makes everything very comfortable on the sets," she said.
Katrina is also working in another Yash Raj film opposite Shah Rukh Khan. The untitled film will mark the comeback of veteran director Yash Chopra after a gap of eight years.
"I am enjoying working with Shah Rukh and Yashji. Yashji is a living legend in Indian cinema and working with him has been a learning experience for me. I am very fortunate to have got an oppurtunity to work with him. Working with him is magical.
"And Shah Rukh is a wonderful co-star. I have learnt so much from him," she said.
With hits like Singh Is Kinng, Raajneeti, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Namastey London to her credit, Katrina has always been experimental with her choice of roles.
The actress says she likes exploring herself and does not think there is any definite formula to success.
"I like experimenting with my roles... If you stick to one thing you can easily get bored. Everything in life is a risk, there is no definite way to success.
"Today if I do a role which I have done before there is no guarantee that the audience will like it. The higher the risk the greater will be the outcome. You won't be able to work if you fear taking risk. I just try to give my best," Katrina said.
The actress, who has made heads turn with her seductive act in a recent Slice ad, said, "It is a very different campaign. The new ad is very rustic and ethnic. I think it is the best one. I love the rapport which I share with the brand."

Defence Ministry had looked into Tatra issue 7 years ago

2012-04-29T02:35:00.000-07:00

Seven years before the issue rocked the country, the Defence Ministry had gone into the procurement of Tatra trucks through an intermediary company and not original manufacturers and had closed the matter.

With Army Chief Gen V.K. Singh raking up the issue of alleged bribes in procurement of Tatra trucks, the CBI is probing alleged irregularities in the procurement of trucks.

It is probing into alleged irregularities in assigning of supply from Czech Republic-based Tatra, with which the agreement was originally signed in 1986, to the Tatra Sipox U.K. owned by Ravi Rishi in 1997, showing it as Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and the fully-owned subsidiary of the Czech company.

There were allegations in 2005 that Tatra family of trucks were being procured from an agent and not directly from OEM and that BEML was at best an assembler of such vehicles without absorbing technology.

In the wake of these allegations, the Defence Ministry had gone into the matter and apparently found that there was nothing wrong in procuring components from the intermediary company.

Before coming to this conclusion, the Ministry got a letter from the Indian ambassador in Slovakia about the ownership of the Tatra Sipox U.K. company.

According to official documents accessed by PTI after a recent review of the issue, the Ambassador had reported in 2005 that Tatra Sipox company was set up to resolve coordination issues arising out of division of the country Czechoslovakia into Czech and Slovak republics resulting in the division of the company producing these trucks.

Giving details of the ownership pattern of the company, the Ambassador’s report concluded that ”... as the vehicles were being supplied by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) through its own subsidiary, there appeared to be no other channels to purchase Tatra vehicles.”

The Ministry had sought clarification and received a reply from Tatra Sipox Director Josef Majsky also who said Tatra Sipox UK was authorised to represent the parent company and was responsible for sale of trucks to India and a number of other countries including Israel, Indonesia and Taiwan.

The Ministry report said there was no option but to buy components from Tatra Sipox UK as the vehicles in question can be produced only if components manufactured by Tatra of Czech Republic and Tatra Sipox of Slovak Republic are both available for making the complete vehicle.

The Department of Defence Production said it concluded that the issue regarding BEML working through an agent and not through the OEM was examined.

“It was concluded that there is no option but to buy components from Tatra Sipox (UK) as the vehicles in question can be produced only if components produced by Tatra AS of the Czech Republic and Tatra Sipox/Tanax of the Slovak Republic are both available for the manufacture of the complete vehicle,” the Department said.

The report stated that in view of the “peculiar situation” created as a result of the division of the original company, dealing with the OEM would entail dealing with not one but two OEMs in two countries not having best of relationships.”

It said the incorporation of Tatra Sipox (UK) Limited, it appears, was essentially to resolve the coordination issues arising out of the division and was authorised by the OEMs to sell to India components required for production of trucks by BEML.

The Ministry subsequently “closed” the issue, the documents suggest.

Chen Guangcheng's escape sparks China round-up

2012-04-29T02:33:00.000-07:00

Chinese authorities have begun to round up relatives and associates of blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who fled from house arrest last week, reports say.

Several people involved in Mr Chen's escape have been detained or have disappeared in recent days, and fellow activist Hu Jia is being questioned.
Mr Chen is believed to be sheltering at the US embassy in Beijing.
The US and international rights groups have frequently expressed alarm at the treatment of Mr Chen and his family.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has demanded his release in the past, is due in China this week for a previously arranged meeting which is now likely to be overshadowed by Mr Chen's case.
The US government has not so far commented publicly on the whereabouts of Mr Chen.
Analysts say the issue will be highly sensitive for both sides, and will not be easy to resolve.
If Mr Chen is in the embassy, his case will raise memories of an incident in 1989 when another prominent activist, Fang Lizhi, fled to the US mission in Beijing.
He remained there for more than a year while the two sides attempted to broker a deal.
'Shameful saga' Mr Chen was placed under house arrest in 2010 after spending more than four years in jail for disrupting traffic and damaging property.
He had exposed how local authorities in Linyi, Shandong province, forced thousands of women to have abortions or be sterilised as part of China's one-child policy.

His colleagues said last Sunday's escape had taken months to plan, and was carried out with the help of a network of friends and activists.

He scaled the wall that the authorities had built around his house, and was driven hundreds of miles to Beijing, where activists say he stayed in safe-houses before fleeing to the embassy.
His wife and six-year-old daughter remain under house arrest, but several of his family members have been detained and others are being sought by the authorities.
One of Mr Chen's friends, He Peirong - who wrote on her microblog that she had driven him to Beijing - is believed to have been detained in the city of Nanjing.
"I was actually talking to her and the last words she said were 'the PSB [Public Security Bureau] has arrived,'" said Bob Fu, of the US-based ChinaAid pressure group.
Her microblog was later deleted, and all searches on popular microblogging sites for Mr Chen's name and other related terms were being blocked by the censors.
On Saturday, the authorities detained Hu Jia, who had earlier told the BBC how he had met Mr Chen since his escape.
Mr Hu's wife, Zeng Jinyan, said late on Saturday that her husband's detention had been extended for a further 24 hours.
"I asked where Hu Jia would sleep, they said on a chair," she said.
The fate of other associates of Mr Chen also remains unclear, with reports claiming several have disappeared.
The treatment of Mr Chen and his family by local authorities has long been controversial.
Amnesty International regards him as a "prisoner of conscience" and has called on the authorities to end the "shameful saga" of his detention.

Petitions filed in Pak court against Gilani holding PM office

2012-04-29T02:24:00.000-07:00

Two petitions have been filed in a Pakistani court asking it to restrain Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani from holding office in the w

ake of his conviction for contempt by the Supreme Court.
The petitions filed in the Lahore High Court yesterday asked it to direct Gilani to explain under which law he was claiming to be the chief executive of the country after his conviction.
The petitions were filed by Shahid Naseem Gondal and Rana Ilamuddin Ghazi, who are known for approaching courts on such issues.
The petitioners' lawyer AK Dogar, also the counsel for Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, said the apex court had convicted and sentenced Gilani for failing to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
After the conviction, Gilani could not hold the office of Prime Minister, Dogar contended.
He claimed Gilani had ceased to hold office and that under Article 199(1b) of the Constitution, the Premier is liable to show under what authority he claimed to hold his office.
Dogar asked the high court to restrain Gilani from holding office and "misusing" facilities connected with it.
In a separate development, Gilani has been served with a legal notice by Azhar Siddique, a lawyer of the Supreme Court who contended that his continuation in office is a violation of the Constitution.
The notice said Gilani must leave office, failing which Siddique will approach the courts to get the office vacated.
Siddique said he had sent copies of the notice to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Chief Election Commissioner, Attorney General and the Registrar of the Supreme Court.
Following his conviction, Gilani has said he can be disqualified only by the Speaker of the National Assembly.

Maharashtra, Karnataka topped cyber crime list in 2010

2012-04-29T02:11:00.000-07:00

Maharashtra and Karnataka topped the list of cyber crimes registered in 2010 with 246 cases and 176 cases respectively, Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal said.
"With the increase in the proliferation of Information Technology and related services, there is a rise in number of cyber crimes and cyber security incidents. The trend in increase in cyber incidents is similar to that worldwide," Sibal had said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Maharashtra recorded the highest number of cyber crime cases at 104 under IPC (Indian Penal Code) in 2010 and had registered 142 cases under the IT Act in the same year, putting the combined cybercrime count at 246.

Similarly, under the IT Act, Karnataka in 2010 had the highest incidents of 153 cyber crime cases while it had 23 cases in the same year registered under IPC - taking its total tally to 176 cases.

Across the country, a total 966 cases of cyber crime reported under Information Technology Act, 2000 in 2010, Sibal said.

As per data maintained by National Crime Records Bureau, a total of 288, 420 and 966 cyber crime cases were registered under the Information Technology Act, 2000 during 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively, thereby showing an increasing trend, he added.
Under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a total of 176, 276 and 356 cyber crimes were reported during 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively.

The minister said the government has put in place a monitoring mechanism to detect such cases.

"The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) scans the Indian cyber space to detect traces of untoward incidents that poses a threat to the cyber space purely from technical point of view," he said.

CERT-In provides mechanisms to detect cyber frauds and cyber crimes like phishing, spamming, pharming and detection of 'BOTS' which are used in cyber frauds and cyber crimes.

CERT-In and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) are involved in providing basic and advanced training to law enforcement agencies, forensics labs and judiciary on the procedures on the methodology of collecting, analysing and presenting digital evidence, he said.

"Cyber forensic training lab has been set up at Training Academy of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to impart basic and advanced training in cyber forensics and investigation of cyber crimes to police officers associated with CBI," Sibal said.
In addition, the government has also set up such labs in Kerala, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir, Sibal said.

Sukma collector in good health, say mediators after meeting Maoists

2012-04-29T02:07:00.002-07:00

Abducted Sukma District Collector Alex Paul Menon is in "good health", said the two mediators who briefed Maoists on their talks with the Chhattisgarh government on their demands for release of the IAS officer.
B D Sharma, a former IAS officer, and Hyderabad-based academic Professor G Hargopal, who have held two rounds of talks on behalf of the Maoists, returned to Chintanlar today after visiting Tadmetla forests, where they had gone yesterday to update Maoists about the deliberations with the government.
The two mediators told reporters that they will now meet the government-appointed interlocutors Nirmala Buch and S K Mishra and give them details of their talks with the Maoists.
They declined to share with the media details of their discussions with the rebels, who have put forward three demands for the release of the 32-year-old 2006-batch IAS officer.
Sharma and Hargopal said they did not meet Menon, who was abducted on April 21 from Majhipara village in Raipur district, but they were told by Naxal leaders that he was in "good health". He was abducted when he was holding a meeting as part of the government's Special Gram Suraj Abhiyan.
A CPI leader had last week delivered medicines for the officer, who is asthmatic.
The Maoist-appointed mediators reached Chintanlar, about 450 kms from the state capital, this morning from Tadmetla, a Naxal stronghold in Sukma district.
Their arrival in Raipur was delayed due to bad weather in Chintanlar, government officials said.
No breakthrough has been achieved after two rounds of talks between the mediators appointed by the Maoists and the state government.
To free the bureaucrat, Maoists have demanded release of 17 of their jailed leaders, halt to the anti-Maoist offensive "Operation Green Hunt" and sending security forces in Bastar to the barracks.

Antony meets Karunanidhi on Prez poll; to report to Sonia

2012-04-29T02:06:00.000-07:00

Congress leader and Defence Minister A K Antony today met DMK chief M Karunanidhi as part of consultation process among UPA allies on the Presidential election to arrive at a consensus leader to succeed incumbent Pratibha Patil, who is retiring on July 25.
After more than an hour-long meeting, Antony told reporters that he would convey the DMK leader's views on the issue to Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
"It was a very, very fruitful meeting. I will report to the Congress President whatever he said", he told reporters, refusing to disclose details about his discussion.
Observing that Gandhi had asked him to meet the DMK chief to discuss about the "present political situation", he said "What we discussed, I will convey to the Congress President".
He said Karunanidhi is one of the senior most leaders in the country and "we always value his advice".
DMK Parliamentary party leader T R Baalu and Karunanidhi's daughter and party MP Kanimozhi were also present.
Antony's meeting with Karunanidhi comes close on the heels of Agriculture Minister and NCP leader Sharad Pawar's consultation with the Congress President a few days ago. Pawar was understood to have urged the Congress chief on the need for a consensus on the choice.

Norway killer used computer wargames to plan attack

2012-04-19T04:54:00.000-07:00

Norwegian anti-Islamic fanatic Anders Behring Breivik told a court on Thursday that he used computer games to prepare for his attacks, once spending an entire year isolated from society playing a game for hours on end.
Breivik, on trial for massacring 77 people last July, said he spent "lots of time" playing Modern Warfare, a first-person shooting game, and also took an entire year off to play World of Warcraft, a multi-player role-playing game with more than 10 million subscribers.
"I don't really like those games but it is good if you want to simulate for training purposes," Breivik said as he discussed Modern Warfare, smiling when asked about the aiming system.
Breivik killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo on July 22 and then killed 69, mostly teenagers, at a Labour Party summer youth camp on Utoeya island, in a gun massacre.
Although he pleaded not guilty, he admitted the killings, saying his victims were traitors who supported immigration and multiculturalism, threatening Norwegian ethnic purity.
Breivik, who once played Modern Warfare 17-hours straight on New Year's Eve 2010/2011, said he used such games to simulate the police response and the best escape strategy.
"I calculated the likelihood of surviving unharmed at less than 5 percent," he told the court in his third day of testimony, referring to the bomb attack on government headquarters, when he expected to be swarmed by police officers.
"I trained myself to get out of such a situation. That is what I was simulating."
When he acquired the weapons for the actual attacks, he turned to Norse mythology in naming them.
"The rifle I called Gungnir, which is the name of the magical spear of Odin, which returns after you have thrown it. And the Glock I called Mjoelnir...It is the warrior god Thor's Hammer," he said, adding that he marked the weapons with their names in runes.
While playing computer games, Breivik said, he withdrew from his friends, saying personal relationships were not a priority.
In 2006, he moved in with his mother to save money and rarely interrupted his game of World of Warcraft, even though his mother became anxious.
"Of course I couldn't tell her I was going to take a sabbatical because I am going to blow myself up in five years' time."
"During that year I played perhaps 16 hours a day. It was a lot. Only playing for an entire year -- playing and sleeping, playing and sleeping....It was a dream I had, and I wanted to do this."
Thomas Hylland Eriksen, a professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo, said such computer games could put Breivik in a state of delusion.
"When he went out on Utoeya, possibly at some level still believing he was still paying a computer game and shooting people in real life," Eriksen told Reuters away from the court proceedings.
"He does not seem to be very successful at distinguishing between the virtual reality of world of Warcraft and other computer games and reality," he said.
Breivik's trial, set to last 10 weeks, turns on the question of his sanity and thus whether he can be jailed. He has said that an insanity ruling would be "worse than death".
One court-appointed team of psychiatrists concluded he was psychotic, while a second team found him to be of sound mind.
On Wednesday he said he should either be executed or acquitted, calling the prospect of a prison sentence "pathetic".
Breivik has insisted he is a commander in a resistance movement but has acknowledged some of his claims were an exaggeration. He spent much of Wednesday defending the claim that it existed at all.
In court, he has Breivik struggled to defend his claim of being ordained into a militant-nationalist group called the Knights Templar in London in 2002 after preliminary contact in 2001, refusing to answer over 100 questions on the topic.

Security tightened for PM's visit in Assam

2012-04-19T04:45:00.000-07:00

Security has been tightened for in Assam in view of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh day-long visit tomorrow with the ULFA's anti-talk faction calling a 12-hour Assam bandh in protest. Police and para-military personnel have been posted on all major

thoroughfares, vital installations and patrolling has been intensified throughout the state, official sources said.
A security alert has been sounded throughout the state with police and security forces kept on high alert to thwart any subversive attempt by the ULFA and all forces engaged in counter-insurgency operations are meeting regularly to coordinate operations and share intelligence.
According to intelligence sources, there are reports that the ULFA cadre have been directed to target oil installations, pipelines, railway tracks, security personnel, police stations and outposts along with other vital installations.
The anti-talk ULFA faction has called for a 12-hour state-wide beginning at 0500 hrs tomorrow to protest against Singh's visit.
The Prime Minister, who represents Assam in the Rajya Sabha, is scheduled to arrive here tomorrow at 1050 hrs at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport from where he would fly in a helicopter and land at the Nehru Stadium, Kamrup (Metro) Deputy Commissioner A Agnihotri told reporters here today.
The Prime Minister would immediately leave for B Barooah Cancer Institute where he is scheduled to inaugurate two new facilities for cancer patients.
Singh would subsequently leave for Dispur Secretariat Ground where he would address the gathering on the occasion of the Assam Legislative Assembly Platinum Jubilee Celebrations.
The Prime Minister will leave for Raj Bhavan for lunch and a meeting with the state cabinet.
The Prime Minister would return to the Nehru Stadium from where he would leave for the airport by a chopper and subsequently depart for New Delhi by 1700 hrs, Agnihotri said.
The district administration has made elaborate security arrangements at all the venues of the Prime Minister's programmes with traffic being either diverted or controlled along the roads through which the convoy will pass, Guwahati Senior Superintendent of Police Apurba Jibon Baruah said.
Public have been also directed to avoid parking vehicles on certain roads and localities.
The Northeast Frontier Railway has cancelled 11 trains and rescheduled four others following security threat in Assam till April 20.
A powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED), weighing more than three kgs, was recovered today from railway tracks in lower Assam's Chirang district.

CBI searches BEML chairman's office, residence

2012-04-19T04:41:00.000-07:00

Bangalore: The CBI Thursday searched the office and residence of V.R.S. Natarajan, chairman and managing director of the state-run Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. (BEML), here for evidence related to a tender process for hiring a consultancy firm.

"The searches began around 8 a.m. simultaneously and our officers were going through voluminous documents and files pertaining to hiring Astral Consulting Ltd., as irregularities were found in the tendering process," a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) spokesperson told IANS from New Delhi.

A six-member CBI team also started interrogating Natarajan at his residence after seizing a number of documents from his office and residence as part of the investigation into the case, registered Wednesday.

In the CBI case, Natarajan has been made number one accused and an unnamed director of Astral as the second accused.

"The office of the consultancy firm at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu is also being searched for documents pertaining to the tender. As the case is under investigation, we will not be able to share details at this stage with the media," the spokesperson said.

A BEML official clarified that the search by the CBI had no connection with the controversial Tatra-truck deal, in which Army chief General V.K. Singh alleged March 26 that a retired lieutenant-general (Tejinder Singh) offered him a bribe of Rs.14 crore to clear the purchase of 600 'substandard' all-terrain Czech vehicles.

"The case is connected with BEML hiring Astral for implementing a resource planning project and not related to the Tatra truck deal," the spokesperson said.

3 killed, 17 hurt as commuters fall off crowded Mumbai train

2012-04-19T04:17:00.002-07:00

Three commuters were killed and 17 injured after they fell from overcrowded local train during the morning rush hour in the continuing chaos on the second day on Mumbai’s suburban railway on Thursday. Suburban services have been seriously affected since Wednesday morning following twin fires at signal cabins near Kurla.
Union Railway Minister Mukul Roy has announced a compensation of Rs2 lakh for families of the deceased.
Railway officials said that according to prima facie information on Thursday around 9am, some protruding object from a speeding fast Badlapur local heading towards Mumbai CST hit a signal post near Nahur station. This lead to the signal leaning towards the passing train, brushing commuters on the footboard of the crowded train.
"Seventeen commuters fell, one after the other. While two of them, who were flung away due to the impact, died on the spot, the third one died later. The fast train went and halted at Vikhroli, Ghatkopar and Dadar, ahead where passengers were rendered first-aid," a CR spokesperson said.
Of the injured victims, 12 are at Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, 2 are being shifted to Fortis, 6 at Agarwal Hospital in Mulund and 2 at Kalyan railway hospital and one to Thane.
Meanwhile, work on the burnt signalling panels will be complete by tomorrow and services are expected to be normalised by Friday afternoon.

Agni-V launch: India demonstrates ICBM capability; China reacts cautiously, says India not rival

2012-04-19T04:15:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday demonstrated the capability of launching a nuclear-tipped inter-continental ballistic missile ( ICBM) as Agni-V hit a target over 5,000 km away.

With this, India has joined an elite group of nations which have mastered such technology.

The 5,000 km-range missile gives India the capability to hit targets in China, including Beijing, eastern Europe, east Africa and the Australian coast.

"This launch has given a message to the entire world that India has the capability to design, develop, build and manufacture missiles of this class, and we are today, a missile power," V K Saraswat, director general, Defence Research and Development Organisation, said.

He said the missile launch was a major milestone in the preparedness of strategic defence of the country.

The Agni-V is 17.5m tall, solid-fuelled, three-stage missile with a launch weight of 50 tons, which includes a 1.5 tonne warhead.

This was the first launch of the missile after the country's defence scientists began work on it three years ago.

"The first flight itself was demonstrated in user deliverable mode," Avinash Chander, project director of Agni-V, said, adding that it was indeed a rare achievement to launch the missile in such a short duration.

The missile was launched at 8:07 hours on Thursday from a mobile launcher at the Wheeler Island off Orissa coast. It reached the apex at 600 kms and then re-entered the atmosphere to strike a target over 5000 km away from the launch site.

The launch was monitored by three ships deployed in the Indian Ocean and radars were also there tracking the complete trajectory of the missile.

The personnel on the ships spotted a fireball as the missile re-entered the atmosphere on its way to hit the target.

"The sleek missile, within a few seconds of its blast-off from the Island launch pad, roared majestically into the sky leaving behind its trajectory a trail of thin orange and white smoke before disappearing," a defence official at the launch site said

Saraswat said the missile had been achieved despite the stringent export control regimes, which developed countries have imposed on India.

"This shows that self-reliance in the area of this technology is now becoming a reality," he said.

Saraswat said the DRDO would conduct two more validation tests before starting the production of this missile.

The DRDO chief said that barring some electronic components, the Agni V was a completely indigenous product.

"More than 80 per cent of the missile is indigenous, except for the electronic components which we import. Everything has been designed, developed and produced in our industry and our laboratories," he said.

On the road ahead, Saraswat said the DRDO would now develop multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles for anti-satellite system.

"Today, we have done a great event for the country. All the team work that has gone in for the last three years has given a fruitful result," Tessy Thomas, chief scientist, project Agni-V, said.

A senior DRDO scientist said that the missile would be ready for induction into the armed forces by 2014.

"The 5000-plus kilometre range fulfils our strategic needs and moreover we are developing a deterrent capability," former DRDO chief M Natarajan said.

"We have to develop a missile to meet our strategic needs and identified threat perceptions and this missile will answers all those," he said.

China reacts cautiously, says India not rival

BEIJING/NEW DELHI: Reacting cautiously to India's test of Agni-V missile, China on Thursday said the two countries are not rivals and enjoy "sound" relations though the sources in the Chinese establishment feel that the launch can give rise to another round of arms race in the region.

"China has taken note of reports on India's missile launch. The two countries have sound relationship. "During the (recently held) BRICS meeting (in Delhi) the leadership had consensus to take the relationship further and to push forward bilateral strategic cooperative partnership," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a media briefing in Beijing when asked about the launch.

In Delhi, the diplomatic sources in the Chinese embassy said the "Agni-V launch can give rise to another round of arms race in this part of the world."

They were also critical of the media commentary on the successful launch of the nuclear capable 5000 km-range Agni-V missile, saying it sounded provocative. Asked whether China was concerned as most of the country would come under the Agni's range, Liu said in Beijing that "both the countries are emerging powers. We are not rivals. We are cooperative partners. We should cherish the hard earned momentum of cooperation."

To another question whether it would affect the regional stability, he said "we hope Asian countries can contribute to peace and stability."

However, China's state-run Global Times came out with a strong editorial criticising the launch, claiming that the Chinese nuclear power is more "stronger and reliable" and New Delhi has "no chance" to catch up.

"India should not overestimate its strength. Even if it has missiles that could reach most parts of China, that does not mean it will gain anything from being arrogant during disputes with China," Global Times, the influential tabloid of China's ruling Communist Party, said in its editorial.

Known for its scathing attacks on countries that have disputes with China, the daily said "India should be clear that China's nuclear power is stronger and more reliable."

"For the foreseeable future, India would stand no chance," it said in the editorial titled "India being swept away by military delusion." "India should also not overstate the value of its Western allies and the profits it could gain from participating in a containment of China. If it equates long-range strategic missiles with deterrence of China, and stirs up further hostility, it could be sorely mistaken," it said. The paper noted that India has moved rapidly in developing missile technology.

"It successfully launched the Agni IV with a range of 3,500 km last year. Indian public opinion has long seen China as its reference point for military development. "It seems India's path for boosting its military strength has not met too many obstacles. India is still poor and lags behind in infrastructure construction, but its society is highly supportive of developing nuclear power and the West chooses to overlook India's disregard of nuclear and missile control treaties," the editorial charged.

The West remains "silent on the fact that India's military spending increased by 17 per cent in 2012 and the country has again become the largest weapons importer in the world," it said, without referring to China's own whopping defence budget of USD 106 billion listed for this year.

India scales down tsunami warning, authorities on alert

2012-04-11T06:06:00.000-07:00

New Delhi: Hours after a tsunami warning was issued on Wednesday following the 8.6-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia, India withdrew the warning, saying that there was no cause of panic.
Home Secretary R K Singh said, "Apart from Nicobar, the tsunami warning has been reduced to tsunami alert."
Referring to the second earthquake in Indonesia, which measured 8.2 on the richter scale, Singh said, "Let us see what waves are generated by the second quake."

According to Singh, the authorities have been asked for evacuation in South Andaman. Meanwhile, reports suggested that some people had already been evacuated from South Andaman as a precautionary measure.
Reports also said that Andaman and Nicobar Islands could see waves up to 3.9 metres high following the quakes.
Though the tsunami warning has been scaled down, the government has sounded high alert in six districts of Odisha and emergency preparations are underway.
Meanwhile, according to Indian Air Force (IAF) sources, two planes with 80 NDRF personnel and five tones of relief material have been sent to Port Blair.
In Andhra Pradesh, the government has asked the administration in all the coastal districts to remain on alert and shift people to safer areas.
Fishermen have also been asked to stay away from the sea.
Strong tremors were felt in different cities of the country on Wednesday afternoon. People in multi-storeyed apartments and those working in high rise buildings rushed out in panic after they felt the tremors.
Tremors were felt in Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Patna, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Cuttack, Bhubaneshwar and several other cities on the eastern coast of India.

Indonesia earthquake: No damage to ocean basin, India withdraws tsunami warning

2012-04-11T06:02:00.000-07:00

India has withdrawn the tsunami warning it issued after the first massive earthquake hit waters off Indonesia, which triggered off at least two more powerful aftershocks.
Parts of Indonesia's Sumatra island still remain in danger from a tsunami following the series of powerful earthquakes off the Indonesian coast on Wednesday, but damage across the Indian Ocean basin is not expected, an official with the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
''So far all we've seen is on the order of about a metre or three feet or so, peak-to-peak,'' said Barry Hirshorn, a geophysicist at center, referring to waves measured by gauges mounted on buoys.

''And we've observed that on our closest gauge to the actual epicenter. The gauge is just off northern shore of Sumatra,'' Hirshorn said. ''We don't expect damage basin-wide, but there is danger nearby the source. So the tsunami danger is to the coastlines closest to the earthquake, which would be northern Sumatra.
At least two major quakes with a magnitude exceeding 8.0 hit off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province on Wednesday, the US Geological Survery said, and a tsunami warning remained in effect.

The first quake measured 8.6 at a depth of 14.2 miles, according to the United States Geological Survey. The second quake was measured at 8.2 at a depth of 10.2 miles.
Indonesia issued a fresh tsunami warning after the first aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 shook its western coast.
The first 8.6-magnitude quake off Aceh province, hours earlier, spawned a wave around 30 inches (80 centimetres) high but caused no serious damage.
The US Geological Survey said the strong temblor that followed was centered 10 miles (16 kilometres) beneath the ocean around 380 miles (615 kilometres) from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
Harjadi, a local official who goes by only one name, said the new tsunami warning was for residents living along the western coast of the country.
It included Sumatra island and the Mentawai islands.

A record made for centuries, Sachin scores his hundredth ton

2012-03-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

Sachin Tendulkar on Friday became the first batsman in history to score 100 international centuries, adding another milestone in his record-breaking career. Tendulkar, who turns 39 next month, achieved the feat when he recorded his 49th one-day century in the Asia cup match against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka. He has 51 Test hundreds.

The Mumbai batsman, who has compiled more Test and one-day runs than anyone in history, reached the record with a single, marking the moment with a modest glance to the sky while pointing to the Indian flag on his helmet.
Tendulkar is the most capped player in the history of the game with 188 Test and 462 one-day appearances since making his debut against Pakistan in Karachi in November, 1989.
Millions of fans in India and across the cricketing world endured an anxious year-long wait before Tendulkar finally reached the landmark in the four-nation tournament, the symbol of one-day supremacy in the continent.
After 33 innings and over a year, Tendulkar finally got to the elusive ton. It took him 138 deliveries, one of the most arduos one-day efforts by the 38-year-old right-hander, to get to the 100 that had become as much a talking point as the team's fortunes in the past 365 days.
The bowler against whom it came about was Shakib Al Hasan and the moment was the fourth delievry of the 43rd over of Indian innings.
Tendulkar clipped it down to square leg and jogged the single, gave a long hard stare to his bat after taking off his helmet before looking heavenward in his signature style. What was missing was emotion.
The diminutive batsman, the most successful batsman in internationla cricket right now, kept it subdued. He shook hands with Suresh Raina, his partner at the other end, and raised his bat to acknowledge the cheering fans with a straight face giving little insight into what was going on his mind amid the drama.
But the teammates in the dressing room were as expressive as they could be as they all got up from their seats to applaud the veteran as he added another feather to an already overcrowded cap.
However, reaching the milestone was no easy task for the player who often makes batting look effortless.
After getting what several former cricketers called a monkey off his back, Tendulkar was dismissed by Mashrafe Mortaza off the second last delivery of the 47th over. The 114-run knock was incidentally Tendulkar's maiden century against Bangladesh.
Upon his dismissal, the Bangladeshi players expectedly gave him a round of applause as he walked back to pavillion with fans cheering him on. His Indian teammates and coach Duncan Fletcher received him at the boundary lauding the iconic player.
But what would be remembered is the wait that Tendulkar endured to get to the milestone. It all began with the 99th ton that he got against South Africa in a World Cup match on March 12 last year.
For a man, who is considered nothing less than god of cricket in India, getting to 100th was considered nothing more than a stroll in the park.
He decided to skip the tour of West Indies that followed and the subsequent trip to England proved a disaster not just for him but for the entire team as it failed to notch a single win in any format of the game.
He got close to scoring the hundred a few times in the home Test series against the West Indies but missed out. The action shifted to Australia after that and though he seemed to be in good form, the Aussies kept their promise of not letting him the reach the milestone against them at least.
He was eventually selected for the ODI tri-series, his first one-day assignment after the World Cup, but once again the hundred eluded him.
Tendulkar then made himself available for the Asia Cup and as destiny would have it, the elusive ton came in the familiar sub-continental environs.

Rail Budget today: Safety cess on higher class fares likely

2012-03-13T21:14:00.000-07:00

"Rail Budget is going to be like whatever it should be," railway minister Dinesh Trivedi said in New Delhi while giving finishing touches to the documents of budget 2012-13. Trivedi will present his maiden Rail Budget in the Lok Sabha after the Question Hour on Wednesday. Asked about the possibility of fare hike, which has not been touched since 2003, he declined to comment saying, "no preview."
There are speculations about the possibility of safety cess being imposed on train fares to mop up Rs 5,000 crore as recommended by Kakodkar Committee.
Parliamentary committees, Planning Commission and railway unions have suggested fare hike in all classes to raise funds for the national transporter.
Given the financial condition of railways, Trivedi has to make a tight ropewalk catering to the need of massive upgradation of rail infrastructure and also improving passenger amenities.
Pitching for expansion of rail infrastructure, the railway minister may allocate significant funds while presenting the Rail Budget on Wednesday for Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) to expedite its execution.
The ambitious Rs one lakh crore project had recently got a big push with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh directing central departments and states to give the project "highest priority."
At a high-level meeting held recently, it was decided that state governments would set up monitoring committees to resolve the issues especially land-acquisition in an expeditious manner so that the project is completed by the projected deadline of 2017.
The 3,300-km long project, which will criss-cross various states, shall transform India's economic transport facility.
Railways aims to shift a major portion of road transport to rail once the DFC connecting Delhi to Mumbai and Ludhiana to Dankuni in West Bengal becomes operational.
According to railway sources, the focus of the budget would be more towards automation and strengthening the existing infrastructure.
The Rail Budget could also announce about 80 new trains, including the popular Duronto class of trains.
Trivedi is likely to announce transforming more stations as Adarsh stations which will provide better facilities for passengers.
The budget may continue with the practice of not raising the fares and freight rates but the possibility of imposition of a safety cess may not not be ruled out, at least on the higher class fares.
The Rail Budget could announce two new coach factories in Kolar in Karnataka and Kutch in Gujarat. Incidentally, both the ministers of states for railways KH Muniyappa and Bharatsinh Solank come from these two states.

Just 8% Indians have Internet

2012-03-13T21:04:00.001-07:00

Though known for its computer whizkids world over, the penetration of computers/ laptops in India is only 9.4% or less than one out of 10 households with only 3% having internet facility. The penetration of internet is 8% in urban as compared to less than 1% in rural area.
The 2011 housing census figures released on Tuesday by the Registrar General of India threw up some interesting facts bringing out stark realities in India that is trying to carve a place among the top advanced nations.
While the use of TV sets in Indian households saw an increase of 16 points from 31.6 to 47.2% in last one decade and penetration of mobile phones touched 59%, the country failed to match this progress in giving better sanitation to the people as 50% of the 24.67 crore households still defecate in the open and 41.6% have no bathroom facility.
The figures of modes of transport can give a reason to smile to the automobile manufacturers as only 4.7% households have four wheelers and only 21% have two wheelers. The majority, about 45%, still prefer to ride bicycles, while 17.8% households still have not personal transport assets. The last decade saw an increase of 9 point in two wheeler and 2 points in four wheelers, with bicycle showing increase of 1 point only.
As regards amenities 36% of households still have to fetch water from a source located within 500 mts in rural areas and 100 mts in urban areas while 17% still fetch drinking water from a source located more than half a kilometre away in rural areas or 100 metres in urban area.
For the main source of lighting, 31.4% households still depend on kerosene while electricity is available to 67.2%, an increase of 11 points over 2001. The rural urban gap for electricity reduced by 7 percentage points from 44% in 2001 to 37% in 2011.
Two-third of the households are using firewood/crop residue, cow dung cake/coal etc. and 3% households use Kerosene. There is an increase of 11 pts in use of LPG from 18% in 2001 to 29% in 2011.
The Census 2011 for over 24.66 crore households across was done over a period of 45 days and involved approximately 25 lakh enumerators and 2 lakh supervisors.

Nobel scientist who warned of thinning ozone dies

2012-03-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

F. Sherwood Rowland, the Nobel prize-winning chemist who sounded the alarm on the thinning of the Earth’s ozone layer, has died. He was 84.

Rowland died Saturday at his home of complications from Parkinson’s disease, the dean of the University of California, Irvine’s physical sciences department said Sunday.

“We have lost our finest friend and mentor,” Kenneth C. Janda said in a statement. “He saved the world from a major catastrophe - never wavering in his commitment to science, truth and humanity and did so with integrity and grace.”

Rowland was among three scientists awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for chemistry for explaining how the ozone layer is formed and decomposed through chemical processes in the atmosphere.

The prize was awarded more than two decades after Rowland and post-doctoral student Mario Molina calculated that if human use of chlorofluorocarbons, a by-product of aerosol sprays, deodorants and other household products, were to continue at an unchanged rate, the ozone layer would be depleted after several decades. Their work built upon findings by atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen.

Their prediction caught enormous attention and was strongly challenged partly because the non-toxic properties of CFCs were thought to be environmentally safe. Their work gained widespread recognition more than a decade later with the discovery of the ozone hole over the Earth’s polar regions.

“It was to turn out that they had even underestimated the risk,” a Nobel committee said in its award citation for Rowland, Molina and Crutzen.

Mr. Molina said his former mentor never shied from defending his work or advocating a ban on CFCs.

“He showed me that if we believe in the science ... we should speak out when we feel it’s important for society to change,” Mr. Molina told The Associated Press.

“Isn’t it a responsibility of scientists, if you believe that you have found something that can affect the environment, isn’t it your responsibility to do something about it, enough so that action actually takes place?” Rowland said at a White House climate change roundtable in 1997.

“If not us, who? If not now, when?” he asked.

Rowland was survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Joan, a son and a daughter.

Pay me a rupee more than SRK, says Salman: Report

2012-03-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

While a lot has been said and written about the rivalry between Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, the story looks like it's getting more interesting by the day. The recent buzz is that Salman wants to be paid a rupee more for his film with a big production house than what they are paying SRK for his upcoming movie with Katrina Kaif.

Surprisingly, this information has come out at a time when SRK has already started shooting for the Yash Chopra film, while Salman has almost finished filming the Kabir Khan directed venture.

Race to the top
"Before Salman committed to the movie, he asked Aditya Chopra to pay him a rupee more than what SRK was being paid for Yashji's film," says our source, adding that Aditya couldn't promise this then as he's also asking for a percentage of the profit as part of his remuneration. "Aditya explained to him that his percentage of profit share depended on how much the film makes on release.

And no one can say for sure whose film will collect how much at the box office." Salman felt relieved when Aditya reassured him that they'd give him as fair a deal as he gets with any other filmmaker. "So Salman need not worry about being shortchanged as compared to SRK," pointed out our source.

Changing terms
Apparently, the three Khans are said to be getting a fixed fee of not less than Rs 15 crore each. "The Chopras weren't known to pay anyone's market price earlier. But with the change in the industry, they've agreed to the fees of the Khans being divided into a fixed amount and a share in the profits," said our informer.

About this, our first source reasons, "With back-to-back Rs 100 crore plus earners like Dabangg, Ready and Bodyguard, Salman knows he's the biggest draw in India. So in keeping with his drawing power at the domestic box-office, if he's asking for a rupee more, he's not being unreasonable. Is he?"

Buzz is that the three Khans are being paid the same fixed fee upfront. However, who earns the most will be seen when the final India net figures are tabled.

Insecure of Aamir too?
Interestingly, there's another angle to this one-upmanship of the fees between the three Khans with reference to their movies with Chopra's production house. Another industry veteran tells us that when Salman was asked to sign the contract for the Kabir Khan film, he asked to see the kind of deal they had worked with Aamir, for their action thriller.

"It seems Salman was keen to see the kind of terms his friend was getting for the action thriller franchisee film that also features Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra," said our source. Not to be left behind, before committing to Yash Chopra's directorial venture with Katrina and Anushka Sharma, SRK wanted to be apprised of the terms and conditions Aamir and Salman had finalised with the banner.

"Considering that SRK has been long associated with the Chopras, he can't afford to let Aamir and Salman get a better deal than him. So he too was signed on for the same terms as Aamir," explains our source.

Rs 1 rules
Not surprisingly, ego issues between stars over money matters are not new. Industry sources tell us that the demand for a rupee more were first made many years ago. Apparently, Manmohan Desai was once confronted with this dilemma when he cast Amitabh Bachchan and Vinod Khanna in Amar Akbar Anthony. "Their rivalry was at the peak then and each wanted to be paid more than the other. Eventually, Amitabh Bachchan walked off with a fatter pay cheque," says an old source.

Kishore Kumar made no secret of his eccentricities. Known to be a miser, he charged a whopping amount of Rs 15,000 per song back then. However, he took Rs 1 less than what Lata Mangeshkar charged, as a mark of respect towards her.