e-PrepTalk June 2010

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To be a world class training and educationorganisation shaping careers through innovativeproducts and services & the use of human

technologies.

Major news stories

Cover story

Current events

PT Panorama

Profiles

News in brief

Regulars

Ambani brothers break the ice ............................................ 05

FIFA world cup 2010 ............................................................ 09

India ........................................................................................ 15

...................................................................................... 22

Business and economy .......................................................... 29

How to deliver and delight customers ................................. 40

Self-Managed Teams............................................................. 44

David Cameron ...................................................................... 37

Sarosh Homi Kapadia............................................................ 47

India ........................................................................................ 66

...................................................................................... 68

Business and economy .......................................................... 70

Brand icon: Apple Inc............................................................ 42

English grammar: Fun with Grammar ................................ 48

Brand icon: Asian Paints ....................................................... 51

Business Trivia ...................................................................... 52

General knowledge ............................................................... 54

Book review: We are like that only ........................................ 72

World

World

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Contents

PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 03

Dear friends,

By the time this issue of Prep Talk reaches you, the FIFA event would have

begun. The world’s sights are set on South Africa, the nation that is hosting the

World Cup in football, a spectacular event which would be keenly watched by

millions round the world, with excitement, with thrill, with speculation and with

patriotism.

The organizers of the event, FIFA, an acronym of Federation International de

Football Association, is an International governing body of association of football

playing nations, which is in existence for over a century and has been organizing

World Cup events in the sport of football, ever since 1930. FIFA lays the rules and

frames conditions for the conduct of this global event. Doesn’t the game of football

suggest something more profound beyond the nail biting moments of thrill that it

provides, both for the vigorous participants and the viewing public? Just think of a

group of skilled individuals teamed having a common goal, working out methods

and strategies to surmount any hurdle, to outdo and outwit any opponent,

persevering and “stopping not till the goal is reached”.

The interpersonal skills, team dynamics, coordination and compatibility are in

their ascendance in the team that best performs and wins the event. There are well

laid instructions for each member of the team to comply, there is a high sense of

belongingness on the part of each member who represents his nation and the

collective will to do the best percolates to each member to give out his best.

How do things come about constructively? Discipline is the undercurrent. If it

were not for discipline, teams wouldn’t be at their best and all one would witness

would be a medley of individuals, who though skilled and talented, would be

divergent from the common goal and objective. Personal considerations would ride

over those of the team, the state and finally the nation.

I hope that the FIFA sponsored World Cup event would unfold before you the

sight of players, all out to dazzle the spectators with their talents and skills in areas of

goal keeping, dribbling, defending, shooting, giving precise first time passes,

heading, and much more!

And I fervently wish that we take a cue from this wonderful brigade of players of

using our talents and skills in the best possible way.

Happy footballing!

Manish Saraf

COO, PT education

“In a day, when you don't come

across any problems – you can be

sure that you are travelling in a

wrong path.”

– Swami Vivekananda

“If you win you need not

explain.......But if you lose you

should not be there to explain.”

– Adolf Hitler

“Winning doesn't always mean

being first, winning means you're

doing better than you've done

before.”

– Bonnie Blair

“Everyone thinks of changing the

world, but no one thinks of

changing himself.”

– Leo Tolstoy

“If someone feels that they had

never made a mistake in their life,

then it means they had never tried a

new thing in their life.”

– Albert Einstein

“Believing everybody is dangerous;

b e l i e v i n g n o b o d y i s v e r y

dangerous.”

– Abraham Lincoln.

"A life spent making mistakes is

not only more honorable, but more

useful than a life spent doing

nothing."

– George Bernard Shaw

“Coming together is a beginning.

Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success”

– Henry Ford

Take Quote

04 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010

Kasab gets death penalty in26/11

Harnessing the talent

The anxiously awaited verdict on

Kasab comes as a great reprieve to the

denizens of this country. It is an eye

opener for the terrorist organizations

harbouring sinister designs for India

and a pointer that India will not

tolerate terrorism on its soil. The

court has sent out a message that

terrorism has no place in a civilized

community.

That Kasab was given legal

assistance in an open trial despite his

gruesome crime underscores the

fairness and integrity of our legal

system. It is hoped that more such

perpetrators of crime are brought to

book and the death sentence

pronounced on Kasab does not go the

Afzal Guru way.

The article ‘Harnessing the

Talent’ made interesting reading. It is

beyond doubt that today talent is

recognized as one of the keys to

organizational success. That’s

because having the right person with

the skills, experience and abilities an

organization needs is essential.

Putting that person in the right

position is equally important. Such a

person is one who makes good sense

of that individual’s strength, while

also allowing opportunity for

flexibility and team participation.

R ajshree Gupta, Indore

Letters to the editor

that can be harnessed to provide for

the electricity and energy needs of

mankind. One such source of energy

is solar energy.Though solar energy is

available for free and aplenty around

the world, the costs associated with

setting up a solar energy unit proves to

be too expensive for everyone to use

solar energy to power their homes.

This is why scientists are looking

for new ways of harnessing this solar

energy so that it will be cheaper for

ever yone to use solar energy.

Scientists are now working on

developing light absorbing materials

that can be used in the production of

thin-layer photovoltaic (PV) cells.

These PV cells are used for converting

light energy into electricity.

Brajesh Shar ma, BhopalThis position would also be one that is

s t r a t e g i c a l l y i m p o r t a n t t o t h e

organization, yet one that also affords

opportunity for flexibility and team

participation. The alignment of these

rights yields high performance and we all

know that high performance of people

g e n e r a t e s h i g h o r g a n i z a t i o n a l

performance or the right results.

The article was very informative and

brought many illuminating facts to the

fore. The increase in the amount of

harmful gases from the burning of fossil

fuels has led to an increase in global

warming of the earth.

This is why people are now turning to

alternative sources of renewable energy

Mahesh Y adav, Jaipur

Solar energy: The future fuel

FEEDBACK !Your comments and

views on PrepTalk

are needed to help

Us make it better.

Which articles did you like?

Which columns do you

like to read regularly?

Which are the best parts of

the magazine?

Which are not?

How to improve?

Send feedback to:

[email protected]


The latest Ambani Brothers Battle is becoming a

politico-economical saga which has attracted the

media world over. The fight for gas supplies between

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd and Anil's Reliance

Natural Resources Ltd has also put the government on a

defensive position. This is a complex issue which involves

India's Natural Gas Policy as well hinders the efforts to solve the

country's chronic energy shortage.

In a major development, the two Ambani brothers Mukesh

and Anil on May 23, decided to bury their differences and

create an environment of harmony, co-operation and

collaboration between their groups.

"All existing non-compete agreement between the two

groups executed in January 2006 cancelled," Mr Anil Ambani

group said in a statement. The harmony comes within a few days

of the Supreme Court declining to give any relief to younger

brother in the gas dispute. "A new, simpler non-compete

agreement executed limited to only gas-based power

generation. RIL (Mukesh) and RNRL (Anil) will expeditiously

negotiate gas supply arrangement as per the Supreme Court

order and hope to conclude negotiations very soon," it added.

The cancellation of the existing non-compete agreement

will provide enhanced operational and financial flexibility to

both groups and greater ability to participate in high growth

sectors such as oil and gas, petrochemical, telecom, power and

financial services, the Anil Ambani Group said.

However, RIL has agreed not to enter the gas-based power

generation business for the period up to March 2022. In an

identical statement, Reliance Industries said "RIL, led by Mr

Mukesh D. Ambani, and Reliance ADA Group companies,

Reliance Communications, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance

Natural Resources, and Reliance Capital, led by Mr Anil D.

Ambani, have approved and signed an agreement canceling all

existing non-compete arrangements entered between the two

groups in January 2006 pursuant to the scheme of reorganisation

of the Reliance Group and entered a new simpler, non-compete

Agreement with respect to only gas-based power generation.

These developments will eliminate any room for further

disputes between the two groups, on matters relating to the

scope and interpretation of the non-compete obligations, RIL

added. "RIL and Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) will

expeditiously negotiate gas supply arrangements in accordance

with the orders of the Hon ble Supreme Court of India. We hope

to conclude these negotiations very soon, the RIL statement

further said.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited agreed to sell

Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Limited 80 mmscmd

of gas from the Krishna-Godavari Basin for 17 years at $2.34 per

mmbtu - for its Dadri power plant.

With RIL not supplying the gas, RNRL went to court against

it for not implementing this as a part of a family MoU signed

when the empire was being carved up between the two brothers.

The Bombay high court ruled in June that RIL should supply

gas to RNRL at nearly half the price it had set in an interim order

in January.

With the government reacting strongly against the warring

brothers' stance over a national resource, it is now left to the

Supreme Court to decide the future course of action.

What is the fight about?

Ambani brothers break the ice

Major news story


November 2004: the Feud between the siblings becomes

public.

June 2005 - Family reaches a settlement to split the Reliance

group in a deal brokered by their homemaker mother,

Kokilaben.

2006 - Formal split takes place, with Mukesh taking control

of flagship Reliance Industries, with interests in

petrochemicals, oil and gas exploration, refining and textiles. He

has since launched a retail venture. The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani

Group gets telecoms, power, entertainment and financial

services. The Group includes

Reliance Communications Ltd,

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, Reliance

Capital Ltd, Reliance Natural

Resources Ltd (RNRL) and Reliance

Power Ltd.

In a family pact vetted and

supervised by the brothers' mother in

2005, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance

Industries Limited (RIL) was to

supply 28 million cubic meters of gas

a day at $2.34 per million units

(MMBTU) to Anil Ambani's Reliance

Natural Resources Limited (RNRL)

for 17 years.

The above price of $2.34 per

million British Thermal Units was

44% lower than $4.20 per million

units set by the government in 2006

for all buyers of gas from the basin.

Anil Ambani has not accepted the

higher selling price set by the government, citing the 2005

agreement with his elder brother.

July 2008: Reliance Communications calls off merger talks

with South Africa's MTN after Mukesh makes a claim on the

shares of Anil's telecom firm.

15 June, 2009: RNRL won a case in the Bombay High Court,

asking his elder brother's company to honour the family

agreement. The Bombay high court has ruled that the family

MoU does not violate the PSC - that is, the ministry could not

cancel the RIL-RNRL agreement.

June 19, 2009: Reliance Natural files caveat in apex court

on gas price issue after Bombay High Court order upholds its

position on the gas price in its dispute with Reliance

Industries

Following is a timeline of key dates in the Ambani rift.

July 2002: Dhirubhai Ambani, a school teacher's son and

founder of the Reliance business empire, dies. Mukesh Ambani

becomes Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance

Industries Ltd, and Anil Ambani is made Vice-Chairman.

2002: Natural gas was discovered in the Krishna Godavari

basin off India's eastern coast. Three companies - RIL, the

state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) - discovered gas -

and some oil- in three different blocks. These companies are

investing $30bn to produce gas from

the Krishna Godavari basin.

RIL plans to spend $12 billion on

producing and transporting the gas

across the country while the state-

owned ONGC has announced a $3

billion investment.

The basin is likely to produce 120

million cubic metres per day (mcmd)

of gas.

This gas is four times more than ,

30% cheaper than the gas India

would have received through the

much-delayed Iran-Pakistan-India

pipeline.

Once the entire gas comes on

stream, it will have a huge impact on

the country's fertiliser and power

companies. Two Ambani brothers

had parted their ways exactly after 3

years.

In 2003, NTPC invited global firms to bid to supply it gas for

its Kawas-Gandahar power plants for 17 years. RIL bid the

lowest - $2.34 per mmbtu - and NTPC gave it a Letter of Intent

in June 2004. The ongoing dispute is based upon the contract of

RIL-RNRL which was based on this rate since it was also signed

in the same time period.

The only difference was that the RNRL contract was for 28

mmscmd of gas while the NTPC one was for 12 mmscmd.

(MMSCMD=Million Metric Standard Cubic Meter per Day)

RIL later objected to some of the clauses in the NTPC

tender and refused to supply the gas. NTPC went to court

against RIL. RNRL argues that since the contract was based on

the NTPC one, it was an arms-length one.

June 23, 2009: Reliance Natural invites Reliance Industries

for talks on high court judgement, but Reliance Industries says it

is studying the implication.

July 1, 2009: Reliance Industries says it will appeal to the

Supreme Court against high court ruling. Says supplies to

Reliance Industries not possible at $2.34 per unit, as it is bound

by government price of $4.20 per unit

July 3, 2009: Reliance Natural moves Supreme Court to make

gas supply from KGD6 binding on Reliance Industries.

July 4, 2009: RIL moves apex court challenging high court

orders saying the verdict erred in deciding the three terms -

quantity, tenure and price of gas supply

July 5, 2009: Reliance Industries makes government a party

in its petition

July 7, 2009: Apex court issues notice to Reliance Industries,

RNRL and the government on cross-appeals

July 17, 2009: Government asks court to make it a respondent

July 18, 2009: The government files a petition wanting

Ambani family pact that deals with gas supplies to be declared

null and void

July 19, 2009: Government says gas is its property

July 20, 2009: Supreme Court calls for counter-replies and

fixes Sep 1 as date of hearing

July 22, 2009: Prime Minister's Office wants oil ministry to

explain why it has been accused by Anil Ambani group of siding

with Reliance Industries over gas dispute

July 28-Aug 3, 2009: Anil Ambani lashes out at oil ministry for

allegedly favouring his elder brother. Matter also rocks

parliament, where Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav

demands resignation of Petroleum Minister Murli Deora. But

Deora says gas does not belong to either Mukesh or Ambani, but

the government.

Aug 4, 2009: Oil regulator rejects Anil Ambani group's

charges of acts of omission and commission in allowing capital

expenditure of KGD6 gas to be hiked from $2.4 billion to $8.8

billion.

Aug 28, 2009: Reliance Industries says NTPC was told gas

price of $2.34 was subject to government approval. Apex court

lists hearing for Oct 20

Sep 14, 2009: Reliance Natural accuses Reliance Industries

of charging illegal marketing margins

Sep 15, 2009: Anil Ambani Group asks apex Court to make

NTPC a party to dispute

Sep 24, 2009: NTPC signs pact with Reliance Industries to

buy a part of natural gas, other than the quantity under dispute,

at $4.20 per unit.

Oct 5, 2009: Reliance Industries says chairman Mukesh had

signed pact on natural gas with Anil Ambani Group in personal

capacity without approval from other board members

Oct 9, 2009: Anil Ambani threatens to sue oil regulator saying

he made false allegations against his group

Financial services Oil, gas, petrochemicals

Telecom Textile

Infrastructure Retail

Media & DTH SEZs, ports & gas terminals

Power Life sciences & biotechnology

Healthcare IPL*Combined mkt cap Rs 1,08,792 cr

(*as on May 21, 2010)

*Combined mkt cap Rs 3,26,717 cr

ANIL AMBANI* MUKESH AMBANI*

Telecom

Financial services

Power (non-gas)

Infrastructure

Media & Entertainment

POSSIBLE OVERLAPS IN FUTURE



December 18, 2009: Court finishes hearing the case and

reserves judgement.

May 7, 2010: The Supreme Court of India rules in favour of

Mukesh Ambani after a split vote. The apex court has rules that

the family Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the

two brothers is not binding and asks the brothers to renegotiate

the deal within 6 weeks.

It has also categorically said that as far as the authority over

natural gas is concerned, the government remains its sole

owner.

May 23: Both brothers agree to cancel all existing non-

compete pacts which the groups had signed in 2006. They enter

into a new and simpler non-compete pact only for gas-based

power generation.

It took a gentle nudge from the Supreme Court to signal an

end to the most publicised corporate war in India. Five years

after going public with ownership issues and more in India's

richest family, the Ambani brothers today took a big step towards

reconciliation of their feud that had made headlines and dragged

in several government functionaries.

Oct 11, 2009: Anil Ambani says two brothers can still sit

across the table and resolve matters amicably, but Reliance

Industries says only court can settle matters now.

Oct 20, 2009: A three-member bench, including Chief

Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, of the Supreme Court begins hearing

arguments in the case.

November 4, 2009: The hearing is disrupted when a judge

withdraws, citing potential conflict of interest as his daughter

worked at a firm that was a consultant to Reliance Industries.

November 5, 2009: A new three-member bench that also

includes the Chief Justice begins hearing arguments from

scratch.

November 5,- December 18, 2009: Reliance Industries

argues a private deal between the Ambani brothers cannot take

precedence over government policy, which determines who can

receive gas and at what price.

Reliance Natural, which claims otherwise, says the

government will not suffer a loss even if Reliance Industries sells

it the gas at the disputed price. The government stresses it does

not favour either side in the dispute.

Firefox 4: fast, powerful, and empowering

The next version of the Firefox browser, set for release by the end of the year, will pare down the software's menus and certain

user options while giving Web surfers more control over privacy.

Firefox 4 promises to let users better control relationships with websites by describing more simply what information is

gathered by cookies, which are files that store data on website visits.

In Firefox's current version, determining which websites are peering into users' Internet habits is a complex process involving

many menus and submenus. With the change, users will be able to see from a single menu what information websites are

gathering. Users will then have the option of deciding which cookies to allow and which to disable.

But Mozilla, the browser's creator, will also take away some user controls to make Firefox sleeker. That means taking out

buttons and menus that Mozilla says few people use anyway. Mozilla says the change won't just make websites load faster, it will

make them feel faster.

"The simpler an interface looks, the faster it will seem," Mike Beltzner, Firefox Director of development, said

Firefox said the browser will be made more stable, by requiring fewer add-on programs for additional functionality. The

program will use the new Web programming language, HTML5, which will allow videos and other multimedia content to play in

the browser without needing companion software such as Adobe System Inc.'s Flash.

Firefox is second to Microsoft Corp.'s market-dominant Internet Explorer browser in usage. Microsoft is also working on

an update. Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft's latest browser offering, will also support HTML5. An early version is already out for

testing.


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Federation Football

Association, commonly known as FIFA is

the international governing body of

association of football. FIFA is an

association established under the Laws of

Switzerland. Its headquarters are located in

Zürich, Switzerland, and its current

President is Sepp Blatter. FIFA is

responsible for the organization and

governance of football's major international

tournaments, most notably the FIFA World

Cup, held since 1930.

FIFA has 208 member associations,

which is 16 more than the United Nations

and three more than the International Olympic Committee,

though five fewer than the International Association of Athletics

Federation.

The need for a single body to oversee the worldwide game

became apparent at the beginning of the 20th century with the

increasing popularity of international fixtures. FIFA was

founded in Paris on 21 May 1904; the French name and acronym

remain, even outside French-speaking countries. Its first

President was Robert Guérin.

FIFA presided over its first international competition in

1906, but this met with little approval or success. This, in

combination with economic factors, led to the swift replacement

of Guérin with Daniel Burley Woolfall from England, by now a

member association. The next tournament staged, the football

competition for the 1908 Olympics in London was more

successful, despite the presence of professional footballers,

contrary to the founding principles of FIFA.

Membership of FIFA expanded beyond Europe with the

application of South Africa in 1908, Argentina and Chile in 1912,

and Canada and the United States in 1913.

International de

FIFA, however, foundered during World War I, with many

players sent off to war and the possibility of travel for

international fixtures severely limited. Post-war, following the

death of Woolfall, the organisation was run by Dutchman Carl

Hirschmann. It was saved from extinction, but at the cost of the

withdrawal of the Home Nations (of the United Kingdom), who

cited an unwillingness to participate in international

competitions with their recent World War enemies. The Home

Nations later resumed their membership.

FIFA's supreme body is the FIFA Congress, an assembly

made up of representatives from each affiliated member

association. The Congress assembles in ordinary session once

every year and, additionally, extraordinary sessions have been

held once a year since 1998. Only the Congress can pass changes

to FIFA's statutes.

Congress elects the President of FIFA, its General Secretary

and the other members of FIFA's Executive Committee. The

President and General Secretary are the main officeholders of

FIFA, and are in charge of its daily administration, carried out by

the General Secretariat, with its staff of approximately 280

members.

FIFA World Cup 2010

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11 June - 11 July 2010


teams; Curiously, FIFA has more member states than the

United Nations, as FIFA recognises several non-sovereign

entities as distinct nations, most notably the four Home Nations

within the United Kingdom. The FIFA World Rankings are

updated monthly and rank each team based on their

performance in international competitions, qualifiers, and

friendly matches. There is also a world ranking for women's

football, updated four times a year.

FIFA awards, each year, the title of FIFA World Player of the

Year to the top men's and women's players of the year, as part of

its annual awards ceremony which also recognises team and

international football achievements.

In 1994, FIFA published the FIFA World Cup All-Time

Team.

In 2002, FIFA announced the FIFA Dream Team, an all-time

all-star team chosen by fans in a poll.

As part of its centennial celebrations in 2004, FIFA organised

a "Match of the Century" between France and Brazil

Since the 1994 FIFA World Cup, like the UEFA Champions

League, FIFA has adopted an anthem composed by the German

composer Franz Lambert. The FIFA Anthem is played at the

beginning of official FIFA sanctioned matches and tournaments

such as international friendlies, the FIFA World Cup, FIFA

Women's World Cup, FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA U-17 World

Cup, FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, FIFA Women's U-17

World Cup, FIFA Futsal World Cup, FIFA Beach Soccer World

Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup.

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FIFA's Executive Committee, chaired by the President, is

the main decision-making body of the organization in the

intervals of Congress. FIFA's worldwide organisational

structure also consists of several other bodies, under authority

of the Executive Committee or created by Congress as standing

committees. Among those bodies are the Finance Committee,

the Disciplinary Committee, the Referees Committee, etc.

Apart from its worldwide institutions (presidency, Executive

Committee, Congress, etc.) there are confederations

recognised by FIFA which oversee the game in the different

continents and regions of the world. National associations, and

not the continental confederations, are members of FIFA.

The continental confederations are provided for in FIFA's

statutes. National associations must claim membership to both

FIFA and the confederation in which their nation is

geographically resident for their teams to qualify for entry to

FIFA's competitions (with a few geographic exceptions listed

below):

AFC – Asian Football Confederation in Asia and Australia

CAF – Confédération Africaine de Football in Africa

CONCACAF – Confederation of North, Central American

and Caribbean Association Football in North America and

Central America

CONMEBOL – Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol in

South America

OFC – Oceania Football Confederation in Oceania

UEFA – Union of European Football Associations in

Europe.

Nations straddling the traditional boundary between Europe

and Asia have generally had their choice of confederation. As a

result, a number of transcontinental nations including Russia,

Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia have chosen

to become part of UEFA despite the bulk of their land area being

in Asia. Israel, although lying entirely within Asia, joined UEFA

in 1994, after decades of its football teams being boycotted by

many AFC countries. Kazakhstan moved from the AFC to UEFA

in 2002. Australia was the latest to move from the OFC to AFC in

January 2006.

Guyana and Suriname have always been CONCACAF

members despite being South American countries.

In total, FIFA recognises 208 national associations and their

associated men's national teams as well as 129 women's national

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The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19th FIFA World Cup,

the premier international football tournament. It is scheduled to

take place between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa. The

2010 FIFA World Cup would be the culmination of a

qualification process that began in August 2007 and involved 204

of the 208 FIFA national teams. As such, it matches the 2008

Summer Olympics as the sports event with the most competing

nations.

This is the first time that the tournament has been hosted by

an African nation, after South Africa defeated Morocco and

Egypt in an all-African bidding process. This decision left the

Oceania Football Confederation as the only confederation yet to

host the FIFA World Cup. Italy is the defending champion, after

winning the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The draw

for the finals took place on 4 December, 2009 in Cape

Town.

Africa was chosen as the host for the 2010

World Cup as part of a policy to rotate the event

among football confederations (which was later

abandoned in October 2007).

During 2006 and 2007, rumours circulated in

various news sources that the 2010 World Cup

could be moved to another country. Some people,

including Franz Beckenbauer, Horst R. Schmidt and,

reportedly, some FIFA executives, expressed concern over

the planning, organisation, and pace of South Africa's

preparations. However, FIFA officials repeatedly expressed their

confidence in South Africa as host, stating that a contingency

plan existed only to cover natural catastrophes, as had been in

place at previous FIFA World Cups.

The government has said the World Cup should add about

0.5% to GDP this year. Analysts are not so optimistic. Forecasts

in a Reuters poll in May ranged from 0.1 to 0.7%, with a median

of 0.3. The treasury has said growth this year will likely be above

the 2.3% it forecast in February and closer to 3% after last year's

1.8% contraction. The tourism sector is expected to enjoy a

boost from the tournament for years to come. During the rugby

World Cup in 1995 tourism numbers shot up 60%, increasing by

13 and 7% respectively in the following two years.

The government has spent about 40 billion rand ($5.17

billion) since 2006 – 07 on World Cup-related projects, with 11.7

billion going towards revamping of stadiums and 13.2 billion on

transport infrastructure. The funds came from the national

budget and helped to push the fiscal deficit in 2009-10 to 6.7% of

GDP. General government borrowing increased to 184.3 billion

rand in 2009-10 from 40.2 billion in 2008-09. The treasury's

expenditure excluded money spent sprucing up airports.

Airport Company South Africa has spent about 17 billion rand

since 2006 upgrading airports in Cape Town and Johannesburg

and building a new one in Durban. The spending also does not

include the 25 billion rand spent on building the country's

Gautrain rapid rail network which will link the airport to

Johannesburg and its financial hub Sandton and later

Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria.

Increased foreign exchange flows are seen

supporting the rand but only slightly. The

tournament comes as international markets are

jittery due to European debt problems so any

boost from increased foreign exchange

earnings will be overshadowed by worries

about the global economic recovery. On the

local bourse, wine, spirits and beer companies

such as Distel and SABMiller outperformed

the All-share index over the past year partly in

anticipation of a World Cup boost. Imperial,

which has a car rental business, has seen its price go

up by 60.5% in that period.

South Africa expects about 3,70,000 foreign visitors during

the event, lower than initial estimates of 4,50,000. Visitors

should spend about 8.8 billion rand during the tournament and -

- together with spending by soccer's world governing body Fifa,

other officials and teams – the economy will receive a 13 billion

rand cash injection, accounting firm Grant Thornton wrote in a

study.

Construction ahead of the tournament created thousands of

jobs, most of which disappeared as the preparations wound up.

Employment in the sector fell 9.3% to 1.085 million in the first

quarter of 2010, compared with the same period last year.

As the host nation, South Africa qualified automatically for

the tournament. Nonetheless South Africa participated in World

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in the CONMEBOL – CONCACAF playoff, whilst Egypt and

Algeria's final match was surrounded by reports of crowd

trouble.

In response to the incidents during qualification, and to a

match fixing controversy, on 2 December 2009 FIFA called for an

extraordinary general meeting of their Executive Committee.

After the meeting, FIFA announced that they would be setting

up an inquiry into technology and extra officials in the game, but

they did not announce the widely-expected move of fast-

tracking the introduction of goal-line referee's assistants,

already being trialled in the Europa League, and instead restated

that the competition in South Africa would be officiated as

before, with just one referee, two assistants, and a fourth official.

On the subject of fair play, FIFA President, Sepp Blatter said,

“I appeal to all the players and coaches to observe this fair play. In

2010 we want to prove that football is more than just kicking a

ball but has social and cultural values.....So we ask the players

'please observe fair play' so that they will be an example to the

rest of the world.”

The Lukasrand Tower in Pretoria

sports a football which is appropriate in

view of the world cup hosted in the

country.

Five new stadiums have been built for

the tournament, and five of the existing

venues are to be upgraded. Construction

costs are expected to be Rand 8.4bn.

In addition to the stadiums being

built and upgraded, South Africa has

planned to improve its current public

transport infrastructure within the

various cities, with projects such as the Gautrain and the new

Bus Rapid Transit system (BRT) titled Rea Vaya.

The country has implemented special measures to ensure

the safety and security of local and international tourists

attending the matches in accordance with standard FIFA

requirements, including a temporary restriction of flight

operation in the airspace surrounding the stadiums.

The readiness of this African nation to host one of the biggest

events in a sports that is worshiped by millions has received

positive response from FIFA. FIFA has rated the readiness of

South Africa at eight on a scale of 10 with the hope that they would

be completely ready before the matchesactually start.

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Cup qualifiers because the CAF qualifiers also served as the

qualifying tournament for the 2010 African Cup of Nations.

They were the first host since 1934 to participate in preliminary

qualifying. As happened in the previous tournament, the

defending champions were not given an automatic berth, and

Italy had to participate in qualification.

The qualification draw for the 2010 World Cup was held in

Durban, South Africa, on 25 November, 2007.

32 teams qualified for the final tournament. For the group

matches, all the 32 teams participating in the 2010 FIFA world

cup have been grouped into eight groups (A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H).

Group A : South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay and France.

Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece.

Group C: England, USA, Algeria and Slovenia.

Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana.

Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan and Cameroon.

Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia

Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d'Ivoire and Portugal

Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras and Chile.

This is the first World Cup that does

not include any teams that are qualifying

for the first time, although two of the

qualifiers (Slovakia and Serbia) have

previously appeared only as parts of

former competing nations. Slovakia was

previously part of Czechoslovakia, and

Serbia has competed as part of Yugoslavia

and Serbia and Montenegro. In both

cases FIFA considers these teams to have

retained the earlier nations' records.

Controversy surrounded final

qualification matches played between France and the Republic

of Ireland, Costa Rica and Uruguay and Egypt and Algeria in

November 2009.

In the second leg of the play-off between France and the

Republic of Ireland, French captain Thierry Henry, unseen by

the referee, illegally handled the ball in the lead up to the

winning goal, which saw France make the final 32 teams ahead of

Ireland. The incident spurred widespread debate on how

matches should be refereed at the highest level. FIFA rejected a

request from the Football Association of Ireland to replay the

match, whilst a widely reported later request by Ireland to be

included as an unprecedented 33rd World Cup entrant was later

withdrawn. Costa Rica complained over Uruguay's winning goal

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The total prize money on offer for the tournament was

confirmed by FIFA as $420 million, a 60 percent increase on the

2006 tournament. Before the tournament, each participating

team would receive $1 million, for preparation costs. Once at the

tournament, teams exiting at the group stage would receive $8

million. Thereafter, the prize money would be distributed as

follows:

$9 million - Round of 16

$18 million - Quarter-finals

$20 million - Semi-finals

$24 million - Runners up

$30 million - Winners

In a first for the World Cup, there would also be payments

made by FIFA to the domestic clubs of the players representing

their national teams at the tournament. This would see a total of

€26 million being paid to domestic clubs, amounting to just over

€1,000 per player per day.

This was the result of an agreement reached in 2008 between

FIFA and European clubs to disband the G-14 group and drop

their claims for compensation dating back to 2005 over the

financial cost of injuries sustained to their players while on

international duty, such as that from Belgian club Charleroi S.C.

for injury to Morroco's Abdelmajid Oulmers in a friendly game

in 2004, and from English club Newcastle United for an injury to

England's Michael Owen in the 2006 World Cup.

The official song of the FIFA world cup "Waka Waka" would

be presented by the Colombian singer Shakira and the band

Freshlyground from South Africa, and would be sung in both

English and Spanish. The song is based upon a traditional

African soldiers' song named Zangalewa. Shakira and

Freshlyground are the performers of the song both during the

pre-tournament Kick-Off concert in Soweto on 10 June as well

as the final ceremony on 11 July.

As with many 'hallmark events' throughout the world, the

2010 FIFA World Cup has been connected to evictions which

many claim are meant to 'beautify the city', impress visiting

tourists, and hide shackdwellers. On 14 May 2009, the Durban-

based shack-dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo took

the KwaZulu-Natal government to court over their controversial

Elimination and Prevention of Re-Emergence of Slums Act,

meant to eliminate slums in South Africa and put homeless

shackdwellers in transit camps in time for the 2010 World

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Cup.They have gained a lot of publicity for their efforts, even in

the international media. Abahlali baseMjondolo have threatened

to build shacks outside the Cape Town stadium to draw

attention to their situation.

Another prominent controversy surrounding preparations

for the World Cup is the N2 Gateway housing project in Cape

Town, which plans to remove over 20,000 residents from the Joe

Slovo Informal Settlement along the busy N2 Freeway and build

rental flats and bond-houses in its place in time for the 2010

World Cup. The residents would be moved to the poverty

stricken Delft township on the outskirts of the city and out of

sight from the N2 Freeway. There has been particular concern

about forced removals to the Blikkiesdorp camp in Delft and that

in Durban, children are being forcibly removed from the city

centre.

In July 2009, South Africa was

hit with rolling protests by poor

communities who demanded

access to basic services, jobs,

adequate housing and the

democratisation of ser vice

delivery. These protests have

been linked to the World Cup as

protesters complain that public

funds are being diverted away

from social issues to build

stadiums and upgrade airports.

Fears have been expressed that

the growing protests by shack dwellers could result in the

tournament being disrupted. Some grassroots social

movements have called for a boycott of the event.

In April 2010, the Swiss Labour Assistance (SLA), launched

a petition to FIFA's President Joseph Blatter. The petition asks

FIFA to actively engage against exploitation and the violation of

human rights in the context of FIFA World Cups. The petition

will be handed over in June 2010.

There have been claims that the police have implemented a

de facto state of emergency by banning protests during the

event.

Tournament organiser, Danny Jordaan dismissed concerns

that the terrorist attack on the Togo national team which took

place in Angola in January 2010, had any relevance to the security

arrangements for the World Cup.

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Starhub joined together to bid for the broadcast rights in late

2009, they were reportedly charged an initial SGD$40 million

(about USD$30 million). When the Singapore TV operators

refused to pay the initial sum quoted by FIFA, and as time

passed, Singapore was faced with the prospect of being one of

the few countries not to get match broadcasts from the 2010

FIFA World Cup.

With only about a month left before the tournament, FIFA

finally relented and reportedly reduced the fee to SGD$21

million (USD$15 million), which was then accepted by the

Singapore TV operators. This reduced fee was still significantly

higher than the fee that FIFA charged Starhub for the exclusive

rights to broadcast the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals tournament

in Germany which was reported to be SGD$15 million (US$11

million).

This increased fee for the 2010 World Cup tournament

broadcast rights resulted in the Singapore TV operators passing

on the cost to their subscribers who were then charged a special

fee of SGD$94 (US$68) in addition to existing contracts, to

watch the tournament's games. This high additional fee was the

most expensive in the region and angered Singapore football

fans who felt it was unfair when compared to countries in the

region that will either be broadcasting the matches free of

charge as in the case of Indonesia and Thailand; or at

significantly lower viewing fees at US$21 as in Malaysia and

US$38 in Hong Kong. This fee is also almost four times the

SGD$25 (USD$18) special fee that Starhub charged its

subscribers for viewing the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals matches

in Germany. As a result, many fans decided to protest against the

increased fees with a mass boycott of the 2010 FIFA World Cup

broadcast service by both operators.

Sony technology will be used to film the tournament.

According to FIFA up to 25 of the matches will be captured using

3D cameras. Footage will be captured in 3D through Sony's

proprietary multi-image MPE-200 processors, which will be

housed in specially designed 3D outside broadcast trucks. It will

be supplying its flagship HDC-1500 cameras as well as its new

HDC-P1 unit, a compact, point-of-view (POV)-type camera

with a 2/3-inch lens. The 3D games will be produced for FIFA by

Host Broadcast Services.

FIFA 2010 will be a highly watched event that would not only

be eventful but could be good trendsetter for future sporting

events that promise to be spectacular with more countries of the

world taking part and individual players carving out a niche for

themselves.

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In November 2009, it was reported that a rugby Test match

between the Springboks and France scheduled to take place in

Cape Town on 12 June 2010 would be moved to Europe due to

FIFA regulations banning other sport events in host cities

during the time of the World Cup. After negotiations between

the South African Rugby Union and members of the local

organising committee, it was announced that the Test will be

allowed to take place in Cape Town on the originally scheduled

date because no World Cup match is to be played in Cape Town

on that day, and the Test will be played at Newlands, which is not

a World Cup venue.

The South African low-fare airline Kulula.com were ordered

by FIFA to withdraw an advertisement that it claimed infringed

their trademarks. The advert, titled "The unofficial carrier of

the you-know-what", features soccer balls, vuvuzelas and the

National Flag of South Africa which FIFA claims when used in

conjunction with each other constitutes an infringement (of its

trademarks). Kulula.com disputed FIFA's claim, but later

announced that they would withdraw the specific advert whilst

continuing with the advertisement campaign.

The FIFA World Cup tournament,

from the year 1966, has always had a

'Mascot' representing it. From a lion to a

dog to an orange, the FIFA mascots have

always been a part of FIFA World Cup

competitions.

Zakumi, the leopard is the 'Official

Mascot of the 2010 World Cup'. He was 'born' on 16 June, 1994

and his name 'Zakumi' actually has meaning to it. 'ZA' is the ISO

3166-1 alpha-2 code for South Africa and 'kumi' literally

translates to ten in many South African languages. Zakumi has

green hair and wears a white t-shirt that says South Africa 2010

on it; he also sports a pair of green football shorts. Zakumi's gold

and green colors stand to represent the colors of the South

African national football team.

In Singapore, FIFA's broadcast rights fees for the 2010 FIFA

World Cup finals tournament have been described as

"exorbitant", with the organization having changed prices

according to what it perceived the country's TV operators were

willing to pay. When Singapore TV operators SingTel and


158 KILLED IN AI PLANE CRASH

As many as 158 people died when an Air India Express

aircraft from Dubai to Mangalore

overshot the runway upon landing,

went down a ravine and burst into

flames in the worst air disaster in

the country in a decade. Among

the victims were 19 children and

four infants.

Eight people jumped out of the plane which broke open

when it hit the crash barrier at the runway. In New Delhi, the

Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Praful Patel, met the Prime Minister,

Dr Manmohan Singh, and offered to resign. Dr Singh turned

down the offer.

Air India Express Flight IX 812 landed at around 6.05 am on

May 22, and appeared to skid off the runway which sits upon a

‘tabletop’ on the Bajpe-Kenjar hill, about 20 km from the city,

and plunged into the forest some 100 metres below, the AI

Director, Mr Anup Srivastava said.

The wind was calm at the time of landing and visibility was

placed at 6 km. There were different reports on whether there

was rain at the time of landing.

The civil aviation minister, Mr Praful Patel, said the plane’s

commander, Capt. Zlatko Glusica, a British national of Serbian-

origin, had overshot the runway by 2,000 metres. Capt. Glusica,

53, had over 10,000 hours of flying and had carried out 19

landings at the Mangalore airport during the last two years,

officials said.

The co-pilot, Capt. H.S. Ahluwalia, was based in Mangalore

and had 3,650 hours of flying experience, of which 3,350 hours

were on Boeing 737s. He had landed at Mangalore more than 60

times. The pilots had last flown into Mangalore on May 17.

An Air India official said the aircraft, a Boeing 737-8000, was

two-and-a-half-year old and was airworthy. The runway had

seen 32,000 landings since 2006.

Family and friends waiting to welcome their dear ones were

shocked into silence when they heard the thud as the plane

landed but, instead of coming to a stop, saw it overshoot the

runway and disappear from view in a ball of fire. Sources said one

of the aircraft’s wings hit a concrete structure containing

navigation equipment at the end of the runway as it careened

over the edge.

Pradeep, a passenger, said he jumped off the plane when its

wing was lopped off at the end of the runway while seven others

said they jumped or were thrown clear after the plane crashed

into the valley. All 158 bodies, many charred beyond recognition,

were pulled from the debris and taken to the Government

Wenlock Hospital.

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India is on course to test fire the

over 5,000 km range nuclear-capable

Agni-5 missile next year and a

successful mission would put the

country in an elite club of nations with

Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile

(ICBM) capabilities.

"Work is progressing satisfactorily

in the development of Agni-5, which is

expected to become a reality next year.

With this, DRDO would have given

India a comprehensive indigenous

strategic capability, available with only a few nations of the

world," DRDO Chief V K Saraswat said at the National

Technology Day awards function in New Delhi. Agni-5 is the

country's most ambitious strategic missile.

Agni-5 will be the first canistered road-mobile ballistic

missile – with a range of over 5,000 km – in the country's military

arsenal, bringing possible targets in the whole of China and

Pakistan within striking range. The missile is likely to be tested

early next year.

AGNI-5 ICBM TO BE A REALITY NEXT YEAR: DRDO CHIEF

India

Current events


While 1.13 lakh girls appeared in the test, 1476 qualified.

Aakanksha Tushar Sarda emerged the topper among girls with

an All India Rank of 18.

About 554 candidates in Hindi medium have qualified for

the entrance test which is a three fold rise over last year's 184.

Giving an international face to Indian education, the Central

Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) launched an upgraded

international syllabus for its schools abroad.

The new curriculum, which focuses on the education needs

of Indian diaspora as well as local communities, was launched by

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal at Indian

High School in Dubai, according to a official press release.

The curriculum which will be launched in 30 schools in nine

countries aims at carrying forward the basic strength of the

Indian system of education and promoting critical and creative

skills of the students.

Speaking at the function, Sibal emphasised the need for

quality education for all children, with learning being a

continuous and comprehensive process.

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After five postponements, the

Indian Olympic Association said the

34th National Games will be held from

9th-22nd December in Jharkhand.

The Games, originally scheduled to

be held in 2007, were first postponed

due to delay in infrastructure construction.

After another three postponement due to one reason or the

other, the Games were slated to be held in November-

December last year only to get postponed as the dates clashed

with the Assembly polls in the state.

State capital Ranchi will host 24 disciplines, including

athletics, badminton, shooting and aquatics. Dhanbad and

Jamshedpur will stage six and four disciplines respectively, an

IOA release said.

34TH NATIONAL GAMES IN JHARKHAND FROM9TH-22ND DECEMBER

CBSE LAUNCHES CURRICULUM FOR SCHOOLS ABROAD

Missiles which are capable of being launched from canisters

can be fired from multiple platforms and are easily transportable

by road. As a result, Agni-5 can reach every continent except

North and South America from various places across India.

Commenting on the Indian missile programme, Saraswat

said, “the success of Agni-3 and other tests have confirmed

India's strategic deterrence capability, which could not have

been possible without the preceding developmental efforts in

these programmes."

Agni-5 is similar to the Dongfeng-31A that created ripples

during China's National Day Military Parade in Beijing on

October 1 last. India's current long-range missile, the Agni-3, a

non-canisterised missile, can only be moved with difficulty from

one place to another.

The Agni-5 is specially tailored for road-mobility, according

to defence scientists.

With the canister having been successfully developed, all

India's future land-based strategic missiles are expected to be

canisterised as well.

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A total of 13,104

candidates cleared the

prestigious IIT-Joint

Entrance Examination

2010 with Anumula

Jithendar Reddy from

Madras zone topping

the test.

These students will

be eligible for admission in 15 IITs, ISM Dhanbad and IT-BHU.

There are 9,509 seats in these institutions. Over 4.5 lakh

candidates had appeared in JEE-2010 which was conducted by

seven of the IITs on April 11.

The number of candidates who appeared in JEE-2010 is

nearly 18.3 per cent more than that in the previous year. Reddy,

who appeared in JEE from IIT Madras Zone, topped this year's

All India list of successful candidates, the IITs said in a release.

The test was conducted in seven zones. The IIT Bombay

zone produced maximum number of successful candidates with

3145 students figuring in the merit list followed by IIT Madras

(2619), IIT Delhi (2264), IIT Kharagpur (1481), IIT Kanpur

(1341), IIT Roorkee (1305) and IIT Guwahati (521).

13,104 CANDIDATES CLEAR IIT-JEE

'We need a globalised community of children. I hope that it

would grow and provide an alternative international curriculum

to the students, both of the Indian diaspora and to local citizens

in the countries,' he said.

The board aims to expand the curriculum to its other

schools abroad as well in a phased manner.

The syllabus has been designed keeping in view the

foundations of the National Curricular Framework (NCF 2005)

and the experience gathered by the board over the last seven

decades in imparting effective learning to millions of learners,

many of whom are now global citizens.

The earlier curriculum focused largely on issues related to

Indian interest which were proving a hurdle in expanding the

coverage to international students.

The CBSE at present has 74 schools abroad, 63 of them in

Gulf countries alone.

India and energy-rich

Turkmenistan decided to step

up engagement in a number of

areas, particularly trade and

hyrdrocarbons, and signed five

pacts, including one in the

economic field.

During the talks between

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Turkmenistan

President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, India proposed to

conduct a feasibility study on setting up a gas-based fertilizer

plant in Turkmenistan and the latter agreed to take it forward.

The leaders also hoped that discussions on the proposed

Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline

project would continue with a view to realising it early. Singh and

Berdimuhamedov agreed that terrorism was one of the main

threats to security and sustainable development of countries of

the world and decided to cooperate against it.

The Turkmenistan President condemned the Mumbai

attacks. After the wide-ranging talks that covered bilateral

matters and regional and international issues of mutual

concern, the two sides signed an agreement on Economic and

Trade Cooperation which the two leaders hoped would pave the

way for enhanced economic engagement.

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INDIA, TURKMENISTAN TO STEP UP ENGAGEMENT INGAS SECTOR

They also signed a pact on Scientific and Technological

Cooperation, an Education Exchange Programme, an

Agreement on Exemption of Visas to Diplomatic Passport

holders and a Programme of Cooperation in the fields of

Culture, Art, Mass Media and Sports.

“The two leaders agreed on the existence of significant

potential in terms of increasing trade volumes between the two

countries,” a joint statement issued after the talks said.

Singh and Berdimuhamedov agreed that the governments

and the Chambers of Commerce and Industry need to take

necessary measures to strengthen bilateral trade and economic

cooperation.

A joint study by designated agencies of the two Governments

and Chambers of Commerce and Industry was recommended

with a view to identifying measures, which would deepen

economic engagement, the statement said.

The leaders expressed satisfaction on the ongoing

discussions between the oil/natural gas companies of India and

Turkmenistan under the framework of the Joint Working Group

on Hydrocarbons and hoped this would create conditions

necessary for mutually beneficial cooperation in the

hydrocarbon sector of Turkmenistan.

It was agreed that the Ministers on both sides responsible for

oil and gas will take forward ideas for intensifying joint efforts in

various projects in that sector.

Arjun Bajpayee a 16-year-old

Delhi school boy, on May 22, had

a brief tryst with destiny

equalling the world record of

being the youngest to step atop

the world's highest peak 8,848

metre Mt Everest, only to have

his feat overturned hours later

by a 13-year-old American.

Bajpayee, became the youngest Indian to climb Everest early

this morning via the traditional South Col route in Nepal. He

equalled the record of a Nepalese Sherpa Temba Tsheri who also

climbed the peak when he was sixteen. But a few hours later, a

13-year-old Californian boy Jordan Romero broke his record by

climbing the peak from the tough North Eastern ridge route in

Tibet.

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16-YR-OLD BOY IS THE YOUNGEST INDIAN TO SCALEEVEREST



While the MoC applies to all 38 districts in Bihar, the

Foundation will initially start work in the nine districts of Patna,

Banka, Khagaria, Begusarai, Gopalganj, Saharsa, Samastipur,

and East and West Champaran.

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President's rule was

imposed in Jharkhand on

June 1, two days after

Shibu Soren stepped

down as Chief Minister

and none of the three

major political parties in

t h e s t a t e s h o w i n g

willingness to form an

alternate government.

The cabinet committee on political affairs chaired by Prime

Minister Manmohan Singh met to approve the imposition of

President's rule and put the legislative assembly in suspended

animation, official sources said. The decision came after

Governor M.O.H. Farooq sent a report on the political situation

in the state to the union home ministry.

Before sending the report, the governor summoned leaders

of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress and the

Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) to see if they

could form a government after Soren stepped down. The three

parties told Farooq they did not have the numbers to form an

alternative government.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Chief Minister had asked

for time till May 31 to prove majority after his government lost

support of the BJP. The governor in his report had pointed out

that no party was willing to form the government and

suggested that the state be put under a short spell of

President's rule.

The JMM-led five-month-old government was propped up

by the BJP with 18 members, the All Jharkhand Students Union

(AJSU) with five legislators and the Janata Dal-United's two

members. The Congress has 14 members, the JVM-P 11, and

the Rashtriya Janata Dal five legislators. There are also five

Independents.

The JMM-led government was reduced to minority after the

BJP withdrew support on May 24. Jharkhand was plunged into

political uncertainty when Soren voted against the BJP's cut

motions in parliament to favour the Congress-led United

Progressive Alliance government.

PRESIDENT'S RULE IMPOSED IN JHARKHAND

The Californian is on a quest to climb all the highest peaks in

the seven continents. The two youngsters could have had a tryst

atop the world's highest summit, but apparently missed each

other by a whisker, as Bajpayee after a short stay atop made his

way back for a descent.

Bajpayee climbed the peak in the company of Apa Sherpa 50,

who became the first man to climb the peak for the record 20th

time. The world record for the highest number of climbs on

Everest also earlier stood in his name.

Along with Bajpayee, also making it to the top was another

Indian woman Mamta Sodha who reached the summit four

hours after the young Indian.

Earlier on May 17, two other Indian climbers had reached

the summit.

In a move to bolster Bihar's public

health standards, the State government

on May 12, signed a Memorandum of

Cooperation (MoC) with the Bill and

Melinda Gates Foundation.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates,

who visited Bihar, signed the agreement in the presence of Chief

Minister Nitish Kumar with the objective of accelerating State-

wide improvements in maternal, newborn and child health.

Speaking to journalists at the event, Mr. Gates said Bihar

remained a priority as far as immunisation drives were

concerned, and stressed on the reduction of infant mortality

rates, full immunisation coverage and breast feeding.

Terming the MoC a “milestone,” he expressed satisfaction

at the progress in reducing the number of polio cases in the Kosi

belt areas, along with the strides being taken to improve

women's health in the State.

The Bihar government and the Foundation anticipate the

programmes and activities governed by the memorandum to

have a five-year duration, from 2010 to 2015.

According to the MoC, the Foundation will provide

technical, management and program design support via NGOs

in the areas of maternal, neonatal and child health; maternal and

child nutrition; vaccine-preventable diseases, tuberculosis,

pneumonia and Kala-azar, among others.

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BILL GATES SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH BIHAR TO BOOSTHEALTH STANDARDS

PASSPORTS AT DOORSTEP IN 3 DAYS NOW

GYANESHWARI DERAILMENT: DEATH TOLL MOUNTS TO 142

The govt is all set to issue regular

passports in three days and tatkal ones the

same day as Foreign Minister S M

Krishna will inaugurate four Passport

Seva Kendras which made this

possible in Karnataka as part of the

Passport Seva Project.

Government sources said 77

such centres will come up across the

country by the end of this financial year.

These centres will ensure issuance of

tatkal passports to applicants within hours.

The Passport Seva Project aims to issue passports in three

days as against the current 45 days.

The contract for implementing the Rs 1,000 crore project

was given to TCS in October 2008.

Passport Seva Project, based on a public-private partnership

model, aims to provide passport-related services to citizens in a

speedy, convenient and transparent manner.

In the new system, soon after the application is submitted,

the verification list will be forwarded to the district police chief.

The same day, it will be segregated station wise and will be

forwarded to the respective police stations.

At least 142 passengers were

killed and more than 250 injured

in Mumbai-bound express train

derailment by Maoists.

South Eastern Rai lway

spokesman Soumitra Majumdar

said the train had 24 coaches.

After the explosion, 13 including 10 sleeper coaches,

derailed out of which five were hit by the goods train coming on

the opposite track.

The incident occurred at 1:30 am on May 28, when the train

was running between Khemasoli and Sardiya stations, about 135

km from Jhargram, South Eastern Railway officials said.

��

An unreserved coach, the pantry car and luggage van also

derailed.

A massive rescue and relief operation is continuing at the site

of railway mishap. Efforts are underway to clear the tracks and

restore normalcy on the route.

The Railways have arranged a special 15 coach train for

Kurla to accommodate the passengers of Howrah-Kurla

Gyaneshwari Express.

Anti-Maoist forces were at the spot and assisting the police

and rescue personnel in extricating the bodies from four badly

damaged sleeper coaches S-5, S-6, S-7 and S-8.

The state government would bear the treatment cost of the

injured passengers, Chief Minister's secretariat sources said.

This is the second Maoist attack on civilians within a month.

Naxals had blown up a civilian bus in Dantewada district of

Chhattisgarh on 17th May killing at least 36 people, including 12

Special Police Officers.

The Prime Minister’s Council on

Climate Change, which met on May

28, approved in principle the National

Water Mission and suggested that its

basic approach should be to make

water conservation a peoples’

movement in India.

The Prime Minister chairing the

Council highlighted the need to

create a general consciousness of the

need to use water in the most

sustainable manner. Ministers and other members of the

Council endorsed these views.

It was stated that the first step in this direction would be to

prepare a comprehensive water data base in the public domain

and assessing the impact of climate change on water.

It was also decided that water use efficiency should be raised

by 20% through the promotion of water- positive and water-

neutral technologies.

It was also felt that the Research and Development

requirements of the Mission should be focused upon.

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PM'S COUNCIL ON CLIMATE CHANGE APPROVESNATIONAL WATER MISSION



The proposed deemed-to-be university will have to be

registered either as a non-profit society under the Societies

Registration Act or as a non-profit trust under the Public Trust

Act. The new guidelines also make it mandatory for an

institution to be in existence for at least 15 years before seeking

deemed university status, against the earlier 10 years, except

under the category of ‘De-novo Institutions' or Innovative

Universities.

To discourage single discipline colleges seeking deemed

university status in order to escape regulatory councils, the

diversity of programmes has been insisted upon.

There is also emphasis on the quality of research activity,

publications and scholarly works of a high standard as evidenced

by inclusions in an internationally recognised database.

An unidentified gunman made an attempt on the life of Sri

Sri Ravishankar, Art of Living founder, on the premises of his

ashram in Bangalore on May 30.

The assailant missed the target and

injured one Vinay, who was standing near

the Guruji, police said. He was injured on

the thigh.

The incident occurred after the

culmination of a mega Satsang on the Art

of Living campus on Kanakapura Road,

in which about 8,000 people participated.

Police said the Guruji was safe.

Police suspect the miscreant used a 0.22 revolver. However,

neither the weapon nor the assailant was traced until midnight.

The BCCI announced that it will not send either the men's

or the women's cricket team for this year's Asian Games in China

where the game makes its debut in its Twenty20 format.

The 16th edition of the Games will be held in Guangzhou,

China from November 12 to 27 and the BCCI's decision means

loss of potential medals for the country. "We would not be able to

send our team, both men and women, for the Asian Games in

China because of international commitments," BCCI Chief

administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty told reporters.

��

��

ATTEMPT ON LIFE OF RAVISHANKAR

BCCI NOT TO SEND CRICKET TEAMS TO ASIAN GAMES

The Ministers of Finance, Power, Water Resources, Non-

Conventional and Renewable Energy Resources, Urban

Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and

Minister (Independent Charge) Environment and Forest and

Members of the Council were present in the meeting.

The new University Grants Commission

(UGC) guidelines, which bar the presidents

of sponsor ing organisat ions from

chancellorship of the deemed-to-be

universities established by them, have drawn

flak from educational trusts and societies.

As per the new UGC (Institutions

Deemed-to-be Universities) Regulations 2010, notified on May

21, the chancellor of a deemed university, appointed by the

sponsoring society or trust, will have to be an eminent

educationist or a distinguished public figure other than the

President of the sponsoring society or his/her relative. The

chancellor can be a member of neither the society nor the trust.

Conveying their reservations over this provision to Union

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, the

managements of several private institutions run by registered

societies and trusts and granted the ‘deemed-to-be university'

status by the UGC pointed out that it would be a disincentive to

philanthropic groups interested in setting up new educational

institutions when the country actually needed more.

Among those who have voiced their concern are the Birla

Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS), Pilani; Manipal

University; Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT); and Symbiosis

University, Pune – all deemed universities under Section 3 of the

UGC Act.

While Symbiosis University, a registered society, has written

to Mr. Sibal, VIT and Manipal University, both registered as

trusts, and BITS, also a registered society, have conveyed their

reservations.

The new guidelines were issued with a view to plugging

deficiencies detected in the recent review of deemed

universities, which indicated that such institutions functioned

as family ‘fiefdoms.'

These institutions will not be granted the deemed university

status under the fresh guidelines, while the position of pro-

chancellors has been abolished.

��

DEEMED UNIVERSITIES UNHAPPY WITH THE NEW UGCGUIDELINES

"We have communicated the same to the Indian Olympic

Association," he said. Cricket's debut at the Games was

approved at the Olympic Council of Asia's General Assembly in

Kuwait recently and May 31, was the last date to confirm

participation.

Indian men's team will have a busy time in November as they

host New Zealand for three Tests and five ODIs. This year's

Asian Games will feature 42 disciplines, 14 more than what takes

place in the Olympics. Countries which are expected to send

cricket teams for the Games include Pakistan, Sri Lanka and

Bangladesh.

��

India's first indigenous

combat helicopter capable of

participating in anti-Naxal and

counter terrorism operations

took to the skies, marking its

first official flight at the HAL

airport in Bangalore.

The Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), designed and

developed indigenously by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

(HAL) in four years since the project began in 2006, is likely to

be ready for induction by the Army and Air Force before 2014.

Witnessed by IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal, P.K. Barbora and the

defence production Secretary, Mr R.K. Singh, the 10-minute

flight display caught the attention of those present at the venue,

with the 5.8-tonne chopper showcasing its manoeuvrability and

stability, including one of the most difficult moves– reverse slide.

The Defence Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, and the IAF Chief

Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik, did not attend the event in view of

the tragic air crash of a civilian flight in Mangalore which

claimed 158 lives.

"It is a red letter day for not only HAL, but the whole nation. I

am quite positive the aircraft will meet all IAF requirements in

this class of helicopters. The first display has been superb,"

Barbora said at a function soon after witnessing the maiden

flight of the LCH.

Barbora said very few countries around the world had the

capability to indigenise a helicopter of this class, but at the same

time cautioned HAL that it must learn from its past mistakes

and not repeat them.

INDIA'S COMBAT CHOPPER UNVEILED,INDUCTION BY 2014

He said though the helicopter was bulky and heavy, it was a

versatile aircraft and the problems with its weight would be

solved as years go by.

Mr Singh, in his address, said LCH was a "truly fine"

machine and the indigenous development of the helicopter had

both strategic and economic reasons.

He said it was important for a country to be independent of

other nations when it comes to its defence production and

research and development capabilities.

Moreover, import of weapons led to job creation in other

country, as India spent billions every year to equip its armed

forces.

"I would like to set a deadline of four years from now for the

LCH to be inducted into the armed forces and I feel it is a

reasonable time frame for HAL to achieve," he added.

The HAL Chairman, Mr Ashok Nayak, said the defence PSU

had already bagged an order for supplying 65 of these combat

helicopters to the IAF and the Army was showing keen interests

in buying a large number for its Army Aviation wing.

The IAF currently operates two squadrons of combat

helicopters comprising Russian-origin Mi-25s and Mi-35s.

��

The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh nominated

members for the second National Advisory Council (NAC) that

will set the Government's its social agenda.

The list of the nominated persons includes Prof. M.S.

Swaminathan, MP, Dr. Ram Dayal Munda, MP, Prof. Narendra

Jadhav, Member, Planning Commission, Prof. Pramod Tandon,

VC, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Dr. Jean Dreze, GB

Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad, Aruna Roy, Mazdoor

Kisan Shakti Sangatan, Rajsamand, Rajasthan, Madhav Gadgil,

Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, N.C. Saxena, Dr. A.K. Shiv

Kumar, Advisor, UNICEF, New Delhi, Deep Joshi, Anu Aga,

Thermax Ltd., Pune, Ms. Farah Naqvi, Harsh Mander, Ms Mirai

Chatterjee, Coordinator, SEWA, Ahmedabad.

NAC serves as an interface between the government and the

Congress party, which heads the ruling United Progressive

Alliance (UPA), and is chaired by Congress President and UPA

chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

PM NOMINATES NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCILMEMBERS



FIRST WOMAN PRIME MINISTER VOWS UNITY INTRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Kamla Persad-Bissessar of

Indian origin has been elected the

first woman Prime Minister of

Trinidad and Tobago after her

five-party coalition swept to

victory in snap elections in the

former British colony.

A subdued Prime Minister

Patrick Manning conceded

defeat, as TV counts showed

almost the whole map of the

larger island of Trinidad turn the

coalition color of yellow, as well as

both seats in Tobago.

Indian music and traditional Caribbean beats rang out at a

victory party for Kamla Persad-Bissessar in the nation famed for

its carnival.

Persad-Bissessar's campaign tapped into voters' worries about

rising gang violence and corruption scandals in Port ofSpain.

The 58-year-old also promised to increase pensions and

create a multi-million-dollar fund for sick children in a

campaign focused on change.

Politics have long been divided along lines of Indian or

African descent, the two majority ethnic groups.

Manning's People's National Movement (PNM) draws most

of its support from Afro-Trinidadians while the United National

Congress (UNC) of Persad-Bissessar largely relies on Indo-

Trinidadian backing.

The new coalition includes the multi-racial Congress of the

People, and the smaller National Joint Action Committee, the

Tobago Organization of the People and the Movement for Social

Justice.

THAI FILM WINS CANNES TOP HONOUR

Thai film 'Uncle Boonmee

Who Can Recall His Past Lives',

a spooky tale of reincarnation by

39-year - o ld Ap icha tpong

Weerasethakul, won the Best

Picture Palm d'Or honour at the

63rd Cannes Film Festival in

Cannes.

The win is being considered a real upset by the critics as the

jury ignored strong favourite Xavier Beauvois' 'Of Gods and

Men', which details the massacre of Christian monks in a remote

Algerian village by Islamic extremists in the 1990s.

With Franco-Algerian ties forever on tenterhooks, the movie

provoked protests but managed to win festival's second most

important award, Grand Prize.

A special jury award went to a third film, Chadian Director

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's Un homme qui crie (A Screaming

Man), a tragedy of parental betrayal.

The Best Actor Palme was shared by Spain's Javier Bardem in

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 'Biutiful', and Italy's Elio

Germano in 'Our Life' by Daniele Luchetti.

The Tim Burton led jury, which also included India's

Shekhar Kapur, selected actress Juliette Binoche for the Best

Actress award. She plays an unhappy antiques dealer in Abbas

Kiarostami's first film set outside his native Iran, 'Certified

Copy'.

Former Bond villain Mathieu Amalric won the Best Director

prize for his debut 'On Tour'.

The film is the story of an impresario touring round France

with a bunch of blowsy burlesque dancers. South Korea's

'Poetry', by Lee Chang-Dong, an intensely poignant tale of a

grandmother and her angst over her grandson's crime, managed

to clinch the Best Screenplay Palm.

World

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development or deployment and to refrain from any action which

would undermine regional peace and security," the final

document said.

The NPT Review Conference is held every five years to

assess the progress in reaching the goals set out in the 1970

treaty to disarm and stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

India, Pakistan and Israel did not attend the last meet and

have not signed the treaty. The last conference in 2005 had

ended in failure. In a section on South Asia in the text, the UN

urged India and Pakistan to place all nuclear facilities under the

safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"The conference urges both states to strengthen their non-

proliferation export control measures over technologies,

material and equipment that can be used for the production of

nuclear weapons and their delivery systems," it said.

��

Former British Prime Minister,

Tony Blair will be a part-time adviser

on green energy to US venture capital

firm Khosla Ventures.

According to a BBC report, Blair

will provide strategic advice regarding

investments in environmentally

friendly or helpful technologies.

A company press release quoted Blair, as saying, "Solving the

climate crisis is more than just a political agenda item - it's an

urgent priority that requires innovation, creativity, and

ambition."

Company owner Vinod Khosla said, "Understanding local

and global politics is now important for us, techie nerds. This is

where our relationship with Tony Blair can really help us. Tony

understands far better than I ever will the political and

geopolitical forces, as well as organization behaviour and social

behaviour and change."

Blair is currently the special UN envoy for the Middle East

quartet, which comprises the United Nations, Russia, the

United States and the European Union. He also runs the Tony

Blair Faith Foundation.

The business, that started in 2004, specializes in

environmentally friendly technologies. These include solar,

wind and nuclear energy projects.

BLAIR APPOINTED AS ‘GREEN ENERGY’ ADVISER

SIBAL LAUNCHES CBSE'S INTERNATIONALCURRICULUM

UN ASKS INDIA, PAK, ISRAEL TO JOIN NPT, CTBT

The Central Board of Secondary

Education (CBSE) launched its self-

designed international curriculum that

aims to compete with its western

counterparts to produce the global

citizen.

Human Resource Development

Minister, Kapil Sibal presided over the

worldwide launch of the CBSE-

international (CBSE-i) curriculum at Dubai's Indian High

School (IHS). The IHS will also become a global centre for

training teachers in the new curriculum under the guidelines of

the CBSE.

He said that CBSE's initiative was futuristic, and was a

reflection of India's ambitious drive to establish a vast pool of

skilled manpower that could become a significant driver of the

global economy.

“It is important to realise that the global community is going

to need quality human resources. That will be provided only by

countries where human resources are available,” Mr. Sibal said

in a conversation with media person. Because of its ample pool of

young people, India has the advantage of having a “demographic

dividend,” in comparison to “demographic deficit” that was

being felt in the rest of the world, he said.

In a departure from tradition of not singling out countries by

name, the United Nations has asked India, Pakistan and Israel to

join NPT and CTBT without further delay and pre-conditions.

The UN's call to the three countries to join Nuclear non-

Proliferation Treaty and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

(CTBT) came at the end of the month-long 2010 NPT review

conference in New York on May 28.

While it was expected that the names would be dropped in

favour of a general statement calling for the universality of the

NPT, the final document produced at the conference specifically

called on India, Pakistan and Israel to accede to the treaty

without further delay and pre-conditions.

The 189 delegates to the conference also called on the "three

states, operating unsafeguarded nuclear facilities to reverse

clearly and urgently any policies to pursue any nuclear weapon

��


KISHANGANGA: PAK TO MOVE INTERNATIONAL COURT

SHUTTLE ATLANTIS COMPLETES ITS LAST MISSION

Pakistan has served a legal notice to

India concerning the long pending

issue of construct ion of the

Kishaganga dam over the river Indus.

The notice has been sent by the

Water and Power Ministr y in

consultation with the Indus Water commission with an aim to

bring the issue before the World Bank’s court of arbitration.

The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), inked between India and

Pakistan in 1960, provides appointment of a neutral expert by the

World Bank as a last option to resolve water related issues

between both the countries.

Pakistan has been blaming India for an unsporting attitude

during bilateral talks, which were initiated to resolve the

impending water dispute.

Pakistan has been opposing the construction of the

Kishanganga hydropower project on the Ganga River in

Kashmir, which is called Neelum upon entering Pakistan.

Pakistan has said that the diversion of the waters of the Neelum

is not allowed under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, and it will face

a 27 per cent water deficit, when the project gets completed.

It also claims that India has almost completed a 22-kilometre

long tunnel to divert Kishanganga waters to Wullar Lake in

Jammu and Kashmir.

The space shuttle Atlantis

touched down on May 26, at Kennedy

Space Centre in Florida, bringing an

end to its last scheduled mission.

The landing marks the likely end

of Atlantis’ 25 years of space flight as

NASA retires the ageing space shuttle fleet.

Only two further missions, by the Endeavour and Discovery

shuttles, are planned by the US space agency NASA before those

vessels are also taken out of service. The last shuttle flight is set

for November.

During its 11-day mission, Atlantis had brought new Russian

research equipment and a docking module to the ISS in the

ongoing construction of the international station.

��

Astronauts carried out three spacewalks to exchange the

electrical batteries of the ISS and to install a new antenna.

Since its first flight in October 1985, Atlantis has made 32

flights and travelled more than 120 million miles.

Though NASA stressed throughout the mission that this

flight was like any other, ground crew admitted before blast-off

that it was a bittersweet time as the shuttle crew winds down.

Atlantis will not be mothballed right away, allowing NASA to

keep it on hand for a possible rescue mission.

“We'll turn this incredible machine over to the ground crew

to put it in the barn for a bit,” Commander Ken Ham said after

steering Atlantis to the runway.

The retirement of the shuttle fleet has long been planned,

but has come under increased scrutiny after President Barack

Obama cancelled Bush-era plans to return to moon in a next

generation spacecraft.

Obama has instead chosen to promote commercial

spaceflight to nearby destinations and to focus NASA on long-

term goals, such as reaching Mars.

��

Mafia and India’s most wanted

fugitive Dawood Ibrahim, mastermind of

the 1993 Mumbai bombings, figures

third on the Forbes’ Most Wanted list

which has been topped by Osama Bin

Laden.

The list, carried in the latest edition of

the Forbes magazine, also has Mexico’s most powerful drug

trafficker Joaquin Guzman in No.2. The magazine, which has

been releasing a list of most wanted fugitives for the past three

years, pointed out that Dawood, who is believed to be hiding in

Pakistan, possibly had a hand in aiding LeT execute the 2008

Mumbai attacks and also shares smuggling routes with Al

Qaeda.

“Though the Pakistani government denies it, Ibrahim is

probably in Pakistan, where he has important ties with the

powerful intelligence service,” it said.

The article described Dawood as “the most wanted man in

India” who has for years led a 5,000-member criminal syndicate

known as D-Company.

DAWOOD 3RD MOST WANTED


INDIA AND CHINA SIGN THREE PACTS TO ENHANCEBILATERAL COOPERATION

The President of India, Ms

Pratibha Patil, arrived on a six-

day trip to China on May 26, at a

time when the two Asian giants

are marking the 60th anniversary

o f t h e e s t a b l i s h m e n t o f

diplomatic relations that have

lately been scarred by distrust,

perceptional differences and

border tensions.

Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao warmly welcomed Patil and

described her visit in Beijing as “significant” as it coincided with

the 60th year of establishment of Sino-India diplomatic ties.

Indian President signed three bilateral cooperation pacts

including two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between

India and China. The agreements were signed after the Indian

President held talks with her Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao at

the Great Hall of The People in Chinese capital Beijing.

India's Foreign Secretary, Nirupama Rao and Chinese

Assistant Foreign Minister, Hu Zhengyue signed an agreement

streamlining the visa application formalities for airline staff of

the two countries.

India sought China’s support for its bid for a permanent seat

in the UN Security Council during a meeting between President

Pratibha Patil and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing.

China, which is one of the five veto-wielding members of the

powerful UN Security Council along with the US, UK, Russia

and France, has been saying that it supports India’s aspirations

to play an important role at the UN, but wants an overall reform

of the world body.

Patil and Wen also discussed bilateral issues, particularly

trade and commerce between the two countries.

President Patil also dedicated the first Indian-styled

Buddhist temple in China, situated in the famous White Horse

temple complex in Luoyang, to the people of this country,

describing it as a "testimony" of the friendship between the two

neighbours.

In her remarks, Patil said, “I am very much pleased to visit

you in China and I thank for the hospitality extended to me and

my delegation. Excellent arrangements have been made for the

visit and I thank you for that.” She also referred to Wen’s last visit

to India.

VIENNA ON TOP, IN INDIA BENGALURU IS THE BEST CITY

Bengaluru is the best city in India offering the highest

quality of living. The capital city of Karnataka with rank of 140 is,

however, way below European cities of Vienna, Zurich and

Geneva, the top three cities in the worldwide rankings of cities

for the quality of living.

The Quality of Living Survey 2010 by Mercer, saw Indian

cities – New Delhi (63.8 points), Mumbai (63.6 points) and

Kolkata (63.2 points) – trailing Bengaluru (64.9 points) with

ranks of 143, 144 and 145 respectively. Chennai was at No. 153 in

the list of 221 cities.

The rankings in the survey

have been based on a point-

scoring index, ranked against

New York as the base city, with an

index score of 100. Vienna tops

the list with 108.6 points. New

York is in position 49 on the list.

Singapore at 28th spot with 103.5 points is the top-scoring

Asian city, followed by Tokyo at 40th spot with 101.4 points.

Shanghai is the best city in China with a score of 82 points and

rank of 105.

“Quality of living declined in a few countries in Asia between

the start of 2009 and 2010.

Increasing threats of violence and terrorism, coupled with

natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons and cyclones

have had a negative impact on the quality of living in Asian

cities,” Mr Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at Mercer, said.

European cities dominate the top 25 cities in the index with

16 places. However, British cities are not doing as well - London

ranks at 39, Aberdeen 53, Birmingham 55 and Glasgow 57.

In the United States, the highest ranking entry is Honolulu

at 31, followed by San Francisco at position 32.

The ranking also identifies the cities with the best eco-

ranking based on water availability and drink-ability, waste

removal, quality of sewage systems, air pollution and traffic

congestion. Canadian city of Calgary is at the top of this index

with the score of 145.7 points. Honolulu has second place on the

list with 145.1 points and Ottawa and Helsinki are in joint third

with 139.9 points.

However, Indian cities did worse on this index, with

Bengaluru at 198 spot, Chennai at 202, New Delhi at 213,

Mumbai at 215 and Kolkata at 218 on the list of 221 cities.


N KOREA SCRAPS PACT WITH S KOREA MILITARY ASTEMPERS FLARE

SUDAN'S BESHIR VOWS DIALOGUE WITH WESTDESPITE ICC WARRANT

North Korea scrapped a pact aimed at

preventing accidental armed clashes with

South Korea at their flashpoint border, as

tempers flared over the sinking of a warship.

Pyongyang's general staff also warned of

an immediate attack if the South's navy

violates the disputed Yellow Sea borderline,

and repeated threats to shut down a joint business project.

Elsewhere in the Yellow Sea, South Korea's navy staged an

anti-submarine exercise in its first show of strength since Seoul

publicly accused Pyongyang of torpedoing one of its warships on

26th March with the loss of 46 lives.

In Seoul, an estimated 10,000 protesters shouted "Kill our

enemy!" and whacked images of the North's leader Kim Jong-Il

with wooden bars.

The South has announced a series of reprisals including a

halt to trade. The North, which denies involvement, has

responded with angry rhetoric and an announcement that it is

cutting all ties with its neighbour.

Blasting the South's “confrontation maniacs, sycophants

and quislings”, the North's military said agreements on

forestalling accidental conflicts would be declared “completely

null and void”.

Veteran Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir vowed to

engage with the West despite an International

Criminal Court warrant hanging over him, as

he was sworn in to a new five-year term.

Beshir, who last month won a multi-party

election 21 years after seizing power in a

military coup, also pledged to fight for

Sudanese unity as Africa's biggest country

heads to a referendum in January next year on

independence for the south.

Dressed in traditional white robes and turban, Beshir

addressed parliament in a ceremony attended by six African

heads of state or government, and low-level representation from

Western countries.

��

"I will personally strive to build up a dialogue, an objective

dialogue with Western states aimed at clearing the atmosphere,"

he said.

In March 2009, Beshir became the first sitting head of state

to be indicted by the ICC. He stands accused of war crimes and

crimes against humanity in Darfur.

The seven-year-old conflict in the vast western region

pitting the army and Arab militias against ethnic minority rebels

sparked US charges of genocide and Western anger that he

refused to cooperate with the International Criminal Court or

surrender wanted officials.

China and the U.S. have signed

eight green energy deals to

enhance cooperation in the sector,

which experts believe will open

doors for imports of high-end

technology so far blocked by

Washington.

The eight deals include aviation bio fuel, distributed energy

systems using natural gas as fuel, smart meters and cellulosic

ethanol.

Neither side disclosed the financial details of the deals.

The agreements followed conclusion of high-level strategic

and economic dialogue between the two countries attended by

among others U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.

As the world’s two largest energy consumers, China and the

US will also join hands for renewable energy development, said

Zhang Guobao, head of National Energy Administration (NEA),

adding that China will keep an open mind to develop the

renewable energy sector.

The two countries have big potential for collaboration in the

area, said Zhang.

“The US has advanced technology, and China has a huge

market.” The US and China will “take every angle” to ensure

their cooperation in energy and environment, said US

Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman.

The deals could set examples for global collaboration in

increasing energy efficiency and protecting environment, state

run China Daily quoted analysts as saying.

��

CHINA, U.S. SIGN EIGHT GREEN TECHNOLOGY DEALS


"It won’t happen overnight. It won’t happen tomorrow. It

won’t happen next week,” he said.

He said Americans should start investing in clean energy

technology, solar, wind, biodiesel, hybrid plug-ins and making

buildings more efficient.

“We’re not going to eliminate that completely. But we are

over time going to undergo transition in ourselves and we will

become more energy efficient, which will be good for our

national security, it will be good for our economy, it will be good

for our environment, it will be good for our future,” Obama said.

Israel is to deploy three submarines

equipped with nuclear cruise missiles

in the Persian Gulf, amid fears that

ballistic missiles developed by Iran

could be used to hit strategic sites in the

Jewish state, a media report said.

The newspaper was quoted by local media as saying that one

of the submarines has been sent over Israeli fears that ballistic

missiles developed by Iran, and in the possession of Syria and

Hezbollah, could be used to hit strategic sites in the Jewish state,

including air bases and missile launchers.

Dolphin, Tekuma, and Leviathan, all submarines of the 7th

navy Flotilla, have been reported to be frequenting the Gulf in

the past.

However, according to the newspaper report, this new

deployment is meant to ensure a permanent naval presence near

the Iranian coastline.

A flotilla officer told the British newspaper that the deployed

submarines were meant to act as a deterrent, gather intelligence

and potentially to land Mossad agents in the region.

The submarines could be used if Iran continues with its

nuclear programme to produce a bomb.

"The 1,500 km range of the submarines cruise missiles can

reach any target in Iran," a navy officer told the newspaper.

Iranian officials reportedly reacted strongly vowing to

retaliate. “Anyone who wishes to do an evil act in the Persian Gulf

will receive a forceful response from us," an Iranian Admiral told

the newspaper.

��

ISRAEL TO DEPLOY SUBMARINES WITH N-MISSILES INPERSIAN GULF

A series of Chinese and U.S. companies are involved in the

eight deals.

The deals could also open up doors for high technology to

emerging economies like India as U.S. was keen to step up

exports in the sector to increase its earnings from exports which

in turn could also help create more jobs for Americans.

Analysts said Sino-US cooperation on green energy would

set a good example for other countries.

President Barack Obama said the U.S. has to “go back to

basics” and fix its education system if it has to continue to be

ahead in this highly competitive world as countries like India and

China are catching up fast with the developed world.

Obama said it is time that

Americans said to themselves that

they are ready to make a change on

behalf of the future of their children

and grandchildren.

"We know that if we want to build

a real future in an economy this

competitive with China and India and Brazil and other countries

on the rise, that we’re going to have to go back to basics,” Obama

said in his speech at a fund raiser held for Senator Barbara Boxer

in California.

“We’ve got to fix our education system. We’ve got to make

sure that every young person in America has a chance to go to

college,” the President said.

“We’ve got to make sure- and by the way, you may have

missed it during the health care debate, but we added billions of

dollars in funding to student loans by cutting out the financial

middlemen,” Obama said amidst several rounds of applause.

“Everybody knows that we are at an inflection point in our

history, that we’ve got a choice between going back to the same

status quo, except the status quo won’t work anymore.”

The President said the US will not be able to run an economy

based on “maxing out credit cards”, taking out home equity

loans and running up debt and the financial sector getting

exorbitant profits based on a bunch of financial shenanigans.

Obama said Americans should get ready to make a change on

behalf of the future.

��

U.S. HAS TO GO BACK TO BASIC AND FIX EDUCATIONSYSTEM


JAPAN PRIME MINISTER HATOYAMA RESIGNS

Japan's centre-left Prime

Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigned

on June 2, less than nine months

after taking power following a

landslide election win.

Hatoyama, who took office in

September, has seen his poll ratings

plummet from more than 70% to below 20% amid a row over an

unpopular US army base on the southern island of Okinawa.

Hatoyama initially promised to move the base off the island

but backtracked and decided to keep it there, caving in to

Washington but enraging Okinawans and his pacifist coalition

partners the Social Democrats.

The left-leaning group quit his three-party coalition,

weakening the government in the upper house ahead of July

elections, while Hatoyama's poll ratings plunged to a new low of

below 20 per cent.

A tearful Hatoyama made the announcement at a special

parliamentary meeting of lawmakers from his Democratic Party

of Japan (DPJ), telling them: "I will step down" while also vowing

to "create a new DPJ".

“The government's work has not reflected the public's

wishes,” the Premier said, adding that he had also asked party

heavyweight and secretary general Ichiro Ozawa to quit.

Ozawa has been embroiled in a funding scandal that has

seen three of his current and former aides indicted. Prosecutors

have also in the past questioned Ozawa and raided his offices.

Hatoyama, 63, named Ozawa's and his own funds problems

and the Okinawa issue as the two main reasons for his

resignation.

"I have caused trouble for the people of Okinawa," Hatoyama

said. "We will need to make efforts to move the US base outside

of Okinawa. But the result was that we could not deliver."

Hatoyama, who last summer ended more than half a century

of almost unbroken conservative rule, was Japan's fourth Prime

Minister in four years.

Tipped as the most likely successors was Deputy Prime

Minister and Finance Minister Naoto Kan, with Foreign

Minister Katsuya Okada and Transport Minister Seiji Maehara

also seen as possible contenders.

A Stanford-trained engineering scholar, Hatoyama has a

scholarly bent that often saw him criticised as lofty and out of

touch with the common people.

��

The United Nations Security

Council (UNSC) has by a heavy

margin imposed a fourth round of

sanctions against Iran.

Of the 15 members in the

Council, 12 voted in favour of

sanctions. Turkey and Brazil

opposed the sanctions, while

Lebanon abstained.

Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador

at the U.N., described the vote as

a “decisive” move against Iran's

nuclear programme.

“Iran has shunned opportunity after opportunity to verify the

peaceful nature of its nuclear programme,” she said.

However, Brazil and Turkey, both of whom had signed a

nuclear swap deal with Iran, warned that the latest sanctions

would impede diplomacy on Iran's atomic programme.

The new sanctions include provisions that prohibit Iran

from purchasing heavy weaponry of various types including

attack helicopter and missiles.

It recommends all countries to inspect cargo from Iran,

suspected ofcontaining banned itemsat their portsand airports.

Banning licences of banks suspected of funding nuclear

activities is also part of the recommendations.

Besides, a travel ban and asset freezes for a number of

individuals, including senior nuclear officials and associated

firms is proposed.

While the full details of the response were still awaited,

diplomats familiar with the issue said that International Atomic

Energy Agency (IAEA) head, Yukiya Amano conveyed to Iran, the

response of the three countries, the so-called Vienna group.

The Vienna group apparently wants some significant

changes to the Tehran document.

U.N. IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON IRAN


ECONOMY GROWS AT 8.6 PC IN Q4; 7.4 PC IN 2009-10

SAHARA WINS TEAM INDIA SPONSORSHIP RIGHTS

Driven by a robust performance

by the manufacturing sector, the

Indian economy grew by 8.4 percent

in the last quarter of 2009-10,

pushing up the overall growth to a

better-than expected 7.4 percent.

The manufacturing sector grew

by 16.3 percent in the fourth quarter

(January-March 2009-10) and 10.8 percent in the fiscal.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at 7.4 percent for

2009-10, higher than the February projection of 7.2 percent.

The Central Statistics Organisation (CSO) also revised

upwards the growth rates for Q2 and Q3 of 2009-10 on better-

than-expected performance by manufacturing, mining and

quarrying industries than first thought.

There was no decline in agriculture growth in 2009-10,

despite widespread drought and floods hitting the farm output.

According to the CSO data, the farm sector recorded a

growth rate of 0.2 percent contrary to expectations of negative

growth.

Following the global financial crisis, the GDP had

moderated to 6.7 percent in 2008-09 after recording a growth

rate of 9 percent in the three preceding years.

Sahara India Parivar bagged the sponsorship rights for the

Indian men's cricket team till December 31, 2013.

Sahara outbid Bharti Airtel for the right to sponsor Team

India.

Sahara bagged the rights for Rs 3.3 crores per match.

��

Sahara and Airtel had submitted

the eligibility documents and

security deposits and the bid was

submitted and thereafter, BCCI's

marketing committee decided the

new sponsor of Team India.

Sources said that Sahara will bid

only for the Indian team while Bharti will bid for the Indian team

(base price of Rs 2.5 crore per match), India-A team (base price:

Rs 25 lakh per match), Under-19 team (base price: Rs 25 lakh

per match) and the women's team (base price: Rs 10 lakh per

match).

If Bharti had won the bid, it could not have displayed its

Airtel logo during ICC events because of a clash of interest -

Reliance (another telecom company) is one of the ICC sponsors.

The Planning Commission has approved

central funding to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore

for building canal network under Narmada

project in Gujarat, a senior official attached

with the project said.

The Commission approved the revised

cost estimation of Sardar Sarovar Project

after examining details of the cost benefit of the ambitious

project, which is described as the lifeline of Gujarat.

"After examining the details submitted by us, the Planning

Commission has approved the revised estimation, which will

help us in accessing funds to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore for

building canals across the state," a senior official of Sardar

Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) said.

Under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme, a

Central govt. sch., funds will be provided to create irrigation

facilities in drought prone areas in the country, he added.

��

NARMADA PROJECT TO GET RS 7,000 CR CENTRALFUNDS FOR CANALS

Business and economy

Current events


He said the two entities “have brought together

complementary strengths.” Mahindra's “vehicle engineering

expertise, global distribution network, sourcing clout and

financing support,” had the potential to provide “market

penetration” for REVA vehicles, he said. “Mahindra,” he said,

“would also benefit from REVA's EV technology for its own

products.”

Mahindra, he said, was also developing an electric version of

its mini-truck, Maxximo. Mahindra REVA's EV technology will

be adapted for these and other Mahindra vehicles. Access to

strong EV technology “will strengthen Mahindra's other current

sustainability initiatives,” he added.

Mr. Chetan Maini, said since REVA recognised that the EV

market was bound to grow significantly, “We realised we needed

the resources and experience of a major automotive manufacturer

like Mahindra.”

The investment by Mahindra would enable the company “to

scale, innovate and accelerate and to deliver better products to

more customers in more places,” he said.

Google Inc, Intel Corp and Sony

Corp unveiled "Google TV" in the

latest effort to marry the Web to

television and reach into the $70

billion TV advertising market.

The attempt to bring the Internet

into living rooms has challenged

virtually every major player in the technology and consumer

electronics industry for years, from Apple Inc to Microsoft Corp.

For Google, television represents an attractive market in

which to expand its Internet advertising business, which

generated the bulk of its $23.7 billion in 2009 revenue.

Executives demonstrated how Google TV will work. A

Google search box pops up directly on the screen, allowing

surfing through broadcasting channels as well as the Internet.

Searches can be typed on input devices resembling a tablet-like

gadget.

For Sony, whose dominance in electronics has been eroded

by the likes of Samsung Electronics, the effort helps it get ahead

of rivals in developing a new generation of devices.

��

GOOGLE, SONY, INTEL JOIN ON WEB TELEVISIONPROJECT

According to SSNNL officials, availability of funds from the

Centre will help expedite the canal works.

So far, less than 30 per cent of canals have been built.

"Since funds will not be a problem now, we will be able to

acquire the required lands for constructing canals in the

command area," the official said.

Around 41,000 hectare land will be required to complete the

canal network, involving branch canals, minor canals, sub-

minor canals and distributaries which will take the water to the

fields from the main canal, he added.

The SSNNL will now acquire the required lands at market

price from farmers, who were earlier not willing to provide their

lands because of 'faulty acquisition' procedure, the official said.

The Mahindra Group announced that its flagship Mahindra

and Mahindra has entered into an agreement with the

Bangalore-based REVA Electric Car Company to acquire a 55.2

per cent stake in the company, which is the largest manufacturer

of electric cars in India.

The company is to be renamed

Mahindra REVA Electric Vehicle

Company Ltd . Mahindra &

Mahindra strengthened its position

in the electric vehicles (EV) domain

with this acquisition.

The acquisition is to be made through a combination of

equity purchase from the REVA promoters and a fresh equity

infusion of about Rs. 45 crore (about $10 million).

As a result of the deal, the Mahindra REVA board has been

reconstituted under the Chairmanship of Pawan Goenka,

President, Automotive and Farm Equipment Sectors, Mahindra

& Mahindra. The new board includes five nominees from

Mahindra & Mahindra, two from the Maini family, who are the

promoters of REVA, and one from AEV LLC, California, which

was a co-founder of REVA.

An independent Director will be added to the board

subsequently. Chetan Maini, Vice-Chairman and Chief

Technology Officer, REVA, will be Chief of Technology &

Strategy. Mr. Goenka said the deal marks “a key strategic

acquisition for Mahindra in its march towards sustainable

mobility.”

��

MAHINDRA TO BUY 55.2 PCT STAKE IN REVA

"Video should be consumed on the biggest, best and

brightest screen in the house. And that's a TV. It's not a PC or a

phone or anything else in between," said Google project Senior

Product Manager Rishi Chandra.

Best Buy Co Inc will sell devices and DISH Network TV will

integrate into Google TV. Chief Executives from those

companies, as well as Google, Sony, Intel and Adobe Systems

Inc, all went on stage at Google's developers conference for the

announcement.

The Planning Commission has

proposed to set up a mega fund with

seed money of Rs 50,000 crore to

facilitate investment of over Rs 45 lakh

crore in the infrastructure sector

during the 12th Plan (2012-17).

“ T h e c o m m i s s i o n h a s

recommended to create a fund with

seed money of Rs 50,000 crore to finance infrastructure projects

in the country particularly in 12th Plan period,” an official said.

“The panel has also constituted a committee, which would

be headed by HDFC Chairman, Mr Deepak Parekh, to look into

funding of the infrastructure sector projects. The committee

would submit its report to the Planning Commission,” he said.

The government will seek funding from multilateral lending

agencies like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank,

financial institutions, insurance companies and pension funds

for the dedicated fund.

As part of the exercise to step up infrastructure sector

funding, the government will also fix annual targets for

ministries like road, railways, power and telecom, and would

monitor implementation of the projects.

“In a bid to boost infrastructure development, besides

setting annual targets, the government would make provision for

periodically monitoring such projects to ensure desirable

growth of the sector,” the official said.

The decision to set up an effective mechanism to ensure

sustainable investment in the infrastructure sector was taken at

a meeting of the Planning Commission headed by its Deputy

Chairman, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

��

CENTRE MULLS RS 50,000 CR FUND TO BOOST CORESECTOR

During the meeting, it was pointed out that infrastructure

development, failed to gain momentum in the past 6-7 years

despite government efforts and after setting up of a task force

under the Prime Minister.

NTPC-BHEL Power

Projects Ltd (NBBPL)

said it is exploring the

possibility of a technology

tie-up with a foreign

player, which may be

offered a minority stake in

the company.

The move is aimed at bringing Indian power equipment

manufacturing at par with international companies through the

induction of modern technology.

"There is always a possibility of a third partner, whenever the

need arises we would take a call. We are exploring the possibility

for technological tie-up with a foreign company," told NBPPL

Chairman, C P Singh.

He said, “It (technology tie-up) may or may not be an equity

partnership.”

NTPC-BHEL Power Projects Private Ltd is a 50:50 JV firm

formed between NTPC and BHEL on 28th April, 2008, for

carrying out Engineering, Procurement and Construction

(EPC) contracts, besides the manufacture and supply of

equipment for power plants.

"There is always a shortage of power equipment

manufacturing units in the country," Singh said, adding that the

JV would augment power generation capacity addition in the

country.

The company currently has an order book of about Rs 450

crore. It is targeting an order book of Rs 7,000 crore by the end of

the current fiscal.

At present, NBPPL is working on the 100-MW Namrup

Power Station in Assam and the 726-MW combined cycle power

plant being set up by ONGC Tripura Power Corporation at

Palatana, in Tripura.

��

NTPC-BHEL JV MULLS TECHNOLOGY TIE-UP WITHGLOBAL CO



WAL-MART TAKES US HELP TO ENTER INDIAN RETAIL

NOW WITHDRAW 1 LAKH AT ATMS, SHOP FOR 1.25LAKH A DAY

The world’s largest retailer

Wal-Mart has solicited support

from the US government for

entering the multi-billion

dollar Indian retail market,

where foreign investment

norms are posing hurdles to its

entry.

The US-based Wal-Mart Stores, one of the world’s top

revenue grossers with over $400 billion of total annual sales and

present in 15 countries, is lobbying hard with lawmakers in

Washington to help it expand into India, possibly through

bilateral talks between the related authorities of the two

countries.

The company is lobbying with the US Congress members as

also the departments of commerce, trade and treasury, among

others, to put forward its case on issues like “discussions on

India and foreign direct investment”, and “enhanced access for

investment in China and India.”

Bank customers can soon

withdraw up to Rs one lakh in a

single day from ATM machines,

and can shop for even a higher

amount of Rs 1.25 lakh with

their debit cards.

Also, as much as Rs three

lakh can be transferred in a day

to another account through

ATMs as also over phone.

The enhanced limits for ATM withdrawals, debit card

swiping and fund transfers would save the consumers from

running to bank branches, that too within banking hours, for

such large transactions.

Currently, the maximum the customers of most of the banks

can withdraw through ATMs is Rs 50,000 in a day.

While HDFC Bank is allowing these enhanced banking

limits to its customers with effect from June 1, other banks

might soon follow suit.

��

It will also take up execution of the 500-MW Singrauli

thermal power plant and the 600-MW thermal power plant of

Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Ltd

(APGENCO) at Rayalseema.

NBPPL falls under the administrative control of the

Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Industries.

The Ministry of Power has set a target for adding 78,000 MW

of power generation capacity during the current XI Five-Year

Plan Period (2007-12).

This is likely to translate into immense business

opportunities for equipment- manufacturing companies like

NBPPL.

All nine telecom players, including state-owned BSNL and

MTNL, have paid Rs. 67,719 crore to

the government as fee for 3G

spectrum. While seven players – Bharti

Airtel, Reliance Communication,

Vodafone Essar, Aircel, Idea Cellular,

Tata Teleservices and S Tel – had

bagged spectrum in e-auction, BSNL

and MTNL got the radio waves earlier

and their share was decided as per the

amount reached at the completion of the bidding process.

Bharti Airtel paid the highest Rs. 12,295.46 crore for 3G

spectrum for 13 circles, followed by Vodafone Rs. 11,617.86 crore

for nine circles, Reliance Communication Rs. 8,585.04 crore for

13 circles, Tata Teleservices paid Rs. 5,864.29 crore for nine nine

circles and Idea Cellular paid Rs. 5,768.59 crore for 11 circles.

Similarly, Aircel and S Tel have paid their respective bid

amounts for the telecom circles won. BSNL has paid Rs.

10,186.56 crore for the pan-India radio waves, except for Delhi

and Mumbai where MTNL has the spectrum and it paid Rs.

6,564 crore to the government.

Winning bid amount of each circle varies, with highest being

that of Delhi and Mumbai at Rs. 3,316.93 crore and Rs. 3,247.07

crore respectively, while the least being that of Jammu and

Kashmir at Rs. 30.30 crore.

Among other private operators, Idea Cellular, Tatas, Aircel

and STel have also paid their respective bid amount to the

Department of Telecom (DoT).

��

TELCOS PAY RS 67,719 CRORE TOWARDS 3GSPECTRUM FEE

The ATM withdrawal limit for HDFC Bank Imperia Gold

Debit Cards now stands increased to Rs 1 lakh, and that for

shopping to Rs 1.25 lakh, from Rs 50,000 per day. Besides, the

ATM card and shopping limit for Easy Shop Regular

International/ Maestro/ NRO Debit Cards would stand

increased to Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000 from Rs 15,000 and 25,000

respectively.

The bank is currently in the process of informing its

customers about these enhanced debit card limits. Given the

competitive nature of the banking business, other banks would

have to soon follow HDFC Bank in increasing their own card

limits for ATM withdrawals, shopping and fund transfers, a

senior official at a rival bank said.

Also the holders of Kid's Advantage Debit Cards can

withdraw and shop for Rs 2,500 in a single day, higher from Rs

1,500 and Rs 1,000 currently.

Further, Women debit Card holders will get to withdraw Rs

25,000 from ATMs from Rs 20,000. Also customers can shop for

up to Rs 40,000 crore with debit cards, from the present Rs

30,000.

The above revised limit is not applicable to the card holders

whose current limit are different from the ones stated above and

will continue to enjoy their requested/ offered limits as

sanctioned before, HDFC said.

The Kerala government has

given an approval to the Aditya Birla

Group to establish a Rs. 4,000 crore

IT and Biotech Knowledge Park

and a branch of Birla Institute of

Technology (BITS) at Kozhikode.

The branch of BITS would be

established on 320 acres at Mavoor in the outskirts of

Kozhikode.

The state government has given an approval after

considering the proposal. "Now the Birlas have to submit a

detailed project report for final clearances," said T

Balakrishnan, Additional Chief Secretary and Secretary for

Industries, Kerala.

The Knowledge Park will use nano-technology,

biotechnology and related cutting-edge research and

development (R&D), knowledge process management, besides

advanced information technology (IT) services and will house

non polluting projects.

��

BIRLA TO SET UP RS. 4,000 CRORE IT PARK IN KERALA

"The project will be among the first for manufacturing and

commodity products that will drive Aditya Birla Group's foray

into industries related to future technologies," said an Executive

of the Birla Group.

"The project would create direct employment for over

100,000 professionals and indirect employment for 300,000

people," said Elamaram Kareem, Kerala industries and

Commerce Minister.

The Aditya Birla Group outlined a plan for the IT and

Biotech Knowledge Park and took the suggestion of the

government quite seriously about setting up non polluting

projects at the site of the factory which was closed in 2001 as it

faced a competition from imported fibre and an environmental

agitation for polluting the Chaliyar river.

The site on which a defunct pulp and fibre unit was owned by

Gwalior Rayons (now Grasim), the former government led by

the Congress had suggested the Birlas to either set up another

industry or return the land to the state government, in order to

revive the fortunes of Gwalior Rayons.

Incase the management failed to develop an alternative

project, the revenue department had also decided to take the

land back, invoking provisions of the Land Reforms Act. The

Birla Group had filed a case against the government on the land

issue in the high court.

Now the Kerala government hopes that Birlas would settle

the legal issue out of court, with the clearance given for the

project, said Balakrishnan. Sources said the ruling Left

Democratic Front (LDF), which completed four years in power,

has included the proposal for final approval within a year before

completion of its five-year term.

The Insurance Regulator y and

Development Authority (IRDA), to further

streamline the system governing the unit

linked insurance plans (ULIPs), proposed to

do away with wide variance in charges

imposed by insurers for surrendering these

securities-linked products.

Most insurers, however, are following

best global practices in ULIPs, said IRDA, which is now in a

tussle with the market watchdog SEBI over their regulation.

The regulator also proposed various uniform norms that should

beadoptedbyinsurersforclosingthepoliciesorrevivingthem.

��

IRDA TO STREAMLINE ULIP SCHEMES



Companies such as Tata Coffee, Nestle and NKG Jayanti

Coffee Pvt shipped most of their products to Italy (37,994

tonnes), Russia (15,924 tonnes) and Germany (11,431 tonnes).

Tishman Speyer, one of the world's leading

developers of real estate, unveiled its first

property in Asia, commissioning the first

phase of the Waverock IT Park.

The US-based developer also launched

the second phase of the project, a joint venture between

Tishman and ICICI Ventures, which has come up at a special

economic zone at Nanakramguda, Gachibowli, an IT district on

the city's outskirts. Comprising two phases, Waverock has come

up on 12 acres of land for providing 2.46 million square feet IT

office space to provide employment opportunity to 25,000

people.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, K. Rosaiah commissioned

the first phase, comprising 700,000 square feet with 10 floors to

seat 7,000 professionals. The first phase, built at a cost of Rs.600

crore, began partial operations in February.

Waverock phase II is estimated to cost Rs 700 crore. When

completed, it will provide 1.65 million square feet office space. It

will be developed in three sub-phases and will be 15-19 storey-

high with a total area of 650,000 square feet each.

TCS has begun its operations in Waverock while Accenture

and Invesco will start their offices shortly. Tishman had signed a

memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh

government in 2006 to build the facility. ICICI Ventures is 50

percent partner in the joint venture. Company officials said 80

per cent of the phase I capacity at Waverock was committed.

"This is the first building our company has finished in Asia,"

said Jerry Speyer, Chairman and Co-chief executive, Tishman

Speyer. India is the 11th country where Tishaman has launched

operations. Tishman, which raises and manages private equity

funds for real estate across the world, currently, has $50 billion of

assets under management.

Rosaiah said Hyderabad had made a mark in the world IT

map with manpower and world-class IT infrastructure. He said

the state aimed to achieve IT export turnover of Rs.70,000 crore

and additional direct IT employment generation of 125,000 by

2015. The IT export turnover from the state in 2009 was

Rs.32,500 crore. There are over 1,200 companies providing

employment to 251,786 people.

��

TISHMAN SPEYER OPENS ITS FIRST IT PARK IN INDIA

As per the draft, there would be no charges for surrendering

a policy with a maturity of under ten years, if the policyholder

surrenders his/her policy after six years.

For a policy with a maturity of over ten years, there would be

no charges if surrendered from the seventh year.

The IRDA also imposed maximum limits that insurers could

charge from policyholders, if they surrender their policies

before the sixth year, in case the policy has under ten years of

maturity.

If the surrender is before the seventh year of a policy with

over ten years maturity, there are ceilings prescribed on the

charges as well, IRDA said.

The country's coffee export

surged by 50 per cent to 1,29,815

tonnes in the first five months of this

year buoyed by higher domestic

supplies, according to the Coffee

Board of India. But the export

realisation of the commodity was

lower by 7.25 per cent at Rs 1,00,311

per tonne during January-May of the

current year, compared to Rs

1,08,161 per tonne in the same period last year, the Coffee Board

data showed.

India, Asia's third-largest producer, had exported 86,654

tonnes of coffee in the corresponding period last year. "The

shipments so far have risen sharply to 1,29,815 tonnes because

of increased coffee availability following better production this

year," a Coffee Board official told PTI. "Another major factor

boosting Indian coffee exports is growing coffee consumption in

the global market.

“The global demand is seen growing at two per cent per

annum,” he said. The country's coffee output has increased to

2.89 lakh tonnes in the 2009-10 crop year (October-September),

as against 2.62 lakh tonnes in the previous two years, he added.

According to data released by the apex body for promotion

and marketing of the crop, robusta exports rose by 41 per cent at

69,128 tonnes in the January-May period of 2010, against 48,696

tonnes in the same period last year. Arabica shipments jumped

by 39 per cent at 26,272 tonnes from 18,924 tonnes whereas the

re-export of processed coffee rose to 34,265 tonnes from 18,929

tonnes in the review period.

��

COFFEE EXPORT JUMPS BY 50 PC IN JAN-MAY 2010

INDIA'S EXPORTS UP 36.2 PER CENT IN APRIL

India's exports rose 36.2

percent to $16.9 billion in April

for the sixth straight month

after 13 consecutive months of

decline, official data released

on June 1, showed.

The exports were $12.4

billion in April a year ago. The

exports were higher due to

increased demand for gems

and jewellery, textiles, petroleum and engineering products. But

the outbound shipments were well below what India exported

two years ago.

Trade experts attribute the jump in exports in the last few

months mainly to a low base effect. Low base effect makes a

small increase appear large when the numbers in the

comparable period a year ago are too low.

Also, there are concerns that the ongoing debt crisis in the

euro-zone could dampen demand. "If the European debt crisis

spreads, there could be a problem. The EU is an important

destination for our exports," a commerce ministry official said.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Director,

General Ajay Sahai said the government should constantly

review developments in the euro-zone to take timely action, if

required.

During April 2010, the country's imports grew by 43.3

percent to $27.3 billion against $19 billion in the year-ago period,

data released by the commerce ministry showed. It was mainly

on account of growth in manufacturing and increase in domestic

demand.

With this, the trade deficit surged to $10.4 billion against

$6.6 billion last year.

The oil imports grew by 70.5 percent to $8 billion in April

2010 against $4.7 billion in the corresponding period last year

and non-oil imports increased by 34.3 percent to $19.2 billion

from $14.3 billion in April 2009.

In the financial year 2009-10, exports dropped 4.7 percent to

$176.5 billion mainly due to the global meltdown which had hurt

demand.

The exports were in the red for 13 successive months,

starting October 2008. They started turning positive in

November 2009.

The Indian government has set a target of $200 billion-worth

merchandise exports for 2010-11 and wants to double the

exports by 2014.

"If the (European) crisis does not extend beyond Greece,

then we are well on our way to achieve the $200 billion export

target set for the year," Sahai said.

RBI Governor, D Subbarao said

the country's foreign exchange

reserves are "quite comfortable" and

there is no threat to it from the euro

zone crisis.

"Our foreign exchange reserves

are quite comfortable and are being

managed efficiently with help from

experts," he said while talking to

media on the sidelines of a function in

Pune.

Subbarao said the flight to dollar being witnessed following

the euro zone crisis is a "natural reaction" when there is an

uncertainty.

"It is shifting to safety and the path of natural reaction in

financial markets," the RBI Governor said, adding India need

not be overly concerned about the development.

On inflation, Subbarao said it was not at a "peak level" but still

at a "higher level" than what the apex bank would like it to be,

adding that it would be taken into account along with growth

while formulating the monetary policy.

Reacting to the just released figures of GDP growth, he said

it was "quite encouraging but not surprising" and recalled that

the bank in its annual policy statement had anticipated GDP

growth of 7.5 per cent for 2009-2010.

Earlier, Subbarao inaugurated the RBI Archives Museum in

the premises of a College of Agriculture Banking in Pune and

described it as a "treasure trove" in India's economic history.

He also said the Central bank would soon announce its

Archival and Record Management policy to manage transition

from paper to digital infrastructure.

��

FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES COMFORTABLE, SAYSRBI GOVERNOR



"I am no longer stupid after investing on the plant in

Gujarat," Tata said while inaugurating the plant.

Spread over about

1,100 acres, the plant in

Sanand has been created

at an investment of about

Rs 2,000 crore.

Speak ing on the

occasion, Modi said: "The

revolution brought by

Ford in the early 20th

century with its small car

is being replicated now by Ratan Tata with his Nano."

Every middle-class family's dream to own a car is being

fulfilled at Sanand with the inauguration of the Nano plant, he

added.

Ratan Tata's dream of making a car costing only Rs 1 lakh

crore had to face challenges – both technical and political – ever

since it was conceived in 2003.

At a time when input costs were soaring, keeping the cost of

production of a comfortable mini car powered by a 623cc engine

giving a competitive mileage, was a challenge big enough for the

engineers of Tata Motors.

While Tatas were able to overcome it, the group was unable to

beat political challenge from Trinamool Congress and had to

shift manufacturing base from the original location at Singur in

West Bengal to Sanand in Gujarat in October 2008. Tatas, by

then, had already put over Rs 1,000 crore in Singur.

It delayed not only the original plans for the commercial

launch of Nano by about five months, but also affected its

availability.

Till the time the Sanand facility was ready, the company went

ahead with limited production of Nano – touted as the world's

cheapest car with a factory gate price of Rs 1,00,000 (little over

USD 2,000) – from Pantnagar in Himachal Pradesh.

Bookings for the car opened in April 2009 and deliveries

began in July that year. It has so far delivered over 35,000 units.

However, only the first 1,00,000 customers are assured of getting

the car at an ex-factory price of Rs 1,00,000.

The Sanand facility has the capacity to manufacture 2.5 lakh

units annually, which can subsequently be increased to 5 lakh

units per annum. Pilot commercial production of Nano at

Sanand has already begun.

I-T DEPT TO OPEN AAYAKAR SEWA KENDRAS IN NINEMORE CITIES

TATA MOTORS INAUGURATES NANO FACTORY ATGUJARAT'S SANAND

By the end of this fiscal,

income tax payers will be able to

get all their problems relating to

filing of returns and obtaining of

refunds, among others, addressed

at nine more help centres.

The Income Tax Department

has decided to set up help centres at 12 cities, including Kolkata,

Coimbatore and Surat, to address the problems of tax payers.

At present, help centres exist at three places in the country.

The centres, called Aayakar Sewa Kendras, are currently located

in Pune, Chandigarh and Kochi.

"We are planning to extend Aayakar Sewa Kendras to 12

cities, including Ludhiana, Kolkata and Indore, in the current

fiscal," a finance ministry official said.

The centres would also be set up at Bhubaneswar, Guwahati,

Surat, Ahmedabad, Udaipur and Coimbatore.

A one-stop shop for taxpayers to obtain the services of the

Income Tax department, the kendras help redress the

complaints of taxpayers and prevent similar grievances in the

future. The centre addresses almost all I-T related queries,

including returns and refunds, the official said.

At present, over 3.5 crore people come under the income tax

net in the country.

��

Tata Motors inaugurated Nano's manufacturing facility,

nearly two years after it was forced to shift the plant out of West

Bengal over a land row.

The new plant at Sanand was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief

Minister Narendra Modi and Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata,

who seven years ago dreamt of making an affordable family car

for the common man.

“When I came here first on an industry visit invited by

Gujarat Chief Minister, I was told that if it (the Nano plant) is

not in Gujarat, I will be a stupid.”


David Cameron has become the Prime

Minister of Britain in May 2010 and is

the youngest Prime Minister of

Britain in 200 years.

David William Donald Cameron was born

on 9 October 1966 in London, England. He is

the son of stockbroker Ian Cameron and Mary

Fleur Mont. He spent the first three years of his

life in Kensington and Chelsea before the

family moved to an old rectory near Newbury, in Berkshire. He

had what he describes as a "happy childhood", with his brother

Alec and sisters Tania and Clare. His father Ian is a former

Director of estate agent John D Wood and stockbrokers

Panmure, where Mr Cameron's grandfather and great

grandfather worked.

But the new Tory leader gains his political lineage from his

mother's side of the family, whose ancestral home was Wasing, in

Berkshire. His great, great, great grandfather, William Mount,

was Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight in the 19th Century.

Mr Cameron's great, great grandfather also called William

Mount, sat for Newbury, before passing the seat on to his son Sir

William Mount, the first baronet and David Cameron's great

grandfather.

He attended Heatherdown Preparatory School before

moving onto Eton College. After leaving Eton with three "A

Grade" A Levels, he studied at the University of Oxford,

studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE). Cameron

graduated in 1998 with a first class honours degree.

After graduating from university, Cameron worked for the

Conservative Research Department between 1988 and 1992. In

1991, Cameron worked on briefing Prime Minister John Major

for his bi-weekly "Prime Minister's Questions" sessions. After

the Conservative Party's success in 1992, Cameron was

promoted to work as Special Advisor to the Chancellor of the

Exchequer, Norman Lamont.

When Lamont was sacked after coming out of favour of John

Major, Cameron went to work for the Home Secretary, Michael

Howard. In September 1993, Cameron applied to go on the

Conservative Central Office's list of Parliamentary candidates.

In mid 1994, David left his role as Special

Adviser and started to work as the Directory of

Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications.

And after that having been approved for the

candidates’ list he began looking for seat. David

was reported to have missed out on selection

for Ashford in December 1994 after failing to

get to the selection meeting due to train delays.

Then in 1996 he was selected for Stafford, and

in 1996 Conservative Party conference David

called tax cuts in the coming budget. Stafford had a swing as the

national swing. David Kidney portrayed David Cameron as the

right wing Tory. The swing made it one of the many seats to fall

to Labour and David Kidney had a majority of more than 4,000.

Then on 4th April, 2000 David Cameron was selected as

prospective candidate for Witney in Oxfordshire that was his

party’s safe seat but its sitting MP Shaun Woodward had joined

the Labour Party. David won with 1.9% swing to the

Conservatives with a majority of approximately 8000.

Then he served as a member of the Common Home Affairs

Select Committee. David Cameron determinedly attempted to

increase his public profile. In mid 2002 David along with George

Osborne was invited by Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith

to coach him on PM’s Questions in November 2002.

In June 2003, Cameron was made a shadow minister in the

Privy Council Office, working as a deputy to Eric Forth. He also

became Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party, under

Michael Howard. Following the resignation of Howard after the

Labour victory in May 2004. Cameron announced he would

stand for the post of party leader and on 6 December 2005, after a

lengthy election process, he was officially announced to be the

Leader of the Conservative Party.

With his influential friends and blue-blooded heritage, Mr

Cameron has been criticised for not being in touch with

ordinary people.

But his easy manner and confidence in front of the television

cameras allows him to appear - if not exactly classless - then

certainly not the upper-crust figure his background might

suggest.

David Cameron

Profile


One of the questions we have been asking the candidates

during interviews has been "Who is your role model?"

The next question would be why. And the answers to

this series of questions are expected to give many clues about

that person. Note that the person is made to tell about the

personality traits that his/her role model has. Obviously, he/she

may feel that he/she has the same traits or would like to acquire

those.

But when a candidate takes a deep breath, gives a smile

triumphantly and declares, "Mahatma Gandhi" or "Mother

Teresa" (if a lady), I know that I am in for some fun. For these

names are generally coined just to impress the interviewer. He

may know about Gandhi only what has been shown in "Lage

Raho Munnabhai" and only thing she may know about Teresa is

that she worked for the poor. No books, biographies would have

been read.

Fun aside, what is this role-model? Someone on whom you

would like to model your life on. So, the very basic requirement is

that you must know as much as feasible about that person. If you

have not read every word written on him/her, you would not even

know about your idol. The second stage would be that you try

and ape that person.

Okay, let those 'show-offs' rest. Suppose you are more honest

and say an "Amitabh Bachhan", or a "Sach1n Tendulkar",

"Hrithik Roshan". Then another set of questions arise. Here is

how I could make you uncomfortable.

If he happens to be your idol, how

many of his known traits or acts do you follow? Getting

impressed is something different. You may mimic his famous

dialogues, but do you have the patience of sitting for 3-4 hours

daily for a special ('Pa’) makeup? Anywhere close to it? You may

keep the 'french' beard he does but do you have the punctuality

he has?

Amitabh Bachhan -

Sachin Tendulkar - '

Hrithik Roshan -

Sachin', Sachin' you might shout in

the IPL match but do you have his commitment towards

profession? Yours might be academics at this moment. You

might shout hoarse that he should be a part of our twenty-twenty

world cup, but do you volunteer yourself to arrange a

management event in your college?

You may dress like him, may even have his

mannerisms, but what about the body? Do you even at attempt to

get those rippling muscles? Do you even know that he used to

stammer in his early childhood?

Why today's youth, we oldies were no good. Have another

example. I had an acquaintance who was a great fan of film actor

Rajkmar, and would mouth his famous dialogues. But he was a

hypochondriac. Someone visiting him had to make the mistake

of just asking, "How are you?", and he would have to listen to a

long list of the medical problems the gentleman was facing.

Little did he bother to note that his role model, Rajkumar, died

because of some incurable disease with very few persons even

knowing about his disease!

Are we governed by our 'selective perception' - we don't see

reality. We see what we like to see and Call it reality? If so, are we

scared of the hard work and, like an electric current, find the easy

way?

Okay, forget about the heroes/heroines worship in society, do

we not get impressed by our parents? But do we have to only take

the not-so-good things from them?

Like should a boy only pick up the smoking vice from his dad

and not how hard his father worked in life? In our colony there is

an old man who passes his son's house (which is nearby) at

around 6.45 every morning and shouts asking him to get up.

Good, only the son is aged 40 years! I hope this young (?) son

views "Wake up Sid" and transforms!

Modelling on role models

Guestroom

Life is far too complicated. Demands for quick decisions are made almost every day. If only we had a role-model who

would simplify this complexity! If only we could blindly follow that idol! There might be old timers alive today who

will, in case of an emergency (not connected with Mrs. Indira Gandhi!), get the first thought, "What would have

Gandhi done in such a situation?" and take action accordingly. We will not discuss the relevance-of Gandhiji today but

the relevance of a role model today. Read on.....

Lt. Col P. Deogirikar (Retd.)


So, unless we arrest this negative thought in the beginning,

we are playing with fire and could harm ourselves.

I sincerely hope you get a beacon to show you the path in your

career and your life. Whoever it is, hope you will be careful while

naming the role-model in the next interview. Especially if I

happen to be the interviewer!

Or should a teenaged girl only pick up a fight with her

mother on the TV remote in the evening and comfortably forget

the hard work the lady puts in for the entire family all day? It is

advocated that we should take good things from others and

ignore the bad ones. Are we doing entirely the opposite? Ideally,

we are to find a ‘Ram’ in ‘Ravan’, or find a ‘Ravan’ in ‘Ram’?

I have seen teachers who were very good. They had

knowledge and were willing to help the students outside the

class too. Only thing, they did not have was good verbal

communication skill. Did we make good of their offerings? No,

Sir, we only cracked jokes on their English (e.g. telling a girl,

"Meet me behind the class!")! Do we only enjoy at someone's

expanse? Do we thrive on negative ideas? Thoughts? Mind you,

that is where the negativity starts. You would have heard this

famous one –

Bank Punch line / Tag line

1. Hum Hai Na: ICICI

2. Good People To Grow With: Indian Overseas Bank

3. With You All The Way: State Bank Of India

4. Tradition Of Trust: Allahabad Bank

5. Trusted Family Bank: Dena Bank

6. Good People To Bank With: Union Bank Of India

7. World's Local Bank: HSBC

8. We Understand Your World: HDFC

9. Much More To Do With YOU In Focus: Andhra Bank

10. A Friend You Can Bank Upon: Vijaya Bank

11. Together We Prosper: Bank Of Rajasthan

12. Your Perfect Banking Partner: Federal Bank

13. Taking Banking Technology To The Common Man: Indian Bank

14. Experience Our Expertise: Yes Bank

15. Build A Better Life Around Us: Central Bank Of India

16. Serving To Empower: J & K Bank

17. The Changing Face Of Prosperity: Lakshami Vilas Bank

18. Where Every Individual Is Committed: Oreintal Bank Of Commerce

19. Aao Soche Bada: IDBI

20. A Faithful & Friendly Financial Partner: Syndicate Bank

21. Relationships Beyond Banking: Bank Of India

22. Honours Your Trust: UCO Bank

23. Smart Way To Bank: Karur Vaisya Bank

24. A Passion To Perform: Deutche Bank

25. Experience Next Generation Banking: South Indian Bank

26. The Name You Can Bank Upon: Punjab National Bank

Watch your thought, as your thoughts become words.

Watch your word, as your words become action.

Watch your action, as your actions become your habit.

Watch your habit, as your habits becomes your character.

Watch your character, as your character becomes your

destiny!


THE NEW SPIRIT AT WORK

CREATING CONDITIONS FOR CHANGE:

WAYS OF ACHIEVING

A question that occupies the minds of managers, executives

and officials of a business organisation concerns customers and

patrons. Delighting the customers through proper delivery has

become the catch - phrase of many organizations trying to

reorient themselves around customers. Paying attention to

customers has become the sphere of importance of leaders and

employees, although neither is committed to doing full justice to

it and each seems to be indulged in blaming the other.

Paying attention to customers is possible under four

conditions that can be created, and three best practices that can

be used to bring about the desired results.

For an organization to become truly customer-centric, the

way to go about is not that easy, as this is complex, challenging

and requires time. It involves changing the culture of the

organization, and not just merely introducing a new programme,

training customer-contact personnel to smile over the phone or

conducting a few customer focus groups.

Organizations that have succeeded in assisting their

employees in committing to the new direction of bringing in a

personal change and thereby bringing the customer into focus at

all level of their working have created four action points arising

out of common sense. These are meant to :

1. articulate and promote the new direction.

2. ensure that each employee knows what is expected.

3. ensure that each employee has the skills to do what is

expected.

4. motivate each employee to do what is expected.

Bairn and Company did a study on CEOs that was concerned

with ensuring that their employees aligned with the company's

polices, when performing. It was found that 10% ensured that

Articulate and promote the new direction:

their employees aligned with the company's strategy, although

85% of them felt that they handled strategy development well.

This was shown with strategy execution dropping off to 40%.

Many organisations have vision and

value statements that seem to

matter little in day to day operations

and decisions. Lest they should be

thought of in terms of window

dressing, it would be beneficial to

assess to what extent adopted

vision and values are truly guiding

the company.

Strangely, the organisation's strategy is thought of to be so

confidential that employees do not come to know of it, even

though they are the people who have to make it happen. One

should take a clue from Sam Walters who did not exclude even

part-time employees of Wal-Mart from receiving the store's vital

performance information.

It requires a lot of effort to sell the organisation's vision and

value statement to employees. Sometimes it is challenging. John

Gillespie, CEO of Sydney Electricity, felt this was the hardest

job, which would not have been achieved by just sending e-mails

to all employees. He had to sell the vision, continually repeating

with enthusiasm, over and over again with his employees, at

every meeting. No wonder, Sydney Electricity won Australia's

national quality award.

Gallup organization, in a study that covered 400

organisations, 80000 managers and over one million employees,

concluded that any organization succeeds when its employees

know what is expected of them.

Vision and value statement should be clear enough to

direct the organization:

All employees should be aware of the organizations's

strategy:

Promoting the new direction (strategy) in an active

manner:

Ensure that each employee knows what is expected:

How to deliver and delightcustomers

PT Panorama


�

�

Conduct a strategic training audit, which, though, being a

simple process would be rewarding. Against critical

competencies that are required for each job in the

organization, the contribution of the related training

programme to its development can be evaluated on a scale

of 1 to 5.

Employees can themselves be trainers, making training

part of their job, instead of leaving the development of

competencies to company's trainers.

This is the most difficult part for managers. Managers would

have to go beyond the conventional and the existing reward and

compensation system.

Participative management is an effective tool. In the present

context, employees can be asked to come out with opinions,

seeking their involvement to create the vision and values,

eliciting their suggestions on strategic issues,

involving them to create new processes, giving them

full authority to solve problems without the need to

observe the protocol.

in addition to the voice of the customer, which is

a critical determinant. For this, appropriate metrics

based on customer behaviour and feedbacks are

needed, which can be personalized. One way of

going about is videotaping focus groups and sharing

the result with each employee. Meditronics is the

organization that has kept employees focused on its real

purpose. Doctors, patients and their families come into the

organization and share their account of how they survived.

Employees are prone to undergo stress caused by

seriousness and outright fear arising out of down sizing,

mergers, stock price descent, increased working hours or an

excessive focus on quarterly earnings. As a result, fun is absent

in work done and stress – related absenteeism is on the rise.

Managers would do well in restoring the element of fun in work.

The change that an organization wishes to bring about in its

culture is not a simple task. The managers need to change

themselves to being customer-centric. By creating the four

conditions, managers would succeed in giving rise to the

understanding on the part of each and every employee of what

needs to be done, harnessing the employee skills towards this

end, and finally motivating the employee to come out with the

best shot. The employee-customer relationship would be long-

standing and symbiotic.

Motivate each employee to do what is expected:

Ensure employee participation:

Bring to light the face of the customer:

Induce fun in work:

Conclusion:

Effective ways of ensuring this would be to:

Use the chain of command to discuss and explain what

is expected / use the hierarchy to communicate new

decisions:

Make the employees appreciate the value of customer

relationship:

Give the right type of recognition to :

Ensure that each employee has the skills to do what is

expected:

This can be worked out with the manager talking to

employees in small groups, explaining to them about the present

situation, change in strategy and finally what they should do, how

they should work, and other expectations. Other matters like

personal, training and organizational support can be discussed,

so as to ensure their readiness and retention. Moreover, by

creating the picture of an appropriate new behaviour, it can be

ensured that employees adapt to it readily and make it a part of

their daily routine.

This can be achieved by making employees create a

line-of- sight map between them and customers.

Employees can work on this simple yet powerful

exercise, starting with their location in the

organization and creating a visual trail direct to

customers. While most of the employees might

not have direct contact with customers, they have

internal customers within the organization.

Employees would soon realise that any gap in the

internal customers would be troublesone for

external customers. In this way, they would realise

the value and importance of customer

relationship.

Early adopters can be identified. They can be publicly

praised for their sincere efforts to change changing their

behavior in order that the organizations strategy works. Such a

step would help in weakening or annulling the influence of

fence-sitters, who do little and only complain about the

development, and help in influencing and inspiring other

employees from peer success.

Managers should ensure, and not just assume, that

employees have the skills to go about working towards the

required change and accomplishing the desired goals. An

effective way to go about would be to

Conduct internal best practices research by identifying

critical competencies. In other worlds, identify best job

performers in each job category and compare them with

those counterparts who perform marginally. Managers can

come out with training exercises that would develop these

skills.

early adopters

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Introduction

Procter & Gamble kept self-managed teams a commercial

secret for years. Hundredsofcompanieshave tried to make them.

Self-managed teams (SMT), often called Self-managed

work teams (SMT), have acquired a momentum of their own.

More than half of the largest companies in the United States

now have them.

Such arrangements are not for the faint-hearted. They

represent a switch from the boss-worker relationship to a

collaborative approach. Once the self-managed idea gets under

way everything tends to be challenged, from supervision to

setting wages, from existing production targets to persistent

hierarchies.

In principle these apparently leaderless teams are simple to

understand. You empower everyone in a team to take

responsibility. Instead of a supervisor or some distracted middle

manager directing events, the team runs itself. Well, that's the

theory. Now for the reality.

How to Create Successful Self-Managed Teams

Be committed and practical

Understand the team cycle

Creating a self-managed team is a marathon, not a sprint.

You stand a better chance of succeeding with an entirely new

team than you do with a long-standing one. Managers who have

introduced the self-managed principle usually say it's a time-

consuming business that needs careful nurturing.

Self-management demands a new mindset, one where you

stop thinking in terms of managing per se and focus on

empowering or motivating. If you're fond of command and

control as a management style, self-managed teams are

definitely not for you.

So what exactly is a self-managed team? Broadly, it's a work

group of around 5 to 15 people sharing responsibility for a task. It

could be building a car or processing insurance claims. The

assumption is that the members possess the skills and authority

to supervise themselves. An important feature is that everyone

tends to learn all the tasks required. In this it differs from the

traditional team, in which jobs are broken into smaller elements,

each assigned to an individual with specialist skills. When self-

management works, productivity rises above conventional teams

by anything from 10 to 20%. In addition, employee satisfaction

increases and employee turnover falls.

A particular challenge that this work arrangement poses for

Western cultures is our passion for independence, self-

sufficiency, and competitiveness.

To make self-managed teams succeed you need to know

some principles of groups and how they reach peak

performance.

Whenever someone leaves or joins, in effect you have a new

group. A fresh effort needs to go into rebuilding relationships,

clarifying working arrangements, establishing trust, and going

through some or all of the development cycle. Teams switch

between various stages of development as they encounter new

issues.

Self-managed Teams:

PT Panorama

Empowering everyone in a team


Problems also arise when responsibilities are unclear. With a

line management system it's easy to pass an issue upwards. The

self-managed team needs to clarify what each person does and

where different jurisdictions begin and end.

As with any team, there's always a danger that the views of the

most vocal will prevail. People who feel their opinions are

unheard may become resentful or start withdrawing their

commitment to the project. Early on, it's important to invest

time developing communication skills and establishing best

practice for conducting meetings and making decisions. Great

rewards will come from that initial investment.

Newly created self-managed teams, driven by initial

enthusiasm, often produce quick results. Many problems

emerge later once the excitement has

worn off and performance begins to

slide. Now the team faces the same

challenge as any long-term group. It

needs to focus on creating and

maintaining self-motivation or

creating a rota of people responsible

for continually revitalising the team.

How long it takes before the team

is truly self-managing may depend on

factors outside the team's own

control; such factors influence teams

no matter how they are managed. For

example, in a US survey of 400

organisations about half complained

of inadequate resources, just under half said they had no or low

rewards, and a similar proportion reported lack of decision-

making authority.

The issue of decision-making reflects the difficulties many

long-serving managers experience in adapting to self-

management. First, they must learn to let go and trust people.

Second, they may need to transform their style into a supportive

and facilitative approach and learn to allow decisions to emerge

naturally. Third, they need to respond to mistakes and crises by

turning them into genuine learning opportunities rather than an

excuse to punish or even grab back decision-making control.

As companies increasingly rely on talent, brainwork, and

virtual teams that hardly even meet, self-management has many

attractions. The lessons so far are that self-managed teams can

be highly productive and extremely satisfying to work in.

Paradoxically, though, it takes particularly good management to

allow them to succeed and reach their full potential.

Sustain momentum

Ensure that teams are empowered to make

appropriate decisions

There are different views concerning the evolution of

successful teams, but most tend to follow the same pattern. The

one that is used most frequently and perhaps most clearly

defines the development of teams is the four stages of team

development: forming, storming, norming, and performing.

the team is a collection of individuals that

are just starting to form a single unit. The ice is carefully being

broken, people are introducing, themselves and are generally

quiet, themselves and are getting the measure quiet, of others in

the team.

conflict starts to emerge as people display

their attitudes and set boundaries. This is an inevitable phase as

people get to know others in the team and find their own identity.

norms are

developed as people understand

each other's strengths, weaknesses,

and patterns of other’s behaviour.

The group functions as a team and

tasks are accomplished. Often teams

settle at this level.

the team

starts excelling and performing at its

very best. This largely results from a

steady accumulation of trust, respect,

and understanding, combined with a

common sense of purpose and some

successes.

To these four stages can be added a fifth – reforming – which

refers to the process of renewing and reinvigorating the team,

perhaps after failures, difficulties, or major changes.

If you like the idea of self-directed teams, visit some existing

ones to gain a practical feel for the challenges you will inevitably

encounter. For example, self-management implies that no one is

really in charge, when in reality this is seldom true. Invariably

there is someone providing leadership.

Mature teams can handle responsibilities that once kept the

traditional line manager in business.

Many teams resist self-management, particularly when it's

imposed by senior management. Employees, comfortable with

conventional line management and having no desire to take on

extra responsibility, can be intransigent. It's essential to offer

them clear benefits and plan a structured process of

education.

1. Forming –

2. Storming –

3. Norming –

4. Performing –

Visit a self-directed team

Understand and resolve problem areas


Five Myths about Self-managed Teams

Mini-case

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They don't need managers. They need managing through

coaching, facilitation, and other forms of support.

They don't need leaders. Leadership is essential and is

often shared ingeniously across the group.

They make leaders powerless. Leaders must exercise

power differently and rely more on influence than authority.

They're cheap. They cost more in the short term and have

high set-up costs such as training and troubleshooting.

They're quickly established. They can take years to get

right, needing constant refinement.

When mining machinery manufacturer Boart Longyear

opted for self-managed teams, it had to learn the hard way. Team

preparation involved at least 60 hours of training on topics such

as interpersonal skills, leadership, group decision-making, and

running meetings.

Despite the careful investment in team and individual

development, no single person emerged as the informal leader.

The result was delay in decision-making. One of the greatest

sources of frustration was that employees felt comfortable only

when they were told what to do. When they hit a problem their

first reaction was to demand help from a supervisor. The

benefits were:

Individual team members really pulled their weight,

because they didn't want to appear to be underperforming.

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Former supervisors shifted roles. They became resource

providers rather than rationers and spent their time

obtaining information and securing resources.

Productivity rose by around 10 to 15 %.

Stop thinking in terms of managing and focus on

empowering.

Visit some existing self-directed teams to gain a practical

feel for the realities (like the need for leadership) that you

will inevitably encounter.

To overcome resistance to self-management, offer

employees clear benefits and education.

Be sure to clarify what each person in the self-managed

team does and where jurisdiction begins and ends.

Invest time in developing communication skills and

establishing best practice for conducting meetings and

taking decisions.

Respond to mistakes and crises by turning these into

genuine learning opportunities rather than an excuse to

punish or even grab back control.

Self-managed teams and team-based working have

developed into the normal way of structuring organisations and

undertaking tasks, yet it is a difficult and complex aspect of

leadership and is usually developed through experience. When

developing a high performing, self-managed team it is valuable

to have an understanding of:

1. the benefits of team building – what it can achieve and

what the leader should be striving for

2. team roles and dynamics – how teams work and achieve

their greatest success

3. the key stages of team development – what they are and

how to support the team in each stage

4. the features of a successful team and team leader

5. how to avoid potential problems and pitfalls

Team building is a continuing process requiring energy,

commitment, feedback, and review. Factors affecting the team

change constantly, and the team needs to have the leadership

and support that breeds flexibility and confidence.

MAKING IT HAPPEN

Conclusion

India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd.

YBR 110

recently unveiled its new

motorcycle, (pronounced as YBR One ten) in the

Indian market. YBR 110 comes with a decent yet stylish design

and is targeted at middle income class people who want to have

a stylish and comfortable commuter bike. YBR 110 is priced at

Rs. 41,000/- (Ex-Showroom, Delhi) .


Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia,

the senior-most judge of the

Supreme Court was appointed

as the next Chief Justice of India on

May 12, 2010. He is the thirty-

eighth Chief Justice of India.

Justice Kapadia's Warrant of

Appointment, was signed by

President Pratibha Patil.

As per norms laid down under

the Memorandum of Procedure

which governs appointment of

members of the higher judiciary,

Justice K. G. Balakrishnan had

earlier this month recommended

the name of Kapadia to succeed

him as the CJI.

Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia, B.A. (Hons.), LL.B. was

born in Mumbai on 29th September 1947 in a lower middle-

class Parsi family from the Khetwadi-Girgaum region. His

father was a clerk in a defence establishment, his mother a

homemaker. Kapadia completed his BA and LLB and

immediately began working.

Sarosh Homi Kapadia, Chief Justice of India, has few

interests other than the law. One of them is going for walks. As a

young man, Kapadia used to drag his younger brother (now a

retired banker) all over Mumbai for walks that would, almost

invariably, end at Narayan Dabholkar Road, the breezy avenue off

Napean Sea Road where high court judges have their

apartments. The two brothers would look at the buildings and

young Sarosh would say: “One day, the name on that nameplate

will be mine”. His wish was granted in October 1991, when he

was made a judge of the Bombay High Court.

The story of how he reached there is nothing less than

remarkable. He started his career as a class IV employee and the

only asset he possessed was integrity. He joined Gagrat & Co, a

law firm as a clerk and later, went to work for firebrand and

highly respected labour lawyer Feroze Damania.

S. H. Kapadia is married to

Shahnaz and has two sons.

The young Sarosh may not have

been rich but what he did possess was

ambition and determination to

become a judge. He became counsel

for the income tax department in

1974, aged 27. He also appeared for

the then Bombay Municipal

Corporation in matters concerning

rateable value and octroi. He

represented the Maharashtra

government and several public sector

undertakings (PSUs) until he was

appointed a high court judge. As a

judge of the Bombay High Court, he

decided matters ranging from

environmental to banking, M&As,

industrial disputes, tax and so on, but

developed a reputation for his

expertise on commercial and tax law.

The best thing that ever happened to him was the stock scam

of 1999 involving broker Ketan Parekh. He was appointed judge

of the special court established under the Trial of Offences

Relating to Transaction in Securities Act in 1999. He played an

important role in the proceedings of the Joint Parliamentary

Committee constituted to investigate the stock scam.

On August 5, 2003, he was appointed Chief Justice of the

Uttarakhand High Court and in December that year, he was

elevated to the Supreme Court, thus serving only a very short

tenure as Chief Justice of a high court.

In the Supreme Court, Kapadia delivered some landmark

judgements which included a decision relating to succession of

property in April 30, 2005 in which he ruled out the possibility of

conducting the DNA test.

He was part of the three-member Bench that decided

income tax case of Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief Lalu Prasad. The

verdict went in favour of Prasad but Justice Kapadia gave a

dissenting judgement saying the income tax department should

have filed an appeal against the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal

(ITAT) order.

Sarosh Homi KapadiaChief Justice of India

Profile


English grammar is the body of rules describing the

properties of the English language. A

language is such that its elements

must be combined according to certain

patterns. This article is concerned with

(and restricted to) morphology, the

building blocks of language; and

syntax , the construct ion of

meaningful phrases, clauses and

sentences with the use of

morphemes and words.

The grammar of any

language is commonly

approached in two different

ways: descriptive, usually

based on a systematic analysis

of a large text corpus and

d e s c r i b i n g g r a m m a t i c a l

structures thereupon; and

prescriptive, which attempts to

use the identified rules of a given

language as a tool to govern the

linguistic behaviour of speakers.

Prescriptive grammar further

concerns itself with several open

disputes in English grammar, often representing changes in

usage over time. This article predominantly concerns itself with

descriptive grammar.

There are a number of historical, social and regional variations

of the English language. For example, British English and

American English have several lexical differences; however, the

grammatical differences are not equally conspicuous, and will be

mentioned only when appropriate. Further, the many dialects of

English have divergences from the grammar described here; they

are only cursorily mentioned. This article describes a generalized

present-day Standard English, the form of speech found in types

of public discourse including broadcasting, education,

entertainment, government, and news reporting. Standard

English includesboth formal and informal speech.

Word classes and phrase classes

Open and closed classes

Word classes and grammatical forms

Seven major word classes are described here. These

are: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition,

conjunction, and determiner. The first six

are traditionally referred to as "parts of

speech." There are minor word classes,

such as interjections, but these do not fit

into the clause and sentence structure of

English.

Open word classes allow new

members; closed word classes

seldom do. Nouns such as

"celebutante," (a celebrity who

f re q u e n t s t h e f a s h i o n

circles)" and "mentee," (a

person adv i sed by a

mentor) and adverbs such

as "24/7" ("I am working on

it 24/7") are relatively new

words; nouns and adverbs

are therefore open classes.

A word can sometimes belong to several word classes. The

class version of a word is called a "lexeme."

For example, the word "run" is usually a verb, but it can also

be a noun ("It is a ten mile run to Tipperary."); these are two

different lexemes. Further, the same lexeme may be inflected to

express different grammatical categories: for example, as a verb

lexeme, "run" has several forms such as "runs," "ran," and

"running." Words in one class can sometimes be derived from

those in another and new words be created. The noun

"aerobics," for example, has recently given rise to the adjective

"aerobicized" ("the aerobicized bodies of Beverly Hills

celebutantes.

Fun with Grammar

English Grammar


Nouns have several syntactic features that can aid in their

identification. Nouns (example: common noun "cat") may be

modified by adjectives ("the beautiful Angora cat"), preceded by

determiners ("the beautiful Angora cat"), or pre-modified by

other nouns ("the beautiful Angora cat").

Noun phrases are phrases that function grammatically as

nouns within sentences. In addition, nouns serve as "heads," or

main words of noun phrases.

Verbs form the second largest word class after nouns.

According to Carter and McCarthy, verbs denote "actions,

events, processes, and states." Consequently, "smile,"

"stab," "climb," "confront," "liquefy," "wake," "reflect"

are all verbs. Some examples of verb endings, which

while not dead giveaways, are often associated,

include: "-ate" (" formulate") , "- ia te"

("inebriate"), "-ify" ("electrify"), and "-ize"

("sermonize"). There are exceptions, of

course: "chocolate" is a noun, "immediate" is

an adjective, "prize" can be a noun, and

"maize" is a noun. Prefixes can also be used to

create new verbs. Examples are: "un-"

("unmask"), "out-" ("outlast"), "over-"

("overtake"), and "under-" ("undervalue").

A verb is said to be regular if its base

form does not change when inflections

are added to create new forms. An

example is: base form: climb; present

form: climb; -s form: climbs; -ing form:

climbing; past form: climbed; -ed

participle: climbed. Irregular verbs are

ones in which the base form changes; the

endings corresponding to each form are not always unique.

Verbs come in three grammatical types: lexical, auxiliary, and

modal. Lexical verbs form an open class which includes most

verbs (state, action, processes, and events). For example, "dive,"

"soar," "swoon," "revive," "breathe," "choke," "lament,"

"celebrate," "consider," "ignore" are all lexical verbs. Auxiliary

verbs form a closed class consisting of only three members: be,

do, and have. Although auxiliary verbs are lexical verbs as well,

their main function is to add information to other lexical verbs.

This information indicates (a) aspect (progressive, perfect), (b)

passive voice, and (c) clause type (interrogative, negative).

Noun phrases

Verbs

Regular and irregular verbs

Type and characteristics

Phrase classes

Nouns and determiners

Number, gender, type, and

syntactic features.

Words combine to form phrases which themselves can take

on the attributes of a word class. These classes are called phrase

classes. The phrase: "The ancient pulse of germ and birth"

functions as a noun in the sentence: "The ancient pulse of germ

and birth was shrunken hard and dry." (Thomas Hardy, The

Darkling Thrush) It is therefore a noun phrase. Other phrase

classes are: verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases,

prepositional phrases, and determiner phrases.

Nouns form the largest word class. According to

Carter and McCarthy, they denote "classes and

categories of things in the world, including people,

animals, inanimate things, places, events, qualities

and states." Consequently, the words, "Mandela,"

"jaguar," "mansion," "volcano," "Timbuktoo,"

"blockade," "mercy," and "liquid" are all nouns.

Nouns are not commonly identified by their

form; however, some common suffixes such as

"-age" ("shrinkage"), "-hood" ("sisterhood"), "-

ism" ("journalism"), "-ist" ("lyricist"), "-ment"

("adornment"), "-ship" ("companionship"), "-

tude" ("latitude"), and so forth, are usually

identifiers of nouns. There are exceptions, of

course: "assuage" and "disparage" are verbs;

"augment" is a verb, "lament" can be a verb;

and "worship" is a verb. Nouns can also be

created by conversion of verbs or adjectives.

Examples include the nouns in: "a boring

talk," "a five-week run," "the long caress,"

"the utter disdain," and so forth.

Nouns have singular and plural forms. Many plural forms

have -s or -es endings (dog/dogs, referee/referees,

bush/bushes), but by no means all (woman/women, axis/axes,

medium/media). Unlike some other languages, in English,

nouns do not have grammatical gender. However, many nouns

can refer to masculine or feminine animate objects

(mother/father, tiger/tigress, alumnus/alumna, male/female).

Nouns can be classified semantically, i.e. by their meanings:

common nouns ("sugar," "maple," "syrup," "wood"), proper

nouns ("Cyrus," "China"), concrete nouns ("book," "laptop"),

and abstract nouns ("heat," "prejudice"). Alternatively, they can

be distinguished grammatically: count nouns ("clock," "city,"

"colour") and non-count nouns ("milk," "decor," "foliage").


Modal verbs also form a closed class which consists of the

core modals ("can," "could," "shall," "should," "will," "would,"

"may," "might," "must"), semi-modals ("dare," "need," "ought to,"

"used to"), and modal expressions ("be able to," "have to").

Modals add information to lexical verbs about degrees of

certainty and necessity.

According to Carter and McCarthy, "Adjectives describe

properties, qualities, and states attributed to a noun or a

pronoun." As was the case with nouns and verbs, the class of

adjectives cannot be identified by the forms of its constituents.

However, adjectives are commonly formed by adding the some

suf f ixes to nouns . Examples : " -a l " ( "hab i tua l , "

"multidimensional," "visceral"), "-ful" ("blissful," "pitiful,"

"woeful"), "-ic" ("atomic," "gigantic," "pedantic"), "-ish"

("impish," "peckish," "youngish"), "-ous" ("fabulous,"

"hazardous").

As with nouns and verbs, there are exceptions: "homosexual"

can be a noun, "earful" is a noun, "anesthetic" can be a noun,

"brandish" is a verb. Adjectives can also be formed from other

adjectives through the addition of a suffix or more commonly a

prefix: weakish, implacable, disloyal, irredeemable, unforeseen.

A number of adjectives are formed by adding "a" as a prefix to a

verb: "adrift," "astride," "awry.”

An adjective phrase may consist of just one adjective, or a

single adjective which has been modified or complemented.

Adjectives

Adjective phrases

Adverbs, according to Carter and McCarthy, are a class of

words "which perform a wide range of functions. Adverbs are

especially important for indicating time, manner, place, degree,

and frequency of an event, action, or process." They typically

modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adjectives and

adverbs are often derived from the same word. A majority of

adverbs are formed by adding to "-ly" ending to their

corresponding adjective form.

According to Carter and McCarthy, "Conjunctions express a

variety of logical relations between phrases, clauses and

sentences." There are two kinds of conjunctions: coordinating

conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.

Coordinating conjunctions link "elements of equal

grammatical status." Elements in questions may vary from a

prefix to an entire sentence.

Subordinating conjunction relate only clauses to one

another. They make the clause associated with them into a

subordinate clause. Some common subordinating conjunctions

in English are: (of time) after, before, since, until, when, while;

(cause and effect): because, since, now that, as, in order that, so;

(opposition): although, though, even though, whereas, while;

(condition): if, unless, only if, whether or not, whether or no,

even if, in case (that), and so forth.

Adverbs

Conjunctions

Coordinating

Subordinating conjunctions

Earth Day

Earth Day was started by and the idea for a day celebrating the earth was first thought of in 1962.

Senator Nelson thought that a day was needed to honor the earth and that the earth needed more of a place in politics.

It was in 1962 that Senator Nelson convinced President John F. Kennedy to go on a tour of the United States that would act as a

conservation tour, and he embarked on this five-day tour in September 1963. Senator Nelson did not consider the tour a success

but it was the beginning of an idea for Earth Day.

Earth Day was first celebrated on in the United States. Across the United States, 20 million people and

thousands of local schools and communities participated in the first Earth Day. The huge turnout for the first Earth Day made it

the largest organized celebration in the history of the United States. Earth Day’s success helped influence the government of the

United States to create stronger laws to protect the environment.

22nd April 2010 is the of the Earth Day. With over 20 thousand partners and organisation in 190 countries,

more than one billion people participated in Earth Day activities and made it the largest secular civic event in the world.

Ever since, 22nd April has been used to focus on the such as climate change, pollution and

water quality and an overall appreciation of our land and environment.

Senator Gaylord Nelson

April 22, 1970

40th anniversary

Earth' environmental challenges


Asian Paints is India’s largest and Asia's third largest paint

company today, with a turnover of Rs. 44.04 billion

(around USD 1.1 billion). The company has an enviable

reputation in the corporate world for professionalism, fast track

growth and building shareholder equity.

The company has come a long way

since its small beginnings in 1942. Four

fr iends Champakla l H. Choksey,

Chimanlal N. Choksi, Suryakant C. Dani

and Arvind R. Vakil get together to

manufacture paint in a garage at Foras

Road, Mumbai. They name their company

'The Asian Oil & Paint Company', a name that they picked

randomly from a telephone directory. It was converted into a

public limited company in 1973. The Company manufactures a

wide range of surface coatings catering to different end-uses. It

also manufactures vinyl pyridine latex used in the manufacture

of rubber tyres. The company expanded its products range,

developed its own technology, set up a distribution network

penetrating in smaller towns and ploughed back a large part of

earnings into creation of new facilities. Later in the year 1965 the

name was changed from Asian Oil and Paint Company Pvt. Ltd.

to Asian Paints (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Asian Paints operates in 22 countries across the world. It has

manufacturing facilities in each of these countries and is the

largest paint company in ten overseas markets. Asian Paints

operates in five regions across the world viz. South Asia,

Southeast Asia, South Pacific, Middle East and Caribbean

region through the five corporate brands viz. Asian Paints,

Berger International, SCIB Paints, Apco Coatings and

Taubmans. All these ventures are doing well and have a strong

hold in their respective markets. APL has its presence in almost

all the segment through its brands Royale in the premium

segment. Apcolite in the mid segment, Gattu, Tractor, Utsav and

3-mango in the lower segment.

The company has five manufacturing units which are

located at Mumbai, Ankleshwar, Patancheru, Kasna and

Sriperambdur. Each plant is headed by the Factory Manager.

Bhandup plant is the oldest plant with an installed capacity of

30000 Tonnes per annum. All plants are also awarded with ISO

9000 & ISO 14000 certification.

Asian Paints has won many awards & recognitions which

includes rating under “200 best under a billion” by Forbes global

in 2002, “Best small company in India” by Asia Money in 2002,

“Golden peacock” national quality award by union labour

ministry, “Best supply chain” award by i2 solutions, “Golden

peacock environment management award”, “Five star rating” by

British safety council in 2003 & 2005.

The Bhandup plant in Mumbai is reportedly the largest

single paint factory in the country and one of the most up-to-

date with sophisticated machinery and equipment for

manufacturing a wide range of paints and other products

besides adequate resin manufacturing capacity to meet its

entire requirements.

The Company undertook to set up a third paint unit at

Patancheru, a notified backward area near Hyderabad, for the

manufacture of 15,000 MT of paints and enamels. A letter of

Intent was obtained for setting up a fourth paint plant in Uttar

Pradesh with a capacity of 23,000 tonnes per annum of paints,

varnishes and enamels and 65,000 tonnes per annum of

synthetic resins (for captive consumption).

The Company entered a collaboration agreement with

Nippon Paints Co. Ltd., Japan, to obtain technical know-how to

manufacture powder coating and coil coatings under an

exclusive licence. Necessary manufacturing facilities for the

powder coatings with a capacity of 300 MT were installed and

commissioned at Kasna plant during 1992-93.

Forbes Global magazine USA ranked Asian Paints among the

200 Best Small Companies in the World for 2002 - 2003 and

presented the 'Best under a Billion' award, to the company. Asian

Paints is the only paint company in the world to receive this

recognition.

One of the country's leading business magazine "Business

Today" in Feb 2001 ranked Asian Paints as the Ninth Best

Employer. It hasbeen recognized by “Economic Times” aswell.

Asian Paints has harnessed the powers of state-of-the-art

supply chain system using cutting edge technology to integrate

all its plants, regional distribution centres, outside processing

centres and branches in India.

Asian Paints

Brand icon


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Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

President trade union

Tata Steel

3-6-3

banking

Brooke Bond

Karnataka Scooters Ltd

E Jerome McCarthy 4Ps

product, pricing, promotion and placement

Philip Kotler

Marketing Management

Dirty Laundry Laughing Stock Dead Frog

Englishman wines from Spain

Big Mother

technologies parents

track activities of a child

Sanjiv Bikhchandani

Naukri.com 99acres.com

Jeevansathi.com

Anupam Mittal

Shaadi.com

Jerry Sanders

AMD

Nihar Manjal Camelia Aromatic Mediker Oil of

Malabar Marico

William Willett daylight

saving time

The Waste of Daylight

was the

of a for eight years

of .

Golden Era of is the principle of good

. Get money at 3%, lend it at 6%

and get back to the golf club at 3 pm.

Before it became a part of Hindustan Lever,

India acquired in the early 1980s.

developed the concept of the

( ) of

marketing in 1960. then included it in his

book .

, , and

are brand names of .

is the term used to describe the use of modern

geolocation wireless and video by to

constantly the .

promoted Info Edge is the owner of

, (real estate portal) and

(matrimonial website).

is the Chairman and Managing Director

of People Interactive, which runs the portal.

On May 1, 1969, and seven friends founded

Advanced Micro Devices ( ).

, , , , and

are all brands owned by that are

acquisitions.

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that the clocks should be advanced by 80 minutes in the

summer.

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Bullet 350 Bullet Electra

Fantanas

Fanta

Good to the last drop Theodore

Roosevelt Maxwell House coffee

Hygienic Research Institute

Super Vasmol Streax.

Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikkaisha.

Unilever

Lever

Margarine Uni

Burger King WHOPPER

Jacobs Maxwell House Carte Noire

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Harpal Singh Maruti

Udyog Ltd.

was founded by

as a repair shop of a mining

company.

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was founded in 1997 by Ravi Deol and Sandeep

Vyas and is now owned by Italy's .

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versions of which have appeared since 2002.

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brand in the 1920s, made wide use of the slogan.

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dye and colour brands and

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include Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales,

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Future Shop label.

co is better known as

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recognised luxury goods brands, through its Vendôme

Group subsidiary, owns a broad portfolio of some of the

world's leading luxury goods brands. These include

Alfred Dunhill, and Lancel as well as

the prestigious watch manufacturers

Baume & Mercier and Vacheron Constantin.

Silver Searph, Silver Dawn, Silver Ghost, Silver Shadow,

Silver Spirit and Silver Spur are all different models of car

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Getting its name from a character in George Orwell's 1984,

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Dutch production company

is

the only watch to be flight-qualified for all manned space

missions by the American and Russian space agencies.

is an international self-service

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countries of Asia and Northern Africa. It is the largest sales

division of the German trade and retail giant .

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Gilmore.

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Billund, Denmark, in 1916. Today it

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(alloy) and Godt (well) were put together to make "LEGO."

Later, it was discovered that in Latin, the term "Lego"

means or

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in North America and

one of the oldest in the world. The company was

incorporated by British royal charter in 1670. It was at one

time the in the world, with Rupert's

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called .

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date back to 1908 when the company decided to make acid-

resistant ceramic jars for the it was

manufacturing at its plant in Tamil Nadu.

is a brand of produced by

It is named after the 17th-century Caribbean privateer

from Wales, Captain Morgan's slogan

is “Got a little Captain in You?” In 1944,the Seagram

Company started producing rum under the name Captain

Morgan Rum Company.

founder an

entrepreneur from Lahore, in 1978, bought a licence to

manufacture tyres from a family that was desperate to sell.

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flagship company Bharat Steel Tubes.

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of Norwich Union and CGU plc in 2000. Aviva announced

that the Norwich Union brand would disappear over a

period of two years. Norwich Union was founded in 1797 in

Norwich, when 36-year-old merchant and banker Thomas

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Insurance of Houses, Stock and Merchandise from Fire”.

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wireless email, the was released

in 1996, creating a new category of expensive phones called

smartphones. In 1999 the first mobile internet service was

launched by in Japan under the

service.

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oldest commercial corporation

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1. Which country won the Thomas Cup title for Badminton in

2010?

(1) Indonesia

(2) Malaysia

(3) China

(4) India

2. Who won the Madrid Masters men s tournament in 2010?

(1) Roger Federer

(2) Rafael Nadal

(3) Andy Murray

(4) Robin Soderling

3. Which country won the World Twenty-20 cricket final?

(1) England

(2) Australia

(3) Sri Lanka

(4) South Africa

4. Who is CEO of Yahoo?

(1) Steve Ballmer

(2) Samuel J. Palmisano

(3) Carol Bartz

(4) Paul S. Otellini

5. Which Indian IT Company is associated with FIFA World

Cup 2010 as one of the sponsors?

(1) TCS (2) Infosys

(3) CTS (4) Mahindra Satyam

6. Name the volcano whose dense cloud of drifting volcanic

ash is causing many European airports to shut down for

days and affecting air traffic worldwide.

(1) Esjufjöll

(2) Lýsuhóll

(3) Kerlingarfjöll

(4) Eyjafjallajokul

7. Who is the new Director of BARC?

(1) Prof. S. Banerjee

(2) Prof. R. K. Bhandari

(3) RK Sinha

(4) Prof. R. Balasubramanian

8. Who is India s most wanted man suspected of having

organized the 1993 Mumbai bombings and figures third on

the Forbes Most Wanted Fugitives list?

(1) Dawood Ibrahim

(2) Chhota Shakeel

(3) Tiger Memon

(4) Abu Salem

9. Who was the 11th Vice-President of India who passed away

recently on May 14, 2010?

(1) Kocheril Raman Narayanan

(2) Ramaswamy Venkataraman

(3) Shankar Dayal Sharma

(4) Bhairon Singh Shekhawat

10. Which Company has started a BPO in Srinagar starting

reverse migration of Kashmir?

(1) Essar Group-run Aegis

(2) Hinduja TMT

(3) NIIT SmartServe

(4) HCL-Tech BPO

11. Who received the 27th Niwano Peace Foundation award on

May 13, 2010?

(1) Dharma Master Cheng Yen

(2) Nandita Das

(3) Dr. Priscilla Elworthy

(4) Ms. Ela Ramesh Bhatt

12. Who is the Union minister who has offered to resign for his

controversial remarks against the home ministry for

allegedly stalling some Chinese imports?

(1) P. Chidambaram

(2) Jairam Ramesh

(3) Kamal nath

(4) S M Krishna

13. What is the real name of character artist Sambha from

super hit film of all times Sholey who passed away

recently?

(1) Viju Khote

(2) Jalal Agha

(3) Satyen Kappu

(4) Mac Mohan

General knowledge


22. According to the latest population Census, the state with

the least population density is

(1) Sikkim

(2) Mizoram

(3) Andaman & Nicobar Islands

(4) Arunachal Pradesh

23. The number of Union Territories in India is

(1) 5 (2) 6

(3) 7 (4) 8

24. The maximum duration for which the President s office

can remain vacant is

(1) 1 month

(2) 2 months

(3) 3 months

(4) 6 months

25. Which of the following represents the minimum age

required to become a member of the Rajya Sabha?

(1) 25 years

(2) 30 years

(3) 35 years

(4) There is no age limit as such

26. Which of the following represents the percentage

contribution of the agriculture sector to the Growth

D o m e s t i c Pro d u c t o f t h e I n d i a n E c o n o m y

(approximately)?

(1) 15%

(2) 17%

(3) 21%

(4) 30%

27. Sakyamuni is another name of

(1) Mahavir

(2) Buddha

(3) Lord Shiva

(4) Lord Vishnu

28. The last amendment to the Preamble of the Constitution of

India was carried out in the year

(1) 1958

(2) 1962

(3) 1976

(4) 1978

29. Which of the following is not a primary activity?

(1) Fishing

(2) Mining

(3) Agriculture

(4) Banking

14. What is the name of the panel that is being setup to look

into Telangana issue?

(1) Kirit Parikh committee

(2) Soli Sorabjee Committee

(3) Srikrishna committee

(4) Subhash Ranjan committee

15. Who is the new IPL Commissioner?

(1) Rizwan Cheema

(2) Chirayu Amin

(3) Sharad Pawar

(4) Jagmohan Dalmiya

16. Who is the new British Prime Minister?

(1) Nick Clegg

(2) David Cameron

(3) Gordon Brown

(4) Andrew Brown

17. Who is the new Chief Justice of India?

(1) R. C. Lahoti

(2) Y. K. Sabharwal

(3) K. G. Balakrishnan

(4) S H Kapadia

18. This disease is caused by the deficiency of protein. Can you

identify it from the given options?

(1) Goitre

(2) Kwashiorkar

(3) Hypokalemia

(4) Dermatosis

19. Pacific Ocean, which is the earth s largest ocean,

represents the percentage area (approximately) of the

earth covered by it

(1) 25% (2) 35%

(3) 40% (4) 45%

20. This place is the wettest place on earth. Can you identify it

from the given options?

(1) Mount Waialeale

(2) Cherapoonji

(3) Mawsynram

(4) None of these

21. The work for which French Nobleman Baron Pierre de

Coubertin is known for, is

(1) He was the founder of Scouts movement

(2) He was the founder of Amnesty International

(3) He was the founder of Red Cross Society

(4) He was responsible for the revival of modern Olympic

games.


30. How many Bharat Ratna awardees have won the Nobel

Prize till date?

(1) 1 (2) 2

(3) 3 (4) 4

31. Who discovered Ultrasound?

(1) Ian Donald

(2) Roger Bacon

(3) J.P. Merril

(4) Joseph Lister

32. Maltimadhava is the famous creation of which of the

following personalities?

(1) Kalidas

(2) Bharat Muni

(3) Bhavabhuti

(4) Vishnu Sharma

34. Which of the following is not a recipient of Bharat Ratna?

(1) Aruna Asaf Ali

(2) PV Kane

(3) DK Karve

(4) MGK Menon

35. Which of the following is not matched properly?

(1) Dibru Saikhowa - Assam

(2) Dehang Debang - Mizoram

(3) Norkek - Meghalaya

(4) Pachmarhi - Madhya Pradesh

36. The first cotton mill of India was set up at .......

(1) Surat

(2) Mumbai

(3) Kanpur

(4) Ahmedabad

37. Which Indian city is also known as the School capital of

India ?

(1) Lucknow

(2) New Delhi

(3) Dehradun

(4) Ajmer

38. Reserve Bank of India was nationalized in

(1) 1949

(2) 1952

(3) 1955

(4) 1964

33. The number of non-permanent members of the UN

Security Council is

(1) 5 (2) 10

(3) 15 (4) 20

39. We all know very well that the largest planet of the solar

system is Jupiter. Can you identify the name of the second

largest planet of the solar system?

(1) Earth

(2) Saturn

(3) Uranus

(4) Venus

40. The Andes mountain range is in

(1) North America

(2) South America

(3) Europe

(4) Australia

41. The world s rarest element on earth is

(1) Palladium

(2) Astatine

(3) Radium

(4) None of these

42. Which of the following is the densest planet of the solar

system?

(1) Earth

(2) Saturn

(3) Jupiter

(4) Mercury

43. Which of the following is not based on the banks of river

Danube?

(1) Vienna

(2) Belgrade

(3) Budapest

(4) Warsaw

44. Which of the following cases highlighted that total

reservation in the govt. jobs cannot exceed 50% of total?

(1) T.A. Pai case

(2) Minerva Mills case

(3) Keshvanand Bharti case

(4) Indira Sawhney case

45. Ngultrum is the name of the currency of

(1) Chile

(2) Bhutan

(3) Botswana

(4) Bulgaria

46. International Committee of Red Cross has won the Nobel

Peace Prize for record . times.

(1) Three

(2) Four

(3) Five

(4) Six


56. The first Indian state where the President s rule was

imposed in the year 1951 was ..........

(1) Uttar Pradesh

(2) Rajasthan

(3) Punjab

(4) Orissa

57. Which of the following Indian states has the lowest sex ratio

(number of females per thousand males)?

(1) West Bengal

(2) Haryana

(3) Punjab

(4) Uttar Pradesh

58. Which of the following is not a work of Salman Rushdie?

(1) Moor s Last Sigh

(2) Midnight s Children

(3) Shalimar The Clown

(4) The Piano Teacher

59. International Labor Day is celebrated on . every

year.

(1) August 1

(2) March 1

(3) September 1

(4) May 1

60. Who is credited with the construction of the Grand Trunk

road?

(1) Tipu Sultan

(2) Mohammed bin- Tughlaq

(3) Shershah Suri

(4) Jehangir

61. Which of the following is also known as Silicon valley of

India ?

(1) Hyderabad

(2) Bangalore

(3) Chennai

(4) Noida

62. This personality is also considered as the Father of

computers. Can you name him from the given options?

(1) Blaise Pascal

(2) Alan M. Turing

(3) Charles Babbage

(4) None of these

63. Peace Palace is the official headquarters of

(1) WHO

(2) FAO

(3) ICJ

(4) IBRD

47. Poise is the unit of

(1) Pressure

(2) Viscosity

(3) Luminous intensity

(4) Inductance

48. This personality is credited with the invention of Electro

cardiogram (ECG). Can you identify the personality from

the given options?

(1) Ian Donald

(2) A. Laveran

(3) Willem Einthoven

(4) C.Sholes

49. Time Machine is the name of a famous work of

(1) Carl Segan

(2) H.G. Wells

(3) Alvin Tofler

(4) Arthur C. Clarke

50. Jakob Von Vexkull was the founder of

(1) Booker Prize

(2) Pulitzer Prize

(3) Right Livelihood Award

(4) Templeton Prize

51. Which of the following chemical elements is used for the

bleaching process?

(1) Fluorine

(2) Bromine

(3) Chlorine

(4) Xenon

52. Cirrhosis is a disease which affects the

(1) Brain (2) Liver

(3) Kidney (4) Lungs

53. Which of the following is the capital of Ireland?

(1) Dublin

(2) Istanbul

(3) Amsterdam

(4) Berne

54. Where would you find the Indian Textile Institute?

(1) Surat (2) Kanpur

(3) Pune (4) Mysore

55. Which of the following is the least populous union territory

of India?

(1) Pondicherry

(2) Lakshadweep

(3) Dadra and Nagar Haveli

(4) Andaman & Nicobar Islands


64. Find the odd one out.

(1) DOS

(2) WINDOWS

(3) LINUX

(4) LISP

65. Which of the following is the capital of the land of midnight

sun ?

(1) Vienna

(2) Oslo

(3) Helsinki

(4) Prague

66. Christiana is the former name of which of the following

cities?

(1) Copenhagen

(2) Oslo

(3) Ottawa

(4) Berlin

67. Who among the following Presidents of India served as the

Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement for some

period?

(1) Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

(2) Varahagiri Venkatagiri

(3) Giani Zail Singh

(4) Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma

68. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer

A. Anil Agarwal i. Gujarat Heavy

Chemicals Ltd.

B. Gautam H. Singhania ii. Raymond Ltd.

C. Sanjay Dalmia iii. Vedanta Resources

D. Venugopal Dhoot iv. Videocon Group

A B C D

(1) iii i ii iv

(2) iv i ii iii

(3) iii ii i iv

(4) iv ii i iii

69. In India, which of the following states has the largest inland

saline wetland?

(1) Gujarat

(2) Haryana

(3) Madhya Pradesh

(4) Rajasthan

70. Which one of the following pairs is not correctly matched?

(1) Japan Nikkei

(2) Singapore Shcomp

(3) UK FTSE

(4) USA Nasdaq

Person Organization

71. Consider the following statements:

1. INS Sindhughosh is an aircraft carrier

2. INS Viraat is a submarine

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(1) 1 only

(2) 2 only

(3) Both 1 and 2

(4) Neither 1 nor 2

72. Consider the following statements:

1. The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices

recommends the Minimum Support Prices for 32

crops

2. The Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and

Public Distribution has launched the National Food

Security Mission


(1) 1 only

(2) 2 only

(3) Both 1 and 2

(4) Neither 1 nor 2

73. In India, ports are categorized as major and non-major

ports. Which one of the following is a non-major port?

(1) Kochi (Cochin)

(2) Dahej

(3) Paradip

(4) New Mangalore

74. Among other things, which one of the following was the

purpose for which the Deepak Parekh Committee was

constituted?

(1) To study the current socio-economic conditions of

certain minority communities

(2) To suggest measures for financing the development

of infrastructure

(3) To frame a policy on the production of genetically

modified organisms

(4) To suggest measure to reduce the fiscal deficit in the

Union Budget

75. The brothers Umakanth and Ramakanth Gundecha are

(1) Dhrupad vocalists

(2) Kathak dancers

(3) Sarod maestros

(4) Tabla players

76. In which state is the Buddhist site Tabo Monastery

located?

(1) Arunachal Pradesh

(2) Himachal Pradesh

(3) Sikkim

(4) Uttarakhand



A. Anna Hazare i. Lawyer

B. Deepak Parekh ii. Banker

C. GVK Reddy iii. Gandhian and social

activist

D. Harish Salve iv. Industrialist

A B C D

(1) i ii iv iii

(2) i iv ii iii

(3) iii ii iv i

(4) iii iv ii I


A. Amrita Sher-Gil i. Dancer

B. Bhimsen Joshi ii. Painter

C. Rukmini Devi Arundale iii. Poet

D. Suryakant Tripathi Nirala iv. Singer

A B C D

(1) ii i iv iii

(2) ii iv i iii

(3) iii i iv ii

(4) iii iv I ii

85. With reference to the schemes launched by the Union

Government, consider the following statements:

1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana

2. Minstry of Textiles launched the Rajiv Gandhi Shilpi

Swasthya Bima Yojana


(1) 1 only

(2) 2 only

(3) Both 1 and 2

(4) Neither 1 nor 2

86. Consider the following pairs:

1. Anand Pawar Chess

2. Akhil Kumar Boxing

3. Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia Golf

Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?

(1) 1 and 2 only

(2) 2 and 3 only

(3) 3 only

(4) 1, 2 and 3

Famous person Well-known as

Famous person Well-known as

Persons Sport

87. Who killed the Sikh Guru Arjun Dev

(1) Akbar (2) Jahangir

(3) Babar (4) None of these


A. Mandakini Amte i. Theatre director

B. Neelam Mansingh

Chowdhry ii. Social service and

community

leadership

C. Romila Thapar iii. Dance

D. Vanashree Rao iv. History writing

A B C D

(1) ii i iv iii

(2) ii iv i iii

(3) iii i iv ii

(4) iii iv I ii

78. With reference to Stree Shakti Puraskar, for which one of

the following is "Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Award" given?

(1) Administrative skills

(2) Achievements in scientific research

(3) Achievements in sports and games

(4) Courage and valour

79. With which one of the following has the B.K. Chaturvedi

Committee dealt?

(1) Review of Centre-State relations

(2) Review of Delimitation Act

(3) Tax reforms and measures to increase revenues

(4) Price reforms in the oil sector

80. Mahamastakabhisheka, a great religious event, is

associated with and done for whom of the following?

(1) Bahubali

(2) Buddha

(3) Mahavir

(4) Nataraja

81. Consider the following pairs:

1. Gatka, a traditional martial art Kerala

2. Madhubani, a traditional painting Bihar

3. Singhey Khababs Sindhu Darshan

Festival J & K

Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?

(1) 1 and 2 only

(2) 3 only

(3) 2 and 3 only

(4) 1, 2 and 3

Famous person Well-known for

Tradition State

82. The famous Trimurti sculpture is at

(1) Mahabalipuram

(2) Elephanta

(3) Badami

(4) Vijayawada


88. Match List I with List II and select the correct

A. In Custody i. Amartya Sen

B. Sea of Poppies ii. Amitav Ghosh

C. The Argumentative Indian iii. Anita Desai

D. Unaccustomed Earth iv. Jhumpa Lahiri

A B C D

(1) iv i ii iii

(2) iv ii i iii

(3) iii ii i iv

(4) iii i ii iv

89. Among the following, who are the Agaria community?

(1) A traditional toddy tappers community of Andhra

Pradesh

(2) A traditional fishing community of Maharashtra

(3) A traditional silk-weaving community of Kerala

(4) A traditional salt pan workers community of Gujarat

90. How many medals did India win in the Commonwealth

Games in Manchester in the year 2002?

(1) 52 (2) 62

(3) 72 (4) 82

91. Development as Freedom is a book written by whom

among the following?

(1) Amartya Sen

(2) Pankaj Mishra

(3) T.S.Krishna

(4) Shobha De

92. As per a recent survey conducted by Hong Kong Shanghai

Banking Corporation (HSBC), which among the following

is world's Most Confident Market?

(1) India

(2) China

(3) UAE

(4) Vietnam

93. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who recently died was Chief

Minister of Rajasthan .

(1) Once

(2) Twice

(3) Thrice

(4) Four times

94. What is the total number of branches (approximately) of

ICICI Bank as of May 2010?

(1) 1500

(2) 2000

(3) 3000

(4) 5000

Book Author

95. Which of the following Indian Sports Team is also known as

The Bhangra Boys ?

(1) Cricket Team

(2) Hockey Team

(3) Kabaddi Team

(4) Football Team

96. Which among the following international Pen brand had

released the controversial "Mahatma Gandhi Limited

Edition" of Pens?

(1) Meisterstück

(2) Montblanc

(3) Parker Pen Company

(4) Luxor

97. What is the maximum punishment as per IT act 2000 for

sending unsolicited emails and spam?

(1) 1 year

(2) 2 years

(3) 3 years

(4) 4 years

98. In the centrally sponsored AUWSP scheme, W stands

for ..........?

(1) Women

(2) Workers

(3) Water

(4) Wildlife

99. Which of the following President of India was the only

person to be elected unopposed?

(1) 4th President

(2) 5th President

(3) 6th President

(4) 7th President

100. Who among the following is known to set up municipal

institutions at work in India in 1882?

(1) Lord Lytton

(2) Lord Ripon

(3) Lord Lansdowne

(4) Lord Mayo

101. Which among the following language comes under 8th

schedule of Indian Constitution?

(1) Bhojpuri

(2) Mizo

(3) Rajasthani

(4) Dogari

102. In which year was Bombay Plan presented?

(1) 1934 (2) 1938

(3) 1944 (4) 1950


111. Which among the following is the world's largest mobile

operator having largest subscriber base in the world?

(1) China Mobile

(2) Vodafone

(3) América Móvil

(4) Orange

112. Which of the following is the venue of the Nuclear Security

Summit in April 2010?

(1) Geneva

(2) Paris

(3) Washington

(4) London

113. As per accepted recommendations of the Thirteenth

Finance Commission, the State s share has been fixed at

32% of the net proceeds of sharable Central Taxes. Which

among the following state gets the maximum share?

(1) Uttar Pradesh

(2) Madhya Pradesh

(3) Maharastra

(4) Gujarat

114. In which of the following states is Pagladiya Multipurpose

Dam project located?

(1) West Bengal

(2) Bihar

(3) Uttar Pradesh

(4) Assam

115. Recently, Right to Education Act came into force in India.

As per UNESCO's 'Education for All Global Monitoring

Report 2010', how many countries in the world have

constitutional provisions for free and non-discriminatory

education for all?

(1) 98

(2) 114

(3) 111

(4) 135

116. With which of the following countries, India has recently

finalized a $2.2 billion deal to upgrade her fleet of Mirage

2000 fighters?

(1) Israel

(2) Russia

(3) France

(4) US

117. Which among the following has been selected as

consultant to Unique Identification Authority of India ?

(1) Tata Consultancy Services

(2) Ernst & Young

(3) Boston Consulting Group

(4) McKinsey & Company

103. Which of the following Five year Plans set the lowest growth

target?

(1) First

(2) Second

(3) Third

(4) Fourth

104. What is the 11th plan target of increasing forest and tree

cover?

(1) 2% (2) 3%

(3) 4% (4) 5%

105. Article 280 of the Indian Constitution deals with

constitution of which of the following commissions?

(1) Law commission

(2) Election commission

(3) Finance Commission

(4) Farmers Commission

106. Which among the following is a correct impact of Dear

Money?

(1) Borrowings become cheap

(2) Borrowings become expensive

(3) Borrowings become either cheap or expensive

(4) There is no impact of Dear Money on Borrowings

107. Bring out the incorrectly matched pair:

(1) National legislative assembly of Spain - Cortes

(2) Parliament of Norway - Storting

(3) National Assembly of Bhutan - Gyelyong Tshogdu

(4) All Matched Correctly

108. Recently the exercise of census 2011 has taken off from

April 1, 2010. During the history of Independent India,

which of the following states have been excluded in a

census?

(1) Jammu & Kashmir

(2) Jammu & Kashmir and Assam

(3) Jammu & Kashmir and Sikkim

(4) No state has been left in any census

109. Which among the following committee was appointed by

the Supreme Court of India to study PDS (Public

Distribution System) reform?

(1) Arjun Sengupta committee

(2) N.C. Saxena committee

(3) Justice Wadhwa committee

(4) Suresh Tendulkar Committee

110. Since when the Targeted Public Distribution System has

been in operation in India?

(1) 1995

(2) 1997

(3) 1999

(4) 2000


118. Which among the following is the primary source of

revenue for Bhutan?

(1) Handicrafts

(2) Tourism

(3) Exports

(4) Electricity Sale

119. Who among the following is the author of The new age of

innovation ?

(1) Richard Branson

(2) Jessie Paul

(3) C K Prahalad

(4) Hank Paulson

120. Montek Singh Ahluwalia is India's Deputy Chairman of

Planning Commission. He is serving on this position for ....

(1) First term

(2) Second term

(3) Third Term

(4) Fourth Term

121. How much amount has been earmarked for Mahila Kisan

Sashaktikaran Pariyojana in the Union Budget 2010-11?

(1) Rs. 100 Crore

(2) Rs. 200 Crore

(3) Rs. 300 Crore

(4) Rs. 400 Crore

122. Which of the following state government confers Shikhar

Samman?

(1) New Delhi

(2) Haryana

(3) Rajasthan

(4) Madhya Pradesh

123. Currently who among the following is India's Cabinet

Secretary?

(1) Nirupama Rao

(2) K. M. Chandrasekhar

(3) G S Pillai

(4) G E Vahanvati

124. What is the minimum age to be eligible for the benefits of

Janani Suraksha Yojna?

(1) 17 years (2) 18 years

(3) 19 years (4) 21 years

125. In which of the following schemes of the Union

Government, a benefit of Rs. 4000 is provided for pregnant

women?

(1) Janani Suraksha Yojna

(2) Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojna

(3) National Maternal Benefit Scheme

(4) Navjat Shishu Suraksha Karyakram

126. Law Commission of India is a .?

(1) Constitutional Body

(2) Advisory Body

(3) Departmental committee

(4) Non statutory Body

127. Where were the last Commonwealth games held?

(1) Kua Lalumpur

(2) Melbourne

(3) Manchester

(4) Auckland

128. Which among the following countries is the world s leading

producer of synthetic industrial diamond?

(1) United states

(2) Congo

(3) China

(4) South Africa

129. India holds number 1 status

?

(1) Copper

(2) Iron

(3) Mica

(4) Lead

130. At which of the following places in Uttarakhand , Mahatma

Gandhi stayed for many days during India's Freedom

Struggle?

(1) Mussoorie

(2) Kausani

(3) Almora

(4) Nainital

131. Who among the following has been described as 'Jawahar of

Uttarakhand ?

(1) Baldev Singh Arya

(2) Badri Datt Pandey

(3) Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna

(4) Jagmohan Singh Negi

132. At which of the following place was India's First

Agricultural University ?

(1) Pantnagar

(2) Kanpur

(3) Lucknow

(4) Kolkata

133. The ancient Takshshila Town was located between which

of the following rivers?

(1) Indus & Jhelum

(2) Jhelum & Chenab

(3) Chenab & Ravi

(4) Ravi & Beas

in the production of which of

the following metals

established


142. The well-known brand YKK' is related to which of the

following ?

(1) Solution to computer problems for the year 2000

(2) Zippers

(3) Shoe laces

(4) Cellular phones

143. Milk is an example of which of the following ?

(1) Suspension

(2) Gel

(3) Emulsion

(4) Foam

144. The first computer vims in the world was created in :

(1) Pakistan

(2) USA

(3) Japan

(4) France

145. What is the chemical name of Viagra ?

(1) Sildenafil Citrate

(2) Acetylsalicylic Acid

(3) Valium Acetyl Cynate

(4) Valiumsalisylic Citrate

146. Which of the following is not a search engine ?

(1) Aspire

(2) Lycos

(3) Dogpile

(4) Altavista

147. Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD)

is located at:

(1) Delhi

(2) Kolkata

(3) Hyderabad

(4) Chennai

148. The Green revolution in crops, Yellow revolution in oil

seeds and Golden revolution in .............. has been an

ample testimony to the contributions of agricultural

research and development efforts undertaken in the

country.

(1) Horticulture

(2) Wheat

(3) Petrol

(4) None of these

149. Which of the following parts of the sunlight makes the solar

cooker hot ?

(1) Ultraviolet

(2) Red light rays

(3) Infrared

(4) Cosmic rays

134. Mahakali Treaty is signed

?

(1) China

(2) Pakistan

(3) Bhutan

(4) Nepal

135. Which article of the constitution of India lays down the

procedure for impeachment of the President?

(1) Article 105

(2) Article 61

(3) Article 60

(4) Article 35

136. Who among the following nominates the Chairman of

Public Accounts committee of India?

(1) Prime Minister

(2) President

(3) Speaker of Lok Sabha

(4) Chairman of Rajya Sabha

137. With which of the following sports is Rovers Cup ?

(1) Badminton

(2) Cricket

(3) Football

(4) Hockey

138. What is the name of the channel that separates the

Andaman Islands from the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of

Bengal?

(1) Nine Degree Channel

(2) 10 degree channel

(3) 12 degree channel

(4) Kardiva Channel

139. Justice P. Venkatarama Reddy heads which of the following

commissions?

(1) Farmer's Commission

(2) Committee on Telangana

(3) 13th Finance Commission

(4) 19th law Commission

140. Asiatic Lion is the state animal of which of the following

states?

(1) Rajasthan

(2) Gujarat

(3) Madhya Pradesh

(4) Maharastra

141. Neem is a state tree of which of the following states?

(1) Rajasthan

(2) Andhra Pradesh

(3) Gujarat

(4) Madhya Pradesh

between India and which of the

following neighbours

related


150. Where was the First Earth Summit held in 1992 to address

environmental issues of the world?

(1) Johannesburg

(2) Geneva

(3) Seattle

(4) Rio

151. Pulitzer Prizes of the US are awarded for :

(1) Music

(2) Films

(3) Print Journalism

(4) None of these

152. World Red Cross Day is celebrated every year on :

(1) May 16 (2) May 11

(3) May 8 (4) May 1

153. Name the website which broke the cricket match-fixing

story :

(1) bazee.com

(2) tehelka.com

(3) tazaakhabar.com

(4) goforcricket.com

154. ICRA refers to :

(1) Indian Credit Rating Agency

(2) Investment Creation Rationing Authority

(3) Investment Credit Rating Agency

(4) Indian Cricket Renaissance Association

155. What does ISP stand for ?

(1) International Service Provider

(2) Indian Service Provider

(3) Internet Service Provider

(4) Internet Start-up Provider

156. What does CDMA stand for ?

(1) Code Division Multiple Access

(2) Code Division Mobile Access

(3) Code Division Multiple Application

(4) Code Division Mobile Application

157. SEZ stands for :

(1) Southern Economic Zone

(2) South European zone

(3) Special Economic Zone

(4) Special Eastern Zone

Answers to General knowledge

105. Ans.(3)

106. Ans.(2)

107. Ans.(4)

108. Ans.(2)

109. Ans.(3)

110. Ans.(2)

111. Ans.(1)

112. Ans.(3)

113. Ans.(1)

114. Ans.(4)

115. Ans.(4)

116. Ans.(3)

117. Ans.(2)

118. Ans.(4)

119. Ans.(3)

120. Ans.(2)

121. Ans.(1)

122. Ans.(4)

123. Ans.(2)

124. Ans.(3)

125. Ans.(2)

126. Ans.(4)

127. Ans.(2)

128. Ans.(2)

129. Ans.(3)

130. Ans.(2)

1. Ans.(3)

2. Ans.(2)

3. Ans.(1)

4. Ans.(3)

5. Ans.(4)

6. Ans.(4)

7. Ans.(3)

8. Ans.(1)

9. Ans.(4)

10. Ans.(1)

11. Ans.(4)

12. Ans.(2)

13. Ans.(4)

14. Ans.(3)

15. Ans.(2)

16. Ans.(2)

17. Ans.(4)

18. Ans.(2)

19. Ans.(2)

20. Ans.(3)

21. Ans.(4)

22. Ans.(4)

23. Ans.(3)

24. Ans.(4)

25. Ans.(2)

26. Ans.(3)

27. Ans.(2)

28. Ans.(3)

29. Ans.(4)

30. Ans.(4)

31. Ans.(1)

32. Ans.(3)

33. Ans.(2)

34. Ans.(4)

35. Ans.(2)

36. Ans.(2)

37. Ans.(3)

38. Ans.(1)

39. Ans.(2)

40. Ans.(2)

41. Ans.(2)

42. Ans.(1)

43. Ans.(4)

44. Ans.(4)

45. Ans.(2)

46. Ans.(1)

47. Ans.(2)

48. Ans.(3)

49. Ans.(2)

50. Ans.(3)

51. Ans.(3)

52. Ans.(2)

53. Ans.(1)

54. Ans.(2)

55. Ans.(2)

56. Ans.(3)

57. Ans.(2)

58. Ans.(4)

59. Ans.(4)

60. Ans.(3)

61. Ans.(2)

62. Ans.(3)

63. Ans.(3)

64. Ans.(4)

65. Ans.(2)

66. Ans.(2)

67. Ans.(3)

68. Ans.(3)

69. Ans.(4)

70. Ans.(2)

71. Ans.(4)

72. Ans.(4)

73. Ans.(2)

74. Ans.(2)

75. Ans.(1)

76. Ans.(2)

77. Ans.(1)

78. Ans.(1)

79. Ans.(4)

80. Ans.(1)

81. Ans.(3)

82. Ans.(2)

83. Ans.(3)

84. Ans.(2)

85. Ans.(2)

86. Ans.(2)

87. Ans.(2)

88. Ans.(3)

89. Ans.(4)

90. Ans.(3)

91. Ans.(1)

92. Ans.(3)

93. Ans.(3)

94. Ans.(2)

95. Ans.(4)

96. Ans.(2)

97. Ans.(3)

98. Ans.(3)

99. Ans.(3)

100. Ans.(2)

101. Ans.(4)

102. Ans.(3)

103. Ans.(1)

104. Ans.(4)

131. Ans.(4)132. Ans.(1)133. Ans.(3)134. Ans.(4)135. Ans.(2)136. Ans.(3)137. Ans.(3)138. Ans.(2)139. Ans.(4)140. Ans.(2)141. Ans.(2)142. Ans.(1)143. Ans.(3)144. Ans.(3)145. Ans.(1)146. Ans.(1)147. Ans.(3)148. Ans.(1)149. Ans.(3)150. Ans.(4)151. Ans.(3)152. Ans.(3)153. Ans.(2)154. Ans.(3)155. Ans.(3)156. Ans.(1)157. Ans.(3)


Everybody is quite familiar with Wikipedia, the world's

largest online resource for content about everything. On

January 15, 2001 when it was officially launched, the

founder Jimmy Wales used the American flag “Old Glory” as its

logo; but it turned out to be a bad idea and attracted widespread

criticism.

As of November 2007,

Wikipedia has over 9 million

articles in 253 languages,

written collaboratively by

volunteers around the

world. Wikipedia.org is also

ranked among the top ten

most visited websites

worldwide.

Furthermore, it hints to

an improved form of Web

2.0, with regard to its user-

friendly interface and

unparalleled information

database.

At the time of its launch in 2001, Wikipedia needed a logo

design which would represent its peculiarity and exclusive

initiative on the Internet. Hence, Jimmy ‘Jimbo’ Wales, founder

of Wikipedia, used an American flag, Old Glory, as the

temporary Wikipedia logo, which was widely criticized.

ScottMoonen, the author of wiki engine, WikkiTikkiTavi,

commented on the American flag Wikipedia logo as “extremely

ethno-centric”, and suggested to insert a globe in the Wikipedia

logo to demonstrate the broad-based character of the website.

After several Wikipedia logo design recommendations by

Wikipedians, and an international competition conducted for

the same reason, a new and improved Wikipedia logo was finally

established that successfully corresponds to all the languages

with an international perspective.

Paul Stansifer, a.k.a. Paullusmagnus of the Wiki network, came

up with the winning Puzzle sphere design, which later slightly

amended by Nohat, a Wikipedia administrator, became the final

Wikipedia logo as we see it today. With this new Wikipedia logo,

Wikipedia has managed to demonstrate its worldwide reach and

itsextensive research available on many aspects.

The shape of the Wikipedia logo has a clear notion of power

and strength, which reflects the firm hold of the company.

Wikipedia logo has an image of a puzzle sphere with some pieces

missing from the top of the globe. This image defines that the

website covers almost each and every aspect of what exists and is

happening in the world.

In the Wikipedia logo, a soft and light shade of grey is used to

demonstrate the professional outlook of the foundation. The

grey hue is easy-to-remember and is uncomplicated, providing

another character to the Wikipedia logo. The sober color

highlights the firm’s integrity. Wikipedia logo is considered

simple, distinctive and sophisticated due to its calm tint.

The Serif font in Wikipedia logo is kept very straightforward

yet elegant. The font in the slogan of Wikipedia logo, ‘The Free

Encyclopedia’, is reserved to italic style. On the globe of

Wikipedia logo, some symbols of different languages are

represented, stating that the website comprises information in

many languages. Keeping a ‘the simpler, the better’ strategy in

mind, easy font is used for all groups of people to understand the

meaning behind the logo clearly. The Wikipedia logo bolsters

the viewer to draw to the website and seek information.

Additionally, the Wikipedia logo intelligently depicts the

intended message of sharing knowledge and information

without the communication barrier.

SHAPE OF WIKIPEDIA LOGO:

COLOR OF WIKIPEDIA LOGO:

FONT OF WIKIPEDIA LOGO:

Wikipedia Logo

The with bristles was developed in in 1498. Bristles were taken from hogs at first, later from horses.

The nylon bristles were developed in 1938 by .

first toothbrush China

DuPont


� Pritish Nandy

''Again''.

is returning to his first

calling, poetry, after 20 years of

dabbling in filmmaking, art and

journalism. Nandy, who has collections

like ''Lonesong Street'' and ''A Stranger

Called I'' to his credit, released his book

of poems

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Israel's Ambassador to India

said in that India and Israel would soon be

signing a free trade agreement.

An would be held

in July to boost adventure tourism in

Tourism Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora said. "An

International rafting Championship over Liddher River at

Pahalgam would be organized in July this year", Jora said

after flagging off rafting over river Sindh at Mammar, on

Srinagar-Leh road.

After a high-level meeting with the Chief of

Assam and other senior

officials of the state including the top brass of

the security forces at Guwahati, India's Home

Minister, P Chidambaram said that the

counter insurgency operations in Assam will

continue till the rebels lay down their arms

and shun violence.

The Centre has approved related to water

conservation at a cost of Rs 126.94 crore in this

year. "The ministry has released Rs 9.1 crore for the

schemes. Ninety per cent of the cost for construction of

check dams and irrigation facilities would be borne by

Centre and 10 per cent would be incurred by state

government," state Director of Soil and Water

Conservation A. Syiem said at the launch of Central

Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) at

Jowai (Shillong). Syiem said eight projects for

improvement of shifting cultivation covering an area of

4000 hectare with a project cost of Rs 4 crore was

sanctioned and Rs 53 lakh has been released.

Mark

Sofer, Jaipur

international rafting championship

Jammu and

Kashmir,

Tarun Gogoi

32 projects

Meghalaya

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said nationality should be the basis in the ongoing

national census and not caste. "The RSS is following the

principles of late Dalit leader B R Ambedkar. Right from

the beginning, RSS is in favour of a and

any attempt to dilute it will hurt the sentiments of people,"

RSS General Secretary, told.

Commander , a naval

officer became the first Indian ever to circumnavigate the

world solo on a when he steered into the Mumbai

harbour after an arduous voyage spanning a little over

Commander Dilip Donde, who embarked on the

voyage on August 19 last year on INSV (Indian Naval Sailing

Vessel) Mhadei, approached the finish line as his boat,

ceremonially escorted by a fast-attack craft of the Indian

Navy along with speedboats and two tugs operating their

water canons, touched base back in India at the Sunk Rock

Light House Mumbai.

Mufti of Darul Iftah of Bareilvi

has issued the that Muslim women can work in

institutionsafter wearing the but with some conditions.

The government is planning to set up a

in the wake of the devastating

of an Express aircraft. The

proposal was mooted during a high-level meeting at the

In the backdrop of molestation case,

the Union law and justice ministry is working on the

which aims

to of sexual offences. The proposed law

stipulate that investigation in such cases be completed

within six months to a year, and also proposes to make

punishment for cases of sexual assault on women more

stringent.

RSS

casteless society

Bhaiyyaji Joshi

Dilip Donde

sail boat

nine

months.

Sharif Mohd Ayyub Alem

Rizvi fatwa

veil

civil aviation

safety advisory council

Mangalore crash Air-India

Ruchika Girhotra

Sexual Offences (Special Courts) 2010 Bill

fast-track cases

� A Delhi court rejected the bail plea of

a junior Indian

diplomat arrested on charges of

for Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence .

Madhuri Gupta,

spying

ministry presided over by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.

News in brief

India


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In an expected turn of events, the

(BMAC) has asked the Central Bureau of

Investigation (CBI) to approach the Supreme Court

against the High Court decision of granting reprieve to the

senior BJP leaders accused in the Babri demolition case.

Rains and powerful winds triggered by storm

lashed Orissa's winding coast. The storm was

centred near Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, said the

Bhubaneswar meteorological centre.

Disgraced former Haryana

, was sentenced to

prison term by a court in Chandigarh

in Ruchika molestation case.

A city court New Delhi, ordered that

charges be framed against Congress

leader and five others in a case of murder

and instigating a mob which allegedly killed five people

during the .

TRS President, said there will be

a for achieving separate after

the submitted its report to the

Centre towards the end of this year.

Three Pune students are among the six selected to

represent India at the

(IMO) to be held at in

from July 2.

With the coming of 3G, the next wave of

will be on the , said cyber security expert

Vijay Mukhi, at a seminar on the penultimate day of the

2010 organised by the Mumbai

Police.

has opened talks on civil nuclear energy with

and both sides have decided to set up a working group to

examine the possibility of cooperation during an extended

interaction between Japanese Minister for Economy, Trade

and Industry Masayuki Naoshima and Planning

Commission Deputy Chairman,

said highly placed sources.

Chief Minister total assets are valued at

around according to a sworn affidavit she filed

at the time of her nominations to the Uttar Pradesh

Legislative Council elections. In 2007, her worth was

around when she contested a Council by-

election after becoming Chief Minister. In three years, her

assets have grown by over

Babri Masjid Action

Committee

cyclonic

Laila

DGP, SPS

Rathore 18-month

Sajjan Kumar

1984 anti-Sikh riots

K Chandrasekhar Rao

"terrible war" Telangana

Sri Krishna committee

51st International Mathematical

Olympiad Astana Kazakhstan

cyber attacks

mobile phone

Cyber Safety Week

India Japan

Montek Singh

Ahluwalia,

Mayawati's

Rs. 88 crore,

Rs. 52.27 crore

Rs. 35 crore.

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The Supreme Court stayed the execution of Kolkata’s

American Center terror attack mastermind

after admitting his appeal challenging the award of

death sentence to him by the trial judge and confirmed by

the Calcutta high court.

India is likely to join the league of

who have a (HSUI) of their own,

by the end of 2010. The work on preparing a database for

the index has begun and, once it is started, the indices will

be released on a quarterly basis. The housing index is

viewed as a key indicator of economic activity in the

countries where it is being used, particularly in the last

couple of years of economic meltdown for which sub-prime

housing loan crisis in the United States is often blamed.

Besides the US, the other countries having a housing index

are the

Union Minister for environment

and forests

decision to set up a new authority,

(NEPA),

to regulate all environmental

norm, has been sharply criticised

by the green lobby. Speaking at a

national workshop to discuss the

setting up of this autonomous body, a majority of

participants told Mr Ramesh that the proposed regulation

would not improve the quality of environmental

governance.

With 159 children below five dying due to in

2009, is facing an acute food security

crisis. The state suffers from the lowest food consumption

levels in India which have further declined from 11 kg per

month to 9 kg per month over the last five years.

Physicist and environmentalist has been

awarded the prestigious this year in

recognition of her works in .

A Defence Technology Commission will be set up on the

lines of the to improve the

functioning of the Defence Research and Development

Organisation (DRDO) laboratories in the country,

Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, said

in Visakhapatnam.

One of the doyens of Telugu film industry, lyric writer

74, died of a massive

cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Hyderabad.

Aftab Ahmed

Ansari

five developed nations,

housing start up index

United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and

Japan.

Jairam Ramesh’s

‘National Environmental

Protection Authority’

malnutrition

Madhya Pradesh

Vandana Shiva

Sydney Peace Prize

social justice

Atomic Energy Commission

V. K.

Saraswat,

Dr

Veturi Sundararama Murthy,


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has no plans to build a mega dam over river

in Tibet as it is well aware of the concerns

India and Bangladesh have in this regard, a senior academic

attached to a state-run think tank said.

Indian-origin Britons were part of a 21-member crime

gang involved in a $337.5 million in the

In total, the gang members have been jailed for

a total of 74 years for their part in financial crime. The case,

described as one of the most complex investigations by

Britain’s customs department, started in April 2002 and

after eight trials and retrials, it was closed when the final

defendant was sentenced.

Pakistan government stuck to its

decision that it would not reopen graft

cases against

in Switzerland and told the

that reports about

his alleged involvement in laundering

of $60 million were “exaggerated.”

Islamic police in Aceh province have been

issued with and ordered to cover up

women deemed to have broken Muslim dress codes, an

official said.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court dismissed appeals by the federal

and Punjab provincial governments against

release from house arrest for

want of evidence. He is thus a free man again and no longer

subject to house arrest.

had offered to sell to

during the apartheid era in the 1970s, a media reported.

formally notified the of its

response to a nuclear fuel swap deal brokered by

and Iranian, Brazilian and Turkish representatives,

as well as officials from the

, all arrived for a short meeting with the

IAEA Chief, Mr Yukiya Amano, at his residence in central

Vienna.

China

Brahmaputra

tax fraud United

Kingdom.

President Asif Ali

Zardari

Supreme Court

Indonesia’s

20,000 long skirts

Jamaat-ud-

Dawa Chief Hafiz Saeed’s

Israel nuclear bomb South Africa

Iran UN atomic watchdog

Turkey

Brazil.

International Atomic Energy

Agency (IAEA)

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The US President, Mr ,

declared that the United States cannot

act alone in the world and pledged to

shape a new as

part of a national security strategy to seal

his break with

Pakistan has that

had “blasphemous” content in the wake of the ban on

and which featured cartoons of

The , Mr said he

suspects suppressing political criticism is a factor behind

the move to block YouTube and Facebook in Pakistan in the

name of Islam.

The has expressed concern over the

recruitment and use of minors by the Maoists in India and

said there were credible reports that some young ones were

forcibly recruited from schools. It also highlighted an

incident in which Naxalites forced villagers to provide five

boys and girls for their armed group in October 2009.

The Scientists have found a key that, when turned

off, promotes the development of common

Their findings suggest that a combination of

agents now being tested in other cancers may turn the

gene back on, providing a much-needed therapy for the

difficult-to-treat cancer. Researchers at

campus in Florida describe a gene called that has

been silenced in clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the most

common kind of kidney cancer, and is a key gene also lost

in breast cancer.

US researchers have developed the first bacteria cell

controlled by a , in a breakthrough

which may pose philosophical and scientific questions

about the bid to recreate life.

Barack Obama

“international order”

Bush-era policies.

blocked 800 URLs

Facebook YouTube

Prophet Mohammed.

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt

United Nations

gene

kidney

cancer.

Mayo Clinic’s

GATA3

synthetic genome

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message to the government that they want

to continue as the

General

Ashfaq Pervez Kayani Army Chief.

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The US has spent around $40 million for training a

dedicated unit of around 200 Mexican police and army

personnel in an effort to hunt down , a

media report said.

has set up new equipment that could let it produce

more enriched from a smaller amount of raw

material, diplomats said. The step could one day make it

easier to produce a nuclear bomb and is likely to give the US

more leverage with Russia and China in its push for new

UN sanctions on Iran.

British Prime Minister chaired the first

meeting of his new coalition Cabinet and decided to take a

pay for himself and all his ministers to

start his regime. Mr Cameron will take the

highest pay cut, amounting to £7,500, and his annual salary

will be compared to £150,000 salary of his

predecessor Gordon Brown. The Cabinet ministers will

take a £7, 082 salary cut to get annual salary of £134,565.

the sole

sitting head of state wanted for war crimes by the

International Criminal Court (ICC), was sworn after his

re-election in voting marred by boycotts.

court approved an arrest warrant for fugitive former

premier on charges in

connection with deadly street protests, an official said.

Nepal's Mountaineering Association has been honoured

more than from all over

the world including Indian climbers in a special function to

mark the third International Everest Day(29 may).

The legendary screen actor and Hollywood rebel

, best known for directing and starring in his '60s

counterculture movie has died at the age of 74.

Hopper appeared in more than 200 films, including Giant

and Blue Velvet, often playing the misfit, outsider or villain.

But he then rode Easy Rider to unexpected success: The

movie pulled in 50 million dollars, more than ten times the

original investment of 400,000 dollars.

and

his Japanese counterpart

agreed to

to address

sensitive issues between the two

countries. At their summit in

the two leaders also agreed to “launch

early negotiations to develop the East

China Sea oil and gas resources.”

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao

Yukio

Hatoyama “activate a

civilian hotline”

Tokyo,

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drug kingpins

Iran

uranium

David Cameron

five per cent cut

austerity

£142,500,

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir,

Thai

Thaksin Shinawatra terrorism

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Dennis

Hopper

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The has appealed to

Muslim women, particularly

those in , to travel to

Yemen and wage The

appeal was made by Wafa al-

Shahri, wife of Al Qaeda's second

in command in Yemen, Said al-

Shahri. Wafa al-Shahri was directing her message in

particular to Al Qaeda colleagues in Saudi Arabia.

In a move likely to affect Indian professionals as well as

British trade and industry,

coalition government has decided to impose an annual cap

on the number of immigrants from non-European Union

countries.

Major Powers, including and have agreed

on a new UN sanctions resolution against over its

nuclear programme, the United States said.

is planning a 15-days for

saying it was a justified legal claim for fathers of

newborn babies. “Such a proposal has been sent to the

women and children affairs ministry,” additional

establishment secretary, Mr Mohammad Sadiq, said. He

said the proposal had been prepared on the pattern

followed in other countries.

A leading body of has asked New Delhi to withdraw

new rules seeking surrender of upon

acquisition of saying they impose undue

burdens on the Indian American community.

The apologised “unreservedly” after a radio

presenter announced that

had Disc jockey Danny Kelly, played the national

anthem God Save The Queen and told listeners he had an

important announcement to make before saying: “Queen

Elizabeth II has now died.” The joke was made on BBC

WM, the local radio service in Birmingham and the

surrounding West Midlands area.

signed a under which it will

ship of low enriched to

Turkey, to help end Tehran’s stand-off with the West over

its atomic programme. The agreement, under which Iran

will receive nuclear fuel for its reactors, was signed

between foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey and Brazil.

decision to allow Indian Air Force to groom,

train and equip its frontline pilots is a proof of the

south-east Asian country’s faith on New Delhi, a senior

IAF officer has said.

Al Qaeda

Saudi Arabia

jihad.

Mr David Cameron’s

China Russia,

Iran

Bangladesh “paternity leave”

men,

NRIs

Indian passports

US citizenship,

BBC

jokingly Queen Elizabeth II

died.

Iran nuclear fuel swap deal

1,200 kilogrammes uranium

Malaysia’s

Sukhoi


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and its partner

have suspended drilling at

an exploratory well in the at

the KG basin. In a statement, Hardy

Oil has cited “unresolved mechanical

issues associated with the blow out

preventer”.

Hyderabad-based infrastructure firm

signed an agreement with Singapore- based to

set up a thermal power plant in Krishnapatnam,

Andhra Pradesh.

In a major acquisition deal, announced the

merger of the with it through a share-

swap in a non-cash deal that values the BoR at about Rs

3,000 crore. Announcing the deal, ICICI Bank MD and

CEO, Ms Chanda Kochhar said that the merger would be

through offering of ICICI for every

of BoR but its promoters Tayal family, which hitherto have

over 50 per cent stake would not get a board seat in the

amalgamated entity.

The Indian government’s

will have some major positive economical and social

implications, with ample opportunity to leverage the

technology far more ambitiously and intensively, according

to global consultancy firm

The US-based multinational pharma company has

acquired the domestic formulations business of

. The deal was signed for $3.72

billion with $2.12 billion to be paid upfront and $400

million annually for the next four years.

The Indian family-owned investment firm

Group said it has agreed to buy the private banking arm of

Belgian firm for 1.35 billion euros. The deal

comprises the sale of KBC’s entire interest in KBL

European Private Banking and includes all the private

banking subsidiaries as well as the custody and life

insurance businesses.

Reliance Industries

Hardy Oil

D3 block

Gayatri Projects

Sembcorp

1,320 mw

ICICI Bank

Bank of Rajasthan

25 shares 118 shares

unique identity programme

Deloitte.

Abbott

Piramal

Healthcare Limited

Hinduja

KBC Group

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The RBI governor, ,

said that was not

possible within the existing legal

framework of the country. While

talking to mediapersons after the

meeting of the RBI board, Mr

Subbarao said that Islamic banking

did not involve payment of interest

and was based on sharing of both

profit and loss. This was not consistent with the protection

of depositors which was the prime aim of the RBI, he said.

The has asked the Comptroller and Auditor General

(CAG) of India to form a the

financial aspect of the investigations in connection with 2G

spectrum auctions in which the Union telecom minister,

Mr A. Raja is facing charges of corruption.

A risky game of brinkmanship among Swiss political

parties could sink a key deal to settle a bitter

against the triggering fresh legal action against the

bank and shaking trust in Switzerland. The government

has said it has no backup plan if the Parliament kills an

agreement clinched last August obliging Switzerland to

hand 4,450 UBS client accounts to the US tax authorities to

settle tax evasion claims against the Swiss bank.

The Naveen Jindal-led (JSPL)

will acquire the Oman-based Shadeed Iron and Steel Co for

$ 464 million, which will enable the company to cater to the

Middle East and North African countries.

The promoters of the ,

announced a family settlement agreement following which

their 26% stake in the two-wheeler maker Hero Honda will

now be owned by Mr Suman Kant Munjal, the second son

of group Chairman, Mr Brij Mohan Lall Munjal.

Dr D. Subbarao

Islamic banking

CBI

special team to investigate

US tax case

UBS,

Jindal Steel and Power

Munjal family, Hero Group

� Andrew S. Grove, the former Chief Executive of is

taking the next step in his quest to infuse the engineering

discipline of Silicon Valley into the development of new

medical treatments.

Intel,

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The Planning Commission has lowered the target for the

construction of roads under the scheme to 2,500

km for the current fiscal from 3,165 km in the previous year,

which was not met by the road ministry. The Road

Transport and Highways Ministry could construct barely

2,009 kilo metre of roads under the National Highways

Development Project (NHDP) in the previous fiscal

against a target of 3,165 km.

The promoter of , the Switzerland based

power major, will make an open offer to raise its stake in the

Indian arm. The company

wants to purchase 4.85

crore shares from the open

market at a price of Rs

900/share.

In the first major victory over its rival

Hyundai’s has driven past its rival in the 1.1

litre engine category during FY10.During the period,

Hyundai sold 1,49,242 units of i10 in the domestic market

as compared to Wagon R’s 1,44,898 units. Maruti Suzuki’s

WagonR had been dominating this segment until now. The

Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Director (marketing),

Mr Arvind Saxena, said the company has “sold as many as

149,242 units of i10 in the Indian market during 2009-10,

which makes it the top selling car in the 1.1 litre capacity

segment”.

, which markets of

commercial vehicles in is planning to set up a

1,000-MW power plant in the country in a joint venture

with the Indian conglomerate. Nitol-Niloy has taken steps

to set up the largest-ever power plant in Bangladesh. The

local partner will conduct a feasibility study for setting up a

coal-based power plant for the Tata management.

Japanese carmaker is recalling the

automatic transmission version of its compact car in

Europe, which is sold under the brand in India.

will buy out its partner

51 per cent stake in joint venture company Godrej Sara

Lee Limited. Godrej Sara Lee is into household insecticides,

andownsbrandssuchas“Goodknight”and“Hit.”

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI)

commenced the construction of its second two-wheeler

production plant at Tapukara Industrial Area (near

Bhiwadi, Rajasthan) to meet increasing demand in the

growing domestic motorcycle market. HMSI is investing

around Rs. 500 crore in the new plant that will be ready by

mid-2011 and will have annual capacity of 6-lakh units.

NHDP

ABB Limited

Maruti Suzuki,

i10 Wagon R

Nitol-Niloy Group Tata brand

Bangladesh,

Suzuki Motor Corp

“Alto”

A-Star

Godrej Consumer Products Sara

Lee’s

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signalled

increasing frustration with its key

Indian unit, taking a charge of £2.3

billion ($3.3 billion) due to fierce

competition and rapidly escalating

spectrum costs. The world’s

second-largest mobile operator by

revenue entered the Indian market in 2007 after beating

rivals in a high-profile auction to make it the key territory in

its growing emerging markets portfolio.

Former Director of and Indian School of

Business (ISB) will pay a fine of $2.8 million

to settle the charges filed by the US market regulator SEC

against him in the multi-billion dollar Galleon insider-

trading scam.

British energy group BP said the leak will

have only a “very modest” environmental impact, adding

that its engineers are siphoning up as much oil as

previously thought.

Global IT management software vendor, CA Technologies,

is all set to execute its vision for emerging markets where it

expects to see double digit growth rates, especially from

hyper growth economies such as India and China. The $4.3

billion company is increasing its sales headcount in

emerging markets by 25 per cent which will take its

headcount to 650 people in fiscal 2010-11. Additionally,

is leveraging the expertise of a seasoned

management team and localizing products to suit the

needs of different emerging markets with a totally new

approach to sales, pricing and packaging in these markets.

A crisis in the Eurozone is likely to hit India’s export sector

as the bloc is one of the top trading partners. “More than

of India’s exports are to says Mr Gopal

Agrawal, Deputy CIO, .

(SAIL) is exploring the

possibilities of setting up joint ventures with Tata Steel and

Arcelor-Mittal to manufacture steel. Last year, SAIL had

signed a MoU with Posco of Korea to set up a proposed joint

venture steel plant in Jharkhand with the production

capacity of two million tonnes per annum and a CRMO

(chromoly steel) plant in Maharashtra.

Vodafone Group Plc

McKinsey & Co

Anil Kumar

Gulf of Mexico

CA

Technologies

20

per cent Europe,”

Mirae Assets

Steel Authority of India Limited

� is closing its four-month-old

store, abandoning an ambitious plan by the Web

search leader to redefine wireless retailing. Google said it

will stop selling its Nexus One smartphone through its

online Web store and will instead work with partners to sell

the device through retail outlets.

Google Inc online cell

phone


Every major marketing company in the

world wants to enter the Indian

market with its offerings, as India

happens to be the world's largest potential

market waiting to be harnessed. With

liberalization, the interest in India has

increased. The reasons are not far to seek. In

a democracy like India, markets are

characterized by variation, stratification,

maturity and some market categories by

growth. Every major MNC that entered India

has found the Indian consumer demanding,

defying the conventional logic of marketing,

leaving the marketer confused.

The Indian consumer visits malls to

purchase branded goods but continues to

patronize his/her neighborhood kirana store.

Many questions emerge: why are demand patterns different in

India? Is there a middle class in India? Does `bottom of the

pyramid' make business sense? Where does India stand in terms

of market sophistication and consumption? How can companies

understand the Indian consumer?

The book endeavors to seek answers to such questions and

to provide insights. In his foreword to the book, eminent

management guru, C K Prahalad highlights that the book

illustrates that "any broad generalization of the Indian

consumer" can be erroneous and Rama Bijapurkar's analysis is

useful for both MNCs planning their entry in India as well as

established Indian enterprises.

The book ‘We are like that only’ is divided into 13 chapters.

All the chapters are linked together by the common thread of

understanding the Indian consumer and his behavior. The

author has made a case that the nature of emerging market

economies such as India is different and need not follow a

`global standard', that India, within a restrictive regulatory

framework of the past, has developed a sophisticated and

complex marketing system with innovations in products,

distribution and advertising and that India may not follow the

pattern of evolution of developed markets.

N R Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor of

Infosys in his afterword has highlighted that

"The author's detailed research and her

expertize on the subject is validated by a text

which is simple and cogent, yet interesting and

jargon free".

Rama Bijapurkar has given examples

across India giving a national orientation. A

major merit of the book is that it is data driven.

The author has made a sharp analysis of the

many Indias that exist in the market, bringing

out its plurality. She has questioned the

conventional view of some professional

consultants that Indian markets would evolve

in the same manner as developed markets did

from their market infancy. The author has

emphasized the Indian consumer market

feature of continuity with change giving the example of the six

yard sari and the blouse that have retained their popularity.

Taking cues from economics, demography, history, culture,

philosophy and good old common sense, Rama Bijapurkar

makes sense of the complex and inscrutable Indian market – the

many Consumer Indias, their diverse and schizophrenic

consumer behaviour and the way to make your company's

fortune in this billion plus market.

A powerful book, it is the definitive epitaph for formula

strategy approaches to India's consumer markets, especially of

the 'global' transplant kind.

��

We are like that onlyby Rama Bijapurkar

��

The world's most was sold at

auction in Geneva to an international consortium on May 23,

2010 auctioneers said. It is one of the rarest known stamps, the

or three-shilling stamp was issued by

mistake in 1857. A Swedish schoolboy stumbled upon it in

1885. Since then it has passed through the hands of a series of

stamp collectors. The last time it was sold, in 1996, it fetched

3.6 millions d'euros ( ) at auction. Stamp

auctioneers, David Feldman did not disclose the identity of the

buyers, nor the price paid this time round.

expensive postage stamp

“Treskilling Yellow”

4.5 million dollars

e-PrepTalk June 2010

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Transcript of e-PrepTalk June 2010