Govt soft-pedals on gay law change
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, June 29: Vocal opposition from religious minority groups and consequent fears of a political backlash have forced the government into cautious — and hasty — retreat on removing the “illegal” tag from homosexuality.
Within 48 hours of indicating a bold move to amend section 377 and give gay people the right to profess their brand of sexuality, the Centre sent out clear signals it was backtracking.
While Union law minister Veerappa Moily claimed he had been “misquoted” as saying the government was planning to legalise homosexuality, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad spoke of the need for “debate and consensus” on the issue before any move. This is a sure way of putting amendments to section 377 in the cold storage as consensus appears unlikely.
On the heels of objections from the Catholic Church yesterday, an influential Islamic seminary spoke out strongly against lifting the ban on homosexuality, saying “unnatural sex” was against the tenets of Islam.
“Homosexuality is an offence under Shariat law and haram (prohibited) in Islam,” Maulana Abdul Khalik Madrasi, deputy vice-chancellor of the Darul Uloom of Deoband said. Madrasi also asked the government not to repeal IPC Section 377 which criminalises homosexuality.
Terming gay activities as crime, Maulana Salim Kasmi, vice-president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, said homosexuality was punishable under Islamic law and Section 377 should not be tampered with. Other prominent spokespersons for Islamic organisations too have strongly opposed any changes.
The law, home and health ministries are expected to meet soon to discuss the issue.
“We need more debate on the positives and the negatives... and there can’t be a better forum than Parliament,” Azad said. “We need a broad consensus within the government and [other] political parties. I don’t think my personal or anyone else’s personal thinking on this should prevail.”
Asked about his personal views on the issue, Azad said: “I don’t come in that category.”
The debate on Section 377 has simmered in India since the early-1990s but has intensified in recent years with health experts arguing it obstructs action to prevent the spread of HIV infection among men who have sex with men. Non-government agencies have also been calling for a change in the law saying it is used by police to harass individuals for their sexual orientation.
Azad said the debate on the proposal to repeal the law would be multifaceted. Some might link the issue with culture, while others may point out its implications for infections or the potential of the existing law to induce harassment. “We need a debate... and then a broad consensus.”
But lawyers who have campaigned for the repeal of Section 377 said history suggests that a majority view or consensus may not be easy to obtain on progressive laws.
“When Raja Rammohun Roy opposed sati and advocated widow remarriage in the early 19th century, there was massive opposition to it — specially from upper-caste Hindus,” said Leena Menghaney, a civil rights lawyer in New Delhi. “In every era, there are unpopular reforms to be made.”
The Government surely should be having more important topics for legislation than legalising gayocracy, if I may coin the word.
This diversion is practised by about 0.01% of our population.
However, this percent is very vocal, made up of artist and media personalities and public school educated children who did not have the benefit of co-ed school but who control the media.
We already have sufficient divisions in society without adding this one.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Minister Exerts Pressure of judge
Union Minister tried to influence me, says HC Judge
PTI | Chennai
In a startling revelation, a Madras High Court Judge told an open court that a Union Minister sought to influence him to grant anticipatory bail to a doctor and his son in a forged mark sheets case filed by CBI.
An agitated Justice R Reghupathy last evening said "a Union Minister talked to me and sought to influence me to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioners."
Justice Reghupathy made the remarks when the advocate, appearing for S Kirub Shridhar, a third year student in a private medical college in Puducherry, and his doctor father Krishnamoorthy, complained that the judge was not granting bail to his clients on the basis of prosecution submissions.
The advocate's remarks came when the judge said he was not inclined to grant any relief as their pleas had been rejected by him on June 15 itself.
Annoyed, the judge retorted saying a "Union Minister talked to me about the matter. You yourself know every thing. Unless an unconditional apology is tendered by you, I will incorporate every detail in my order," he said.
Justice R Reghupathy said he would also be writing to the Prime Minister on the "pressure exerted" on him.
The judge, however, did not name the Minister. The CBI had filed a case against the father-son duo for allegedly using the services of a Puducherry University official and a middle man to inflate the marks of Shridhar.
I suppose, we all know that these type of things occur but is never high-lighted.
I would like to thank Justice R Raghupathy for letting us know.
However, he could serve us better if he would name the minister.
Since this has ocurred in Tamil Nadu, it must be a Union Minister from Tamil Nadu.
Seeing the ruckus created by Karumanidhi during the ministry formation, it does not surprise us.
He tried to get corrupt ministers into the cabinet, so why should this surprise us?
PTI | Chennai
In a startling revelation, a Madras High Court Judge told an open court that a Union Minister sought to influence him to grant anticipatory bail to a doctor and his son in a forged mark sheets case filed by CBI.
An agitated Justice R Reghupathy last evening said "a Union Minister talked to me and sought to influence me to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioners."
Justice Reghupathy made the remarks when the advocate, appearing for S Kirub Shridhar, a third year student in a private medical college in Puducherry, and his doctor father Krishnamoorthy, complained that the judge was not granting bail to his clients on the basis of prosecution submissions.
The advocate's remarks came when the judge said he was not inclined to grant any relief as their pleas had been rejected by him on June 15 itself.
Annoyed, the judge retorted saying a "Union Minister talked to me about the matter. You yourself know every thing. Unless an unconditional apology is tendered by you, I will incorporate every detail in my order," he said.
Justice R Reghupathy said he would also be writing to the Prime Minister on the "pressure exerted" on him.
The judge, however, did not name the Minister. The CBI had filed a case against the father-son duo for allegedly using the services of a Puducherry University official and a middle man to inflate the marks of Shridhar.
I suppose, we all know that these type of things occur but is never high-lighted.
I would like to thank Justice R Raghupathy for letting us know.
However, he could serve us better if he would name the minister.
Since this has ocurred in Tamil Nadu, it must be a Union Minister from Tamil Nadu.
Seeing the ruckus created by Karumanidhi during the ministry formation, it does not surprise us.
He tried to get corrupt ministers into the cabinet, so why should this surprise us?
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Eating Fruits, how, when, why?
The correct way and time for eating fruits. Sent by Prakash Bhartia.
I may have posted this earlier, but it is sufficiently important for a repeat.
EATING FRUIT - Guide
We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. It's not as easy as you think It's important to know how and when to eat..
What is the correct way of eating fruits?
IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS! - FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.
If you eat fruit on an empty stomach, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.
FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD - Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit.. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so.
In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid.. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.
So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You have heard people complaining - every time I eat water-melon I burp, when I eat durian (fruit from Asia with a foul smell yet delicious flavor) my stomach bloats up, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet etc. - actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!
Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes - all these will not happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach.
There is no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter. If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the Secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.
When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans.. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste.
Cooking destroys all the vitamins.
But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it.
You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!
KIWI: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.
APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoid which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.
STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.
ORANGE: Sweetest medicine, eating 2 to 4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.
WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene - the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium
GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.
Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer! Can you believe this??
For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you.
It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life. Read this...It could save your life!
I may have posted this earlier, but it is sufficiently important for a repeat.
EATING FRUIT - Guide
We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. It's not as easy as you think It's important to know how and when to eat..
What is the correct way of eating fruits?
IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS! - FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.
If you eat fruit on an empty stomach, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.
FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD - Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit.. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so.
In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid.. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.
So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You have heard people complaining - every time I eat water-melon I burp, when I eat durian (fruit from Asia with a foul smell yet delicious flavor) my stomach bloats up, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet etc. - actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!
Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes - all these will not happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach.
There is no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter. If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the Secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.
When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans.. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste.
Cooking destroys all the vitamins.
But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it.
You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!
KIWI: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.
APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoid which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.
STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.
ORANGE: Sweetest medicine, eating 2 to 4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.
WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene - the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium
GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.
Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer! Can you believe this??
For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you.
It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life. Read this...It could save your life!
A Cake for All Occasions
It took me a second, but make sure you read the story under the picture.
Keep in mind this actually did happen.
This cake is for someone who was moving office to a new job.
Keith
Okay so this is how the cake was ordered.
Wal-Mart Employee: 'Hello 'dis be Wal-Mart’s, how can I help you?'
Customer: ' I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week.'
Wal-Mart Employee: 'What you want on da cake?'
Customer: 'Best Wishes Suzanne' and underneath that 'we will miss you'.
STOP LAUGHING!
You can't fix stupidity,but this is true
Keep in mind this actually did happen.
This cake is for someone who was moving office to a new job.
Keith
Okay so this is how the cake was ordered.
Wal-Mart Employee: 'Hello 'dis be Wal-Mart’s, how can I help you?'
Customer: ' I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week.'
Wal-Mart Employee: 'What you want on da cake?'
Customer: 'Best Wishes Suzanne' and underneath that 'we will miss you'.
STOP LAUGHING!
You can't fix stupidity,but this is true
Saturday, June 27, 2009
The Place of Temples,Mosques,Gurudwaras ,Churches in our Lives
Dear Friends and Family,
It is because I found this mail has such a simple and wonderful logic / message I could not help but send it to you all.... as for the religious slant...just replace Ganesha with the deity you worship and you will find the message has still has the same import.
Affectionately
thondup / drukta / sherpa
WHY GO TO THE TEMPLE ?
If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this!
If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it.
If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!
Why Go To The Temple ?
A 'devotee' goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and
complained that it made no sense to go to the Temple .
'I've gone for 30 years now, he wrote, and in that time
I have heard something like 3,000 mantras.
But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them.
So, I think I'm wasting my time and the Gurus are wasting
theirs by giving services at all.
This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor'
column, much to the delight of the editor.
It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
I've been married for 30 years now.
In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals.
But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu
for a single one of those meals. But I do know
this... They all nourished me and gave me
the strength I needed to do my work.
If my wife had not given me these meals,
I would be physically dead today.
Likewise, if I had not gone to the Temple for nourishment,
Iwould be spiritually dead today!
When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something!
Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and
receives the impossible!
Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!
All right, now that you're done reading, send it on!!!
I think everyone should read this!! 'When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say,
'God , could you get that for me?!!'
Om Vighneswaraya Namah !
You gave me strength to carry on,
When my body was so torn.
And lifted me on wings of love,
When my spirit was so worn.
Through all the times when in despair,
When I hung my head in shame.
You came to me when I knelt down,
As I called upon your name.
And when my heart was troubled,
With more heartache than I could bear.
You caught each and every tear I shed,
In a bottle you have up there.
And when I get to heaven,
I'll kneel before your feet.
You'll wipe away all my tears,
For my soul is yours to keep.
It is because I found this mail has such a simple and wonderful logic / message I could not help but send it to you all.... as for the religious slant...just replace Ganesha with the deity you worship and you will find the message has still has the same import.
Affectionately
thondup / drukta / sherpa
WHY GO TO THE TEMPLE ?
If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this!
If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read it.
If you're spiritually curious, there is still hope!
Why Go To The Temple ?
A 'devotee' goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and
complained that it made no sense to go to the Temple .
'I've gone for 30 years now, he wrote, and in that time
I have heard something like 3,000 mantras.
But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them.
So, I think I'm wasting my time and the Gurus are wasting
theirs by giving services at all.
This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor'
column, much to the delight of the editor.
It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
I've been married for 30 years now.
In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals.
But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu
for a single one of those meals. But I do know
this... They all nourished me and gave me
the strength I needed to do my work.
If my wife had not given me these meals,
I would be physically dead today.
Likewise, if I had not gone to the Temple for nourishment,
Iwould be spiritually dead today!
When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something!
Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and
receives the impossible!
Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!
All right, now that you're done reading, send it on!!!
I think everyone should read this!! 'When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say,
'God , could you get that for me?!!'
Om Vighneswaraya Namah !
You gave me strength to carry on,
When my body was so torn.
And lifted me on wings of love,
When my spirit was so worn.
Through all the times when in despair,
When I hung my head in shame.
You came to me when I knelt down,
As I called upon your name.
And when my heart was troubled,
With more heartache than I could bear.
You caught each and every tear I shed,
In a bottle you have up there.
And when I get to heaven,
I'll kneel before your feet.
You'll wipe away all my tears,
For my soul is yours to keep.
Msgs from friends 25
Msg from Rajesh Pradhan
Dear Mr.Radheyshyam,
Rajesh Pradhan here from Kurseong,batch of '81 (boarder).I enjoy going through your mails ,I look forward to your mails very much though you don't know me and maybe I am just another ex-Goethalite on your mailing list.I am in constant touch with friends of my days online in messengers or on networking sites like hi5,Facebook and Orkut.
The news about Vice-Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma being the next Naval Chief of our country made me feel really proud and have posted the news to my networking site in Facebook where I can be found as (rajeshpradhan1965@hotmail.com),I am sure many guys from our school can read it there.
I do hope you keep in touch and I look forward to your mails as always.
With regards and warm wishes from Kurseong.
Rajesh Pradhan
NB:
rajeshpradhan1965@hotmail.com
Enclosed is a night view of our school
taken during the Centenary Celebrations,
a souvenir for you and your family.
Cell # 09733458318
Msg from Karanvir Mehta
Dear Radheshyam,
Hope the railways will sort out your problem and you will be able to board the train as planned for your annual visit to your guruji. It must be a wonderful experience for you because I note that you really look forward to this trip every year.
I am attaching a presentation on waste. It is in Italian but I think the message is clear. Everytime we buy something or throw it away we should think a bit more. The first slides translates into - try and guess what these images represent. The words "cosè? questo" mean what is this? And if any one wants further translation on any of the slides they can write to me.
Have a nice trip and look forward to hearing from you on your return.
Karan
Dear Karan,
Thanks for your good wishes.
Yes, the railways have solved my problems.
Both my tickets have been confirmed only yesterday, i.e 26.06.2009. But first I had to send in letter of my complaint to Mamata Banerjee, our Railway Minister and another complaint via E mail to Shree Sunil Kumar, Executive Director (PG) & Public RelationsOfficer, Railway Board, since I thought my complaint to Mamata would not reach in time, considering the poor state of our postal service.
Now, whether, the confirmation came naturally or through the efforts of these august people, I will never know.
Anywy, if it came through them, then, I would like to thank them for taking care of two old people.
Going to Gurudev's place is very refreshing, that is why we make the trip every year, in spite of all the problems. My MD is also very thoughtful and allows me leave during this period, every year.
The presentation is very good. I wish it was in English. But the meaning is clear.
Cheers for now.
Radheshyam
Msg from Keith Haywards
Hello Radheshyam,
I hope you and your family are well.
Can you help me re.the whereabouts of'Teacher(sir)' Lefevere?
If my memory serves me,im sure he lived in Darjeeling.Is he alive?(he would be around 75/80 years old),and if so,do you have his Email Address?
likewise'Teacher(sir)'Mckenzie?
Thanks.
Take care
Keith.PS.
(Did you like the Snow Email)!!I also keep in touch with JK.
Hello Keith,
Yes, I saw your snow mail.
Really frightful.
So much snow.
Where were the pictures taken? Canada?
Ralph was telling me they had plenty of snow last year.
I'll put your message for our teachers on this weekend mail.
We are all fine here.
JK was in Cal about 2 weeks ago. We met at his place for a party.
How is your family?
Hope they are all well.
Haven't heard from Bruce for a long time.
Best regards
Radheshyam
Msg from Amitav Maulik
There's a nice picture and a quote from our very own Jaspal Singh Bindra (1976 ISC -- Class 11) batch in Time Magazine June 29-July 6th 2009 issue (summer double issue).
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1905409,00.html
JAS is now Stan Chart Asia's Hong Kong based CEO.
Way to go JAS!
We are very proud of you
Amitava Maulik
1976 December ICSE
Msg from Jayanta Ghosh
Hello RS,
Just now read your weekly roundup and came to know of your annual pilgrimage to Ahmedabad. I'll also be making my annual pilgrimage, but at another level. In 2007 I went to Kedarnath and Gangotri, in 2008 I went to Manimahesh. This year's trip is the toughest of all - to Panch Kedar. 1) Kedarnath - 3584 m, 2) Madhmaheswar - 3490 m, 3) Tungnath - 3680 m, 4) Rudranath - 2286 m and 5) Kalpeshwar - 2134 m. I'll be skipping Kedarnath this time as I've already visited the pilgrim spot twice. Moreover, the person - my shala - who'll be accompanying me has to take leave from his office. He has also visited Kedarnath previously. We'll have to do a trekking of 110 Kms. So, it'll be tough, no doubt. I'm not getting any younger. This will be my last trekking trip, I think. No more mountain trekking for me. I'll have to prepare myself physically. So, from tomorrow I'll be starting my preparation for that. The mountains simply draw me like a magnet. If we can save a day or two we may go to Gopeswar. It's a beautiful rolling mountain between Chamoli and Kedarnath. You'll love Gopeswar once you see it. Next year I have plans to visit Amarkantak. This trip is eluding me, for some reason or other. A real pity. You should visit these places sometime. I hope you enjoy your pilgrimage to Ahmedabad.
This time I'm going to purchase a digital camera so that I can mail the pictures easily. Actually, my daughter-in-law will purchase the camera for my trip. It was her idea. I'll be departing on the 18th or 19th of September, depending on my shala's leave.
Bengal is burning. 32 years of misrule has culminated to the point of no return.
Hope your natni is keeping you occupied and amused, as my natni is doing. I hardly find time to sit on the net, as you have observed. She keeps me engaged throughout the day. At the end of the day I'm absolutely fagged out. But I love it. This is a temporary phase; once she grows up, it'll be a different stage altogether. So enjoy it.
Well, bye for now.
JK
Friday, June 26, 2009
Unique ID Cards Being issued
Infy’s loss is identity card’s gain
OUR CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, June 25: Nandan Nilekani, the 54-year-old co- chairman of Infosys, has decided to step down from the board of the software giant and take charge of the world’s largest biometric ID card project.
Nilekani will take over as chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) — an organisation that will hand out the ID cards to the one billion-plus people in the country. He will enjoy the rank of a cabinet minister.
His resignation from Infosys is effective from July 9.
The project will give every Indian a permanent unique identity card. It will carry a 16-digit unique ID number, a photograph and biometric data that will provide financial, educational and health-related information on the cardholder.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had invited Nilekani to head the project. “I decided to take up the project in the interests of the nation,” said Nilekani, one of the founders of Infosys.
S. Gopalakrishnan, the company’s managing director and chief executive officer, said the company had not decided on Nilekani’s successor. Infosys chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy told a television channel that no one would replace Nilekani, probably suggesting the post of co-chairman would be scrapped.
The government is hoping to try out the system and issue the first series of the cards by the middle of next year.
I would like to congratulate our PM, Mr. Manmohan Singh on taking the first step in providing a Unique Identity Card to all citizens of India.
The appointment of Nanadan Nilekani as the head of the project shows that our PM is serious.
I had written about the need for the Card as early as 23rd January of this year.I am repeating the article below.
Mr Advani thereafter assured that he would see that Cards were issued if the BJP came to power.
I am very happy to note that the Congress is undertaking the project.
However, while undertaking the project, it is of utmost importance that only genuine Indian citizens are issued such cards.
A fool-proof system must be installed to see that politicians do not destroy the purpose for which this is being done by issuing false certificates for vote bank politics.
Any certificate issued by a any person should be triple checked by other authorities and anybody issuing false certificates should be suitably punished including loss of employment and jail for minimum ten years.
Article of 23rd January, 2009
Two events recently have made me think deeply on the urgency of all Indians having a national identity card.
The incident where Iqbal was denied being given rented accommodation by householders because of his Muslim name.
My activated SIM card was deactivated by Reliance because a verification call allegedly made to the alternate number given to them went answered.
With the spate of terrorism occurring regularly all over India, it is necessary that we immediately have a National Identity Card system for all our citizens.
Is it going to be expensive?
Not at all if you follow my suggestions. It can be made self-financing.
With wide penetration of Mobile phones, throughout the country, we can do it very cheaply.
The verification done by the telecom companies are very cursory and just an eyewash. They are just interested in increasing the number of their connections by hook or by crook.
The verification should be handed over to the post office. It should be removed from the purview of the police since they are very very corrupt. Rather all verifications done by the police should be discontinued.
Most post offices in India may be now having computers and if they do not have, they should be revamped and given computers.
The whole of India is covered by a 6-digit postal PIN code Number. Bangur PO is 700055.
All post offices should maintain in their computers a registry of all residents who come under their P O.
If any new person comes in the area, he should fill in a form with photograph and all relevant details and submit it to the post office.It should be countersigned by his landlord and one neighbour.
The State and Central Government, Election Commission and Income Tax Department could then share this registry on-line.
This could be done by a one time house to house survey.
Who will bear the cost?
The post should appoint temporary educated people who are unemployed to carry out the survey.
All people who have a mobile / landline telephone should make a one-time payment of Rs 100.00 to the post office to carry out the survey. If any person has more than one telephone / Mobile phone, he should submit Rs 200.00.
Any shortfall could be collected by contributions from industrialists. I do not believe in cess as the government is in the habit of imposing a one-time cess and then continuing till eternity.I believe cess is actually a cesspool in which the government drowns its corrupt expenses.
The surveyor should take photographs with digital camera, thump impression and fill in a complete verification report and submit it to the post office for uploading in the computer.
The post office should give each resident a unique identity number, which could be the postal code, followed by a six-digit number. So each person in India would have a 12-digit identity number. Thus each post office could issue 999999 identities. This number should be sufficient to cover all the residents in any post office in India.
When those numbers are exhausted, we could start adding alphabets.
I do hope, India never reaches that stage when we have to start adding alphabets
For new births, concerned Post offices where babies are born could allot a batch of numbers to each maternity home/nursing home/hospital. The nursing home could then issue a Unique Number to new born babies and hand over the forms to the post office for maintaining the registry. Thus a new born baby will have the number of the post office where he is born and not where his parents reside.
Similarly, when a person dies, the post office should be informed so that his name is removed from its registry.
When a person leaves a place he should ask the post office to remove his name and he should have it added to the names in his new post office, through applications.
As you see, the post office, being nearer the people, should be made to play a greater part in the security of the country.
A laminated I-Card with tamper-proof hologram, with photograph and Unique Identity number, Date of Birth, Address, Father’s and Mother’s name should be issued by the post office to each resident.
Once this I-Card is issued, no further verification should be required by any agency as proof, if an attested Xerox copy of the same is submitted and the original is shown at the time of submission of Xerox copy.
We could take it further.
We are having all realty TV programmes asking people to vote by sending SMS.
IDEA is now running advertisements where people can vote for policies of their leaders.
We could take it to our elections and reduce the evil of booth capturing and violence.
Each eligible voter could give his preference of voting by mobile, giving the mobile number, to his post office.
This preference could be recorded in the list, which the polling booth people have on polling day. Anybody opting for mobile voting should not be allowed to cast his vote manually.Thus, anybody living anywhere in India may be able to vote in his constituency.
The mobile software should be so made that any person can access the relevant number and vote only once. Thereafter the mobile is disabled for casting the vote.
This would save time, money, violence and all the evils, which have come to stand for elections.
Only then will respectable people be able to enter politics and improve India.
Another problem India faces is that of people coming over from Bangladesh and then vanishing.
Indians going to USA are asked to give the names and addresses of persons in USA who are sponsoring them.
We should have the same policy with other countries.
Anybody coming to India should give the names and addresses of sponsors with their Unique ID No.
Our foreign office in India should confirm with the person concerned through the post office whether they are sponsoring the person.
If the person agrees to sponsor and the emigrant goes missing, the sponsorers assets should be confiscated as Enemy Property.
Radheshyam
OUR CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, June 25: Nandan Nilekani, the 54-year-old co- chairman of Infosys, has decided to step down from the board of the software giant and take charge of the world’s largest biometric ID card project.
Nilekani will take over as chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) — an organisation that will hand out the ID cards to the one billion-plus people in the country. He will enjoy the rank of a cabinet minister.
His resignation from Infosys is effective from July 9.
The project will give every Indian a permanent unique identity card. It will carry a 16-digit unique ID number, a photograph and biometric data that will provide financial, educational and health-related information on the cardholder.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had invited Nilekani to head the project. “I decided to take up the project in the interests of the nation,” said Nilekani, one of the founders of Infosys.
S. Gopalakrishnan, the company’s managing director and chief executive officer, said the company had not decided on Nilekani’s successor. Infosys chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy told a television channel that no one would replace Nilekani, probably suggesting the post of co-chairman would be scrapped.
The government is hoping to try out the system and issue the first series of the cards by the middle of next year.
I would like to congratulate our PM, Mr. Manmohan Singh on taking the first step in providing a Unique Identity Card to all citizens of India.
The appointment of Nanadan Nilekani as the head of the project shows that our PM is serious.
I had written about the need for the Card as early as 23rd January of this year.I am repeating the article below.
Mr Advani thereafter assured that he would see that Cards were issued if the BJP came to power.
I am very happy to note that the Congress is undertaking the project.
However, while undertaking the project, it is of utmost importance that only genuine Indian citizens are issued such cards.
A fool-proof system must be installed to see that politicians do not destroy the purpose for which this is being done by issuing false certificates for vote bank politics.
Any certificate issued by a any person should be triple checked by other authorities and anybody issuing false certificates should be suitably punished including loss of employment and jail for minimum ten years.
Article of 23rd January, 2009
Two events recently have made me think deeply on the urgency of all Indians having a national identity card.
The incident where Iqbal was denied being given rented accommodation by householders because of his Muslim name.
My activated SIM card was deactivated by Reliance because a verification call allegedly made to the alternate number given to them went answered.
With the spate of terrorism occurring regularly all over India, it is necessary that we immediately have a National Identity Card system for all our citizens.
Is it going to be expensive?
Not at all if you follow my suggestions. It can be made self-financing.
With wide penetration of Mobile phones, throughout the country, we can do it very cheaply.
The verification done by the telecom companies are very cursory and just an eyewash. They are just interested in increasing the number of their connections by hook or by crook.
The verification should be handed over to the post office. It should be removed from the purview of the police since they are very very corrupt. Rather all verifications done by the police should be discontinued.
Most post offices in India may be now having computers and if they do not have, they should be revamped and given computers.
The whole of India is covered by a 6-digit postal PIN code Number. Bangur PO is 700055.
All post offices should maintain in their computers a registry of all residents who come under their P O.
If any new person comes in the area, he should fill in a form with photograph and all relevant details and submit it to the post office.It should be countersigned by his landlord and one neighbour.
The State and Central Government, Election Commission and Income Tax Department could then share this registry on-line.
This could be done by a one time house to house survey.
Who will bear the cost?
The post should appoint temporary educated people who are unemployed to carry out the survey.
All people who have a mobile / landline telephone should make a one-time payment of Rs 100.00 to the post office to carry out the survey. If any person has more than one telephone / Mobile phone, he should submit Rs 200.00.
Any shortfall could be collected by contributions from industrialists. I do not believe in cess as the government is in the habit of imposing a one-time cess and then continuing till eternity.I believe cess is actually a cesspool in which the government drowns its corrupt expenses.
The surveyor should take photographs with digital camera, thump impression and fill in a complete verification report and submit it to the post office for uploading in the computer.
The post office should give each resident a unique identity number, which could be the postal code, followed by a six-digit number. So each person in India would have a 12-digit identity number. Thus each post office could issue 999999 identities. This number should be sufficient to cover all the residents in any post office in India.
When those numbers are exhausted, we could start adding alphabets.
I do hope, India never reaches that stage when we have to start adding alphabets
For new births, concerned Post offices where babies are born could allot a batch of numbers to each maternity home/nursing home/hospital. The nursing home could then issue a Unique Number to new born babies and hand over the forms to the post office for maintaining the registry. Thus a new born baby will have the number of the post office where he is born and not where his parents reside.
Similarly, when a person dies, the post office should be informed so that his name is removed from its registry.
When a person leaves a place he should ask the post office to remove his name and he should have it added to the names in his new post office, through applications.
As you see, the post office, being nearer the people, should be made to play a greater part in the security of the country.
A laminated I-Card with tamper-proof hologram, with photograph and Unique Identity number, Date of Birth, Address, Father’s and Mother’s name should be issued by the post office to each resident.
Once this I-Card is issued, no further verification should be required by any agency as proof, if an attested Xerox copy of the same is submitted and the original is shown at the time of submission of Xerox copy.
We could take it further.
We are having all realty TV programmes asking people to vote by sending SMS.
IDEA is now running advertisements where people can vote for policies of their leaders.
We could take it to our elections and reduce the evil of booth capturing and violence.
Each eligible voter could give his preference of voting by mobile, giving the mobile number, to his post office.
This preference could be recorded in the list, which the polling booth people have on polling day. Anybody opting for mobile voting should not be allowed to cast his vote manually.Thus, anybody living anywhere in India may be able to vote in his constituency.
The mobile software should be so made that any person can access the relevant number and vote only once. Thereafter the mobile is disabled for casting the vote.
This would save time, money, violence and all the evils, which have come to stand for elections.
Only then will respectable people be able to enter politics and improve India.
Another problem India faces is that of people coming over from Bangladesh and then vanishing.
Indians going to USA are asked to give the names and addresses of persons in USA who are sponsoring them.
We should have the same policy with other countries.
Anybody coming to India should give the names and addresses of sponsors with their Unique ID No.
Our foreign office in India should confirm with the person concerned through the post office whether they are sponsoring the person.
If the person agrees to sponsor and the emigrant goes missing, the sponsorers assets should be confiscated as Enemy Property.
Radheshyam
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Pay Commissions - Are they necessary?
Manmohan assures support to Air India
Vinay Kumar
But it should become leaner, trimmer
NEW DELHI: Reeling under an unprecedented financial crisis, national carrier Air India was on Wednesday offered a glimmer of hope, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured government support to the airline. The condition, however, is that it should undertake a comprehensive restructuring process and should become leaner and trimmer.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who met Dr. Singh on Wednesday along with top ministry and airline officials, pleaded the case for government support to the carrier. He said the Prime Minister gave it a “sympathetic and patient hearing.”
Addressing a press conference later, Mr. Patel said Air India has been asked to submit its plans for comprehensive restructuring at the earliest before a high-power committee of secretaries, to be headed by the Cabinet Secretary. It would undertake a monthly review of the plans.
“The Prime Minister has said the entire weight of the government is behind Air India. It is a national carrier and it is our pride. But there is conditionality that Air India must put its best foot forward. The employees must realise that there is a problem, and that it is a cumulative problem,” Mr. Patel said.
He said Air India would need to shed flab and undertake a lot of restructuring from within, organisationally, financially and manpower wise. Until serious steps are taken to improve the functioning of the airline and make if financially viable, it would be difficult for the government to back it.
No bailout package yet
However, he did not give any figures for the bailout package, and said Air India must first submit its restructuring plan and proposals. “All figures appearing in the media in this regard are hypothetical and may be based on some sectional views of departments,” Mr. Patel said.
Replying to a query, he said the first set of measures could come after a month, and it could take about two years as a turn-around period for Air India. Mr. Patel said it would not mean “open-ended cheques” from the government.
“Perform or Perish”
While appealing to employees to desist from any plans of a strike, as it would only “hasten Air India’s demise”, he said his message to the 31,000 employees was clear: “Perform or perish.”
Pointing out that the global civil aviation scenario was also “grim”, and international carriers like British Airways were also finding it difficult to put down their losses, Mr. Patel said: “These are extraordinary measures being discussed by the government, and Air India has to come up with equally or more extraordinary measures and live up to the expectations of the government.”
To another question, he said that as an interim measure, the government could give financial assistance at any time, and it could be in any form.
Mr. Patel said the government would reconstitute Air India’s board, bring in independent, eminent persons as directors, and even change or reshuffle functional directors.
On acquisition of new aircraft, he said a majority of jetliners were meant to replace the ageing fleet. “It is a Catch-22 situation; if you continue to fly 20-year-old planes, how will you remain competitive?” While Air India’s equity base is put at Rs.145 crore, the working capital is about Rs.15,000 crores. It runs up a wage bill of Rs.350 crores every month, and efforts are on to reduce it drastically.
Every five years or so, our Central Government goes on a spending spree as if it was Santa Claus and doles out salary increases to its employees under the awards of the Pay Commission. This sets of a chain reaction where all semi government and quasi government and PSU and state government employees start agitating for similar pay increases.
The government then begs, borrows or steals to fulfil the new wage structures. The Central Government can print notes which it goes about printing merrily. But the poor state government who do not have the authority, have to go with begging bowl to the centre.
The organised private sector have to bear the brunt of the dissatisfied employees as they can neither print notes nor go to the centre with begging bowl.They have to go to their banks and their interest charges increase.
The worst affected are the unorganised sector who do not have a regular source of income and find themselves poorer with each pay commission award.
What we are seeing with the Air India employees employees taking a voluntary salary cut is the result of all this pampering of its employees by the government.
All government employees get their salary as Basic + DA + Different allowances.
The DA part takes care of any inflation in cost of living.
Then I don't see the necessity for increasing their salaries by about 30%to 50% every 5 years through Pay Commissions.
The sixth pay commission award will increase the annual central government salary bill by Rs 8000.00 crores and the bill for retrospective salaries would come to around Rs 18000/- crores.
This is only for the central government.
If we consider, all the state governments and quasi governments the bill will be annually Rs 24000/- crores.
Instead of fattening the already fattened pigs , wouldn't it be better to use the money for the adivasis and poor people who are committing suicides as they can get hardly get one square meal.
Maybe, then we will have fewer Maoist and Naxalites and the security cost of our VIPs could decrease.
Vinay Kumar
But it should become leaner, trimmer
NEW DELHI: Reeling under an unprecedented financial crisis, national carrier Air India was on Wednesday offered a glimmer of hope, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured government support to the airline. The condition, however, is that it should undertake a comprehensive restructuring process and should become leaner and trimmer.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who met Dr. Singh on Wednesday along with top ministry and airline officials, pleaded the case for government support to the carrier. He said the Prime Minister gave it a “sympathetic and patient hearing.”
Addressing a press conference later, Mr. Patel said Air India has been asked to submit its plans for comprehensive restructuring at the earliest before a high-power committee of secretaries, to be headed by the Cabinet Secretary. It would undertake a monthly review of the plans.
“The Prime Minister has said the entire weight of the government is behind Air India. It is a national carrier and it is our pride. But there is conditionality that Air India must put its best foot forward. The employees must realise that there is a problem, and that it is a cumulative problem,” Mr. Patel said.
He said Air India would need to shed flab and undertake a lot of restructuring from within, organisationally, financially and manpower wise. Until serious steps are taken to improve the functioning of the airline and make if financially viable, it would be difficult for the government to back it.
No bailout package yet
However, he did not give any figures for the bailout package, and said Air India must first submit its restructuring plan and proposals. “All figures appearing in the media in this regard are hypothetical and may be based on some sectional views of departments,” Mr. Patel said.
Replying to a query, he said the first set of measures could come after a month, and it could take about two years as a turn-around period for Air India. Mr. Patel said it would not mean “open-ended cheques” from the government.
“Perform or Perish”
While appealing to employees to desist from any plans of a strike, as it would only “hasten Air India’s demise”, he said his message to the 31,000 employees was clear: “Perform or perish.”
Pointing out that the global civil aviation scenario was also “grim”, and international carriers like British Airways were also finding it difficult to put down their losses, Mr. Patel said: “These are extraordinary measures being discussed by the government, and Air India has to come up with equally or more extraordinary measures and live up to the expectations of the government.”
To another question, he said that as an interim measure, the government could give financial assistance at any time, and it could be in any form.
Mr. Patel said the government would reconstitute Air India’s board, bring in independent, eminent persons as directors, and even change or reshuffle functional directors.
On acquisition of new aircraft, he said a majority of jetliners were meant to replace the ageing fleet. “It is a Catch-22 situation; if you continue to fly 20-year-old planes, how will you remain competitive?” While Air India’s equity base is put at Rs.145 crore, the working capital is about Rs.15,000 crores. It runs up a wage bill of Rs.350 crores every month, and efforts are on to reduce it drastically.
Every five years or so, our Central Government goes on a spending spree as if it was Santa Claus and doles out salary increases to its employees under the awards of the Pay Commission. This sets of a chain reaction where all semi government and quasi government and PSU and state government employees start agitating for similar pay increases.
The government then begs, borrows or steals to fulfil the new wage structures. The Central Government can print notes which it goes about printing merrily. But the poor state government who do not have the authority, have to go with begging bowl to the centre.
The organised private sector have to bear the brunt of the dissatisfied employees as they can neither print notes nor go to the centre with begging bowl.They have to go to their banks and their interest charges increase.
The worst affected are the unorganised sector who do not have a regular source of income and find themselves poorer with each pay commission award.
What we are seeing with the Air India employees employees taking a voluntary salary cut is the result of all this pampering of its employees by the government.
All government employees get their salary as Basic + DA + Different allowances.
The DA part takes care of any inflation in cost of living.
Then I don't see the necessity for increasing their salaries by about 30%to 50% every 5 years through Pay Commissions.
The sixth pay commission award will increase the annual central government salary bill by Rs 8000.00 crores and the bill for retrospective salaries would come to around Rs 18000/- crores.
This is only for the central government.
If we consider, all the state governments and quasi governments the bill will be annually Rs 24000/- crores.
Instead of fattening the already fattened pigs , wouldn't it be better to use the money for the adivasis and poor people who are committing suicides as they can get hardly get one square meal.
Maybe, then we will have fewer Maoist and Naxalites and the security cost of our VIPs could decrease.
Jails, A rest house for criminals and politicians
No restrictions at Arthur Road jail, gangsters take leave at will
Gitesh Shelke / DNA
Pune: A highly confidential inquiry report by the Maharashtra prison department has revealed that several key undertrials, including Mohammad Dossa, underworld don-turned-politician Arun Gawli and DK Rao (the right-hand man of fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan), among others, freely availed of "leave" out of the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai over the last three years. The jail authorities neither reported the leave granted to these high-profile undertrials to senior prison authorities, nor did they raise objections to the leave applications in court.
A senior prison officer told DNA that the inquiry report has been sent to the state home department for action as it has exposed corrupt practices at the jail.
Ironically, officials of the state prison department have none other than 26/11 accused Mohammed Ajmal Amir aka Kasab to thank for the revelation of this nexus between the prison authorities and the undertrials.
Sources told DNA that when the undertrials, including Rao and Gawli, were shifted to Taloja in Navi Mumbai, they started demanding similar treatment at the new jail premises. They were shifted to Taloja so that maximum protection could be provided to Kasab, who was to be lodged at the Arthur Road jail.
"The undertrials continued to demand leave at Taloja as they had at Arthur Road," said an official, adding that the authorities at Taloja then reported the matter to senior prison authorities in Pune and Mumbai.
Former superintendent of Arthur Road jail Swati Sathe, who is currently posted in Nashik, said she was unaware of any inquiry.
It was during Sathe's tenure that the "influential undertrials" availed of leave.
The inquiry revealed that leave extended from a few hours to even a couple of days.
It also found that this practice had been going on at the jail for nearly three years.
The authorities did not deny leave to around 45 gangsters, most of whom are booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999. One undertrial gangster was found to have "gone on leave" on 35 occasions, the report said.
The Maharashtra Prisons Manual has no provision to grant leave to undertrials, as is allowed in the case of convicts lodged in jails. It is customary for an undertrial to obtain permission from a court in order to avail leave.
The inquiry revealed that none of the 45 undertrials sent their applications via the jail officials. They were directly sent to court.
Significantly, the authorities at Arthur Road jail failed to appeal against this.
The jail authorities also failed to report the leave taken by the under-trials to the state government, which generally alerts the police machinery to keep a close watch on the activities of the suspects.
State prisons chief, inspector-general of police Uddhav Kamble confirmed to DNA the commissioning of the inquiry, but refused to elaborate. A senior official of the prison department confirmed the developments as well.
Another senior jail official explained that leave is only granted to an under-trial by the court for emergency situations, like the demise or serious health condition of the next-of-kin, besides attending the marriage of his/her children.
Leave can also be availed for emergency medical treatment at the private hospitals, but only under the supervision of the jail authorities. However the under-trials went on leave to attend marriages and death of distant relatives, other minor health issues of family members and even their companions.
Kamble sought a detailed record from the deputy inspector general of police (prisons), Mumbai, of all the leave awarded by the courts. The DIG, Mumbai conducted an inquiry and found the involvement of Arthur Road Jail officials. Another inquiry was commissioned to verify the findings of the DIG's report.
In Pune, 22 inmates have been missing from the Yerawada Central Prison after they were granted parole or furlough in the past 30 years.
Mumbai-based gangster Vijay Thopte who was accused in the murder of union leader Datta Samant and Arun Gawli gang member Eknath Arjun Mohite of Bhosari are among those missing from the Yerawada jail. While Thopte has been missing after he was granted parole a year ago, Mohite, who has several cases registered against him with the Pune city and rural police units, has been missing for more than a year now.
What we are being told in the above article is what they have been showing in Bollywood movies where gansters control the world outside from inside the jail. One such movie was "Gangajal" starring Ajay Devgan.
With the existing close cooperatin between criminals and politicians, it is not at all surprising.
In todays India, it is very difficult to differentiate between criminals and politicians.
Gitesh Shelke / DNA
Pune: A highly confidential inquiry report by the Maharashtra prison department has revealed that several key undertrials, including Mohammad Dossa, underworld don-turned-politician Arun Gawli and DK Rao (the right-hand man of fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan), among others, freely availed of "leave" out of the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai over the last three years. The jail authorities neither reported the leave granted to these high-profile undertrials to senior prison authorities, nor did they raise objections to the leave applications in court.
A senior prison officer told DNA that the inquiry report has been sent to the state home department for action as it has exposed corrupt practices at the jail.
Ironically, officials of the state prison department have none other than 26/11 accused Mohammed Ajmal Amir aka Kasab to thank for the revelation of this nexus between the prison authorities and the undertrials.
Sources told DNA that when the undertrials, including Rao and Gawli, were shifted to Taloja in Navi Mumbai, they started demanding similar treatment at the new jail premises. They were shifted to Taloja so that maximum protection could be provided to Kasab, who was to be lodged at the Arthur Road jail.
"The undertrials continued to demand leave at Taloja as they had at Arthur Road," said an official, adding that the authorities at Taloja then reported the matter to senior prison authorities in Pune and Mumbai.
Former superintendent of Arthur Road jail Swati Sathe, who is currently posted in Nashik, said she was unaware of any inquiry.
It was during Sathe's tenure that the "influential undertrials" availed of leave.
The inquiry revealed that leave extended from a few hours to even a couple of days.
It also found that this practice had been going on at the jail for nearly three years.
The authorities did not deny leave to around 45 gangsters, most of whom are booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999. One undertrial gangster was found to have "gone on leave" on 35 occasions, the report said.
The Maharashtra Prisons Manual has no provision to grant leave to undertrials, as is allowed in the case of convicts lodged in jails. It is customary for an undertrial to obtain permission from a court in order to avail leave.
The inquiry revealed that none of the 45 undertrials sent their applications via the jail officials. They were directly sent to court.
Significantly, the authorities at Arthur Road jail failed to appeal against this.
The jail authorities also failed to report the leave taken by the under-trials to the state government, which generally alerts the police machinery to keep a close watch on the activities of the suspects.
State prisons chief, inspector-general of police Uddhav Kamble confirmed to DNA the commissioning of the inquiry, but refused to elaborate. A senior official of the prison department confirmed the developments as well.
Another senior jail official explained that leave is only granted to an under-trial by the court for emergency situations, like the demise or serious health condition of the next-of-kin, besides attending the marriage of his/her children.
Leave can also be availed for emergency medical treatment at the private hospitals, but only under the supervision of the jail authorities. However the under-trials went on leave to attend marriages and death of distant relatives, other minor health issues of family members and even their companions.
Kamble sought a detailed record from the deputy inspector general of police (prisons), Mumbai, of all the leave awarded by the courts. The DIG, Mumbai conducted an inquiry and found the involvement of Arthur Road Jail officials. Another inquiry was commissioned to verify the findings of the DIG's report.
In Pune, 22 inmates have been missing from the Yerawada Central Prison after they were granted parole or furlough in the past 30 years.
Mumbai-based gangster Vijay Thopte who was accused in the murder of union leader Datta Samant and Arun Gawli gang member Eknath Arjun Mohite of Bhosari are among those missing from the Yerawada jail. While Thopte has been missing after he was granted parole a year ago, Mohite, who has several cases registered against him with the Pune city and rural police units, has been missing for more than a year now.
What we are being told in the above article is what they have been showing in Bollywood movies where gansters control the world outside from inside the jail. One such movie was "Gangajal" starring Ajay Devgan.
With the existing close cooperatin between criminals and politicians, it is not at all surprising.
In todays India, it is very difficult to differentiate between criminals and politicians.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A Ghost From the Past...........
International News
Polish city ravaged by Nazis to cut Hitler's tree
Associated Press
WARSAW, Poland - The towering tree is believed to have been Adolf Hitler's gift to the occupied town of Jaslo - planted to the sound of a Nazi band during World War II.
Town authorities now want it cut down and burned to make way for a new roundabout. But some residents have become attached to the 40-foot (12-meter) oak and are lobbying to save it.
"The tree has not hurt anyone and is not guilty of anything," protest organizer Kazimierz Polak said, adding that his group was appealing to local and regional authorities to preserve the tree. "It is growing healthy and tall. Let it grow."
But Mayor Maria Kurowska said it was a reminder of Jaslo's connection to Hitler, whose Nazi troops razed the town in late 1944 as the Soviet Army advanced.
"It's only a tree; we have hundreds of them here," Kurowska said. "Instead, I can plant trees in honor of Hitler's victims."
The tree also interferes with a planned roundabout that would increase road safety, she said, explaining why authorities were only now looking to have to removed.
But the mayor said she had received e-mails and letters from residents both for and against saving the oak.
Polak said he remembers the tiny tree arriving in April 1942 in a box wrapped in the Nazis' swastika flag. It was a gift from Hitler on his birthday and came from the Austrian city of Braunau am Inn, where the Nazi leader was born in 1889.
With two friends, Polak watched German authorities plant the tree with great pomp - part of an effort to "Germanize" the town, he said.
Two years later as the Red Army approached, the Nazis ordered that the town be evacuated and looted, according to historians. By the time they left, only 39 of the town's more than 1,200 houses remained.
Polak, now 81 years old, is the town's source for information about the tree's provenance. The mayor noted that he is active in studying Jaslo's history and there is no reason to doubt his account.
Nevertheless, she said she was not convinced the tree should be spared. The town will decide within weeks about the proposed roundabout.
"You plant trees in honor of truly great people, like John Paul II," she said. "If we keep it, we will walk in the city center remembering this is Hitler's tree."
Polish city ravaged by Nazis to cut Hitler's tree
Associated Press
WARSAW, Poland - The towering tree is believed to have been Adolf Hitler's gift to the occupied town of Jaslo - planted to the sound of a Nazi band during World War II.
Town authorities now want it cut down and burned to make way for a new roundabout. But some residents have become attached to the 40-foot (12-meter) oak and are lobbying to save it.
"The tree has not hurt anyone and is not guilty of anything," protest organizer Kazimierz Polak said, adding that his group was appealing to local and regional authorities to preserve the tree. "It is growing healthy and tall. Let it grow."
But Mayor Maria Kurowska said it was a reminder of Jaslo's connection to Hitler, whose Nazi troops razed the town in late 1944 as the Soviet Army advanced.
"It's only a tree; we have hundreds of them here," Kurowska said. "Instead, I can plant trees in honor of Hitler's victims."
The tree also interferes with a planned roundabout that would increase road safety, she said, explaining why authorities were only now looking to have to removed.
But the mayor said she had received e-mails and letters from residents both for and against saving the oak.
Polak said he remembers the tiny tree arriving in April 1942 in a box wrapped in the Nazis' swastika flag. It was a gift from Hitler on his birthday and came from the Austrian city of Braunau am Inn, where the Nazi leader was born in 1889.
With two friends, Polak watched German authorities plant the tree with great pomp - part of an effort to "Germanize" the town, he said.
Two years later as the Red Army approached, the Nazis ordered that the town be evacuated and looted, according to historians. By the time they left, only 39 of the town's more than 1,200 houses remained.
Polak, now 81 years old, is the town's source for information about the tree's provenance. The mayor noted that he is active in studying Jaslo's history and there is no reason to doubt his account.
Nevertheless, she said she was not convinced the tree should be spared. The town will decide within weeks about the proposed roundabout.
"You plant trees in honor of truly great people, like John Paul II," she said. "If we keep it, we will walk in the city center remembering this is Hitler's tree."
Monday, June 22, 2009
The Humble Grass
Have you noticed grass???
Even if somebody steps on it, it never gets hurt….
It never hurts others too….
When a wild storm attacks, all the big trees get uprooted….
But the simple grass survives….
So be noble & humble like that grass…Simple but Strong….
Have a Good Day
Krishna Joshi has sent these good wishes
S...House
I Found It
I found it...
And you thought there was no such place,huh????
You will all be so pleased to receive this.......
How many times have we been "up there without one!
Sent by Graham Hope.
Nothing to add.
I found it...
And you thought there was no such place,huh????
You will all be so pleased to receive this.......
How many times have we been "up there without one!
Sent by Graham Hope.
Nothing to add.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
W Bengal police, their shame.
Ambushed, cops refuse to move without CRPF
PINGBONI (BANKURA): What will happen when paramilitary forces leave Lalgarh? TOI had a glimpse of this on Saturday when a police contingent heavily armed but without the protection of central forces was ambushed at Pingboni, 16 km from Lalgarh.
Rattled by the attack, many constables have reportedly refused to carry out any operation without central forces accompanying them.
In the two-hour-long encounter, police struggled to see the attackers, some 500-700 yards away, because the 500-strong force did not have a single binocular. They borrowed the Times of India photographer's camera to use the tele-lens to check on the attackers' weapons and movements. What's worse, when six of them were hit and lay injured, police had no vehicle to take them to hospital. They borrowed the TOI car.
The battle spot is located 2 km from Goaltore on the way to Ramgarh via Kantashole. It marks the beginning of the Maoist stronghold in Bankura and extends to West Midnapore, where the battle for Lalgarh is currently under way.
A contingent of state police and Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) jawans led by Burdwan additional SP Humayun Kabir stopped at the nearly deserted Pingboni village at 3.45 pm after spotting movement behind some embankments on the fields. The same unit had passed that very spot on Friday. But instead of setting up base and engaging with villagers, they left after roughing up some youths and smashing a few shops. The withdrawal gave the Maoists ample time to regroup and take position for Saturday's ambush.
As the policemen waited, assessing the threat, they saw mobs charging towards them from either side of the road around 4 pm.
As Maoist mobs charged towards the police contingent at Pingboni, some of the cops rushed forward with lathis, only to scatter as arrows were shot at them. Suddenly, a deafening explosion ripped through. One of the policemen had apparently tripped a booby trap an IED rigged to a tree. That was the signal for the Maoists to open fire. It was 4.15 pm. Dazed from the blast, the policemen now faced a hail of bullets and arrows.
An SI and three constables lay injured in the blast. The attack took the force completely by surprise. Policemen scrambled behind every possible cover and started returning fire with INSAS and AK-47s. TOI was the only media team present during the encounter.
Sixty to 80 Maoists had taken up vantage positions along embankments and atop roofs of deserted houses. Initially, the insurgents fired indiscriminately, but the exchange became more focused after police took up position away from the line of fire.
Though a helicopter was summoned to make an aerial assessment of the situation, it wasn't of much help because darkness was approaching. The firing petered off around 6 pm. Two more policemen were injured in the gunbattle. They were all taken to Goaltore police station in the TOI car.
The Burdwan additional SP claimed his men had shot dead at least six Maoists. The body of a known Trinamool Congress supporter Gobinda Daw was later found in the area. He had been shot but it wasn't known by whom.
This is the condition of once famous police force.
They have been trained by the Marxist to only take action on defenceless people and connive with the party cadres to murder opposition workers.
At the first sin of problem, they are flabbergasted.
It is packed with people to espouse their cause.
Efficiency was put on the back-burner.
PINGBONI (BANKURA): What will happen when paramilitary forces leave Lalgarh? TOI had a glimpse of this on Saturday when a police contingent heavily armed but without the protection of central forces was ambushed at Pingboni, 16 km from Lalgarh.
Rattled by the attack, many constables have reportedly refused to carry out any operation without central forces accompanying them.
In the two-hour-long encounter, police struggled to see the attackers, some 500-700 yards away, because the 500-strong force did not have a single binocular. They borrowed the Times of India photographer's camera to use the tele-lens to check on the attackers' weapons and movements. What's worse, when six of them were hit and lay injured, police had no vehicle to take them to hospital. They borrowed the TOI car.
The battle spot is located 2 km from Goaltore on the way to Ramgarh via Kantashole. It marks the beginning of the Maoist stronghold in Bankura and extends to West Midnapore, where the battle for Lalgarh is currently under way.
A contingent of state police and Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) jawans led by Burdwan additional SP Humayun Kabir stopped at the nearly deserted Pingboni village at 3.45 pm after spotting movement behind some embankments on the fields. The same unit had passed that very spot on Friday. But instead of setting up base and engaging with villagers, they left after roughing up some youths and smashing a few shops. The withdrawal gave the Maoists ample time to regroup and take position for Saturday's ambush.
As the policemen waited, assessing the threat, they saw mobs charging towards them from either side of the road around 4 pm.
As Maoist mobs charged towards the police contingent at Pingboni, some of the cops rushed forward with lathis, only to scatter as arrows were shot at them. Suddenly, a deafening explosion ripped through. One of the policemen had apparently tripped a booby trap an IED rigged to a tree. That was the signal for the Maoists to open fire. It was 4.15 pm. Dazed from the blast, the policemen now faced a hail of bullets and arrows.
An SI and three constables lay injured in the blast. The attack took the force completely by surprise. Policemen scrambled behind every possible cover and started returning fire with INSAS and AK-47s. TOI was the only media team present during the encounter.
Sixty to 80 Maoists had taken up vantage positions along embankments and atop roofs of deserted houses. Initially, the insurgents fired indiscriminately, but the exchange became more focused after police took up position away from the line of fire.
Though a helicopter was summoned to make an aerial assessment of the situation, it wasn't of much help because darkness was approaching. The firing petered off around 6 pm. Two more policemen were injured in the gunbattle. They were all taken to Goaltore police station in the TOI car.
The Burdwan additional SP claimed his men had shot dead at least six Maoists. The body of a known Trinamool Congress supporter Gobinda Daw was later found in the area. He had been shot but it wasn't known by whom.
This is the condition of once famous police force.
They have been trained by the Marxist to only take action on defenceless people and connive with the party cadres to murder opposition workers.
At the first sin of problem, they are flabbergasted.
It is packed with people to espouse their cause.
Efficiency was put on the back-burner.
The Advantage of knowing English
English gets a career boost
OUR BUREAU
English has won top honours among admission-seekers this season, with the demand for teachers in the subject in south Asian countries and West Asia spurring the scramble to study Shakespeare.
“The number of applicants for English honours has almost trebled in the last three to four years. This year we have received 3,100 applications for just 60 seats,” Father Felix Raj, the principal of St Xavier’s College, told Metro.
Seats in the English departments of other colleges in the city are also in demand. The average annual increase in the number of applications is 700 to 800.
“English teachers are now much-sought-after in countries like Japan, China, Thailand and the UAE, which has raised the demand for English honours among students here,” said Father Felix Raj.
Ananda Lal, the head of the department of English at Jadavpur University, confirmed that better job prospects abroad had contributed to the subject being the clear favourite in the humanities stream.
“We receive a lot of enquiries about our students from West Asia and Singapore. There is a demand for English teachers in those countries, and India definitely fulfils that need,” added Lal.
Jadavpur University has received around 2,700 applications for 50 English honours seats despite raising the cut-off mark in the subject from 65 to 70 per cent.
Teaching is not the only option for those who study English literature. The basket of career opportunities now available to English honours students is the key behind the popularity of the subject,
“Students do not want to narrow down their career opportunities from the beginning. After three years of studying English, they can explore various options,” said Lal.
With campus recruitment becoming the norm even in the arts stream, students of English are being snapped up.
English graduates from Presidency College and Asutosh College have been getting offers not just from media houses and HR firms, but also in IT and other businesses.
“There is a huge demand for our English graduates in companies like Cognizant Technology Solutions, Tata Consultancy Services, IBM and Wipro. Good job offers have perked up interest in the subject,” said Dipak Kar, the principal of Asutosh College.
Asutosh received 1,600 applications for its 70 seats this year, 51 of which were snapped up on the first day of admissions. “I don’t think we will need to bring out a second list,” said Kar.
At Presidency, the number of applicants has increased from 1,800 last year to 2,500 this season.
Debalina Banerjee, the head of the department of English at Presidency, attributed the rush to rising awareness about career opportunities.
“The opportunities for English graduates are not restricted to media and academia. Students have become aware of this,” said Banerjee.
According to her, even students applying for seats in engineering, physics, chemistry and economics consider English a second option.
It helps that Calcutta University has no strict rules for applying. “English does not need qualifying marks in related subjects. That helps,” said John Abraham, the principal of Scottish Church College.
The above is from the Telegraph of 20.06.2009.
This is another answer to the likes of Mulayam Singh, Swami Ramdeo and the other leaders of The Hindi Speaking of North India who are trying to impose Hindi in the guise of Nationalism.
English has become as much an Indian language as any other recognized Indian language in the India.
After Hindi, it is the most widely spoken and understood language throughout the length and breadth of India.
It is English which has allowed India to become leaders in the IT and BPO services.
Why remove the advantage which the British have given us while ruling over us for 300years.
English is the most widely spoken language of business and commerce on the Earth.
The Communists destroyed Bengal's educational advantage by removing English from the primary and secondary level in government schools while they themselves sent their children to English medium schools.
The 3-language formula which was prevalent in India upto the 60's is the best.
Allow children to study three languagss.
Mother tongue, Hindi and Englsih.
For Hindi speaking states any other Indian regional language should be compulsory.
English should be taught from Class 1, itself.
Unless we follow this system, we will soon lose the advantage we have over the Chinese , Japanese, Philipinos and others
Radheshyam
OUR BUREAU
English has won top honours among admission-seekers this season, with the demand for teachers in the subject in south Asian countries and West Asia spurring the scramble to study Shakespeare.
“The number of applicants for English honours has almost trebled in the last three to four years. This year we have received 3,100 applications for just 60 seats,” Father Felix Raj, the principal of St Xavier’s College, told Metro.
Seats in the English departments of other colleges in the city are also in demand. The average annual increase in the number of applications is 700 to 800.
“English teachers are now much-sought-after in countries like Japan, China, Thailand and the UAE, which has raised the demand for English honours among students here,” said Father Felix Raj.
Ananda Lal, the head of the department of English at Jadavpur University, confirmed that better job prospects abroad had contributed to the subject being the clear favourite in the humanities stream.
“We receive a lot of enquiries about our students from West Asia and Singapore. There is a demand for English teachers in those countries, and India definitely fulfils that need,” added Lal.
Jadavpur University has received around 2,700 applications for 50 English honours seats despite raising the cut-off mark in the subject from 65 to 70 per cent.
Teaching is not the only option for those who study English literature. The basket of career opportunities now available to English honours students is the key behind the popularity of the subject,
“Students do not want to narrow down their career opportunities from the beginning. After three years of studying English, they can explore various options,” said Lal.
With campus recruitment becoming the norm even in the arts stream, students of English are being snapped up.
English graduates from Presidency College and Asutosh College have been getting offers not just from media houses and HR firms, but also in IT and other businesses.
“There is a huge demand for our English graduates in companies like Cognizant Technology Solutions, Tata Consultancy Services, IBM and Wipro. Good job offers have perked up interest in the subject,” said Dipak Kar, the principal of Asutosh College.
Asutosh received 1,600 applications for its 70 seats this year, 51 of which were snapped up on the first day of admissions. “I don’t think we will need to bring out a second list,” said Kar.
At Presidency, the number of applicants has increased from 1,800 last year to 2,500 this season.
Debalina Banerjee, the head of the department of English at Presidency, attributed the rush to rising awareness about career opportunities.
“The opportunities for English graduates are not restricted to media and academia. Students have become aware of this,” said Banerjee.
According to her, even students applying for seats in engineering, physics, chemistry and economics consider English a second option.
It helps that Calcutta University has no strict rules for applying. “English does not need qualifying marks in related subjects. That helps,” said John Abraham, the principal of Scottish Church College.
The above is from the Telegraph of 20.06.2009.
This is another answer to the likes of Mulayam Singh, Swami Ramdeo and the other leaders of The Hindi Speaking of North India who are trying to impose Hindi in the guise of Nationalism.
English has become as much an Indian language as any other recognized Indian language in the India.
After Hindi, it is the most widely spoken and understood language throughout the length and breadth of India.
It is English which has allowed India to become leaders in the IT and BPO services.
Why remove the advantage which the British have given us while ruling over us for 300years.
English is the most widely spoken language of business and commerce on the Earth.
The Communists destroyed Bengal's educational advantage by removing English from the primary and secondary level in government schools while they themselves sent their children to English medium schools.
The 3-language formula which was prevalent in India upto the 60's is the best.
Allow children to study three languagss.
Mother tongue, Hindi and Englsih.
For Hindi speaking states any other Indian regional language should be compulsory.
English should be taught from Class 1, itself.
Unless we follow this system, we will soon lose the advantage we have over the Chinese , Japanese, Philipinos and others
Radheshyam
New treatment for Prostrate Cancer
Some people in the network might find this useful
Kind regards
Fay
Drug-trial cancer patients recover
3 hours ago
Two men with advanced and inoperable prostate cancer have staged dramatic recoveries after being treated with an experimental antibody drug.
Both are now cancer-free and have returned to normal life after they took part in a trial of a drug called ipilimumab that boosts the immune system.
Before treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, US, each of them had aggressive tumours that had grown well beyond the prostate gland into abdominal areas.
Trial leader Dr Eugene Kwon said: "The goal of the study was to see if we could modestly improve upon current treatments for advanced prostate cancer.
"The candidates for this study were people who didn't have a lot of other options. However, we were startled to see responses that far exceeded any of our expectations."
First, the patients received traditional hormone therapy to remove testosterone, which fuels prostate cancer. Researchers then introduced a single dose of ipilimumab. The drug is an antibody which builds on the hormone therapy and boosts the immune system's response to the cancer.
Both patients saw their prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels drop to the point where they became eligible for surgery. PSA is a protein in the blood that allows doctors to monitor prostate cancer.
When the surgeons made their incisions, they had a surprise.
Mayo clinic urologist Dr Michael Blute said: "The tumours had shrunk dramatically. I had never seen anything like this before. I had a hard time finding the cancer. At one point the pathologist asked if we were sending him samples from the same patient."
Further research is now planned to understand more about the mechanisms of the antibody and how best to use it on patients, but Dr Kwon added: "This is one of the holy grails of prostate cancer research. We've been looking for this for years."
The above has been sent by Fay Kelly
Kind regards
Fay
Drug-trial cancer patients recover
3 hours ago
Two men with advanced and inoperable prostate cancer have staged dramatic recoveries after being treated with an experimental antibody drug.
Both are now cancer-free and have returned to normal life after they took part in a trial of a drug called ipilimumab that boosts the immune system.
Before treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, US, each of them had aggressive tumours that had grown well beyond the prostate gland into abdominal areas.
Trial leader Dr Eugene Kwon said: "The goal of the study was to see if we could modestly improve upon current treatments for advanced prostate cancer.
"The candidates for this study were people who didn't have a lot of other options. However, we were startled to see responses that far exceeded any of our expectations."
First, the patients received traditional hormone therapy to remove testosterone, which fuels prostate cancer. Researchers then introduced a single dose of ipilimumab. The drug is an antibody which builds on the hormone therapy and boosts the immune system's response to the cancer.
Both patients saw their prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels drop to the point where they became eligible for surgery. PSA is a protein in the blood that allows doctors to monitor prostate cancer.
When the surgeons made their incisions, they had a surprise.
Mayo clinic urologist Dr Michael Blute said: "The tumours had shrunk dramatically. I had never seen anything like this before. I had a hard time finding the cancer. At one point the pathologist asked if we were sending him samples from the same patient."
Further research is now planned to understand more about the mechanisms of the antibody and how best to use it on patients, but Dr Kwon added: "This is one of the holy grails of prostate cancer research. We've been looking for this for years."
The above has been sent by Fay Kelly
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Child Labour & Population Control
A Child peeping through the grills of a foundry where he works
A child working on a drill machine
A child polishing an aluminium dekchi
A girl child attempting to sell flowers to some people in a car, will she be successful. I dobt it as the car people think of her as a nuisance.
A child collecting waste from a garbage dump which he will then sell for earning something for gis family. This is a common sight at all garbage dumps.
Three children collecting partially burnt coal from cinders thrown by a foundry. These too will be sold again.
A child breaking bricks.
Children carrying bricks at construction sites.
A child on a grinding machine
This child has managed to get some rest from his work in a press or hammer.His stool is a welding machine.
A child working in a galvanising shop. You can see the acid fumes.
A child helping on the lathe
The sweat
Again sweatOur government has put in place some laws banning chld labour.
It seems the owners of the workshops where these children may not have heard of the law.
Maybe, some of these workshops are owned by our legislators who pass these laws, and they care two hoots for such laws.
Or may be they may have heard of it but the children or there parents may have just wanted the children to work to keep away the pangs of hunger.
The parents may have considered themselves lucky to have got the work against stiff competition from other hungry families.
How does the government propose to feed all these children?
None of our political parties are seeing the population bomb ticking away.
None of them mention the word family planning in their election manifestoes for fear of antagonising a particular community.
Children will continue to be produced to be then thrown on the streets to beg, steal and become criminals or work in such factories.
It is unavoidable unless we control our population.
Photographs were sent by Krishna Joshi
How to Prevent Worms from entering your computer
How to protect your e-mail address book
A computer repairman says this is like having gold.
This is a really good thing.
I learned a computer trick today that's really ingenious in its simplicity.
As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer
it heads straight for your email address book,
and sends itself to everyone in there,
thus infecting all your friends and associates.
This trick won't keep the virus from getting
into your computer, but it will stop it from using your address book
to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact that the worm has
got into your system.
Here's what you do:
First, open your address book and click on
'new contact,'
just a new friend to your list of email addresses.
In the window where you would type your
friend's first name, type in 'A'.
For the screen name or email address,
type AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA
Now, here's what you've done and why it works:
The 'name 'A' will be placed at the top of your address book
as entry #1.
This will be where the worm will start
in an effort to send itself to all your friends.
When it tries to send itself to AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA,
it will be undeliverable
because of the phony email address you entered.
If the first attempt fails
(which it will because of the phoney address),
the worm goes no further
and your friends will not be infected.
Here's the second great advantage of this method:
If an email cannot be delivered,
you will be notified of this in your In Box almost immediately.
Hence, if you ever get an email telling you that an email addressed to AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA could not be delivered
I may have posted a similar article earlier this is more comprehensive.
Sent by Graham Hope
A computer repairman says this is like having gold.
This is a really good thing.
I learned a computer trick today that's really ingenious in its simplicity.
As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer
it heads straight for your email address book,
and sends itself to everyone in there,
thus infecting all your friends and associates.
This trick won't keep the virus from getting
into your computer, but it will stop it from using your address book
to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact that the worm has
got into your system.
Here's what you do:
First, open your address book and click on
'new contact,'
just a new friend to your list of email addresses.
In the window where you would type your
friend's first name, type in 'A'.
For the screen name or email address,
type AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA
Now, here's what you've done and why it works:
The 'name 'A' will be placed at the top of your address book
as entry #1.
This will be where the worm will start
in an effort to send itself to all your friends.
When it tries to send itself to AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA,
it will be undeliverable
because of the phony email address you entered.
If the first attempt fails
(which it will because of the phoney address),
the worm goes no further
and your friends will not be infected.
Here's the second great advantage of this method:
If an email cannot be delivered,
you will be notified of this in your In Box almost immediately.
Hence, if you ever get an email telling you that an email addressed to AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA could not be delivered
I may have posted a similar article earlier this is more comprehensive.
Sent by Graham Hope
Friday, June 19, 2009
India Helping USA in providing Employment
India Inc buys 143 US cos in 2 yrs
19 Jun 2009, 1108 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI: The greater engagement of US with India seems to have benefited the former during the economic downturn as thousands of Americans managed to save their jobs when Indian corporates went on a major acquisition drive in the US.
During the last two years, Indian companies acquired 143 US firms across various sectors. While 94 deals were concluded in 2007-08, in the following year when the economy was on the downturn, Indians bought as many as 50 US entities that were on the verge of closure, saving thousands of jobs.
A study, jointly conducted by Indian industry association FICCI and Ernst & Young, said Tata Chemicals, Wipro, Reliance Communications and Firstsource Solutions were some of the top Indian entities that were involved in bailing out US companies in the red.
The report released on Thursday said IT&ITeS, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals were the prime sectors in which most of the deals were formalised. Indian companies from the IT sector have over the years been aggressively expanding in the US market.
The deals were predominantly debt financed with cash being a popular mode of payment. "This trend probably extends from India Inc's traditional preference for cash transactions in the domestic merger and acquisition space," the report observed.
The Ernst & Young report says the boom in the Indian economy in the last three to four years made the domestic companies cash-rich which provided them with access to more capital than in the past.
Interestingly, one of the key factors, as the report cites, behind more acquisitions has been the liberal policies introduced by the government and RBI for overseas investments.
According to RBI data, in 2007-08 the total outbound investments of Indian companies amounted to $18 billion. In the first half of 2008-09, at least 2,000 proposals valued at $9 billion were cleared for overseas investments in joint ventures and wholly owned subsidiaries.
Is this the empire striking back?
Is this the new East India Co, this time actually originating from the East and not from the UK?
Our culture and our Gurus have made us hard-working,living within our means, individuals.
Our politicians and their selfish motives has made us now among the top corrupt nations.
Attempts are now being made to reverse the trend.
Just imagine what a power house India can become if 1) it removes corruption and 2) controls population.
What surprises me is not a single party utters a word for controlling our galloping population. How are we going to feed our population?
One action on Sanjay Gandhi has made all parties of shying away from that word.
19 Jun 2009, 1108 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI: The greater engagement of US with India seems to have benefited the former during the economic downturn as thousands of Americans managed to save their jobs when Indian corporates went on a major acquisition drive in the US.
During the last two years, Indian companies acquired 143 US firms across various sectors. While 94 deals were concluded in 2007-08, in the following year when the economy was on the downturn, Indians bought as many as 50 US entities that were on the verge of closure, saving thousands of jobs.
A study, jointly conducted by Indian industry association FICCI and Ernst & Young, said Tata Chemicals, Wipro, Reliance Communications and Firstsource Solutions were some of the top Indian entities that were involved in bailing out US companies in the red.
The report released on Thursday said IT&ITeS, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals were the prime sectors in which most of the deals were formalised. Indian companies from the IT sector have over the years been aggressively expanding in the US market.
The deals were predominantly debt financed with cash being a popular mode of payment. "This trend probably extends from India Inc's traditional preference for cash transactions in the domestic merger and acquisition space," the report observed.
The Ernst & Young report says the boom in the Indian economy in the last three to four years made the domestic companies cash-rich which provided them with access to more capital than in the past.
Interestingly, one of the key factors, as the report cites, behind more acquisitions has been the liberal policies introduced by the government and RBI for overseas investments.
According to RBI data, in 2007-08 the total outbound investments of Indian companies amounted to $18 billion. In the first half of 2008-09, at least 2,000 proposals valued at $9 billion were cleared for overseas investments in joint ventures and wholly owned subsidiaries.
Is this the empire striking back?
Is this the new East India Co, this time actually originating from the East and not from the UK?
Our culture and our Gurus have made us hard-working,living within our means, individuals.
Our politicians and their selfish motives has made us now among the top corrupt nations.
Attempts are now being made to reverse the trend.
Just imagine what a power house India can become if 1) it removes corruption and 2) controls population.
What surprises me is not a single party utters a word for controlling our galloping population. How are we going to feed our population?
One action on Sanjay Gandhi has made all parties of shying away from that word.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Nostalgia
This piece has been sent by Swapan Das
This one was too fully to let go so here is one out of the blue. Frankly I could tick off atleast 15-20 of these as a given. J
Group for people who grew up during the 70s and well early eighties in middle class India.If you are unsure...Join this group if you say YES for any 5 of the following:
1 Though you may not publicly own to this, at the age of 5-8 years, you were very proud of your first "Bellbottom" or your first "Maxi"
2 Phantom & Mandrake were your only true heroes. You can also nod your heads to names like Chandamama, Champak, Lot-Pot, Nandan. The brainy ones read "Competition Success Review".
3 You took pride in turning to the back page of your latest Amar Chitra Katha and ticking off yet another title. How many ever you ticked, you still had many to go.
4 Your "Camlin" geometry box & Flora pencil was your prized possession.
5 The only "Holidays" you took were to go to your grandparents' or your cousins' houses.
6 Ice-cream meant only - either an orange stick, a vanilla softy in a cone or at most - a Choco Bar if you lived in a swanky town.
7 Your first family car ( and the only one) was a Fiat. Or an ambassador. This often had to be pushed by the entire family to get going.
8 The glass windows in the back seats used to get stuck at the two-thirds down level and used to irk the shit out of you! The window went down only if your puny arm could manage the tacky rotary handle to pull it down. Locking the door was easy. You just whacked the other tacky, non-rotary handle downwards.
9 Your mom had stitched the weirdest lace curtains for all the windows of the car. They were tied in the middle and if your dad was the comfort-oriented kinds, you had a magnificent small fan upfront, below which screwed to the board was the cassette player.
10 Your parents were proud owners of HMT watches. You "earned" yours after 8th or the 10th standard exams.
11 You have been to "Jumbo Circus" ; have held your breath while the pretty young thing in the glittery skirt did acrobatics, quite enjoyed the elephants hitting football, the motorcyclist vrooming in the "Maut ka Gola" and it was politically okay to laugh your guts out at dwarfs hitting each others bottoms!
12 You have atleast once heard "Hawa Mahal" on the radio.
13 If you had a TV, it was normal to expect the neighborhood to gather around to watch the Chitrahaar or the Sunday movie. If you didn't have a TV, you just went to a house that did. It mattered little if you knew the owners or not.
14 Sometimes the owners of these TVs got very creative and got a bi or even a tri-coloured anti-glare screen which they attached with two side clips onto their Weston TVs. That confused the hell out of you!
15 Black & White TVs weren't so bad after all because cricket was played in whites.
16 You thought your Dad rocked because you got your own ( the family's; not your own own!) colour TV when the Asian Games started. Everyone else got the same idea as well and ever since, no one came over to your house and you didn't go to anyone else's.
17 You dreaded the death of any political leader because of the mourning they would announce on the TV. After all how much "Shashtriya Sangeet" can a kid take? Salma Sultana didn't smile either during the mourning.
18 You knew that "Indira Gandhi" was somebody really powerful and terribly important. And that's all you needed to know.
19 The only "Gadgets" in the house were the TV, the Fridge and the Mixie.
20 All the gadgets had to be duly covered with a crochet covers and sometimes even with ingenious, custom-fit plastic covers.
21 Movies meant Amitabh Bachchan. Before the start of the movie you always had to watch the obligatory "newsreel".
22 You thought you were so rocking because you knew almost all the songs of Abba and BoneyM
23 You had a turntable "stereo" and a collection of LP Records. Your hormones went crazy when you bought "Disco Deewane" by Naziya Hassan & Zoheb Hassan.
24 You couldn't contain your happiness when you suddenly had knowledge of Grammy awards and Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper & OMG even Michael Jackson became familiar names.
25 School teachers, your parents and even your neighbours could whack you and it was all okay.
26 Photograph taking was a big thing. You were lucky if your family owned a camera. A reel of 36 exposures was valuable hence it justified the half hour preparation & "setting" & the "posing" for each picture. Therefore, you have atleast one family picture where everyone is holding their breath and standing at attention!
27. When you really counted down days to "Diwali" every year
This one was too fully to let go so here is one out of the blue. Frankly I could tick off atleast 15-20 of these as a given. J
Group for people who grew up during the 70s and well early eighties in middle class India.If you are unsure...Join this group if you say YES for any 5 of the following:
1 Though you may not publicly own to this, at the age of 5-8 years, you were very proud of your first "Bellbottom" or your first "Maxi"
2 Phantom & Mandrake were your only true heroes. You can also nod your heads to names like Chandamama, Champak, Lot-Pot, Nandan. The brainy ones read "Competition Success Review".
3 You took pride in turning to the back page of your latest Amar Chitra Katha and ticking off yet another title. How many ever you ticked, you still had many to go.
4 Your "Camlin" geometry box & Flora pencil was your prized possession.
5 The only "Holidays" you took were to go to your grandparents' or your cousins' houses.
6 Ice-cream meant only - either an orange stick, a vanilla softy in a cone or at most - a Choco Bar if you lived in a swanky town.
7 Your first family car ( and the only one) was a Fiat. Or an ambassador. This often had to be pushed by the entire family to get going.
8 The glass windows in the back seats used to get stuck at the two-thirds down level and used to irk the shit out of you! The window went down only if your puny arm could manage the tacky rotary handle to pull it down. Locking the door was easy. You just whacked the other tacky, non-rotary handle downwards.
9 Your mom had stitched the weirdest lace curtains for all the windows of the car. They were tied in the middle and if your dad was the comfort-oriented kinds, you had a magnificent small fan upfront, below which screwed to the board was the cassette player.
10 Your parents were proud owners of HMT watches. You "earned" yours after 8th or the 10th standard exams.
11 You have been to "Jumbo Circus" ; have held your breath while the pretty young thing in the glittery skirt did acrobatics, quite enjoyed the elephants hitting football, the motorcyclist vrooming in the "Maut ka Gola" and it was politically okay to laugh your guts out at dwarfs hitting each others bottoms!
12 You have atleast once heard "Hawa Mahal" on the radio.
13 If you had a TV, it was normal to expect the neighborhood to gather around to watch the Chitrahaar or the Sunday movie. If you didn't have a TV, you just went to a house that did. It mattered little if you knew the owners or not.
14 Sometimes the owners of these TVs got very creative and got a bi or even a tri-coloured anti-glare screen which they attached with two side clips onto their Weston TVs. That confused the hell out of you!
15 Black & White TVs weren't so bad after all because cricket was played in whites.
16 You thought your Dad rocked because you got your own ( the family's; not your own own!) colour TV when the Asian Games started. Everyone else got the same idea as well and ever since, no one came over to your house and you didn't go to anyone else's.
17 You dreaded the death of any political leader because of the mourning they would announce on the TV. After all how much "Shashtriya Sangeet" can a kid take? Salma Sultana didn't smile either during the mourning.
18 You knew that "Indira Gandhi" was somebody really powerful and terribly important. And that's all you needed to know.
19 The only "Gadgets" in the house were the TV, the Fridge and the Mixie.
20 All the gadgets had to be duly covered with a crochet covers and sometimes even with ingenious, custom-fit plastic covers.
21 Movies meant Amitabh Bachchan. Before the start of the movie you always had to watch the obligatory "newsreel".
22 You thought you were so rocking because you knew almost all the songs of Abba and BoneyM
23 You had a turntable "stereo" and a collection of LP Records. Your hormones went crazy when you bought "Disco Deewane" by Naziya Hassan & Zoheb Hassan.
24 You couldn't contain your happiness when you suddenly had knowledge of Grammy awards and Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper & OMG even Michael Jackson became familiar names.
25 School teachers, your parents and even your neighbours could whack you and it was all okay.
26 Photograph taking was a big thing. You were lucky if your family owned a camera. A reel of 36 exposures was valuable hence it justified the half hour preparation & "setting" & the "posing" for each picture. Therefore, you have atleast one family picture where everyone is holding their breath and standing at attention!
27. When you really counted down days to "Diwali" every year
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Boyfriend or Husband
It is a fact of life that when a boyfriend or girl friend becomes a spouse, there is a marked difference in behaviour, which many people just cannot understand why the same person behaves so differently.
Here is how a computer geek, tries to find a solution.
I am not sure whether this was posted earlier.
Presently, it is sent by Krishna Joshi
Radheshyam
A woman writes to the IT Technical support Guy
Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as
Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NEWS 5.0, MONEY 3.0 and CRICKET 4.1.
Conversation 8..0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.
Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5..3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?
Signed,
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________
Reply
DEAR Madam,
First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.
Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme. . html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
If that application works as designed, Husband1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3..5..
However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Silence 2.5 or Beer 6.1.
Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta..
Whatever you do,DO NOTunder any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)
In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.
You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.
We recommend: Cooking 3.0 and Hot Looks 7.7.
Good Luck Madam!
Here is how a computer geek, tries to find a solution.
I am not sure whether this was posted earlier.
Presently, it is sent by Krishna Joshi
Radheshyam
A woman writes to the IT Technical support Guy
Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as
Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NEWS 5.0, MONEY 3.0 and CRICKET 4.1.
Conversation 8..0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.
Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5..3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?
Signed,
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________
Reply
DEAR Madam,
First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.
Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme. . html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
If that application works as designed, Husband1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3..5..
However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Silence 2.5 or Beer 6.1.
Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta..
Whatever you do,DO NOTunder any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)
In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.
You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.
We recommend: Cooking 3.0 and Hot Looks 7.7.
Good Luck Madam!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Knowing Languages
So, how does a group of Syrian protest leaders create the most impact with their signs by having the standard "Death To Americans"(etc.) slogans printed in English?
Answer:
They simply hire an English-speaking civilian to translate and write their statements into English.
Unfortunately, in this case, they were unaware that the "civilian" insurance company employee hired for the job was a retired US Army Sergeant! Obviously, pictures of this protest rally never made their way to Arab TV networks, but the results were PRICELESS!
This picture is not doctored.
Most Syrians struggle to even read Arabic, much less have a clue about readingEnglish.
Lack of knowledge of any language has always been the subject of humour, throughout the ages. It, on many occasions, leads to anger and fights. The Bible tells us the story of the Tower of Bable when men became so arrogant and corrupt that they stopped believing in God.
They thought of reaching Heaven by building a tower which would reach up to heaven. The bible says that as the reached up, he made their languages different. They could not understand each other and started fighting and killed themselves.
It is always good to learn as many languages as possible.
Doctors say, the more languages you learn, the greater your brain develops.
Answer:
They simply hire an English-speaking civilian to translate and write their statements into English.
Unfortunately, in this case, they were unaware that the "civilian" insurance company employee hired for the job was a retired US Army Sergeant! Obviously, pictures of this protest rally never made their way to Arab TV networks, but the results were PRICELESS!
This picture is not doctored.
Most Syrians struggle to even read Arabic, much less have a clue about readingEnglish.
Lack of knowledge of any language has always been the subject of humour, throughout the ages. It, on many occasions, leads to anger and fights. The Bible tells us the story of the Tower of Bable when men became so arrogant and corrupt that they stopped believing in God.
They thought of reaching Heaven by building a tower which would reach up to heaven. The bible says that as the reached up, he made their languages different. They could not understand each other and started fighting and killed themselves.
It is always good to learn as many languages as possible.
Doctors say, the more languages you learn, the greater your brain develops.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The Ten Commandments, Modified.
These commandments have been sent by Keith Hayward.
Either I may have read them earlier or I may have posted them earlier.
Whatever it may be, the ten commandments are always important, whether brought down by Moses or sent by Keith.
Commandment 1
Marriages are made in heaven. But so are thunder and
lightning.
***********
Commandment 2
If you want your wife to listen and pay strict
attention to every word you say; talk in your sleep.
***********
Commandment 3
Marriage is grand -- and divorce is at least 100
grand!
***********
Commandment 4
Married life is very frustrating. In the first year of
marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens.
In the second year, the woman speaks and the man
listens.
In the third year, they both speak and the neighbours
listen.
***********
Commandment 5
When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you
can be sure of one thing: Either the car is new or the wife is.
***********
Commandment 6
Marriage is when a man and woman become as one. The
trouble starts when they try to decide which one.
***********
Commandment 7
Before marriage, a man will lie awake all night
thinking about something you say. After marriage, he will fall asleep before
you finish.
***********
Commandment 8
Every man wants a wife who is beautiful,
understanding, economical, and a good cook.
But the law allows only one wife.
***********
Commandment 9
Marriage and love are purely matter of chemistry. That
is why wives treat husbands like toxic waste.
***********
Commandment 10
A man is incomplete until he is married. After that,
he is finished.
***********
Bonus Commandment ( Story )
A long married couple came upon a wishing well. The
husband leaned over, made a wish and threw in a penny.
The wife decided to make a wish too. But she leaned
over too much, fell into the well, and drowned.
The husband was stunned for a moment but then smiled,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"It really works!"
I just hope Sylvia is not reading this.
Either I may have read them earlier or I may have posted them earlier.
Whatever it may be, the ten commandments are always important, whether brought down by Moses or sent by Keith.
Commandment 1
Marriages are made in heaven. But so are thunder and
lightning.
***********
Commandment 2
If you want your wife to listen and pay strict
attention to every word you say; talk in your sleep.
***********
Commandment 3
Marriage is grand -- and divorce is at least 100
grand!
***********
Commandment 4
Married life is very frustrating. In the first year of
marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens.
In the second year, the woman speaks and the man
listens.
In the third year, they both speak and the neighbours
listen.
***********
Commandment 5
When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you
can be sure of one thing: Either the car is new or the wife is.
***********
Commandment 6
Marriage is when a man and woman become as one. The
trouble starts when they try to decide which one.
***********
Commandment 7
Before marriage, a man will lie awake all night
thinking about something you say. After marriage, he will fall asleep before
you finish.
***********
Commandment 8
Every man wants a wife who is beautiful,
understanding, economical, and a good cook.
But the law allows only one wife.
***********
Commandment 9
Marriage and love are purely matter of chemistry. That
is why wives treat husbands like toxic waste.
***********
Commandment 10
A man is incomplete until he is married. After that,
he is finished.
***********
Bonus Commandment ( Story )
A long married couple came upon a wishing well. The
husband leaned over, made a wish and threw in a penny.
The wife decided to make a wish too. But she leaned
over too much, fell into the well, and drowned.
The husband was stunned for a moment but then smiled,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"It really works!"
I just hope Sylvia is not reading this.
Children in Action
I AM SURE ALL OF YOU WILL ENJOY THIS
LOVE AND REGARDS
PRADEEP KUMAR MOHAN
The above pictures sent by Pradeep Mohan, must bring back memories of the mischief of our own children.
I am seeing and enjoying similar pranks of my own grand-daughter.
Childhood is a beautiful time.
The child himself does not realize how his carefree pranks gives pain and pleasure to his parents and grand-parents.Pain to his parents and pleasure to his grand-parents.
I have probably forgotten my own childrens pranks or was too busy to notice them at that time but now I am really enjoying my grand-daughter's every action.
LOVE AND REGARDS
PRADEEP KUMAR MOHAN
The above pictures sent by Pradeep Mohan, must bring back memories of the mischief of our own children.
I am seeing and enjoying similar pranks of my own grand-daughter.
Childhood is a beautiful time.
The child himself does not realize how his carefree pranks gives pain and pleasure to his parents and grand-parents.Pain to his parents and pleasure to his grand-parents.
I have probably forgotten my own childrens pranks or was too busy to notice them at that time but now I am really enjoying my grand-daughter's every action.
Cadbury Mystery
Keith Hayward has sent this.
Don't tell me your age;
you probably would tell a falsehood anyway - but
the Cadbury Man will know!
This is pretty neat.
It takes less than a minute .
Work this out as you read .
This is not one of those waste of time things, it's
fun.
1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you
would like to have chocolate (more than once but
fewer than 10)
2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)
3. Add 5
4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the
calculator
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759
If you haven't, add 1758.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.
You should have a three digit number
The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each
week).
The next two numbers are
YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)
THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD
IT AROUND TO YOUR FRIENDS WHILE IT LASTS
The last few posts on calculations made me think and use algebra to solve this one.
My calculations are given beow,
Let the number thought be a
Step 2.............a*2
Step 3.............(a*2 +5)
Step 4.............(a*2 +5)*50 = 100a + 250
Step 5.............(100a + 250) + 1759 = 100a + 2009
Step 6..............100a = 2009 - 1948 ...1948 is my year of birth
Now this is a three digit number.
When you subtract the year of birth from this year 2009, you naturally get your age.
100a gives you the hundreds column in the three digit number, which is the single digit number of chocolates which cadbury gave you.
You see, Algebra has many uses, besides mundane formulae like (a+b)(a+b)=.....
Once a mother was telling her friend of the new subjects being taught to her daughter in School.
"My Lucy is being taught French, German, Latin and Algebra in School", pointing proudly to her daughter.
Then as is the habit with mothers, she called out to Lucy to come.
"Come Darling, tell Mrs. John, how do you do in Algebra"
Don't tell me your age;
you probably would tell a falsehood anyway - but
the Cadbury Man will know!
This is pretty neat.
It takes less than a minute .
Work this out as you read .
This is not one of those waste of time things, it's
fun.
1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you
would like to have chocolate (more than once but
fewer than 10)
2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)
3. Add 5
4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the
calculator
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759
If you haven't, add 1758.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.
You should have a three digit number
The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each
week).
The next two numbers are
YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)
THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD
IT AROUND TO YOUR FRIENDS WHILE IT LASTS
The last few posts on calculations made me think and use algebra to solve this one.
My calculations are given beow,
Let the number thought be a
Step 2.............a*2
Step 3.............(a*2 +5)
Step 4.............(a*2 +5)*50 = 100a + 250
Step 5.............(100a + 250) + 1759 = 100a + 2009
Step 6..............100a = 2009 - 1948 ...1948 is my year of birth
Now this is a three digit number.
When you subtract the year of birth from this year 2009, you naturally get your age.
100a gives you the hundreds column in the three digit number, which is the single digit number of chocolates which cadbury gave you.
You see, Algebra has many uses, besides mundane formulae like (a+b)(a+b)=.....
Once a mother was telling her friend of the new subjects being taught to her daughter in School.
"My Lucy is being taught French, German, Latin and Algebra in School", pointing proudly to her daughter.
Then as is the habit with mothers, she called out to Lucy to come.
"Come Darling, tell Mrs. John, how do you do in Algebra"
Friday, June 12, 2009
Is the CBI shadow boxing?
CBI cracks down on India's corrupt babudom
12 Jun 2009, 0400 hrs IST, Sachin Parashar, TNN
NEW DELHI: India regularly features in the list of most corrupt nations in the world and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has revealed just why. The agency's countrywide drive against corruption by public functionaries threw up an arc of corruption — from forgery of caste certificates and data theft to bungling in purchases in the much-vaunted Indian Army.
The accused as just as diverse — officials of PSUs, Income Tax, Doordarshan, Delhi Jal Board, army, CISF and several other government organizations in Delhi, MP, UP, Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland and Karnataka.
The CBI registered a case on Thursday after it found that army authorities had fraudulently purchased material for barbed wire fencing along the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir. According to CBI officials, these purchases said to be worth Rs 12.5 crore were made through the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Ltd to avoid floating tenders. The purchase was shown from Shiva Steel and Wires Ltd at Gangyal in Jammu which, the CBI found, is not equipped to handle such a huge order.
``Wrongdoing is suspected because such purchases are not supposed to be made through NCCF India. Also the firm from which it was shown to have purchased does not have the capacity to supply so much material. The role of some army authorities is being looked into,'' said an official requesting anonymity.
While it appears that the agency has gone into an overdrive in the face of severe criticism over its alleged diffidence before the government in high-profile cases, the sheer scale of the exercise is enough to send warning messages to corrupt public servants. Sixty-nine cases have been registered in the past few days in what is being described by officials as the biggest-ever drive against corruption which has also enrolled the common man through its widely publicised SMS campaign. And the CBI isn't done yet.
``In order to have demonstrative impact, extensive special drives, preferably at least once every quarter, are being organised to target the known corrupt departments/organisations and public servants so as to attack corruption both at the grassroot and high levels,'' said an official.
During the drive in Delhi on Wednesday, eight cases were registered over the usage of forged scheduled tribe certificates, on the basis of which employees of various PSUs and government offices had secured jobs. These organisations included the income tax department, Doordarshan, Delhi Jal Board and Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. The agency also seized Rs 25 lakh from the home of a senior manager in Oriental Insurance in Ghaziabad.
The Delhi wing has also detained three junior engineers and two retired superintending engineers for causing a loss of more than Rs 1 crore to the Delhi Development Authority during 2003-5 while benefiting a contractor. During searches, six bank lockers were found in the possession of the accused. ``So far, one locker has been searched from which Rs 972,000, 10 gold biscuits, 29 gold coins, and 810 grams of gold jewellery have been recovered. The cash available in the bank accounts is around Rs 60 lakh,'' said an official.
On Thursday, the agency raided the premises of seven MCD engineers who allegedly allowed unauthorised constructions. The accused include executive engineer B S Yadav from whom documents suggesting purchase of 12 immovable properties have been seized. Around Rs 8 lakh cash was seized from another engineer, Anil Kumar, as also documents from another senior official who had bought properties worth Rs 1.5 crore.
Apart from the anti-corruption cases, the agency also unearthed cases of data theft and supply of sub-standard dolomite to Bokaro Steel Plant causing a loss of Rs 1.3 crore to Vijaya Bank by a Punjab-based firm. In another case related to Punjab National Bank, the agency found that the credit facility of the bank had been enhanced without obtaining any collateral securities.
* All 16 divisions of CBI in the country carried out raids on officials of the Army, PSUs and government organisations including Doordarshan, income tax department, Delhi Jal Board, DDA and banks; 69 cases registered
* Case registered after army authorities were found to have committed fraud in purchasing barbed wire fencing for the Indo-Pakistan border
* CBI says SMS campaign for citizens will be revived for a fortnight from now to get more information about these cases and to seek information for fresh ones
Can this be the light at the end of the tunnel? or
Is this a false dawn?
Only time will tell.
However, they are putting the cart before the horse.
They are attacking the symptoms and not the disease.
The disease are politicians.
As long as there are corrupt politicians who continue to demand money from bureaucrats for favours, how can you say the CBI is taking action on corruption.
Do you notice that among the list there is not a single politician.
Have politicians suddenly become angels.
No!
The CBI is just scared of taking action against them.
Unless the CBI is removed from the control of politicians, we cannot have a corruption free society and what the CBI is doing is just eye-wash for public consumption.
The only politician on whom I would have to control the CBI is A K Anthony.
12 Jun 2009, 0400 hrs IST, Sachin Parashar, TNN
NEW DELHI: India regularly features in the list of most corrupt nations in the world and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has revealed just why. The agency's countrywide drive against corruption by public functionaries threw up an arc of corruption — from forgery of caste certificates and data theft to bungling in purchases in the much-vaunted Indian Army.
The accused as just as diverse — officials of PSUs, Income Tax, Doordarshan, Delhi Jal Board, army, CISF and several other government organizations in Delhi, MP, UP, Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland and Karnataka.
The CBI registered a case on Thursday after it found that army authorities had fraudulently purchased material for barbed wire fencing along the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir. According to CBI officials, these purchases said to be worth Rs 12.5 crore were made through the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Ltd to avoid floating tenders. The purchase was shown from Shiva Steel and Wires Ltd at Gangyal in Jammu which, the CBI found, is not equipped to handle such a huge order.
``Wrongdoing is suspected because such purchases are not supposed to be made through NCCF India. Also the firm from which it was shown to have purchased does not have the capacity to supply so much material. The role of some army authorities is being looked into,'' said an official requesting anonymity.
While it appears that the agency has gone into an overdrive in the face of severe criticism over its alleged diffidence before the government in high-profile cases, the sheer scale of the exercise is enough to send warning messages to corrupt public servants. Sixty-nine cases have been registered in the past few days in what is being described by officials as the biggest-ever drive against corruption which has also enrolled the common man through its widely publicised SMS campaign. And the CBI isn't done yet.
``In order to have demonstrative impact, extensive special drives, preferably at least once every quarter, are being organised to target the known corrupt departments/organisations and public servants so as to attack corruption both at the grassroot and high levels,'' said an official.
During the drive in Delhi on Wednesday, eight cases were registered over the usage of forged scheduled tribe certificates, on the basis of which employees of various PSUs and government offices had secured jobs. These organisations included the income tax department, Doordarshan, Delhi Jal Board and Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. The agency also seized Rs 25 lakh from the home of a senior manager in Oriental Insurance in Ghaziabad.
The Delhi wing has also detained three junior engineers and two retired superintending engineers for causing a loss of more than Rs 1 crore to the Delhi Development Authority during 2003-5 while benefiting a contractor. During searches, six bank lockers were found in the possession of the accused. ``So far, one locker has been searched from which Rs 972,000, 10 gold biscuits, 29 gold coins, and 810 grams of gold jewellery have been recovered. The cash available in the bank accounts is around Rs 60 lakh,'' said an official.
On Thursday, the agency raided the premises of seven MCD engineers who allegedly allowed unauthorised constructions. The accused include executive engineer B S Yadav from whom documents suggesting purchase of 12 immovable properties have been seized. Around Rs 8 lakh cash was seized from another engineer, Anil Kumar, as also documents from another senior official who had bought properties worth Rs 1.5 crore.
Apart from the anti-corruption cases, the agency also unearthed cases of data theft and supply of sub-standard dolomite to Bokaro Steel Plant causing a loss of Rs 1.3 crore to Vijaya Bank by a Punjab-based firm. In another case related to Punjab National Bank, the agency found that the credit facility of the bank had been enhanced without obtaining any collateral securities.
* All 16 divisions of CBI in the country carried out raids on officials of the Army, PSUs and government organisations including Doordarshan, income tax department, Delhi Jal Board, DDA and banks; 69 cases registered
* Case registered after army authorities were found to have committed fraud in purchasing barbed wire fencing for the Indo-Pakistan border
* CBI says SMS campaign for citizens will be revived for a fortnight from now to get more information about these cases and to seek information for fresh ones
Can this be the light at the end of the tunnel? or
Is this a false dawn?
Only time will tell.
However, they are putting the cart before the horse.
They are attacking the symptoms and not the disease.
The disease are politicians.
As long as there are corrupt politicians who continue to demand money from bureaucrats for favours, how can you say the CBI is taking action on corruption.
Do you notice that among the list there is not a single politician.
Have politicians suddenly become angels.
No!
The CBI is just scared of taking action against them.
Unless the CBI is removed from the control of politicians, we cannot have a corruption free society and what the CBI is doing is just eye-wash for public consumption.
The only politician on whom I would have to control the CBI is A K Anthony.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)