Thursday, 29 March 2012

Bihar News, Latest News from Bihar, News of Bihar, Biharprabha News

Bihar News, Latest News from Bihar, News of Bihar, Biharprabha News

Work on Kundankulam Nuclear Power Plant to continue says India

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 03:04 PM PDT

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Russian Counterpart Dmitry Medvedev had a healthy discussion on the fate of Kundakalam Nuclear Power Plant and assured him that the project would continue as planned. The two leaders reaffirmed their cooperation on the Russia-aided Kudankulam nuclear plant that is facing agitation amid safety concerns raised by NGOs in Tamil Nadu.

Kudankulam Atomic Power Project is a nuclear power station under construction in Koodankulam in the Tirunelveli district of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Construction has been delayed due to anti-nuclear protests by the locals and People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy.

Thousands of protesters, belonging to the vicinity of the plant, have used various means to protest against the plant fearing a Fukushima like disaster. The protesters base their objection on the “more than 1 million people live within the 30 km radius of the KKNPP which far exceeds the AERB (Atomic Energy Regulatory Board) stipulations. It is quite impossible to evacuate this many people quickly and efficiently in case of a nuclear disaster at Koodankulam”, etc.

Work was stalled at the plant but has resumed recently.

Manmohan Singh assured Medvedev that despite the agitation the work on the nuclear plant will continue according to the roadmap outlined in 2010.

They also discussed the agreements for the units III and IV of the Kudankulam nuclear plant that will enhance the civil nuclear ties between the two countries.

The pacts were “almost ready”, Russian Ambassador Alexander M. Kadakain said in an interview early this week.

Medvedev who arrived here Wednesday was conferred the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) by Jawaharlal Nehru University.

His visit coincided with the celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between New Delhi and Moscow.

Russian President Medvedev’s Cat trending on Twitter

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 02:05 PM PDT

Moscow: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s Cat Dorofey, briefly entered Twitter’s top trends after rumors of his disappearance. The Sobesednik weekly reported Wednesday that Dorofey was being searched for by police in the Odintsovo district.

However, police rubbished rumors that the cat had run away from Medvedev’s residence near Moscow and the president himself confirmed that the presidential tomcat was safe.

“About the cat. A source close to Dorofey says he has not got lost anywhere. Thank you all for your concern!” Medvedev tweeted.

A Twitter account in the cat’s name (@KotDorofey) created Wednesday already has some 400 followers.

Is Google spying behind You?

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 09:57 AM PDT

Internet users watch out! The online search giant Google has unveiled a new “Account Activity” page which can sum up who you’ve emailed, what devices you’ve used to access Google and even where you’ve been.

It’s an alarming insight into how much information a signed-in Google user actually hands over to the company — with the report offering a summary of what machines you use, who you email most, and even your location via Google Latitude, the Daily Mail reported Thursday.

The weekly report even tells you “how you spend your time per week” based on location information gleaned from GPS signals.

A post on the official Google blog this week said: “We want Google to work so well, it just blends into your life.”

“Today we’re introducing Account Activity, a new feature in your Google Account. If you sign up, each month we’ll send you a link to a password-protected report with insights into your signed-in use of Google services,” said the Google blog.

The move has come in the wake of Google’s controversial new “privacy policy”, which allowed the search giant to “pool” information from 60 separate services including Gmail, Google Search and Android phones, to create “personalised” advertising.

Beware if you are romancing Online

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 02:52 AM PDT

The incidence of online romance scams is increasing by the day and has already victimized an estimated 230,000 people in Britain alone, costing them nearly $60 billion a year, a study reveals.

Online dating scammers pretend to initiate a romantic relationship through online dating services and then defraud their victims of large sums of money over a period of months or longer.

Monica Whitty and Tom Buchanan from Universities of Leicester and Westminster, respectively, document the rapid growth in these serious crimes and how cybercriminals pursue and steal from their victims.

They describe the devastating financial and emotional losses the victims suffer. Online romance scam is a relatively new form of fraud that became apparent in about 2008.

“This crime is very serious and unfortunately often overlooked. The costs to the victim are both hidden (emotional) and more visible (monetary),” said Brenda K. Wiederhold, editor-in-chief of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, which published the study.

India to setup 50 Innovation Clusters by 2012 end

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 12:05 AM PDT

India has planned to setup 50 innovation clusters by the end of this year. These clusters would cater Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and would be setup by National Innovation Council(NIC).

“We plan to finish pilot, learn from it and then take this project to 50 clusters. I would like to see 40-50 clusters doing such innovations by the end of 2012. Ideally, would want 150 clusters in India to have innovation centre by the end of next year,” Sam Pitroda, Chairman of NIC said, giving an update on the Innovation Cluster initiative launched in November 2011.

The Indian government has declared 2010-2020 as the “Decade of Innovation”. The cluster initiative aims to facilitate creation of ecosystems that will enable generation of new products, services, processes and business models, spurring job creation and inclusive growth.

In both developed and developing countries, MSMEs and start-ups are viewed as major engines of growth and employment. In 2010-11, Indian MSMEs represented 45 percent of manufactured output and 40 percent of exports.

India is estimated to have 5,000 regional MSME clustures that include the gems cluster in Surat (Gujarat), brassware cluster in Moradabad (UP) and textile clusturs at Tirupur (Tamil Nadu).

But most MSME clusters in India suffer from lack of access to technology, research and development (R&D), financing and skills which in turn impact their growth and productivity.

NInC aims to create models for transforming regional MSME clusters into innovation ecosystems with collaborative partnerships among stakeholders.

Samir Mitra, a senior expert at NInC, said the Cluster Innovation Centres (CICs) acting as networking hubs for innovation ecosystems are being created in 8 clusters. In many instances, interactions between industry, research and development (R&D), academia and others had happened for the first time within the cluster.

The NInC has partnered with Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (ILFS), Foundation of MSME Clusters (FMC), Tata Management Training Center (TMTC) and industry lobbies CII and FICCI for the 6 months pilot phase of this initiave which started in November 2011.

Every Second American owns an Apple product: Survey

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 11:57 PM PDT

Americans have a unnatural craze for Apple products. This is what was revealed in a survey which showed that almost half of American households own at least one Apple product.

According to CNBC’s All-America Economic survey released Wednesday, the Apple-buying household on average has a total of three Apple products.

Overall, the average household has 1.6 Apple devices with almost one quarter planning to buy at least one more in the next year, Xinhua reported.

The survey, collecting answers from 836 Americans, found that Apple buyers tend to be male, college-educated and younger.

Ownership is strongly related with household income. Only 28 percent of those making less than $30,000 a year own at least one Apple product, compared with 77 percent of those making more than $75,000.

Households on the higher end of the income own an average of about three Apple devices, while the average number of Apple products for lower-income homes is only 0.6.

Meanwhile, the age gap in purchasing Apple products is not as wide as people usually think.

Some 63 percent of people between 18 and 49 said that they own an Apple product and 50 percent of people between 50 and 64 owned one. Among those at the age of 65 or older, Apple owners still reach 26 percent.

Families with children are also more likely to own an Apple device. Around 61 percent of households with children own Apple devices, compared with 48 percent of homes without kids.

“It’s a fantastic business model — the more of our products you own, the more likely you are to buy more,” said Jay Campbell, a vice president of Hart Research Associates, which conducts the CNBC survey.

“Planned obsolescence has always been a part of the technology industries sales model, but Apple has taken it to a whole new level,” Campbell added.

Rubbing toothpaste on gums protects against cavities

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 11:51 PM PDT

Brushing your teeth twice daily may be sensible advice, but rubbing toothpaste on your gums after lunch also hugely lowers the risk of developing cavities.

“Rubbing toothpaste on to your teeth (and gums) increases the flouride protection by 400 percent,” said Anna Nordstrom from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden who led the study.

“This ‘massage’ method proved to be at least as effective as a third brushing in increasing the amount of fluoride in the mouth,” added Nordstrom.

Gothenburg researchers were testing the effect of a high-fluoride toothpaste sold over the counter in Sweden. They asked volunteers to brush various numbers of times a day and also tested out the ‘finger rubbing’ technique, the Daily Mail reports.

“Rubbing the front of your teeth with toothpaste can be an easy way of giving your teeth a third ‘shot’ of fluoride during the day, after lunch for example,” said Nordstrom.

Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that prevents decay by strengthening the protective enamel coating on teeth.

Fourth BRICS summit begins in New Delhi

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 11:25 PM PDT

BRICS is the  group of five emerging countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – which represents almost 43 percent of the world’s population and one-fourth of the global economy. The fourth BRICS summit started in New Delhi today wit  the theme of  Partnership for Global Stability, Security and Prosperity.

BRICS are major actors on the stage of the global economy, said Chen Yuan, chairman of the board of governors of China Development Bank.

More than 70 Chinese journalists are covering the 4th BRICS summit in New Delhi.

Encapsulating China’s ambitions for BRICS and its own aspiration to emerge as a world power, Chinese President Hu Jintao said in an interview that BRICS countries are “the defender and promoter of the interests of developing countries.”

With such soaring ambitions, the Chinese are not happy about the choice of the accommodation for the visiting president and his delegation at the Hotel Oberoi.

The hotel is too small for the delegation, said a Chinese official. Hu has brought in over 200-strong delegation to what is his last trip to India before he steps down later this year.

Besides, there are around 150 Chinese business leaders and officials who have come for the BRICS summit Thursday.

BRICS traces its origin to the BRIC acronym coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’ Neill in a paper entitled “The World Needs Better Economic BRICs,” based an economic modeling exercise to forecast global economic trends over the next half century. O’ Neill predicted that Brazil, Russia, India and China will become major economic powers over the next few decades. He had little inkling it will evolve into an influential multilateral grouping.

From BRIC to BRICS: BRIC became BRICS after South Africa, Africa’s economic powerhouse, was invited to attend the third BRICS Summit in Sanya on April 14, 2011.

BRICS accounts for 26 per cent of the world’s landmass and 42 per cent of the global population, including India and China, two of the world’s most populous countries.

BRICS accounts for 40 percent of global GDP ($18.486 trillion) and its proportion is rapidly increasing. Goldman Sachs predicts that “BRIC can become collectively bigger than the G-7 (the top industrial powers) by 2035″. BRICS countries have accounted for over 50 per cent global economic growth in the last decade.

Intra-BRICS trade is growing at an average of 28 percent annually and currently stands at about $230 billion.

The first BRICS summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia (2009), followed by Brasilia (2010), Sanya, China (2011). New Delhi hosts the 4th BRICS summit March 29, 2012.

BRICS has no fixed agenda or secretariat, but can identify certain contemporary themes like reform of United Nations; greater representation in Bretton Woods institutions; managing global financial crisis and boosting intra-BRICS trade and cooperation.

 

A tale of India born Pakistani Pakistani Army officer cum Journalist

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 10:44 PM PDT

“I advise: don’t touch Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. There can be a subcontinental union, but absolutely no reunion. The people of Pakistan have a deep love for India, but they love their Pakistan more…India can be a master of the subcontinent but not in the way you (India) want,”  Pakistani Brigadier (retd) Abdul Rahman Siddiqi told IANS here in an interview. He is also a  journalist,  writer,  commentator and an old “Dilliwallah” from Ballimaran in Chandni Chowk.

“After all, we are all very poor countries. And we are not apes, but humans in essence. But we have sold our freedom to the US,” said 88-year-old Siddiqi, who retired in 1973 as the head of Inter-Services Public Relations.

Recalling India’s reaction to the US post-9/11, Siddiqi said: “Jaswant Singh, the then defence minister, offered everything to the US, including naval bases, even before (then joint chiefs of staff committee) General Colin Powell and the US president telephoned India for help.”

“But they called (then Pakistani army chief and president Pervez) Musharraf, after which he pledged support,” Siddiqi said, pointing out the difference.

The writer, who is in India to launch his book, “Smoke Without Fire”, a memoir of his pre-partition days in Chandni Chowk published by the capital-based Aakar Books, left India in 1947 for Pakistan to work as a journalist.

“I flew out to Lahore from Safdarjung airport in March 1947 in a chartered plane. It cost me Rs.98 (about $2 at current rates),” Siddiqi recalled. He then shifted to Peshawar before opting for the army.

An alumnus of St Stephen’s College, Siddiqi is the author of “East Pakistan: Endgame: An Onlooker’s Journal (1969-1971)”.

Siddiqui said he was in the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1965 with his “best friend General Osmani (known as Bangabir General MAG Osmani). Osmani, who had retired from the Pakistani Army in 1967 trained the Mukti Bahini and commanded it during the 1971 liberation war.

Commenting on the communal harmony inherent in Indian society, the writer said: “The culture is still Ganga-Jamuna tehzeeb (the co-existence of Hindu and Muslim cultures of northern India).”

“There will be no improvement in relations between India and Paksitan till India tries to stop saying that Pakistan is responsible … (for terror),” he said.

Siddiqi said Delhi has not changed much over the years because the people still relieve themselves under the sky. “My home is still there. I became emotional when I visited it, but I knew I couldn’t stay there for more than a night. But there is no nostalgia left,” he said.

Siddiqi said “his home in Ballimaran had one lavatory – without a flush – for the entire family”.

“There were two mugs – one of which was to wash oneself. During the rainy season, we – the Siddiqi brood – ate a lot of spicy food like keema parantha and suffered from dysentry. My mother, a stickler for cleanliness, said why do you have to go to the toilet every day… I was perennially constipated,” Siddiqqi laughed. “I still remember the day when the first flush toilet came to our neighbourhood. I gave a speech. I was barely 8-9 years old,” Siddiqi said.

The Siddiqi clan of Punjabi Saudagar Muslims from Multan and Punjab, was the most affluent in old Delhi and lived in Haveli Hissamuddin Haider – a Punjabi traders’ citadel, the writer said.

Old Delhi has left an indelible mark in Siddiqi’s early education. “I was getting proper education but I had to join the Oriental College at Fetehpuri Mosque (after his grandfather objected to his regular education), where I studied Persian, Arabic and Urdu. I was in the company of Pathan students and joined an akhada (wrestling club) for one and a half years,” he recalled.

The publication and the launch of Siddiqi’s book in India, an initiative of the Policy and Planning Group, is an attempt to bridge the divide between India and Pakistan, said Diljeet Titus, the Group’s secretary.

Meet 3 IITans who revolutionized goods transport in India

Posted: 28 Mar 2012 08:45 PM PDT

Mumbai-based entrepreneur Vikas Parashar wanted to rush a consignment of consumer goods to Ludhiana, necessitated by heavy demand. But he also feared cancellation of the order if it failed to materialise on time.

His trusted transporter could not be of much help as all his 14 heavy and light vehicles were already booked indefinitely by a big industrial house. Parashar avoided other operators because of past experiences.

Finally, he approached IRTEX – the Indian Road Transportation Exchange – which processed Parashar’s request promptly, located a medium-sized truck and had his goods moving within a few hours. IRTEX, the brainchild of three Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay batchmates, is said to be the country’s single biggest platform to sort out all shipment problems, involving manufacturers and fleet operators, in a highly efficient and cost-effective way.

IRTEX is one of the largest electronic information and reservation systems in the road freight industry. Shippers can share their shipping requirements and the rates with carriers and intermediaries operating from anywhere to anywhere in the country. Carriers have access to this information 24X7 through our state of art web and mobile based solutions.

IRTEX's neutral real-time marketplace helps in reducing lead time by fulfilling transportation requirement of any size by bringing all stakeholders of transportation industry to a common platform. This allows engagement and collaboration with existing and new trading partners in real time.  Through IRTEX, freight booking that can be made include one-time freight booking, project based contracts and long term contracts.

It has facilitated 10,000 transactions in over a year, involving industrial and fast-moving consumer goods.

Set up in June 2009 by IITans Ankur Tripathi, Nitin Gupta and Saurabh Gupta, it could be operationalised only in December 2010. The trio worked tirelessly to root out inefficiency in the sector and optimise movement of goods.

“IRTEX is moving the road transport industry online by using technology that automates the sourcing of trucks, shipment execution and processing of payment between carriers and shippers,” Tripathi, managing director of IRTEX, told IANS from Mumbai.

“A growing road transport industry, made up of national, regional and local truck operators, suffers from low occupancy. We saw an opportunity to induct technology to improve the occupancy levels, from current 60 percent to 80 percent,” he said.

By helping truck operators manage their daily operations, IRTEX helps improve fleet utilization. The cascading effect spells increased revenues and naturally, profits. Services include tracking with the help of manual and GPS systems and authentication of vehicles by vetting of documents, before any transaction.

The fragmented road transport industry comprises a few national transport companies with up to 1,000 trucks such as GATI, Transport Corporation of India, Safe Express and Patel Roadways. Several regional operators run between 50 and 500 trucks and thousands of local fleet operators between one and 20 trucks.

IRTEX connects small operators, comprising 90 percent of transporters, owning five vehicles or less, according to the ‘Road Transport Reorganisation Committee’. The small number prevents satisfactory and efficient service to end users. Prices of petrol and diesel are rising and making the mode of transport more costly.

IRTEX also offers a cellphone-based service and operates a multi-lingual call centre.

“It’s a multi-technology product since we have to cater to different kinds of people like local brokers and truck drivers who are not well versed with technology,” Tripathi explained to IANS.

Nitin Gupta, IRTEX’s chief technical officer, said it may take as many as 12 hours to arrange transport through an agent for a consignment lying at the airport and required by a service provider. He may approach the IRTEX website, filling a form about the nature of cargo, route, destination and time for the shipment to be moved.

These requirements would be matched with the list of transport houses or their agents registered with the site, helping the user choose the best option.

IRTEX has started operations in Delhi and plans to expand to three more locations in the eastern and southern parts of the country this year.
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