Monday, 28 May 2012

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

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


‘Common test will put rural students at a disadvantage’

Posted: 28 May 2012 03:39 PM PDT

Anand Kumar, who founded the ‘Super 30′, Bihar’s widely acclaimed free coaching centre, Monday said that despite the good intentions of the joint councils of IITs, NITs and IIITs behind holding a common admission examination, the complicated process could put students, particularly those in rural areas, at a serious disadvantage.

Kumar said the proposed reform to bring focus back to the schooling system by giving weightage to performance in Class XII Board examinations normalized on percentile basis would be a serious challenge, as there is a huge gulf between schools of the CBSE and ICSE boards and those under state boards. The formula to be adopted for percentile calculation is also not clear, as all state boards have different yardsticks, he added.

Kumar said that the present system would make students more dependent on coaching, as they would require it for three different examinations – one for the proposed JEE-Main which will also have an aptitude test, another for the proposed JEE-Advanced, and third for scoring high marks in the plus two examinations. This will put students psychological pressure, Anand said.

“What is more, the students from rural areas, who don’t have the advantage of quality schooling, would miss out from JEE-Advanced for no fault of theirs. If there is one examination, they put their heart and soul together and try to compete with the privileged lot, which will not happen now and end up giving IITs an elitist look,” he added.

Kumar said that for ensuring better secondary education, there was need to develop faith in the school system. “Students are running for coaching institutes not because they have extra money to spend. It is because they look for whatever quality they can get from the institutes, which is not available in schools. The proposed mechanism may work as a deterrent for rural students dreaming to get into IITs,” he added.

Having set up ‘Super 30′ a decade ago, Anand provides free residential coaching to 30 meritorious students from underprivileged sections of society. So far, 263 students have made it to the IITs, drawing worldwide attention to the programme. Time magazine described his school as the ‘best in Asia’, while Discovery channel made an hour-long documentary on ‘Super 30′. England’s famous magazine ‘Monocle’ described Anand as the top 20 best teachers.

Bangalore Metro Rail Tickets to be sold at Federal Bank

Posted: 28 May 2012 01:43 PM PDT

Leading private sector bank Federal Bank Ltd  will  sell Bangalore Metro Tickets. It has  tied up with the state-run Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) for automatic fare collection at 13 stations in the northern suburb to be commissioned this year-end.

As part of the agreement, signed by bank’s chief executive Shyam Srinivasan and BMRCL managing director N. Sivasailam here, the Aluva (Kerala)-based bank will also provide top-up facility to smart card users of ‘Namma Metro’ in the 12.4 km northern reach from upscale Malleshwaram to Nagasandra industrial area on the city’s outskirts.

“The metro stations will have automatic fare collection facility with electronic debit card machines at all the new stations and will provide commuters ATM, internet banking,mobile banking and top-up smart cards at our point of sale terminals,” the bank said in a statement.

Noting that the debit-cum-travelcard being used in the first reach of the Namma metro rail between the central business district and eastern suburb was the best of its kind service to eliminate delays, Sivasailam said the company was looking forward to enhance the comfort level with extensive use of commuter-friendly facilities.

The much-delayed metro rail service began Oct 20, 2011 from upscale M.G. Road downtown to Baiyappannahalli in the eastern suburb covering a distance of 6.7 km in 12 minutes.

When completed by 2014, the 42.3-km double line electrified track in the first phase will snake through the city, with 18.1 km on east-west corridor and 24.2 km on the north-south corridor, including 8.8km underground in the city centre.

Though civil works began in 2007 after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone in June 2006, the Reach-1 was executed in March 2011, 24 months behind the original schedule at a cost of Rs.4,000 crore.

Delhi Court refuses to accept Tejinder Singh’s Petition

Posted: 28 May 2012 12:38 PM PDT

A Delhi court has  refused to accept the plea of Lt. Gen. (retd) Tejinder Singh seeking an end to an inquiry and pronouncement of its order on issuing summons to Army chief Gen. V.K. Singh in a defamation case.

Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja said that summons had already been issued to the defence ministry to submit a file regarding a press release quoting the army chief as saying that the officer had allegedly offered him a bribe.

“In my view, until the inquiry contemplated on May 18 is brought to its logical end by this court, it would be an improper exercise of judicial discretion to adjudicate upon the aspects of summoning the respondents,” said the court.

The court would next hear the case June 6.

The retired army officer has requested the court to summon and initiate proceedings against the army chief and others for allegedly making libellous statement against him in the media and accusing him of bribery.

The court was hearing a plea filed by the retired army officer, who requested the court to summon and initiate proceedings against the army chief and others for allegedly making libellous statement against him in the media and accusing him of bribery.

The court, in its last hearing, asked the defence ministry to submit a file regarding a press release in which Gen. V.K. Singh had revealed that Lt. Gen. (retd) Tejinder Singh had offered him a bribe.

The case was transferred to Magistrate Thareja by a higher court after another magistrate earlier this month decided not to hear the case.

Alleging that the officers misused their official position, power and authority to level false charges against him, Tejinder Singh also named Army Vice Chief Lt. Gen. S.K. Singh, Director General Military Intelligence Lt. Gen. B.S. Thakur, Additional Director General Public Information Major Gen. S.L. Narsimhan and Directorate General of Public Information Staff Officer Lt. Col. Hitten Sawhney.

Shahrukh Khan finally apologises for his conduct at Wankhede Stadium

Posted: 28 May 2012 11:36 AM PDT

Shah rukh KhanBollywood Superstar and Kolkata Knight Riders owner, Shah Rukh Khan has finally apologized for his conduct at Wankhede Stadium after refusing to apologize for the brawl. He apologized on national television to the Public at large and Cildren present there.

He said that he's sorry for misbehaving in front of the children, and for allowing people to see a side of him that doesn't come out too often.

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) co-owner has faced a lifetime ban from entering the Wankhede Stadium after allegedly turning up there drunk at the ground and misbehaving with security guards and cricket officials Wednesday night.

The incident took place on May 17 after his team beat Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League match at the stadium. The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) filed a complaint with Mumbai's Marine Drive police station.

Read Complete Details of Shahrukh Controversy at Wankhede Stadium 

Masterful move, really, apologizing on national television while still managing to hold his ground – he showed that he's regretful for his actions, but by not apologizing to the MCA, he implied that he was still in the right.

Samsung Galaxy S3, the next generation of Smartphones officially

Posted: 28 May 2012 09:02 AM PDT

Samsung Galaxy S3 Samsung Galaxy S3 is the most anticipated phone for the year 2012.  It brings with it so many new features that officially it becomes the  harbinger of the next generation of Smartphones.

It is being launched on June 5,2012  in Indian Market and Samsung has already started taking pre-orders for it. You can however book your device in advance by clicking here.

Samsung Galaxy S3 costs around Rs 39,900 at various online stores, while prebooking is available for Rs 2000.  After analysing the features, we can say that the device is definitely worth every penny spent on it.

Samsung S3 runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS and is powered by a 1.4 GHz Quad core processor with a massive 1GB RAM. It  is fairly large with dimensions of 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm making it razor thin and super impressive in looks. The phone weighs a hefty 133grams.

Here are few striking new features available in Samsung Galaxy S3 which makes it a Competition Killer

Smart Stay
The phone can track your eyes, so as long as you're looking at it, the display won't dim or turn off.  Smart Stay disables screen timeout when detecting a user viewing the display.

Direct Call

Direct Call allows you to immediately call a person from their SMS message or from their contact profile. If you've got a contact on your screen, there's no need to hit call: simply hold the device up to your face and the number will be dialled automatically.

Smart Alert
Samsung's enhanced notifications centre tells you what's happened since you last looked at your phone in order of importance.  Whenever you have any missed calls or messages, it vibrates when you pick up your phone. Apart from this ingenious function, there's always thenotification light to inform you of any missed calls or messages.

Burst shot and best photo
The 8MP camera now offers a 20-shot burst mode and will choose the best photo for you. Photos now possible at the same time as video filming. Even though the camera is a 'measly' 8MP, it has a new BIS sensor for low light shooting, which really helps to take fantastic shots in low light situations, – with no flash.

Face Zoom and Slide Show
Double tap a face to zoom in; automatic slide show generation zooms in on faces as individual pictures for pictures with lots of people

Social network and camera integration
Automatic tagging of pictures, and the option to send images directly to those identified in them, called Buddy Photo Share, or display social media profile information on screen. Group Tag lets you tag multiple people in one go, if you set up a group first.

Dropbox storage
50GB of free Dropbox storage for two years.  50GB of Dropbox space. Dont worry,  that's more than enough cloud space to have for 24 months.

S-Voice
That's S for Samsung, not Siri. This feature allows you to control your phone through voice, eg to turn up the volume, and to ask it questions. S Voice now offers advanced tasks such as changing phone settings, voice record and updating your social network status. During the launch of the S3, Samsung also demonstrated taking photos with S Voice.

S-Beam
High speed file transfer via NFC and WiFi Direct, between two phones touched together, operating at up to 300Mbps. The  NFC chip can be used to transfer documents, images etc between friends.

Pop Up Play
Play video in a window on any homescreen. Your videos can play in a floating window, above your other tasks like email, SMS, web browsing or whatever you like, really.

Samsung Galaxy S3  runs on quad band 3G and quad band 2G networks as well as 4G LTE 700 network . The phone can connect to the internet using EDGE/GPRS and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA with Wi-Fi Direct. The phone can also be used as Wi-Fi hotpot. S3 also has a TV out port to connect to the TV.
Specifications of Samsung Galaxy S3 in nutshell.
Screen: 4.8" Super Amoled HD display
Storage:  16/32/64GB depending on model, plus expandable MicroSD card
Cloud storage: 50GB Dropbox for two years
Colour: Pebble blue or marble white
Battery: 2,100mAh (wireless charging optional extra)
Camera: 8MP rear; 1.9 MP front
Resolution: 720 x 1280 px (306ppi)
RAM: 1GB
Dimensions: 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.55 mm
Weight: 133g
Operating System: Android 4.0.4
Processor: Exynos 4 Quad (1.4GHz)

 

Samsung Galaxy S3 is already trending in the market. The Korea Economic Daily  claims that Samsung's factory is producing five million S3 devices a month, and is already operating at full capacity.

Samsung has also announced that the device will be the official phone of the London Olympics, and said that "a limited edition showcase device enabled with Visa's mobile payment application, Visa payWave, will be available for Samsung and Visa sponsored athletes and trialists".

Pilot’s Strike has brought Air India losses to the tune of Rs 300 Crores

Posted: 28 May 2012 06:28 AM PDT

Air IndiaAir India Pilot’s strike has devastated the business of Air Indiar, the seeds of which were sown at the time Air India and Indian Airlines were merged together. The 21 day strike by pilots of national carrier has mounted losses to more than Rs.300 crore (about $55 mn).

“Current losses are more than Rs.300 crore. The losses are on accounts of ticket cancellations, unused labour and bulk of Boeing-777 fleet being grounded,” a senior Air India official told IANS.

“Bookings on our international flight have stabilised and we have placed maximum number of seats in the lowest price bracket… that has also helped bookings in the domestic sector as well in the current contingency plan,” he said.

The airline had decided last week to reduce fares by placing a large chunk of seats under the lowest fare category to augment its share in the domestic and international sector.

The airline had the fourth-largest market share in April at 17.6 percent, preceded by SpiceJet at 17.7, Jet Airways at 21.4 percent and IndiGo at 23.8 percent.

Apart from the new fare scheme, the airline will shift to a truncated interim schedule for June 1, whereby it will drop seven international destinations, which include Hong Kong, Osaka, Seoul and Toronto, from its regular routine. The airline will then operate only 38 services instead of the regular 45.

Currently, the carrier is operating through a contingency plan under which a bare minimum number of flights are maintained by clubbing operations to various destinations in Europe and the United States.

Air India has maintained that it has enough executive pilots to operate long-haul destinations in the US and Europe.

The development comes even as the Air India’s board met here to consider several proposals to normalise the airline’s international operations that have been crippled by the 21-day ongoing pilots’ strike.

Among the several proposals being mooted to restore the passenger carriers’ includes wet leasing aircraft from other airlines. The proposal, according to officials, will include renting of aircraft with pilots and cabin crew.

“There is a proposal to wet lease at least five aircraft with pilots and crew. We require pilots and crews to maintain operations to key destinations in Europe, US and south east Asian destinations like Hong Kong.”

The board is also expected to decide on the induction date of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner into the carrier’s fleet and a voluntary retirement scheme (VSR) for employees.

“This is the first time that VRS is being proposed for AI employees. It is a big step for cutting manpower in the best possible way,” a senior civil aviation ministry official told IANS.

“If it gets through, the scheme will be put forth for approval of the government as special provisions for funds would have to be made for the same.”

VRS or ‘golden handshake’ is often described as the most humane way to reduce the existing strength of the employees.

The scheme will be meant for the executive cadre of the airline which includes the management. It will not be applicable to the operations arm that has pilots, engineers and cabin crews within its fold.

The scheme is part of the company’s turnaround plan which was approved in April by the cabinet.

The airline’s current workforce stands at 30,000. Of this, 19,000 will join the hived-off maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and ground handling (GH) business.

The board will also decide on the date of induction of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner into the carrier’s fleet and the normalisation of international operations that have been crippled by the 19-day ongoing pilots’ strike because of which the airline has lost Rs.290 crore in revenue.

CBSE declares Class 12 Exam Results for 2012

Posted: 28 May 2012 12:22 AM PDT

CBSE  Class 12 StudentsCBSE on Monday declared the exam results for Class 12 Examination (AISSCE, 2012). The results  saw a total pass percentage standing at 80.19 per cent, a fall of 0.69 per cent over last year. In all, 8,15,749 students registered for the Class XII examination this year, which was also an increase of about 5.94 per cent over 2011.

The Results can be viewed online at cbseresults.nic.in

Girls recorded a pass percentage of 86.21 percent against the 75.80 percent for boys, said the official of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

Among the regions, Chennai once again put up the best performance with a pass percentage of 90.59. Last year, the pass percentage of Chennai was 91.32.

Delhi recorded total pass percentage of 85.40 percent, a fall of 0.05 percent as compared to last year.

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