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Saturday, October 2, 2010

Time for roadmap on Kashmir

Time for roadmap on KashmirWhen ‘azadi’ means emancipationby Kuldip Nayar
One did not expect a miracle from the all-party parliamentary delegation which went to Srinagar and Jammu a few days ago. But I did believe that the problem that had remained frozen for so many years would begin to move. In one way it has. Some MPs, particularly from the Left, have said on their return that things cannot go on in the valley as they have been. They have suggested to the government to have a roadmap.
This is where the parliamentary delegation will get stumped. Unfortunately, the government has no roadmap. It wants to solve the problem. But it has no concrete proposal which it can place on the table. Home Minister P. Chidambaram has offered a package after visiting the valley. The important part of the package is the appointment of three interlocutors. This is welcome as far as it goes. But unless New Delhi indicated to the interlocutors the contours of a political formula, it would be a wild goose chase.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has indicated that anything within the Constitution would be acceptable to him. Still the interlocutors would be at sea to fathom the extent to which they can go. If it is up to them to strike some kind of a deal, they would be hard put to reconcile the aspirations of the Kashmiris without knowing the limit the government has in mind.
And if the interlocutors have politicians among them, as Press reports indicate, their task would be still more difficult. Politicians are people with the baggage and party affiliations. Also, the interlocutors have to be such people as enjoy credibility in Kashmir as well as the rest of India. Satisfying the government and the people at the same time may be well-nigh impossible.
However, those who are asking for “azadi” have to keep in mind that the solution has to be from within India even if it is outside the Constitution. I think the different parties in Kashmir realise this. Their postures may be different but it must be there in the heart of their hearts that separation is not possible.
What is immediately required in the valley is normalcy. This has a lot to do with the governance which Chief Minister Omar Abdullah fails to provide. He has to retrieve the people from alienation and distrust which plague them. The inhuman life which the Kashmiris have been leading for years - today it may be worse - doesn’t seem to be ending. The non-violent struggle which Yasin Malik had launched after leaving the path of insurgency did not persuade New Delhi to initiate talks with him or such other people. It lost a golden opportunity.
The youth was bound to become restive and resort to something like stone pelting as their new weapon when nothing was happening in the political field. That they have adopted a radical posture is a temporary phase because fundamentalism and Kashmiriyat do not go hand in hand. The Kashmiris are a secular people. That philosophy is bound to prevail once the dust and din of protests settles down.
That some MPs felt revolted over the excess committed by the security forces was natural. Indeed, the forces used to old methods and weapons do not know how to handle new forms of resistance. They do not differentiate between insurgency and protest. Words cannot describe the daily life of humiliation and hurt which the Kashmiris go through. Naturally, they are hardened in their attitude. Losing one person per day for the last three months because of security forces’ action develops such a frame of mind. They want to retaliate in any way which acts as catharsis. It does not know of caution or fear.
The basic question is that of a roadmap, that is the solution. The main opposition party, the BJP, is not willing to accept even Article 370 which gives special powers to Jammu and Kashmir under the Constitution. Srinagar gave New Delhi only three subjects: defence, foreign affairs and communications. If the Centre wants more it has to ask the state for it. New Delhi cannot usurp authority on its own because it violates the terms and conditions of accession. New Delhi cannot appropriate more on its own. All powers the Centre has acquired after the arrest of Shiekh Abdullah, then the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, have to be restored to Srinagar.
True, some MPs were irritated to hear the demand for “azadi”, wherever they went in Srinagar and the nearby areas. The word epitomises the Kashmiris’ expression of frustration and helplessness. They have stopped talking about the option of Kashmir joining Pakistan for a long time. What option they have except “azadi”, they argue, when they find - and believe - that they have no other way in the face of New Delhi’s “oppression.” They believe that “azadi” from both countries is the best way out. “Azadi” means emancipation, or release from misrule, not necessarily sovereignty. This is where India’s hope rests.
The interlocutors must read the memorandum given by civil society members in Srinagar. There is no word of “azadi” used, but it clearly describes what they go through. The memorandum says: “The free hand given to the armed forces to kill and maim civilians, while enjoying complete immunity, is unacceptable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir state. People’s spiritual, physical, economic and social spaces have been greatly infringed because of a massive military presence in the state.”
Civil society should, however, see that their school-going children do not sit at home in the crossfire between the government and those who goad protests. Education does not brook any break because it ultimately gets translated into certificates and degrees. The separatists, whatever their point of view, should not come in the way of children’s education.
Somewhat belatedly, the Home Ministry has done well to ask the state government to release all political prisoners, including the youngsters, arrested during the last three months. However, responsibility should be fixed for false encounters carried out on the line of control. Also, the security forces should answer for the killing of young men who were not even part of the protesters.
The setting up of a high-power commission to go into the security forces’ excesses would give confidence to the Kashmiris and may make them trust that the visit of the parliamentary delegation was not a joy ride. Once New Delhi and Srinagar have come to agree on the terms of a settlement, they should associate Islamabad with it, without which a lasting solution may not be possible.
source:The tribune
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THIS WEEKS'S EDITORIALS IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPERS


THE PIONEER
  1. SENATE SPIKES BILL
  2. DENIED THEIR SHARE
  3. RAM MANDIR REDEEMED - ASHOK MALIK
  4. AYODHYA: TRIUMPH OF TRUTH - SANDHYA JAIN
  5. AND JUSTICE FOR ALL - S GURUMURTHY
  6. UNCERTAIN POLITICS AHEAD - CP BHAMBRI
MAILTODAY
  1. RESPONSE TO VERDICT SHOWS NEW INDIA’S MATURITY
  2. IMAGINATION STIRRED AGAIN
  3. MUSHARRAF CAN FOOL NONE
  4. VALLEY UNREST IS NOT ABOUT KASHMIRI NATIONALISM - BY ADITYA MENON
  5. DALMIYA IS RARING TO GET BACK TO THE GAME - QAISER MOHAMMAD ALI
THE TIMES OF INDIA
  1. BETTING ON ANIMAL INSTINCTS
  2. THE MUDDLE PATH - DILEEP PADGAONKAR
  3. IT'S A SENSIBLE IDEA
  4. AN UNNECESSARY BURDEN - AJAY VAISHNAV
HINDUSTAN TIMES
  1. BRIDGE ACROSS THE DIVIDE
  2. NO TRIUMPHALISM... – BARKHA DUTT
  3. INDIA MUST STOP LIVING IN DENIAL - NAMITA BHANDARE
THE INDIAN EXPRESS
  1. INSECURITY THEATRE
  2. FISCAL MATTERS
  3. THE GAMES, AT LAST
  4. THE INDIA VERDICT - SHEKHAR GUPTA 
  5. GET YOUR GAMES ON - DESH GAURAV CHOPRA SEKHRI 
  6. BUSINESS, NOT AS USUAL - SURJIT S BHALLA 
  7. FAITH ACCOMPLI - MIHIR S. SHARMA 
  8. TAKING ON CHINA
  9. AXING THE BENEFICIARIES
THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS
  1. LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
  2. FIXING ULIPS
  3. CWG: PEAK OF CORRUPTION - SURJIT S BHALLA
  4. THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE TO GM CROPS - RAMESH CHANDRA
  5. EAVESDROPPER
  6. MUKESH UNPLUGGED
THE HINDU.
  1. CURRENCY CONCERNS
  2. HOW BERLUSCONI SURVIVED
  3. POLITICKING TAKES PRECEDENCE OVER FLOODS - ANITA JOSHUA
  4. THE VERDICT ON AYODHYA: A HISTORIAN'S PERSPECTIVE - ROMILA THAPAR
  5. WEST USING RADICAL ISLAM CARD' - VLADIMIR RADYUHIN
  6. FOSSILISED BIG RED PENGUIN DISCOVERED - SAM JONES
  7. VIETNAM STARTS CELEBRATIONS TO MARK 1,000TH ANNIVERSARY OF CAPITAL
THE ASIAN AGE
  1. IS INDIA CHANGING, SLOWLY MATURING?
  2. BROTHERS IN ARMS - FARRUKH DHONDY
  3. RAM LALLA, A RESIDENT OF UP - ANTARA DEV SEN
  4. GO BEYOND RELIGION - KISHWAR DESAI
DNA
  1. WOMAN'S INCOME HAS MULTIPLIER EFFECT: ROY PROSTERMAN
  2. VENKATESAN VEMBU
  3. THE SILENT RISE OF THE DIGITAL NATIVE - NISHANT SHAH
  4. LOSING THE GAME - UTTARA CHOUDHURY
THE KASHMIR TIMES
  1. AN EXTRA-JUDICIAL VERDICT
  2. MOBILE SERVICES RESTORED
  3. REIMAGINING HISTORY – GAUTAM PATEL
DAILY EXCELSIOR
  1. ACCEPT THE VERDICT
  2. PREPARE FOR WINTER
  3. WORK FOR PEACE, PROSPERITY - BY M L KOTRU
  4. WOMEN LITERACY IN INDIA - BY RAM RATTAN SHARMA
  5. GANDHI JI'S DREAM OF RAM RAJ - BY H.C. KATOCH
THE TRIBUNE
  1. THANK GOD FOR SOBRIETY
  2. POLLUTION ON AGENDA
  3. TIME FOR ROADMAP ON KASHMIR - BY KULDIP NAYAR
  4. MARK TWAIN’S MEMOIRS - BY LIEUT-GEN BALJIT SINGH (RETD)
  5. DIFFERENT PENSION FOR SAME SERVICE IS PATENTLY UNJUST - LT GEN RAJ KADYAN (RETD)
  6. MORE LOGIC, LESS RHETORIC TO STRIKE A BETTER DEAL - MAJ NAVDEEP SINGH
MUMBAI MIRROR
  1. GANDHI’S TRUSTEESHIP MODEL
BUSINESS STANDARD
  1. EQUALITY OR FAIRNESS? - T N NINAN
  2. REMEMBERING GANDHIJI - INDIRA RAJARAMAN
  3. WHEN SCIENCE NEEDS BELIEF - SUNIL K DHAWAN
  4. NEGOTIATING THE TURNS IN BERLIN - SUNIL SETHI
  5. UNSC - AN UNFAIR ARRANGEMENT - K NATWAR SINGH
  6. MAO'S GREAT FAMINE - V V
  7. AYODHYA - LEST WE FORGET - ADITI PHADNIS
  8. MUTUAL FUNDS ARE STILL THE BEST BET - MANAVENDRA PRASAD
THE ECONOMIC TIMES
  1. BRAVO, SHIV NADAR
  2. FOR SATYAM EVA JAYATE
  3. VIRTUAL FASHION
  4. INDIA’S DIMMING CITY LIGHTS - M RAMACHANDRAN
  5. ‘SMALL AUTO PARTS COS NEED HELP’ - VBALASUBRAMANIAN 
  6. ECONOMICS FOR PARROTS - J BRADFORD DELONG 
  7. BEFRIENDING YOUR FEARS - VITHAL C NADKARNI 
DECCAN CHRONICAL
  1. IS INDIA CHANGING, SLOWLY MATURING?
  2. WHY EVERYONE HATES BULK SMS
  3. BROTHERS IN ARMS - BY FARRUKH DHONDY
  4. RAM LALLA, A RESIDENT OF UP - BY ANTARA DEV SEN
THE STATESMAN
  1. STILL UNRESOLVED
  2. OUTLOOK IN KARNATAKA
  3. EMERGENCY OPERATION
  4. MAHATMA IN CALCUTTA  - BY PRANAB KUMAR CHATTERJEE
  5. ON RECORD
  6. 100 YEARS AGO TODAY
  7. ‘NO ROOM FOR PARTISAN FEELINGS DURING THE GAMES’
THE TELEGRAPH
  1. TRIUMPH OF INSTITUTIONS
  2. WEST MEETS EAST - SUNANDA K. DATTA-RAY
DECCAN HERALD
  1. A GAME-CHANGER
  2. BULL RUN
  3. SNAKE AND STICK - BY SAEED NAQVI
  4. A CORRUPT NATION - BY KHUSHWANT SINGH
  5. A DREAM DEFERRED - BY WENDY M DICKSON
THE NEW YORK TIMES
  1. MR. CUOMO’S RECORD
  2. BACK TO THE PAST
  3. G.E.’S LATEST MANEUVER
  4. WAITING FOR SUPERMAN’ AND THE EDUCATION DEBATE - BY BRENT STAPLES
  5. THE TERRIBLE ELECTION RACE RACE - BY GAIL COLLINS
  6. WHAT’S DUMB, REALLY? - BY CHARLES M. BLOW
  7. THE CAMPAIGN DISCONNECT - BY BOB HERBERT
  8. TOO FUNNY FOR WORDS - BY PETER FUNT
 PAKISTAN OBSERVER
  1. ALMOST DECLARATION OF WAR BY US
  2. AYODHYA VERDICT ENDORSES CREATION OF PAK
  3. WAKE-UP CALL FOR LAWYERS LE ADERSHIP
  4. PAKISTAN’S QUID PROP QUO - MOHAMMAD JAMIL
  5. ENDING POLITICAL CORRUPTION – RIZWAN GHANI
  6. HARASSMENT OF A NUCLEAR STATE - GP CAPT RAB NAWAZ CH (R)
  7. INDIA’S HEGEMONIC DESIGNS & REGIONAL PEACE – AFSHAIN AFZAL
  8. PEACE BALL FIRMLY IN OBAMA’S COURT - GEORGE S HISHMEH
THE AUSTRALIYAN
  1. NOT JUST A (VERY) PRETTY FACE
  2. WARMING TO THE FACTS ON CLIMATE
  3. IT'S NUMBERS IN THE SEATS, NOT THE HOUSE, THAT COUNT
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
  1. WEEK ONE ON PARLIAMENT'S HIGH WIRE
  2. LAST FRONTIER BECKONS FOR EARTH'S UNTHROWOUTABLES
THE GUARDIAN
  1. ALIEN PLANETS: OTHERWORDLY JOYS
  2. CONSERVATIVE CONFERENCE: TESTS FOR THE TORIES
  3. UNTHINKABLE? DECLARING WAR ON MOTORISTS
THE JAKARTA POST
  1. MOB RULES, OK?
  2. DERADICALIZATION THROUGH ‘PESANTREN’ - MUHAMMAD AS’AD
  3. PROSPECTS IN AGRARIAN REFORM - MUHAMMAD IKHWAN 
East District Road Network Map
Sikkim District Map
Sikkim Physical Map
Sikkim Map

SIKKIM: An impressive fashion show in handlooms

October 2nd, 2010



GANGTOK: “Weaves”, a handloom fashion show to promote handlooms was staged at a local hotel here in the capital Wednesday evening.
Sponsored by Office of the Development Commissioner (Handlooms) Textiles Committee, Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India, and organized by Sikkim Handlooms & Handicrafts Development Corporation, the event saw local and other models on the ramp presenting beautiful traditional, modern attires and outfits made from handloom. Minister for Human Resource Development Mr. N.K Pradhan, chief guest for the show, inaugurated the glamorous event in presence of Minister for Commerce and Industries Ms. Neeru Sewa.
In his inaugural address Mr. Pradhan highlighted how handlooms have been the trademark and an important recognition of our nation. MLAs, DGP, Secretaries, DC (East), among others, attended the show. Earlier CEO of North Eastern Institute of Fashion Technology Mr. Vikram welcomed the guests and also felicitated the chief guest.[FROM SIKKIM REPORTER / EDITED BY ASHOK CHATTERJEE]
The pay of a private company's CEO in India could certainly be comparable with the best in the world. But the same cannot be said about the CEO of the country, in other words, India's prime minister. As today's chart of the day shows, the ratio of the prime minister's basic salary in India to the GDP per capita in the country is among the lowest in the world if one takes the purchasing power parity into account. In fact, the same for China is also on the lower side. The heads of the developed nations on the other hand have quite an edge over the average citizens of their respective nations. In fact, US and Japan pay their leaders as much as 8 times the GDP per capita of their countries.

Source: The Economist
MAGICAL ENTERTAINER: Enthiran
Watching a Rajinikanth movie is not a cinematic experience that falls strictly within the dictates of a good story, a racy screenplay, great music or whatever else that conventionally makes movies click. The iconic Superstar contributes a certain magic that is hard to explain. It’s more like a mother’s touch to home cooking that simply makes you want more.
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" The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. He frees himself and shows the way to others. Freedom and slavery are mental states."
                                                                                                               Mahatma Gandhi

" You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind." -Mahatma Gandhi

" Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."-Mahatma Gandhi

" The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."- Mahatma Gandhi

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes."- Mahatma Gandhi

Friday, October 1, 2010

Almora-Uttaranchal
Dalhousie
Dalhousie
Corbert Park Pathway
Corbert Park Pathway
Gulmarg
Gulmarg
Manali Pass
Manali Pass
Nainital-Uttaranchal
Nainital-Uttaranchal
Numaligarh-Assam.jpg
Numaligarh-Assam.jpg
Ooty
Ooty
Patratu Valley Jharkhand.jpg
Patratu Valley Jharkhand.jpg

SIKKIM

sourc:PIB

Woman officer at Nathu La

Wednesday, 29 September 2010 15:30
Jalandhar, September 29

It indeed requires a great amount of courage and determination to take on a challenge and perhaps a greater amount of motivation to fulfil it. But, Major Sarika Godbole, serving at a Mountain Brigade at Nathu La is indeed an exception.

At Nathu La, situated at a height of 14, 200 ft on the Indo-China border, extreme cold conditions and rugged terrain, she is the only woman officer posted in that area. Nathu La is the highest brigade headquarters falling under the Eastern Command.

The officer has been posted as an interpreter at the brigade headquarters since 2008 to decipher talks held during the annual flag meetings between India and China. The flag meetings are held twice a year. While on May 15, it is held on the Chinese side of the border, on September 15, it is held on the Indian side. “I am not doing anything special. It is a part of the duty and during the meetings, I translate talks for Indian as well as Chinese officers. It thrills me to serve in this part of the country,” she said.

She added that it was indeed a lifetime opportunity to serve in that area. “Usually not many women officers get a chance to serve in the field areas. Especially, serving at Nathu La on the Indo-China border is an experience in itself,” she quipped. “Initially, even I faced problems due to bad weather, but things became easy when I became completely acclimatised with the terrain. Jawans as well as officers undergo a three-stage acclimatisation to bear the extreme conditions,” she maintained.

The officer hailing from Nasik in Maharashtra, completed her MSc from Pune University and joined IIM, Ahmedabad, as joint professor. She passed out from Officers Training Academy, Chennai, and joined the Army Education Corps in 2003.

http://www.punjabstarnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13111%3Awoman-officer-at-Nathu-La&catid=130%3AJalandhar&Itemid=599

Regular exercise ‘helps burn calories even at rest’

PTI
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A new study revealed that regular exercise switched on metabolism and energy burning cells, which, in turn, raises the body’s ability to burn calories while at rest.
AP A new study revealed that regular exercise switched on metabolism and energy burning cells, which, in turn, raises the body’s ability to burn calories while at rest.
Regular exercise is not only vital for maintaining a healthy weight, but it also has another positive impact - physical activity allows people to keep burning calories even at rest, a new study has claimed.
An international team, led by Sydney University, has carried out the study and found that regular exercise switched on metabolism and energy burning cells, which, in turn, raises the body’s ability to burn calories while at rest.
The study found even low levels of physical activity, such as a daily brisk walk for 30 minutes, is vital to turn on the right molecular switches so that cells can metabolise and burn energy effectively.
Lead researcher Prof Frank Seebacher said the bodies of mammals, including humans, were designed to be exercising regularly.
“Our research using a mammal model shows a sedentary lifestyle is doubly bad and may lead to weight gain because energy is not used up by muscular activity and metabolic signalling is disrupted, which reduces the body’s ability to burn energy,” he said.
In humans and other mammals, the metabolism of a resting body will increase as ambient temperatures decrease below 30 to 35 degrees Celsius. This means that resting bodies will burn more energy at cooler conditions, below 30 degrees Celsius. So, in theory, human bodies should be stimulated to burn energy at everyday “cold” temperatures.
However, the results of the study, showed in tests using wild native Australian bush rats that cold conditions did stimulate a rise in metabolism —— but not in the absence of exercise.
“Rats that had exercised for half an hour a day did show a metabolic response to cold, and burnt more energy as expected. But in rats that did not exercise, lowering the air temperature even down to a chilly 12 degrees Celsius did not stimulate their metabolism and energy consumption at all,” Prof Seebacher said.
According to the researchers, this study is the first of its kind to show the interaction between exercise and temperature on cellular metabolism and shows that physical activity has a subtle effect on our body’s energy expenditure by opening up a number of cryptic genes that control the rate of cellular metabolism.
“To take advantage of the metabolic boost we receive at temperatures below 30 degrees Celsius, we need to do some light exercise every day. In other words, you don’t need to take exercise seriously, just regularly,” Prof Seebacher said.
The findings have been published in the ‘Public Library of Science ONE’ journal.
Sikkim of Roses

GO GREEN

Go green. You will find that thought in numerous advertisements of recently launched real estate projects. Perhaps, the concept of “green“ homes appeals to you, but you don't know how to go about it. Don't worry: in- stead of falling for one of the “green“ projects, small modifi- cations in your own house will take you closer to the cause.
“Addition of some basic ele- ments and use of some materi- als can make an existing house eco-friendly and insulated from heat and pollution,“ says Dikshu C. Kukreja, architect, CP Kukreja Associates, a New Delhi-based architecture firm.
Save power Reduce need for lighting: En- sure that your house gets suffi- cient natural light to reduce usage of electricity during day- time. Says Priyanka Kochhar, associate fellow, Association for Development and Research on Sustainable Habitats (ADaRSH):

“Covering the win- dow with double-glazed glass- es with air insulation prevents heat from coming in but allows natural light inside the room.“ Promoted by The Energy and Research Institute and the ministry of new and renewable energy, ADaRSH is a platform to facilitate a pan-India net- working between building pro- fessionals, developers and government officials.
Use compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs): CFLs are costly when compared with incan- descent light, but work out cheaper because they save en- ergy in the long run. Moreover, CFLs last longer than bulbs.

Says Anumita Roy Chaud- hary, head (sustainable urbani- zation), Centre for Science and Environment (CSE): “A CFL uses only one-fifth as much electricity as an incandescent lamp to provide the same level of illumination. Rough esti- mates show that a 60-watt in- candescent bulb burning for 4 hours a day will consume 87.6 kWh (kilowatt hour) in a year, whereas a 15-watt CFL in a sim- ilar condition will use 21.9 kWh, saving the consumer `296.“

Check the stars: The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has made it mandatory for manu- facturers of consumer durables to make energy-compliant products. It uses a star system to indicate energy efficiency.
So while buying a new air con- ditioner, a refrigerator or a television set, look for star la- belling. The higher the number of stars, the more you would save on power.

Adds Chaudhary: “Just by changing the lighting and elec- trical systems, ventilation, cool- ing, and building service opera- tions, your energy saving can go up by as much as 20-50%. This can translate into significant cost savings as well.“ Minimize heating Excessive heating of rooms during the day during summers leads to over-usage of air con- ditioners. To reduce this natu- ral heating, you need to use some insulation techniques on the outer walls of your house.

Low-budget options: The easiest way is to go for paints that deflect the sunlight and are readily available in the market. Apart from that, build- ing material such as white sandstone and white terrazzo have good reflective character- istics. Using broken ceramic pieces on the walls will give it an ethnic look, apart from re- ducing heating. On your win- dows, you can use sunshades.
Thick walls: Bump up your budget a bit and you can achieve a higher degree of cooling. Kochhar suggests that thick walls keep out the heat.
“While in the day, a thick wall will get partially heated, by the time the heat reaches the inner side of the wall, the day gets over. And the outer wall starts cooling up. So, a thick wall minimizes the heating. If you have enough space after the walls, a slight addition to the wall thickness increases insu- lation,“ she explains.

Earth tunnel system: Another method to cool the rooms could be switching to the earth tunnels system. Under this system, you have tunnels from vents on the rooftop to under- ground tunnels that allow air passage. The air in these tun- nels is cooled naturally be- cause of the ground tempera- ture and balances the room temperature. The system works in all weathers.

Vegetation: Plants not only cool the environment, but also add beauty to your terrace.
Putting planted earthen pots on the roof would help cool your room. Planting trees on the outer boundary of the house provides a shield against a sunlight.

Nylon nets: Kochhar adds: “Another option could be spreading a net of plastic or nylon on the rooftop. This re- duces the light falling on the roof, thus bringing down the temperature.“ Save water There are new technologies in the market that save more water compared with conventional systems. “Refitting existing wa- ter guzzling toilets and drinking water systems can help save wa- ter,“ says Chaudhary.

Taps: These include push- button taps or taps with auto- stop sensors. So, if you don't want to turn off the tap five times during brushing your teeth, the tap will do it for you.
It makes sense to replace old fixtures. This can help save up to 300-400 ml every use.

Flush: The conventional flush toilet uses 12 litres of wa- ter per flush; some of them use just 6 litres too. Through dual flush cisterns, you can use as much as is needed. It gives you the option of flushing with 4 litres and 6 litres.
Another low-cost option is to place water bottles of 1-2 lit- res capacity inside the flush tank. It will automatically re- duce the amount of water that gets collected in the tank.

Joint efforts: A bigger change can be brought about in apart- ment complexes. The concept of rainwater harvesting and its storage is well known, but put- ting it in place could be expen- sive. In an apartment complex, the cost can get shared. Rain water being a pure form of wa- ter can be safely used for wa- tering plants and washing common areas.

While the “green“ candy is in your face through advertise- ments, decide how you want to go green.

source:livemint.com

KOUTONS PAY THE PRICE

Ag gressive expansion in the highly competitive apparel retailing market seems to have run Koutons Retail India Ltd (KRIL) aground. Its shares tumbled 20% on Thursday to `172.40, on reports about its inability to service its ris- ing debt burden. Other worries are the departure of its senior execu- tives and the fact that more than a quarter of its equity of `30.60 crore is pledged to creditors. The stock is down by nearly half over the past year. Investors should have taken a cue from the Icra Ltd rating out- look of LB+ in August 2009, implying inadequate credit quality. “We had indications of liquidity pres- sures and delay in interest pay- ments to banks then,“ said Vivek Mathur, senior vice-president and head northern region, Icra. Ironi- cally, equity analysts had projected a profit growth of 20-25% for the ensuing two years. It was only from the March quarter that some analysts began derating the stock.

What went wrong? KRIL's scorching pace of expansion ate into cash flows. Its franchise model protected upfront capex, while higher inventories both on the manufacturing front and stocks at its stores guzzled work- ing capital funds. What was viewed to be KRIL's strength-- its presence across the value- chain as manufacturer, distribu- tor and retailer--turned out to be its biggest weakness.
In the June quarter, KRIL's sales fell by 20% on a year-on- year basis and 58% sequentially.
Operating profit margin declined, though sequentially it improved as the firm closed some stores and lowered discounts. But the fall in sales hit profitability.

Analysts suspect that debt re- structuring/refinancing as expec- ted may not have gone through.
For now, the road ahead is bleak, with falling revenue prospects and rising interest costs.
  Facebook opens office in India
  
Facebook’s Director of Online Operations Kirthiga Reddy at the inauguration of the social networking site’s office in Hyderabad. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf
Facebook’s Director of Online Operations Kirthiga Reddy at the inauguration of the social networking site’s office in Hyderabad. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

Social networking site Facebook on Thursday started its operations in India by opening an office in Hyderabad.

The office is already humming with an initial landing team from its headquarters in Palo Alto, California, and a team of recent hires from India, the company said in a statement.

The office is headed by a dynamic leadership team, including Kirthiga Reddy, Director of Online Operations and Head of Office India and Manoj Varghese, Director of User Operations.

“We are seeing a ton of momentum with our 15 million users, developers and advertisers right here India. It’s an incredible time to be starting our operations in India,” Kirthiga Reddy said.
To celebrate the opening of the new space in Hyderabad, Facebook launched an art competition, which will continue till October 22. The winner will be announced on November 15. (PTI)

The great game pantomime

by M. K. Bhadrakumar
  
WAY TO GROW: This Oct. 27, 2009 picture shows Indian, Chinese delegates
holding a business meeting in Bangalore. Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
WAY TO GROW: This Oct. 27, 2009 picture shows Indian, Chinese delegates holding a business meeting in Bangalore. Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Instead of crying over the amazing pace of development of Chinese territories across our borders, ask Chinese companies to come forward and invest in our border roads.

The latest contribution to the discourse on China comes from Jaswant Singh, former External Affairs and Finance Minister. His opinion piece in the American media enjoins our strategic community's current discourse on the power dynamics in Asia. He is convinced that India has a “great game” on its hands and seems to imply that the outcome of this game will critically depend on its military prowess and its strategic alliance with the United States, whereas expanding Sino-Indian economic cooperation ultimately becomes inconsequential. Mr. Singh has articulated these views at an interesting point in the U.S.-India strategic partnership. To be sure, President Barack Obama's forthcoming visit to India gives them a sense of immediacy.

However, is there a great game in our region, and if so, is it as one-dimensional as Mr. Singh suggests? He says: “Rudyard Kipling's old ‘Great Game' now has new contestants. Instead of an expansionist Russian empire confronting Imperial Britain, it is now China hungry for land, water, and raw materials that is flexing its muscles, encroaching on Himalayan redoubts and directly challenging India.”

It may seem an esoteric historical detail in current polemics, but thanks to able historiography in the West, we now know that Imperial Britain exaggerated the “perception of threat” from Czarist Russia with the purpose of expanding its own influence in India and in the regions to the southwest in a wide arc that stretches from Cairo to China's Xinjiang — Greater Middle East. There is a spellbinding book by David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace, which Jawaharlal Nehru would have acquired for our Parliament library had been alive today. Unlike Kipling's fiction, Fromkin provides calm, meticulously researched conclusions on Imperial Britain's strategy leading to the great Middle East settlement of 1921 — and the immense vistas of decades of history that provided its backdrop.

What makes Fromkin's world of yesterday absolutely fascinating is that the world of today bears striking similarities. Then too, as the decline of the Ottoman Empire began accelerating, there was a furious struggle for geopolitical space (and resources) among the established and emerging powers in Europe. There were great anxieties as a revolution was erupting with an obscure ideology amid convulsions of social unrest that were threatening to breach the dam in the established powers and which had no easy solutions.
The great game today, too, is a pantomime. The U.S. moves into Middle Asia to get embedded in a region which it historically never accessed — and couldn't access so long as the Soviet Union existed. These U.S. moves are, like Kipling's fiction, easy to dissimulate but the geo-strategic thrust is barely disguised: get embedded in a region that holds multitrillion dollars worth of mineral resources, and which overlooks 4 nuclear powers (potentially 5), three of which are emerging powers that may at some point, inevitably, see the raison d'etre of getting together in a post-Bretton Woods world order. Mr. Singh loses the plot.
He asserts: “The Chinese urge is to break from the confines of their country's history, and thus China's own geography. An assertive and relatively stable China, it seems, must expand, lest pent-up internal pressures tear it apart.” This is taking a walk fearlessly into terrains where Sinologists fear to tread. The point is China is a neighbour and even if a neighbour is not tailor-made for us, we have to live with it. And that can commence only by knowing our neighbour without pride and prejudice. The well-known American historian and author, Jeffrey Wasserstrom (who edits The Journal of Asian Studies), also happened to amble across these tricky terrains last week. Whereas Mr. Singh is self-confident, Prof. Wasserstrom is unsure about the great ambivalences in the Chinese story. I need to quote him at some length:

“One way to interpret China' elevated rhetoric … is as another indication that Chinese leaders have grown supremely self-confident and are eager to throw their weight around. The reality, though, is more complex … words and deeds are often shaped by a mixture of insecurity and cockiness … Of course, there are moments when China's leaders do seem like people who know that they are succeeding and want others to acknowledge it.

“And yet, when news broke last month that China had officially replaced Japan as the world's second-largest economy, instead of crowing about surpassing a long-time rival and having the top spot, held by the U.S. in its sights, the government issued statements emphasising that theirs remains a “poor, developing” country… Why, then, do China's rulers continue to backslide into doubt and fear, why do they seek to avoid having China labelled a superpower?

“China really is still a “poor” country in terms of per capita income. And parts of the country are more similar to sections of troubled “developing” countries than to China's showplace cities … Outsiders are increasingly convinced that China is a superpower, and that it needs to show that it can be a responsible one. But China's rulers only sometimes embrace the designation — and the [Chinese Communist] Party still sometimes behaves as if it had only a tenuous hold on power.”

Of course, it is an extraordinary intellectual challenge facing Indians to comprehend China. To compound it, we base opinions on dogmas and beliefs. Don't trade and investment constitute “constructive engagement” and become “CBMs”? There is a Chinese proposal today that they desire to build nuclear power plants in India — yes, maybe even bigger than the ones in Pakistan — having been India's “strategic partner” historically in the nuclear field. Somehow, our gurus are missing out on the quintessence of history and diplomacy, something our Chief Ministers in Karnataka and Gujarat who frequent China seem to grasp better — that good politics is about creating wealth.

If we are savvy, instead of sitting on the ground and crying about the amazing pace of development of Chinese territories across our borders, ask Chinese companies to come forward and invest in our border roads, too. According to Kamal Nath, China is prepared to increase threefold its present investments in our infrastructure sector. Why can't China build a world-class container terminal near Thiruvananthapuram so that we won't end up depending on the Colombo port, which China is expanding? The Sri Lankans seem to anticipate better the acute infrastructural problems of the Indian economy as it moves into a dazzling trajectory of growth.

The recent U.S. Senate testimony by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on China following his consultations with the Chinese leadership, including President Hu Jintao, provides a fascinating essay in realpolitik. Mr. Geithner said: “We [U.S.] have very significant economic interests in our relationship with China… [China's] efforts to encourage growth led by domestic demand ultimately mean more demand for American goods and services… [U.S. investment] in China provides a major channel through which U.S. exports flow, and as a result contributes to creating jobs here at home at our exporting firms … China has a very substantial economic stake in access to the U.S. market … And we have a very strong interest … in the Chinese market, so that U.S. businesses and U.S. workers do not face unfair trading practices. I want to be clear: a strong and growing China benefits the United States.”

Mr. Geithner, a personal friend of Mr. Obama, is pondering how China makes butter and how they can make butter together. There can be differences of opinion over what should be our appropriate and principled response to the Chinese way of making butter. Yet, today, there is so much for Indians to know: how, for a start, China is beginning to climb from low-end assembly lines and sweatshops to green technology and wind turbines and solar panels and electric cars. As Orville Schell, director of Asia Society's Centre on U.S.-China Relations, put it recently: “The first priority is to get our own house in order, so we're not filled with so much anxiety that is easily transferred on to the rise of another country.”
The pity is, just the wrong people could exploit Mr. Singh's plain thesis: middlemen for American arms manufacturers. India has a need to modernise its armed forces for meeting the new security challenges and “asymmetrical” wars that we may (or may not) fight. But we don't want to be hustled into things. Look at the contemporary politics of power. Saudi Arabia is embarking on a $60-billion dollar arms deal with the U.S.

The Obama administration admits that the deal will generate thousands of new jobs in America.

In the run-up to the arms deal, the arms manufacturers and their middlemen whipped up nerve-wracking xenophobia regarding a growing “Iranian threat.” Meanwhile, the U.S. is inching towards normalisation with Iran. China is a serious challenge to the U.S. and the challenge is increasingly how to tap into China's growth. Mr. Obama's ultimate focus is on butter, how to make more butter in America — with the Chinese brought into that enterprise.

(The writer is a former diplomat.)
source: The Hindu


Kathmandu, Sep 30 (IANS) After Indian cricket icon Sunil Gavaskar, Nepal has roped in former Indian Idol winner — and the pride of Nepalis — Darjeeling boy Prashant Tamang to promote tourism and help draw 1 million visitors to the country next year.

From being a sepoy in the Kolkata Police force in West Bengal state, the 27-year-old of Nepali origin became a household name in India as well as Nepal after winning the third edition of the reality show in 2008 by polling an unprecedented 70 million votes.

Prashant now joins Miss Nepal 2010 Sadichhya Shrestha and Khagendra Thapa Magar, the smallest teen in the world at 22 inches, to become an ambassador of the Nepal Tourism Board.
Prashant owed his victory in 2008 partly to the overwhelming support he received from Nepal where clubs raised money to send members across the border to India and send SMS votes.

He was given a rousing welcome during his visit to Nepal by then prime minister of Nepal Girija Prasad Koirala himself who called him a bridge of friendship between Nepal and India.

Prashant is now set to create a niche for himself in Nepal’s film industry where he made his debut as an actor by playing a Gorkha soldier in the film “Gorkha Paltan” that is yet to be released.

This month, he was signed up to play the lead in another Nepali film, “Kino maya ma”.

Nepal is set to usher in 2011 as Nepal Tourism Year and has initiated several measures, including opening new trekking routes and boosting home stay in villages, to bring 1 million tourists next year.

The Nepal Tourism Board said it will officially appoint Prashant a “Goodwill ambassador of Nepal Tourism
Year 2011

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Dhaulagiri is considered one of the most difficult and dangerous mountains in the the world
Dhaulagiri is considered one of the most difficult and dangerous mountains
in the the world

Source: Trend software

Today's chart of the day shows the returns from three of the most lucrative asset classes in 2010.

These are Sensex, Gold and Silver.

As can be seen, the year so far has belonged to Silver, the white shiny metal, as it has gone up by more than 20% in rupee terms. Sensex and Gold lag somewhat, especially the latter as it has returned just 13% so far this year. With gains of 15%, Sensex returns have fallen between gold and silver. Going forward, it is quite likely that both Gold and Silver edge past the Sensex as while the Indian benchmark is flirting with its lifetime highs, gold and silver still have some distance to go when adjusted for inflation.

BY J MULRAJ
Khosuva's mother Maya, a red panda at Auckland Zoo. Photo / Martin Sykes
Khosuva's mother Maya, a red panda at Auckland Zoo. Photo / Martin Sykes
source: Himalayan Beacon

Wednesday, September 29, 2010



The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh addressing at the launch of the Aadhaar Number under Unique Identification Authority of India, at Tembhli village, Nandurbar, Maharashtra on September 29, 2010.