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After winning two medals in the prestigious Beijing Olympics, India is ready to get the third one as the boxer Vijendra Kumar enters the semifinals after defeating Carlos Gongora of Ecuador in the quarterfinal of the 75kg category bout on Wednesday. The victory ensured at least a Bronze for India.

Vijendra Kumar, boxer from a small town Bhiwani in Haryana, managed to gift India the first ever Olympic medal in boxing. He dominated the entire bout and won the quarter finals by 9-4. He entered the quarter finals after defeating Thailand’s Champuphuang Angkhan 13-3 in a one sided match.

There was no answer to upper cuts and jabs by Vijender and the rival had no clue as to what was going. Vijender is benefited by his height and long reach to unnerve the Thai who looked confused

Earlier in the Asian Championship in Ulan Bator, Mongolia Vijender had lost to the Thai. Now with this historical victory he has taken his that revenge also.

The Haryana lad is now one of the India’s best medal hope. Wrestler Sushil Kumar had won a bronze in the freestyle event earlier in the day whereas Abhinav Bindra won first-ever Olympics gold medal for the country in the 10meter air rifle event.

Tags: beijing olympics, Bhiwani, Bronze Medal, gold medal, Haryana, India, Olympics, Vijendra Kumar

Building your new dream house?? Must be in need of a reliable and trust worthy builder. How to judge the reliability and credibility of a builder??

Real Estate is the booming industry but a highly unregulated and unorganized market. Every builder boasts about the services and assistance but only few of them are able to prove their words. There is no particular rules to judge but a few things should be taken care to avoid lose and possible hassle in future. Hiring the right builder is crucial to the whole building experience. There are many good and reliable builders but they might take a little work to locate and investigate. Following tips can help you.

-Search for them on the Internet and local newspapers for advertising and information placed by builders. Take advice of your friends and family members.

-Check the builder association in your area and nearby localities. Talk to the people whose homes were built by your preferred builders about any problems with construction and what the builder was like to work with. This can give sufficient information about the reliability of the builder.

-Find out whether possession for past projects of the builder happened in time and weigh the costs against the benefits. Then estimate your budget and cost accordingly.

-Figure out all the features you want like number of bathrooms, whether you want an eat-in kitchen or home office etc. Make sure that the builder has experience doing what you need done.

-Give a look at the features, standard items and options offered by builders and do not forget to compare offers.

-Look for someone who pays attention to your needs. A builder should be a good listener. A healthy builder-client relationship will make all aspects of the job run smoother.

-As a rule, avoid builders who are fairly new or projects that take more than 18 months for completion, and avoid getting into deals where the necessary approvals or papers aren’t easily available.

-You can visit sales centers of builders to look at model homes or suites. Talk to the representatives about your building plan so that you can compare room sizes, features, standards and options and pricing. Make sure that the large furniture will fit into the space of your new home. Talk to the builder about these matter before starting.

-Builder should tell you that the square footage of a house is normally measured from outside walls, so that the useable space is somewhat less. Room dimensions are measured from inside finished walls. This will effect about spacing your furniture and other items in the room. A reliable builder will give you the clear picture of these issues.

-Also you can discuss the financing of your new home with the builder and your mortgage lender and your budget plan. Make certain the price in the final agreement is what you expected and that the information describing the home is correct in every detail.

After you decided about the builder and all other major issues, consult the professionals, like your banker, lawyer, real estate agent, mortgage lender and others to ensure that your decisions are on right track and the builder is credible.

Tags: Builder, Building, Home, India, Market, Real Estate

A recent study disclosed that developing countries like India and China are creating a novel but dangerous waste. The e-waste is giving a serious emerging threat to environment. The reports brought out by a leading environment group, Greenpeace India, says that these booming economies are more and more dependent on electronic and electrical equipments which is giving rise to electronic waste.

“Primitive recycling or disposal of e-waste to landfills and incinerators causes’ irreversible environmental damage by polluting water and soil and contaminating air,” states the report titled as “Take Back Blues - An assessment of e-waste take-back in India”.

It is poisoning our soil and water, causing serious health problems. The report showed that in 2007 India generated 380,000 tonnes of e-waste from discarded computers, televisions and mobile phones. This, the report said, was projected to more than double by 2012, to 800,000 per annum with a growth rate of 15 per cent.

Shocked by the findings, Abhishek Pratap, Greenpeace Toxics campaigner and the principal investigator for the study questioned, “It seems like e-waste take-back in India is in no way a priority for global brands. Otherwise, how else can one explain the irresponsible conduct of brands like Sony, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, Samsung and Philips, which have no take-back service in India whatsoever?”

“Long-term exposure to deadly component chemicals and metals like lead, cadmium, chromium, mercury and polyvinyl chlorides (PVC) can severely damage the nervous systems, kidney and bones, and the reproductive and endocrine systems, and some of them are carcinogenic and neurotoxic,” the report mentions.

Now the question is how to tackle the problem before it becomes seriously out of control. Greenpeace Toxics campaigner Rampati Kumar said that the only way to tackle this novel threat is eco-friendly equipment. He believes that global and domestic brands manufacture should ensure eco-friendly equipment to control the threat.

“The solution lies with the brand owners or manufacturers of electronic products, which need to bear responsibility for financing the treatment of the own-branded e-waste discarded by their customers. If brands follow the ‘cradle to grave’ approach by ensuring take-back and bring back responsibility, it might work,” he says. ”

It was found in the study that half of the global brands have no take-back service in India. Nine out of 20 brands surveyed have no take-back service. The nine brands include Apple, Microsoft, Panasonic, PCS, Philips, Sharp, Sony, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba. Only two brands, HCL and WIPRO, stand out as having the best take-back practice in India and have come out publicly in support of e-waste legislation in India.

“As part of HCL’s eco safe programme, we give booklets along with our products that address waste disposal and inform customers of take back policies, we also host customer seminars telling them about the importance of electronic waste disposal,” George Paul, executive vice-president marketing, HCL Info Systems, said.

“Customers have to incur the cost of giving back the equipment; thus they prefer to sell it to local scrap dealers for a nominal price. Unlike in Europe where once a week the local municipality picks up the electronic waste for a charge levied at the time of purchase of goods, in India the consumer is still at a fairly nascent stage of understanding waste disposal.” He added.

Even as India heads for an e-waste crisis, most of the global electronic brands have no functioning e-waste take-back services in India.

The findings have sounded an alarm of emerging e-waste crisis and if not dealt properly at time, this e-waste will be proved harmful to the economy as well as to the global environment.

Tags: Apple, Bones, carcinogenic, China, Domestic Brands, E-waste, Eco safe, Economies, Electrical, Electronic, Endocrine Systems, Environment, Europe, Global Brands, Greenpeace India, Greenpeace Toxics, HCL, India, Kidney, Microsoft, neurotoxic, Panasonic, PCS, Philips, polyvinyl chlorides, PVC, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, Wipro

“Even God will not be able to save this country.”  This is the statement pronounced by a fuming Supreme Court on Tuesday stated while criticizing the government for its decision of not amending Section 441 IPC (criminal trespass) for prosecuting squatters of government accommodation in the country.

A bench of Justices B N Aggrawal and G S Singhvi uttered its anger as the Additional Solicitor General Amarender Saran bluntly told the court that the Union government has decided not to amend Section 441 IPC (criminal trespass) for prosecuting squatters of government accommodation in the country.

The apex court also added, “In India even if God comes down he cannot change our country. Our country’s character has gone. We are helpless.”

Furious on the refusal to amend the law for launching criminal prosecution against those who illegally occupy official houses, the bench of justice said, “We are fed up with this government. They don’t have the guts to differ with the opinion of the clerks.”

The government took the stance that the existing provisions provided under the Public Premises Act was sufficient to evict those illegally occupying government accommodation. Moreover, it claimed that out of 99,100 government houses only 300-odd dwellings were under unauthorized occupation for which had been made to evict them.

The apex court was upset with the centre for not doing anything about illegal occupants of government houses and refusing to bring in harsher laws.

The court said PILs are being filed before it by people who are vexed with the approach of the government on various issues.

“You complain about judicial activism when you are in power. When you are not in power you come to us for remedy,” the 2-judge bench remarked.

Tags: Court, God, India, IPC, Public, Supreme Court

India leveled the three match Test series 1-1 in Galle on Sunday after beating Sri Lanka by 170 runs in the second cricket test. Earlier, team India was defeated by Srilanka by a mammoth total of 239 runs in the first test match at SCG ground in Colombo. On Sunday in second test, Indian team performed very well in Galle setting a hard target of 307 runs but the Sri Lankans collapsed for 136.

Harbhajan, Sehwag and Gambhir deserves of being the responsible factor behind this victory. Harbhajan Singh returned a match haul of 10 wickets, four in the second innings, for 153 runs while Virender Sehwag once again shown his magical batting and hit an unbeaten double century in the first innings and a half-century in the second to pave the way to victory ground. Sehwag fell against the Srilankan strike bowler Chaminda Vass when India’s total was 90 in second inning. Sehwag and Gambhir partnership was the backbone of India’s victory. Out of India’s total of 598 (329, 269) the duo scored 381 runs, more than half scored by other batsmen.

Sri Lanka bundled India for 269 in the second innings. India was bowled out for 329 runs in their first innings and restricted the Sri Lankans for 292 in their first innings.

In the first inning, Kumble and Harbhajan dismissed nine batsmen of the opponent team. Only Warnapura (66), Sangakkara (68) and Jayawardene (86) stayed for long durations on the crease and played crucial innings for their team. But even they couldn’t cross India’s total of forst inning.

In the second inning, after dismissal of Sehwag and Gambhir, Dravid and Tendulkar were on the crease and they took the team’s total to 200 for two. However, both these batsmen returned to pavilion, only few minutes before the end of the Day-3 play.

On fourth day, Ganguly and Laxman began the morning session but after adding 21 runs to the score, Laxman was trapped before wicket by Mendis. The other players were soon dismissed and India managed 269 runs in the second innings and gave a target of 307 to Srilanka.

Sri Lanka was slow in second inning. Score was 37 at lose of four. Samaraweera and Dilshan provided some resistance to the innings and took team’s total past 100. At the Srilankan score of 113, Ishant Sharma dismissed Dilshan and provided the crucial breakthrough. The entire Srilankan team returned to pavilion by scoring 136 runs. Harbhajan finished with four wickets in the second innings as Sri Lanka was all out on 48 overs.

The third Test will start in Colombo on Aug. 8.

Tags: cricket match, Harbhajan, India, Sehwag, Sri Lanka, Test Match

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has nodded the safeguards agreement with India on Friday making a way clear for the operation of the crucial Indo-US nuke deal. Passed by the 35-nation IAEA board unanimously, India will now proceed to the 45 member Nuclear Suppliers Group for a nod to allowing trade with a non-NPT country, followed by ratification from the US Congress, to finalize the deal.

Earlier in the day, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei had given a positive response by endorsing the India-specific safeguards agreement and asserted that it conformed to “all legal requirements” of his agency.

IAEA expects to start implementing the agreement by next year. The chief told that a total of 14 Indian nuclear reactors will come under Agency safeguards by 2014, six reactors being already under IAEA supervision.

The India-specific safeguards agreement could also be used for the conclusion of other 66-type safeguards agreements, said the chief.

Tags: Atomic Energy, IAEA, India, India USA, Indo US, NPT, Nuke Deal, US, US Congress

Pakistan has demanded N-deal with US similar to that of Indo-US deal. Ahead of the IAEA meeting on Friday, Pak PM Yousaf Raza Gilani, while his visit to US, has said that he also expects an India-like civil nuclear deal from the US.

At a gathering under the aegis of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Middle East Institute, Gilani added, “there should be no preferential, there should be no discrimination. If they want to give such nuclear status to India, we expect the same for Pakistan.”

The IAEA Board of Governors will meet in Vienna on Friday in a crucial session to consider for approval a key step for operation of the Indo-US nuclear deal.

If the 35-member Board approves the India-specific safeguards agreement by consensus leading to the signing of an unprecedented document, it would pave the way for India’s integration into the world of nuclear commerce.

According to a newspaper, the prime minister said that the government wanted to have cordial relations with all its neighbors, including India and Afghanistan, considering it a guarantee to regional peace.

“With India, we want to resolve all issues including the core issue of Kashmir,” he said when asked about the relationship with its eastern neighbors. He added that Pakistan had good trade ties with India.

Gilani also show his concern over terrorism and extremism, Pak-US relations including the economy and the scope of democracy in the country.

Tags: India, India US, Indo US, Indo USA, N-deal, Nuclear deal, Nuke Deal, Pak, Pakistan

After giving the cheapest car to the world, India is on its way to provide cheapest laptop at a mere cost of $10. Yes! It is unbelievable but Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari said on Tuesday that research was being conducted to develop the laptop, especially for use by students, which will cost all of $10.

She said that the development of cheap laptop will combat problems like the low computer literacy and e-learning not only in India, but also the world over.

“Research in this direction is being already carried out at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras,” she told the e-India annual summit on information and communication technologies.

At present, the cheapest laptop range not less than $100. It is at least 10 times costlier. The “Xo” sold by the Massachusetts-based non-government organization ‘One Laptop Per Child Foundation’ sells for $188.

However, India did not sign up for the ‘One Laptop Per Child program’ after officials in the education ministry decided that giving a computer to every child is “pedagogically suspect”, and may actually be detrimental to the growth of the creative and analytical abilities of the child.

But Reliance Communications has been doing pilots of the OLPC in India since last year.

Earlier this year, Tata group has developed Rs 1 lakh car, the Nano which get famous not only in India but all over the world.

Tags: cheapest laptop, Computer, computer literacy, Education, India, Laptop, US$10 laptop

After the UPA government has proved the vote of confidence on 22nd July by 275 to 256 vote victory followed by shocking scenario of waiving cash bundles by a few MPs at the floor of lower house, veteran Left leader Somnath Chatterjee has been expelled in view of his refusal to step down as the Speaker of Lok Sabha before the trust vote.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said on Thursday that it was “unfortunate” that the party had to take the decision but added Chatterjee can appeal against it.

“The Central Committee decided that no member of the party should remain the Speaker of Lok Sabha after the withdrawal of support. We were asked to communicate this to him. He did not agree…we had no option (but to take action),” Karat told reporters adding that Somnath can still appeal to the CPM central committee against his expulsion.

Karat told that the Left parties accepted a suggestion from the ruling party in 2004 that one of its members should be the Speaker and accepted it because “we were supporting the Government”. But as the Left is now the opposition party, the speaker cannot be from their party.

“On July 9, 2008 we withdraw our support to the government and became part of the opposition after that the CPM central committee decided that no one can be Speaker after withdrawal of support,” he continued.

“Between now and 2009 we will be in the opposition,” Karat said adding it would be difficult for the Government to function properly.

When pointed out that he had said that Chatterjee would take a final decision, he said, “to continue or not as the Speaker is his decision. It is up to him. But, whether he will remain as our party member will be decided by us.”

And regarding the shameful accusation of money in voting by the BJP MPs’ stating that a Samajwadi Party leader tried to bribe them by offering Rs three crore each for remaining absent from voting. Karat said that the tape submitted by a TV channel about the episode should be made public. It is a matter of serious concern and of public interest.

Karat has told that a nationwide campaign will be started against the government by them against Congress supported Indo-US Nuke deal, spiraling inflation, farmers’ suicide and terrorism.

“We will tell the country that this government is misusing institutions and agencies like CBI to harass political opponents,” Karat said.

Tags: India, Indo US, Indo US Deal, Left, Left Leaders, Left Parties, Nuclear, Nuclear deal, Politics, Somnath Chatterjee, UPA

The UPA government has proved the vote of confidence on 22nd July by 275 over 256 vote victory but the dramatic scenario of waiving cash bundles by a few MPs at the floor of lower house has shocked the moral values of Indian Democracy. Amid these allegations has the UPA really won?

It is not the only incident of involvement if cash in politics. Cash and politics is not a new story but such an open display of corruption in the parliament is really shameful. Corruption is eating the moral values of the society and it has crawled into the parliament also. Corruption and bribery have become the order of the day.

Bharatiya Janata Party MPs’ bribe allegations shocked the House and their waiving of wads of currency notes in the sanctum sanctorum of the Lower House raised many questions on the morality of the Indian parliament. The dramatic scene sidelined the UPA victory and the headlines were covered by the cash for vote allegations episode.

Congress described the entire episode of displaying cash in the Lok Sabha as a planted operation by ‘those who know that they will lose in the vote of confidence’. While the opposition BJP leaders including L K Advani claimed that 3 MPs of their party-Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bagora were bribed 3 crores each with an advance of 1 crore. He demanded a detailed probe in the matter by the speaker.

Meanwhile the speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, the veteran leader of Left has been expelled in view of his refusal to step down as the Speaker of Lok Sabha before the trust vote.

The government was speechless on the issue. No matter whether the shocking allegations will proved correct or not, the day has stained the Indian government history. It is like a hard blow to Indian democracy. 22 July, Tuesday has been listed as the Black day in the history of Indian Parliament. Although PM wins but there was a bigger defeat of the government. It was a shameful drama and the Indian government has lost the trust of public.

Tags: Bribery, Corruption, Government, Horse Trading, India, Parliament, UPA