HUDA, DLF to invest Rs 550 cr on 16-lane road Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, June 29
Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and DLF Ltd, India’s largest commercial real estate developer, have commenced work on a Rs 550 crore joint project of constructing a 16-lane 8.3 km road network in Gurgaon. This public-private-partnership exercise aims at creating sustainable infrastructure facility extending from NH8 toll plaza to Sectors 55-56 in Gurgaon.
International consultant AECOM has developed the concept to upgrade this spinal road to global standards. The contract for project execution has been awarded to IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company Ltd, while international consultant Parson Brinckeroff is the project management consultant.
A DLF spokesperson said Friday that by reducing the travel time drastically, this initiative would provide a hassle-free commute to nearly 1.5 million people, including residents and commuters.
“The road will be built using the latest technologies and will be smooth and free from potholes and traffic signals,” the spokesperson said, adding that this road would make travelling within Gurgaon much easier as it was fully integrated with the Rapid Metro network.

Petrol price reduced again, people relieved Now, want state govt to reduce VAT on petrolShivani Bhakoo
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 29
Reduction of the ever-increasing petrol prices by Rs 2.46 by the Central government has provided respite to the commuters. The new rates were implemented from 12 am today. If distributors of the oil companies are to be believed, then the price of petrol are expected to reduce further by July 15.

Talking to The Tribune, General Secretary of the Ludhiana Petrol Diesel Association, Ashok Sachdeva, said the slash in the rates had provided some respite to the commuters. The people will feel relieved if the prices of the crude oil are reduced by Rs 2 again till July 2.

In Ludhiana, the premium petrol will be available for Rs 78.71 per liter while the ordinary petrol will be Rs 75.86 per liter. The prices of petrol were drastically increased by Rs 7.50 per liter last month by the Central government. And this step of the government had invited criticism from all sections of society.

A distributor on the outskirts of the city said speculations were rife that the policy-makers would bring certain reforms in the oil sector after the Presidential elections. “We are expecting that after 15 to 20 day, the prices of diesel, which is subsidized, may see an increase up to Rs 3 or Rs 4 to share the burden, which in a way will be a correct step,” said the distributor.
Meanwhile, the commuters said this would certainly provide some respite. They demanded that the state government should also decrease the VAT on petrol to provide more relief to the commuters. Surinder Mohan, a bank employee, said the ever-increasing prices of petrol had brought frustration among the commuters, using petrol-run vehicles.
“Though we are bit relieved, if the state government decides to bring down the VAT on petrol, which is 33 per cent presently and start putting more VAT on diesel, which now is 8.9 per cent, then petrol rates will reduce further in Punjab. Secondly, this will balance the entire situation,” said the bank employee.

Facebook acquires facial recognition firm Face.com 

New York, June 20
Social networking giant Facebook Inc has acquired Israeli facial recognition firm Face.com for an undisclosed amount in a bid to strengthen its photo sharing platform.
Face.com's software is used for facial recognition on photos loaded on its websites and through mobile applications.
"Facebook has acquired Face.com," Face.com Founder Gil Hirsh has said on his blog.
The announcement comes about two months after Facebook shelled out $1 billion for photo-sharing service firm Instagram.
Although financial details of the deals were not disclosed, media reports have pegged the transaction in the range of $60 million to $100 million.
Announcing the deal, Hirsh said, "Facebook is a part of your life every single day. We keep up with our friends and family, share interesting (or mundane) experiences from our daily lives, and perhaps most importantly for us, we share a lot of photos." "...By working with Facebook directly, and joining their team, we'll have more opportunities to build amazing products that will be employed by consumers - that's all we've ever wanted to do," he added.
Face.com's app scan billions of photos monthly, and have helped tag hundreds of millions of faces. It helps people to tag their own photos quickly and easily, and discover photos of themselves and their friends that they never knew existed.
The two recent acquisitions by Facebook, which has over 900 million users across the world, suggest that the social networking firm is taking huge interest in strengthening its photo-sharing platform. — PTI 

Now, Fitch downgrades SBI, ICICI, PNB, among others Credit rating outlook cut from stable to negative

New Delhi, June 20
Global agency Fitch today cut credit rating outlook to negative from stable of 11 financial entities, including SBI, ICICI Bank, PNB and Axis Bank.
The action follows the revision earlier this week of India's outlook to negative.
"The outlook revision of the financial institutions reflects their close linkages with the sovereign by virtue of their high exposure to domestic counterparts and holdings of domestic sovereign debt," Fitch said in a statement.
The list of downgraded entities include six government banks (including an international banking subsidiary of a government bank), two private banks. These include Bank of Baroda, Bank of Baroda (New Zealand) Ltd (BOBNZ), Canara Bank, and IDBI Bank.
Besides two wholly owned government institutions, Export-Import Bank of India and Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd have also been similarly downgraded. Besides, the outlook of IDFC Ltd and Indian Railway Finance Corporation Ltd outlook has also become negative.
However, Fitch said the banks continue to have reasonable customer deposit base, domestic franchises and adequate capital.
The non-banking financial entities, meanwhile, lack the funding advantage, which puts them more at risk during times of increased market volatility, it said.
Fitch also said sovereign support for both the large banks and 'policy-type institutions' is expected to remain strong, with the former benefiting from their large share of system assets and deposits and the latter from their association with the government.
According to analysts, the cut in the rating outlook may raise the cost of overseas borrowings for such institutions.
Earlier this week, Fitch lowered India's credit rating outlook to negative, citing corruption, inadequate reforms, high inflation and slow growth.
India faces an "awkward combination" of slow growth and elevated inflation, Fitch had said, adding that the country "also faces structural challenges surrounding its investment climate in the form of corruption and inadequate economic reforms".
Standard and Poor's (S&P) had in April lowered India's rating outlook to negative from stable. It also warned on June 11 that the country may be the first in the BRIC grouping to falter and its sovereign credit rating may slip below investment grade. — PTI 

Tests will be in danger in 10 years, says Dravid

Mumbai, July 4
Rahul Dravid has cautioned that Test cricket will face a stiff survival challenge in a decade's time since children who are growing up watching and playing the shorter formats of the game may prefer easy money in the Twenty20 format over the traditional form of the game.

"I think today's youngsters like Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary have grown up watching and idealising Test cricket. It's (about) kids of my son's age, who have grown up watching T20 and IPL, and what those kids want, will be the challenge in 10 years' time," said Dravid at a book launch today.

"I don't see that as an immediate problem, I see it as a long-term issue. That challenge is going to arise in 10 years' time and we need to address that problem right now," said the batsman who was the proverbial rock at N. 3 for India in Tests for more than a decade and a half. Dravid, who holds the record for second highest runs scored in Test matches, said while the cash-rich IPL provides the opportunity for players to earn big bucks, children growing up with the game should be told that the real satisfaction comes by playing Test cricket around the world.

"I had gone through a degree in commerce and not very successfully. So I knew that the only option for me was to be a successful Test cricketer at that stage. Today the options are a lot more. People have the option of not playing Test cricket but still making money out of the game. Who is to blame kids for taking that option? I won't judge them on that," he said.

"I want to tell kids that the greatest satisfaction you are going to get is by playing Test cricket across these wonderful stadiums in the world. So don't sell yourself short," the former Indian skipper said.

Dravid, who took over as captain of India when Greg Chappell was the coach, said he always had felt in command of the team, contrary to the general belief that it was the controversial Aussie who ran the show.

"It was always my team. There is no doubt about that. Because Greg was a strong personality and because he himself was a great cricketer, because of the fanfare and publicity, at times it could come across as it was his team," said Dravid about.

"He can polarise a team with his strong personality. But I always thought it was my team. I never felt that he took a hard position when I wanted to do things differently," said the former captain.

"I thought he (Chappell) was a terrific man to talk batting with. He is the kind of a player who had grown up in a era of Australian cricket where they played the game and, at the end of the day, discussed the game. There was a lot that he could offer in terms of knowledge and experiences on how you could play the game," the 40-year-old former India star elaborated.

Dravid brushed aside queries about coaching the national side in the future: "Are you the one offering the job? I don't know. I have not been offered at this stage.

My Trip to Shirdi

This year,in march holiday's I went to shirdi which is in maharashtra. We went there by train 'Sachkhand'. It takes a very long time to reach shirdi so we get bored in train but somehow we manage it. we played a lots of games in train and interacted with sikh people who were going to hazoor shahib.

Starting our journey on 19th march , we reached there next day afternoon.In shirdi temperature was very high and hot weather. Firstly we booked hotel and take rest of 2 hours. In the evening, we went to sai baba temple which was very beautiful.

we were not allowed to click photo of temple.then we heard shirdi dhoop aarti which was very melodious.

 after listening to dhoop aarti we saw dwarkamai.in dwarkamai, saibaba's sitting place and chulha

were there.

next day we went to nasik to see other famous temple. firstly we saw trayambakeshwar temple

 

it is one of the 'jotirling' of lord shiva. This temple is full of achitecture and sculpture of

old times. shivling was very surprising as in centre of shivling ganga flows.

after this we went to kalaram temple. this temple was built before 400 years.In this temple idols of lord Rama, laxman and Sita are in black colour and naturally occured in river yamuna.

then we saw mukti dham . this temple has idols of all hindu gods .this temple is very beautiful.

after watching such a beautiful temples,we came in hotel in shirdi and in evening again went for dhoop aarti.next day, we went to shani shingnapur temple of lord shani. the most interesting fact about this is that here in shingnapur, houses and shops do not have doors. with lord shani's grace nobody can stole anything.

then we went to aurangabad. in aurangabad firstly we saw bhadra maruti temple of lord hanuman.in this temple idol of hanuman is in rest position. it is the only temple of its type in the world. lord hanuman came and taken rest here

after this we went to Ellora caves. we get a lot of knowledge about ancient architecture,sculptures made by kings.

 

after ellora tour we went to Bibi-ka-maqbara also known as mini tajmahal. it is like a copy of tajmahal. it was built by son of Aurangzeb, prince Azam Shah in memory of his mother , Rabia durrani. it was built in late 17th century.The comparison to the taj mahal has resulted in a general ignorance of the monument. This monument is also called the Dakkhani Taj (taj of deccan)

 after such a long tour we stayed in a hotel of aurangabad.next morning we had a flight to delhi.this was first time when I got a chance to sit in aeroplane. it was a wonderful experience in aeroplane.from delhi we reached phillaur by train.

it was an unforgettable trip for me and my family.

Interesting facts about India

• India is one of the largest exporter of computer software products. It exports software to over 90 countries

 

•          India originated Yoga about 5,000 years ago

India is home to the world's largest pilgrimage destination called the Vishnu Temple. The temple is located in the city of Tirupati. About an average of 30,000 people visit this temple donating about $6 million US dollars, everyday.