Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla has been picked in the 15-member Indian squad for the ICC World Twenty20 championship to be played in the West Indies from April 30 to May 16. Seamer R. Vinay Kumar has also been included.
The selectors have picked a wrist spinner in Chawla ahead of a second left-arm spinner in Pragyan Ojha — with Ravindra Jadeja being the automatic choice as a left-arm spinner/all-rounder. Moreover, Yuvraj Singh is also of the same ilk.
While Chawla's selection may have come out of a rational thought process — he can contribute with the bat too — the selection of Rohit Sharma is surprising.
Surprising omission
Till Thursday evening, Delhi's Virat Kohli was the front-runner for the specialist batsman's position because of his recent performances; he is a brilliant fielder too.
After being awarded the BCCI central contract for Rs. 40 lakh, Rohit has played just one ODI for India — against South Africa in February.
To be fair, he was laid low by injury and even missed a chance to make his Test debut against South Africa at Nagpur.
But, Kohli — who the BCCI has signed on in the Rs. 15 lakh group — was in exceptional form in the recent ODI series.
Ashish Nehra — in the Rs. 40 lakh group — who played his last match against South Africa on February 27 and has not turned out for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL this season, has been picked ahead of Ishant Sharma, R.P. Singh, S. Sreesanth, Munaf Patel and Sudip Tyagi.
Apart from Nehra, seamers Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and newcomer R.Vinay Kumar are also in the squad.
The squad: M.S. Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Vinay Kumar, Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla.
Women's team for the ICC T20 World Cup: Jhulan Goswami (captain), Mithali Raj, Poonam Raut, Sulakshana Naik, Anagha Deshpande, Rumeli Dhar, Amita Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Reema Malhotra, Diana David, Gouhar Sultana, Sonia Dabir, Priyanka Roy, Anjum Chopra.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Inter results by April- end
The process of valuation of Intermediate scripts has started two days ago and the results are expected to be released by April end.
The advanced supplementary exams will be held in June and the results would come out in July, the Board of Intermediate Secretary, G. Balaramaiah said.
The Intermediate exams of major subjects were completed on Thursday and there were very few takers for subjects like geology, geography and public administration.
Mr. Balaramaiah said the valuation of Sanskrit papers began two days ago while valuation of other papers would start from Saturday. Expressing satisfaction over the smooth conduct of the exams in trying conditions, Mr. Balaramaiah said the only aberration was the effort to leak the paper in a private college in Nellore. He said disaffiliation notice had been served on the college management giving them 15 days time for their reply.
Meanwhile, officials in Nellore said the local police got a hint from the media about the malpractice in the private college, and the police laid a trap to catch them red-handed.
It is said that there was already tremendous pressure on the police to let off the management and book the small fish. The college management is said to be very close to a senior Minister.
The advanced supplementary exams will be held in June and the results would come out in July, the Board of Intermediate Secretary, G. Balaramaiah said.
The Intermediate exams of major subjects were completed on Thursday and there were very few takers for subjects like geology, geography and public administration.
Mr. Balaramaiah said the valuation of Sanskrit papers began two days ago while valuation of other papers would start from Saturday. Expressing satisfaction over the smooth conduct of the exams in trying conditions, Mr. Balaramaiah said the only aberration was the effort to leak the paper in a private college in Nellore. He said disaffiliation notice had been served on the college management giving them 15 days time for their reply.
Meanwhile, officials in Nellore said the local police got a hint from the media about the malpractice in the private college, and the police laid a trap to catch them red-handed.
It is said that there was already tremendous pressure on the police to let off the management and book the small fish. The college management is said to be very close to a senior Minister.
“I wasn't keen on two portfolios”
He has presented a record 16 budgets working under various Congress Chief Ministers over the years, yet Chief Minister K. Rosaiah requested he not be given two portfolios when he was taken into the Ministry for the first time by M. Chenna Reddy in the 70s.
“Mr. Chenna Reddy took me in his car after the swearing-in ceremony and asked if there was any portfolio I was keen on. I requested him not to give me commercial taxes or civil supplies as the trading community might feel they need not to take any licences thinking I was their man,” remarked Mr. Rosaiah at a public function organised in Sanathnagar constituency on Thursday.
Recalling his close association with several Congress Chief Ministers, he said he learnt a lot of ministerial functions from Chenna Reddy and forecast a bright political future for local MLA M. Shashidhar Reddy. The Chief Minister opened a new Sanathnagar police station, a 33/kv substation and laid a stone for road widening from Erragadda FCI godowns to Fatehnagar flyover.
The 1.5 km road to be widened to 100 feet with 10 ft footpath on both sides is expected to cost Rs. 7.95 crore and 60 properties (public & private) are affected, 180 trees to be translocated or removed and 133 poles are to be shifted for the project with a timeline of six months.
Mr. Rosaiah said road widening programme should be done in tune with rising population and vehicles in the twin cities and at a quicker pace.
Adequate water supply was another challenge. About power cuts, he said steps were being taken to improve generation. He hoped that soon the State will not only be self-sufficient but also surplus in power.
Mr. Shashidhar Reddy showered praises on Mr. Rosaiah for the manner in which he was overcoming “obstacles” to serve the people. He urged him to release MLA funds liberally so as to tackle the water shortage in summer. A water feeder line being laid at a cost of Rs. 4.5 crore was nearing completion and will ensure better supply in the area.
Ministers Sabita Indra Reddy (Home), A. Ram Narayan Reddy (Municipal Administration), P. Lakshmaiah (Irrigation), Mayor Kartika Reddy and others were present.
“Mr. Chenna Reddy took me in his car after the swearing-in ceremony and asked if there was any portfolio I was keen on. I requested him not to give me commercial taxes or civil supplies as the trading community might feel they need not to take any licences thinking I was their man,” remarked Mr. Rosaiah at a public function organised in Sanathnagar constituency on Thursday.
Recalling his close association with several Congress Chief Ministers, he said he learnt a lot of ministerial functions from Chenna Reddy and forecast a bright political future for local MLA M. Shashidhar Reddy. The Chief Minister opened a new Sanathnagar police station, a 33/kv substation and laid a stone for road widening from Erragadda FCI godowns to Fatehnagar flyover.
The 1.5 km road to be widened to 100 feet with 10 ft footpath on both sides is expected to cost Rs. 7.95 crore and 60 properties (public & private) are affected, 180 trees to be translocated or removed and 133 poles are to be shifted for the project with a timeline of six months.
Mr. Rosaiah said road widening programme should be done in tune with rising population and vehicles in the twin cities and at a quicker pace.
Adequate water supply was another challenge. About power cuts, he said steps were being taken to improve generation. He hoped that soon the State will not only be self-sufficient but also surplus in power.
Mr. Shashidhar Reddy showered praises on Mr. Rosaiah for the manner in which he was overcoming “obstacles” to serve the people. He urged him to release MLA funds liberally so as to tackle the water shortage in summer. A water feeder line being laid at a cost of Rs. 4.5 crore was nearing completion and will ensure better supply in the area.
Ministers Sabita Indra Reddy (Home), A. Ram Narayan Reddy (Municipal Administration), P. Lakshmaiah (Irrigation), Mayor Kartika Reddy and others were present.
Six more bodies recovered at Stephen Court
Six more bodies were recovered at Stephen Court here on Friday, three days after a devastating fire broke out in the multi-storeyed building, pushing the death toll to 30.
But with six persons still untraced, it is feared that several bodies are buried beneath the rubble.
For the relatives of those reported missing, the nightmare continued, as the condition of the charred bodies raised difficulties in identification. While none claimed the bodies recovered on Thursday, a DNA examination was being conducted on samples collected from four victims to resolve disputes on their identity.
The families of the victims came to the morgue of the SSKM Hospital all through the day. For most of them, the experience was relived every time they were called for the identification. “Why was he calling me? Why didn't he do something to escape instead,” lamented the sisters of Bidyut Archarya, who is missing.
The building remained sealed for the third day, but some of the residents were allowed inside the portions of the structure considered safe for a short while to collect essentials from their homes.
Even as measures for improving fire safety standards at high-rise buildings were announced, another fire broke out at a four-storeyed house on Rabindra Sarani on Friday evening. Five fire tenders brought the blaze under control.
A committee of senior officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the Police, the fire brigade and the Power Department had been set up. It will inspect buildings that have been identified as vulnerable, Commissioner of Police Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti said.
A 200 personnel-strong civil defence emergency response force was being raised to conduct rescue operations, Minister of State for Civil Defence Srikumar Mukherjee said. It would become operational within two months.
But with six persons still untraced, it is feared that several bodies are buried beneath the rubble.
For the relatives of those reported missing, the nightmare continued, as the condition of the charred bodies raised difficulties in identification. While none claimed the bodies recovered on Thursday, a DNA examination was being conducted on samples collected from four victims to resolve disputes on their identity.
The families of the victims came to the morgue of the SSKM Hospital all through the day. For most of them, the experience was relived every time they were called for the identification. “Why was he calling me? Why didn't he do something to escape instead,” lamented the sisters of Bidyut Archarya, who is missing.
The building remained sealed for the third day, but some of the residents were allowed inside the portions of the structure considered safe for a short while to collect essentials from their homes.
Even as measures for improving fire safety standards at high-rise buildings were announced, another fire broke out at a four-storeyed house on Rabindra Sarani on Friday evening. Five fire tenders brought the blaze under control.
A committee of senior officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the Police, the fire brigade and the Power Department had been set up. It will inspect buildings that have been identified as vulnerable, Commissioner of Police Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti said.
A 200 personnel-strong civil defence emergency response force was being raised to conduct rescue operations, Minister of State for Civil Defence Srikumar Mukherjee said. It would become operational within two months.
Major fire in Army ammunition depot
A major fire broke out at a shed of one of the largest ammunitions depot of the Army at Panagarh in West Bengal's Bardhaman district in the early hours of Friday.
However, there was no report of any casualty.
According to defence sources, nearly 200 tonnes of small arms, explosives and shells were destroyed in the fire.
“The fire broke out at shed number 16 of the storehouse at 1.15 a.m. A crisis management team rushed to the site within five minutes and the fire-fighting machinery of the Army was immediately activated to douse the fire,” Wing Commander Mahesh Upasani of the Eastern Command told.
However, there was no report of any casualty.
According to defence sources, nearly 200 tonnes of small arms, explosives and shells were destroyed in the fire.
“The fire broke out at shed number 16 of the storehouse at 1.15 a.m. A crisis management team rushed to the site within five minutes and the fire-fighting machinery of the Army was immediately activated to douse the fire,” Wing Commander Mahesh Upasani of the Eastern Command told.
India testfires ‘Prithvi-II’ and ‘Dhanush’ missiles
India on Saturday successfully testfired indigenously developed ballistic missiles ’Prithvi—II’ and ‘Dhanush’ from different locations off the Orissa coast, adding more firepower to the armed forces.
“The tests were successful. Both the missiles testfired early today met all the parameters,” the director of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, S P Dash, told PTI.
While the ‘Prithvi-II’ was testfired from complex-3 of ITR Chandipur, 15 km from here, from a mobile launcher at around 0548 hours, the ‘Dhanush’ was fired from INS-Subhadra in the Bay of Bengal near Puri at around 0544 hours by the Navy personnel as part of user training exercise.
The test firing of the short-range, surface-to-surface ’Prithvi-II’ ballistic missile having a range of 295 km, which has already been inducted into the armed forces, was a user trial by the Army.
The sleek missile is “handled by the strategic force command”, the sources said.
Prithvi, the first ballistic missile developed under the country’s prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), has the capability to carry 500 kg of warhead and has liquid propulsion twine engine.
With a nine-metre length and one-metre diameter, Prithvi-II uses an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory and reach the targets with a few metre accuracy.
The entire trajectory of today’s trial was tracked down by a battery of sophisticated radars and an electro-optic telemetry stations were positioned in different locations for post-launch analysis, defence sources said.
The nuclear-capable ‘Dhanush’, the naval version of Prithvi, followed the pre-designated trajectory with text-book precision and two naval ships located near the target have tracked the splash, sources said.
The 350-km range missile will give the Navy the capability to attack enemy targets with great precision.
The sophisticated radar systems located along the coast monitored its entire trajectory, the sources said.
The single stage missile, weighing six tonnes, is powered by liquid propellants.
“The tests were successful. Both the missiles testfired early today met all the parameters,” the director of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, S P Dash, told PTI.
While the ‘Prithvi-II’ was testfired from complex-3 of ITR Chandipur, 15 km from here, from a mobile launcher at around 0548 hours, the ‘Dhanush’ was fired from INS-Subhadra in the Bay of Bengal near Puri at around 0544 hours by the Navy personnel as part of user training exercise.
The test firing of the short-range, surface-to-surface ’Prithvi-II’ ballistic missile having a range of 295 km, which has already been inducted into the armed forces, was a user trial by the Army.
The sleek missile is “handled by the strategic force command”, the sources said.
Prithvi, the first ballistic missile developed under the country’s prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), has the capability to carry 500 kg of warhead and has liquid propulsion twine engine.
With a nine-metre length and one-metre diameter, Prithvi-II uses an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory and reach the targets with a few metre accuracy.
The entire trajectory of today’s trial was tracked down by a battery of sophisticated radars and an electro-optic telemetry stations were positioned in different locations for post-launch analysis, defence sources said.
The nuclear-capable ‘Dhanush’, the naval version of Prithvi, followed the pre-designated trajectory with text-book precision and two naval ships located near the target have tracked the splash, sources said.
The 350-km range missile will give the Navy the capability to attack enemy targets with great precision.
The sophisticated radar systems located along the coast monitored its entire trajectory, the sources said.
The single stage missile, weighing six tonnes, is powered by liquid propellants.
S Korean naval ship sinks near N Korea; 46 missing
South Korean authorities were stepping up the search for sailors still missing hours after a naval ship sank near the disputed sea border with North Korea.
Navy and coast guard vessels as well as air force planes were searching the waters near South Korea’s Baeknyeong Island where the 1,200-ton “Cheonan” sank earlier Saturday during a routine patrolling mission.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said rescuers have picked up 58 sailors but 46 others are missing. Presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said President Lee Myung-bak ordered officials to quickly find the exact cause of the accident by keeping in mind all possibilities.
The president also reconvened a security meeting and instructed officials to make utmost rescue efforts.
Navy and coast guard vessels as well as air force planes were searching the waters near South Korea’s Baeknyeong Island where the 1,200-ton “Cheonan” sank earlier Saturday during a routine patrolling mission.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said rescuers have picked up 58 sailors but 46 others are missing. Presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said President Lee Myung-bak ordered officials to quickly find the exact cause of the accident by keeping in mind all possibilities.
The president also reconvened a security meeting and instructed officials to make utmost rescue efforts.
Sealink row: Amitabh hasn’t committed a crime, says Thackeray
Coming out in defence of old friend Amitabh Bachchan, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Saturday said the actor has done nothing wrong by attending the inauguration of the second phase of the Bandra—Worli Sea Link.
“Amitabh hasn’t committed a crime by attending the event,” Mr. Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ’Saamana’.
Lambasting Congress for “treating the actor as an untouchable”, Mr. Thackeray said “Shah Rukh Khan, who took cudgels on behalf of Pakistanis, will do for Congress, which is allergic to Amitabh.”
“Amitabh attending the function only added to the prestige of the event,” Mr. Thackeray said on the actor sharing the dias with Congress leaders at the sealink function.
Bachchan is not a thief, dacoit or a terrorist, Mr. Thackeray said.
The presence of Bachchan at the inauguration of second phase of the Sea Link a couple of days back had sparked a controversy with Congress leaders from Mumbai taking objection to Chief Minister Ashok Chavan sharing platform with the actor who is a brand ambassador for BJP-ruled Gujarat.
“Amitabh is targeted because he is brand ambassador of Gujarat. Ambani and Tata who live in Mumbai have invested heavily in Gujarat. Will anyone from Congress ask them why they were investing in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat,” Mr. Thackeray said.
The actor belongs to the nation and will remain so, he said.
“Amitabh hasn’t committed a crime by attending the event,” Mr. Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ’Saamana’.
Lambasting Congress for “treating the actor as an untouchable”, Mr. Thackeray said “Shah Rukh Khan, who took cudgels on behalf of Pakistanis, will do for Congress, which is allergic to Amitabh.”
“Amitabh attending the function only added to the prestige of the event,” Mr. Thackeray said on the actor sharing the dias with Congress leaders at the sealink function.
Bachchan is not a thief, dacoit or a terrorist, Mr. Thackeray said.
The presence of Bachchan at the inauguration of second phase of the Sea Link a couple of days back had sparked a controversy with Congress leaders from Mumbai taking objection to Chief Minister Ashok Chavan sharing platform with the actor who is a brand ambassador for BJP-ruled Gujarat.
“Amitabh is targeted because he is brand ambassador of Gujarat. Ambani and Tata who live in Mumbai have invested heavily in Gujarat. Will anyone from Congress ask them why they were investing in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat,” Mr. Thackeray said.
The actor belongs to the nation and will remain so, he said.
Narendra Modi likely to appear before SIT today
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is likely to appear before the Special Investigation Team today in connection with a 2002 post-Godhra riot case, sources in the SIT said.
The date was also confirmed earlier by Mr. Modi’s lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, who said March 27 was the mutually agreed date on which the BJP leader would appear before the Supreme Court-appointed probe team.
The venue and time of the deposition have been kept a closely-guarded secret.
Earlier, confusion prevailed over his appearance before the SIT with its chief R.K. Raghavan saying he would depose on March 21. But later, Mr. Modi in an open letter claimed that he was not summoned on that date.
SIT has summoned Mr. Modi to depose in connection with a complaint of Zakia Jaffery, widow of former Congress MP Eshan Jaffery, who was killed in the riot at Gulburg Society here along with 69 others.
If the Chief Minister appears before the probe panel, this will be for the first time that he would present himself for questioning in the post-Godhra riots that took place eight years ago.
The date was also confirmed earlier by Mr. Modi’s lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, who said March 27 was the mutually agreed date on which the BJP leader would appear before the Supreme Court-appointed probe team.
The venue and time of the deposition have been kept a closely-guarded secret.
Earlier, confusion prevailed over his appearance before the SIT with its chief R.K. Raghavan saying he would depose on March 21. But later, Mr. Modi in an open letter claimed that he was not summoned on that date.
SIT has summoned Mr. Modi to depose in connection with a complaint of Zakia Jaffery, widow of former Congress MP Eshan Jaffery, who was killed in the riot at Gulburg Society here along with 69 others.
If the Chief Minister appears before the probe panel, this will be for the first time that he would present himself for questioning in the post-Godhra riots that took place eight years ago.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Madhuri refuses to work with Saroj
A few months ago there were reports that ace choreographer Saroj Khan had approached her favourite dancing star Madhuri Dixit to play the lead in her Broadway show, based on the historical dancer Amrapali. But at the launch of a talent portal, Khan clarified that Madhuri won’t be a part of the show, though she was her first choice.
“Although I wanted Madhuri on board, her secretary (Rakesh Nath) refused stating that she can’t be a part of the show. The last minute refusal left me disappointed,” admitted Saroj, who has choreographed hit dance numbers like Ek Do Teen, Dhak Dhak, Dola Re and others with Madhuri.
The choreographer has now picked up an all-new cast for her show. “I am keen on bringing new talent to the silver screen and for the theatrical show.” Saroj also disclosed that noted writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar was to script this show but she “could not meet his exorbitant demands.”
“Anyway, now I have got through all the initial hiccups and we will present Amrapali in the month of October in London and we will take this show all over the world,” she adds.
“Although I wanted Madhuri on board, her secretary (Rakesh Nath) refused stating that she can’t be a part of the show. The last minute refusal left me disappointed,” admitted Saroj, who has choreographed hit dance numbers like Ek Do Teen, Dhak Dhak, Dola Re and others with Madhuri.
The choreographer has now picked up an all-new cast for her show. “I am keen on bringing new talent to the silver screen and for the theatrical show.” Saroj also disclosed that noted writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar was to script this show but she “could not meet his exorbitant demands.”
“Anyway, now I have got through all the initial hiccups and we will present Amrapali in the month of October in London and we will take this show all over the world,” she adds.
Chargers have the last laugh
A team that can laugh well laughs longest, and has the last laugh. And defending champions Deccan Chargers show how. Team bonding is at its best in the Chargers camp and powers them on, as this newspaper discovered during a freewheeling chat with the Bulls.
Captain Adam Gilchrist simplifies the success formula. “There are variations in levels and intensity in the squad, and the trick is to coordinate it as a collective group. We’ve managed to do that pretty well. The harder you work, the luckier you get.” Gilly acknowledges the role of seniors in shaping up the side. He picked out VVS Laxman and Chaminda Vaas as players who have been inspirational.
Coach Darren Lehmann chips in to say, “All seniors help the youngsters... they were self-coaching.” Gilly quips: “Wonder what you were doing.” Laughter. It’s this sort of bantering that keeps the team going, according to assistant coach Mike Young. “Part of it (team bonding) is having a huge sense of humour. Everyone can get on each other a bit and no one loses his temper or gets upset about it.”
Talking about pulling faster ones, Herschelle Gibbs comes across as the livewire of the squad. “The biggest thing for us is to mix and match the cultures,” says Lehmann. Gilly proves it with his newly acquired repertoire — Aap ka naam kyae haiey? Aap kaise ho? Aap ki neend achchi huey — he says, Oz style. He has some Telugu lines too, like Andaaru Bagunnaraa? (is everyone well) and Namaskaaram.
The captain’s favourite song is Pehli Nazar from Race. It has turned into a victory anthem, and is played on the team bus after every win. How do the superstar seniors gell with their junior mates? “There’s no segregation, it’s an open door policy. We enjoy each other’s company,” Gilly says, and points to Y. Venugopal Rao, T. Suman and Rahul Sharma as the best dancers on the team.
The Bulls are superstitious too. Vice-captain Rohit Sharma wants to be in rooms whose numbers add up to 5. Seam bowler R.P. Singh romances the stones while Symonds tries to wear something new every match. It could be gloves, socks, anything. The Chargers’ own rolling trophy, a pink pig, which was presented to the performer of each game last year, has been replaced by a black bull this time. And the boys are yearning to go that extra mile to lay their hands on it. Charge on!
Captain Adam Gilchrist simplifies the success formula. “There are variations in levels and intensity in the squad, and the trick is to coordinate it as a collective group. We’ve managed to do that pretty well. The harder you work, the luckier you get.” Gilly acknowledges the role of seniors in shaping up the side. He picked out VVS Laxman and Chaminda Vaas as players who have been inspirational.
Coach Darren Lehmann chips in to say, “All seniors help the youngsters... they were self-coaching.” Gilly quips: “Wonder what you were doing.” Laughter. It’s this sort of bantering that keeps the team going, according to assistant coach Mike Young. “Part of it (team bonding) is having a huge sense of humour. Everyone can get on each other a bit and no one loses his temper or gets upset about it.”
Talking about pulling faster ones, Herschelle Gibbs comes across as the livewire of the squad. “The biggest thing for us is to mix and match the cultures,” says Lehmann. Gilly proves it with his newly acquired repertoire — Aap ka naam kyae haiey? Aap kaise ho? Aap ki neend achchi huey — he says, Oz style. He has some Telugu lines too, like Andaaru Bagunnaraa? (is everyone well) and Namaskaaram.
The captain’s favourite song is Pehli Nazar from Race. It has turned into a victory anthem, and is played on the team bus after every win. How do the superstar seniors gell with their junior mates? “There’s no segregation, it’s an open door policy. We enjoy each other’s company,” Gilly says, and points to Y. Venugopal Rao, T. Suman and Rahul Sharma as the best dancers on the team.
The Bulls are superstitious too. Vice-captain Rohit Sharma wants to be in rooms whose numbers add up to 5. Seam bowler R.P. Singh romances the stones while Symonds tries to wear something new every match. It could be gloves, socks, anything. The Chargers’ own rolling trophy, a pink pig, which was presented to the performer of each game last year, has been replaced by a black bull this time. And the boys are yearning to go that extra mile to lay their hands on it. Charge on!
Pallam’s convoy kills five
Five persons died and over 10 suffered injuries when the escort vehicle of the minister of state for defence, Mr. M.M. Pallam Raju, hit an autorickshaw at Chodipallepeta in Kakinada region of East Godavari district on Thursday morning.
Police admitted the injured persons to nearby hospitals at Kakinada and Tuni. The condition of two of the injured is said to be critical.
There were seven women passengers in the autorickshaw. Five of them boarded it at Konapapapeta to go Yellayyapeta of Tondangi mandal and two others joined in at Chodipallipeta village.
As the autorickshaw was moving towards Yellayyapeta on the beach road at around 11.30 am, the minister’s convoy came from the opposite direction and an escort vehicle hit it.
Three passengers of the autorickshaw died on spot, another died on the way to a hospital, and two others were admitted to the government general hospital here. Those sitting in the escort vehicle were also injured in the mishap and were rushed to nearby hospital at Tuni in the district. The minister was unhurt, and the driver of the autorickshaw is absconding.
The dead were identified as Ms T. Vijayalakshmi, 30, Ms S. Satyavathi, 56, Ms T. Nallamma, 35, and Ms T. Poleramma, 37, of Konapapapeta of U. Kottapalli mandal, and A. Ratnam, 70, of Chodipallepeta.
After hearing about the incident, hundreds villagers rushed to the spot and blocked the minister and his convoy for more than two hours, demanding exgratia.The Tondangi police has registered a case under Section 304 (A) for causing death by negligence.
Police admitted the injured persons to nearby hospitals at Kakinada and Tuni. The condition of two of the injured is said to be critical.
There were seven women passengers in the autorickshaw. Five of them boarded it at Konapapapeta to go Yellayyapeta of Tondangi mandal and two others joined in at Chodipallipeta village.
As the autorickshaw was moving towards Yellayyapeta on the beach road at around 11.30 am, the minister’s convoy came from the opposite direction and an escort vehicle hit it.
Three passengers of the autorickshaw died on spot, another died on the way to a hospital, and two others were admitted to the government general hospital here. Those sitting in the escort vehicle were also injured in the mishap and were rushed to nearby hospital at Tuni in the district. The minister was unhurt, and the driver of the autorickshaw is absconding.
The dead were identified as Ms T. Vijayalakshmi, 30, Ms S. Satyavathi, 56, Ms T. Nallamma, 35, and Ms T. Poleramma, 37, of Konapapapeta of U. Kottapalli mandal, and A. Ratnam, 70, of Chodipallepeta.
After hearing about the incident, hundreds villagers rushed to the spot and blocked the minister and his convoy for more than two hours, demanding exgratia.The Tondangi police has registered a case under Section 304 (A) for causing death by negligence.
Court refuses to entertain Nityananda’s bail plea
The Karnataka High Court on Thursday refused to pass orders on an anticipatory bail application filed by self-styled godman Nityananda, against whom police have registered cases for his alleged involvement in sleaze activities.
After hearing the counsel for Nityananda, Justice Arali Nagaraj termed as ‘unfounded’ the godman’s apprehension that he could be arrested, pending disposal of the case and directed him to approach the proper forum to seek anticipatory bail.
The court also rejected his plea for staying of all the proceedings, including investigation.
Justice Nagaraj ordered CID SP Yogappa, investigating the case, to submit all documents after translating it from Tamil to English and Kannada, to the court before March 30.
Nityananda has already moved the jurisdictional sessions court in Ramanagar two days ago for bail.
Nityananda is at the centre of a controversy after video footage of his alleged sleazy acts was telecast on TV channels in Tamil Nadu on March 2. The swami, whose whereabouts are not known, has claimed that the images have been morphed and he had not done anything illegal or against the law.
After hearing the counsel for Nityananda, Justice Arali Nagaraj termed as ‘unfounded’ the godman’s apprehension that he could be arrested, pending disposal of the case and directed him to approach the proper forum to seek anticipatory bail.
The court also rejected his plea for staying of all the proceedings, including investigation.
Justice Nagaraj ordered CID SP Yogappa, investigating the case, to submit all documents after translating it from Tamil to English and Kannada, to the court before March 30.
Nityananda has already moved the jurisdictional sessions court in Ramanagar two days ago for bail.
Nityananda is at the centre of a controversy after video footage of his alleged sleazy acts was telecast on TV channels in Tamil Nadu on March 2. The swami, whose whereabouts are not known, has claimed that the images have been morphed and he had not done anything illegal or against the law.
Interim relief to AP on Muslim reservation
The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday received a major boost with the Supreme Court, in an interim order, upholding the validity of four per cent reservation provided to backward members of Muslim community in the State.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices J.M. Panchal and B.S. Chauhan, however, referred the issue to a Constitution bench to examine the validity of the impugned Act since it involved important issues of the Constitution.
The bench passed the direction while dealing with a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the government against an order of Andhra Pradesh High Court which had earlier struck down the provision as being unconstitutional.
A seven-judge Constitution bench of the High Court had by a majority judgement of 5:2 held the Andhra Pradesh Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of Muslims Act, 2007 “unsustainable” and violative of Article 14 (equality before law) and other provisions pertaining to prohibition of discrimination by State on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
The High Court, while setting aside the state Act, had also quashed a subsequent 2007 government order allocating four per cent reservation to Muslim groups in educational institutions and jobs.
The State had moved a bill in the Assembly on the basis of a report submitted to it by Andhra Pradesh Commission for Backward Classes (APBC). The bill was later passed by the Assembly.
The report had recommended that the socially and educationally backward should be adequately represented in the State.
The High Court held that the recommendation made by the APBC was unsustainable as it failed to evolve and spell out proper and relevant criteria for identification of social and educational backwardness and inadequate representation in public employment among classes or persons belonging to Muslim community.
It said the data was not collected properly by the APBC for determining the social and educational backwardness of the Muslims in the state.
The High Court said the Commission relied on data collected and observations made by Anthropological Survey of India which was meant to make an anthropological profile of Indian population and has no relevance to the affirmative action or reservation under Article 15(4) and 16 (4) of the Constitution which enables a State to make law on reservation.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices J.M. Panchal and B.S. Chauhan, however, referred the issue to a Constitution bench to examine the validity of the impugned Act since it involved important issues of the Constitution.
The bench passed the direction while dealing with a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the government against an order of Andhra Pradesh High Court which had earlier struck down the provision as being unconstitutional.
A seven-judge Constitution bench of the High Court had by a majority judgement of 5:2 held the Andhra Pradesh Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of Muslims Act, 2007 “unsustainable” and violative of Article 14 (equality before law) and other provisions pertaining to prohibition of discrimination by State on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
The High Court, while setting aside the state Act, had also quashed a subsequent 2007 government order allocating four per cent reservation to Muslim groups in educational institutions and jobs.
The State had moved a bill in the Assembly on the basis of a report submitted to it by Andhra Pradesh Commission for Backward Classes (APBC). The bill was later passed by the Assembly.
The report had recommended that the socially and educationally backward should be adequately represented in the State.
The High Court held that the recommendation made by the APBC was unsustainable as it failed to evolve and spell out proper and relevant criteria for identification of social and educational backwardness and inadequate representation in public employment among classes or persons belonging to Muslim community.
It said the data was not collected properly by the APBC for determining the social and educational backwardness of the Muslims in the state.
The High Court said the Commission relied on data collected and observations made by Anthropological Survey of India which was meant to make an anthropological profile of Indian population and has no relevance to the affirmative action or reservation under Article 15(4) and 16 (4) of the Constitution which enables a State to make law on reservation.
MIM, TDP welcome Supreme Court order
The Majlis Ittehadul-e-Muslimeen on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court’s order lifting the stay on implementation of four per cent reservation in jobs and education for economically-backward Muslims and said this should be an “eye-opener” to those who opposed the reservations.
“The Supreme Court’s order today should be an eye-opener to those who opposed the reservation. Reservation is very much essential for the uplift of socially and economically-backward Muslims,” MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi told PTI.
With the Supreme Court lifting the stay on the High Court judgement quashing the reservation, the academic future of thousands of Muslim boys and girls would be protected, he pointed out.
“It is high time that the Government of India implements the recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Committee in relation to reservation for Muslims,” Mr. Owaisi said.
The Telugu Desam Party too welcomed the Supreme Court order.
“The government should argue the case more effectively in the Supreme Court and ensure that the reservations for Muslims are fully protected,” TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu said.
“The Supreme Court’s order today should be an eye-opener to those who opposed the reservation. Reservation is very much essential for the uplift of socially and economically-backward Muslims,” MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi told PTI.
With the Supreme Court lifting the stay on the High Court judgement quashing the reservation, the academic future of thousands of Muslim boys and girls would be protected, he pointed out.
“It is high time that the Government of India implements the recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Committee in relation to reservation for Muslims,” Mr. Owaisi said.
The Telugu Desam Party too welcomed the Supreme Court order.
“The government should argue the case more effectively in the Supreme Court and ensure that the reservations for Muslims are fully protected,” TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu said.
Videocon plans huge outlay on mobile services
The Videocon Group plans to invest around Rs. 14,000 crore in Videocon Mobile Services over the next three years. Videocon Telecommunications Limited, a group company, plans one of the fastest sequential roll-outs covering 100 key cities/towns over the next 100 days.
Launching its GSM mobile services here on Thursday, Venugopal Dhoot, Chairman, Videocon Group, told presspersons that as part of its roll-out programmes, the company launched its services in the Tamil Nadu circle on Thursday. Similarly, it would roll out its mobile services in key cities across Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Prasad, Maharashtra and Mumbai by September-end. Launching a future-ready 2.75G EDGE GSM network, Videocon Mobile Services, state-of-the-art value-added services and superior customer services, Mr. Dhoot said Videocon Mobile Services would offer an unprecedented sub-one-paisa effective tariff, which was designed to suit all pockets with a tariff plan that was transparent and simple.
He said the network had integrated the expertise of global telecom industry leaders by partnering them in creating a future-ready infrastructure. The company has partnered Nokia Siemens Networks, Cisco, IBM, Amdocs, Gemalto, Comverse, Avaya, Wipro, Oracle and Huawei. A wide array of enhanced voice, data and SMS services would be made available to Videocon Mobile Services subscribers. The company would set up eight centres across the country, where customers would be ably supported by representatives in 15 Indian languages. About the Tamil Nadu circle, Aravind Santhanam, Chief Operating Officer, said Videocon planned to invest Rs. 1,500 crore in Tamil Nadu for mobile services business and it would provide 20,000 jobs in the State. The company would leverage a network of 3,400 base transceiver stations to deliver superior services to subscribers across 550 towns in Tamil Nadu within the coming week.
The brand would have a retail presence in over 19,000 outlets from day one and planned to cover 50,000 outlets within one year, offering easy access to customers across the State.
Launching its GSM mobile services here on Thursday, Venugopal Dhoot, Chairman, Videocon Group, told presspersons that as part of its roll-out programmes, the company launched its services in the Tamil Nadu circle on Thursday. Similarly, it would roll out its mobile services in key cities across Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Prasad, Maharashtra and Mumbai by September-end. Launching a future-ready 2.75G EDGE GSM network, Videocon Mobile Services, state-of-the-art value-added services and superior customer services, Mr. Dhoot said Videocon Mobile Services would offer an unprecedented sub-one-paisa effective tariff, which was designed to suit all pockets with a tariff plan that was transparent and simple.
He said the network had integrated the expertise of global telecom industry leaders by partnering them in creating a future-ready infrastructure. The company has partnered Nokia Siemens Networks, Cisco, IBM, Amdocs, Gemalto, Comverse, Avaya, Wipro, Oracle and Huawei. A wide array of enhanced voice, data and SMS services would be made available to Videocon Mobile Services subscribers. The company would set up eight centres across the country, where customers would be ably supported by representatives in 15 Indian languages. About the Tamil Nadu circle, Aravind Santhanam, Chief Operating Officer, said Videocon planned to invest Rs. 1,500 crore in Tamil Nadu for mobile services business and it would provide 20,000 jobs in the State. The company would leverage a network of 3,400 base transceiver stations to deliver superior services to subscribers across 550 towns in Tamil Nadu within the coming week.
The brand would have a retail presence in over 19,000 outlets from day one and planned to cover 50,000 outlets within one year, offering easy access to customers across the State.
'India second most spam originator worldwide'
Indian is the second most spam originator worldwide, with 10.98 per cent of spam being sent globally from Indian IP addresses, according to a study.
Brazil, Vietnam, Korea and U.S. are among the top five countries from which most spam was sent during the first two months of 2010, said the study by PandaLabs, Panda Security’s malware analysis and detection laboratory.
The five million emails analysed by PandaLabs came from nearly one million different IP addresses, meaning that on average, each address was responsible for five spam messages.
And, the cities from which spam was being sent, Seoul topped the list, followed by Hanoi, New Delhi, Bogota, Sao Paulo and Bangkok.
The spam messages themselves are used primarily to distribute malware or sell illicit products, such as videos or photos of Brazilian girls.
Brazil, Vietnam, Korea and U.S. are among the top five countries from which most spam was sent during the first two months of 2010, said the study by PandaLabs, Panda Security’s malware analysis and detection laboratory.
The five million emails analysed by PandaLabs came from nearly one million different IP addresses, meaning that on average, each address was responsible for five spam messages.
And, the cities from which spam was being sent, Seoul topped the list, followed by Hanoi, New Delhi, Bogota, Sao Paulo and Bangkok.
The spam messages themselves are used primarily to distribute malware or sell illicit products, such as videos or photos of Brazilian girls.
World’s tallest tower to ‘go dark’ for Earth Hour
Burj Khalifa, the tallest man-made structure, will join tens of thousands of iconic buildings and landmarks from across the world for the Earth Hour on March 27.
To mark the occasion, the golden glow that cascades down the 828-metre tower will be turned off.
Other local landmarks such as Burj Al Arab, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai Chamber of Commerce, Abu Dhabi Tower of Commerce and Hyatt Regency will also embrace darkness to express solidarity.
Expressing appreciation for the record number of participants this year, Earth Hour, in a statement, said Burj Khalifa was the epitome of global cooperation and unwavering determination and, hence, perfectly reflected the campaign’s ideals.
Earth Hour Executive Director Andy Ridley said growing number of participants symbolised the campaign’s popularity and the world’s resolve to save the planet.
Ridley has seen the campaign grow from a one-city affair in 2007 to more than 4,000 cities in 2009.
“Earth Hour demonstrates the determination of the world’s citizens for a better and healthier world. It is an opportunity for the global community to speak in one voice on the issue of climate change.”
When contacted, Burj Khalifa representatives were unavailable for comment.
Apart from man-made structures, some of the world’s best known natural landmarks, including the Table Mountain and the Victoria Falls, will also join the campaign this year.
To mark the occasion, the golden glow that cascades down the 828-metre tower will be turned off.
Other local landmarks such as Burj Al Arab, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai Chamber of Commerce, Abu Dhabi Tower of Commerce and Hyatt Regency will also embrace darkness to express solidarity.
Expressing appreciation for the record number of participants this year, Earth Hour, in a statement, said Burj Khalifa was the epitome of global cooperation and unwavering determination and, hence, perfectly reflected the campaign’s ideals.
Earth Hour Executive Director Andy Ridley said growing number of participants symbolised the campaign’s popularity and the world’s resolve to save the planet.
Ridley has seen the campaign grow from a one-city affair in 2007 to more than 4,000 cities in 2009.
“Earth Hour demonstrates the determination of the world’s citizens for a better and healthier world. It is an opportunity for the global community to speak in one voice on the issue of climate change.”
When contacted, Burj Khalifa representatives were unavailable for comment.
Apart from man-made structures, some of the world’s best known natural landmarks, including the Table Mountain and the Victoria Falls, will also join the campaign this year.
People’s addiction to networking sites on rise: study
People’s addiction to social networking sites is fast on the rise, according to a study which said an increasing number of Facebook and Twitter users check their accounts first thing in the morning while some look at their social media messages even while having sex.
The study conducted by consumer electronics shopping site Retrevo said 53 per cent of people surveyed check their Facebook/Twitter accounts as soon as they get up in the morning, even “before getting out of bed”. Nearly 31 per cent say “this is how I get my morning news“.
“What is it about social media that causes people to spend so much of their precious time trading information with friends, family and even giant corporations? Of course, we already know the answer; it is fun and can be rewarding both socially and financially,” Retrevo’s Director of Community & Content Andrew Eisner said.
The Gadgetology study asked consumers how they felt about being interrupted at various times and occasions for an electronic message. While 33 per cent said they did not mind being interrupted by message updates “during a meeting”, 76 per cent said they can take a break from their meal to check their accounts.
Seventeen per cent said they would read a message on Facebook or Twitter during sex, while 63 per cent said they would check out a message while in the toilet.
Thirty-four per cent of the respondents said they would check their social networking accounts first thing in the morning, before switching on the TV. About 30 per cent of those surveyed said they check or update their Facebook/Twitter accounts whenever they wake up in the night.
People under the age of 25 were more likely to lose sleep keeping an eye on their friends’ posts during the night, the study said. iPhone owners stand out in this study as more involved with social media. They use Facebook and Twitter more often and in more places.
“With over 31 per cent of social media users saying checking Facebook and Twitter first thing in the morning is how they get their morning “news”, could we be witnessing the first signs of social media services beginning to replace ’Good Morning America’ as the source for what’s going on in the world?” the study said.
In more evidence that social media is becoming addictive, 56 per cent of its users said they need to check Facebook at least once a day, while 29 per cent said they can go only a couple of hours without checking their accounts.
Thirty-five per cent said they have to check their accounts at least a few times in a day. The sample size for the survey was over 1000 people across the United States.
According to Facebook, it has more than 400 million active users across the world. Some estimates say Twitter ended 2009 with over 75 million user accounts.
The study conducted by consumer electronics shopping site Retrevo said 53 per cent of people surveyed check their Facebook/Twitter accounts as soon as they get up in the morning, even “before getting out of bed”. Nearly 31 per cent say “this is how I get my morning news“.
“What is it about social media that causes people to spend so much of their precious time trading information with friends, family and even giant corporations? Of course, we already know the answer; it is fun and can be rewarding both socially and financially,” Retrevo’s Director of Community & Content Andrew Eisner said.
The Gadgetology study asked consumers how they felt about being interrupted at various times and occasions for an electronic message. While 33 per cent said they did not mind being interrupted by message updates “during a meeting”, 76 per cent said they can take a break from their meal to check their accounts.
Seventeen per cent said they would read a message on Facebook or Twitter during sex, while 63 per cent said they would check out a message while in the toilet.
Thirty-four per cent of the respondents said they would check their social networking accounts first thing in the morning, before switching on the TV. About 30 per cent of those surveyed said they check or update their Facebook/Twitter accounts whenever they wake up in the night.
People under the age of 25 were more likely to lose sleep keeping an eye on their friends’ posts during the night, the study said. iPhone owners stand out in this study as more involved with social media. They use Facebook and Twitter more often and in more places.
“With over 31 per cent of social media users saying checking Facebook and Twitter first thing in the morning is how they get their morning “news”, could we be witnessing the first signs of social media services beginning to replace ’Good Morning America’ as the source for what’s going on in the world?” the study said.
In more evidence that social media is becoming addictive, 56 per cent of its users said they need to check Facebook at least once a day, while 29 per cent said they can go only a couple of hours without checking their accounts.
Thirty-five per cent said they have to check their accounts at least a few times in a day. The sample size for the survey was over 1000 people across the United States.
According to Facebook, it has more than 400 million active users across the world. Some estimates say Twitter ended 2009 with over 75 million user accounts.
Recovering disk space in Windows
Large hard drives may be plentiful these days, but you can still face storage constraints.
You could be coping with a small hard drive provided by your company. Or maybe you’re trying to squeeze some life out of an older hard drive that you aren’t ready to upgrade.
Those splurging on today’s fast solid state drives (SSDs) are pleased with their performance, but must constantly worry about running out of disk space, as SSDs have a lower capacity than traditional drives.
Bottom line: it’s still important to know how to recover some disk space, while retaining the applications that you need. Here’s a checklist of how to proceed.
** What’s eating your drive? You cannot begin to know how to recover hard-drive space until you can get an overview of which files and folders are occupying the most space.
Windows doesn’t give you any built-in tools for seeing, at a glance, just how large some folders are relative to others. Luckily, you can turn to the free FolderSize (http://sourceforge.net/projects/foldersize).
Install this open source program and your Windows Explorer file manager will be enhanced with a “folder size” option in the file and folder display area. Just click on a drive, and right-click one of the column headings in the file pane (name, date modified, type, etc.).
There, in the right-click menu, you’ll see a folder size option.
Select it and a new folder size column appears. In it, Windows will calculate and display the total size of the folders on your hard drive. Double-click a folder to drill one level down, activate folder size, and you’ll see the sizes of the subfolders.
You can use this tool to quickly hone in on disk—eating files and folders. Without it, you’re largely left guessing about where all of your disk space has gone. Once you’ve located the problem areas on your hard drive, you can determine how to proceed.
** Delete hibernate files When Windows is set up to hibernate, it creates a hidden file called Hiberfil.sys that’s large enough to hold the contents of installed memory. That means the file could be big -- multiple gigabytes -- and therefore consume extra disk space that you might need for other purposes.
To get rid of the file and free up disk space, you’ll need to turn the hibernation feature in Windows off. To do so in Vista or Windows 7, open the Start menu and type “power options.” Select the Power Options entry.
In the resulting Select a Power Plan dialog box, click “Change plan settings” for the currently selected power plan. In the next dialog box, click “Change advanced power settings.” From the Power Option dialog box that appears, expand the Sleep entry, followed by the Hibernate entry, and then change the Hibernate setting to “Never.” Click OK. Windows will delete the Hiberfil.sys, and you should notice considerably more disk space almost immediately.
** Delete internet files The temporary internet files folder can start to overflow with thousands of tiny files, easily sapping multiple gigabytes on your main drive.
It’s easiest to use the Windows Disk Cleanup utility, which is included with every copy of Windows, to delete these. The added benefit is that you can use the tool to delete other types of files as well.
Open the Start menu and type “disk cleanup.” Click the first entry you see, which will start the Disk Cleanup wizard. Select the drive you wish to clean, and in the following dialog box, you’ll be able to select the types of files you want to remove. Temporary internet files will be among them.
** Restrain the Recycle Bin If you find yourself deleting files constantly in an attempt to conserve drive space, but feel like you’re fighting an uphill battle, the problem could be that the Windows Recycle Bin is reserving too much space for keeping track of deleted files. Right-click the Recycle Bin and select Properties to remedy the situation.
In the Recycle Bin Properties dialog box, you can do two important things: determine the maximum amount of disk space per drive that is reserved for tracking deletions and establish whether to have the Recycle Bin active on a particular drive. Adjust or disable the Recycle Bin on a per—drive basis, and you should see and retain more usable disk space.
** More obvious choices There are plenty of other ways you can free up disk space. For instance, move your data files to another drive or partition.
Segregating your files by type is a wise move anyway, since you’ll then be able to back up just certain types of files with ease.
Also, you might want to consider employing Windows’ little-used disk and file compression feature. It’s available only at the drive level.
To use it, right-click your C drive (or another drive, if appropriate) and click Properties from the pop-up menu. On the General tab in the resulting Properties dialog box, select the option labelled “Compress this drive to save disk space.” From that point forward, Windows will use compression techniques to reduce the amount of disk space that files require. The downside will be some extra processing overhead, but on fast machines this should not result in much of a performance hit.
You can also use a free tool such as 7-Zip (http://www.7—zip.org) to compress individual files or folders. This approach to increasing disk space works best when you have a lot of highly compressible files on your drive.
Some types of files, such as those created by standard office applications, are good candidates for file-level compression. Other types such as jpg images, which are already compressed, will not benefit much from additional compression.
You could be coping with a small hard drive provided by your company. Or maybe you’re trying to squeeze some life out of an older hard drive that you aren’t ready to upgrade.
Those splurging on today’s fast solid state drives (SSDs) are pleased with their performance, but must constantly worry about running out of disk space, as SSDs have a lower capacity than traditional drives.
Bottom line: it’s still important to know how to recover some disk space, while retaining the applications that you need. Here’s a checklist of how to proceed.
** What’s eating your drive? You cannot begin to know how to recover hard-drive space until you can get an overview of which files and folders are occupying the most space.
Windows doesn’t give you any built-in tools for seeing, at a glance, just how large some folders are relative to others. Luckily, you can turn to the free FolderSize (http://sourceforge.net/projects/foldersize).
Install this open source program and your Windows Explorer file manager will be enhanced with a “folder size” option in the file and folder display area. Just click on a drive, and right-click one of the column headings in the file pane (name, date modified, type, etc.).
There, in the right-click menu, you’ll see a folder size option.
Select it and a new folder size column appears. In it, Windows will calculate and display the total size of the folders on your hard drive. Double-click a folder to drill one level down, activate folder size, and you’ll see the sizes of the subfolders.
You can use this tool to quickly hone in on disk—eating files and folders. Without it, you’re largely left guessing about where all of your disk space has gone. Once you’ve located the problem areas on your hard drive, you can determine how to proceed.
** Delete hibernate files When Windows is set up to hibernate, it creates a hidden file called Hiberfil.sys that’s large enough to hold the contents of installed memory. That means the file could be big -- multiple gigabytes -- and therefore consume extra disk space that you might need for other purposes.
To get rid of the file and free up disk space, you’ll need to turn the hibernation feature in Windows off. To do so in Vista or Windows 7, open the Start menu and type “power options.” Select the Power Options entry.
In the resulting Select a Power Plan dialog box, click “Change plan settings” for the currently selected power plan. In the next dialog box, click “Change advanced power settings.” From the Power Option dialog box that appears, expand the Sleep entry, followed by the Hibernate entry, and then change the Hibernate setting to “Never.” Click OK. Windows will delete the Hiberfil.sys, and you should notice considerably more disk space almost immediately.
** Delete internet files The temporary internet files folder can start to overflow with thousands of tiny files, easily sapping multiple gigabytes on your main drive.
It’s easiest to use the Windows Disk Cleanup utility, which is included with every copy of Windows, to delete these. The added benefit is that you can use the tool to delete other types of files as well.
Open the Start menu and type “disk cleanup.” Click the first entry you see, which will start the Disk Cleanup wizard. Select the drive you wish to clean, and in the following dialog box, you’ll be able to select the types of files you want to remove. Temporary internet files will be among them.
** Restrain the Recycle Bin If you find yourself deleting files constantly in an attempt to conserve drive space, but feel like you’re fighting an uphill battle, the problem could be that the Windows Recycle Bin is reserving too much space for keeping track of deleted files. Right-click the Recycle Bin and select Properties to remedy the situation.
In the Recycle Bin Properties dialog box, you can do two important things: determine the maximum amount of disk space per drive that is reserved for tracking deletions and establish whether to have the Recycle Bin active on a particular drive. Adjust or disable the Recycle Bin on a per—drive basis, and you should see and retain more usable disk space.
** More obvious choices There are plenty of other ways you can free up disk space. For instance, move your data files to another drive or partition.
Segregating your files by type is a wise move anyway, since you’ll then be able to back up just certain types of files with ease.
Also, you might want to consider employing Windows’ little-used disk and file compression feature. It’s available only at the drive level.
To use it, right-click your C drive (or another drive, if appropriate) and click Properties from the pop-up menu. On the General tab in the resulting Properties dialog box, select the option labelled “Compress this drive to save disk space.” From that point forward, Windows will use compression techniques to reduce the amount of disk space that files require. The downside will be some extra processing overhead, but on fast machines this should not result in much of a performance hit.
You can also use a free tool such as 7-Zip (http://www.7—zip.org) to compress individual files or folders. This approach to increasing disk space works best when you have a lot of highly compressible files on your drive.
Some types of files, such as those created by standard office applications, are good candidates for file-level compression. Other types such as jpg images, which are already compressed, will not benefit much from additional compression.
Supreme Court to have woman judge
The Supreme Court will very soon have a woman judge, after more than three years.
The Supreme Court collegium, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, has recommended the elevation of Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court Gyan Sudha Misra as a Supreme Court judge.
Justice Misra will be the fourth woman judge of the Supreme Court, after Fatima Beevi, Sujata Manohar, and Ruma Paul, who retired in June 2006.
The collegium has also recommended the elevation of Madras High Court Chief Justice H.L. Gokhale as a Supreme Court judge.
The collegium took these decisions at a meeting on Tuesday.
With these elevations, the strength of judges will go up to 29, as against the sanctioned strength of 31.
President Pratibha Patil had raised questions whether seniority was being overlooked in the appointment of some judges, when Justice C.K. Prasad was elevated to the Supreme Court. She had also suggested the appointment of a woman judge.
Highly placed sources said the collegium had considered the President's suggestions and decided to adhere to seniority in appointment.
While Justice Misra, who hails from Bihar, is the senior-most among women judges, Justice Gokhale, who hails from Maharashtra, is the senior-most among male judges.
The recommendations will now be processed by the Union Law Ministry before they are referred to the Prime Minister's Office. The file will then be sent to the President.
The Supreme Court collegium, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, has recommended the elevation of Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court Gyan Sudha Misra as a Supreme Court judge.
Justice Misra will be the fourth woman judge of the Supreme Court, after Fatima Beevi, Sujata Manohar, and Ruma Paul, who retired in June 2006.
The collegium has also recommended the elevation of Madras High Court Chief Justice H.L. Gokhale as a Supreme Court judge.
The collegium took these decisions at a meeting on Tuesday.
With these elevations, the strength of judges will go up to 29, as against the sanctioned strength of 31.
President Pratibha Patil had raised questions whether seniority was being overlooked in the appointment of some judges, when Justice C.K. Prasad was elevated to the Supreme Court. She had also suggested the appointment of a woman judge.
Highly placed sources said the collegium had considered the President's suggestions and decided to adhere to seniority in appointment.
While Justice Misra, who hails from Bihar, is the senior-most among women judges, Justice Gokhale, who hails from Maharashtra, is the senior-most among male judges.
The recommendations will now be processed by the Union Law Ministry before they are referred to the Prime Minister's Office. The file will then be sent to the President.
Get ready for sequel after sequel in 2011
Next year, 2011, is going to be the year of sequels in Bollywood with as many as five blockbusters getting ready with the next instalment of their stories -- “Race 2”, “Dhoom 3”, “Wanted 2”, “Partner 2” and “Don 2”.
Like the 2008 hit action “Race”, “Race 2” is also directed by Abbas-Mustan and produced under the Tips Films banner. The original, which explored themes of sibling rivalry, betrayal and passion, starred Anil Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu and Katrina Kaif in pivotal roles.
Except Bipasha Basu, the directors plan to retain the same cast for the sequel. It was reported that Bipasha would be replaced by another actress, although nothing is official at the moment.
The other sequel in the works is “Partner 2”. The original starring Govinda, Salman Khan, Katrina and Lara Dutta released in 2007.
“Partner 2” was supposed to release this year, but the shooting dates got postponed till 2011. The sequel will retain its original cast.
Boney Kapoor, producer of the Salman Khan-starrer “Wanted”, is also planning to launch the film’s second part next year.
“Wanted”, a remake of Telugu film “Pokiri”, was directed by southern dancing star Prabhu Deva and also starred Ayesha Takia.
The third instalment of action film “Dhoom” will also make an appearance next year. While “Dhoom” released in 2004, “Dhoom 2” hit screens in 2006. Now, after a gap of five years, “Dhoom 3” is expected to release in 2011.
It was reported that Aditya Chopra will himself direct “Dhoom 3”, which will have some alterations in the star cast.
Later in the year releases “Don 2”, a sequel to Farhan Akhtar’s remake of the 1978 film “Don” (2006).
The crime thriller, directed, co-written and co-produced by Farhan Akhtar, will star Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal, Ishaa Koppikar, Boman Irani and Om Puri all reprising their roles from the previous film.
Going by the list, it seems that audiences will have only sequels to choose from the plate in 2011.
Like the 2008 hit action “Race”, “Race 2” is also directed by Abbas-Mustan and produced under the Tips Films banner. The original, which explored themes of sibling rivalry, betrayal and passion, starred Anil Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu and Katrina Kaif in pivotal roles.
Except Bipasha Basu, the directors plan to retain the same cast for the sequel. It was reported that Bipasha would be replaced by another actress, although nothing is official at the moment.
The other sequel in the works is “Partner 2”. The original starring Govinda, Salman Khan, Katrina and Lara Dutta released in 2007.
“Partner 2” was supposed to release this year, but the shooting dates got postponed till 2011. The sequel will retain its original cast.
Boney Kapoor, producer of the Salman Khan-starrer “Wanted”, is also planning to launch the film’s second part next year.
“Wanted”, a remake of Telugu film “Pokiri”, was directed by southern dancing star Prabhu Deva and also starred Ayesha Takia.
The third instalment of action film “Dhoom” will also make an appearance next year. While “Dhoom” released in 2004, “Dhoom 2” hit screens in 2006. Now, after a gap of five years, “Dhoom 3” is expected to release in 2011.
It was reported that Aditya Chopra will himself direct “Dhoom 3”, which will have some alterations in the star cast.
Later in the year releases “Don 2”, a sequel to Farhan Akhtar’s remake of the 1978 film “Don” (2006).
The crime thriller, directed, co-written and co-produced by Farhan Akhtar, will star Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal, Ishaa Koppikar, Boman Irani and Om Puri all reprising their roles from the previous film.
Going by the list, it seems that audiences will have only sequels to choose from the plate in 2011.
Major fire in Army ammunition depot in Panagarh
A major fire broke out early on Friday in one of the largest ammunition depots of Indian Army at Panagarh in Burdwan district of West Bengal, gutting a store house containing a large number of small arms and ammunition.
“The fire broke out in shed number 16 (store house) of the depot at 1.30 am. Within five minutes, the entire fire fighting machinery of the Army was activated to battle the blaze,” Wing Commander M. Upasani of Eastern Command told PTI.
The fire was brought under control at around 3.30 am but the shed was totally destroyed, he said. There was no loss of life or injury, the defence spokesman said.
A crisis management team of the Army, led by Colonel A.D. Sethi, rushed to the site and controlled the fire, which destroyed a large number of small arms and ammunition, he said.
The Wing Commander said Maj Gen Chowdhury of the Eastern Command rushed to the site for an immediate probe. The cause of the fire was not known, he said.
Panagarh, about 120 kms from here, has one of the largest ammunition depots of the Indian Army and is also an important air force base.
“The fire broke out in shed number 16 (store house) of the depot at 1.30 am. Within five minutes, the entire fire fighting machinery of the Army was activated to battle the blaze,” Wing Commander M. Upasani of Eastern Command told PTI.
The fire was brought under control at around 3.30 am but the shed was totally destroyed, he said. There was no loss of life or injury, the defence spokesman said.
A crisis management team of the Army, led by Colonel A.D. Sethi, rushed to the site and controlled the fire, which destroyed a large number of small arms and ammunition, he said.
The Wing Commander said Maj Gen Chowdhury of the Eastern Command rushed to the site for an immediate probe. The cause of the fire was not known, he said.
Panagarh, about 120 kms from here, has one of the largest ammunition depots of the Indian Army and is also an important air force base.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
SRK surprises Vidya with his warm gesture
Shah Rukh Khan took time off his cricket commitments to attend an International media conference in Mumbai recently. And needless to say he was his usual charming self and had the foreign delegates eating out of his palm. That’s not all, by the end of the evening when he showed up again to pick up an award, he managed to sweep fellow award winner Vidya Balan off her feet.
This came as a surprise considering SRK wasn’t too happy with Vidya after she’d turned down his film, Billu, earlier. Ever since, the two have been cold towards each other and have stayed out of each other’s path. At the event, SRK greeted Vidya like nothing had happened and made her feel very comfortable. Vidya was totally taken aback by the gesture and didn’t quite know what to make of it. But by the time she left the venue, she was singing praises of the Khan.
This came as a surprise considering SRK wasn’t too happy with Vidya after she’d turned down his film, Billu, earlier. Ever since, the two have been cold towards each other and have stayed out of each other’s path. At the event, SRK greeted Vidya like nothing had happened and made her feel very comfortable. Vidya was totally taken aback by the gesture and didn’t quite know what to make of it. But by the time she left the venue, she was singing praises of the Khan.
Actor Archana Kavi to attend Twestival
Malayalam film actor Archana Kavi will be among the tweeples attending the Twestival in Kochi this evening.
Confirming her attendance, Archana Kavi told The Hindu that she was maintaining a twitter account and participating in the twestival in Kochi so that she could get direct response from her fans about her films and be in touch with the younger generation.
Archana Kavi is one of the two Malayalam actresses maintaining active twitter accounts, the other being Rima Kallingal. Both Archana and Rima had shot into fame recently through their role in 'Neelathaamara’ scripted by M. T. Vasudevan Nair and directed by Lal Jose.
About 50 tweeples from across the State are attending the twitter festival which is being held at a somwhere Else café, touted as Kochi’s only free wi-fi café. It will be a meeting ground for tweeples who, otherwise, know each other only through their social media accounts. Members of the public are also expected to attend the festival. The proceeds from the Twestival will be used for child welfare.
Besides Kochi, Twestivals are being held in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Kolkata, and Mumbai today, organiser of Cochin Twestival Sajan Mani said.
Confirming her attendance, Archana Kavi told The Hindu that she was maintaining a twitter account and participating in the twestival in Kochi so that she could get direct response from her fans about her films and be in touch with the younger generation.
Archana Kavi is one of the two Malayalam actresses maintaining active twitter accounts, the other being Rima Kallingal. Both Archana and Rima had shot into fame recently through their role in 'Neelathaamara’ scripted by M. T. Vasudevan Nair and directed by Lal Jose.
About 50 tweeples from across the State are attending the twitter festival which is being held at a somwhere Else café, touted as Kochi’s only free wi-fi café. It will be a meeting ground for tweeples who, otherwise, know each other only through their social media accounts. Members of the public are also expected to attend the festival. The proceeds from the Twestival will be used for child welfare.
Besides Kochi, Twestivals are being held in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Kolkata, and Mumbai today, organiser of Cochin Twestival Sajan Mani said.
