Big Day tomorrow for Indian Cricket- Indian cricket team for 2007 World Cup would be selected tomorrow and Question is whether Virendra Shewag will be picked in the Squad.
The national cricket selectors face a big dilemma, on whether to pick an out-of-form VirenderSehwag, when they meet on Monday for the difficult task of choosing India's World Cup squad.
The match at the Madhavrao Scindia ground will help Dilip Vengsarkar's selection committee seal the last one or two or three berths in the Indian team
.But an Indian team without Sehwag, the highest scorer in the 2003 World Cup final against
Australia, looks unthinkable in spite of his poor form. He is a match winner, and his success on
the 2006 tour of the West Indies gives him an edge over his rivals in-form Uthappa and left-handed Gambhir, dropped for the first two matches.
Sehwag was dropped, or 'rested' as Vengsarkar says, for the recent four-match home ODI series against the West Indies, but was recalled for the first two matches against Mahela
Jayawardene-led Sri Lanka.
And to a much lesser extent, Gautam Gambhir, Ramesh Powar, Rudra Pratap Singh could be
said to be in the running, but only on the periphery. They could be called in emergency, unless
the selectors decide to surprise and pick them in the preferred 15 for the World Cup.
It would mean that captain Rahul Dravid, vice-captain Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag, Uthappa,
Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, wicketkeepers Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik, Ajit
Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh pick themselves automatically.
And the Delhi dasher has the full backing of the team management, if the words of captain Rahul Dravid was anything to go by.
"We are not going to judge our World Cup team based on performance in just one or two games.
When you pick the World Cup squad you need to look at the combination you might play in the
West Indies, on the conditions there, the records of the players in the past," Dravid had said on
the eve of the second One-dayer at Rajkot.
That would apply to Irfan Pathan as well. The Baroda left-arm seamer has been in the spotlight
more for his poor bowling form.
Pathan was rested for a One-dayer and played in only one Test when India toured the West
Indies last year. He was sent home from the tour of South Africa with an advice to sort out the
problems in his bowling.
In case he is selected, Sehwag is likely to be played as middle-order batsman while former
captain Sourav Ganguly is expected to partner Robin Uthappa at the top. ICC deadline to submit the 15-man squad, trimmed from the list of 30 probables announced
last month, is February 13.
posted by Rishil Babu @ 6:39 AM,
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Every Indian must congratulate Ratan Tata for acquiring Corus biggest ever takeover of an overseas company by an Indian entity
After spending several sleepless nights overseeing the biggest ever takeover of an overseas
company by an Indian entity, Tata Sons chairperson Ratan Tata said Wednesday that the $11.3
billion bid to acquire Corus was a "moment of great fulfilment for India".
Like we have faced, Tatas would also have faced challenges. But with Corus, these challenges
will be overcome - the biggest challenge lies in how to integrate the two companies, how to
integrate cultures and work with new management.
There will be more challenges. Tata-Corus will be a successful acquisition," says LN Mittal, CEO, Arcelor Mittal.
Tata Corus is set to become the fifth largest producer of the commodity in the world," Ratan Tata told a videoconference with reporters from his office here, looking calm and collected despite hours of tension and excitement over finalisation of the mega-deal."This will prove be a visionary move," Tata said from his group's headquarters in Mumbai. "When we launched the bid, many thought it was an audacious move because an Indian company taking over an European company much larger in size had not happened before."
We are all very excited, delighted and happy. It's been a long-drawn affair of nine months. So we really happy," said group director Arun Gandhi. "Last three days have been very hard work. It's still going on."
The auction for the acquisition of Corus began at 4:30 p.m. GMT (10 p.m. India time), after close of trading hours at the London Stock Exchange (LSE), and the winner was announced by Britain's Takeover Panel, the watchdog for mergers and takeovers, early Wednesday.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath Wednesday called the mega-deal struck by the Tatas to acquire Anglo-Dutch steel-maker Corus for some $12 billion as the coming of age of India Inc while industry leaders termed it a pioneering development.
"It's a reflection of India's economic strength," Kamal Nath said. "Indian firms are reaching out for consolidation and market access. This deal suggests more Indian companies will move ahead not just in steel but other areas also."
"This will prove to be a visionary move," said Ratan Tata, chairperson of Tata Sons, who had
earlier helped his group make two major acquisitions in the steel space over the past two years
worth $421 million - those of NatSteel of Singapore in February 2005 and Millennium Steel of
Thailand nine months later.
"When we launched the bid, many thought it was an audacious move because an Indian company taking over an European company much larger in size had not happened before."
Amit Mitra, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), said the deal was indeed "big bang" and signalled the events that will unfold as India
emerges the world's third largest economy.
"We must congratulate Ratan Tata for this feat. He has shown India's financial muscle power at a global benchmark and also on the tremendous negotiating skills against all odds," Mitra added.
posted by Rishil Babu @ 9:18 AM,
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Mixed Recation on Agni - NGO providing information to the public about educated candidates with a clean image in BMC election.
For the elections to th
e Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) held on February 1,Mumbaikars have elected 21 out of 64 candidates, who have criminal cases pending against them.
And of the total 75 candidates with five star ratings only 11 have managed to win. And ironically in many of the wards, they have been also defeated by candidates with one-star or two star ratings.
It seems that voters of Mumbai have not cared to vote on the basis of star ratings provided with Action for good Governance and Networking in India (AGNI)- a NGO that was involved with providing information to the public about educated candidates with a clean image.
The BMC election results was a mix bag for NGO AGNI (Action for Good Governance and Networking in India), which had initiated various campaigns to bring reforms in the BMC elections
D M Sukhtankar, former BMC Commissioner and Vice Chairman, AGNI, said, We are very happy that our efforts were well received. Due to our ratings people got a better idea to choose and make an informed choice.
He further said, In this election I think the Marathi card of the Sena BJP worked out. Their sentiments of not jeopardise the Marathi status in Mumbai, they voted for the saffron alliance. But we are unhappy that voting percentage couldn't increase at that level as of our expectations. AGNI has rated all the candidates contesting the election in BMC by awarding them, the stars between one and five. These star ratings were on the basis of candidates education, assets and criminal records. This move of the AGNI, at the initial stage was criticised by the political parties and they were not ready to provide their candidates information to AGNI.
Also there were many people who claimed that they didn't get their voting cards at all. The people complained that during the last election all the political parties had dropped their voting
cards to each home. However, this time, the residents seemed confused after they didn't receive
their voting cards.
Sources in the BMC's election department said that the voting cards have been issued to every
political parties and it is the responsibility of the respective parties to distribute them.Also there are cases where Representing Youth For Equality (YFE), the students were protesting the rating system by the NGO undertaken to judge candidates contesting BMC elections.
posted by Rishil Babu @ 5:38 AM,
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One of the rare species Amur Tiger has a glimpse of Indian Bengal Tiger.
In the 1940s the Amur tiger was on the brink of extinction, with no more than 40 tigers remaining in the wild. Thanks to vigorous anti-poaching and other conservation efforts by the Russians with support from many partners, including WWF, the Amur tiger population recovered and has remained stable throughout the last decade or so.Standing around 1 metre at the shoulder, the Amur tiger does not stand as tall as the African lion, though the tiger is longer and weighs considerably more. The comparative drawing below shows a Bengal tiger standing beside an African lion. There is little height difference between Amur and Bengal tigers; the differences occur in length and weight.
History records the largest Amur tiger as weighing in at 1,000 pounds, though this was an extreme case in a captive cat and they normally outgrow their wild cousins. A wild Amur would be lucky to reach 650 to 675 pounds. In length, these tigers can reach 13 feet, between the pegs, but this is the exception, not the rule. Lengths of 8-10 feet are more usual. The term 'between the pegs' denotes measurement from tip of the nose to tip of tail
Threats
Biologists believe that poaching, logging, construction of roads and forest fires are reducing the population of Amur tigers in the wild. Habitat loss and fragmentation A major threat to the Amur tiger is habitat loss and a decrease in its prey due to human population pressure. In the long-term these are the most important threats to the survival of the tiger. Tigers live in forests, some of which are protected areas. However if th
ese areas have little prey to support the tiger (either due to hunting or to poor quality habitat), the tiger is forced to hunt domestic animals in the settlements surrounding the protected areas. They are then killed in revenge by local people.Illegal trade
The most immediate of threats is the demand for tiger parts to use in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). This is an ancient practice, as tiger bones have been used in TCM for at least 1,000 years. During the 1960's, tigers were killed in China as an agricultural pest and this kept the TCM market supplied with tiger parts until the 1980's. Since then, the growing number of people in Asia, and their growing affluence, has meant an increased demand for tiger parts. Also, during the 1980's the Russian Communist system collapsed and the previously impervious Sino-Russian border began to open up, allowing people access to new tiger supplies
These Photo's of Amur Tiger has been sent to me by my good friend Nikolay Urumov who works in United States of America for Maersk Logistics USA Inc.
posted by Rishil Babu @ 11:21 PM,
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India tourism prefers Chhuk Chhuk to promote tourism.
India is preparing to
go back in time in order to ensure that tourists continue to flockto the country in the future.New Delhi will soon see the re-introduction of steam trains, in a bid to promote culture and heritage tourism in the capital city.
In total, 15 of the locomotives, also known as Chhuk Chhuks, will be brought back to India's railways for tourism purposes only.'We will be collaborating with Delhi Tourism to deploy some 15 steam locomotive engines which will ferry tourists in and around Delhi under specially designed packages,' VN Mathur, general manager of Northern Railways, told the Indo-Asian News Service.
'We intend to call it steam tourism and the packages will fulfil the needs of tourists visiting Delhi who want to capture a slice of India's rich heritage in their memories by travelling in these iron-horse beauties.'
One train that will be introduced between Delhi and Alwar is the Fairy Queen. Built in 1855, the train holds the Guinness World Record for being the world's oldest train in working condition.
The trains have all recently been displayed in a huge parade through New Delhi ahead of going back into service.
posted by Rishil Babu @ 10:39 PM,
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Kerala Tourism has been recognised for its innovative use of information technology for tourism projects.
Kerala Tourism has again done the State proud by bagging three national awards for excellence instituted by the Union Ministry of Tourism. The awards are the one for the best performing State, the most innovative use of Information Technology and for the best rural tourism project.
Tourism Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan received the awards from Union Tourism Minister Ambika Soni at a function held in New Delhi on the occasion of World Tourism Day recently. Tourism Secretary V. Venu was also present on the occasion.
Kerala was selected for the award for the best performing State after a series of evaluation, including the infrastructure facilities for the tourists, destination development and implementation of Government of India-funded projects, according to a senior official of Kerala Tourism.
www.keralatourism.orq,the official website of Kerala Tourism, had enabled the department to bag the award for the most innovative use of IT. Designed by Invis Multimedia in 1998, the website had won the national award earlier.
Kerala was also recognised for its innovative use of information technology for tourism projects. Sikkim received the award for the best tourism project in the North East.
Distributing the awards on the occasion of National Tourism Day, Tourism Minister Ambika Soni said the United Progressive Alliance - government has recognised tourism as an industry.
She said her ministry had been working hard to get the taxation regime rationalised, which would help the industry to grow faster.
'We are trying to resolve the various troubles the industry is facing. Once the airports in Mumbai and Delhi get modernised, we would be able to introduce visa on arrival for some countries,' Soni assured.
The tourism awards have been instituted to give recognition to the travel industry for its outstanding performances, nationally, in various tourism segments, interests and also based on its revenue earnings, services and facilities
posted by Rishil Babu @ 9:02 AM,
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