New Delhi, In a bid to tap the vast potential for bulk transportation of goods at low cost through inland waterways, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has initiated steps to fast-track development of such infrastructure by state-run and private firms.
India has about 14,500 km of navigable waterways comprising rivers, canals, backwaters and creeks that can be used to move cargo in a green, fuel-efficient mode. Like national highways, the country has three functional national waterways with two more underway.
"The initiative will harness huge potential of inland waterways in transporting bulk cargo like coal, foodgrains, fertilizers, project cargo, fly ash, and containers at competitive cost for public and private sector firms ," an official statement said.
"Adequate use of waterways will also ease the burden on rail and road infrastructure."
The statement came after a high level meeting at the Prime Minister's Office which noted that a pact among National Thermal Power Corp, Inland Waterways Authority of India and a private developer has led to competitive transportation rates for the state-run firm.
Investment worth Rs.650 crore has also been committed by the private sector.
The other decisions taken at the meeting include:
-Long-term cargo commitment of 3 million tonnes by National Thermal Power Corp for the Barh power project in Bihar once its five units start operations by 2016-17.
-Execution of a coal handling facility at Jogighopa in Assam with rail connectivity.
-Long-term ... Read Full Story
California, NASA's Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets.
These discoveries nearly double the number of verified planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, the star. Such systems will help astronomers better understand how planets form.
The planets orbit close to their host stars and range in size from 1.5 times the radius of Earth to larger than Jupiter.
Fifteen are between Earth and Neptune in size. Further observations will be required to determine which are rocky like Earth and which have thick gaseous atmospheres like Neptune. The planets orbit their host star once every six to 143 days. All are closer to their host star than Venus is to our sun.
"Prior to the Kepler mission, we knew of perhaps 500 exoplanets across the whole sky," said Doug Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
"Now, in just two years staring at a patch of sky not much bigger than your fist, Kepler has discovered more than 60 planets and more than 2,300 planet candidates. This tells us that our galaxy is positively loaded with planets of all sizes and orbits."
Kepler identifies planet candidates by repeatedly measuring the change in brightness of more than 150,000 stars to detect when a planet passes in front of the star. That passage casts a small shadow toward Earth and the Kepler spacecraft.
Each of the new confirmed planetary systems contains two to five closely ... Read Full Story
Islamabad, Pakistan may increase prices of petroleum products Jan 31, a media report said.
The price rise is expected between Rs.3 to Rs.6 per litre.
An official said that tension between the US and Iran has prompted heavy buying by China and Japan, resulting in a high demand and increase in prices, reported the daily Dawn.
He said that oil prices in the Middle East have risen to $112 per barrel. Pakistan's major supplies come from the Middle East.
In December last year, Pakistan increased the price of diesel by Rs.4.67 to Rs.98.94 per litre and that of petrol by 48 paisa to Rs.87.89 per litre. ... Read Full Story
Washington, Obama's Indian origin first U.S. chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra is leaving the White House, an administration official has said.
The White House has confirmed that February 8 will be the last day of Chopra's tenure.
Chopra has been a supporter of integrating government and technology to create new products and services.
He was one of three authors of the White House blog post, and had criticized the controversial copyright legislation, the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate's PROTECT IP Act.
Chopra joined the administration in May 2009. He previously had been managing director at The Advisory Board Co., a publicly traded health care think tank.
It was unclear what Chopra would do after leaving the White House but sources said he has been rumored to be mulling a political career.
US President Barack Obama thanked Chopra for his service in a statement.
'As the federal government's first chief technology officer, Aneesh Chopra did groundbreaking work to bring our government into the 21st century. Aneesh found countless ways to engage the American people using technology, from electronic health records for veterans, to expanding access to broadband for rural communities, to modernizing government records,' Politico quoted Obama, as saying
'His legacy of leadership and innovation will benefit Americans for years to come, and I thank him for his outstanding service,' he added. ... Read Full Story
Islamabad, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said former President Pervez Musharraf would 'certainly be arrested' if he returns to the country.
'In fact, there had been murder charges against him, and there had even been some very grave charges against him, and the Supreme Court had already given a verdict against him,' The Daily Times quoted Gilani, as saying.
'Certainly when he'll come back, he has to face those charges and certainly be arrested,' he added.
Musharraf had announced plans to return from exile in late January and to contest the upcoming elections, but his party later said he was reassessing those plans when the Pakistan government warned that if he returned he would be arrested.
Meanwhile, one of Musharraf's aides has now confirmed that he has decided to postpone his return to Pakistan.
Mohammad Saif, General Secretary of Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League, said: "General Musharraf will return to Pakistan, that's for sure. But we are waiting for the tension between the government and the Supreme Court to ... Read Full Story
Canberra, Social networking giant Facebook will now expose people's embarrassing photos and status updates, as it forces users onto its new timeline feature.
According to The Herald Sun, Facebook will soon make it mandatory for users to activate the new Timeline function, which displays their entire history of a person on the site-from status updates to photos.
Timeline is a feature announced by the social network late 2011 that reorganises people's Facebook page to tell their "life story".
But for those who don't use a seven-day grace period to moderate what will appear on their old profile page, it could soon expose embarrassing photos they had forgotten about, News.com.au reports.
Australian Privacy Foundation vice-chair David Vaile equated Facebook to a "naughty teenager" for not encouraging people to think through the changes.
He warned people whose lives had moved on from embarrassing photos that they might face more serious consequences if they resurfaced.
"Up until now you had security by obscurity - now at Facebook's whim rather than yours, stuff will come back bubbling up from your past," Vaile said.
"And one of the problems with Facebook's model of encouraging people not to worry about security is it disrespects other people as well," he ... Read Full Story
Islamabad, Pakistan is committed to eradicate polio by the end of 2012, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has told Microsoft chief Bill Gates.
Talking to Bill Gates in Davos, Switzerland, Gilani Friday said Pakistan would use all resources to rid the country of the crippling disease, it was reported here by the Associated Press of Pakistan.
Gilani is in Davos for the World Economic Forum.
Bill Gates, who contributes about $1 billion annually to the eradication of polio globally, stressed the need to expand the reach of the Polio Eradication Programme in Pakistan.
Gilani said he was personally supervising the polio eradication efforts and had also asked the provinces to double their efforts towards making Pakistan a polio-free country.
He said that Pakistan was taking all measures and employing innovative strategies to stop the spread of polio virus.
He added surveillance officers have been appointed in high-risk areas to strengthen the implementation process.
In neighbouring India, it has been a year since the last polio case was reported. ... Read Full Story
Kiev, Ukraine plans to launch its first telecommunications satellite in 2013, an official said.
"The satellite will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2013," head of the country's State Space Agency Yury Alexeyev told reporters Friday, adding that the pay-off period of the satellite was between seven to eight years.
The project, which has cost $292 million, is financed with a 10-year loan from Canada, Alexeyev said.
He said that the satellite was being mounted in Russia's southern city of Krasnoyarsk, reported Xinhua.
The satellite would be launched by Ukrainian missile "Zenit" at the country's Baikonur Cosmodrome. It could offer telecommunications services for countries in Central Asia and North ... Read Full Story
Male, Maldives has learnt its "lessons from the Indian experience", said President Mohamed Nasheed as the Indian envoy here described the country as "perhaps one of India's closest partners".
President Nasheed said his country would "continue to get aspirations and lessons from the Indian experience".
He said consolidation of democracy, including establishing a rule of law and an independent judiciary, is "our biggest and most important project".
Addressing a gathering, the president lauded the Indian "people, its government and its institutions for the very necessary and good assistance they continue to give to the Maldives in our work to become a democratic society".
"Very often we have to invent, and invent out of the box," a communique quoted him as saying.
The Friendship Association of India-Maldives (FAIM) launched its website Jan 26 to honour India's Republic Day and pledged new opportunities for cross-cultural dialogue.
Indian High Commissioner and FAIM patron Dynaneshwar Mulay affirmed close ties between the two nations.
"The Maldives is perhaps one of India's closest partners. The Indian High Commission will always be there to help the Maldives."
Highlighting India's artistic traditions, FAIM personnel expressed a strong interest in supporting arts in the Maldives.
"The Maldives has very little internal support for the arts," said a FAIM official.
"We would really like to see what we can provide," he added.
India and the Maldives enjoy close partnerships in ... Read Full Story
London, Nearly one million pounds ($1.6 million) of share bonus given to Stephen Hester, boss of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), was strongly criticized by politicians in Britain.
RBS is now 82 percent owned by British taxpayers after being saved by the biggest bailout move in British history, reported Xinhua.
The 963,000-pound bonus is given on top of Hester's 1.2 million-pound basic salary. The share bonus was valued on the bank's closing share price Wednesday and will be deferred for three years.
Leader of Opposition Labour Party Ed Miliband called the payout a "disgraceful failure of leadership by the prime minister".
Prime Minister David Cameron said he would regard a bonus of more than one million pounds as "unacceptable".
"He (Cameron) must now explain, not least to the British people, why he has allowed this to happen," Miliband said.
Even members of Cameron's Conservative Party and his Liberal Democrat allies in the coalition government also voiced their disapproval.
Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor of London, said he was "bewildered" and was "at a loss to justify" the scale of the bonus.
"It's a state owned bank. So the idea that this is not in the control of the government seems to me to be far-fetched," he said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg also joined the condemnation.
"I have a huge amount of sympathy about people's sense of dismay when they see these figures that seem from another planet," he said.
Jeremy Browne, a ... Read Full Story
Imphal, Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh Saturday said he is expecting his Congress party to win a minimum of 35 seats in the 60-member assembly, voting for which continues peacefully across the state.
"I am expecting that the Congress party would secure around 45 seats. But 35 is the minimum number we are winning," Okram Ibobi Singh told IANS after casting his vote.
Along with his legislator wife Landhoni Devi, Idobi Singh cast his vote around 7.30 a.m. at the polling booth in Thoubal Aphokpam Lower Primary School in Khangabok constituency. Landhoni Devi is the sitting legislator from Khangabok.
"The voting percentage is likely to be over 80 percent. People would come out despite the militants' threat as it is a democratic exercise that comes after every five years and no one wants to miss it," the two-time chief minister of the state said. ... Read Full Story
Adelaide, India suffered the humiliation of their second successive 0-4 whitewash in overseas after they lost the fourth and the final Test against Australia by a massive 298 runs at the Adelaide Oval here Saturday.
Resuming at overnight 166 for six in the second innings, while chasing a world record target of 500 to win, India were bowled out for 201 in 58 minutes of play at Adelaide Oval.
India, thus, suffered their eighth straight overseas defeat after having whitewashed 0-4 in England last year.
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Australia's 298-run win came after spinner Nathan Lyon claimed his best figures for the series of 4-63 in India's second innings.
It took just 13.4 overs for Australia to pick up the last four wickets to wrap up a great summer. Ishant Sharma (2) fell caught behind to Ryan Harris (3-41) in the third over of the day and Wriddhiman Saha (2) was out next over in similar fashion to Peter Siddle.
Zaheer Khan batted in his usual carefree style and was caught at short cover off the bowling of Ben Hilfenhaus for 15 to make it 9-193. Lyon ended the series when he had Umesh Yadav caught behind for one.
Lyon, a former Adelaide Oval groundsman, said his first home Test had been "awesome". "It all came to plan. I was lucky enough to scramble up the last one," he said.
Double centuries from Ricky Ponting and skipper Michael Clarke set up Australia's first-innings tally of 7-604 declared. Paceman Peter Siddle, who claimed 5-49 in India's first innings of 272 on a flat batting track and had figures of 6-96 ... Read Full Story
Ingredients:
200 gm mushroom
4 onion (pyaj)
7-8 tomato (tamatar)
1 piece ginger (adrak)
2 green chilly (hari mirch)
1/2 tsp salt namak
1/2 tsp red chilly powder (lal mirch)
1/2 tsp spice blend (garam masala)
1 tsp sugar
1 cup cream (malai)
1/2 cup cashew nut (kaju)
3 tbsp clarified butter (ghee)
How to make shahi mushroom:
Cut mushrooms into 2 pieces.
Finely chop all the other vegetables.
Heat ghee in a pan and fry onions until it turns pink.
Then fry ginger, green chilies and tomato.
When tomato soften remove it from the flame.
Grind it in a mixer.
Then cook in the pan and also add salt, red chilly powder, spice blend, sugar, cream and cashew nuts powder.
Cook for 2-3 minutes and then add mushroom.
Cook at low flame until mushroom softens.
Then remove it from the flame and serve ... Read Full Story
