Indian cricketers dominate ICC awards 2009

Indian cricketers dominated the ICC awards night in Johannesburg with both Tests and One-day individual awards coming their way besides also having a strong presence in the Test and ODI Teams of the Year. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was not present at the glittering awards ceremony, was named ODI Player of the Year for the second time in a row while also featuring in both Tests and One-day ICC World Teams of the Year both as wicketkeeper and captain of the sides. Young Gautam Gambhir also covered himself in glory by picking up the best Test Player of Year award, besides also featuring in the World Test Team of the Year.
Besides Dhoni and Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh (as 12th man) also featured in the world Test Team of the Year. The World ODI Team of the Year has three Indians with Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh being the other two, besides Dhoni.

Read More

Nation celebrates birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri

The nation celebrates the 140th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and 105th birth anniversary of India's second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on Friday. Special prayers are being held at Raj ghat to commemorate the father of the nation. President Pratibha Patil is scheduled to visit Porbandar, where she will pay her tributes and also participate in an all faith prayer organized at Mahatma Gandhi's birth place Kirtimandir.
She will also visit Kanya Gurukul there as part of her five-day visit to Gujarat. On this occasion the Centre's flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) will be named after Mahatma Gandhi.

Read More

Rajasthan International Folk Festival 2009 started at Jodhpur

The third edition of the five-day Rajasthan International Folk Festival 2009 started here today at the Mehrangarh Fort. Featuring more than 150 local and international folk, classical and fusion artistes, the festival is presented by two of the country?s leading heritage trusts - Mehrangarh Museum Trust (MMT) of Jodhpur and Jaipur Virasat Foundation (JVF). Festival director Divya Bhatia said, "We have aimed at creating a music festival with a specific folk ethos, where various genres of music can celebrate their essential vitality together." "One can catch a glimpse of renowned artists like Sivamani and Rekha Bhardwaj sharing the stage with folk artistes at Jodhpur RIFF. The 2009 edition will also see the launch of India?s first online database of Rajasthani folk musicians," adds Bhatia.
The festival will also feature live performances by crossover band 'Dharohar', Spanish guitarist Antonio Ray and Sarangi player Ustad Sultan Khan and Lakha Khan Manganiyaar. The second edition of the Rajasthan International Folk Festival was called off as a mark of respect to those killed and injured in a stampede at Jodhpur's Chamunda Devi temple in September 2008. Endorsed as a "peoples platform for creativity and sustainable development" by UNESCO, the third edition of the festival concludes on 5th October

Read More

BITS Pilani Humanoid draws crowds in German Expo

Humanoid AcYut 3, developed by BITS Pilani mimicked every action performed by its human controller who wore a tele-operated body suit and it was the star attraction in the 9 day IDEEN Expo held at Hanover, Germany on 5-13 September . AcYut danced, fought Kunh-Fu, played soccer, and performed acrobatics exactly imitating its controller. AcYut was a clear favorite at the EXPO as people from all ages and academic background tried out the body suit and watched in amazement as AcYut imitated all their actions intuitively. The Humanoid was developed by the students of BITS Pilani under the guidance of Prof R KMittal.
IDEEN Expo is a biennial event showcasing research projects undertaken by both academic institutions and industries. This year, AcYut was the only Humanoid displayed and its team consisting of Sushma Vallabhaneni, Akash Gupta and Mohamad Ariz was specially invited by the organizers of the Expo. Over 2, 80,000 visitors visited the event and the AcYut Humanoid was on the highlight list for all the 9 days for which the Expo lasted. AcYut was covered very well in various German newspapers and the Live Show on AcYut was telecasted in German National Television IDEEN Expo TV.
Among the large number of visitors who were impressed with AcYut performing, there was the Chief Minister of Niedersachsen state of Germany, Mr Christian Wulff, who visited AcYut twice along with his Cabinet ministers. Satisfied with the performance of AcYut, the Chief Minister said that Humanoid research is just developing in Germany and this technology needs to be pushed for the benefit of both India and Germany. Indian Ambassador to Germany, Mr Sudhir Vyas also accompanied the Chief Minister. After the Expo, AcYut Team was invited by several schools of Hanover for demonstration and the team did visit the George Buechner High School in Hanover which was also well covered in the newspapers of the city. Speaking about the potential of remote control humanoids, the Project Mentor, Prof R K Mittal said said, “ We are planning to develop humanoids for applications such as nuclear power, places affected by earthquakes and natural calamities wherein it is dangerous for human beings to go. The control of the humanoid for these applications can be done only from a distance. For this purpose, the students team has developed a wear-able jacket to control AcYut. The students are working on perfecting the wear-able jacket”. Humanoid team of BITS has participated in the Robogames in San Francisco both in 2008 and 2009. It secured the 6th position amongst 250 teams in 2008 and it won the bronze medal in 2009.

Read More

Pay Tax on Gift above 50000

Income Tax Department on Wednesday said that persons receiving gifts will have to pay tax on it provided the value of gift, in cash or kind, exceeds Rs 50,000. The tax would have to paid by the recipient by including the amount in his taxable income, said a notification issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) about three weeks ahead of the Diwali. The new tax norms would come into effect from October 1, CBDT said, clarifying it would not apply on gifts which are received either by relatives or on the occasion of marriages. There will also be no tax on gifts received by way of will, inheritance or in case of death of the donor. Earlier, only cash gifts were taxed the threshold for which was raised from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 in April, 2006. "The IT Act 1961 has been amended with effect from October 1, 2009 to provide that any gift, in kind, being an immovable property or any other property, the value of which exceeds Rs 50,000, will become taxable in the hands of the donee, being an individual or a Hindu Undivided Family, as income from other sources...," the CBDT said.
Persons receiving gifts in excess of Rs 50,000 will have to show the value in the income tax returns for assessment year 2010-11 and pay tax on it, CBDT said. Gifts received from local authorities, trusts or entities registered as charitable institutions would not attract the provisions of the new tax norms, it said.

Read More

Rajasthan Govt. approved three more Universities

Rajasthan Cabinet has approved proposals for setting up of three more Universities and state council of vocational training. The Cabinet cleared the proposal of setting up the first homeopathic University in the state by Madan Pratap Khunteta Homeopathic Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre here, an official spokesman said. Besides this, the proposal of setting up Sridhar University in Deegodana in Jhunjhunu district was also approved by the Cabinet at its meeting held here today. Likewise, state government's decision of opening NIIT University in Neemrana(Alwar) was also endorsed by the Cabinet. The Cabinet also decided to set up a state council for vocational training, the spokesman said.
The three new universities in Rajasthan are:
1. Madan Pratap Khunteta Homeopathic Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre
2. Sridhar University, Deegodana, Jhunjhunu
3. NIIT University in Neemrana(Alwar)

Read More

New Jaipur Metro Route

Even as the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) is yet to submit its final project report over the feasibility of Jaipur metro rail, the government has approved an in-principle route plan for the project. As per the proposal, two corridors — North-South (15.5 kilometres) and East-West (13.5 kilometers) — totallying nearly 30 kilometers, will be laid across the city at an estimated cost of Rs 8,000 crore. This will include both underground and elevated tracks. The East-West corridor will be from Ramganj to Mansarovar passing through Badi Choupar, Choti Choupar, Chandpole, Ajmer Road, Gopalpura Bypass and New Sanganer Road. This corridor will be similar to the one proposed earlier. A nine-km elevated track connecting Chandpole to Mansarovar be the first to be completed. However, the North-South corridor earlier proposed between Jawahar Circle and Jal Mahal has been changed. As per the new plan, the corridor will connect Sanganer to Panipech. An elevated track will start from Sanganer, passing through Durgapura, B-2 bypass, reaching JLN Marg and then Bajaj Nagar. From here it will take a turn to reach Tonk Road. It will reach Ajmeri Gate and will shift to underground tunnel to reach Sindhi Camp and then cross Bani Park. From there it will once again shift to elevated tracks to reach Panipech.
Jaipur metro project is yet to start but once more, rajasthan govt have changed the proposed metro route. New Metro route for Jaipur is as shown in picture.

Read More

Aladin Hindi Movie release date

Aladin Hindi Movie: The modern day film titled ‘Aladin’ OR Aladdin , the evergreen Arabian Nights story, is a hi-end special effects film being made on a big Bollywood format. With this film, Eros makes its foray into visual effects movies. The story is contemporary but set in a fantasy world of make belief. The dresses are modern but the surroundings and the settings,larger than life and imagined. Amitabh Bachchan plays the ‘genie’ in the film. As of now Aladin is pretty much on track for a Christmas release as it is a children centered story.

Star Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh & introducing Jackie Fernandes
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Producer: Eros International in association with Sujoy Ghosh’s production company Boundscript.
Release Date: Oct 30 2009

Read More